500 Word 9/11 Free Write

The killing of Osama Bin Laden made me very fearful. The second I heard it, I knew Al Quaeda was going to strongly retaliate. They have been merciless in the past, and the killing of there leader would only be throwing gas into there fire. Im not saying killing Osama was a bad thing, but what I am saying is that we have to be ready for whatever is going to be thrown at us. It is impossible to guess what is going to be thrown at us, but we must know it will be dangerous. I have a feeling we will be going through many security changes in places like airports, large malls, state capitals, and large, meaningful monuments. Like others have said, even though the leader is dead does not mean the war is over. There is many, many more people in Al Quaeda who are capable of doing things of the same amount of damage as 9/11 did.

            When 9/11 happened, I remember exactly where I was when it happened, as everyone should. My mom was walking me to my bus stop while we were both unaware of the news, and my neighbors dad was already there waiting with his son. He said to my mom “have you heard about the twin towers?” and immediately then I knew something bad has happened. Even at that age I was old enough to know the importance of the two tallest towers in America. Then when I got to school, I remember pure chaos. Teachers were crying, the principle was going into rooms telling the teachers to turn off there tvs, kids were in groups discussing there rumors of what all had happened, and so on. watching the news was very scary to see the amount of destruction to 2 planes had caused. I also was wondering what the true meaning of a terrorist was, other than the turbans they wore, as well as why anybody would want to do this to our country.

            I had a very different reaction to this news, nearly 10 years after my previous experience. I was doing homework when my dad called to me to come out and watch the news. I entered the family room to see a screen of flashing red bars, words scrolling across the screen, and flustered news reporters repeating all that they know. My whole family was speechless, and wondering how Osama managed to stay in one spot for nearly a decade. That brings me to another point, why didn’t the U.S. troops find him earlier if they have been searching for nearly 10 years? Was it a good hiding place or were the soldiers over thinking the whole situation? No one, not even the news reporters seemed to know the answer to any of our questions, and I don’t think we ever will know some of them. All we can do from here is to hope Al Quaeda’s retaliation actions are nothing too strong for the border patrol to handle, assuming they will be coming.

Maus/Night

Both of the Maus books and Night are very similar to each other, but they are also different in many ways. While reading Night, it is from the point of view of someone directly in the Holocaust, and the Maus books were both based in and out of a concentration camp. But in the end, the concentration camps both had the same effects on the characters, and they all ended up with some sort of emotional problems. Both of these books just go to show how scarring the concentration camps of the Holocaust were, and jow your life would never really be the same after the fact, even if you did survive. Both of these books proved the fact that concentration camps were inhumane and wrong, and they also put an interesting story along with it. For example, in Night, prisoners of the concentration camp would constintly be beated relentlessly for no apperent reason, as well as in Maus 1. In Maus 2, it was basically just the aftermath of a concentration camps vicims son, and how he thinks his father is going crazy due to his expirience during the Holocaust.

Restrepo Writing

Watching “Restrepo” and reading the book “Fallen Angels” taught me a lot about war. It showed me its true grit, but it also showed me how it could closely resemble modern day life in America. I learned its true grit while seeing/reading about death in combat, and how scarred soldiers were when they lost a man. At the top of the hill during “Restrepo” when a man was killed, his fellow soldiers tears gave me a sense of guilt, knowing he died protecting us civilians. These stories also showed me how normal war life can be. In “Restrepo” when one of the soldiers turned music on and they were all dancing and laughing, this is probably something they would do back home. Also, when one of the soldiers was playing guitar, it was basically a setting back in America with soldiers talking about whatever was on there mind, as conversation was in “Fallen Angels”.  

Restrepo Pre-Writing

During the movie, the firefights from when the soldiers were in Afghanistan gave me a better feel as to what the men in Fallen Angels had to go through. Another thing is during down time in Afghanistan the soldiers would have fun, like listen to music, like the men in Fallen Angels would do when they would play volleyball. Also, the men in Afghanistan would constantly get off topic and joke around, sometimes even during firefights as the men in Fallen Angels would do. This gave me a good vision as to how life at war really was. When the troop in Resrepo lost Restrepo, they went as far as to making a movie after him. This reminded me of how upset the men in Fallen Angels were when they lost a man. In the movie, a lot of the men would lift weights to keep in shape. In the book, men would constantly stay active to stay in shape. In the movie, the soldiers cheered when they killed a man from far away, because they knew the victim had no chance of fighting back, meaning no danger for them. This reminded me of how scared Perry was when he killed that Cong face to face. In the movie when the soldiers found out they could go home, they were ecstatic. This was a lot like how Perry and Peewee felt when they were told they were going home. In the movie, the men had a lot of down time, which seemed boring. In the book, they would spend there down time talking about everything, which was a lot like the men from Restrepo’s down time. When Peewee and Perry were trapped in the spiderhole in Nam, it closely resembles how Restrepo would feel if they were in combat with no backup. During the movie, there was a moment when the soldiers were moving into enemy territory on foot and it was an eerie silence the whole way. This reminded me of when the troops in Nam were on Cong territory and there were Congs less than 20 yards away from them.  

Slaughterhouse 5 Blogging Assignment

Please list 10 ways you can improve your essay scores

1. Re read your essay when you are done.                                            

2. Use a variety of vocabulary.                                                     

3. Make sure everything makes sense.                                                     

4. Follow the guidelines of your paper.                                                     

5. Don’t get off topic.                                                     

6. Use correct punctuation and grammar.

7. Use meaningful quotes if told to use quotes.

8. Don’t rush your writing.

9. Remember that writing more isn’t always better.

10. Follow the correct format guidelines of the paper.

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. I like how different of an aspect they have on death by saying So It Goes.

2. I like how there are basically 3 different stories going on all at once.

3. I liked how much sexual humor the author used when talking about the tralfamadorians.

4. I liked how almost everything related back to billys honeymoon whenever there was time travel involved.

5. I liked how much detail the author used- being trapped in the hospital.

6. I like how un dramatic the author made the book- giving away the climaxes with small details.

7. I liked how the author used the tralfamadorians to explain how he really felt about the human race.

8. I like how straight forward the title of the book is.

9. I liked how the tralfamadorians kept Billy and Montana in a cage/observatory.

10. I liked how the tralfamadorians thought Billy and Montana were so interesting/beautiful.

11. I thought it was confusing how dates and times kept changing whenever Billy would time travel.

12. I didn’t like the unorganized parts of the book- sometimes during time travel.

13. I didn’t like how Billys wife had to die, it seemed unnecessary and it was sad.

14. It was interesting when Billy was being kidnapped by the tralfamadorians.

15. I thought it was funny how Edger Derby was elected president of the club.

State 5 possible themes for the book Slaughterhouse-5.

1. Death is just another battle of life that is unstoppable.

2. Having a different aspect on life has many positives and many negatives.

3. Time has very little effect on many things.

4. Life has many lows that are worth pushing through for the highs

5. Its never a bad thing to be different.

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.

Billy: hello nick.

Nick: hi billy.

B: have you ever been to New York?

N: no never, why?

B: no reason. Have you ever felt the urge to tell someone something they shouldn’t really know?

N: im not really sure… what are you trying to say?

B: well, im going to tell you something that will make you never look at me the same again.

N: alright… what is it?

B: well, a few years ago, I was abducted by aliens to a place called tralfamadore. They have never seen a real human before, so I was really a big deal to them.

N: are you serious?

B: yes. All this may seem like a lot, but theres more.

N: do I even want to know…

B: I think you will. But when I was in New York, I tried to get on the news to share my thoughts and experiences I went through on tralfamadore.

N: well how did that all go?

B: not so well. Everyone thought I was crazy.

N: im not saying I don’t believe you, but im not surprised.

B: yeah well, I wish more people were like you.

N: well thanks. Is there anything else you want to tell me?

B: no that’s about it for now. There are some more crazy stories I have to tell you about from when I was on tralfamadore though. You know the movie star Montana Wildhack?

N: yeah why?

B: no reason. Bye nick.

N: bye Billy.

Siddhartha Blog

In the book “Siddhartha”, the main character, Siddhartha, is on a journey of enlightenment. Everyone expected him to follow his father’s footsteps and find enlightenment through being a Brahmin, but he noticed his father still hasn’t reached enlightenment over all of his years of being a Brahmin. So Siddhartha decided he was going to leave his family and find enlightenment in some other way. He ended up joining a group called the Samana’s who had a very unique way of doing things. On page 9, Siddhartha tells Govinda “Tomorrow morning, my friend, Siddhartha is going to join the Samana’s. He is going to become a Samana.” This path Siddhartha took reminds me a lot of when I wanted to fit in and find the group of friends that was right for me. Thankfully, around 5^th or 6^th grade I found that group of friends, and I have been sticking with them ever since. Also, I have always seemed to have that one friend who comes with/supports me on my decisions. Just like Govinda is to Siddhartha. (Page 12) “You have come,” said Siddhartha and smiled. “I have come,” said Govinda.” In this story, Govinda goes through a lot just to follow Siddhartha on his path of enlightenment. Because of that, you can tell Govinda is a good person and a loyal best friend, and he supported Siddhartha with everything all the way until they went there separate ways.