Poetry

I do not really mind poetry but I don’t like it either. Poetry really is hard for me to understand and confuses me.  I think it is hard for me to understand because it is not in modern day language; it is hard to pick out the parts to make out what the poem is talking about. I learned some poetry throughout middle school and didn't learn anymore with it until last year. Shakespeare was the hardest to understand, I usually broke it down into modern day terms by looking up the definitions of words I did not understand in the poem to put it into simple terms to understand. I also really hated Romeo and Juliet, I remember how freshman year, my whole English class had to read it together and the teacher by no means helped us understand it. It was so long and took over 3 weeks to read in class. I was so frustrated with it every day, nothing I read was even understandable. I hated poetry after that until my 11^th grade year when my English teacher started teaching us how to break it down and showed us how to turn it into modern day language then I really started to enjoy reading it. I don’t mind Poetry that is easy to understand and that’s written into simple terms. I love Nikki Giovanni’s poems; she puts deep thoughts and emotions in her poems and bases them upon how reality in life really is. She doesn't put any assonance or alliteration into her poems. My favorite poem from her was called balances.

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Aow #10: People are causing a mass extinction on Earth; some try to stop it

Supposedly, there has been five destructive events that have killed off almost all animal life on earth. Yes, I agree that mass extinctions have killed off life on earth, but what most do not understand or see is that us people cause some of this.It all started from asteroids to volcanoes. We cannot help natural disasters, but we could find other ways to help prevent pollution and global warming that changes the climate for certain species. There is some things in this article that I do not agree with like “We use more than half of the planet’s unfrozen land for the cities and logging or food” (Scientific American 1). So do they expect us to not eat or build places we need? We cannot survive ourselves without food and a place to live. I do not believe these natural habitats has killed off animal and plant life. They say that humans have caused nearly 1,000 species to go extinct, but my question is what have we done to cause that many to go extinct? Since back in the 1500’s we have supposedly killed off 322 types of animals, to some people that might seem like a lot but really it is not. If you look at it as of how many different types of species there was in each group of the animals, then I guess it might seem like a good bit. I do agree and believe that many of animals are endangered everyday, it has been happening for years but I don’t think it has happened as quick as scientist say it has. Recently, the only freshwater mammal left on earth, a dolphin went extinct in China. How did that happen, without people polluting the water it lived in? They say a sixth mass extinction is starting to occur, but I do believe people today can help avoid it, I think that we are starting to help save life on earth more and more everyday as much as we can.

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Aow #9: Hong Kong's Thwarted Democracy

In the article I read, Britain supposedly took over Hong Kong over a drug war in the 1830’s. Back then drugs were limited and people would go crazy for them. Late in the 1890’s Britain gave hong kong to the china to lease, after the policy one country two systems act with china for 50 years. The chinese were pressured to lease the island to london for 99 years. After the transfer hong kong already replaced the elected legislature by a select few of beijing businessmen. The government started firing people just because they advertised about their democracy, and the government was terrified of what was going to happen next.The banks thought that the decisions had become commercially based. Hong Kong tried to introduce a new school curricula into schools. They tried to change the education china had them on and change it into a “moral and national” education. “Some 90,000 students and citizens demonstrated against what they called “brainwashing” (Week 1). They were protecting against their rights and refused to be brainwashed by the government anymore. The city’s first direct ballot will be held in the year of 2017, which will be the election of Hong Kong’s chief executive. The voting will be a one person and one vote type of deal. Many people including the chinese are uneasy about this idea and are unsure of what kind of people Beijing will bring in. Beijing thinks that the candidates should be screened before allowed in Hong Kong. They also state that they never promised that Hong Kong could freely pick the candidates. So, then why are they letting them? Pro democracy people are worried about Hong Kong being like Iran and North Korea, But the chairman of the democrats says otherwise, and thinks that they will go by international standards. In my opinion this is all a mess and the country needs help or they are going to definitely be ruled by communist.

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Aow #8: Stand Up for Your Health

We live in a country that almost has one of the highest obesity rates out there. All Americans do is eat junk food and not worry about their health for the future.It has got so bad that obesity is considered a disability, you actually get a check for being overweight.Technology today has caused obesity to start rising fast because no one wants to go outside and play anymore, they would rather be trapped indoors playing video games or watching television, slowly watching their life disappear.American people are so lazy anymore, there are so many obese people who just sit on their butt all day and eat, most don’t even exercise or even have a job.People wonder why they have so many health problems or why they gain so much weight, well maybe if they would get up off their butts and exercise a little bit everyday then they would not have so many health problems or be so fat and out of shape. I hear many kids and adults complain about their weight, but not one of them exercise or have a job that requires moving. I am sorry but sitting around all day playing video games and eating tons of food is not going to get you anywhere in life besides straight to your grave.People who do not exercise and eat excessive amounts of junk food have a higher risk of getting diabetes and cancer. It is a proven fact that people who exercise and have a job that requires moving your body will live longer than people who sit on their butt all day.I understand that we need to be exercising more often but according to this article we should be standing to do everything we do in our everyday life, I think that's a little to extreme, that's like practically saying we should stand while we use the bathroom. Levine says, “I want us to have to find excuses to be sitting down”(Park 2). That is a little ridiculous and to the extreme. I don’t care what that guy says no one is going to listen to him. I know the obesity rate is high and people are definitely lazy, but it should be our choice if we want to be skinny and healthy or obese and lazy.

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Aow #7: What is Ebola and How Do People Catch It?

What is Ebola? Ebola is a virus outbreak that started in West Africa and has infected 6,000 people in places around it. Ebola was first found in Sudan and Congo in 1976. How is this virus starting again after so many years? Scientists say they think the virus has spread by humans who had contact with animals bodily fluids or blood such as bats, monkeys, gorillas, etc..Seriously, this is the craziest thing I have ever heard. How in the heck did these kind of animals get this virus? Why would these people be in contact with wild animals bodily fluids? The Center for Disease Control thinks by early next year the virus outbreak could reach to 1.4 million cases.. this is an outrageous amount, why don’t they do something to try to prevent it from spreading like this? The symptoms start out as flu like symptoms such as fever, muscle aches, weakness, sore throat, and headaches. Some people can even start bleeding in the internal organs..Supposedly this virus is not contagious like cold and flu symptoms, and can only be spread by people from direct contact of bodily fluid.. I do not believe that one bit, if this virus is spreading as fast as they say than it has to be contagious. So really how hard is it to catch Ebola? Many Americans are worried that the outbreak could happen in the United States. “President Obama reassured the public at a recent new conference that the chances of this happening “are extremely low” (Bennett 1). He is so full of crap, there has already been an outbreak reported in West Virginia, so he does not know what he is talking about, he never does. Three American doctors working in Liberia were infected in July with it. They were over there trying to help with people infected with the virus. I think we need to stop sending our American people to other countries. They probably carried this virus back to the United States with them. Obama just needs to keep his nose out of the problems that are occurring in other countries that don’t pertain us.

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