Osama Freewrite

The death of Osama Bin Laden was a good thing for the US because it shows that we never give up.  After years of fighting the Al queda and many people dying we finally killed their leader.  We never gave up; this might show the al Queda that they are not strong enough to defeat us because if we killed the most powerful person in their group they might decide to give up.  Also this gives the US a sense of uniting just like we had after the attack on the trade towers.  The US is celebrating over the death of a man which I find kind of strange.  Is it right to celebrate the death of a man, I know we have been hunting him down for a while but still killing is not something to celebrate. We can be happy a relieved but having parties is just weird.  

I first heard of this when my friend texted me. At first I did not know whether or not to believe him because he is such a powerful man.  But then I went onto face book and saw that everybody had their statues were about him being killed.  I thought this was cool but at the same time strange.  Most of them were saying how happy the person was that he was dead and some other ones were about who should be getting credit Obama or Bush.  I found this weird because it does not really matter because all the same Osama is dead, they both contributed the same amount if you ask me.  

I till do not know wether or not to believe that he is dead because there is no visible proof that I have seem.  No pictures or films all that we know is what the military is telling us.  We DNA tested the body to make sure it was Osama and it was him supposively, but they could just be saying that to make us happy.  Also they dumped him off the side of a ship so that no one will ever find his body.  This just makes me believe that he is still out there and that the government is just saying he is dead so that the citizens of America feel proud of their nation. 

The over all impact that this has on me is very minimal because one man being killed will not stop the terrorist.  It will just make them lay off for a while but during that time all that they have to do is fid another leader then the terrorist are back in action.  I am happy that Osama is dead but I mean it did nothing to make me feel like there was a weight holding me down until he was killed.  I honestly forgot that he was still alive I thought he died a while ago or at least thought he was because he was hiding for so long.  I am sure that the people who knew people that died in the twin towers attack are very happy that justice was served.

Maus/Night Comparison

Maus and Night go twell together because they both tell stories of the Holocaust. Night, was more realistic and was told from someone's point of view that was in the Holocaust, making this my favorite of the books. Night was my favorite because, it was more realistic and had more impact on me. Maus, on the other hand, seemed to make a less serious version of what really happened in the Holocaust. I think it is clever that the author created the nazis as cats and the jews as mice, cause everyone knows that these two don't get allong. The idea behind Maus was meant to give a younger reader a good example of the holocaust, but Night did a better job of telling us what happened in the Holocaust. If someone asked me what book they I suggest it would be Night, because of its greater depth on what happened in the Holocaust.

Restrepo

Prewriting:
In Fallen Angels it is said that thousands of dollars were sometimes used to kill one of the enemies that they cant even see, in the movie Restrepo you see how half the time it seems that the men are just shooting blindly at the forest.  Soldiers from both Restrepo and Fallen Angels are excited to get into the war.  In both the movie and they book they had similar goals such as making good relations with the natives.  Both groups in the book and the movie go on patrols and get ambushed by the enemy.  Most of the men in both stories have the common fear of dying and tend to lose sleep over it.  In both the soldiers seem to find entertainment around their base camp.  One of the characters from both seem to die but the men understand that thy must continue to do their job.  Both groups of men are very excited to find that they get to go home.  During the battles they both describe the type of fear/excitement they get during a firefight.  In Restrepo, a flare is shot off over the place where the soldier died and in Fallen Angels they make a cake on Brew's birthday, and they both mourn their deaths.


Writing:
Watching Restrepo and reading Fallen Angels really gave me a new perspective on war.  By reading and watching these stories I have learned that the movies on war are very inaccurate.  Half the time you are trying to kill someone you can not see them and you do not have unlimited ammunition.  Also in the book and movie they share what their feelings towards the events that are happening, unlike the movies where there is just constant fighting.  So one of the most important things I puled from these stories is that there is a lot less heroism then there is in the movies.  There is not one man in either the book or film that kills off a whole my or saves a town, most of the time the men just shoot into the woods hoping to kill the enemy before they get killed.

Slaughter House 5

Please list 10 ways you can improve your essay scores

1. More effective points at the start of paragraphs.                 
2. Better use of quotes.                       
3. More effective explanation.                       
4. Use better word choice.                    
5. A better introductory quote.         
6. Create a better thesis statement.
7. Have better focus on the pararaph.
8. Read more throughly.
9.  Use better punctuation.
10. Use better grammar.                         

Please write any 15 thoughts about the book Slaughterhouse-5.  For each thought, please refer to a specific part of the book that generated this thought (for instance, “It was funny” receives no credit; “It was funny when he described the Tralfamadorians” receives full credit).

1. It was action filled.  When Billy gets captured.

2. It was historical, when it describes the Dresden bombings.

3. Death is insignificant, "so it goes."

4. There is a fourth demension, time travel is important to the Traflamadorians.

5. Traflamadorians are smart, they can time travel.

6. Pain is worse then death, Billy is crying at the horses in pain.

7. It is weird how Billy is the only one to survive a plane crash.

8. It was inresting how when Billy was about to die he did not care.

9. It was neat how it was about the war.

10. It was unique how the main characters death was in the middle of the book and not the end.

11. It was cool how the Traflamidorians kiddnapped Billy.

12. It was unique how this book was written out of the usual time line.

13. It was cool that Billy was no special person, he was just normal (like no special hero qualities). 

14. It was depressing when they were talking about the concentrarion camps.

15. The concept of being unstuck in time is interesting when Billy travels back and forth in his life. 


State 5 possible themes for the book Slaughterhouse-5.
1. War is not needed, the Traflamadorians do not have war they live in peace.

2. Life never stops, the quote "so it goes."

3. Time travel, Billy skips around through time a lot through out the book.

4. Love can be viewed differently, the Traflamadorians thought human mating was the most amazing thing ever.

5. Don't fear death, Billy kept on expecting to die throughout the book.


Write a conversation between yourself and Billy Pilgrim in which he tries to teach you a lesson based on his own experiences.  You must explain IN DEPTH at least 3 specific events and details from the book in order to receive full credit.  This conversation should go on as long as it takes to demonstrate YOUR UNDERSTANDING of Billy’s experiences.
EXAMPLE:
Billy: Hello, Mr. Cheng
Mr. Cheng: Hi Billy
Billy: Have you heard about Tralfamadore?
Mr. Cheng: No, what’s that?
Billy: It’s a planet where they... etc.

P: Hi Billy.

B: Hi Pierce

P: Where have you been lately?

B: Traflamador. Its another planet.

P: O really...? How did you get there?

B: They abducted me with their space ship.

P: What is it like there?

B: The people are green with two eyes sticking out of their heads.  And there is no war unlike here on earth.

P:  Wow! That is amazing!

B: I know, they also know a fourth demension.

P: O really? What is that?

B: Time control.

P: That is amazing Billy! I really have to go now though c'ya.

B: Bye.

Siddarhartha Theme

Siddhartha learns many important lessons throughout his life and his journey to find nirvana.  One of the most important and main themes of this book is that Siddhartha should follow his own path.  Siddhartha says to Govinda, "Siddhartha was going his own way; his destiny was beginning to unfold itself,and with his destiny, his own." (9) Siddhartha wants to leave to find Nirvana because he feels he can not find it and wishes to become a Samana.  He leaves his family to follow his own path and not the path of which his father wants him too.  He asks his friend Govinda if he wishes to join SIddhartha on his journey in search of self. SIddhartha says, "That is why I am going on my way-not so seek another and better doctrine, for I know there is none, but to leave all doctrines and all teachers and to reach my goal alone-or die." (34)  This quote shows how Siddhartha does not need the Buddha's help to find what he was looking for. This shows how he follows his own path and no one else.

Macbeth, To be a Man

(Act 2 Scene 2 Lines 65-70)
Macbeth
"I'll go no more
I am afraid to think what I have done
Look on 't again I dare not"

Lady Macbeth
"Infirm of purpose! 
Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead 
Are but as pictures.  'Tis the eye of childhood"

This quote happens after Macbeth kills the king and comes back and talks to his wife.  She notices Macbeth still has the daggers, and is wondering why he did not leave the daggers with the kings body so it appeared as if they had killed the king and feel asleep because they were so drunk.
This quote shows that Lady Macbeth is more manly then Macbeth because she has the power to go and finish the task that they planned out.  So Lady Macbeth has to finish a mans task because Macbeth is too afraid to do it.


(Act 3 scene 4 Lines 64-72)
Lady Macbeth
"Sit, worthy friends.  My lord if oftern thus
And hath been from his youth.  Pray you, keep seat.
The fit is momentary;upon a thought
he will again be will.  If much you note him
You shall offend him and extend his passion
Feed and regard him not {drawing Macbeth aside}
Are you a man?"

Macbeth
"Ay, and a bold one,that dare look on that
Which might appall the devil"

This quote takes place at dinner after Macbeth has sent out has people to kill Banquo, the murders do kill him.  And now at dinner Macbeth is seeing the ghost of the dead Banquo and is freaking out at nothing it seems because no one else can see the ghost.  And now Lady Macbeth most calm everyone down including Macbeth.

Lady Macbeth is questioning her husbands manliness because he does not have the mental power to keep his nerve together at the dinner table.  She knows that there are no such things as ghost and only children believe in them, that is why she is questioning his manliness.

(Act 5 Scene 5 Line 18)

Macbeth

“Wherefore was that cry?”

Sayton

“The Queen my lord, is dead”

Macbeth

“She should have died hereafter.”

In this quote Macbeth finds that his wife, Lady Macbeth, has committed suicide.  She commits suicide because she has had a mental breakdown and no one can fix it.  

Being a man is needed here because he cannot mourn his loss of his wife right now.  He must focus on more important things, like loosing his power.

(Act 1 Scene 5 Line 48-51) 

Lady Macbeth

“Unsex me here

and fill me from the crown to the toe top full,

of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood.

Stop up th' access and passage to remorse”

In this quote Lady Macbeth has just gotten a letter from Macbeth stating how he will become king and she starts to talk to herself.   She is saying how she wishes to become a man and have thicker blood so she is stronger.

Lady Macbeth wishes to become a man in this so she can be more manly and handle all of the problems that will come along with having your husband rule a kingdom.  I think that this is weird because i feel that a woman could handle more stress then a man.

(Act 3 scene 4 Lines 16-18) 

Macbeth 

“'Tis better thee without than he within.

Is he dispatched?”

Murderer

“My lord, his throat is cut.  That I did for him.”

In this quote the murderer is reporting back to Macbeth that he has killed Banquo.  The only problem is that Fleance, Banquo's son escaped which angers/worries Macbeth.

Macbeth is not manly enough to kill someone that he has a problem with by himself so he has to send someone else to do it. The murder is the man of this because he kills someone that he does not even have a problem with.

Thank You

Dear Jack, 

I am writing this letter to you show show how thankful I am that you came to our class.  I never thought it would be as fun as it was, making skits everyday.  Also i never though I would get anything out of this, but I seemed to learn a LOT, from how to how to write to how to act.    

I really like how we got to write and act because it helped with my writing skills, acting skills and public speaking skills.  First, it helped my writing skills because we wrote everyday.  Repetition is one of the best ways to learn a new skill or add skill onto an old one.  I hope my improved skills show in this letter.  Next, this unit helped my acting skills because i have never acted before.  Acting is a great thing to know how to do so you can show the stories you tell and the stories then will be greater understood.  I enjoy acting I just have never really had an opportunity to learn it better.  Finally, this helped my public speaking skills.  We not only wrote and acted them out we also sometimes read our stories to the class which was very scary the first couple of times then it got easier to do.  Even thought I only got called up a few times I feel like it really helped.  All of these skills that we practiced and learned are very important life skills and will stay with me until I die.  

Jack all of these skills that you taught will be with me for a while and will hopefully help me get through school.  If you did not come I do not know how else i could learn these, well besides going to a theatre class.  I hope you do this next year for Mr.Cheng and help more kids learn these skills.  

Thank you,

Pierce Schultz