End Of The Year Blogpost

What are the three most important things I learned this year?

I learned much about poetry and many different famous poets. I also learned about how life could be like for migrant workers in the Great Depressions and about the people of my classmates' biography projects.

What is something we did this year that I think I'll remember for the rest of my life?

I think I'll remember almost everything in this class from the vocab tests to the biography project.

What is the nicest thing someone's done for me this year?

I can't think of anything significantly nice besides my friends helping me with whatever I needed. They helped me with many questions and problems I had in ELA.

What is something that I taught my teacher or classmates this year?

By the time that you're reading this, I will have taught Edgar Allan Poe's impact on society and literature.

In what area do I feel I made my biggest improvements? What is something I accomplished this year that I am proud of?

I feel like I have made bigger improvements on argumentative essay writing. I'm proud of almost all of my assignments because I was able to get them done and show my effort.

-What was the most challenging part of this year for me?

The most challenging part of this year for me was probably getting ready to present a monologue in front of my class because of how I made it and things about the presentation that bugged me and my confidence.

What was the best piece of writing I did this year? Why do I think it's my best?

I think my nonsense poem was my best piece of writing this year because it was my assignment and an inside joke in one poem.

Of the books I read this year, which was my favorite? Why?

Out of all the books that I've read this year, "The Fourth Stall" was probably my favorite. I probably liked this book more than others because of the concept of a middle school kid running a criminal organization in his school. There was also the plot twists and emotional moments in the book that made it even better.

What advice would I give to students who will be in this class next year?

It might seem like you get a lot of homework in this class. It can be heavy sometimes but you'll get it done. Just do the assignments and you'll have a good time in ELA.

Quarter 3 Reflections

I believe that my biggest improvement in ELA is being able to make and analyze poetry. Throughout the course of the poetry unit, I was exposed to new and different kinds of poetry. There were many types of poems that I've never seen before and we got to pick apart various pieces of poetry from famous poets such as Langston Hughes and Robert Frost. I think that the different poems that we saw as a class and those that we found ourselves gave us more experience in determining the meanings of certain poems. This unit sharpened our skills of being able to pick apart pieces of literature and think about their meanings and use of elements of humor and figurative language.

A very challenging part of the third quarter was writing poems and using the right topics to make them. Thinking of ideas for a task at hand can be hard compared to just remembering a certain event that can be used for that task. This was usually the case as we had to constantly use events, ideas, and topics for poetry. To overcome this, I used things that came to mind such as the running gag I have with my friends about me being a stalker and things that I thought a lot about. By using the jokes and ideas around me, I was able to write the poetry that I did.

SOL #31: The Last Slice Of Life

I'm writing this a day before I post it just because I feel like it. I can just write about what kind of experience this was and then set a reminder for me to post it tomorrow. This Slice Of Life thing was pretty neat because you get to read everybody's origin stories and important events in their lives and such. Writing out blogposts daily for a reward seems cool until you feel like you're running out of ideas. With the seventy falcon dollars, you can buy yourself thirty-five days worth of recess. That's at least a month. Maybe I should start spending more using the SOL reward and the falcon dollars I already have.

SOL #30: Sticky Notes Are A Doodledaddler's Best Friend

Among all the doodledaddling tools I have, sticky notes are one of them. I use them quite often and are helpful in a variety of situations. They can be used for reminders or important notes. They can be used when taking a sheet of notebook paper out is too much work compared to taking out a sticky note from your pocket. I like to use them when I need to write something down or jot down a few notes. It's my personal preference to use sticky notes instead of a mini notebook or such.

SOL #29: A Cure For My Nostalgia

Call me childish but I have deep regards for old video games such as the old LEGO Star Wars and Batman video games. Those are the games I grew up playing before I got a PS4. I was thinking of buying one of these old video games for my PlayStation Vita (basically Sony's version of a Nintendo DS). I especially wanted "LEGO Batman: The Video Game," which was one of the classics. The problem was that this wasn't available for PS Vita. I had to settle for the sequel, "LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes." It'll be good enough. I have a bunch of childhood memories from that one as well. It's not the first one but I'll settle.

SOL #28: My First Oktoberfest

My first Oktoberfest was last year's. My parents knew it existed but we never went. I was planning on going with my friends last year but there was one minor detail. By minor detail I mean issue that can ruin the fun and experience of being able to hang out with my friends. This detail was my mom. I don't mean any offense but I was honestly glad she didn't end up going with me. She was originally going to but then that morning she got mad because we were having issues with finding clothes for me to wear at an upcoming party for my sisters. Because she got mad, she lost track of time. When we got home from a few stores, she remembered that I told her I wanted to go out. Thankfully, she was sympathetic and let me go alone. By sympathetic I mean she probably thought I was supposed to be there by the time I told her that my friends would get there. Why didn't I want my mom to go? Because she would've been a killjoy. I believe that she would've been too strict when it came to things like what I bought or what games I played and a bit more.

SOL #27: The Old Xbox

We were all pretty young when the Xbox and PlayStation 1 and 2 was out. Me and my dad used to have our own Xbox. It was great. It was incredible even. I played the Incredibles video game which focused on events that took place right after the film's cliffhanger. It was one of my favorites but I wasn't too good at it. Another favorite was Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2. I barely even remember the game but I know that we had it and I loved it. Me and my dad both loved cars and racing games. There was this basketball video game where I didn't play good but I pretended I was playing as Micheal Jordan and was winning. We also had a snowboarding video game which was really fun. These were the video games I played before I even had my own Nintendo DS.

SOL #23: Summer Goals

In sixth grade, my summer was basically just playing video games indoors. In seventh grade, my summer was playing video games with friends along with a few parties. I have several goals for this summer. One is to learn C++. C++ is a programming language used for programming and coding. I also want to expose myself brick coding, coding but you attach bricks instead of writing out lines of code. Along with those, I also want to get a few platinum trophies for my video games. I'm also thinking of getting out of the house more and spending more time with my friends.

SOL #26: The Journey And The Destination

Some people believe that it's all about the journey rather than the destination. The road you take is more fascinating that the place you're going to. I understand the saying and why people believe in it but I have a saying of my own. No, it's not "I know where you go for fourth block." It's that it's about both the journey and the destination. My biggest experience with this is going to Mexico for winter break. Yes, I enjoyed staying over in Mexico and riding ATV's. What I enjoyed just as much was the road trip there and back. I really liked sitting in one spot with my earbuds and music popped in. I get to see all the sights, terrain, roads, and buildings.

SOL #25: Platinum

I have a personal quest that I used to think was pointless and time consuming. I was inspired by Clement and his tales of having to play over his favorite video games over and over. This quest is to get the platinum trophies in my video games. Video games have trophies and achievements that you can acquire for fun. When you get all of the trophies, you get a special platinum ranked trophy. An example is "Destiny 2." I finished the story, I'm not getting the extra content, and my friends barely play it anymore. Why don't I just delete it? I actually did but then a friend of mine wanted to play with me so I downloaded it again. Now I'm focused on getting all the trophies so I can get the platinum and show Clement that he's not the only one who puts hours into video games for useless achievements.

SOL #24: 70 Falcon Dollars And A Field Trip Down The Drain

As the title suggests, the seventy falcon dollars and field trip that I was trying to achieve by doing SOL everyday is no longer an option. I didn't write out a slice of life yesterday. I'm not too bummed out about it. At least I get some falcon dollars for being able to write my slices of life for twenty days straight. We're nearing the end of the year anyway so I can start spending my falcon dollars on recess and betting falcon dollars in games of 8-ball with Maddie. I can give my leftover dollars to the seventh graders in Mrs. Larson's class. It was fun while it lasted but I don't really see the point of doing SOL if I can't get the falcon dollar award for ten days straight. SOL ends on the thirty first with is only eight days away. Again, I'll satisfy myself with the twenty day award.

SOL #22: Everyone Has A Dark Side

Everybody has a dark side. There’s little to no exceptions to this belief. I believe that everybody is hiding something about them intentionally or keeping something away that can harm someone’s reputation. When I say “dark side,” I mean an unexpected twist to somebody’s personality. For some people, this can be something that happened during their childhood. For others, it could be something far worse than just a childhood event. Even if you think you try to have no secrets, there’s always something that almost nobody except yourself knows.

SOL #21: How Epic Games Gets Away With What EA Can't (Part 1)

In this first part of the topic, I'll be describing what EA tries to do with the video games they publish and how much their plans backfire. Electronic Arts (EA) is famous in the gaming world for publishing games such as "Plants VS. Zombies," "Star Wars Battlefront," the latest "Battlefield" games, and many more. As of late, the public's trust in EA and EA's reputation have dropped to an all time low. This all started with "Mass Effect Andromeda." The "Mass Effect" series was a huge favorite for many gamers. The latest title in the series let down fans by giving them a rushed game. Rushed video games usually mean bad news. The content, and in this case the facial animations, of the game won't be at its full potential. Rushed games also mean that important pieces of the game's story will be sold as extra downloadable content (DLC). If you pay $60 for a video game for its story, you probably wouldn't want to pay an extra $30 for something that was supposed to be in the game that you payed $60 for already.

This was only the start of EA's downfall. Their next huge mistake, which caused a bigger outburst than the last, was micro-transactions. The series that they picked on this time was "Star Wars Battlefront." The sequel was released and sold for the standard $60. What ticked people off this time was the multiplayer mode. Many people like "Battlefront" because they can use fictional characters from the movies to fight against opposing players. EA however locked these characters behind paywalls. In order to buy them, you could use your real money to buy them or pay a huge amount of in-game currency. The problem with the currency was that you didn't earn much per match and you needed a lot to buy the characters. The in-game currency was of course sold for real money as well. Gamers eventually found a way to tie a rubber band around their controllers so that the game would think someone was behind the wheel but in reality, your character was probably just moving around in circles. Rubber band or not, the currency earned was around the same. Micro-transactions are implemented in many other games which don't get the same hate that EA does. The difference is that EA took it too far.

SOL #20: Potato Hotspot

As of right now, I am typing my slice of life on my phone. If you’ve read my previous post, I’m using my phone to connect my devices to the internet. I connected my computer to my mobile hotspot but there was no internet. I couldn’t get to Blogger. The good thing is, I have a bookmark on my phone’s home page for Blogger that automatically logs me in. This saves me the hassle of manually logging in.

SOL #19: The Thing About Study Guides

Today in STEM Physics, we reviewed our tests. There was something on the first page of our packets that ticked many of us off. Earlier, we did a study guide with questions from the test. On that study guide, we had a multiple choice question and figured out which was the correct answer. On the test, we had the same exact question and roughly the same answer choices. The right answer on the test was different than the one we chose on the study guide. We did the study with our physics teacher so he gave us and walked us through the answers. I even have pictures of both the test and study guide and a voice recording with our physics teacher's response to our outrage.

SOL #18: No WiFi

It's been a whole week without WiFi. My dad didn't pay the bills so I have to resort to using a mobile hotspot on my phone. My computer, PS4, and when PARCC is over, my iPad, has to use my phone as its makeshift modem. It's not as bad as I thought. Connecting devices to my phone's hotspot can be tricky but after that, I have almost no trouble at all. I can write my blogs and play video games with the hotspot. My only main issue is my PS4. I'm a PlayStation Plus member which not only means I can play multiplayer video games but I also get two free games each month. This year, I got "Ratchet & Clank," and "Bloodbourne." I wanted to download the latter and see how difficult the game was for myself but downloads take an eternity. On Friday, I had to update one of my video games in order to play with my friend. The update file was around 1.25 gigabytes but it took around twelve hours to download. For now, I'm stuck with the games already on my PS4 until my dad switches to a different internet provider. Xfinity's prices were raised to the point that we were paying around $100 a month including Netlix.

SOL #17: Procrastination

Normally, I would’ve done my slice of life  earlier but I’ve been busy today. And by busy, I mean I’ve been out of the house with my family, babysitting my sister, and playing video games. It’s become routine for me to defer my work until the last moments. If it wasn’t for Slice Of Life, is be playing video game right now without worrying about homework. I know that SOL is voluntary but I’d really like those seventy falcon dollars. I’m not sure how many falcon dollars I have but I don’t think it’s a lot compared to the average HMS student. The field trip is another bonus. I don’t know how long the field trip takes but if I get to skip a school day, then I think it’s worth it.

SOL #16: 7th Grade Flashbacks

There's so many things from last year that I wish I could relive. One of them is playing video games with friends. I bought "Need For Speed Rivals" because Clement and Julian Estrada, a former HMS student, had it too. I know I only got the game to play with them but I think it was worth it. I had fun racing Clement and Julian. We'd use abilities and powers that you could equip on your cars to wreck each other. They were able to do more things in the game since they always had better cars and could use tricks that they'd practiced more than me.

I'd also play a lot of "Call of Duty: Black Ops III" with a bunch of kids that I got to know around the school. We'd have fun free-for-all matches or one v one's fought with sniper rifles. The point of these guns in both real life and video games is distance, penetrability, and damage. Of course, these matches were fast-paced and there has little to no time at all to find a safe spot and aim. The fun in these matches was in being able to fight in close-quarters. If I wasn't doing homework, I was playing video games with some pretty cool kids. I don't play as much with most of them anymore but I miss the fun from those moments.

SOL #15: Mrs. Navolio Vs. Mrs. Given

I think I speak for Lorin, Dylan, Lalli, and me when I say that Mrs. Navolio's math class is way better than Mrs. Given's. Last year, I had Ms. Given with Dylan and Lorin. I'll admit that I've learned in that class. My problem wasn't the lessons but the class itself. Mrs. Given was pretty strict. I mainly remember her making us show our work, something I'm not a big fan of. I'm pretty sure the point was to get the answer using math. It's not a big deal if I get the right answer and show enough but not all of my work, right? To Mrs. Given, it was. Basically almost every single equation or operation had to be written down.

Mrs. Navolio's class is way different. I have Lorin, Dylan, and Lalli in my calss. Mrs. Navolio knows that we go to STEM at Morton. After only one or two of the topics that she taught the class, she let us sit at our own cool kids table for some of quarter one, and all of quarter two. After that, two of us sit at one table with two other kids and the other two cool kids sit at another table with three other kids. Ever since sometime around the beginning of quarter two, we only had the main objective of doing everything in Summit. Basically, we do self-paced lessons on a bunch of 8th grade topics. I, Lorin, and Dylan finished all the main lessons (I'm not sure if Lalli finished too.) Now we get to do work for other classes or read. My favorite way to spend my free time in this class is just turn on some music and think about life while I read or do a slice of life.

SOL #14: Running Out Of Ideas

I know we're not even halfway done with the month but I, like many others, am running out of ideas. I'll admit I still have one topic that can be used for at least two slices of life but besides that, I think I'll have no good slice of life ideas by March 20th. I told this to Vince and Dylan and now I'm going to use my own piece of advice. Why don't I just write about running out of ideas. The whole point of Slice Of Life is basically just to write every day of the month. All I need to do is just fill one or two paragraphs about ideas or the lack of ideas that I feel that I have and I'm done. See what I did there?

SOL #13: Tax Refunds

I saw this idea on a padlet and I thought it would be nice to use the idea. What would I do with my tax refund? Some people like having small chunks of money taken from their paychecks so that they get it back during tax season. Others like to have their paychecks without taxes but then pay all of that back during tax season. I prefer the former because that turns tax season into a second Christmas. I'd probably put most of it in a savings account but keep a good chunk with me. That chunk could be used for just about anything. I don't really know how much money I'll spend on whatever in the future.

SOL #1: ATVs On The Wrong Side Of The Road In Mexico (Part 2)

Me and my cousins were on our way to the ranch. It wasn't too long before we started driving on good old Mexican red soil. In video games and movies, off-road driving is rough. There's crazy turns and uncontrollable cars and such. In reality, off-road driving is just driving on a really bumpy road that gets your outfit dusty. The black hat I brought from Mexico probably still has ranch dust.

The way we were taking was familiar becuase I've driven there before with my dad. Eventually, my cousins started taking a buunch of wrong turns and we ended up lost on the ranch. They called my uncle for instructions and we started driving again. We drove out of the ranch into a highway that I haven't seen before. With the traffic, there was no way we could go to the right side of the road.

I like to say that I drove an ATV on the wrong side of the road in Mexico to grab people's attention. When people hear that, they probably think I was driving fast and dodging oncoming cars like a maniac. This isn't at all what happened. We went slow and drove on the shoulder of the highway. We eventually found another entrance into the ranch and went to my sister's birthday party.

SOL #11: My “Destiny” Obsession

From fifth grade to the end of last year, I was obsessed with a video game series called “Destiny.” A friend told me about it and I thought it looked really cool. Who doesn’t like fighting big bad aliens around the solar system and playing that one really hard mission over and over just for a few in-game consumables, right? I bought the first game in the series and all the extra downloadable content (DLC) which made me spend either seventy or ninety dollars.

The sequel was available for pre-order last summer. I pre-ordered it just for in-game bonuses and to play a demo of the game a day earlier than the people that didn’t pre-order. Months later, trailers and news about the first DLC for “Destiny 2” came out. Before, I thought I’d probably buy all the DLC but I thought about why I shouldn’t. Bungie, the creators of “Destiny,” was going to do the same thing they did with the last game. Release two DLCs in the first two years of the game’s release, then impress everybody with a special DLC in the third one, and try to do the same with the forth one but screw up and resort to pre-order bonuses. That’s when I decided not to spend any more of my money on “Destiny.”

SOL #10: Saturdays

Saturdays for me have changed since the time we came back from Mexico. My mom's dream is to become a teacher so she's taking classes at Morton College. She signed up for one on Saturday mornings, which means me and my dad have to take care of my sisters (and we all have the house to ourselves) until around two in the afternoon. This would be great for me because then I'd be able to play video games all morning. I said "would" because my dad also has to go somewhere on Saturday mornings. I think he was asked to make an extra room (a confessionary) in a church downtown in Chicago. He usually takes until eleven or twelve in the morning, but that can seem like days when I'm stuck babysitting my sisters. At first, everything is perfect. My sister's will be watching Netflix or playing on their little tablets for the first half hour. After that, a problem like my sisters not being able to decide who picks the next movie/TV show or the little one (Lucy) being jealous of Gaby because she's using her school iPad. I'm honestly not good with children. I don't know how babysitters do it. Either way, I manage to survive the few hours before my dad comes home. After that, I play video games for a couple of hours. Sometime between one and two, I start my weekly cleaning routine. When I'm done cleaning, I start my homework or start reading. This way, my mom comes home to me looking like a responsible young man doing his homework.

SOL #9: ATVs On The Wrong Side Of The Road In Mexico (Part 1)

One of the favorite things I did in Mexico was ride an ATV. My Dad had one that my uncle kept locked up in a garage, along with another ATV that belonged to one of my uncles. Me and a couple of my cousins would ride them constantly. I was even allowed to drive by myself, as long as my cousins were also driving. I'll admit, my cousins get wilder on the ATV than they usually are. Sharp turns, high speeds, and public roads are all routine for them.

It was my sister Lucy's birthday party. My family decided to celebrate at a ranch that some of my aunts and uncles live at. We were given permission to take the ATVs to the ranch as long as we drove on terrain instead of public highways. To get to the ranch with a normal car, you have to drive on this highway that actually goes to the city's exit. The ranch isn't beyond the town but you still need to take that highway. My uncle told my cousins where to drive and what turns to take and such. I couldn't understand all of what they were saying but I could tell that my cousins were having trouble understanding the directions. Either way, we got on the ATVs, me using my dad's ATV and my cousins taking turns driving the other one. And that's how it all began.

Poetry Reflection

1- Poetry has a significant place in my life. Whenever I feel like expressing how I feel about a conflict in the present or past, I might write a poem in private. I keep these poems in the Google Drive of my personal email. These poems mainly express how I feel about the past which make them a part of me. I wouldn't say poetry is a huge piece for exactly everybody. Take Dylan for an example. He made a haiku about not wanting to write more poems. I assume that there's people in the real world such as Dylan that don't like expressing themselves with poetry. Different people probably express themselves in different ways, like using prose to write how they feel or drawing out their emotions.

2- Poets can use past events and experiences of their life to influence the poems they make. Many people use significant events like the death of a loved one or discrimination or something else they faced. Strong and intense feelings of regret or happiness or melancholy can also affect poems. Robert Frost and his poem, "The Road Not Taken," is an example of this. The poem is about decisions and Robert hints at the fact that he regrets not picking a certain choice. A real life decision that Robert experienced and him choosing the path that he did could've led to him writing this poem. Events of the past influence poems because these are usually their personal idea mines that they use for writing poems. Sometimes poets just want to express themselves and how they feel in the present so they use conflicts that they are currently facing as well.

3- "Childhoods" By Angel Hernandez
Childhoods
They're many things
They can be plain fast food burgers
or a sweet chocolate bar
that you want to keep swirling in your mouth
They can be Warheads
Sour for a while
but sweet all the way after

Distant memories
that everybody misses
and thinks about every once and a while
The ones that shape and mold
clay into people
The favorite part of some people's songs
that they want to listen to
again and again

-The idea behind this poem is childhood. Things like candy, clay, music, and food is used to compare childhood using metaphors. This is to express certain ideas like childhoods being the favorite part of some people's lives or childhoods being sour at times but also sweet. The way that these metaphors are structured into these two stanzas adds to the meaning because it makes the metaphors sound reminiscent. The first stanza mainly compares childhood to sweets. The second stanza is more about what people think of childhood and how people miss it every now and then.

"Good Bones" By Maggie Smith

Life is short, though I keep this from my children.
Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine
in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways,
a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways
I’ll keep from my children. The world is at least
fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative
estimate, though I keep this from my children.
For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird.
For every loved child, a child broken, bagged,
sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world
is at least half terrible, and for every kind
stranger, there is one who would break you,
though I keep this from my children. I am trying
to sell them the world. Any decent realtor,
walking you through a real shithole, chirps on
about good bones: This place could be beautiful,
right? You could make this place beautiful.

The structure in this poem compares and contrast the good and the bad in this world. This poem also uses the repetition of "though I keep this from my chilldren." The meaning behind this is that the world has something unfortunate for everything good. There's as least as much bad as there is good. The poet also explains that she is metaphorically trying to sell the world to her children like the way realtors sell homes that aren't worth their price to customers. Both the customers and the poet's children can make the house or world a better place. The main structure used to support the message is showing something positive in life followed by something negative. The poet goes on to say that these are the facts that she doesn't tell her children because she wants them to make the world beautiful.

Free Choice
Bio-Poem
Where I'm From
Spine Poem
Found Poem
Nonsense Poem
Apology Poem
Choices Poem

SOL #8: The Gum Connoisseur Part 2

Orbit really isn't the best brand. At least not when it come to mint. If you want real mint gum, get 5 Gum. It has good taste and a kind of sting in your mouth. I prefer flavored gum because there's already such a thing as normal mints. When it comes to flavored gum, there's two kinds. There's traditional flavored gum, and then there's the one-of-a-kind Hubba Bubba. Hubba Bubba is basically the world's longest stick of gum rolled into a circle. You unwrap that circle of gum and rip out your preferred length. The texture and taste of Hubba Bubba is in my opinion the best brand out there. The most common flavor is bubble gum but there's also other flavors like a berry mix and orange-y flavor.

Spicy gum is a whole new story. I haven't had any since my stay-over-at-my-grandparents'-house-on-four-day-weekends years. I remember Red Hot gum as just sticks of gum that bring a punch to your mouth. I'm not sure why it exists. We already fruity and berry mix flavors and mint gum. If you want something spicy and actually good then eat a bag of spicy chips or drink some hot sauce or something.

SOL #7: The Gum Connoisseur

Every is a connoisseur for something. For some people, it's computers or video games. For others, it could be food. For me, it's gum. I know it's called chewing gum and it's supposed to last you more than just ten minutes but I chew it for the flavor. One of my favorite brands and flavors is Trident's Tropical Fruit gum. I chew one stick for five minutes and it loses its flavor. That's when I wrap open another stick. Bigger wad of gum, more flavor. I usually go up to three or four sticks at most. I know that I'll end up spending a fortune on gum but isn't that why they sell value packs that save you four dollars per pack at Cost-Co?

Being an obsessive gum chewer, I know all about different types and brands of gum. I'm writing this chewing Orbit's Peppermint which isn't good on my standards for mint gum but better than Sweet Mint and Spearmint. Orbit mint gum isn't that good because of its half-stale texture and lack of that sting you get in your mouth when you chew real mint gum. They didn't have Trident at Cost-Co so I'm stuck with Orbit for the next two weeks.

SOL #6: The Netflix Loophole

Recently, I asked my dad to help me out with our Netflix account. I had the account logged in on my PS4 and I mainly used it to watch “The Office” and whatever else I wanted to in private. I was going to watch another episode of “The Office” when I was prompted to either log in to start a free trial. I tried possible emails and passwords yet none worked. I couldn’t believe it. I’d have to eat my Flaming Hot Cheetos with nacho cheese while watching “The Office” in the living room. I asked for help and after a grueling while, we were able to change the password and write down the login details. I was happy. I could now watch whatever I wanted to in the privacy of my own room. I can wake up and sneak an episode in my morning routine. This happiness was short-lived as my dad came back downstairs with bad news. My mom didn’t want me watching Netflix on my PS4.

This was just like the time she said I couldn’t have an antenna for television. I tell myself that she probably thinks I watch “Criminal Minds” in my spare time. I’d watch that with my dad when I wasn’t even in sixth grade. In all reality, she doesn’t want me watching anything she thinks is inappropriate for me. It’s funny when I think that because she knows I like “The Office” but she thinks “Friends” is too inappropriate.

It was a bummer that I couldn’t have Netflix on my PS4. Not too long after, I thought of a solution. If I had the correct email and password, I can just use the app. I can then watch whatever I want, whenever I want. They’ll probably only find out if they see the app on my phone, but I have it well hidden on my phone. Mom, you were close, but no cigar.

SOL #5: Christmas Traditions

Every family has their own traditions and ways they celebrate Christmas. Some families celebrate it the day of, and many others, like mine, celebrate at midnight on Christmas Eve. My family tends to celebrate with my mom's family. Both families go to church at midnight. On Christmas, church takes up around one or two hours. After church, we all drive to my grandparents' house. There, we all get together and eat posole. Posole is a Mexican soup made with chicken, white hominy, and red, spicy soup.

While we're there, we watch Christmas movies on Netflix or TV stations. After we're done eating, we exchange gifts. When I was younger. I'd sleepover at my grandparents' house with the new toys I got. I'd have so much fun staying over because I was away from home and playing with toys and board games. Now I'm older and there's barely anything fun to do besides play the video games that my uncles have. I have my own PlayStation so I never feel like playing their games unless I want to play the games that my parents wouldn't let me play. Times have changed but I have fond memories of Christmas at my grandparents' house.

SOL #4: Nostalgic Video Games

When people think of old video games that bring them nostalgia, they think of old shooter games or retro puzzle games, or Super Nintendo games. When I think of the games I used to play, I think of my old Nintendo DS, Diddy Kong Racing, LEGO Batman, and LEGO Star Wars. I got my DS, I also got LEGO Batman and Star Wars. These games were a major part of my childhood.

Old LEGO video games were usually made up of three to six parts or chapters. Each chapter had around three to five levels. LEGO Batman had six chapters total. Three of them were in Batman and Robin's perspectives while the other three were playable by the perspectives of the villains that were featured in the chapters. For example, The first chapter stars The Riddler. The hero mode of the game had you play as Batman and Robin. The villain mode let you play as the villains in the same chapter such as The Riddler. Another chapter let you play as the Penguin and the third let you play as the Joker.

SOL #3: Video Games And Real World Lessons

Many people think that most video games in the market are violent for today's teens. From the way I see it, many of these violent video games have important lessons for the real world. Sometimes themes are incorporated into video games as a part of the plot for the game. Sometimes the themes aren't important to the game but are something extra to learn or take away from.

A commonly used theme I'd like to talk about is revenge. "Watch Dogs," made by Ubisoft and released in 2014, was a game that had a story focused mainly on just that. The player learns that the protagonist, Aiden Pearce, had a niece that was killed by an assassin. The assassin was supposed to kill Aiden but he screwed up and now Aiden's niece is dead. Because of his past and an empty hole in him for revenge, Aiden gets to work on finding out who ordered the hit on him and why.

While he goes on his unforgiving rampage, Aiden works with a young hacker. I forgot to mention that the game takes place in a smartphone equivalent of a city. The game is centered on Chicago if Chicago had everything controlled by a private company and corrupt politicians. Sewers, cameras (which are placed basically everywhere, even inside homes without people knowing), traffic lights, locks, and more are controlled by one software. The young hacker helps Aiden hack almost everything in Chicago to solve his unsolved questions.

The hacker that Aiden works with is eventually killed. You may have heard the phrase "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." A lot of people die just to satisfy Aiden's revenge. This doesn't really happen in the game but a relative or friend of one of those victims could go on the same killing spree that Aiden has, making a cycle of revenge and death.

That's one theme that "Watch Dogs" focuses on. Another theme is technology and its vulnerability. The software controlling Chicago was easily hacked by you. This applies to any computer or software in the real world. Every piece of technology can be hacked in some way. Computers, drones, car radios, TV's, even smart homes are just a few of the targets. "Watch Dogs" illustrates what could happen if we had smart cities. They can be easily controlled by authorites but can be hacked almost as easily. The last mission in the game shows what would happen if a maniac gained full control of a city. Sewers and steam pipes bursting everywhere, traffic lights going haywire, and bridges rising at the most unfortunate moments are just some of the possibilities. This is just one video game with a couple of important themes that many deem violent.

SOL #2: The Pop Tarts

Me and Maddie used to play a 8-Ball Pool online a lot. Last year, I went to a party at a church in downtown Chicago. We were celebrating a priest's birthday. There wasn't much for me to do besides play on my phone so I decided to challenge Maddie to a game of 8-Ball. Back then, I lost my stash of falcon dollars and I was running low so I'd challenge her all the time to make bets of two falcon dollars per game.

Maddie decided to play as well. After a while no longer than ten or fifteen minutes, Maddie wins. She's the better 8-Ball player. We were both bored so we texted for a while. Out of the blue, she says she wants Pop Tarts. She tells me that she's in bed and they were a few inches away. Apparently, a few inches is too far for Maddie to reach. The next day, she tells me something hard to believe. Everything she texted and did last night was in her sleep. She beat me at an online game of 8-Ball Pool in her sleep. She carried on a conversation in her sleep.  She craved Pop Tarts in her sleep. There weren't even any Pop Tarts at her house at all. (She told me that too, I'm not sure if there's actually any Pop Tarts at her house.)

"The Doodledaddler" (Nonsense Poem)

"The Doodledaddler"

Key
Doodledaddle: To acquire a very interesting piece of information about somebody, usually a phone number or where somebody lives, which is usually obtained by coincidence.
Tabblace: Restaurant
Deedling: Spying on or looking at people out of curiosity
Fiddlewiddling: Doodledaddling on a low level (getting somebody’s phone number or social media username without their knowing)
Foodledawdling: Doodledaddling on a high level (legit and illegal stalking, like actually following somebody home on purpose)
Ring Ring Info: Phone number
Spin Spin Click Thingy: Locker
Toodledoo: Chat

The doodledaddling.

I started at a young age

Four years ago

But everybody found out about it 

Last school year.

It runs in the blood, really.

I see it more commonly with my mom.

Accidentally going to the same tabblace

As the school principals,

Or deedling the people outside her window.

I mostly doodledaddle by coincidence,

But many think I don’t.

You can ask me to doodaddle somebody,

So long as it’s fiddlewiddling

And not foodledawdeling .

Someone’s ring ring info

Or their spin-spin-click thingy.

Maybe even who they tooddledoo with

And their social life.

Of course, don’t expect me to find other things

Like where do they go on Friday afternoons

Or find their house keys

Or where they hide the Pop Tarts.

The image shows some of my doodledaddling gear. My favorite sweater is black and has four pockets, three with zippers. These pockets can be used for sticky notes, pens, pencils, power banks, and chargers. Above the sweater is a plain black hat that I got in Mexico. There's also my dad's glasses which I rarely use and a red pointer and flashlight to the left. Finally, there's a radio that I got in Mexico which also serves as a bluetooth speaker. Every good doodledaddler has his or her own tunes to doodledaddle to.

"An Opportunity To Learn"

“An Opportunity To Learn”

It was an informational meeting
at Morton’s cafeteria
that explained enough details
to let us decide.

Should we go to STEM,
Waking up around six in the morning
For two hours of math and physics?

Or should we not go
And enjoy our sleep
and normal school days.

Personally, I like waking up early
I’d miss out on excel
And half of my first block
But it was worth it

Two hours of math and physics,
The types of topics that I wouldn’t learn at Heritage.
Waking up earlier than almost everybody else
And learning things that I’ve never known before
While being with some of my best and closest friends.

If I’d chosen not to go,
I still wake up early for fun
But without the extra lessons
And spending time with my friends

I chose the better option for me
And I’ve learned so much since then.

"The Morton Debate"

"The Morton Debate"

I have insulted
the high school
that you are going to
next year

the one that
everybody else
goes to
as well

the one that
you took
pride
In

Forgive me
not everybody is
an intellectual
and your salty reactions
were pretty hecking
hilarious

If you want context, I was expressing my thoughts and opinions on Morton High School. Of course, not everybody agrees with the same ideas so I became Public Enemy Number One for the cool kids for the rest of that week.

Childhoods

Childhoods
They're many things
They can be plain fast food burgers
or a sweet chocolate bar
that you want to keep swirling in your mouth
They can be Warheads
Sour for a while
but sweet all the way after

Distant memories
that everybody misses
and thinks about every once and a while
The ones that shape and mold
clay into people
The favorite part of some people's songs
that they want to listen to
again and again

SOL #1: Childhood Memories

Every now and then, I like to think about my childhood and how much I long for it. They were simple days. I'd get home from school, finish an easy worksheet for homework, and then have free time to myself until my bedtime. Free time for me was usually playing with Lego bricks and action figures while watching TV. I remember watching PBS Kids and Qubo, the TV stations that kids would watch if they didn't have cable. I'd play with Lego bricks from sets and make my own things like spaceships and other vehicles. The things I made meant a lot to me.

Back then, a year or even a month was an eternity. It seemed to have never come. Nowadays they just keep coming. 7th grade was almost as slow as other years. This year is different. It went by too fast. It's hard to believe that we're in the third quarter when it feels like we should be at the middle of the second. I feel like an entire half of the year just decided to speed itself up. It'll feel like a month of my childhood went by from now until summer. It's funny how all of that works. The elementary school version of me felt that time was too slow. Now I feel that time is too fast.

Character Development Analysis: Lupe

In her first chapter, we're introduced to Lupe and how loved she feels. Her dad left the family when Lupe was only five years old, her brother Tito hangs out with his friends, and her sister Christina has a child. Lupe's mom cares mostly about her job and Berto, Lupe's stepdad. Berto treats his wife almost like a slave. Living with parents that ignore her most of the time, Lupe feels unloved and not cared for. When she talks about her situation, she says "I used to write him. So many letters. But he never wrote back. Why, Papi? There's nobody here to love me now. Mami has Berto, Tito has his carnales on the streets, Christina has Chooch and Rosa. And me?... But if I had a real baby, she would love me like that." Every other family member has somebody to love and somebody that loves them except for Lupe. Her own mother cares more about Berto than Lupe. She acknowledges this and thinks about a doll she had when she was little. This gives Lupe the idea of having a real child for love and attention. The lack of love at home leaves Lupe desperate enough to want to do this.

After considering her plan to raise a child and a certain incident, Lupe doesn't feel as lonely. Marco, Lupe's boyfriend, didn't have time to be with her. Going through with her plan to have a baby, Lupe realizes that she'd need a father better than Marco. She decides to break up with him which leaves her feeling more isolated than before, but only for a moment. When describing what happened, Lupe says "I told her about Marco, and how I left him, and how he didn't even seem to care that much, and how I was all alone now... So I don't have a boyfriend now. So what? Neither does Janelle. Or Gloria. Or Leslie. But we have each other. Maybe we can all be alone together." A moment after the breakup, Lupe feels completely and truly isolated. She called Leslie and was comforted by being able to talk to a friend. Lupe then realizes that she has all of her other friends to feel loved by. Her perspective on her conflict changes from a negative perspective to a positive one. At first she feels unloved but later realizes that she has friends that can help her out.

Lupe's point of view on things were affected mostly by the people around her. The reason she felt undervalued was because of her mother and Berto. This led to her conflict of Lupe wanting a child. Because she wanted a child, she broke up with Marco who Lupe thought barely cared. Lupe's friends then comfort her and make her feel loved. Lupe's original conflict, with the help of people close to her, changed her perspective on how isolated she really was.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Porscha has a noticeable difference between her written backstory. Her written piece starts off with her talking about why she want to change her name. This explains why she lost her temper and went violent on a bully who made fun of Porscha for her name. Porscha uses this incident to talk about her mom, how she used to act, the fact that she has her mother's short temper, and why she doesn't want to hurt anybody. It's written in prose and explains how she feels about the calm Porscha hidden inside the violent one that everybody sees.

After talking about being able to express Porscha through poetry and the Open Mike Fridays, the reader sees her poem. This poem is in the format of a letter. The letter contains a message from Porscha to her deceased mom. Porscha still had things that she wanted to tell and ask her mom about as well as thing's she's done in the past.

Porscha's written piece contributes to her message because she talks about how she believes in the kind and calm version of her. It also explains why others think of her as somebody to stay away from. The written piece is simply backstory which sets the scene for Porscha's poem. The poem's style contributes to her message of wanting to tell things to her mother by being written as a letter. Letters tend to be used to send messages to people. By writing her message as a letter, there's a deeper meaning to what she's trying to say, especially since she's writing to a dead loved one.

My Biopoem

The
Smart, creepy, coincidental
Son of a mother who likes to look at people outside her window
Who loved family, friends, and food
Who was familiar with depressions, hypocrisy, and stupidity
Who feared that he'd be grounded for nonsense, important chances and opportunities would be missed, and that he wouldn't realize his dreams.
Who won meaningless perfect attendance awards
Who wants his dream to come true, and to have a simple life in the future
Born and raised in Berwyn
Stalker

"A Large Black Dog"

"a large black dog headed

straight for Chrissa
'give her back her leg' Thad's brother admonished
'best hunting dog I ever had,' Mr. Hewitt put in, still embarrassed."

The original page from the story is mainly about a character meeting her friend and a couple of other characters. I handpicked certain words and phrases to completely change the tone and meaning. I made a poem about a character's dog who severly injured Chrissa's leg. There isn't really a message or a lesson in this poem. The whole poem is meant to be a simple story. The story about the violent hunting dog is the main idea of this poem.

I commented on Maddie's, Emily's, and Jasmine's blogs.

"Trafficking"

 

I saw "Sold" and thought that that book could be useful in a spine poem. I kept that in mind when I was looking for other titles. When I saw "The Hobbit," I was thinking that my poem could be about the hobbit or somebody else selling something. I thought about "An Abundance of Katherines" and picked the last two books to add on to the poem.

My spine poem isn't about an actual hobbit but maybe somebody being called or compared to one. This "hobbit" is selling actual Katherines or slaves at nighttime. Including "Among The Enemy" suggests that this human trafficking is taking place in a dangerous enemy territory or someplace where human trafficking is illegal. The poem mainly just tells a story of a monster selling slaves.

I commented on Maddie's, Emily's, and Jasmine's blogs.

Bronx Masquerade Perspectives

The many characters of "Bronx Masquerade" have several different types of conflicts. Lupe and Gloria have their issues about teenage pregnancy. Chankara and her sister face abuse from their boyfriends. Sterling faces bullying for his faith and non-violent approach to situations. Many other characters like Devon and Janelle face problems with how people see them versus how they see themselves. These identity issues are a common conflict among the characters.

The Devon that everybody sees is the opposite of who Devon really is. Everybody sees the athletic and handsome part of him. Devon shows people what they want to see from him so that he's accepted. He's afraid of being alienated from his peers so he acts like all he cares about is hanging out with schoolmates and being an average jock. When Devon is alone however, he is his true self. He enjoys literature but most of the kids at school think reading is a joke. In order to be accepted, Devon hides his intellectual self from society. He sees himself as a smart and athletic person that really likes to read for fun. Everybody else sees Mr. Basketball.

Another character that sees themselves in a different light than others is Janelle. Most people see only two things about Janelle; her fat and her face. Many consider her ugly and they make fun of her for her weight. A few, like Janelle herself, her friends, and Devon, see the characteristics beneath the skin. They see intelligence and kindheartedness. What Janelle sees is something that many other people ignore. Everybody sees the physical part of Janelle but she sees the real Janelle. The smart and funny Janelle. That's the way it is with characters and people like her. People jump to conclusions based on what they see on somebody's outside. Only a few actually try to dig deep and see how people act on the inside.

"Where I'm From"

Harlem Renaissance Blogpost

The Harlem Renaissance Icon that spoke out to me the most was France's person, Piri Thomas. Piri's entire life is something that amazes me because it's like no other. He was taken by gang violence and drugs at the early part of his life. Crime on the streets absorbed Piri and he was eventually arrested. During his seven years in jail, he wrote about his experiences before being caught. Prison made a new man out of Piri. After his life on the streets, Piri traveled to many different universities and colleges to tell his story in order to keep more people out of crime and drugs and gangs. This amazed me because people barely see or even hear of people who try to reach out to others to prevent them from something. For me it's extraordinary to see someone try to stop others from potentially doing what he did in the past.

Piri Thomas' role in the Harlem Renaissance was to prevent more gang members and drug addicts. The lectures that Piri has given may have actually made a significant progress. Society was impacted because more and more young men and women were aware of the risks of drugs and gang violence. There's more people in the world that are against crime on the streets. That was Piri's role and impact on the Harlem Renaissance and society.

Another icon of the Harlem Renaissance that stood out to me was Charlie Parker. He mainly stands out because he helped invent bebop, a whole new type of jazz in the 1940's. Inventing a new type of music sounds challenging, so that's what makes Charlie a distinctive icon. Around the time he helped make bebop, he was undergoing a serious heroin and alcohol addiction. This lost him his ability to play his music publicly. Charlie's talent in playing saxophone and inventing bebop was his positive impact on music and society. His impact and his accomplishments are why Charlie Parker stands out to me.

Piri Thomas

Of Mice And Men Blog

Section IV

I think that Of Mice And Men is a tale like no other. The characters and themes make this book simply wonderful. There's lovable characters like Slim and Lennie, then there's the ones you love to hate like Curley. In less than two-hundred pages, John Steinbeck crafted a great story using these characters and combining them with several different themes. There were main themes like friendship and isolation, and side themes like race. All of this made Of Mice And Men an enjoyable experience.

The visuals of Lennie's strength in the movie had the biggest impact on my understanding of Of Mice And Men. We already knew that Lennie was strong telling from how George talked about him and the fight with Curley. It was easier to see exactly how strong Lennie was in the movie. During the scenes where we saw the ranchers working, Lennie was able to carry one bag of barley by himself. It took two normal men to carry what Lennie could've. Lennie was strong enough to buck barley faster than the others. We even see one of the ranchers tell Slim that he couldn't keep up with Lennie's pace.

During the movie representation of the fight scene with Curley, you can see the exact emotions and strength of both Lennie and Curley. There's Curley's punches to Lennie's head, which will hurt more than normal because Curley practices boxing. Lennie later completely stops Curley's hand and makes it bleed. This visual and the barley bucking scenes change my understanding of certain parts of the novella related to Lennie and Curley.

I would recommend this book to just about anyone. Most people would think that an awesome book with excellent story elements would be a few hundred pages. This is a simple novella. It's short and delivers the same enjoyable experience that another other five-hundred page book can.

Section III

The flashback in the movie consisted of all the events from the Weed incident to George killing Lennie. George was looking back on the past while he was on a cargo train. Changing the end of the story to make the past events a flashback leaves a bigger impact on the audience. The audience is surprised and shocked to see that George was thinking about his last rodeo with Lennie. Viewers feel bad for George because he's running away from Tyler Ranch alone. They see George's expression of sorrow as he looks back at what he did. He's running off to another ranch but without Lennie, George's only true companion.

The feeling you get at the end of the movie definitely does not match the same feeling at the  end of the book. The director probably wanted his viewers to feel heartbroken. By turning the story into one big flashback, people will feel worse than if the original ending was shown. The last line of dialogue at the end of the book is: "Now what the hell do you suppose is eatin' them two guys?" Carlson says this after he and Curley find Slim consoling a depressing George. This last line tells us that Carlson is really inconsiderate of the friends of his coworkers. We already know that he didn't care about whatever Candy had to say before his dog was killed. Not knowing why George and Slim were crestfallen shows us that Carlson probably didn't have many real friends. George and Lennie have a mindset about why their different than other swampers. They know that they have each other to look after but other men don't. Slim also says that not many workers travel with others. Carlson didn't care about Candy's relationship with his dog or George's feelings about Lennie because he himself hasn't had a companion like the ones Candy and George had. He doesn't know how it feels to lose or even have a close friend.

That last line leaves the reader thinking Carlson is either cruel, lonely, or both. What Carlson said can make people think of Carlson as inconsiderate because George killed his best friend. Some might also believe that Carlson isn't rude by heart and just hasn't had a real friend before. It could be a combination of the two. Maybe Carlson is just inconsiderate of others because he's alone and doesn't have real friends. This line left me thinking that Carlson was insensitive but after looking back at the past events of the book, I believe that Carlson had little to no friends in his life.

Quarter 2 Reflection

-In what area do you think you made your biggest improvements in English Language Arts?

I think I have improved in writing with TIQA and writing essays. More specifically, I think my biggest improvement is in thematic essay writing. Last year, I slipped up and made "And this brings us to Atticus" as one of my topic sentences. This was for a thematic essay we did on To Kill A Mockingbird. After Mrs. Larson used my mistake as an example of what not to do, I realized that I had to think harder about what I use in TIQA essays. I remembered last year's mistake and reminded myself to make better topic sentences for this year's thematic essay. 

-What is something you have accomplished since the new year that your are proud of?

Something that I've accomplished since the new year that I'm proud of is getting better grades on my assignments and spelling tests. I wasn't sure if I'd see any 2's when I checked my Powerschool grades. If I did have any 2's maybe they weren't on Powerschool but at least I have mostly 3's and 4's. I'm proud of having good grades for the only advanced class in this school and this is something that I wan't to keep up.

-What has been the most challenging part of 2nd quarter for you and what did/can you do to help overcome this?

The most challenging part of this quarter was being able to participate in socratic seminars. Participation was only an issue if the guides were an issue as well. I find guides sometimes hard to fill in. I want to jot down ideas that I can contribute to the discussion. Most of the time, we talk about topics different than what I write in my guide. To make my life easier, I can ask a few friends and classmates for small previews of what they'll talk about. I'll also ask for what they think we'll talk about during the seminar. This way, I can contribute more to future socratic seminars.