Dark

Falling deep into the hole I'm scared for I have been pushed into a well. It is so dark and scary I don’t know what to do I can't yell for the fall has taken my voice. I yell for help but nothing comes out I hear it in my head but yet nothing comes out. The darkness is so cold and wet in this well. It has been two days since the dark welcomed my presents and I feel that the worst may come my way. I fear that nobody cares I'm down here. Don’t they care to know where I am? Are they going to send a search party for me?

It's now the third day in the dark abyss and yet nobody has looked for me for all I know. Now the third day is past and I am surprised I am still alive with no food but I still have water and it isn't that bad when you get used to the bug taste. I feel as if the walls are closing in on me but then they start to spread out and I feel free from the shackles of the dark. And then I hear a dog bark. I call for help with my last breath hoping they can hear but again nothing comes out. I think of all the great times I had with my family and friends but then I start to think of the bad and I wish I could tell them I'm sorry for the wrong things that I've done. Then with my last breathe BAM!

I wake up from my night mare in a cold sweat. It was all just a dream but it taught me to be more kind and I said sorry to my parents and brother for everything I've done to them. And now I have a night light to safe me from the dark that is my room.

A Dark Town

Author's Note: This is a response to the story "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson about the theme of the story

The story named The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is about this little town only God knows where with a population of approximately 300 people which is the towns high because the population is growing fast. The oldest man in the town is called Old Man Warner, who is in his 70’s and going strong, said that they should not follow the other towns that stopped doing the lottery for obvious reasons. One key thing to show what this story is trying to teach is the theme.

In the story the Lottery there are many themes but one that stands out is inhumanity. The reason why I think this is because the people in the town reach into a black box and pulled out a piece of paper and if your paper has a black dot on it you get stoned. And they did it for that reason and that reason only. When I read that they were going to stone Tessie because I thought the lottery was something happy and bring joy to some ones heart but instead they decide to stop their hearts. This story is very well done with the wording and really explains and helps out the reason why she wrote this.

                                                               

Finally “The Lottery” relates to the story “Among the Hidden” by Margaret Peterson Haddix where it is inhumane to have a population law because it’s not right to just kill a baby because a family already has two kids. In every way probable it is not human like or normal to kill a baby for that reason. I think that it should be the parent’s decision whether or not they should keep or get rid of it. Both of these stories have the same theme with the inhumanity.

A Window that says "wash me"

I sit there looking at all the people in the room at same time looking at the kids playing outside. I am so dirty nobody cares all they do is look through me. Never caring about my feelings how I feel. If they don’t like staying in the hot sun all day how do you think I feel. Sometime is get in the way of the breeze running with the wind while the sun watches from a far. You love me when I'm open in the summer but when it's dark all you do is cover me so I look dumber. I sit there not even able to move my vision is getting blurry while you drink a Flurry. You see us every day but you find someway to blow us off. I'm so dirty so would you please once in awhile wash you windows, we have feelings too.

Lighting Thief

Have you thought you were entirely different from other people? Well a boy named Percy Jackson is extremely different from any other kids. He has to fight monsters the older he gets, then when he reaches a certain age he must go to camp Half-Blood. Camp Half-Blood is for demigods which are half human half gods, and that is what Percy is. His father is the famous Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. He meets new people that become his friends and his friends end up changing completely.

First off Percy Jackson is twelve years old that lives with his mom not knowing who is dad is. He starts off going to a boarding school and he has an act to be getting kicked out of every school he goes to. He has one friend and his name is Grover and he has some leg disease or so he tells Percy. Percy suffers from dyslexia; he also gets made fun off a lot. He Latin teacher Mr. Brunner even thinks he should be the smartest kid in the world because he says “Perhaps you’ll tell us what this picture represents.” As Mr. Brunner points to the picture on the stele in the museum field trip. He’s the kid that is always pulled out of the crowed to get in trouble. The day he finds out that he is a demigod is also the day that he finds out that Grover is a satyr which is a half human half goat. He also loses his mother to Hades the god of the Underworld, and learns that he needs to get to camp Half-Blood if he wants to live from the monster attacks.

Then when he finally gets to camp Half-Blood he finds out that his Latin teacher is one of the camp people there and he is a centaur half human half horse. He also meets Annabeth who is the daughter of Athena, and he gets sent on a quest to recover Zeus’s stolen master bolt that holds all of his powers. Percy, Grover, and Annabeth have to go to the Underworld to get the Master Bolt back for Zeus before the summer solstice.

Finally, will he and his friends make it in time? Will someone betray him? Read and find out, Percy’s friends and enemies change 100%. This book is full of adventure and maybe a love story in there. So can you truly trust people that say there your friend?

Mass Effect 1

Space, the final frontier, nah this is a better story. This is the story about a man named Shepard, John Shepard who is a part of the world’s Alliance Navy. Shepard could be male or female it’s your choice and the first name the last name has to be Shepard. The story is a video game by the name of Mass Effect there are three games in the series. The series started in 2007 and the latest one just came out in 2012. All three of them are for the Xbox 360 and they all won game of the year every year they came out.  The story takes place all around the Milky Way that is our galaxy. When you start this game it is hard to quit and it takes you inside and you turn into Commander Shepard. It is a lot of fun and action and maybe a love story if you want because you make the decisions in the game.

First spoiler alert it is the year 2183 and the humans have discovered these mass relays that can shoot them all across the galaxy, which is how the humans have come to know the other species like the humans. The Humans and the rest of the races in the Milky Way find out that there is a race of synthetics called Reapers that wipe out all organic life every 50,000 years, but Commander Shepard is determined to change the universes cycle and stop the Reapers. For starters there a bunch of different races or species in Mass Effect. There are 18 different races that you come across in Mass Effect. First there are the Asari which are these blue skinned people that have tentacle like hair that can only be styled one way. The next race are the Drell which like green lizard people that have deep voices there are only 2 Drell that you come across in the three games. Next are the Elcor they are a peaceful race and don’t fight that much, they also talk like robots say what they feel like “Happy: it is nice to meet you.” That is just one example of how they talk. Then there are the Hanar which is the other peaceful race that are like priests and what to accept what the Reapers are doing. After them there are the humans which we all know them. Then there are the Keepers that look like giant bug that can only be found on the main space station called the Citadel. Then there are the Salarians that are geniuses and talk fast because they think fast too. Then there are the Turians that act like humans but don’t look anything like them. They do the same things as us and not be different like peaceful than others or more violent. Then the Volus which have to live in space suits their entire lives and that is an unknown reason why. Those are the most common races that you will find on the Citadel.

Then there are the races that are known as the non-Citadel races that you won’t find that many on the Citadel. To start off there are the Batarians which are the like humans and Turians but are just a little more cranky. Then there are the Collectors that have four eyes that are bright yellow. Then there are the other synthetic race known as the Geth that were created by the Quarians. The Quarians are the other race that has to live in a paces suit because their immune system is not as strong as humans to withstand any planet even their own. Then there is the most violent race called the Krogan. The Krogan are the most violent race and are very brutal. Then there is the Rachni which are ancient giant bugs that kill but can be nice if you are nice to them. They can talk but they have to control a person and talk through them. Next there are the Reapers that come out of nowhere and wipe the galaxy clean of all organic life every 50,000 years. Then there is the other violent race known to all as the Vorcha that only live in gangs basically you never see them do good things in the galaxy. There are all the races that you come across in the mass effect games.

Also there is the main story and how each race plays a part in the story. Well there are the Reapers that you know and you find out about them in the end of first Mass Effect. The main story of the first Mass Effect is that there is a rouge Specter. A Specter is short for special tactics and reconnaissance that work for the Council which is on the Citadel and can go almost anywhere in the galaxy and do almost anything. Being a Specter is like being a Jedi and James Bond at the same time. Anyways the rouge Specter is a Turian named Saran, at first the Council doesn’t believe that Saran as gone rouge but that’s your job to get evidence that he has the Geth under his controls and destroying colonies looking for a Prothean beacon. The Protheans are a race that was wiped out by the Reapers long ago. Saran needs this beacon because it is like a map that points in direction of an artifact called the conduit. So it’s a race against time to see who can get the conduit first, but first Commander Shepard must put together a team of skilled fighters and scientists to find Saran and shut his operation down. The space ship that Commander Shepard starts out in is called the SSV Normandy SR1 that belongs to Captain David Anderson. When Shepard because the first Human Specter, because he finds evidence that Saran has gone rouge so the Council has made Shepard a Specter. Now Shepard being the new Captain/Commander of the SSV Normandy SR1, Because Anderson being the great friend he is he steps down from command for Shepard to take over. So Shepard takes the Normandy and off to save the Galaxy. So nobody knows about the Reapers because they only know about Saran and that’s it. So on Shepard’s team has human crew mates Ashley Williams and Kadien Alieko, Asari named Liara Ta’soni who knows a lot about the Protheans and her mother is working with Saran which is a big plus to have Liara on your team. Then there is Garrus Vakarin who works for C-Sec which stands for Citadel Security and is a Turian and because Shepard’s best friend. Next there is Wrex a Krogan bounty hunter and that’s about it. Finally there is Tali Zora Vas Neema who is a Quarian and that is about it too.

Even though Shepard has his team it’s going to be hard to stop Saran, but the team is ready for anything. After searching all through the galaxy they find Saran but he has found the conduit and they need to stop him. Shepard and his team still don’t know what the conduit is they think that is some sort of weapon. Then they find out from a Prothean VI—Virtual Intelligence—that the conduit is actual a Mass Relay that the Protheans create that send you strait to the Citadel because they also find out that the Citadel is actually one big Mass Relay. They also find out that Saran is being controlled by the Reapers so Saran and the Geth are  planning on using the Conduit to send the Reapers strait to the Citadel that would take over the entire galaxy because that where the Council is and the heart of the galaxy. Saran is being controlled by a Reaper named Sovereign. When Sovereign and the Geth attack the Citadel Shepard has to race back to the Citadel and save the day. Sovereign believes he will not be destroyed and he says to Shepard “I am the vanguard of your destruction.” And that he can’t be destroyed.

Finally in the end Shepard has to make a huge decision to save the Council’s ship that is under attack from the Geth or forget them and just attack Sovereign either one you choose Sovereign is destroyed. So if you decide to be evil or renegade you would choose to let the Council die. If you want to be good or Paragon then you would want to save the Council. In the end everyone is happy and there is a big party in Shepard’s name. This game is full of action and adventure and keeps you thinking all the way.

The Study of Stem Cell

Look at the people around you. What do you see? They’re different aren’t they? Thanks to Stem Cells that make us different from one another. They are good in that way but they are also breath taking, literally. They kill because if you have certain ones you could have cancer because of them. But now scientists have found a way to study them and stop these life changing diseases. So Stem cells are very helpful and can also be very dangerous.

First off, what are stem cells? Well stem cells are the cells in your body that make us different from one another. Stem Cells have the potential to evolve into different types of cells in the early life and growth stage. Also, in tissue they serve somewhat as a internal repair system, as long as the person or animal is still breathing. Stem cells are the cells in our bodies that make us different from one another. So without them we would be just about the same (Stem Cell Basics).

Next is the big question, can they actually cure diseases? Scientists have been able to do experiments with human embryonic stem cells (hESC) only since 1998, when a group led by Dr. James Thomson at the University of Wisconsin developed a technique to isolate and grow the cells. Although hESCs are thought to offer potential cures and therapies for many devastating diseases, research using them is still in its early stages.They say stem cell research can come to a remarkable finding were they cure the most deadliest disease such as cancer and birth defects but it is too soon to tell (Stem Cells and Diseases).

            Couple with, are there ethical issues? Stem Cells are very good for many different areas of health and medical research, studding them can help learn more about the main medical conditions such as cancer and birth defects Stem cells transform into the amazing cells that make us what we are. Some of the most serious medical conditions, such as cancer and birth defects, are caused by problems that occur somewhere in this process. A better understanding of normal cell development will allow them to understand and perhaps correct the errors that cause these medical conditions (Research Ethics and Stem Cells). On the other hand researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital say they have extracted stem cells from human ovaries and made them generate egg cells. The advance, if confirmed, might provide a new source of eggs for treating infertility, though scientists say it is far too early to tell if the work holds such promise (Study Finds Stem Cells Can Create Human Eggs).

Finally, can stem cells actually help us? Yes they can but they also can’t help us because it is too early to tell if they can work. So next time you judge someone because they have a disorder blame the stem cells. They are the most remarkable things but they are also the most deadly and change people’s lives every day.

Bibliography

"Research Ethics and Stem Cells." 5 May 2011. Stem Cells Information. 17 April 2012 <http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/ethics.asp>.

"Stem Cell Basics." 28 April 2009. Stem Cell Information. 18 April 2012 <http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/basics1.asp>.

"Stem Cells and Diseases." 13 February 2012. Stem Cell Information. 2012 April 2012 <http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/health.asp>.

Closer Than You Thought

The protagonist, in Dark Secrets Don’t Tell by Elizabeth Chandler, is named Lauren. In the beginning she is ten years old when her mother dies drowning in the lake you could say that she was as scared as a prairie dog. At that same time she feels a chill running down her spine. She has dark hair she is like any other teen age girl in the world. The only thing that changes her from the other girls is that she has to deal with her mother death at only age ten. That isn’t the only think she has to deal with in her life. The main character can change the story in a slit second first it is related to one book then bam it changes to another. But her story is very similar to another one.

Coupled with Holly is a tricky person because you look at her and she smiles like an angel but that changes what truly is underneath that smile. She is kind of insecure so when she finds out people are watching her and the flirt of the town Nick starts to like Lauren more and more but is glued to Holly she freaks out. Nora—Aunt Jule’s other daughter—is silent and spooky that doesn’t help the problem anymore. Nora stares at Lauren with frightening intensity. She feels like she is ten again. How can she trust anyone when everyone looks like they want her dead!

Furthermore there are many stories a lot like Laurens, let’s say Harry Potter. Everyone knows his story how he has a dark lord trying to kill him and he already killed his mother and farther. There is one big difference in their stories, Harry knows who is trying to kill him and he tries to fight back and kill the Dark Lord. On the other hand Lauren has no idea who killed her mother and she is just trying to run away from the danger and not face it.

In addition what causes Lauren to act this way is all because of Holly except she doesn’t know that it was Holly that killed her mother. In Harry Potter it has the same cause and effect, where Harry finds out who killed his parents then when he gets older he goes on kind of a blood lust and wants to get revenge. There are many differences in the two main characters and how they act but there are even more similar actions and thoughts.

Likewise the two stories are very similar and basically the same story just different setting and main characters. One more thing to add Harry had an entire castle on his side when Lauren just had one guy that suspected something was wrong. There are many stories that can be so similar and yet there are stories that can be so different. Sometimes you may find a story that is almost exactly like onther.

Bye Bye Nature

The "Big Yellow Taxi" written by Joni Mitchell talks about how "they" destroyed her paradise and put up a parking lot. In "Field Below" written by Regina Spektor talks about the same thing and how you should hold onto the things you love and they both love nature and got it taken away from them. Don’t take things for granted is the lesson she wants to teach us. The mood is sad and depressing in the poem and she is heart broken. They both have to do with nature talking about how they out lost there nature. In the song Big Yellow Taxi and the tone sounds happier then the poem. The tones are completely  different with the songs and poems. The lesson the author tries to teach us to hold on to things and to be happy with what you have. The tone in the song and the poem are very similar because they are both kind of sad and depressing. The songs really help with how the author s wrote the poems kind of because they similar. The Big Yellow Taxi is not the same tone though so she made that confusing. When listening to field below I feel more sad because I get to hear it and how it sounds in a song so it much more sad in a song.