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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

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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

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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.

           

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            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