The Final Point

She waits for the whistle

The hole on the ball facing up

For extra distance

In her stance, she still waits

Tweet, the whistle is blown

She throws the ball up in the air

Too far behind her to hit

It drops, and she waits

For the whistle to tweet once more

She must hit it this time

So this final game will be over

The score is close

23 to 22

Tweet! Blown again

The ball's in the air

And...

Wham! A blur

At once, it's on the other side

They've bumped it back over here

We do a bump,

Set,

And spike

This time they block it

A quick dive, it's saved

We spike again

It's gone to the far left corner

The girl turns around

A dangerous mistake

Boom!

She barely hits the ball

And it flies to the ceiling

It comes right back down,

All the way to the floor untouched

Bam!

It bounces a few times

Till it is still 

We stand there for a moment

Tweet!

The game is won!

Another Piece of Magnetic Poetry

Dark

Cool clouds 

An icy breeze

A glass heart

Sad secrets

Haunting decay

Bleeding peace

 A ferocious, dazzling universe

Ghost fever

Velvet embrace

Fiery sky

Melted porcelain

Prisoner colors

Marble eyes

Devouring flowers

Broken cups

Foolish poetry

Magnetic Poetry

Diamonds
Diamonds are still, but have a faint pink like a rose

With a thousand layers of elaborate petals

Diamonds are like the sweet, cool, blue spray of the ocean

Like springtime beauty, as everyone knows

Dreams and wonders, that's what diamonds are

Life of Death
A poisonous breath of ferocious fire
Washes over me like the ocean does to a sail boat
If only I could look back and laugh at my foolishness
And then I'd remember my mistake

Nature
I feel the green grass swaying against my legs
And the earth squishing beneath my feet
Listen to the insects
Hear the harmony in the sweet, bright spring
There is peace in nature

Trembling Earth, and I Have Seen Sweet Sunsets Die

Trembling Earth

The poem Trembling Earth, written by Harlyn Fitzgerald, is about the abstract noun anger.  I really liked because of all the metaphors it had.  Some examples are “The ocean of mean words,” When one is broken beyond repair,” and “And send Earth into chaos.”  The alliteration Harlyn had was “Broken beyond repair,” and “Fiery power of pounding fists.”  Some examples of assonance were “Power of pounding,” I have felt the Earth tremble,” and “Why does the world.  Harlyn’s whole poem is really amazing the way she describes anger, because she has looked at it from all angles and taken a snapshot of what it is.

I Have Seen Sweet Sunsets Die

I really enjoyed reading the poem I have Seen Sweet Sunsets Die, by Emilia Diggins, because of the way her words flow together in each stanza and her personification.  Some examples of the personification she used were “The red colors slowly seeping away,” The soft grass waving goodbye,” and “It has a right to be proud,” where it’s talking about the moon.  A metaphor she used was “Sorry hearts breaking.”  Some examples of alliteration in her poem are “Seen sweet sunsets,” and “Slowly seeping.”  Some examples of assonance are “Try and fix mistakes,”  “Who often come to,” and “Sorry hearts.”  Emilia’s poem is really good because of her description and the way she uses her words.

I'm the Best Rapper Ever!

Yo, what’s up, I’m Sierra Wood

When it comes to rapping I am just so good

I’ll have a hundred raps done before the day’s complete

And every one of them will sound just so sweet

I’m really, really good at playing the flute

The sound’s as sweet as a delicious fruit

I play piano and drums also

I’m a 3 instrument player, Oh

What, still here, comin’ back for more?

Too bad for you, now I’ll show you to the door

Get outta here, you don’t deserve

To listen to this rap ‘cause you just got served

Oh!

Limericks

I once saw a very old lady

With a dog at her side named Sadie

She waddled about

With intent, I doubt

And to this day sits where it's shady

I once saw a girl at the mall
She was really incredibly tall
She walked all around
Having to stoop down
So she wouldn't hit her head and bawl 

There once was a girl named Sue

Who knotted the lace on her shoe

She tried to undo it

But totally blew it

And then got it stuck in some glue

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

I like the poem Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, by Wallace Stevens, a lot.  I found it interesting that it was thirteen, rather than a landmark number. such as ten.  Stevens probably wanted a special number.  Also, there is twenty mountains, instead of 13 or a different number.

    The seasons in this were interesting and made me think of the haikus.  It starts off at winter, then moves to autumn, back to winter, then spring, and finally back to winter again.  It's almost a year.

     There was lots of assonance in this poem. In the first stanza, there was some when it said "twenty snowy," and "among mountains."  Finally, in the third, it said "blackbird whirled."

I noticed some internal rhyming too, in the second stanza, where it said "I was of three minds,” page break “ Like a tree,” another page break “In which there are three blackbirds."  Three, tree, and three again rhymed.  There was also some regular rhyming too, with different stanzas.  For example, in one stanza it ended with minds, and in another it ended with pantomime, and those are approximate rhymes.

Another interesting thing I noticed in this poem was that the “countdown” was in roman numerals.  Maybe because regular ones were too boring?  Also, why does it count up from one? I guess you see it both ways, but for some reason I was expecting it to start at thirteen and go down.

Aren't I a Good Thing?

I have seen people swallowed up by water

The precious moment of life or death

The power of strength

Weakening, Crumbling and Collapsing down

The craziness conquering one

From happiness

To fear

I wind my waves to the confused moments

Because that's when one needs me most

When one is scared

Yes, it is shameful

To give myself to people

But I help, and keep one thriving

Or they would not act the same

I’d rather be Bravery

And give people the courage they need

But I do

I am giving, because

Don't people need adrenaline?

When they are in terror

No matter what that might be

I know how to use myself

And to be where people need me most

Among the frightened,

From a dark night,

When you suddenly swerve

To

A sunny yellow day

But then the sharp sound of a gunshot

I suddenly come out

And with me, they keep fighting

I say nothing, but with me

They know what to do

Because with me

It's the only way they can overcome

Or they would stop their struggle

So aren't I a good thing?

Haiku Poems

Daffodils growing

the cold days are behind us

kids playing outside

A big butterfly

flies around high in the sky

it is a beauty

This tree's good to climb

climb as high as possible

do you have your grip?

Morning paper comes

dog runs out to retrieve it

too wet to read now

Many birds singing

crisp smell of morning

cherry blossoms sway

Fingers tap on phones

kids locked into screens

where did nature go?

A dragonfly there

flies for the first time at all

eaten by a bird

Abstract Thoughts

Fear is night black caves at midnight
Selfishness is sandy tan toys in someone's home
Loneliness is sky grey coffee shops at night
Quiet is paper white libraries
Boredom is dead leaf brown dirt on the solid ground
Dreams are ocean blue pools in Hawaii
Happiness is citrus lime green popsicles
Success is wizard purple parties at the beach on a hot summer day
Love is heart pink chocolates with a gooey caramel inside

Spring is Like a Perhaps Hand

 

        I really enjoyed reading the poem, Spring is Like a Perhaps Hand, by E. E. Cummings, because it talked about how Spring is a hand moving everything around to get ready for it, like placing a flower somewhere.  I found it interesting how Cummings layed his poem out.  He had a large section, and then a separate stanza that said "changing everything carefully," which was referring to what the hand would do.  Then there was another large section and after that the last line was "without breaking anything."

      I didn’t really understand why Cummings had parentheses in some of his lines.  I can see why he would do that, but it seemed like they were put in weird places.  For example, he said “(which comes carefully,” then a line break, then “out of Nowhere) arranging.”   It kind of makes you wonder about the poem though, and that’s good.

      I noticed that he capitalized some words: nowhere, hand, new, and old.  I think he was trying to emphasize them all of them.  He wanted you to really sense the word nowhere, because that’s where the hand comes from, and he wants you to think of where nowhere could be.  When he capitalized hand, the line was “hand in a window.” I’m not that sure why he did that, but it’s probably because he wanted readers to get it into their minds that it was a hand.  For new and old, he most likely meant that new is the Spring things he's putting there, and the old is stuff from Winter that he's taking away.  

      Lastly, he had some repetition when he said “Spring is like a perhaps hand,” in the beginning, and in the last stanzas beginning.  I don’t think there was much else in this poem.  I did really like reading this poem though, to see how Spring was created.

Maggie and Milly and Molly and May

This is a poem called maggie and milly and molly and may, by E. E. Cummings. I really like it because I think it has a great rhythm to it, and it's kind of just a silly poem, unlike the other we read by E. E. Cummings, called l)a.  The poem is about how Maggie, Milly, Molly, and May went to the beach, and then things happen to them.  Maggie finds a shell that sings, Milly befriended a starfish, Molly was chased by something blowing bubbles, and May came home with a stone.

In the third line of the poem, Cummings says “so sweetly she couldn’t remember her troubles, and.”  I think that the “and” should be in the next line because it doesn’t really fit in that line as well as it would in the next.  Also, in a different line, it starts out with and, so why shouldn’t the first?

         I think that there was a lot of assonance in this poem.  For example, there was when Cummings said “smooth round stone.”  There was also alliteration when he said “maggie and milly and molly and may.”  Lastly, I thought the last line was the best of all.  It was a metaphor talking about how sometimes one gets lost in life, but they always come back.

Food Enemies

Hamburger BLT Sandwich Taco Pizza Enchilada Mac’n’cheese Shrimp Calamari Mashed Potato Strawberry Banana Apple Blueberry Crackers Kiwi Cherry Sour Apple Candy Chocolate Rocky Road Mint Chip Caramel Squash

Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs.

Hotdog PB and J Burger Spaghetti Quesadilla Soup Baked Potato Crab Fish Salad Pineapple Orange Cherry Watermelon Cheese Guacamole Blue Raspberry Watermelon Ice cream Vanilla Sherbet Cookie Dough Apple Cheesecake

Rainy Days

Gray Skies

Wet boots

Muddy Kids

Board games

Umbrellas

Sometimes thunder, sometimes lightning

Chit chat of bored people

Quiet voices

The ever continuing pitter patter on the ground

A sudden tiredness

Filled bird bath

Video games

Moths that can't fly

Branches dumping water on one when shaken

Boring beach

Kids letting rain fall into their mouths

A rainbow?

A single sunbeam

Revisiting the Anticipation Guide

     Lying is justifiable if it's for the greater good: At first, I had this as a three, but I would change this to a four now, because even though lying is really bad, if you're are trying to kill the bugger race so they won't kill you, then it's probably more okay then if it only helps you.  Or if it's to save someone's life so they won't do something that puts them in danger, then it's okay.
      Sometimes violence is the only way to solve a problem: I put a three on this one last time, and I would keep it the same because I pretty much still agree with it, It makes sense for this to be true if someone is attacking you and you are defending yourself.  Also, it would be true if you're in a war because two countries can't decide on something that you both want, and it's a big deal.  On the other hand, people should mostly be able to talk it out in words, because most of a time, there's always a way to make peace.
      It is okay to kill someone in self-defense: I put this as a four last time, and I still think that it should be that because if someone's trying to kill you, then you don't want to die!  I think that it's kind of their fault if you kill them, because they were trying to kill first.  If they didn't try to kill you, then they wouldn't be dead.
      Words are stronger than fists: I had this as a three, and I still think it's true because, as I said before, it depends on the toughness of the person, or how strong the words are.  Some people are tough and can 
just let words bounce off their backs,  or some are really hurt by mean words.  Fists can't hurt people as easily as others, and some are knocked out on the first throw, kind of like Ender beating up Stilson and Bonzo.
      Bullies hurt others because they have low self esteem: I did have this as a four at first, but now I would change this to a three because Bonzo seemed to be a bully, but he did have a lot of pride, and I think that he just wanted Ender out of his way.  This statement does seem to be true most of the time though, like in Stilson's case, I don't think he had very much self esteem.
      Only the best and brightest students should receive the best education to become a nation's leader: I still think that this should be a one, except if you're fighting a whole league of creatures. If you're not the brightest in school, then maybe you have other talents that qualify you? Or if your grade point average is like a 3.8, that's pretty close to being the brightest!
      Revenge is never justified: I put a four before I read Ender's Game on this, and I'm still sticking with that because you should never fight fire with fire, as I said before!  And as I said last time, if you can if it's something big, then go to court with them or something like that if it interferes with the law.
      Crying is evidence of weakness: I still think that this should be a two because everyone has cried sometime in their life, so you shouldn't be mean about it! If you are hurt, sometimes you just have to! Don't judge people on what they do and why!
      Any action is acceptable in war: I put this as a two, but now I would change it to a three, because if it's self defense, then any action would kind of be acceptable, or if you were fighting for your nation, then it kind of would.  On the other hand, you shouldn't hurt somebody already on the ground, or hurt in some way already.
      Teenagers need discipline and rules because they can't control themselves: I put this as a two last time, and I definitely wouldn't change that because most teenagers can control themselves fine, and can behave well.  Sometimes, we might get a little goofy, but we can still control ourselves and no when to stop.  We can make our own rules and things.
      Only through personal sacrifice can someone create positive change: I still think the same for this one, a one, because you don't have to sacrifice yourself to do good to the world!  Making a positive change is just doing little things, like picking trash up in the community, planting trees, and more! That's what makes a difference.
     Generating compassion for your enemies is the only way to create peace: I put a three on this one before I read the book, I would keep it the same because compassion isn't always the only way to create peace, because if you hate your enemy, you don't have to kill them, but you can bear with talking peacefully to them.  As I said before, hold a white flag up and work it out with words.

Ender's Game Questions Chapters 12-15

Chapter 12 – Bonzo
1. Ender provoked Bonzo by insulting his honor. He said how Bonzo's father would be proud of him for trying to kill somebody smaller than him, and things like that.  Bonzo responded by trying to kill him at the showers.

2. Stilson was the bully who tried to hurt Ender when he still was on Earth at the beginning of the book, but then Ender ended up killing him.  Ender was thinking of him because when Bonzo was there with him at the showers, he was reminded of all his enemies and people who had tried to hurt him.

3. Ender still expects help from the teachers because he thinks that they care for him and want to make sure that no one gets hurt at the battle school because of liabilities, and he's only a kid so he doesn't realize that he has to care for himself.

4.  I knew that Stilson and Bonzo were killed because of the clues in the chapter where the teachers were talking about how there was a death at the battle school, and it was the second one in history, and things like that.  The teachers said "they didn't tell him about Stilson, either," so that's another clue.

5. Ender was justified because he was a kid, he didn't mean to kill them, and it was self defense.  The teachers didn't tell him about the deaths because Ender didn't want to kill them, so if he knew he had, then he wouldn't do as good at the battle school and think that he was just like Peter, but worse.

Chapter 13 – Valentine
1. “Perhaps it is impossible to wear an identity without becoming what you pretend to be.” This quote means that you can't pretend to be somebody else and not naturally act like that. An example of this idea is when Valentine started acting like Demosthenes  even though that's not who she was, because when she was asked a question, she would say something that Demosthenes would say without even thinking about it. 

2. It kind of is a natural, “good” instinct for humans to be killers (survival of the fittest) because we want to keep thriving, and need this instinct to do that if another species is trying to kill us and fight us.

3. When Ender and Valentine were on the raft, they talked about the battle school and Peter.  Ender reveals about himself and his enemies that he felt like a puppet and was being used by the teachers, and that he always won his battles because he knew what the enemies were thinking, but then he would like them, but still kill them.

4. Valentine’s conflicting thoughts about her brothers were how Peter had mellowed, but the battle school had made Ender into a killer. There roles have shifted because Ender doesn't want to kill anybody, but he does end up killing people, and Peter stopped being as aggressive.  Valentine felt like they were two sides of the same coin, but she didn't always know which side was which.

5. Graff told Ender that the bugger war was inevitable, because it was true because they had ships flying to the bugger planets already that would land soon, so they would have to have a war.

Chapter 14 – Ender’s Teacher
1. What disturbs Ender about Eros is how it used to be a bugger planet, and he was living inside bugger tunnels.  Ender figures out the truth about Eros by talking to Mazer Rackham, and asking him what evidence there was in Eros that buggers were smart creatures.

2. Mazer was going to be the only teacher Ender ever had because his other teachers never taught him anything.  Mazer said to Ender "You have learned nothing.  You have never had a teacher."

3. Mazer had been dishonest with Ender because he didn't want him to know he was going to kill all of the buggers, because he wouldn't have killed them if he'd known.  I don't think Ender could've handled the truth.

4. I think that they pushed the children too far because Petra and some other people started to break and not do as well, but it was worth it because they beat the buggers.

5. Genocide, or in the case of Ender's Game where an entire alien race is annihilated, xenocide is justified because the queen of the buggers "thought" to Ender that she forgave the human race for killing them, if Ender would help her hatch her eggs. The xenocide of the Buggers was inevitable because the human race didn't know that the buggers didn't want to hurt them.

Chapter 15 – Speaker for the Dead
1. Valentine said, “Nobody controls his own life, Ender. The best you can do is choose to fill the roles given to you by good people, by people who love you.” After what has happened in Ender’s life, he would think about this that it was part way true, but it's very hard to fill the roles by good people, and not bad too.

2. Ender listens to the evidence about the deaths of Stilson and Bonzo. His opinion about the deaths are not good because he feels like he is Peter and he didn't want to kill them, just hurt them enough so that they wouldn't hurt him anymore.

3. Valentine made sure that Ender could never return to Earth because she didn't want him to be in the hands of Peter, who pretty much had control of Earth.

4. What's ironic about Valentine’s statement about Peter saving millions of lives is that he is a killer at heart, so saving people seems like the opposite of his personality.

5. The knowledge that Ender gained to enable him to write The Hive-Queen was from the queen herself, when she told Ender how the buggers didn't know that humans were intelligent life forms, so they tried to kill us, but then realized what we were and left us alone, but it was too late.  So now they forgive us for killing them.

6. Ender publishes the book using the pseudonym “Speaker for the Dead” and not his own name because he doesn't want people to know that he wrote it because they wouldn't like him and think he cared about the buggers.

Orson Scott Card Article Response

  I think that Orson Scott Card's views on gay marriage don't affect my opinion of his book Ender's Game, because his personal opinions don't come up in the book, and personal life and careers should be separate.  I do think, however, that many people will choose not to read this book, any of his other books, or see the movie, because of his views, because they don't have his opinions.
    I don't think that Mr. Vack should take this book out of his class's reading curriculum, because even though he doesn't support gay marriage, Ender's Game is still a really well written book.  And besides, if he hasn't taken it out yet, he probably won't ever.
   The movie company trying to keep Orson "out of the limelight" is probably a good idea, because the more he is kept out of the public, the more people will watch the movie because they won't realize how much he had a part in it, see his views on gay marriage, and not watch the movie or read his books.
   This movie shouldn't be boycotted.  Just because Orson Scott Card is in it and all, it doesn't mean that you don't have to watch it. Say you didn't want it to be a popular movie and all, because of Orson Scott Card, but it seemed like a good movie to you, then watch it! It won't be unpopular just because you don't watch it. It's probably still going to be a great movie, so join in the fun!

CEJ #5

Harris, Gardiner
2/25/13

New York Times

World

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/26/world/asia/in-india-missing-school-to-work-in-the-mine.html?_r=0

Children Toil in India’s Mines, Despite Legal Ban

This article is about how children in India, as young as five years old, are working in mines to earn money to survive.  Most of these children are orphans, but some have families they work to feed.  There is an estimated amount of 70,000 kids working in about 5,000 mines.  Basically, what these kids do each day is go seventy feet down a bamboo staircase to a pit, crawl through a tunnel in mud about two feet high for about a hundred yards, and then start digging coal.  They don’t wear hard hats or steel toed boots, and stuff their ears with cloth.  A man named Kumar Subba watches over five mines in Meghalaya, in Northeast India.  He has about 130 people working for him, says that his mines produce about thirty tons of coal per day!  

I think that this isn’t right for kids to be working in dangerous mines everyday, because there is even a law in India saying that all children, ages six through fourteen need to go to school, but it isn’t really enforced.  There is about 28 million kids working in India instead!  Kids shouldn’t have to do this, because without wearing hard hats or steel toed boots, you’re almost literally lying at death’s door.  I think that India is not a very good place, because they don’t enforce their laws, and so many orphans are working there, so they probably don’t have orphanages.  They should at least make the mines safer, rather than having children climbing down wobbly staircases that could collapse at any moment, and having them crawl through tunnels only two feet high!  That’s really hard and unsafe.  These kids working in mines is not a good idea.

Ode to Chocolate

You're always there for me

Ready to fill my mouth

With your wonderful taste

You're a light in the dark

Something to look forward to

The one to cheer me up

You come in different kinds 

Dark, like the night

Milk, like a flower

And White, like the snow

Your minty swirl is like a cloud

Your raspberry tang like a bright butterfly

Melted, you're a chocolate river

Ready for someone to jump into

Drink it up, slurp

Chocolate heaven

And I'm good for the day

Ender's Game Questions Chapters 9-11

Chapter 9 – Locke and Demosthenes
1. There is a real battle, internally and unspoken, between Peter and Valentine. I think that Valentine is manipulating Peter, and has power over him because she doesn't show that she does, so he doesn't realize that she has power over him.

2. Ender is still angry because he doesn't have any fun at the battle school.  It's just work, training for the games.  The same thing over and over.

Chapter 10 – Dragon
1. Ender was the kind of leader that has much authority and power over everyone else.  He was strict and treated Bean like Graff had treated him.  He was this kind of leader because less instruction wouldn't work with an army, like it did with his practice group, or else they wouldn't follow him.

2. What Ender did to Bean was treated him like he was the only one who would make a good soldier, out of all his other soldiers.   He did it because it was what Graff had done to him, in his launch group.      
The teachers wanted him to do that.

3. Salaam means peace.  This tells you how there were many different races at the battle school and that the power of religious identity was strong because the only thing keeping the world in peace was the problem of the buggers.

4. What's important about the end of this chapter is that Ender has started to grow tough and stop crying, and not trust anybody.   Ender’s reaction wasn't a mistake by the teachers, because they wanted him to think that he couldn't trust anybody at the battleschool.

Chapter 11 – Veni Vidi Vici
1. The computer knows Ender well because it analyzes what he does in the game, and looks at his files from when he had the monitor.   It really does.

2. “Yes. That’s the worst that could happen. I can’t lose any games. Because if I lose any--” (page 198).  This quote means that if Ender loses any games, then the teachers will know that Ender isn't good enough to be a commander, and will lose hope in him.

3. The teachers are pushing Ender so hard because they want to break him so that he will make a good commander and be good in the battle against the buggers.

4. The importance of the last two sentences of the chapter is that it shows how Bean's ideas are stupid, but they are actually very clever if you know how to use them.

5. “Veni vidi vici” means, “I came; I saw; I conquered.”  This is an appropriate chapter title because Dragon army came to the battle against rabbit army, saw what to do, and then conquered them.