Two Voice Poem on Global Warming

I WATCH THE WORLD DIE A LITTLE BIT MORE EVERYDAY.
There have been more forest fires in this city than more I have seen in a lifetime.
I can't even swim in the ocean anymore. If I do, I will be sucked down into all the oil that has consumed the water.


THE GARBAGE IS OVERFLOWING AND THERE IS MORE COMING.
The air smells of chemicals and no longer smells like a natural planet, but a machine.
I have to stumble through candy wrappers and discarded bottles to get home from school.


PEOPLE MAKE PROMISES, BUT THEY DO NOT KEEP THEM.
I have asked my friends not to litter, but they just laugh and say, "one person won't make a difference."
My parents have assured me that they will be more environmentally aware, but I see them throw their trash on the sidewalk floor.


IS THERE A FUTURE FOR US?
I wonder if there will be a world in 10 years.
Will there be an Earth for me to pursue my goals in, or will it be too late.


I AM A HUMAN.
I am a firefighter, and I care about the world.
I am 13 years old, and I plan to stop Global Warming. 

Occupy Wall Street

Hundreds of people have given up the safety and comfort of their homes to camp out on Wall Street. They are showing no signs of leaving. Well, it seems like they made their point. Now, there are many protests on the unequal distribution of wealth, not just on Wall Street, but now throughout major cities. It is a constant battle between the police and the protesters, and now things are starting to get physical. Some might even say that the police are abusing their power and authority. For example,  two police officers in the "Occupy Davis Protest" were suspended because they sprayed high concentrated amounts of pepper spray into the eyes of nonviolent protesters. Officials are apologizing for their actions, but the crowd still called for their resignation. The officers that sprayed the pepper spray are defending their actions, reportedly saying that they feared for their safety. Now this sounds weird to me. It seems like they didn't know that they were on video, because as it clearly shows, the victims were showing no signs of aggressiveness. In my opinion, the officers made the wrong move, because all they did was cause a bigger uproar.


In Oakland, California, things are going a little bit different. Protesters set up camp in a vacant city lot, and while the police watched, they did nothing to intervene. This seems to say that the government is becoming more cautious, because they know that the smallest push will set everyone off. In Washington, protesters hung a banner on the roof of the Franklin School building that said, "Public Property Under Community Control." They refused to leave the place until the building was used for community use. The school once served the homeless until it was shut down in 2008. The protesters do not want the city to sell it for private use. As we can see, there have not been a lot of violent incidences. At least, not as much as I expected. The police are obviously scared, and if the officials were not defiant or stubborn, it would stay relatively peaceful.


To us viewers, these protests may seem like a waste of time, which is completely understandable. But what we have to realize is that these protesters are not only fighting for their rights, they are fighting for ours too. These people are trying to balance the decisions the government, while also fighting against the police. These are very brave people. Maybe not the brightest, but definitely very brave. Of course, I don't think that they are dealing with things is ethical, because they are clearly provoking major fights with the police. But if we had their determination and some intelligence, we could change the world.  


       

James Bond-Hurricane Gold, by Charlie Higson

Hurricane Gold, by Charlie Higson is the fourth book in the Young Bond series. Higson has developed such an interesting character. Bond is only thirteen years old, yet he is wise, clever, strong, and brave. In every situation he is calm, and it never really explains how he is feeling. I think Higson did this to make James Bond more mysterious. I tend to like it better when the character is not a true hero at first, then he goes through this huge transformation and at the end of the story he is untouchable. This however, makes me question certain things: how did James get his confidence? Did he go through some other traumatic that made him tough? Was it his other missions that got him to this point? Now that I think back on Silverfin, the first book, he still seemed very calm and together.
Charlie Higson does a great job of developing bad guys, however. Whenever he speaks about the main antagonist, he describes him/her in complete detail. I can literally see the character in front of me, picturing them down to the last hair on their head.
In this story, James is somewhere in Mexico, and he is forced to travel with this American gang that are holding two little kids hostage. James has seen so much killing and torture, but I still don't know how he feels about it. I can never really connect to what James is going through, because I have never had to fight for my life. I enjoy Hurricane Gold, even if it is all action and no feeling.

1st Social Action Assignment

 In my book, Hurricane Gold by Charlie Higson, their are many social issues. If you are not looking closely, you would think that these problems are not important to the plot, but they should still be acknowledged, because Higson meant for them to be. I think they relate to the time period of this story.

13 year old James Bond is somewhere in Mexico, and so far I have noticed a lot of racist comments towards Mexicans. In one part, James is pretending to act Mexican, and his recently tanned skin helped disguise him. One American gangster says with relish : "All Mexicans care about are greenbacks. So long as we pay him, he's one happy greaser." Garcia, a friend of James Bond who is Mexican, seemed to shrink ten sizes when the gangster said that. In this book, there are a lot of power issues. It seems like a lot of the rich, white people seem to think that are better than the Mexicans, and I think that there was still discrimination during this time. The Mexicans, including Garcia, never really did anything except move away and sulk. What else could they do? At this time, nobody really thought to defend themselves, because it was just a natural part of life. The racist people knew this too, and it made them feel even more superior to their servants. The only possible solution was in the hands of James Bond. James didn't not believe in racism, so he was the one person that could teach the servants that they were not lesser beings. 
Another issue is money. Money is a HUGE thing when it comes to the antagonists. In any James Bond book, people will kill for money. Why? Because money is power. And that's what all the antagonists want: power. Usually, the enemy uses money to buy missiles or bombs, or anything that will kill. This brings us back to our status problem. People with more money tend to think they are better than others. They use that money to make other people think that they are powerful, and no one will touch them. When money is involved with James Bond, people get greedy and that is how others end up dead. It causes wars and challenges and even apocalypses. Money is where conflict starts. The only possible solutions are to take all the money from all the bad people, and then this will stop happening. But that is physically impossible for James Bond, and that is why there is a plot. Because what already happened will happen again. In one part, two rival gangsters are fighting for a huge amount of money (200,000,000 dollars), and they duel for it. When one kills the other, he says, "It was over before it began, for money only goes to the strong. You were never brave enough to take a life." 

The Lovely Bones- by Alice Sebold

One of the most powerful books I have ever read is The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. The author has such a great way of writing, the words just flow off the paper into the reader's imagination. The story begins and captured my attention immediately. It's about a girl that gets raped, then murdered. As the story goes on, you get glimpses of the past. Not many authors do this: start the book off with the main event, then keep going back in time at random times. Sebold took a huge risk, but she succeeded.
She writes in such a detailed way, describing every movement and thought of every character, until you feel like you are a part of the story. I think I know why Sebold did this. She knows that this is a very uncomfortable topic, and she wants you to feel uncomfortable. To her, everything that you're supposed to feel she wants you to feel, good or bad. This book is not supposed to be some happily ever after story where everything works out and the bad guy gets caught. This could happen to anyone, and she wants you to know that on the first page. That is one of the things that I admire about Alice Sebold: she is not afraid to scare you. She is not afraid to challenge you. I also like how with every few paragraphs, the year has changed This way, the reader gets to see character development and how the characters have grown. The Lovely Bones is a seriously mature book, and it changes your perspective on life. I recommend it only to people that are strong enough to tackle such challenge.

2 Really Good Blog Posts

I read Sumaiya's and Alyssa's blog post, and they were both really detailed and thoughtful. Sumaiya's blog was a whole summary on the book, Deadly Little Secrets by Laurie Storlaz, and it seemed like it was afun book to read. Sumaiya added the sequence of events in her post, and talked about how the characters were feeling. Sumaiya did a good job of making me want to read the book.
Alyssa's blog was about the book The Girl That Fell From The Sky. Alyssa put in a short summary, but she put a lot of thought into her writing. She talked about what her favorite part in the bok was so far, and I think I can learn from that. I should put more of my own feeling into the book I'm reading, which will make the blog post more interesting to read.
From reading these two blogs, I have learned about two new books, and two new methods of putting together a blog.

Nightrise- By Anthony Horowitz

Nightrise is the third book in the series of The Gatekeepers. This book with fill you with suspense and have you on the edge of your seat, unable to put the book down. Anthony Horowitz writes in such detail, making you feel like you are a part of the story. If he describes a place or a person, when close your eyes you will have the most vivid image in your mind, down to the last detail. The main character's name is Jamie Tyler. He has a twin brother named Scott, and they don't exactly live the luxury life. They were abandoned at birth and found in a cardboard box outside of an alley. They ended up traveling with a lame circus, where they had to put up with their abusive guardian. That doesn't sound like such a promising future, but Scott and Jamie are actually very special. They can read minds! And it turns out, they are part of a special prophecy that will come into play soon enough. Three other kids around the world are also part of this prophecy, and they have protectors that look out for them if they come to serious harm. But it isn't just good guys that are watching the twins. An evil group called Nightrise has taken interest in them, and will stop at nothing to get them. Nightrise makes their move and attacks, but only Scott is captured. Now before, Scott had always protected Jamie, and it even says that Jamie thought of Scott as his big brother rather than his twin. Now Jamie has to fend for himself, but not completely alone...a woman named Alicia who has lost her son to Nightrise has agreed to help Jamie find Scott, but still, the chances are not good. Jamie really matures throughout the book and shows true dedication to his brother when he puts himself in jail to find answers. Eventually, a tragic accident brings Jamie to the ancient past, where he discovers the other four Gatekeepers. A battle is fought, and Jamie takes part in it, because it was his destiny. Anthony Horowitz confuses the reader by talking about how the Gatekeepers live two lives. Sapling, Jamie's past self, has died, and now Jamie has to truly become a man and show no fear. A battle is fought and won. Eventually, Jamie comes back to his world and finds Scott. They find the two other Gatekeepers, Matt and Pedro. The circle is almost complete, but it is far from the end.