Author's Note

     Originally I was going to write a story about bullying in and out of school. Then I realized that bullies bully because they're insecure about themselves and their current living situation. One reason for insecurity is the current state of our country. Bullies could be living with their parents struggling to put food on the table or unemployed and unable to pay the monthly mortgage or rent. Of course not all bullies do what they do just because they feel insecure.
     On another note about the topic surrounding the story, homelessness is a major issue in the U.S and around the world. In NYC especially there a lot of unsheltered citizens living on the streets or in the subways. In NYC, there are approximately 3,111 according to an annual study conducted by volunteers all around NYC. That number is up 34% from last year or 783 people.
      Being surrounded by all these people in a city of 8 million, I decided to compose this book based on my encounters with my dad with a homeless man at the 7th Avenue Train Stop in Brooklyn. My dad never brought food because the man was never always there, but gave him a buck or two and asked how he was doing and how he felt. Things like this can make the world a better place for everyone.

http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=S44-4241-0-8708&artno=0000308898&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=Cyberbullying&title=Is%20Your%20Child%20a%20Victim%20of%20Cyberbullying%3F&res=Y&ren=N&gov=N&lnk=N&ic=N

     Cyberbullying is an enormous issue in the U.S and around the world. Bullying has been around now for generations, but now due to the rise of cell phones and social networking sites bullies have found new ways to harass their victims. According to Sameer Hinduja, of the Cyberbullying Research Center, 1/5 of children in the U.S between 11 and 18 have been cyberbullied. Another 1/5 have admitted to cyberbullying someone else.
  Cyberbullying is defined as a constant inflicting of harm against someone by cell phone, distributing photos meant to harm, or posting something negatively of someone of a group of people. The principal at Hilton Head Island Middle School, which has had many incidents over the past years says that most bullying now occurs away from school due to the Internet. The ability to be anonymous on sites like FormSpring has made it so people can get bullied constantly with the bully not being exposed to any punishment. This must STOP!!     

Research Assignment #1: Iraq War

     From the moment Mission Accomplished was announced Iraq has been chaotic. Thousands of soldiers, hundreds of thousands of civilians dead. Now that President Obama has began troop withdrawals and peace talks have slowly begun, there might possibly be peace in sight. According to Rachelle Marshall, writer of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, there is no peace in sight.
     http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=S44-4241-0-9308&artno=0000308556&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=Iraq%20War%20%282003-%20%29&title=Peace%20Talks%20and%20Troop%20Withdrawals%2C%20But%20No%20Peace%20in%20Sight&res=Y&ren=N&gov=N&lnk=N&ic=N  

      The American soldiers left in Iraq are supposedly meant to be trainers to the Iraqi soldiers. American soldiers believe that they will be in Iraq for many years to come. America's imprint in Iraqi affairs will be there for a long. Combat soldiers are still positioned in bases in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait that all border Iraq. 
     Also peace in Iraq still hasn't been restored. Things in Iraq were not very peaceful in the first place but but it should be a obligation for the Iraqi people. Sadaam Hussein, the former dictator of Iraq, was only able to maintain some sort of peace due to the torturing of thousands of civilians. Operation Iraqi Freedom, started by ex-President George Bush, officially ended Aug 31, but peace between the main religious groups, the Sunnis and Shites has yet to happen. The water is polluted, sanitation is hazardous, and insurgents are still killing innocent civilians. Car bombs are still going off daily around the country. 

     I'm not saying that leaving Iraq was the wrong move, but the problem is why we entered. 

Evan Wadongo

     In rural Kenya there is a shortage of electricity. Evan Wadongo, 23, knows how poor these people are. They have to use most of their money on firewood and coal to light up their houses just enough to make the house lighter than dim. Knowing this, Evan created a LED solar powered lamp. Growing up around a emphasis on on education with his dad being a High School teacher he studied with the lighting of coal and firewood and wound up with eyesight problems. He believes that the money that these families save on coal and firewood could be used to buy food and at the same time reduce poverty in Kenya. He is providing these lanterns for FREE!!!
       Wadongo estimates that he has distributed about 10,000 lanterns. Now when Evan walks into a village the people greet him with celebration and song. Evan changes to the world have gotten him nominated for CNN Hero of the Year. VOTE FOR EVAN!!

Social Awarness Project #2

     The wrath was short
     His grip has shrunk
     A party once near extinct has risen back
     A nation reshaped
     Two years of no progress
     A party once mighty now retreating and regrouping
     Change was promised and little has happened
     Now in a time of distress recession a new party looks to change the nation.

Mother to Son

     Langston Hughes' "Mother to Son" really represents the situation for some people in this country. Some people want what is in their child's best interest. Most parents want their kids to have a better childhood than them even if they had a good childhood. This people, I feel, is inspirational. "But life ain't be no crystal stair for me" can symbolize the working class part of the U.S and that she is saying to him that she will do all she can to help him reach for the stars when he grows up.
     Hughes' mom represents everyone who wanted to have had a better life but is trying look past her's and look toward the future and in the future the newest generation is it. In times like these, this poem is able to represent the entire U.S and the effects of life on everyone and especially during a recession.

Social Awareness Project

       After 7+ days of hovering and watching the news and reading the newspaper I heard about a lot of good and bad news. First, a deli worker was killed by a robber in Queens 11 years after his brother was also killed. Also, there was a 7.7 Magnitude earthquake in Indonesia that triggered a volcanic eruption and a tsunami. The last important new that I've been watching is the Senate and House elections next week and how the Democrats could lose the majority in one of or both of the Congressional houses. To go with that, the Governor race in New York has gotten interesting due to Jimmy Mclillan of the Rent is Too Damn High Party and Carl Paladino's remarks on Gay Marriage in the U.S.
       From this experience I learned a lot of things. First, I learned how many different things happen each day in NYC and in the world. How crazy this world may be. Also, how without the media it would be much harder for us to hear very important news in the blink of an eye. Lastly, I learned about how biased opinions can be in the media and that you want to listen to all of the media's people opinions.

First Draft of Appreciation

           When you first see a books that looks interesting, what do you look at? The cover, and in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe there is a lion with two kids on his back. Not very specific and doesn't tell you what the book is about. What do you look at next even if there is a nice cover that kinda tips you off on what the book is about, you look for the blurb. There is no blurb in on the back cover or front flap, so that means that you are forced to start reading a book that you have basically no clue about.
            From the first page of Narnia to the last you are as close to being stuck in a reading warp as possible, where you can’t stop reading and the only movement in your body is your eyes blinking and your heart beating. The pictures in the book are extremely descriptive and they really help the reader visualize the situation and the setting of the story. When Aslan is being killed the illustrator  draws the scene exactly as C.S Lewis describes it. All the monsters you'd see in a freak show are there. Cyclops etc...           
           The book begins with the introduction of what Edmund, Susan, Peter, and Lucy Pevensie are going through. It is the middle of World War II and they are forced to move to a suburb of London for the time being due to the Nazi bomb raids of London. They move in with a old professor who owns an enormous house, and while playing hide and seek, Lucy discovers a wardrobe which is a portal to Narnia. That is the end of boredom and loneliness for the Pevensies. At first, Lucy's older siblings don't believe her, until Edmund enters the wardrobe to Narnia and apologizes to Lucy for not believing her and they force Peter and Susan to Narnia. Turns out that there is a prophecy that four humans, two boys and two girls, that would end the reign of the evil leader the White Witch. The Pevenisies eventually join forces with Aslan (The true king of Narnia) and his rebellion and defeat The White Witch and restore freedom to Narnia.  
         When the world was introduced to Narnia in 1950, it was the first time the world had read a book of this type. By that, I’m saying that no author had ever brought the genre of fantasy to Narnia’s kind of level. It teaches kids that evil is not the way and teaches that in a way of bringing up witchcraft and evil. Narnia was actually the first real fantasy that the world had ever read. No book moral had ever been as complex and controversial as Narnia's. 
         I find it disgraceful that libraries and schools have banned the reading and use of reading any Narnia book. Libraries say that there is too much gore and witchcraft for people to read about. Reading Narnia should be like a privilege to these people, and isn’t it a library’s role in community to provide the community with the joy of reading and give all of the community’s people the opportunity to read ALL BOOKS! To fulfill the true meaning of reading, you have to read The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe.

Further Research Into Old Time Favorite Books and Current Favorite

     There always seems to be a story behind all of the greatest books of our generation, and the the generations before us. Harry Potter started in a coffee shop and was rejected by publishers 13 times before it was finally published (Wonder what those guys were thinking?). The Wrinkle In Time was rejected 26 TIMES!!! Some of the most highly acclaimed books were banned from countries. During the Nazi Regime in the 1930's-40's, citizens were denied access to most books such as the Wizard of Oz. These books were torched in the streets of Berlin and throughout Germany during the Nazi rule of Germany. Only books that were approved by the government were permitted.
     Not just Germany, but in parts of the U.S schools and libraries have banned and disallowed the possession and/or reading of some amazing and highly acclaimed books. These books include The Wrinkle in Time, all Harry Potters, even some Mark Twain books for promoting use of witchcraft, featuring supernatural forces rather than religious to defeat evil, and for graphic violence and gore.
     I find this information a little startling especially the part about the U.S baning but at he same time it's very interesting. For more information go to http://www.banned-books.com/bblist.html.

Entry #6!

     Throughout the Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe I struggled to find a really good note that was at the same to a good connection to me or just something in life. I realized that Edmund Pevensie is like Anakin Skywalker and that the book is like the movie Star Wars. In the book Edmund is like the Chosen One of Narnia as is Anakin Skywalker. Edmund was one of the four humans who were to dethrone the White Witch who was like the Dark Side in Narnia. In Star Wars, Anakin Skywalker was the one who was supposed to put the destroy the Sith Lord .A.K.A The Emperor) Both of these characters were seduced to the "Dark Side" at one point of the story and both were eventually deduced to the light side by their relative/relatives. Both have the same ending.

Appreciating E.B White

        Reading Charlotte's Web has really made me appreciate the way E.B White wrote Charlotte's and the way he describes the characters.
        The way White just it seems magically creates similes and metaphors reminds me of a beautifully written poem. He's able to make Charlotte's Web not too long but at the same he's able to the characters in depth. Any character that is mentioned more than once is described well enough that you know all about their personality and traits. Even if he intended to or not.
        He talks about how the sheep are ignorant and annoying, the goose stutters, and Templeton has a big appetite. Charlotte's Web has made me appreciate a different type of literature. The pictures (Although not by him) go really well with the story. Charlotte's Web is an amazing book.