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I am reading the 100% awesome book Six Innings by James Preller and this book will rock your socks!

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Typical_baseball_game.JPG

This book is about two very good little league teams fighting in the most important game of the season to win the championship. It is also about a lifelong frienship between two kids and how they both have to come out winners. I am reading this book because I love the game of baseball and it is interesting to me to read a story about two teams trying to win a baseball game. On a scale of one to ten, I would rate it a nine because the book goes into a lot of details about everything that goes on and tells a life story about each kids so you know who they are when they appear. This book is kind of like a suspense story because the reader is always wondering what is going to happen next and there are a lot of flashbacks to many of the characters in the story.

O Henry Biography

Ten facts about O Henry:

• O. Henry was born on September 11, 1862 in Greensboro, North Carolina.
• O. Henry was his pen name, and his real name was William Sidney Porter.
• He was famous for his unusual endings to his short stories.
• His mother died when he was three years old and left school when he was fifteen years old to pursue many jobs.
• In 1896, he was accused of embezzlement and he fled to Honduras since he did not want to turn in to the police.
• He wrote many short stories in prison and his pen name was O.Henry because he did not want his readers to know he was in jail.
• He wrote twelve stories total while he was in prison and was released two years early because he showed good behavior.
• Some of his most famous works include "The Gift of the Magi" and "The Ransom of the Red Chief", which was published later in his life.
• He suffered from alcohol adiction during his life when pressure was brought upon him to write more stories and he died of cirrhosis in the liver on June 5th, 1910 in New York, New York.
• He was married twice during his life, and one of them lasted ten years while the other one only lasted a couple years.

Information from- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0377958/bio

Picture from http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=O+Henry&qpvt=O+Henry&FORM=Z7FD#

The Masque of The Red Death Essay

Andrew Beard

Mrs. Zurkowski

Honors English 9- Yellows

27 October 2010

The Dawn of a New Life

            In The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe, there are many rooms in Prince Prospero’s castle and they all contain one of seven colors. The first room from east to west contains the color blue, and this color plays a major role in symbolization. The color blue symbolizes the birth as one of the stages in someone’s life and also represents the dawn of a new day since the sun sets in the East and the blue room is first from the east in Prince Prospero’s castle. This color represents the very first stage in someone’s life and is very short lived since the second color, purple, begins when one is a toddler. The color blue also represents the season of spring since blue represents birth of a new life like spring represents the birth of a new year. The color blue can represent many things in the world just like it represents the first room of the castle and it gets everything started.

            All of the colored rooms symbolize some stage of progression in someone’s life. The color blue is very simple because it starts one’s life just like it starts the set of rooms in Prince Prospero’s castle. Many people consider blue to be the birth of something and a completely new beginning. This could also represent the happiness of the birth of a child and how excited a child is to be starting a new life in the world. A newborn baby eventually progresses to a new color, or stage in their lives but the first stage is always the most memorable for a child. The color blue is the very beginning on the ebony clock because it is the very start of the life cycle and does not go on for that long since the stage ends when a baby or child becomes a toddler. The most important thing to remember about the color blue is that it is and always will be the first stage of one’s life and is the catalyst for the progression of one’s life.

            The color blue was present in my life when I first came into existence. When I was born, I was experiencing a new beginning that had never happened before and I felt happiness throughout my small body. My parents also felt plentiful excitement that I had the opportunity to start my own life. Even though I do not remember most of the things that happened to me during my early years, I know there had to be so much enjoyment from everyone in my family. I know this stage went by very quickly in my life but it was probably the most important stage. This color was important in the story because it started the story just like it starts someone’s life and was the color of the first room in the castle, from east to west. The color blue represents birth or a new beginning in the life cycle and will probably always be the most valuable stage in one’s life.

http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi

Edgar Allan Poe Questions

1. Edagr Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, MA.  He died on October 7, 1849. http://www.poemuseum.org/life.php
3. Five of the thirteen theories are epilepsy, toxic disorder, diabetes, rabies, and murder. http://www.poemuseum.org/life-death.php
4. Poe considered Virginia his home. http://www.poemuseum.org/life-richmond.php
5. According to the Poe Society of Baltimore, they think Poe considered Maryland his home. http://www.eapoe.org/index.htm
6. Poe got dismissed from the United States Military Academy in 1831.  http://www.poemuseum.org/life.php
7. Poe married Virginia Clemm in Richmond on May 16, 1836. She was thirteen years old. http://www.poemuseum.org/life.php
8. I think the marraige was kind of odd and strage because it is wierd to marry your cousin and it is not right to marry someone at the age of thirteen since they are not ready for it anyway.
10. "The Black Cat" was written in 1845 and "The Tell Tale Heart" was written in 1850. http://poestories.com/stories.php
11. "The Raven" was published in 1845. http://www.poemuseum.org/works.php
14. I signed the guestbook. http://poestories.com/guestbook.php


  http://www.eapoe.org/poeimage.htmb

I think Edgar Allan Poe's life was kind of strange in terms of all he went through and I think all the theories about his death are just odd to begin with. I like most of Poe's works, especially "The Raven" and I think they all have a central meaning to them. I also think some of his strories are creepy and scary, especially The Masque of the Red Death and I sometimes wonder how he developed such an idea to make each story so creepy. I have not really read that many poems or stories from Poe and I never really learned about him in the past, but I am excited to read his famous works and hopefully I can get to know him better.

Welcome Back!

I welcome you back to my English blog for the second quarter of the year. I am excited to read short stories in the upcoming weeks and I am interested to find out all about William Shakespeare's life. I think Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream will be a great book to read during the year and I am looking forward to it. I am happy to start blogging again and I will keep you informed for a while.

Bullying Research Paper

B. 1

Andrew B.

Mrs. Zurkowski

Honors English 9- Yellows

3 October 2010

Bullying- Inside and Out

            Every day, thousands of kids are bullied in schools and online around the United States and this constantly goes on daily. For example, a boy is beaten up at school and then when he thinks it cannot get worse, he is also cyberbullied later that night. Victims of bullying feel abused and left out so they have thoughts of running away or even suicide. Meanwhile, the bullies feel good about themselves for bullying and they want to do it again so more and more kids are bullied again. This is a continuous cycle that desperately needs to be stopped somehow but instead of getting better, it is getting worse.  Bullying is a major problem in schools today because physical abuse affects numerous kids per year and since they are also being cyberbullied, solutions need to be made to control bullying and eventually stop it.

            One form of bullying is direct bullying, which usually happens at school and affects millions of kids each year. "In 2007, nearly 1 out of 3 students in middle school and high school said they had been bullied at school during the school year." (Paulson 1) There are many ways to bully, which include punching, kicking, and other ways to bring pain to other students.  Children will have a hard time learning if the learning environment is not safe due to bullying (Paulson 1). According to Fox, bullies prevail with their power over weaker people in school too much (1). The bullying numbers will continue to rise unless teachers can control and eventually stop it and students need to have respect for everyone in the school. Bullies also feel

B. 2

proud of what they do so bullying others builds their confidence and they also become more popular. According to Fox, girls become more popular as bullies than boys (1). It is hard for schools to stop bullying because it goes on all the time and it remains one of the worst problems schools have to deal with.

            Indirect bullying such as cyberbullying usually occurs over the Internet and this has become a major problem over the last few years. Cyberbullying involves posting mean things about someone on social networking sites like Facebook and then the victim sees it and then says bad things about the other person. Many teens have been cyberbullied, and girls tend to be bullied more than boys (Lundsten 1). The two teens will eventually exchange enough mean things to each other that they will stop and they will feel abused. In some cases, the effects of cyberbullying are serious and sometimes life-taking. "In some cases, cyberbullying causes more extreme reactions- like running away or even suicide." (Lundsten 2) Many people think that cyberbullying is probably worse than direct bullying due to how serious it can be. Cyberbullying is worse than direct bullying because you cannot escape cyberbullying since it is all over the Internet (Lundsten 2). Cyberbullying is so common that anyone online could be a victim.  According to Lundsten, everyone online is at risk of being cyberbullied since people can target any victim (3). Cyberbullying has been an ongoing issue in recent years and will get much worse since it cannot be stopped completely.

            Bullying can be prevented in many ways with after school programs and schools must be able to control bullying. After school programs are very helpful because they can teach about bullying to certain students who are targeted the most so they can be prepared for it next time. They are also helpful because they keep bullies at school so they do not do any harm outside of

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school. Sometimes these programs cannot occur, especially in the last few years in schools that are located in bigger cities. Paulson states that programs to stop bullying have not happened because they have been affected by budget cuts (2). Bullying can also be stopped if teachers can handle it themselves and they can catch the bully instantly. According to Paulson, adults and teachers need to be trained in order to control and prevent bullying (1). Also, state legislature is considering laws to help control bullying in schools that really need them. "Suicides linked to bullying have drawn particular attention to the issue, and several states have considered or enacted anti-bullying laws." (Paulson 1) Schools need to be able to put anti- bullying plans into effect rather than teachers just talking about it all the time. According to Fox, preaching about stopping bullying will not work until the students can put it into action (1). If solutions can be made to at least control bullying a little bit, it will make a huge difference in the future and schools will be better off with themselves.

            Many people could say that bullying could be a good thing. One reason they would say this is that a person who bullies can become stronger and can build their self- esteem. According to Fox, bullies become more popular when they bully and they are admired by other students for their strength, so their confidence goes up (1). This point of view is wrong because the bully will only be looked up to unless they get caught and when they do get caught, they will be in serious trouble. Lundsten states that if someone uses physical threats to someone to bully them that can be considered a crime so the police could actually come in to assess the situation (4). If a bully gets in serious trouble, they will not be admired anymore and they will become depressed and their confidence will be all gone.

           

B. 4

            There is also another reason why people would think bullying can be a good thing. The reason is that bullying can show how poorly schools are handling the situation and show

that teachers need to handle it better in order to create a safe learning environment. Schools will not be able to stop bullying and it will only continue to get worse in the United States until everybody learns to respect each other (Fox 2). This reason is wrong because laws and regulations are beginning to be passed in each state about bullying and teachers are controlling bullying better than before. “School personnel, from principles to food preparers, need to be trained in how better to recognize and respond to troublesome behavior.” (Fox 1) Also, schools need a better way of reporting school bullies so they know who did the damage. As long as teachers can monitor hallways for bullying and know how to respond to it, bullying numbers should decrease in the near future.

            There are two main types of bullying, which are direct bullying and indirect bullying. Direct bullying happens in schools and can have bad effects on victims, including depression and thoughts of suicide. Cyberbullying occurs over the Internet where cruel things are said about a specific person and everyone online could be cyberbullied at some time. There are many solutions that can be made to decrease bullying including after school programs and teachers need to be taught to control bullying when they see it. The first viewpoint is wrong because people will not look up to a bully who gets in trouble and the bully will not be popular since no one would want to hang out with him or her. The second objection is wrong because steps at this point are being made in the right direction including anti-bullying laws and teachers are starting to keep their eyes out for bullying. Bullying is still a major issue because it affects how kids learn in school but it will only get better from now on since initiatives are finally being made.

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Works Cited

Fox, James Alan. "The hard lesson about bullying; Schools alone can't stop it." Boston Herald 1    Sept. 2010: 021. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 4 Oct. 2010.

Lundsten, Apryl. "Attacked Online." Girls' Life (Vol. 17, No. 1). Aug/Sep 2010: 77. SIRS           Researcher. Web. 04 Oct 2010.

Paulson, Amanda. "School Bullying Summit's Big Hope: An Anti-Bullying Tipping Point." Christian Science Monitor. 11 Aug 2010: n.p. SIRS Researcher. Web. 04 Oct 2010.

Source-www.googleimages.com

             

           

JC Database Article #3

Andrew B.

Mrs. Zurkowski

Honors English 9

24 September 2010

Lundsten, Apryl. "Attacked Online." Girls' Life (Vol. 17, No. 1). Aug/Sep 2010: 77. SIRS      Researcher. Web. 24 Sep 2010.

Notes

·         Cyberbullying has become a major issue in the last few years with social networking sites like Facebook mainly with girls.

·         Cyberbullying is becoming worse than in-school bullying and there is no way to escape or hide from it since it is all over the Internet.

·         People that cyberbully feel as if they can post whatever they want as much as they want about a person without the victim fighting back.

·         Cyberbullying can have more negative effects than direct bullying in school like depression and even suicide, which there have been two cases of it this year.

·         Bullying behavior is caused by the bully wanting to hurt the victim or just wants to control everything he or she can.

·         There are many types of bullies depending on the person or group’s intent.

·         The most prominent type of cyberbullying is when the conversation starts out as teasing but then evolves into bad words that can affect someone’s emotional state.

·         The one thing is odd about cyberbullying is that anyone could be a victim since the bully could target anyone at any time.

·         If you are being bullied, report it to a trusted adult or teacher at school, and the situation will eventually get better.

·         “If you don’t know who the bully is, make sure your network is made up only of your true friends.” (Lundsten, pg.4)

·         “Bullying is repeated and relentless and is meant to humiliate and demean you.” (Lundsten, pg.4)

·         There are many forms of cyberbullying, including hurtful comments, threatening texts, and private pictures.  

Source- http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi

JC Database Article #2

Andrew B.

Mrs. Zurkowski

Honors English 9

23 September 2010

Paulson, Amanda. "School Bullying Summit's Big Hope: An Anti-Bullying Tipping Point." Christian Science Monitor. 11 Aug 2010: n.p. SIRS Researcher. Web. 23 Sep 2010.

Notes

·         Many suicides have been reported with cases of bullying and because of this, many states are considering bullying prevention laws to stop it at once.

·         This is probably the first time that the United States as a whole is meeting to discuss bullying and there is a lot of hope that something will be done to stop bullying.

·         It is hard for students to learn if bullying is an ongoing issue in their school and kids start to drop out and fail school.

·         Schools that have bullying prevention programs drastically reduce bullying and benefit form a good learning environment for students.

·         “In 2007, nearly 1 out of 3 students in middle school and high school said they had been bullied at school during the school year.” (Paulson, pg.1)

·         “900,000 high schoolers reported being cyberbullied in 2007.” (Paulson, pg.1)

·         Many bullying programs cannot happen due to budget cuts at the school and this can result in a rapid increase of bullying.

·         There is much more attention surrounding bullying at schools across the United States, but some laws might come with it that schools might not want to deal with.

·         Sometimes students get bullied worse the more it happens to them while some report that that the bullying either stops or gets better after the first time.

·         The amount of bullying depends largely on how the teachers can handle it and how well they can respond to it.

Source- http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi

  

Database Article #1 Notes

Andrew B.

Mrs. Zurkowski

Honors English 9

22 September 2010

Fox, James Alan. "The hard lesson about bullying; Schools alone can't stop it." Boston Herald 1 Sept. 2010: 021. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 23 Sept. 2010.

Notes

·         Bullying will continue to be another issue for this new school year.

·         All schools are trying to enforce a bully- free learning zone so schools can be safe.

·         Teachers and other authority members need to be trained to handle bullying situations so they can stop it right away.

·         There should be a clear and easy way for teachers to report a case of bullying so the bullying does not spread.

·         To prevent bullying in a school, student must show that they can maintain a safe learning environment for a long period of time.

·         It is very difficult to tell bullies to stop because they take pride in what they do and people admire them for that.

·         Bullies are usually the most popular kids in school for what they do.

·         “Contrary to the common stereotype that bullies are unhappy, unsuccessful misfits attempting to compensate with their fists, those who rule the hallways are typically seen as cool and accomplished.” (Fox, pg.1)

·         Many of the popular bullies were found to be female.

·         Bullies like to watch and think about bullying and when they see it happen, they enjoy it and take pleasure in it.

·         “Effort to combat bullying will be feeble so long we as we admire aggressors and pity pushovers. Sure, schools need to change, but so does society.” (Fox, pg.2)

Source- http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi

My Three Research Questions

I am doing my research paper on bullying and here are three questions on my topic:

1. How does bullying affect a person both mentally and physically?

2. What ideas or reasons motivate people to bully?

3. What are direct and indirect ways people bully others?

Image source- http://www.google.com/images

Preliminary Research Assignment

Andrew B.

Mrs. Zurkowski

Honors English 9- Yellows

14 September 2010

Book- Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher

Topic- Bullying

Search Terms:

1. “Bullying in adults”

2. “Bullying in schools”

3. “Bullying in younger children”

4. “Types of bullying”

5. “Effects of bullying”

6. “Bullying by gender”

7. “Reasons to bully”

Bullying

            One very important issue in the book Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher was bullying. I will be researching about bullying and how it affects a person’s mental state. Bullying continues to be a major problem in schools across the world but schools are desperately trying to stop bulling. According to aifs.gov, school bullying affects one in six people and males tend to bully in direct and physical ways while girls tend to bully in indirect and mental ways (http://aifs.gov.au/afrc/pubs/briefing/b11pdf/b11.pdf). Also, according to aifs.org, younger kids tend to report bullying more than older kids and the effects of bullying are more enduring for girls (http://aifs.gov.au/afrc/pubs/briefing/b11pdf/b11.pdf). Cyber bullying is also becoming more predominant as an indirect form of bullying as kids are starting to say bad things about people on chat sites and by e-mail. There are many effects or symptoms to bullying like depression and anger and bullying make students start to fail classes and drop out of school. This issue relates to my book because the main character T.J. was bullied at his school for being black by just a little bit and he was harassed every day.  I think this topic is good to research on because there will be a lot of information to use and I think bullying has many other things to it. This does not really relate to my life but sometimes kids will make fun of me or tease me so that kind of gets me down, but that does not happen too much. This topic means a lot to me because I think bullying is the worst thing that can happen in a school and I really want to express how bad bullying can affect someone in their physical as well as their mental state. I am definitely against bullying and I strongly encourage leaders of the schools around the world to implement rules to stop bullying completely.

All information came from http://aifs.gov.au/afrc/pubs/briefing/b11pdf/b11.pdf

Source- http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bullying_Irfe.jpg

Pen Pal Assignment

703 Churchville Road

Bel Air, Maryland 21014

September 3rd, 2010

Dear TJ,

My name is Andrew B., and I enjoyed reading about how interesting your swim team is. My summer was really fun, but I probably know that you had a hectic summer. Over the summer, I went to the beach in Delaware with my cousins for a week and that was a blast, and I also did a lot of little things that were fun, too. I also went to a lot of baseball games around the state of Maryland and I also went to Pennsylvania and Virginia. I had so much fun that I really did not want to go to school again, considering this is my first year of high school. I bet you were just trying to relax over your summer, and I cannot blame you. You are probably happy just to be home without any dangers in your way and I am so sorry that your dad died and I hope you can get through it safely.

I thought the book you were in was interesting but scary at the same time. I liked how you made a swim team and invited the kids who did not fit in well, especially Chris. I was upset and mad when the jocks at your school would make racial comments and made fun of you just for a letter jacket. I really thought the swim team made you feel a lot better because you could spend time with kids who trusted you. I did not like all the violence that occurred in the book and I thought you could have handled some situations a lot better. The one situation that I thought you handled superbly was when Rich Marshall shot your dad at Hoopfest. I liked how you did not try to get revenge on Rich and you stayed away from him so he could get in trouble. Overall, I thought the novel you were in was interesting but it could have been a lot more positive.

I thought Chris Crutcher’s writing style during the book was good at some moments but really bad at other moments of the book. He constantly made you and a lot of other characters say a lot of bad words, including the “f” word, so I was not okay with that aspect. I also did not like how he wanted to solve problems with violence all the time. I did like how he would add a lot of mystery to the problems that grabbed my attention and it made me want to read on. I thought the writing style was somewhat realistic with you and other characters trying to solve problems in a humane way but it was not realistic when you would hurt someone to get revenge.

There are many questions I would like to ask you, like how did you handle all the stress that was put on you or what made you want to start a swim team in the first place. Some other questions would be how could you even handle all the racial comments said to you and how does it feel to be an adopted child. I thought the event where you and your swim team got your letter jackets was a proud moment for you because you went through all the struggle and you proved that anyone can get letter jackets no matter who they are. I also thought a turning point was when your dad was shot because it would change your life forever and it would make you think of all you have been through up to that point

The main issue in the book for you was racism and prejudice. You could have dealt with this issue in school in numerous ways. First, you could have gone to your principle and told him that people were being racist to you and the principle would make them stop immediately. Secondly, you could go to a trusted adult and tell them what is happening to you at school,, and then they would know what to do. If you want to take a bigger step, you could argue against city court and they could pass laws about racial issues. This novel will leave me thinking why you were being discriminated anyway in the first place.

Hopefully you can receive this message and I am saying goodbye to you. I hope you do well in life, and I want you to stand up to racism at your school.

Sincerely,

Andrew B.

http://www.google.com/imgres

Summer Reading Questions

For my summer reading assignment, I read the book Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher. It was about a boy named T.J. who was discriminated by kids at his high school so he started a swim team for kids who did not fit in, like him.



Andrew B.




Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher Social Issues: Adopted children, prejudice

The Book

1. T.J is the main character in the book. He is athletic because he is a gifted swimmer, emotional because he gets worked up about everything, and strong because he must overcome numerous racial comments.

2. In the beginning of the book, T.J. realizes that he wants to make a swim team at his school since he was a great swimmer in the past and starts recruiting kids to be on the team. In the middle of the book, the swim team has decided that they will get letter jackets if they all improve their race times every week and they start practicing and performing in various swim meets across the area. In the end of the book, a guy named Rich Marshall starts to cause trouble and T.J.’s family is trying to get him put in jail, but on the other hand, everyone on the swim teams earns a jacket to prove that not only jocks can wear the jackets.

3. I think the author is trying to say that everyone deserves to live on Earth, even if they are different or do bad things, and we should live our lives to the fullest while avoiding obstacles in our way.

The Issues

1. These issues affected TJ because people were discriminating him and saying racial comments so therefore, he got in a lot of fights at school and wanted to seriously hurt the people that bothered him. Also, the racial issue made TJ start a swim team and get players who would respect him ant treat him fairly to get away from the bad people. The adopted issue helps TJ because he can live a better life with his new adopted parents rather than his biological parents, who did drugs.

2. One event in the book that contained a social issue was when Rich Marshall shot TJ’s dad at Hoopfest in Spokane Washington. Rich Marshall was trying to get revenge on TJ just for being a different skin color and he fatally shot his dad after a tough loss to his team in a game of basketball. TJ was devastated by this and did not care what would happen to Rich Marshall but instead he cared about his dad. Another instance in the book that contained a social issue was when the Athletic Council did not allow the swim team to get letter jackets. The Athletic Council said if the swim team can meet all of its goals at the end of the season, they could get letter jackets. They completed all of the goals, but the Athletic Council did not allow it just because the kids were different from the rest. Prejudice was in effect in this event, and the author made it very clear that just because you do not look or act like the rest, it does not mean you should not live with the others.

http://www.google.com/imgres

My Unique Profile

Andrew B.

9/1/10


My Unique Profile



My name is Andrew B, and I was born on June 18, 1996. I have gone to St. Joan of Arc School my whole life since kindergarten and it was a very small school. It is hard for me to go to a big high school like John Carroll from such a small school like St. Joan of Arc. I like to play baseball during the spring and I like to play basketball during the winter when it is cold to give me something to do. I have been playing baseball since I was 5 and I have been playing basketball since I was 6. I am a huge Orioles and Ravens fan and I try to follow them as much as I can. I also like to watch college football, especially Penn State and Maryland, on Saturdays and I like to see them win. I want to get involved in some of the sports here like baseball and I want to get involved with some of the extra-curricular activities here, but I have not chosen yet. My goals here are to get good grades and be on time for classes but I also want to make new friends and get involved somehow. As for my family, I have a twin brother, which is unusual, and I have a sister who currently attends John Carroll. My mom went to this school along with all my aunts and uncles and my grandmother is always in connection with John Carroll. I have a golden retriever named Taffy and I have a large cat named Boo. One other thing I like to do is go to baseball games around the area, including the Ironbirds and the Orioles. This is all about me, and I hope you enjoyed it!