Today i am going to write about this wonderful book I have been reading. It is called, "I am Malala." This book is interesting for many reasons. i love the events. I love how determined Malala is about getting an education. She has something to say, and will not rest until it is heard.
      "I am Malala," is a true story of a young girl who is living in Pakistan however is under the Taliban rule. They are saying she cannot go to school, and that she cannot do a certain number of things. The Taliban have been blowing up schools. There are also suicide bombings, and terrorists claiming its a sin to dance and watch TV. People believe these terrorists and are uniting to destroy the schools. But all Malala wants to do is get an education. Malala refused to stop her education and continued to go to her school. However, one day the Taliban stopped Malala and her friends and shot her under her eye socket, and shot her friend as well. They had to get Malala to a hospital quick. Once they did they needed to leave the contry. The family fled to Britain.
      Malala cannot return to her home country, even though she loves Swat. Swat is her heart, her soul. She claims she is lost without it. Maybe someday all around the world girls can go to schools. But until that data, we will keep fighting.

An Interesting Topic

For the past few days in ELA we have been exploring the interesting, mystical forest of poetry. (See what I did there?) I personally have always loved to do poetry. The type of poetry we are currently experimenting with is where write a line and speak one by one.

For the first run most of the kids who shared spoke of homework and school work. There were, however a few kids that spoke from the heart. These kids spoke of society and it’s cruel ways. It was clear most kids were stumped for ideas. But after some inspiration we gave it another go. This time we heard some more truthful voices. The only issue was their heads were buried in their books.  So to add some power to these little voices we practiced turning it into a physical experience by having them do simple actions. I went with my best friend, memorized my line, and became a cave for her to hide in. This represented how we hide our true identity to “fit in”. I was louder once I had no script. Some other kids spoke louder too.

By the end of the activity we were stronger as poets and performers. The kids at the shy end of the class spoke with meaning. I enjoyed this activity and hope we do it again. It was a nice experience for everyone.

The Other Side of College Football

The Other Side of College Football    

By Chloe Ivey

            College sports are quite a popular topic. Millions of fans young and old enjoy to tune in and watch their favorite team. However, what these millions of fans may not know is that these athletes don’t get paid at all. Not a penny! The NCAA forbids any form shape or size of pay, which has caused a big debut. These athletes work too hard and support their college too much that it would be a crime for this work to go unpaid. 

            These incredible athletes do a lot for their schools. Not only do they work their fingers to the very bone to help their teams, but while their out in the field everyone else is reeling in the cash. The school, the coach, the only person that remains unpaid is the actual athletes. They sell these jerseys, temporary tattoos, jewelry, pants, shirts, bobble heads, you name it. The sad part is that without the athletes none of this could be possible. According to NY Times, “College football and men’s basketball have become such huge commercial enterprises that together they generate more than $6 billion in annual revenue, more than the National Basketball Association. A top college coach can make as much or more than a professional coach; Ohio State just agreed to pay Urban Meyer $24 million over six years. That’s a bucket load of money! And to think that not a penny of it goes to the players is insane! And according to Fox Carolina, “In September, former Alabama tackle DJ Fluker was one of five players who allegedly took money. Fluker is a guy who's reportedly dealt with plenty of hardships such as poverty and homelessness. And in 2012 he helped lead Alabama to a national title. According to a USA Today report, the school made about $82 million in revenue, and about $45 million in profit that year. Fluker, just like every player, didn't see a dime.” This quote just proves how hard it really is for most of these players to maintain a simple meal plan and even a home and how hard they work.

Picture this. Sweat clinging to their uniforms, sore muscles from working too hard, and bruises still lingering, the last game, from getting tackled. Cashing in, and giving athletes money is a mall price to pay for this hard work that they give back. USA Today shows the athlete’s schedules. “Football players in the NCAA's Division I Bowl Subdivision  said they spent an average of 44.8 hours a week on their sport, playing games, practicing, training and in the training room, compared with a little less than 40 hours on academics. Division I baseball players said they spent 40 hours on their sport, 32 on academics. In men's basketball, it was 36.8 hours on their sport vs. 33.9 hours on academics. Women's basketball was little less time-intensive, players saying they spent a little more than 36 hours on their game vs. a little more than 37 on classwork.  Other sports exceeding or approaching a 37 1/2-hour work week were men's golf (40.8) and hockey (37.6) and women's softball (37.1).” Also according to NCAA rules, if a player is injured or hurt and is not eligible to play they lose their scholarships as well. That is sick! If a player gets hurt fighting for their team then they also don’t get an education. So they’re permanently crippled and get to work a Mc Donald’s for the rest of their life. Does that seem logical? I think not.                                                             

Others disagree. They state that college is a better prize, and that it’s silly to start get ruffled about something so small. For example. ESPN states, “We need to stop looking at college as it relates to athletics as an educational aperture and look at it for what it has become: a business platform.” Well, ESPN is looking at the situation wrong. Yes, it’s true. College is a gift and something to be grateful for. The Huffington post states, “Here has been major discussion recently if college athletes should or shouldn't be paid while they are in school. The first thing opponents say is, "They're already getting a scholarship! That's more than anybody else! Don't be greedy! Fine, let's not be greedy and look at how much a scholarship is actually worth. On average, a full Division 1 scholarship is $25,000 per year. "That's $100,000 over four years!" But these athletes do more then get an education. They are what these collages lean on. They are one of the college’s main supports. These athletes go above and beyond for their colleges.                                                                                                     Looking at the players that do so much for their team should be an awakening for the NCAA. Everyone deserves to be able to support him or herself, but leaving the athletes helpless is ever so cruel.  We all seem to shy away from this topic. But we simply cannot leave thing topic lingering! We need to resolve this situation for the benefit of the athletes. 

Essay on, Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie.

      To begin this post, I thought I'd dip my toe uinto the waters of character change. In, "Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie," Steven's brother devlops luckemia. This changes Stevens point of view, and shakes up his whole entire world. He also homes to a realisation about hope, love, family, and the true meaning of being a man.
      At the beggining of the book the relationship the two boys had were typical brothers. Jeffery adores Steven and wants to be like him in every way possible. But Steven gets easily annoyed by Jeffery and just wants to be left alone. Then, once Jeffery gets hurt, and his parents take him to the hospital they discover that he has luckemia. Once this happens Steven realises the impact that the situation is going to have on his life. At first, Steven tries to pretend that his poor bald-headed baby brother is fine and healthy when Steven is at school. But soon everyone knows about it, and that tmethod doesnt take effect anymore. Then Steven is very selfish and throws a pity party by letting himself get bad grades and only seeing the bad in the situation. But finally at the end of the book, Steven comes to the realisation that he needs to start to put others feeling into the situation first. Steven also had a new attitude about the lack of attention he was getting."This woman (his mom) had spent nearly half of her time with her son, prayi ng for him, watching over him (Jeffery), comforting him, handling all this overwhelming cancer stuff."
      Steven made me think about how I would have reacted to a situation like that. Would I have shut  myself out of the world? My mom has a friend that lost her father, and when this happened, her friend did similar things. She zoned out of class, told no one about it, and almost didn't graduate high school. She also would make bets with herself. For example, "If this paper lands in this trash can, then I will get a good grade on my next test. I missed! Well, no point in studing now!" It wasn't until collage that she got her act back together. She also expirenced pain when her baby died. For a year, she sat around with her dog and cried. When she got a new job she had her own office so she could go and cry in it when neccisary. But now she has three kids and is as happy as can be. And just like my mom's friend, it wan't until Steven realised that you're not going to get anywhere siting around feeling sorry for yourself that they felt better. Steven came to this realisatiion on the chapter, "Im a Man Now." Then, for possibly the first time since all this had started, i stopped feeling sorry for myself and thought of other people's situations."
      I think the author wants the reader to know that hope is never lost. I know this is true because Steven was moping around and was miserable with his brother's death on the line 24/7, but then he got help. This helped him get through the process, and he was still able to be there for his brother. He also got his grade up and became friends with his crush, and his best friend became his girlfriend. Plus at the end the author says that when Steven waves to his brother he can spot a small bit of blond springing out of his little head. This is a bit of hope about Jeffery's condition. Hope also came in when we met Samantha, the girl Steven meets on a trip to the hospital with Jeffery. She has cancer too, and she tells Steven something that will benifit him forever. "Stay with your brother, Steven. Stay with him. No matter what."
      A man is brave and kind and gentle. A man is good and cleaver. A man needs to be looked at as a hero. Steven was a lost boy throught the book, until the end. Not only did he stay by his brother side the whole time, but he also was a big help and didn't lose hope. Once he bacame a man, he realised that when he felt bad then his brother needed the confort most. Steven even missed his concert for the band just so he could be with his brother. In this book, Steven changed from a boy to a man

Persuasive Essay

Lately in my class I have been studying persuasive essays. My current topic is; should collage football players be paid? Originally I thought they should. I mean they work so hard, and the cafeteria isn’t open very long in most schools. And they work so hard for nothing. It’s really unfair how everyone gets to make money off of the players. But I then realized most of the texts had a bias that supported the side that they should get paid. I recently ready a few articles that state how over-dramatic everyone is getting about this topic. They are going to collage for free. And the way the article’s that support that the players should get paid, make it sound like they are slaves. I do agree with these statements. Looking back at other texts brought me to a realization. The only thing is that I feel as if there is a border between the two opinions and one foot is on one side and the other is on the other side. 

Character change/EQ

Character Changes

            Throughout my book, “Watership Down,” I tend to find lots of important choices the main characters makes that effects the story in many ways. Such as when the whole entire gang decides to trust fiver and escape the warren before anything bad can happen. If Hazel never trusted fiver they would have all died. And if Hazel never helped Keshar, they wouldn’t have been able to find does for their warren, and their warren would never thrive and slowly die out. So these decisions lead up to the climax when they have a “deadly encounter” with General Woundwort. If Bigwig didn’t have the bravery of a lion they would have never made it this far. Therefore, the characters decisions have affected the story in a significant number of ways.

Upfront: Rethinking Juvenile Justice             

In my ELA class an interesting topic was brought to the table. Whether under aged teens should go to the adult jail. We took on both sides writing whether kids should or shouldn’t go to adult jail. The main theme my table gave was that they should only go for first-hand murder. In my opinion, I agree. The text seemed to have more evidence that kids shouldn’t go then that kids should. But I’m beginning to think even thought this wasn’t written in a biased format; because of the lack of evidence from the opposing side it is biased. And because this was introduced to me in a biased fashion it may have affected my point of view on the situation.