Think 4- What If?

    The United States is a great place to live. Most people have food, shelter, and the rest of the things they need to survive. Sometimes, though, I wonder what it would be like if we weren’t so lucky. What if life was hard? What if people didn’t always have necessities such as food and medicine?  What if the government hoarded the resources and did nothing for the common people? What if  children were selected at random to have an annual death match? This is the case in Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Picturing myself having the lifestyle of the characters in the story makes me shudder.
    In Hunger Games, the common people are mostly poor and many “starve to death”. The most medicine that they usually receive are herbs and homemade ailments. It would be awful if so many people died simply because they didn’t have any food, especially if the government was holding out on them just to prove they have power. Many loved ones would be lost, and people everywhere would rise in revolt. It definitely wouldn’t be a pretty sight.
    The death match is perhaps the worst, though. Teens and pre teens selected to fight to the death? That’s just inhumane. Kids are reduced to a mere entertainment show where they have to kill one another. The ones in charge of the Hunger Games don’t even seem to care about the lives that will be lost. The phrase the officials use, “May the odds be ever in your favor” is very unsettling. How could they wish someone good luck when you are most likely sending them to their premature, gruesome death? It’s sickening.
    Life the way it is described in Hunger Games is very sinister and seems very depressing. After reading this book, I have come to realize that I am fortunate to not have been born into a twisted society such as that one. It also reminds me that I should always be grateful for what I have been given, and I should never take anything for granted.

Kaylee's Revenge

Oh, hell no, that’s it. That b**** is goin’ die, thought Kaylee as the teacher finished chewing her out for no apparent reason. Kaylee was a tall, fair skinned, athletic built girl. She was a sixteen year old sophomore in high school. And her teacher, Ms. Chip, finally went too far. Ms. Chip was unreasonable and got mad every day in class, without fail. Normally, Kaylee would just ignore her. But this time, the anger was directed at her, and she would have none of it. In fact, being blown up on by the teacher infuriated Kaylee. “That whore thinks she goin’ get away with that,” Kaylee murmured to herself under her breathe as she clenched her fists. She only clenched her fists when she was extremely angry. “Uh uh. I’ll show her. Ole ugly chimpmunk lookin fatface. This is the last time anybody’ll have to deal with her.” Murderous thoughts flowed into her mind, and she slowly began to formulate her plot in her head. She smiled slightly as she finalized the plan. Yes, she thought, this is gonna be fun.

Friday, two days later, Kaylee had the class with Ms. Chip again. Once again, Ms. Chip found a reason that, in her mind, justified yelling at the class and assigning meaningless homework that nobody was going to do anyways. Kaylee managed to stifle her frustration, and after class, she politely went up to Ms. Chip’s desk to speak to her.

   “Ms. Chip, do you have a minute?” asked Kaylee. “I have something important to talk to you about.”
   Ms. Chip didn’t even look up from her computer screen. “Can’t it wait?” She replied. “I have somewhere to be, and I just don’t have time to talk to someone as lowly as you.”
   Kaylee could have strangled her right then and there. Her vision turned red, and rage coursed through her body like never before. If I wouldn’t get caught, I would just choke her right here and end her life now. Instead, Kaylee mustered up a smile and used the sweetest voice she could conjure up at the moment.
   “Please, Ms. Chip. I think you’ll definitely find this worth your time. I am flying to Arizona this weekend to visit my grandparents. Before I go there, though, I’m stopping to tour the Grand Canyon. I know how much you love the Grand Canyon, and it just so happens that I have an extra plane ticket. Would you be interested in coming with me?” Ms. Chip looked up from the computer screen and bored into Kaylee’s eyes with her own.
   “Yes, Kaylee, I would love to go to the Grand Canyon with you. I’ve always wanted to go.” Ms. Chip replied. Kaylee was surprised to see her teacher show any emotion that wasn’t anger, spite, or hatred. “As long as you don’t speak to me. I don’t want anyone to know that I am affiliated with you.” Again, Kaylee almost destroyed her on the spot.  She knew that she would never get away with it at school, though. So once again, she stifled her anger and politely responded.
   “Okay. Meet me at the airport tomorrow.”
   The next day, the two of them found each other at the airport and boarded the plane. Ms. Chip noticed her ticket was only one way instead of round trip, but she thought nothing of it. During the flight, Kaylee attempted to make conversation with Ms. Chip, but without much success. “So, have you ever been to Arizona?” asked Kaylee.
   “Nope.” Ms. Chip replied sharply.
   “Oh,” Kaylee replied, somewhat taken aback by the edginess of her reply. “Well, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. It’s a lovely place.”
   “I bet.”
   “Are you gonna buy any souvenirs?”
   “Nope.”
   “Why not?”
   “No need to spend the money. I‘m gonna take a nap.” And with that, Ms Chip leaned her seat back and began to doze, snoring loudly almost instantly. Kaylee soon got annoyed by the persistent snoring, but luckily, their flight landed soon. After they got off the plane and out of the airport, the two took rented a car and drove to the Grand Canyon.
   Once the two arrived, they got out of the car to stretch. Ms. Chip walked to the edge of the canyon and looked out at the view. It was stunning. There wasn’t a cloud in the deep blue sky, and the sun was just beginning to set on the treeline far off in the distance. “Thanks for inviting me,” she said. “Now, go away.”
   Again, Kaylee’s fists clenched, only this time she didn’t even try to contain her anger. With nobody else around, Kaylee chose this moment to strike. Kaylee picked up a softball sized rock and swung it like a discus; as hard as she could at the back of Ms. Chip’s head. Having her back turned, Ms. Chip never even saw it coming. It knocked her out cold. Kaylee was sure that she had swung hard enough to kill her, but just in case, she made absolutely sure by tossing Ms. Chip’s body down into the deep canyon. It plummeted 3000 feet, smashing into the side of the canyon several times before disappearing into the Colorado River far below “Yeah, that’s what you get for messin with me!” Exclaimed Kaylee. “See if you do it again!”. For good measure, Kaylee tossed the rock down into the river as well. Satisfied, Kaylee smiled as she walked back to the car. She got in, returned the rental car, and took the next flight back to her hometown. Everyone back home knew what had happened, they all knew that Kaylee had done something to Ms. Chip. But nobody could prove it. So, they hired a new teacher, and life went on as normal. Kaylee’s classmates applauded her. While they didn’t agree with the method she used, they were all happy that they got a new teacher. The rest of the teachers, terrified that their fate would end up like Ms. Chip’s if they treated Kaylee badly, gave her anything she asked for and treated her with much respect.

Epilogue: Two weeks later, the driver of a boat in the California gulf reported that they had seen a body floating in the water. Once they went nearer to get a better look, though, a giant fish appeared seemingly out of nowhere and devoured the body. Astonished, the driver began to call the police, but decided there was no point.

Compare and Contrast Essay

    Folklore is the traditional lore or legends of a people. The stories are often false or greatly exaggerated. Different cultures have differences in their stories as well as similarities. Take these three stories, for instance. "Bloody Knife", from Nova Scotia; "Pink", from Florida; and "Axe Murder Hollow", from New Jersey all have similarities, but they all have differences as well.

    First off, all three of the stories have serious tones, but the tones all differ slightly. None of the tones are light-hearted: every story is serious. "Bloody Knife" has a very sinister, mysterious tone. When the two men fight in a bloody battle, the tone is sinister. When the knife mysteriously avoids being grabbed, the tone turns to mysterious. "Pink" has a vengeful tone when the man strangles his wife in revenge for her angering him. "Axe Murder Hollow"'s tone is downright scary. The ghost axeman comes out of nowhere and mutilates first the man and then the woman.
    Next, somebody is murdered in every one of the stories. Each one of their deaths also resulted from an emotional flare that sparked a physical encounterment. The reasons for their death are different, though, and they were all killed in a different way.  In "Bloody Knife", one man is wounded and bleeds out in a knife fight with another man. The two men were enemies, and the fight resulted from the two men having a verbal argument. In "Pink", a man chokes his wife to death in a fit of rage after words were exchanged between the two of them. The man did not appreciate the fact that his wife spent more time with their male gardener than she did with him. In "Axe Murder Hollow",  two people were chopped up by a ghost with an axe because he was jealous of their love.
    Finally, many literary elements in the stories are the same. For instance, all three stories have good diction and sentence structure. all stories all have a protagonist and antagonist. In "Pink", the man is the protagonist and his wife is the antagonist. In "Axe Murder Hollow", the man and woman are the protagonists, and the ghost is the antagonist. In "Bloody Knife", both men are protagonists and antagonists, as both men are fighting each other to stay alive.
    All folklore has it's own style. Each culture will slight differences in their structure or style. They will also have similarities, too, such as supernatural happenings or exaggeration.

Death from Egging

Sometimes, people take a joke a little too seriously. The article “Halloween Prank”, by Greg Bluestein, on MSNBC illustrates this perfectly. A man in Atlanta went a little crazy after a 17-year-old boy egged his Mercedes. He shot and killed the boy as he was running away. That shocks me. I don't understand why the man reacted so violently, and it really surprises me.

First off, shooting a 17-year-old child for vandalizing a car is way too drastic. According to police reports, the driver of the Mercedes “shot a 17-year-old in the neck and leg as the teen tried to run away.” All the boy did was throw a few eggs at his car! Of course, nobody appreciates someone vandalizing their car. This is especially true if your vehicle is a fancy, expensive car such as a Mercedes. But shooting at the vandal? That’s insane. The article also states that “the driver confronted the teen”, so the teen must have done or said something after the incident to provoke the man’s anger. Even so, what the man did was terribly wrong. Murdering a teenager over some exchanged words and an egged car, albeit an expensive one, should never be done.

Next, this man’s reaction sends a message to me. I love Halloween, and all the mischief that comes with it. Now, I’ll be a little more wary to do things that may anger someone. Or, at least, I’ll make sure I don’t get caught. The thought of being shot and killed for some Halloween prank is frightening.

Teenagers are going to get into trouble on Halloween. Not all of them will, but it’s inevitable that many will find a way. Hopefully, though, people will be able to control their anger, and nobody will be killed. That is quite an awful way to spend your Halloween.

Descriptive paragraph.

I walk up to the line of scrimmage, glancing out at my receivers. The slight breeze chills my skin, and the smell of sweat mixed with mud engulfs the air around me. Smoothly, I slide under center and take the snap. I drop back, looking over to the right. In front of me, linemen are colliding, grunts and screams escaping from their mouths. Excitement stirs up inside me. Jaron is running straight down the field, and he has beat his man. I rare back and fire the ball to him. The ball takes a high arc, spinning gracefully as it gets closer and closer to it's target. Jaron never stops as he catches the ball in stride. The crowd explodes as he sprints down the sideline. The defenders are close behind, desperately trying to chase him down, but to no avail. Jaron doesn't stop running until he reaches the endzone 66 yards later.

Binge Drinking

The article "1 in 4 Students, Young Adults Binge Drink", by Reuters, brought to attention some alarming facts. According to US government researchers, one in four high school students and adults between the ages of 19 and 34 have binge drank in the past month. Also, among high school students that drink, 60 percent of them binge drink. In other words, a quarter of young people engage in binge drinking or have done so recently. These statistics raise one question in my mind: Why do people binge drink? In my opinion, it's unnecessary.

Binge drinking is stupid. Excessive drinking, which includes binge drinking, kills more than 79,000 people each year. This is the third leading cause of death in the United States. So why do people do it? It harms your body and can harm the people around you as well. It also impairs your ability to make decisions. Some people may argue that getting drunk is fun and won't hurt anyone. They're wrong. You can die from binge drinking or, worse, kill someone else. Who could be so careless that they would threaten their own lives and the lives of other people? The only way I can gather that somebody would do something so dangerous is if they don't know the risks. Perhaps if people were more aware of the effects of binge drinking, they would be less likely to engage in it. Either way, binge drinking is highly dangerous, and I will never understand people's reasons as to why they do it.

Innocent Death

    In war, there will always be casualties. The war in Iraq is no exception. I understand this, but recently, there have been too many unnecessary casualties. I read an article titled “Attacks across Iraq leave 36 dead and 128 wounded” by Mohammed Tawfeeq on CNN today about the war in Iraq. On Sunday, 36 people were killed, and 128 were wounded. Most of these were civilians. Car bombs and bombings caused most of these casualties. When innocent people are killed, it really upsets me. It makes me wonder if fighting in Iraq is worth it.

    Every time I hear news about Iraq, it is always about bombs and more death. It’s never any good news. When I stop and think about it, I come to the conclusion that it is time to bring our troops home. U.S. troops have been in Iraq for years, and the country is still not stable.  If they haven’t taken control of  the situation by now, then there is nothing we can do for them. Does it make sense to leave our troops over there to die?  It is not even our war. No, I do not like what it happening in Iraq. Nor do I think that we should abandon them. But what we are doing now is not working, and our soldiers are endangered. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Send all the troops end to eliminate the hostiles, or pull all of them out to keep them safe. No matter what course of action is taken, America needs to find another way to aid the Iraqis in their fight for stability.

English paragraph

     In the poem "I, Too, Sing America", by Langston Hughes, the tones of bitterness and determination show the author's dislike of his situation. He refuses to give up, though, and will achieve his goals someday. He is not treated as an equal human being, either. One day, though, he will be treated equally, and he will continue to look forward to that day.

Hello

Hi! :) This is my first blog post ever. That's all.

- Kobb