Mrs. Kirkman's Awesome Class

     During these past three years at Pilibos, I can almost complain about all the teachers, except my English teachers. This year was so much fun. It passed by so fast. I liked how everything was so calm, smooth and organized. I loved how you would always try to accommodate with our crazy schedule. I really liked how we used the smart board. That way everything was fair. There was only one thing that I can pin out about improving this class. When we read a novel, my notes were everywhere. If each section of notes had a title, or a theme, it would be so much easier when its test time. Other than that, I truly loved everything.      I, personally hate reading. Surprisingly, I loved The Scarlet Letter. No other teacher, would even consider watching the movie Easy A. I was so interested in making the comparisons between the two. It was awesome!I loved the theme and all the symbols. The one story I did not like was Nature. In my opinion, it was boring. Even though, it is required for the AP test, it was written in a weird language and it was too hard to focus on the story. Other than that, I liked most of the stories. Overall, I think it was a fun year!

"Red, White, And Beer"

       "Red, White, and Beer", is a satire piece, written by Dave Barry. He is the speaker of this piece of literature. Througout the entire piece, the tone is patriotic, yet sarcastic. He shows the reader, who is the audience, how beer commercials are "patriotic". He also adds humor, because he says the idea of patriotism is sweaty men, shaking hands. Also, when the men are building and pushing a wall in a commercial, after they stop shooting, they continue pushing and the wall crashes and hits a truck. Then the owner comes and shakes his hand.I believe he is trying to prove, that theses commercials have nothing to do with patriotism. People follow what the television offers. He also emphasizes famous people in his piece, and because they are icons, everyone wants to be like them.
       In my opinion, this was one of my most favorite piece we have read. Everyone can relate to it, because even today, some commercials are very unrealistic and symbolize nothing. Media does control the world, and commercials do affect peoples idea of things. The humor is very obvious in this piece. He is making fun of the "patriotic" beer commercials,  and whoever drinks that beer is many and a "great" American.

"Man Finally Put In Charge of Struggling Feminist Movement"

       This article was issued on December 3, 2007. The author is anonymous. The article explains how Peter "Buck" McGowan took over as the new chief of worldwide initiative for women's rights. He oversees the day to day operations. He made eliminating sexual harassment his first priority before working on securing many other things. He says, "All the feminist movement needed to do was bring on someone who had the balls to do something about this glass ceiling business." Throughout the whole article, he had used phrases like "You cant wast time pussyfooting around protests and getting all emotional about a bunch or irrelevant details" Even the women, are praising him, saying how he is a self assured guy and now the feminist movement gains respect. Do they not see what just happened? It is supposed to be a FEMINIST movement , and they put a guy in charge? They just lost the whole concept of what they were working for. The movement is supposed to show, how women are independent and can do anything just as well as men. I believe that this is where the sarcasm and humor kicks in. It shows, how women can be so blinded by men's power, and the author uses great phrases that Mr. McGowan has said, to show that he is also sexist. He says, "If you want to enjoy equal rights you have to have a real man-to-man chat with the people in charge." He is using other men to help the women movement.
       I think this article gives women much to think about. Why would they put a man in charge? Women can do the same things as men, even sometimes better. The humor and sarcasm is all in this ironic situation.

News Article

     This news article was written by Sari Roan, in the LA Times on March 15, 2012. Studies have shown that abuse in childhood appears to be a strong risk factor for alcohol addiction later in life. Dependence on alcohol can be linked to genetics, drinking during teen years, or even mental health. But, the new studies have shown that sexual or emotional abuse during childhood years has an incredibly strong link with alcoholism in later years.A study was conducted at the National Institute on Drug Abuse which surveyed 196 mean and women who were being treated for alcohol dependence.One quarter of the men and 33% of the women reported a history of physical abuse during childhood. The study also showed that sexual abuse raised the risk of anxiety disorder and increased the risk of developing depression. The people who were abused have a higher rate of suicide attempts.
        I think that this article is very important, because a huge amount of people today are alcoholics. Everyone judges, thinking that these people just want to get drunk and have fun, but now there is proof, of why many of them became alcoholics. It makes me happy, because i do not like to judge people, I like to listen to their side of the story, before assuming anything.

SOASPT

     The speaker of the Great Gatsby is Nick Carraway. He had graduated from New Haven. He had joined the army and when he returned home, he realized he was bored. He then decided to go to New York to join the bond business. He rented a small house located on the West Egg, right in from of Gatsby's huge, extravagant mansion. Throughout the first chapter, Nick repeated that his father told him to not judge people. He is cousins with Daisy, who is married to Tom and is attracted to Jordan Baker, Daisy's high school friend.The novel takes place in 1922, summer in New York. Long Island was separated into two sections. The East Egg and West Egg. The West eEg was the "new money" people. The East Egg was where the people who were born into rich families or had inherited money lived. The subject is Nick's new experiences, friends and mystery. The audience had the chance to experience one of Gatsby's parties, because it was written with so much detail, anyone can just picture the party. The tone is mysterious. The author has written the story  in a way, where there are small clues, which can help the audience foreshadow what is going to happen next.

Language IS Important

      We live in the most diverse country. People talk with accents, with different tones, use different dictions etc. But, there comes a point where the way a person talks reflects on their personality. If someone uses profanity may times, for no absolute reason, that makes the surrounding people the he/she is an uncontrollable rude person. You would second guess them and not trust them as much. I am not saying that people who cuss are people who you should be afraid of, but if they randomly burst out cuss words, be careful. Nevertheless, people who talk with a higher vocabulary, using pleasant words and talking in a tone that sounds right are viewed upon as "smarter" or "more polite". For example, doctors, lawyers etc. Everyone believes what they say, just because they use big fancy words. I believe that accents  make people unique. It shows other people a slight view of their culture. If it is a horrible accent and it is to an extreme, where people do not understand what you are saying, you can work on it, but do not loose it, because it makes you who you are. Finally, the different dialects give all the different cultures to express their own feelings in their own words. Yes, sometimes it comes in handy to know a second language, but it is even better when people come and ask you to teach them some everyday words.
        I always try to talk in a way that will make me look smarter. I think that if you talk like you know what your talking about, everyone else will believe you. I try not to use the word "like" alot, because that just makes me look blond. I truly do believe that accents do make us unique. It is awesome to hear all the different accents.

News Article

      I love reading Yahoo! news everyday. Today, something caught my eye. Taylor swift declined a teenagers request to go to prom? I thought to myself, why is this important? Why is it in the news? So, I decided to click on it.
     18 year old, Kevin McGuire has a painful struggle with leukemia since he was 13. He had a remission in 2010 but relapsed and is fighting cancer once more. His older sister Victoria, was very impressed with her brothers bravery. He never doubted himself and never asked "why me"? Throughout all his treatments, he kept his character, continued playing basketball and even joined the varsity football team. His prom was coming up. This is when he started doubting himself, saying why would anyone go to prom with him. He is going to be bald and his appearance is changing. This is when his sister decided to make a Facebook campaign. Kevin always looked up to Taylor. She decided to campaign about her brother. After it attracted 90,000 people Taylor responded saying no to prom, but instead asked him to go to the ACM awards. He was ecstatic. He recovered enough to accept the invitation and hes ready for his date with Taylor.
     I think this is very important, because it shows that not all stars are bad people. Taylor just made a Teens dreams come true. She is helping him recover. Not only, did she ask him out, she is taking him to one of the most extravagant award ceremonies. Go Taylor Swift! The article was written by Wendy Geller on February 24.