Odysseus Essay

On June 21st 2006, Staff Sergeant Jared C. Monti’s 16 men patrol was being attacked. He engaged his enemy with his rifle and grenade. Fifty enemy soldiers were waiting for them to step out from behind the rocks. He was providing a distraction so that all of the 16 men could escape. The 16 men escaped, but he was mortally wounded. Three years later on September 17th 2009, he won Congressional Medal of Honor. Jared C. Monti is a hero. He sacrificed his life to save the 16 soldiers. A hero is someone who saves lives with least lives lost. Odysseus is on the other side of the coin. Odysseus is not a hero.

Odysseus is not a hero because he does not risk his life to save his men. Odysseus is too self centered. Odysseus thinks that just because he is the king of Ithaca, he can risk his men’s lives to save his own. When someone becomes a king, he is expected to do what is best for his people: the people should not do what is best for their king. Odysseus needs to realize that twelve lives are more important than one life. A king protects his people; he does not plan to kill others when the war is lost. A hero also puts his life before others just like Jared C. Monti.
Odysseus is not a hero because he leads his men into risky situations. A hero does not lead his men into risky situations. In the movie, The Odyssey, Odysseus leads his men into risky situations.

Top 5 Funniest Super Bowl Commercials, the Last 5 Years ( in my opinion )

1.

This the Doritos Commercial where this guy has a crystal ball. He shakes the crystal ball and says, " free Doritos at the office today?" Then he throws the crystal ball at the vending that holds the Doritos and the ball breaks the glass. Then the guy says, "I think that's a yes." Another guy tries to use the crystal ball to get a promotion. After he asks " will I finally get that big promotion" he throws the ball and it hits his boss in the balls. The first guy comes in and says, "promotion?, not in your future!"

2

The best Super Bowl Commercial is the Bud light Commercial where there is one Bud Light left and two people grab it. One guy says "Rock paper scissors for it?" and the other guy says "fair enough". They do the arm motion and once they say scissors. One guy throws paper and the other guy throws a rock. The rock hits the guy right in the fore head and falls down. The guy who throws the rock grabs the last Bud Light.

The guy who got hit with the rock holds his hand up and another person who is walking by slaps his hand and "low five."




3

This is a Bud Light commercial where cavemen are trying to get to a party.
They are in charge of bringing Bud Light. The cavemen are dragging the cooler with Bud Light on the ground. A caveman says "we'll never make it to the party." All of a sudden another caveman says, "I invent the wheel!", and he has a stone wheel. They end up holding the wheel on their shoulders, flat, with the cooler of bud light on top. One caveman says "wheel suck." Later a caveman uses a rock to try to open the bottle of Bud Light, but he shatters the whole bottle. The caveman says, "bottle opener suck!"




4

This is a Fed Ex commercial where this one caveman tries to ship a bone somewhere else. He ties it too a Pterodactyl's leg. The Pterodactyl gets about ten feet away and this T-Rex eats the Pterodactyl. The caveman goes back to the cave and says "Package didn't make it." There is another caveman in the cave and he says "did you use Fed Ex?" The other caveman says "No." The other caveman says "Fed Ex doesn't exist yet." The caveman in the cave says "not my problem." The original caveman kicks a little dinosaur. Then a huge dinosaur foot comes down and squishes the caveman.




5


This is a Doritos commercial from this years Super Bowl. This guy is eating Doritos and this dog comes up to him. The dog is wearing an anti-bark collar and the guy will give the dog a Dorito if he speaks. The dog runs away and the guy says "oh c'mon." The dog takes off the anti-bark collar and puts it on the guy. The dog barks, the guy gets shocked and he drops the Doritos. The guy wakes up and says "hey." The dog barks and the guy gets shocked again.

San Diego

It was mid winter break of 2007. The grade I would be in at that time was 6th. That was when mid-winter break was a week long. For mid-winter break, my family went to San Diego, California. We ate dinner at a restaurant in the airport. After we ate dinner, we spent most of the time getting our ticket, getting checked, and riding the magic carpet. Two hours later we finally get on the plane.

When we got on the plane the pilots give my brother and I a brochure about something. It took about 30 minutes for the plane to take off into the air. This is when all the excitement starts. When we get about five thousand feet in the air, the lady that serves food and drinks checks in on the pilots of the plane.

I hear a scream. The passengers on the plane instantly stood up to see what happened. Even the people who were sleeping woke up because the scream was so loud. The lady comes out of the cockpit and everyone asks her what is wrong. You can tell that see was sad, but we didn't know what was wrong.

The lady says, " there is good news and bad news." The bad news is the pilots passed out and she doesn't know how to fly the plane. Everyone starts screaming. The lady says, " The good news is, we have Bud Light! Everyone starts to calm down and celebrate.

I stand up and yell, What about the plane? Everyone else on the plane yells back," Okay genius you want to fly the plane?" I say " Yes I would." I get to the cockpit and I see all kinds of buttons and lights. I'm like, " This is going to be easy". The plane is decreasing in altitude. The plane will only take about twenty seconds to crash into the Earth.

I see an ejection switch for the pilots. There is a parachute right behind me. I think about grabbing the parachute and ejecting myself out of the plane only to save myself. I realize that what I will do is bad and I pull down the handles and the plane gets parallel with the ground with only about one second until impact. I know the plane can't crash into the ground anymore and I eject the landing gear.

Very carefully I touch the wheels of the landing gear to the ground. The plane is sliding on the runway. It is dark, so I can't see. The runway is a couple miles long. The plane keeps sliding and sliding . When the plane gets closer I start to see a 3-D shape. The shape would eventually become the airport.

The plane eventually stops and I get off the plane on the shoulders of the other passengers. When we get into the lobby of the airport, there are about two hundred people clapping and cheering acknowledging my life-saving plane flying. One of the persons was California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Arnold ended up giving me the key to San Diego, San Francisco,and Sacramento. I can visit those cites anytime I want and I won't half to buy an airplane ticket. I can just fly the plane.

After the celebration was over I ended up going to Lego Land, San Diego Zoo, a motor-cross race in the San Diego Charger's Quallcomm Stadium, and the Air & Space Museum. Also, my family and I had dinner at my Dad's cousin's house.

One day we went to the USS Midway, an aircraft carrier. My family and I got to go where the planes are kept, under the runway and on the runway itself. We also got to go where the sailors got to sleep and eat. It is like a labrynth down there. There are so many hallways and corridors it is so easy to get lost. From the USS Midway, I got a book by Tom Clancy.

Another day we went on a cruise/whale watching trip. When we were at San Diego we stayed at two seperate condos. The second condo we stayed at was is the middle of a forest with a few other condos. Behind the condo was a beach and the Pacific Ocean. My dad got angry when my brother and I decided to go to swimming at the pool instead of the ocean.

My dad said we have to stay outside for awhile. When my brother gets in the water, he cuts his foot on a seashell. My brother's foot started to bleed and my brother and I go to the sliding, glass, door of our condo. Our dad won't let us in and my brother show's my dad his foot.

My dad lets us in, looks at the foot, and decides he needs stitches. My brother and my dad go to the hospital.

The next day my dad, my brother and I decide to walk along the beach. We have a waterproof football that we played catch with. When we were walking along the beach we see a bunch of jellyfish by the ocean water. The top of the jellyfish is what we see. My brother has the football, so he decides to throw the football at one of the jellyfish.

Thankfully he missed, because my dad starts to yell at him because what we see is where the poison is. Not one of my brother's smartest move. When my dad and my brother turn around and start heading back to the condo I see this large fish on the shore. I look at the large fish closely and I notice that it is a whale that is stuck on the beach.

I run towards the whale and see if my brother and dad are in the condo yet, unfortunately, they are. I can be the hero again just like I was the hero when I flew the plane to get to San Diego. I use my strength to pull and push the whale back into deep enough water so the whale can swim.

I get back to the condo before my parent's and my brother even realize I was gone. I tell them I saved the whale, but they wouldn't listen. I know I saved the whale and thats all what matters.

It is the last day of the San Diego trip and it is time to go back to the coldness of Michigan. When I get on the plane back to Detroit there are a bunch of people clapping and celebrating just like sixth grade send off. I bow and wave to them and I get back on the plane. The amazing trip I will remember forever ended.

China Rejects U.S. Complaints on its Currency

China should keep the cost of their goods the same.



China should keep the cost of their goods the same because I have Chinese money. In July 2009 my dad went to China for three weeks. When my dad came home from China, he gave my brother and I table tennis paddles and 80 RMBs each. Also, my dad got two electric fly swatters. In China 50 RMBs gets you an electric fly swatter. I know it seems like a lot of money, but it isn't.50 RMBs is seven dollars and 31 cents. Overall my dad spent about 38 dollars on two table tennis paddles, two electric fly swatters and 160 RMBs. One United States dollar is 6.8 Rmbs. If you have eight United State dollars you can get an electric fly swatter in China.

China should keep the costof their goods the same because it will take to long to reason with the Chinese government. According to the article "China Rejects U.S. Complaints on Its Currency." or The Americans will want China to decrease the cost of their goods.The Chinese want to increase the cost of their goods. The United States wants the Chinese to decrease the cost of their goods. It will create to much of a conflict and it will take too long to reason with China to reach a reasonable price.If the cost of China's goods stay the same, it won't create a conflict and we don't have to waste time trying to reason on the price of goods.

First Semester Reflection

Eliminating Clutter


To eliminate words you don't need I learned to eliminate clutter. Eliminating clutter really helps to increase clarity and it helps you get to your point. For example, instead of: Suzie thinks, but can not confirm that Billy has feelings of affection for her, you could say: According to Suzie, Billy likes her. I turned a 14 word sentence into a six word sentence.

Another example of eliminating clutter is use one word instead of using several words that mean the same thing. For example, instead of saying "Bob ran really fast down the football field", you can say Bob sprinted down the football field.


Paragraph Responses

In the first semester, I learned to have a thesis, topic sentence, and two paragraphs of support. I learned that paragraph responses should have a clear thesis. I learned that a thesis should be a statement or prediction of what will happen. For example, my thesis for the article about China will pass the United States as the top economic power is, The United States will remain the top economic country in the world.

The topic sentence should introduce what you are going to talk about in your support paragraphs. One of my topic sentences is, the main reason the US will not be overtaken by China as the world's top economic power is because the United States is becoming economically smarter. By reading this topic sentence you know that one of the paragraphs is going to be about the US becoming economically smarter.

I learned that paragraphs of support should have comparisons or analogy's. Analogy's and comparisons help to compare what ever your essay is about to something in real life. For example, Britain wasn't expecting economic defeat from US. The US is not Britain and the US knows what to expect. Politicians are aware that if we don't work hard to rethink the economy, China will pass the US economically. The US will work hard for the next twenty years to not let this happen.

My analogy is, Tennessee was going to kick a game winning field goal and Alabama knew that if Tennessee made it, Alabama would loose their number one ranking. Alabama worked really hard and blocked the field goal. The US will become like Alabama if the US works really hard to rebuild the economy, we will stay the top economic power.


Rwandan Genocide/Debate

In the first semester I participated in a Rwandan Genocide debate. The desks were arranged in a circle and it seemed that I was in a UN conference room. My group and other groups each represented a person or group that is involved with the Rwandan genocide. The groups were trying to defend the person or group we have and we tried to put the blame on other people/ groups. I actually thought that I was a member of the UN.


I learned that you have to know enough about what is going on in Rwanda to put the blame one someone else and to defend yourself.

You need to know the two major groups: Hutu and Tutsi. When the Belgians invaded Rwanda the Tutsis were in power. When the Belgians left, they left the Hutus in power. The Tutsis got upset and this started the conflict. In 1973 Gregoire Kayibanda is elected as the president of Rwanda. 1963-1964, Tutsi insurgents lead raids into an anti-Tutsi crackdown by Rwandan government. Thousands of Tutsis are killed.


In 1973 Juvenal Habyarimana defeats Hayibanda in a military coup and he eliminates all political parties and creates the MRND Party. The MRND Party forms the Interahmwe( civilian militia group). The RPF( Rwandan Patriotic Front) begins to organize. The RPF is led by Paul Kagame.

Juvenal signs the Arusha Peace Agreement with the RPF, which could have ended the genocide.


The Rwandan Armed Forces was created to defend Rwanda from the RPF. In 1994 Juvenal's plane gets shot down by Tutsis. This made the Rwandan Genocide as bad as it was. The UN sent in troops, but later withdrawaledtroops because they are denying that the conflict in Rwanda is a genocide. Paul Kagame is the current President of Rwanda.


If you do not know all of this, it is difficult do defend your person/group or put the blame on some other group.



First Day of High School Essay



When I wrote my First Day of High School essay I learned to focus on one specific part of my day. First, I described my morning, lunch, afternoon and my mom's reaction when I told her my braces broke.


The rewrite of the First Day of High School was focused on lunch, which was when my braces broke. I included my thinking of the night before the first day, thinking of how my friends would think of my braces, but that led up lunch, and then that led to what I would think about when my parents find out that my braces broke.


I learned to use a better introduction because if you have a bad intro, readers will stop reading right away. My original intro was " My first day of High School was like a roller coaster ride with one big bump. It wasn't like any first day of school because it was High School.


My new intro was " My first day of High school was like experiencing Cedar Point all over again. It is like being a on a brand new roller coaster because you don't know what to expect. It is like being on a roller coaster with one big bump, and that one bump was enough to make you hurl.


I also learned to use a theme in my First Day of High School essay. The original theme was if something bad happens, it is best to tell someone right away, or it may bite you in the end. The new theme was: expect the unexpected/ if something bad happens to you, hope it happens in the middle/end of your day and not the beginning because it can make your whole day bad.


Capitalization


When I wrote the Capitalization Story I learned that you have to capitalize directions when they are used as sections of the country. A sentence from my story is:
The argument took place in East and West Germany , which was Berlin. I learned that it should not be: The argument took place in east and west Germany, because I used the directions to describe areas of a country, the directions should be capitalized.

Another example of a capitalization rule is that you have to capitalize school subjects that are a name of a particular course. For example my schedule for the first semester was, Biology, Personal Fitness, Spanish Two, Geometry. Global Ed. World History, and Global Ed. English.
They should not be biology, personal fitness, spanish two, geometry, global ed world history, and global ed. english. Since they are school subjects of a particular course, the name of the classes should be capital.

First Semester Reflection

Native Americans

If I was a native during colonial times, I would be a Native American.

I would be a Native America during colonial times because they know the land so well. They know what the climate is like, they know what animals they should and shouldn't eat. When pilgrims came to the land now known as present-day United States, the pilgrims asked Native Americans for help. They didn't know what crops to grow or how to survive in the climate. But Native Americans did know how. With out Native Americans there wouldn't be anyone else living on North America.

I would be a Native American during colonial times because the British and the Americans didn't torture us in any way. The British and Americans just forced Native Americans to move farther west. The government didn't want the Native Americans getting involved in conflicts with Americans or British settlers. The only conflict was the French and Indian war, which the Native Americans fought side-by-side with France, which controlled one third of the United States(mostly mid-west region) I would want to fight with one of the largest empires of the world.

I would be a Native American because Sacajawea helped Lewis and Clark on their expedition in the west. We would have no knowledge of the Louisiana Territory if there were no Native Americans. The Native Americans feel good of helping settlers on the same land. There is a baseball team named after Native Americans called the Cleveland Indians. I would want a sports team named after me or my group. Most sport teams commemorate people, animals, or things. We are commemorating Native Americans.