Young and looking for a role model. - Monster 5

When we are young we all look for a role model. Weather it’s a superheroes, a TV character, an athlete or even an older sibling. I personally didn’t have any other sibling but I can imagine at what point I would look up to my older brother if I had one.

When your older sibling is on trial for felony murder you can see at what point he would not be a very good role model but he can still be one for his little brother. How? You may ask. By giving him advice on how to not end up in that position. If you look at someone for who he is and not for who he has been you can learn many things. If I was in Steve Harmon’s position what would I tell little Jerry?

First off, I would tell Jerry to watch who he is friends with. Not to be friends with the badass ‘’Cool’’ kids…. Your not very ‘’cool’’ when your about to go to jail for something now are you? Being friends with law breakers even if you’re not one yourself will end you up in trouble anyways just because you are with them. Second, I would tell him to never drop out of school. Although I, as Steve Harmon have not dropped out of school I am smart enough to see at what point my life would take a turn for the worst if I did. School is very important. Not only does it give you an education but it keeps us out of drugs, stealing and any other thing related to gangs. Ah, yes…gangs. I would also tell my little brother NEVER to try/enter a gang. It might seem like something fun and exciting at first but dealing with the Diablo’s is no joke as you can see by looking at James King sitting on the bench over there, handcuffed to a medal bar.

To some it up, in this case. Jerry should have his older brother as a role model for one simple reason. Yes he has messed up but Jerry can learn from these mistakes and not have to do them for himself. All and all, this is the advice I would give if I was in Steve’s place.

On Stand, 16 and black - Monster 4

On Stand, 16 and black….His hands shake profusely but I see in his eyes that he can’t stop it. He’s scared. He knows better then I do what kind of discrimination he is going to face.

Hello, my name is Jackie Robinson. I know all to well what this man is feeling. In 1944 I was arrested because I refused to move to the back of a segregated bus during training camp. At the time Baseball was also segregated like that bus. I played in the Negro Leagues but was drafted by Branch Rickey to play for the all-white Montreal Royals. I was confronted with a lot of racial abuse during the seasons, mostly during away games. In 1947 I was the first African American to play in the MLB (Major League Baseball).

Steve Harmon is starting at a disadvantage in this trial, just like I did playing baseball. The jury does not see an innocent young man but they see a GUILTY black man. Furthermore he grew up in the ‘’getto’’ of New York so that automatically make him a piece of scum…. Right off the go, it doesn’t matter what Steve has or has not done. The discrimination found in this case alone will most likely be enough to but him away.

If I get a chance to speak to this young boy I will tell him not to give up. Don’t let people judge you based on what you look like, based on where you grew up or even based on how you talk. MAKE them judge you based on who you are and how you think. Show the jury who Steve Harmon is and who Steve Harmon wants to be. Never back down from no one and always prove them wrong. You need to believe in yourself before you can convince others to do so.

On Stand, 16 and black - Monster

On Stand, 16 and black….His hands shake profusely but I see in his eyes that he can’t stop it. He’s scared. He knows better then I do what kind of discrimination he is going to face.

Hello, my name is Jackie Robinson. I know all to well what this man is feeling. In 1944 I was arrested because I refused to move to the back of a segregated bus during training camp. At the time Baseball was also segregated like that bus. I played in the Negro Leagues but was drafted by Branch Rickey to play for the all-white Montreal Royals. I was confronted with a lot of racial abuse during the seasons, mostly during away games. In 1947 I was the first African American to play in the MLB (Major League Baseball).

Steve Harmon is starting at a disadvantage in this trial, just like I did playing baseball. The jury does not see an innocent young man but they see a GUILTY black man. Furthermore he grew up in the ‘’getto’’ of New York so that automatically make him a piece of scum…. Right off the go, it doesn’t matter what Steve has or has not done. The discrimination found in this case alone will most likely be enough to but him away.

If I get a chance to speak to this young boy I will tell him not to give up. Don’t let people judge you based on what you look like, based on where you grew up or even based on how you talk. MAKE them judge you based on who you are and how you think. Show the jury who Steve Harmon is and who Steve Harmon wants to be. Never back down from know one and always prove them wrong.

Steve Harmon - Monster 3

Steve Harmon, main character in Walter Dean Myers, Monster. The young 16 year old is on trial for murder. He is worried mainly of what the jury thinks of him. As said from attorney Kathy O'Brien ''My job is to make sure the law works for you as well as against you, and to make you a human being in the eyes of the jury.'' (P.16, Monster) The jury is who will decide the faith of Steve Harmon. As seen in the similar movie, A Time To Kill, they must show to the jury that Steve is not a criminal. He is a young boy who still has lots to do in life. Much better things then sit around in a penitentiary wasting away a perfect life. That is why Steve Harmon is so worried about what the jury thinks of him. If they think he is a no good criminal then they will have no problem sending him to his death. Steve isn’t only concern with the jury though. As seen in his notes ‘’Miss O’Brien looked at me- I didn’t see her looking at me but I knew she was. She wanted to know who I was. Who was Steve Harmon? I wanted to open my shirt and tell her to look into my heart to see who I really was, who the real Steve Harmon was.’’ (P.92, Monster) Maybe if the attorney’s and prosecutor knew the real Steve Harmon they would think a little differently.

Monday July 6th - Monster 2

It’s dark, cold and silent. I was just awoken by a bad dream. It’s impossible to tell what time it is. I try to fall back asleep but all I can think about is; am I going to see my mother again…will I ever throw a ball to my father… live a life worth having or will I be stuck in this shit hole my whole life. I hear someone crying from a distance, followed by the sound of a cell door being opened and the sound of someone being beat to death. Soon the yells and cries stop but the sounds of a police baton hitting flesh still go on. I wonder to myself if I will be next... will I break? Will these thoughts that keep me up at night also be the cause of my death?  Will I wake up crying only to find myself beat to death? How can they do this to people? What’s different from James King murdering a man and these guards beating inmates to death for little to no reason at all? If I get out I’m going to make a difference. I will not stop till no man gets beaten in jail ever again. Jail is for punishment and regret, not for dying. I’m going to start by…..zzzzzz

No, Please, No! Why! How can you do this! Ahh!... Yet another bad dream. The sun seems to be coming up. It must be around four or five in the morning. It would seem like the total death count tonight will not be including me. I hope tomorrow the jury see’s my innocents and lets me go. I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up. Being so scared all the time….its hard. I swear to myself at this very moment that I will never break the law ever again, no one should. This is no place for anyone, let alone a 16 year old boy. What will become of me once I get sent to prison for life….this is just the beginning...

A Time to Kill and the Shawshank Redemption

A Time to Kill and Shawshank Redemption are two movies that examines the American law system in different states at about the same period in time around the 40`s-50`s.

A Time to Kill portrays the life of an African American (Carl Lee Hailey) in a stereo typical world of racism. After the rape and beating of his daughter, he takes the law in to his own hands, killing both men involved in the action. He is then convicted for the murder of the two men, also made out to be rednecks. At this period in time, the Klu Klux Klan was still a reality. They attempted many times to assassinate Carl Lee Hailey’s attorney Mr. Jake Tyler Brigance to stop Carl Lee being pronounced innocent in court.

On the other hand, the other movie, Shawshank Redemption takes place in a penitentiary. After Andy Dufresne is proven guilty for the murder of his wife and her lover, how ever  he did not commit. It shows the injustice in between inmates. Guards can be bribed and bought for special treatment. Inmates are also beaten sometimes even to death by the guards for little to no reason at all. Although this isn’t the reality now a day it is still a injustice to the men who served time in the past.

My favorite of the two movies was Shawshank Redemtion because I liked the ending; Andy dug his way out with the prospecting axe that his prison brother ‘’Red’’ had said would take 500 years. This was very unpredictable.

The invisible death of humanity.

Today, we live our lives day to day, not thinking about what will come next. It would seem like natural disasters are now a normal occurrence in the world. We are told not to fear because soon we will have control.  Well, wake up! Because there is no "controlling" nature. Since records have been held (430 B.C) there has been 223 major natural disasters in the world which 52 of them have occurred since 2001. There has been an increase of 20% in their occurrence in the past 15 years!

So now your sitting at home asking yourself: is that possible? Right? You don't have to look far to find your answer. Just turn on your television and watch the news once in awhile.

….December 21st 2012,  A date so called "The end of the world ". It has its number of believers that seem to consider this end to be more likely every day. If you ask me, its not going to be one thing that contributes to this end but many things added up. Although I must add that I believe it will not be the end of the world for everyone on earth.

Urbanisation. It is what made us and what will kill us. Everyone who lives without technology, who lives far away from any civilisation, will be fine for one reason. They have continued living the way they were naturally created to as to we have not. We can no longer live without technology in peace.

Take a minute to think about it. BAM! No more electricity, no more oil. In a matter of weeks half the worlds population would be gone. How you might ask? We can't pump any oil out and refine it if we have no electricity. No more oil means, no more gas. No more heating, no more food. How do you get food from Texas to Ontario without gas? What do you do when its 30 below and you have to heating in your house? There's not enough wood in Toronto to heat 3 million people now is there?

But hey, that's only the problems we made for ourselves. Let’s not forget that thanks to your car you drive every day, and all those industries that make your beautiful computer your reading this on have increased the temperature of the surface of the earth by 1°C since 2000 and will reach 6.4°C by 2100. Worst part is, we are past the fixing point and no matter what we do this will happen.

All this to say that even if we wake up December 22nd, 2012, in one piece our time clock is still ticking at a rapid rate.

There will always be more wealth for some people :

How do we make sure everyone has enough to live comfortably?

We could move to more of a communist kind of system and have a minimum and a maximum pay system so that everyone is paid evenly. It would then insure that everyone is at somewhat of the same economic level.

There will always be people with more power.

How do we make sure that the power they have is not abusive?

To insure that the power that they have is not abusive we could have a public vote for all new laws that are put in action.

Was he still dreaming?

I believe that at the end of Inception Cobbs totem will remain spinning for a couple reasons.

First of all, it had been a couple months or even a couple years since he has last seen his kids. Yet they have not aged one bit. Furthuremore they are wearing the same close as when they were just a projection.

Second, what we saw during the film was his last memory of seeing his kids. It was a projection of what he had last remembered. Projections are not real and you cannot put them in reality. Therefore it is not possible for the same events to happen in reality as they did in his dreams.  

So my question to you is. Assuming that the totem really does keep spinning at the end. Did it keep spinning when he previously tried it in the film?

Leon Trostky

Lev Davidovich Bronstein (Leon Trostky, renamed after a Russian café called Trostky`s) was a key figure in the creation of the Soviet Union. He was Lenins right hand man in the Russian revolution of 1917. He then became a commissar of war in 1918 and organized the victorious red army in the civil war that followed. He then lost out in a power struggle with Stalin and was exiled to Kazakhstan.  Trostky settled in Mexico where he was assassinated by a pick axe strike to the head from a probable agent of Stalin.

Green, a start of something good!

In 2008 nearly one million people voted for the green party for the first time since it was created. They voted for a better future and a positive vision for Canada. This year, they got only half the votes although this disappointment the green party got its first seat in the house of commons.

The green party in the only party in Canada with a full and comprehensice vision for our future available 365 days a year, every year! Furthermore they are the only party in Canada to have tabled our deficit cutting plan with the Parlimentary Budget Office, to ensure we did our homework.

If you are tired of voting against things and not voting for them. If your tired of not seeing the changes that the political parties talked about then next time around, vote for green and vote for something that matters.

MY DREAM

All out race to the finish ! Almost there ! Only 20 meters to go ! Only one man stands between me and the Olympic gold. His yellow and green shirt taunting me, making me push harder and harder, but my feet… they hit each other. NOO, I’m falling! All the hard work… gone. One second from the finish, it’s all over.

BAM! A ruler hits my desk. I lift up my head to see who it is. My English teacher is standing there with a tomato colored face, looking like he could kill me. I’m walking through the hall that seems to never end. I’m walking now for what seems like hours. At the end of the hall is a class room. I walk into the class and here I am, back where I started. The teacher asks us a question and I lift up my right hand to answer.

There I am, awake in my bed with my right hand in the air looking like a waking mummy.

Where would one find my idea?

It was cold, spine chilling even. The sky, sand and dust were red. Cliffs and craters littered the ground. A sound comes from a distance. It steals the quite, peaceful glow of this majestic place.

From a distance, there is a small motorized machine. It has six wheels and many solar panels. In the middle left wheel there is a faint squealing sound. This is where the idea is found.

The wheel itself is strong. Someone could even say impossible to take apart. Within the tire is a rim. In the very middle of the rim is a bearing. It is filled with hundreds of little balls. The idea is found piece by piece inside these balls.

Why should you vote for the Liberals

1. The Economy: Better Choices, New Directions
Liberals are fighting for a strong economy. A future Liberal government will take a balanced and credible fiscal approach to tackling the Conservatives’ record deficit and restoring Canada’s fiscal health including:

* Cancelling Harper’s additional corporate tax breaks
* Making better choices
* Deficit reduction
* Fiscal prudence
* Spending discipline

2. Families, Finances and the Future
Michael Ignatieff and the Liberal Party of Canada are fighting for your family. A future Liberal government will invest in addressing the economic pressures on Canadian families, like Learning, Health care and Pensions, through:
* Pension Reform Plan * Pan-Canadian Learning Strategy
3. Clean Resources, Healthy Environment and the Economy of Tomorrow
Liberals are fighting to protect our natural environment as we transition to the cleaner economy of tomorrow, through:

* An Environment and Clean Energy Plan

Upon turning everything off I started humming different tunes like Cold, and Colors by Crossfade.

Once the 10 minutes of having everything turned off was over. I picked up my guitar, that had been taunting me in the corner, saying play me, for the past 10 minutes and came up with a new song.

The song was not at all the same kind of music as what I had been humming, but it was like the notes just came to me. The song was more of a slower type then the heavy rock music I usualy listen too.

Travis Pastrana, a god or a mad man?

Do you know who Travis is?

Travis was born on October 9th 1983 in Annapolis Maryland and is the son of Robert and Debbie Pastrana. He started racing dirt bikes at a very young age when his father bought him his first bike at the age of three, for a Christmas gift. They spent that whole rainy Christmas day riding up and down the drive way.

Travis started out racing in the nationals and supercross series and won his first world championship at the age of 14!  Since then he has won two racing championships, the 125cc A.M.A national championship in 2000 and the 125cc East Coast supercross championship in 2001. Although Travis was one of the best and most recognized riders in the sport but his love for freestyling was just too much.

Before 1997 freestyle dirt biking also called FMX was unknown. Travis single handily wrote the book on the sport itself. He has invented more tricks then any other rider in the world; he held the Freestyle world champion from 1997-2008 and landed the first double back flip ever done on a motorcycle. That’s just amazing!

Unfortunately with this extreme sport comes injury’s. Travis has just about broken every bone in his body. He has had seven knee surgeries, broken his wrists six different times, broken his arms several times and crushed his spine into his pelvis witch almost killed him. On top of this Travis suffers from a weird sleeping condition. Doctors have said that Travis suffers from a disorder called repressed fear. During the day Travis has no fear but during the night he is tormented by his dreams. He constantly wakes up screaming and running around the house.

All these injury’s ended his racing career but he yet still participates in FMX and rally racing winning a gold medal in FMX and best trick competition landing yet another double back flip at this year X-games. His luck was brought short in rally racing when car troubles cost him the gold.

Now a days Travis lives at his 1.5 million dollar home in Davidsonville Maryland. He spends his time learning and perfecting new tricks and finding new ways to cheat death. His newest thrills consist of jumping his bikes into the Grand Canyon and driving his rally car at unbelievable speeds in back roads only a few feet wide dodging trees as he goes on. 

Now you know who Travis is.

Media Mind Control

Can the media control peoples minds? Some would say no and add that people can control their own thoughts but I believe that yes, the media in fact can control our minds. The internet, the radio, newspapers, the news itself, TV shows, TV commercial even schools are all ways that the government or the person in power can control our thoughts through media. Now if we take the point away from the politics and ask ourselves a simple question. For example: Do aliens truly exist? Most would say no but is that because of what you know or what you have been told ?

TV today plays a big role in the way that we think. With the news, TV shows and commercials they can tell us lies to turn the truth into what they want it to be. The government ( or person in power ) can do this to give us fear so they themselves can tell us their opinion which in result controls our thoughts. This is due to the fact that many people uneducated with the real facts believes it. The same can be done with the radio, the internet but most of all, they can control our thoughts and our actions through the way we learn at school. They can change the things we learn and the way that we learn them to enable them to control the way we think about certain opinions that favor them.

Now let’s take a look at a different example of media mind control. Lets ask ourselves, do alien truly exist? Many people say that they have seen spaceships, seen crashes or other phenomenons that are linked to aliens. It seems like every time one of these claims are made, the government is around, hiding, covering things up. The truth about this one subject is being controlled to what they want it to be! They do this easily through media simply because they only release information that they chose. This strategy provides them with the power to control our minds the way they want to. They force us to think what they want without us even knowing.

 

In conclusion the media plays a big role in are decisions. The government controls the way we think, and the way we act through the media without us even knowing or even noticing. So ask yourself next time your at the super market deciding what company of chicken nuggets you should go with. Is the decision really yours to make?