Thoughts by Becca

Recent talk about removing the phrase, “One Nation Under God”, from the Pledge of Allegiance has started an uproar.

Statistics show that more people want to keep the phrase in the Pledge than the amount of people who want to take it out. In my personal opinion I think it should remain in the Pledge. I am a strong believer in Christ and I will stand up for my faith. I believe that God made the earth and provided all we need so honoring him in our Pledge is just one small way to say thank you. However, I understand that there are people out there who chose not to be close to God and I feel sorry for them but it is their choice. I am not going to tell you that you are wrong, I am just going to keep praying that one day you will realize how much better your life would be if you knew God. I think that all Christians should encourage others to follow Christ with them. This can be done without insulting the beliefs of the other person. By insulting another person’s beliefs all you are doing is pushing them farther away from God and setting a bad example for all the other non-believers.  I think that the phrase should be kept in the Pledge because saying the Pledge is just one small part of your life and it is not going to hurt you to say it. By saying, “One nation under God”, you are not saying that you believe in God you are simply just saying words. The words you speak mean nothing unless you believe in what your saying with your whole heart. For that matter it doesn’t say what God it is referring to so if you believe in some other God then say the Pledge to them. Webster’s dictionary doesn’t say that the meaning of God is Christ it simply says:  “a person or thing of supreme value”. I believe it is talking about God Almighty but that is my personal belief and if you think I am wrong that is your opinion. This country was founded on Christianity and I think it should be kept that way. The farther we stray from Christ the worse our country will become.

 These are some of my favorite animated movies.

1. Bolt: Bolt is a dog on a hit TV show but he doesn’t know it. On the show Bolt has to use his super powers to save his owner Penny for the evil green-eyed man. After a full day of filming Bolt is taken back to his trailer, when the two on set cats decided to instigate him Bolt escapes the trailer and enters the real world. Bolt desperate to find Penny travels from coast to coast making friends along the way. He first meets Mittens a sneaky cat that helps him find his way home. Next he meets Rhino an adorable, fearless, TV obsessed hamster that happens to be Bolts biggest fan. While searching for his owner Bolt discovers that he wants a real home not just a trailer on a TV set.

2. Surfs up: One ordinary penguin, one dream, one chance to make it. This is the story of Cody Maverick a small penguin living in Shiverpool, Antarctica with one dream: to be the best surfer out there. Surfs up is a documentary of one amazing penguin. Cody enters into a surfing contest and shocks everyone by making it to the finals. All he has to do is beat the best surfer out there and he will accomplish his dream. Cody meets many people along the way that help him get even closer to fulfilling his dream.

3. Madagascar 2: They’re headed home to New York City, but what they will soon discover that home may not be what they think it its. The penguins rig up a plane that is supposed to take them home; however, when the plane crashes they land in a foreign land, Africa. They soon discover that Africa is the home they have always wanted. When Alex meets his dad for the first time he informed that he must go through a coming of age ceremony to join the tribe. Marty however discovers that there are many more zebras that are just like him, while he is searching for the one thing that makes him unique Gloria and Melman are having problems of their own. Madagascar 2 brings back all of the characters you feel in love with from the start in a new and interesting way.

4. Horton Hears a Who: Horton discovers a small town called Whoville, a tiny little speck on the end of a clover. When Horton and the mayor of Whoville begin to talk; the mayor discovers that the town must be taken to a safe place or it will be an end to Whoville. Horton decides the safest place will be on top of Mt. Nool. While traveling to Mt. Nool the animals in the jungle Nool mock him and put him down, but; Horton must put to words of the others aside and do what he thinks is right.

5.Wall-e: When the earth becomes to trashed for anybody to live on, the whole human population is evacuated to a space ship called the Axiom and army of robots are left to clean up the mess. The Axiom is populated with obese humans that don’t have to do anything for themselves. Meanwhile back on earth, all of the robots have died except for one. Wall-e collects interesting items in the garbage, cares for his pet cockroach, and watches Hello Dolly. A more advanced robot named Eve is sent to earth to see how the cleanup is coming. Wall-e befriends Eve and they embark on remarkable journey to save human kind and discover more about who they really are.

6.Kung Fu Panda: One will be chosen to defend the land against the evil Tai Lung. Po an obese panda who dreams of becoming part of the highly trained group of warriors known as the Furious Five is in for a big surprise. When he is chosen as the Dragon Warrior, Po must learn everything there is to know about kung fu and become the best he can be in order to defeat the powerful Tai Lung.

7. Bee Movie: Barry B. Benson is bee who has just graduated from college and is dreading the fact that he will have to make honey for the rest of his life. However, his life is changed when he decides to take a trip out side the hive. Barry befriends a human named Vanessa and soon discovers that people eat the honey they make. After making this discover Barry decides to sue the human race. Barry and Vanessa get into some trouble along the way to discovering how important they are to each other.

8. Ratatouille: Remy is an unusual rat; instead of eating trash he would rather cook himself something wonderful. Remy goes to Paris in search of his cooking idol only to discover that he is dead. Remy becomes friends with the new garbage boy at one of the greatest restaurants in Paris and works out a way to take him from garbage boy to head chef. Remy achieves his life dream of becoming a chef and helps some others along the way.

9. Happy Feet: An Emperor penguin without a “heartsong” is just not a penguin, or is it. Mumble a cute and loveable penguin is born with one unique talent, he can dance. However he is given this talent instead of his “heartsong”, without a “heartsong” he cannot find a loyal mate. Mumble embarks on a great journey to figure out where he belongs only to discover he’s been there all along.

In my English class we were asked to write an essay about our opinion of the sport boxing. However, in my read the net class we were asked to find an article and give our opinion about it as well. I felt so strongly about my opinion of boxing that I decided to use my essay for my blog post as well. Click the following link to view the articles: http://norwoodassignments.googlepages.com/BarbarityofBoxingarticle.doc 

I say get an education. Become an electrician, a mechanic, a doctor, a lawyer — anything but a fighter. In this trade, it’s the managers that make the money and last the longest. – Muhammad Ali  I believe that Muhammad Ali is right, boxing is not a career, it is a fight till the death and nobody cares when your dead they are just glad they made some money.

Boxing is imprudent sport. I don’t think it should be considered as a career, because the goal is to go out there and bash another mans head against the floor until he can’t take anymore. What is the point? Why would someone want to go to “work” everyday if their goal was to see how bad they could hurt their next opponent? My answers to these questions would be: there isn’t one and I wouldn’t want to. Boxing has no goal other than to demolish your opponent.

Spectators of the sport are just as imprudent as the boxers themselves. Why would someone want a front row seat to see one man injure another? We see this in the real world everyday; when a man watches the job he has been working so hard for move just out of his reach, or when friends are fighting about something so dumb yet it is enough to tear their friendship apart, or maybe even at home when loved ones are fighting for what they think is right. When we are surrounded by so much fighting why would you want to go and be surrounded with more?  Instead of encouraging fighting we should work to eliminate it from our everyday lives.

Boxers don’t run their lives freely; every choice they make is run by their trainers, managers, and many other people that help influence their decisions. Truth be told most managers don’t really care what happens to their boxers; all they care about is how much money they are bringing in and how much they get out of it. If something happens to the boxer they are working for, they just give their respect to the family and then move on to the next boxer. Many boxing managers are selfish and greedy; therefore, adding to the brutality of the sport.

Boxing is harsh and cruel no matter how you look at it. Yes, I understand that boxing can help people cope with their personal issues; but there are other ways to deal with those issues instead of bashing in another mans head. I can see where physical activity is helpful but going to a gym and beating up a punching bag or taking a run can help just as much as fighting another person can. Inflicting pain on another is not the only way to help overcome personal problems.

Every aspect of the sport boxing is brutal, from the boxers to the managers and even the spectators. Boxing has no point other than to injure your opponent and earn some money. We see enough fighting in our everyday lives so why should we add more to it.

Save the words is an awesome website that allows you to search through a bunch of misused words that they are trying to put back into everyday conversations. The site is an interactive site, you scroll over the words and click them to see what they mean. If you find a word that really sticks out to you, you can adopt it. By adopting a word you agree to keep this promise: “I promise to use this word in conversations and correspondence, as frequently as possible to the very best of my ability.” I was given assignment to go to the Save the Words site and adopt a word. After thirty minutes of looking through words I successfully adopted the word blateration. Blateration means to blabber or chatter. I decided that this would be an good word to adopt because I could easily fit it into everyday conversations. For instance, at lunch when all my friends start talking at once I can calm it down by saying, “Wow you are all in a very blattering mood today.” I am sure my friends will be baffled by my statement and start to question me about it. Once they know what this word means they will more than likely incorporate it into their own conversations. I encourage you to go out and save this word as well as adopt one of your own.

How many times have you changed the channel or just tuned out the news reporter talking about problems in other countries?

Why should we care?

Why should we waste our money on someone else’s problems when we have problems of our own?

Well when we began to study third world countries in Read the Net II I wasn’t very excited. But as I began to read stories about the day to day things people in third world countries have to deal with it really hit me that we should care and teenagers should definitely learn more about other countries because we are the future, we are the ones who can make a difference. The lives of people in third world countries are very different from ours; they face challenges everyday that we may face once a year or once in a lifetime. I think that we should learn more about other countries around the world because; if we are expected to step up and take charge of our world we must have some knowledge about it first.

Even though the United States seems to be headed for a depression we should still help out others in their time of need, because maybe they will come to our rescue one day. I don’t think all of our efforts should be put into helping others but I do think we should help, instead of ignoring the problems and hoping they will go away. If another country needs help we should send food packages, fresh water, mosquito nets, or whatever it takes to help them stabilize and get back on there feet again. My mom always says treat others the way you want to be treated and I strongly believe that if we will help others, they will help us when we need in a time of need.

Click on the link to see some of the amazing things Indonesia has to offer.

tour-of-indonesia-by-bstallmann

In my Reading the Net class we are studying third world countries; I was assigned Indonesia. I had already known that Indonesia was struck by a tsunami but I had no clue how bad things really were. This tsunami was one of the largest yet and it killed over 145,000 people. Even though many of the people survived the tsunami, they were without houses and the basic things they needed to survive. The clean up seemed endless, trash was everywhere, water flooded the town, and all of the people that got caught in the storm had to be there somewhere. Many people have gone to help clean up but the need more help. Please watch my public service announcement to learn more about the tsunami and how you can help.

Please take my survey on Indonesia.

1. Where is Indonesia located? (look at the map below)

Rationale: I created this question to see how many people actually know where Indonesia is located.

Prediction: I think students will easily be able to locate Indonesia.

2. What is Indonesia’s capital city? (look at the map below)

Rationale: I created this question to see how many people can located Indonesia’s capital.

Prediction: I don’t think students will be able to correctly guess the capital city.

3. What are some of the current issues Indonesia has?

Rationale: I created this question to see if students now whats going on in Indonesia.

Prediction: I think students will be able to name some of the issues in Indonesia.

4. What type of government does Indonesia have?

Rationale: I created this question to see if students know anything about the governments of other countries.

Prediction: I don’t think students will be able to answer this question.

5. What does Indonesias flag look like?

Rationale: I created this question to see how much students know about the flags around the world.

Prediction: I don’t think students will be able to answer this question.

6. What is the main food eaten in Indonesia?

Rationale: I created this question to see how many students know anything about the culture in Indonesia.

Prediction: I think students will be able to answer this question.

7. What is the main religion of Indonesia?

Rationale: I created this question to see how many students are aware of the religions around the world.

Prediction: I think students will be able to answer this question.

8. How many islands make up Indonesia?

Rationale: I created this question just for fun, to get students guessing.

Prediction: The answer is so large it would be amazing is if someone actually guessed it.

9. How many hours ahead is Indonesia from US Pacific Standard Time?

Rationale: I created this question to see how many students know there time zones. 

Prediction: I don’t think many students will be able to answer this question.

10. What is the main natural resource in Indonesia?

Rationale: I created this question to see how many students know the natural resources in Indonesia.

Prediction: I think students will be able to answer this question.

Hotel Rwanda

Stars: Don Cheadle as Paul Rusesabagina, Sophie Okonedo as Tatiana Rusesbagina, Nick Nolte as Colonel Oliver, and Fana Mokoena as General Austin Bizimungu

Director: Terry George

Rating: PG-13 for violence, disturbing images, and brief strong language

Other Facts: Don Cheadle and Sophie Okonedo both won an award for best actor and actress in a drama at the Black Reel Awards; this movie was nominated for 3 Academy awards

The Hutus have had enough they are going to fight back and wipe out all of the Tutsis! Back when Africa was first discovered the Rwandans were split into two groups the Hutus and the Tutsis. The Tutsis were the powerful group; they received all of the good jobs, while the Hutus belonged to the lower class and got all of the jobs nobody else wanted. The movie Hotel Rwanda brilliantly recounts this brutal period in the history of Rwanda. Paul Rusesabagina is a Hutu hotel manager that is married to a Tutsi woman. When the Hutus begin to revolt, Paul has to make some decisions that will affect not only his life but also everyone else’s. Paul starts out as a selfish character that only cares about saving his family but he quickly changes as he opens his hotel up as a refugee camp for Tutsi citizens. Paul Rusesabagina is trying to convince the UN soldiers to bus them out of the city, meanwhile the Hutus are becoming anxious and its all Paul can do to hold them off while he evacuates the people. There were many moments in this movie that brought tears to my eyes and made feel for those unfortunate people. In one particular scene Paul and his wife, Tatiana, are listening to a woman who has been bringing children to the hotel from an orphanage. She told them that when she went back to get the last group of children the Hutu army had beat her there and they had already started killing them, they made her stand there and watch and listen to them cry out for help as they killed each one. This brought tears to my eyes because those poor children never did anything wrong and just because they were labeled Tutsi they were killed. The actors did an amazing job in this movie; their acting was believable and gave you a sense of what it was like to be there during that horrible time. After watching Hotel Rwanda it really makes you think about how well off you life is and how even when you’re stuck in a rut there is someone out there that is stuck it a bigger one.