Braggin Rap

Caden

4-30-13

Rap

My raps are so much tighter than yours

You'll be so upset you will be crying on the floor

I don’t need to try, to be the best

If you want to try and fight me, be my guest

You don’t want to try to mess with me

I’ll have you runnin away in one two three

Have you ever even made a rap?

I haven’t so what?

If you test me you are bound to get punched

I don’t want to rap anymore

I’m gonna leave now cause i’m getting bored

Poem Response #4

Caden

5-2-13

Student Response’s #4

Response #1

http://jacksonhoman.blogspot.com/2013/05/i-have-seen-poem-by-jackson.html

Jackson’s I have seen poem has lots of good imagery and I could easily picture those things happening.  I think that he chose an abstract noun something along the lines of disappointment in not being able to complete your dreams.  I like that he said that he brings some people joy but he will always be tears of a young boy.  I think the people he is referring to as gaining happiness from it would be people that want to see others fail to complete their goals.  I think that the poem is about working and working to complete your dreams to just have it all taken away.

Response #2

http://gretabishopisme.blogspot.com/2013/05/never-satisfied.html

Greta’s I have seen poem, Never Satisfied, Is a great poem about people completing their dreams and yet still wanting more.  I think that the abstract noun is something like satisfaction.  The poem contains great similes and metaphors such as the toast.  I find the poem to be very true in the fact that people will try and try to get what they want and most of the time once they get it they will just want more.  I don’t think that many people can just live with what they have.

Through the Maze

Caden

4-25-13

Through the Maze

I have seen so many

Slave away their days-

Working through corruption

Scurrying around the maze

Watch the flashing screens

I know just how to blind-

Selling and convincing

Controlling all the minds

My puppets dance the day away

I’m pulling all the strings

Hurry, work and earn

They need their shiny things

Fancy clothes, faster cars

More just more is what they plead

I will make it so

Because i’m all they need

Limericks

Limericks

Jerry

There once was a man named Jerry

He tried to be very scary

He would stomp and roar

But it was quite a bore

So he tried to become more merry

The Old Frog

There once was a lazy old frog

He lived in a big swampy bog

He never would jump

He just sat on his stump

And ate flies when they come to his log

An Old House

There once was a creaky old house

Inside lived a squeaky old mouse

He would sneak out at night

To give the children a fright

And scurried on back like a louse

Poetry Response #3

Caden

Poem Responses #3

Poem #1

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16445

The poem Rain, by Claribel Alegria is a poem of rain and sadness.  She describes the rain pouring down in combination of flooding memories.  I get the feeling she is reflecting on her childhood and is experiencing overwhelming grief.  She speaks of a servant that told ghost stories and of the “purple-dark afternoon” that someone was leaving her forever.  This seems to signify the death of a loved one, possibly one of her parents.  Alegria goes on to write how the flood of memories showed her a voracious, senseless world, an abyss, but she continued to love it. “Continuing  to love it” probably symbolizes growing up and moving on, still finding enjoyment in life after such a loss.  

Poem #2

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16329

The poem Flying by Sarah Arvio describes the strange sense of confusion people get when they travel in an airplane.  Passing through time zones is always a bit strange to the mind and body and the traveler experiences a period where they are momentarily “in between” times on long flights.  She mentions “even the most seasoned traveler feels the baffled sense that nowhere else exists”.  Arvio uses great imagery when she describes the cabin environment in the airplane.  The reader feels as if they are aboard a flight as the read about dry cabin air, cramped seating and airline stewardesses serving drinks and passing out pillows.  She describes cloud covers and the colors of the setting sun. This was not my favorite poem, but still interesting  for a poem about flying.

Poetry Response #2

Caden

Poem Responses #2

Poem #1

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20492

The poem Thanks by W.S. Merwin is a poem of gratitude. I think it can be thought of in many ways. I get the feeling this poem is describing wartime or the end of a war because he speaks of hospitals, funerals and the news of the dead. I think Thanks describes the flood of emotions people might be feeling during wartime. In one way I think this poem is about gratitude, but I also think it points out the fact that we go about life saying Thank You to everyone for every little thing, but a lot of the time it is an empty sentiment. I think it becomes customary without  thought.

Poem #2

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15401

The poem Somewhere I Have Never Travelled, Gladly and Beyond by E.E. Cummings is about love.  I believe he feels very vulnerable being in love and that the girl he is in love with has a lot of power over him.  He compares himself to a rose in spring.  When she is gentle and warm, it is like the sunshine to the rose, he feels like he can open up to her.  When she is harsh he closes up and feels the need to protect himself like a rose does in the frosty cold.  

Poetry Response #1

Caden

Poem Responses #1

Poem #1

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15526

The poem When You are Old by W.B. Yeats is a poem that talks of being older and reflecting on younger years. There is a feeling of encouragement to do things you enjoy while you are young and to follow your heart so that you won't regret it later.  Later in the poem it speaks of love and and says that many people have loved the one that he loved but he loved her for her soul not just for her face and talents. But he also implies that he never shared his feelings out loud and got lost in the crowd of admirers.   I think this is a good poem because I read it several times to try to decipher the true meaning.

Poem #2

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19250

The poem The Layers by Stanley Kunitz  is about looking at life through several perspectives. It seems to me that he has lived a very hard life, but stays strong and keeps moving forward.  There are certain phrases such as “roaming through wreckage” and friends that “fell along the way” that makes me think that he was living a life of suffering. Maybe he was an alcoholic or something like that, and many of his friends probably died from the same lifestyle.  He also mentions that a voice told him to ”live in the layers not in the litter”.  I think this is a powerful message, maybe from God or a higher power telling him to turn his life around and stop hurting himself. He says he is not done changing, implying that a positive change is in his future.

Haikus

Caden

4-23-13

Haiku's

Icy grass on ground

A Cold nights rain from the clouds

outside my window

Open my front door

My cat sitting there alone

Quickly runs away

A flat-screen T.V.

in almost every room

But just half are used

Abstract

Abstract

Dreams are cloud white confusion

Freedom is money green living with no responsibilities

History is mud brown living in the past

Fear is night black running

Sadness is ocean green wishing it was blue

Loneliness is outer space black doing nothing at all

Corporate VS Poem

Coke	VS	Pepsi
McDonald's	VS	Burger King
Doritos	VS	Lays
Apple	VS	Microsoft
Hershey	VS	Nestle
Target	VS	Kmart
Activision	VS	Electronic Arts
Crest	VS	Colgate
Disney	VS	Dreamworks
Google	VS	Bing
Dish	VS	DirecTV
Axe	VS	Old Spice

Money's Value

Money’s Value

Money can buy many things

such as

Food

Water

Shelter

Electricity

Computers

Power

Most things on earth

Can be bought with money

and yet

the only reason the money itself has value

is because we say it’s so

Ender's Game 9-11

Caden

2-28-13

Ender’s Game 9-11

Chapter 9
1)  I think that in the battle between Peter and Valentine Peter was winning and he had control because he is acting like he regrets with the way he treated Ender which makes him appear less angry and more kind.
2)  The way that the personas of Locke and Demosthenes relate to Peter and Valentine is that Locke was a liberal and that's the kind of writing that Peter was going for and Demosthenes didn’t want change which represents Valentine being against the war in Russia.
3)  Ender is still angry because when a letter from Valentine made it to him the letter just said that he wasn’t like Peter and he knew that Graff made Valentine write what he wanted her to write.
Chapter 10
1)  Ender was a very good leader because he doesn’t let anyone mess with him and he knows what to do.  He learned how to be a good leader by looking at the other leaders mistakes and being taught by Bink.
2)  Ender did the same thing to Bean that Graff did to Ender.  He singled out Bean as the smartest and the best so that he stayed alone.
3)  Salaam means peace in Arabic and the reason that this is important is that he is revealing his true religion and you aren’t allowed to practice any other religions in that time.
4)  The importance of this chapter is that it tells the reader how Ender feels about battle school and his perspective on what's going on.
Chapter 11
1)  The computer knows Ender very well because the government knows Ender very well so they give all the information about Ender to the computer.
2)  The quote means that if Ender loses any battles than the other commanders will see his weaknesses and it would give them a better chance of beating Ender more in the future.
3)  The teachers are pushing Ender hard is because he is supposed to be the one that saves humanity from the buggers so he has to be pushed hard in order to reach his maximum potential.
4)  The last couple of sentences in the chapter are important because Bean goes through a lot of things that could help them win but he thinks that they are all silly and wouldn’t help.
5)  Veni Vidi Vici represents the chapter because he came to battle school figured out how it works and then became the best.

Ender's Game Revisited Anticipation Guide

Lying is justifiable if it's for the greater good

I rated four on this because I believe that it can be good to lie if it is for the greater good.  Although the person being lied to might not be very happy, it might benefit a larger group of people.  For example lying to an enemy in a war in order to make think that they know our weaknesses but when really we are just setting them up.  Eventually they will find out and they won't be happy but we may have won the battle because of it.  However in this situation it might not be for the greater good it might be just to keep the people you care about safe.
Sometimes violence is the only way to solve a problem
I rated this a four because in some rare situations there isn't enough time to fix a situation with words.  For example if someone who was put in jail years ago because they attempted to burn down your house and got out of prison and planned revenge.  If he came into your house with a gun then talking to him probably wouldn't be an option.
It is okay to kill someone in self-defense
I rated three because sometimes it is okay to kill someone in self if of course they are about to kill you and you know they have killed other people then I would say that it would be okay to kill them.  This is quite similar to the statement before it.
Words are stronger than fists
I rated four because in most situations words could be much more powerful than fists.  However this does depends on the situation.  If someone that didn't really know how to use words in the right way and he was trying to get information out of someone that can't relate with other people's emotions then fists would more than likely be more useful than words.  However there are not many cases where that is true.
Bully's hurt others because they have a low self-esteem
I rated five on this because I do agree with this completely.  Of course there is always an exception to most of these questions but basically this is true every time.  
Only the best and brightest students should receive the best education to become a nation's leaders
I rated this four because I do think that smartest students should become our nation's leader however I don't believe that only the smartest ones deserve an education.  And you would have to accurately judge the peoples intelligence in order to actually get the smartest people because there are plenty of smart people that don’t get good grades.
Revenge is never justified
I rated one because i completely disagree with this statement it is much to black and white.  Ya sure in most situations revenge might not be justified but that depends on how much revenge you get and what they did to you.  If they kill your loved ones and then you find him and send him to prison i would be satisfied knowing that he is gone it would be completely justifiable.
Crying is evidence of weakness
I rated three because crying is evidence of weakness in simple situations however it is just a form of releasing emotion which is not weakness as long as it is worth crying about.  So crying isn't necessarily a sign of weakness but you can take the things that someone cries about and judge if they are weak or not depending on if they cry about unimportant things.
Any action is acceptable in war
I rated two because a lot of actions in war is not acceptable like dropping a nuclear bomb.  That is not acceptable because that will most likely kill many innocent people.  That is not the goal of war will most likely not get what going for if you drop a nuclear bomb in less you are on the defensive side of the war.  Most wars are based off of resources and not simply wanting to kill people.
Teenagers need discipline because they cannot control themselves
I rated four because i believe that teenagers do need discipline because they can't control themselves in the way that their brain hasn't fully developed in the part of the brain that helps you make decisions based on what will happen in the future.
Only through personal sacrifice can someone create positive change
I rated three because yes they do need to make some sort of personal sacrifice in order to make any change but this sacrifice can be something as small as a couple seconds of your day.
Creating compassion for your enemies is the only to make peace
I rated four because in order to achieve complete peace you will have to create compassion for your enemies.  However you can achieve peace by simply making some sort of compromise.

Ender's Game 6-8

Caden

2-6-13

Enders Game 6-8

Chapter 6
1)  The purpose of the Giant’s Game is to see if the player can beat a game that you can’t win by following instructions.  Ender should evaluate his success in good eyes because there was obviously no other way than to kill the giant in some way.  I do not think that Ender is a murderer because he would only kill someone if it is necessary.
Chapter 7
1)  Alai said “Salaam” to ender and the reason this moment is so important is because Alai was revealing his true believes to Ender and that word meant a lot to a Alai so it was a very big deal to say.
2)  Just living is basically just living your life without trying to be killed or trying to kill someone else.  I think it’s true that Ender has never done that because all his life he had to deal with his brother trying to kill him and kids at school all because he was a third born child.
3) Petra’s friendship is a hindrance to Ender because she is an outcast and therefore makes ender an outcast.  However Ender was most likely going to be an outcast anyway due the fact that he is younger than everyone in salamander.
Chapter 8
1)  Graff is reminding the people that Ender is the most intelligent and not necessarily the strongest physically but maybe he has the strongest mind.
2)  The significance about this quote is that he will teach Ender how to become a better soldier but Ender has to put effort into learning.
3)  Ender’s reaction to the attack is significant because it shows that he can work well under pressure.
4)  This scene represents that Ender is very afraid of becoming Peter and is afraid of betrayal
5)  The Game knows everything about Ender because the game has access to all of the files that the government has so therefore it know about his past.

Drone Response

Caden

2-24-13

Drone Response

I think that drones could be very helpful in many situations however they could also be very dangerous for good and for bad.  Drones could make life much easier for many people.  I do believe that drones are a good way to go to war and risk a lot less men's lives in the process however we can’t get used to just flying a drone around because we won’t be able to have drones flying around as we are being attacked.

I find it interesting that drones are so easy get and then you could easily equip a weapon of some sort to it.  Now obviously it’s would be easy for someone like me to attach say a gun to a drone.  But someone that knew what they were doing it make it much easier for them to simply buy the drone online and then attach a weapon to it.

Videogame Response

Caden

1-6-13

Videogame Response

My father could definitely relate with Mr Vack’s story about legend of Zelda and I could to a certain extent.  Because of the internet it is now very easy to simply look up the answer to a puzzle in a game rather than actually spending hours trying to figure it out by yourself.  I used to just look up the answers on the internet but now I really try to not do that because it takes all of the fun out of figuring it out yourself.  
However I haven’t played games like The Legend of Zelda in a very long time.  The game I have been playing most lately has been Minecraft.  Minecraft started out and still pretty much is a basic sandbox game in which you can do anything you want with.  There isn’t really any story behind it and i’m don’t think there ever will really be a story.  I can’t really explain why it is enjoyable and nobody could explain to me why it was fun but i understood when i played it for the first time.  
If I were to make a video game i would want to make a game that you could basically everything.  Of course making a game like that isn’t necessarily practical.  However I do think it would be an amazing game if a large group of people spent a lot of time on it.  But to make a game with that much content would require a system with enough power to run it without lag.  So such a game is very impractical but it would be very fun.

CEJ #3

Caden

1-28-13

Raising Minimum Wage Would Ease Income Gap but Carries Political Risks

By Annie Lowrey
The New York Times
February 13th 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/us/politics/obama-pushes-for-increase-in-federal-minimum-wage.html?ref=us

Summary

Obama wants to increase minimum wage up from seven dollars and twenty-five cents to nine dollars.  This would be good for many low income workers however this may make it harder to get the job in the first place.  So this will do good for the people that are already making minimum wage but may make the unemployment rate rise.  Conservatives argue that increases the minimum wage makes it harder on job creators.  In Obama’s 2008 campaign he proposed that the minimum wage to be raised to nine dollars and fifty cents.  Under that proposal people making twenty to thirty thousand dollars per year would earn another thirty-five hundred dollars per year.

Response

I think that it would be a good thing if the minimum wage up to nine dollars even though it wouldn’t necessarily have a direct impact on my family at this second due to the fact that my dad is self-employed.  When I get my first job it would be nice to making nine dollars an hour rather than what it is now.  I don’t really see a reason at this second that it would be bad for the minimum wage to increase so I do hope that this does happen.

CEJ # 5

Caden

2-25-13

Human mission to Mars may be planned for 2018

By Elizabeth Landau
CNN
February 21st 2013
http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/21/human-mission-to-mars-may-be-planned-for-2018/?hpt=us_bn1

Summary

A non-profit organization called the Inspiration Mars Foundation is starting to plan a human mission to go to mars.  Supposedly they are planning on launching in 2018 and be a voyage of 501 days to get there and back.  They are hoping to gain much more knowledge of the planet.  They didn’t specifically say that the voyage would be manned however they did say that they are committed to accelerating America's human exploration of space as a critical catalyst for future growth, national prosperity, new knowledge and global leadership.

Response

I think it would be great if man went to mars in 2018 however I am a sort of spectacle that they will actually send a man to mars that soon.  The main reason that i am not sure is that the people didn’t say that they were having someone go to mars they simply said they wanted to get someone there as soon as possible.  It would be great if a man could get to mars and back in that amount of time.  Hopefully that will be the case.

CEJ #4

Caden

1-28-13

Pakistani Militant, Price on Head, Lives in Open

By Declan Walsh
The New York Times
February 6th 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/07/world/asia/lashkar-e-taiba-founder-takes-less-militant-tone-in-pakistan.html?hp&_r=1&

Summary

The United States are spending ten million dollars for help in convicting Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.  Although he lives quite an open lifestyle in the middle class, he is believed to be the leader of the Lashkar-e-Taiba which placed attacks on Mumbai India in which 160 people were killed.  The United Nations put them on a list of terrorist groups and has imposed a sanction.  

Response

I think it is good that the US is trying to help stop terrorism however they could be putting some of that money towards helping something else that’s going on here like helping the economy.  I do see that it is necessary to stop terrorism but they could put some of that money into research.