Never Give Up

When lighting up the wicks on this candle, I decided to take a picture of it. Not only does it smell good and brighten up somebodys day, but to me, it has a meaning behind it. This picture of the candle represents never giving up. You just have to keep on burning, even when times are rough. Sometimes the flame is strong, and sometimes it's weak, but we always seem to keep on burning. When giving up, it seems like the flame is getting weaker and weaker, but when you keep on fighting for what you're doing the flame gets stronger and stronger, just like us. It shows that we have to work and persevere to get the outcome we want, and if we want the flame to keep on burning we can't let the struggles or the people blow them out.  

Never giving up - We give up from time to time, but we always seem to grow that confidence, and perseverance to push ourselves to work harder and to not give up no matter what struggles bring you. We all have to watch out for the flame, because sometimes it just won't stop burning. 

Literary Essay - Something to Hold

In life, we always have to face changes, it may be hard, but we all have to go through them. Whether is moving to a new country, moving to a new school, meeting new people, changes in family and friends, forgetting about the past. These are some of the changes the characters in Something to Hold by Katherine Schlick Noe. The author wrote Something to Hold by having characters facing many social issues, but continued on showing change for the better in each character after a turning point.

One character, Jewel, was before known to everybody as a bully; no matter who you were she bullied them. Jewel never opened up to anybody about her past, not even about the troubles she had with her alcoholic and abusive stepfather. With the story starting off with Kitty and her brothers being new to a place full of Indians, Jewel was always the one teasing them about their race. She hung out with the wrong crowd, and didn’t have true friends. Until one day, “Jewel rises up from her desk. Mr. Nute swivels his head and narrows his eyes at her. "What about the courage," "she says, looking around the room,” of the people who were already here?" "I am stunned that Jewel is standing up for me." (pg. 65) This shows the change of Jewel because she stood up to Kitty, the main character who was treated differently than everybody else. As a result of this, Jewel treated Kitty and everybody differently and even started to open up about her past, and stopped hanging out with the other bullies.

Another character that showed change is the main character, Kitty. This middle school girl, who constantly moves due to her dad’s job, just recently moved to the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon. Her family is one out of a couple of other white families to live in this area. This makes Kitty have a tough time fitting in, having confidence, and not sticking up to the bullies. With being a different race than everybody else, Jewel, Raymond and other kids tease her. When one of Kitty’s brother’s friend, Howie was being made fun of by Raymond, Kitty sticks up for Howie by saying, “Why do you do things like that?” I yell at Raymond before I can stop myself.”Howie never hurt anybody.” I can feel my throat close up. Oh, God what am I doing?” (pg. 72) It is because of what she has seen bullies do, she decided to stick up for Howie after she realizes that nobody, including him deserved being bullied. She showed change by sticking up for not only herself but for other people. She grew confidence and wasn’t afraid to speak out.

Finally, Katherine Schlick Noe introduces the readers to Raymond, Jewel’s brother. Raymond does the same things as Jewel, bullying and teasing people, and treating Kitty and her brothers differently. One thing that affects Raymond the most is his abusive and alcoholic stepfather (Walter,) Raymond can never forget his past, and finds a way to get rid of his stepfather. One day when Raymond, Jewel, Kathla, and Kitty were walking on the streets, they soon were in a situation they never wanted to be in with Raymond and Jewel’s stepfather. This was the turning point that showed somewhat of a different side of Raymond. “A sudden movement catches my eye, and I’m startled by an explosion of shattering glass. The car. I spin around to see Raymond swing the bat high over his shoulder and blast out the second headlight.”(pg. 205.) And after Mr.Walters was caught by the tribal police, “Mr. Wewa studies Raymond, his face serious. “That was a dangerous thing to do,” he says. Then his eyes soften. “But it was also very brave.” (pg. 206.) After this turning point, Raymond has a different perspective on Kitty. And showed change in Raymond by letting him let go of his past, and not being afraid of his stepfather and the things that he has done to him. He also stood up to one of his biggest fears, that he had tried and tried to get rid of in the past, but finally had the boost of confidence to get rid of it forever.

To sum it all up, through her characters, Katherine Schlick Noe tells the readers how change can help you overcome your biggest social issues. It is important because if we don’t, without a turning point in our lives, without change, our lives would be very different. So lets let these turning points leave an impact on our lives, and make it a wake up call that this change is for the better, for not only you, but also for the world around you.

Dirty Money

Dirty Money

What interested you the most about this article? 

Something that I found really interesting from this article is that dollar bills trace amounts of drugs. Another things that I found very interesting is that one dollar bill carries about 3,000 types of bacteria on it's surface. These things interested me a lot because I never knew that something we use every single day could have traces of drugs, illnesses, and many other things we never knew it could have on it.

Poetry By Me

What do you know now about poetry that you didn't know before?
 One thing that I know now about poetry is that poetry has no rules, that means you can do whatever you want in your poems, so long it's appropriate. Another thing that I learned from this poetry unit is the exact meanings of the poetry terms, such as assonance. I also learned that inspiration for your poems can come from anywhere, for example I didn't know that after we visited the Memory Garden that I would have a whole poem done. An example of something else I learned is that using stanzas, refrains, etc. can help the flow of your poem smoother. I think another thing I learned that really helped me improve my poems, is not to list things that fit the topic, for example on my on - demand I wrote about happiness, and I listed things that people do when they are happy. But now I learned to expand the topic and add more details to help the message stand out, create a vivid image, and make it more interesting.

Pick one of your poems and explain it.
The poem I decided to explain was the poem called, "Days That Amaze Me." I came up with this poem when one of the visiting poets were talking to our class. That day we also came up with poems that start out with one word. For example, I decided to write a poem about the word "Amazing," then using our five senses we described what seemed "amazing" to us and wrote about it. While writing this poem I used my five senses, and used ideas from my experiences that seemed amazing. I started off writing a first version, then carried on to writing a second version with more details. Some of the feelings or ideas that I hope to instill in my reader is that even though some days might be rough, we will soon or already have had that one amazing day that stood out to us, that makes us forget about the tough things about life, and just enjoy the moment.

Something To Hold Book Club

Water Project Update Week #3

We've made a lot of progress in raising money, we've sold baked goods, gotten donations, and started selling the different items on our store. For the bake sale, Renee baked brownies and cookies, and we've managed to make around $63.50. At the moment we have raise around $259.30. We are still continuing to sell items on our store, and are still raising awareness on our other blog. We have made a presentation to show to the class. We're still continuing on reaching our goal.

Plant Cell