Animal farm project: Poem

WHEN POWER CORUPTS

Napoleon the boar,

Drove snowball away,

He took control,

In every possible way.

He was greedy for power

And he failed to see,

The impact of his decisions,

And how devastating they could be.

He upped the work,

He cut the rations,

he was the farms new nemesis,

In his very own fashion.

He promised sanctuary to the animals,

And a better life,

That all would be equal,

That all would be right.

But as he said this,

The power addicted him,

He used it to his own benefit,

And failed to view what they had entered in.

The animals believed him,

They had so much hope,

For sugar-candy mountain,

And a land with no ropes.

Their commandments were changed,

Napoleon killed their friends,

He sold the eggs for money,

He broke the hearts of the hens.

He used his power corruptly,

He put himself always first,

Never looked back,

And left the others the worst.

Things are evil when selfishness prevails

When one serves only ones self,

When all pure motives fail.

Things are tragic,

When greed erupts,

When morals collapse,

When power corrupts.

Poetry performances

Sophia Elena Soberon
"Bilingual/Bilingüe" by Rhina P. Espaillat

Her voice was radiant and clear, she had a nice spanish accent and articulation and perfect english too which added to the poems mood. She didn't recite in a sing song manner. Her physical presence was excellent, she was confident throughout the performance and seemed perfectly at ease and un-tense. She had good eye contact, constantly scanning the crowd and looking away only to emphasize some words. She used dramatization appropriately and definitely didn't present in a monotone manner. It wasn't too easy. The level of difficulty was good, the content was great and the length wasn't too short or too long. Sophia showed an in depth understanding of the poem and was without hesitation.

"Bilingual/Bilingüe" is about growing up in a bilingual household, and how one language is abandoned in favor of the other. They are separated from the one another and alienated. The meaning is enhanced when she recites "english outside this door, spanish inside!". It shows how her father believed in keeping the languages separate attempts to alienate the latino heritage of the girl.

The character I played in the trail was Atticus Finch. I chose a justice scale to symbolize him. I think this is symbolic because Atticus has good morals, views, a good sense of right or wrong and justice. The Justice scale symbolizes all of these things.

I was around 9 and a half when my ex-stepfather ( who was my stepfather at the time) said something to me that changed my view on life. He said to me, "Berkano, Think before you believe what you hear and watch before you believe what you see". He said this after a kid in my class said something about his Father being an astronaut, which i didn't really believe and was hurt because of the way the kid lied to me without a second thought.

From the time when i heard this i have learned that people are too easy to accept something with absolutely no proof of truth. I have learned to not believe every rumor that might spread around at school and to think twice before accepting something completely. I think that there was a spiritual meaning to what he said. He meant something that is said to you is just vibrations in the air, they don't last forever, and they only represent a persons verbal thoughts at the time. If somebody does something day after day, month after month, and year after year the person has proved to you what they are trying to tell you is true without doubt and that they mean it sincerely.

My best friend

My best friend , Brandi, is part native-american, I probably wouldn't have guessed if she hadn't told me but after she did i could see it in her facial structure. She's small (teeny-weeny) and has dark brown hair. If you look closely she also has a few red strands. She doodles and draws all the time and likes to write poetry and is supper ticklish. She is very caring, cheerful, smart and tons of fun to be around. People usually observe her as being shy and quiet, which is true but once you get to know her she won't be as timid around you as other people.

She is an altruist, always caring and trying to make other people happy, she is also an introvert because of the hours she spends choosing clothing, fixing her hair and perfecting her makeup (She even confessed to being vain). This isn't a bad thing because I find it cute in its own special way. Brandi is trustworthy, loyal and just adorable. She is a talented artist and can be embarrassed really easily. She's Impossible to quarrel with because you'll always lose no matter what. Brandi can be very adventurous at times and sticks to her morals as much as is possible for a teenager.

Early Memory

One of my earliest memories was when i was around 3 years old. I was living in Oregon and was spending the weekend with my Father. It was halloween. I had spent hours and hours trying to figure out what to wear. I just couldn't decide. In the end it was close between batman and superman, but batman seemed a little bit more interesting to me at the time ( I had what was kind of a 3-year-old-boy-obsession... with batman).

When me, my brother and my Father were ready we went out to go trick-0r-treating. We went to a bunch of houses on our street. Then right before we went back home we stopped off at our neighbors house to say hi... I don't remember very much about them. Only that they had a little girl about 2 years older than me who was albino, and that she had two mothers.

I didn't understand exactly why she had two mothers at the time, but i knew that they were both really nice.

Then when we got home me and my brother got hyper from all the candy... and then we crashed and slept for like 'ever'.

The Catcher in the Rye: Tone

The Author, J.D. Salinger, used tone so heavily in this book to put across the main characters, Holdens, views and thoughts towards life as a young man coming of age. Holden is very pessimistic and quite negative. He always looks on the dark side of things and how they could turn out for worse rather than better for him. The author uses some uncommon or unfamiliar words and some vulgarity to show Holdens cynical outlook on life.

The Tone In the novel is the same all the way through, Salinger Makes Holden seem like he's a spoiled brat and whenever he sees other people with something that he doesn't have he described them as "phony" or some other negative word along those lines. Salinger uses tone to show that Holden, as a young man is very negative towards his future past and present and thinks that things will always turn out for worse.

Berkano's Writing about reading blog

I like reading books that are long enough to have allot of suspense and plot build-up in them but not so long that it just seems to drag on and on.. I like long marvelously interesting and pretty complicated books best. If they aren't complicated that they tend to be quite boring to read.

If I don't find the beginning of a book interesting then i will try to think of really weird things that could happen or only read the book in a place that i really like to be, like my aunts house. That way i can look forward to reading the book because of where i am when I'm reading it. If i find it confusing i will read the blurb or re-read the pages or the 'notes from the Author' if the book has a section like that.

If my ideal reading space is crowded, noisy or too distracting then i tend not to cope very well. I might try ear-plugs, but if people are dancing around all over the place they don't really help. It can be incredibly frustrating to me when 'my reading space' is being invaded. Some times i go onto my roof or on a walk to get as far away from the distraction in as possible, then go back when i'm ready to try reading again or when thing have calmed down a little.

I read fiction because it offers me an escape from the troubles and stresses of everyday life. Like a little world that i can run away to by sitting in a quiet place and reading a book. I suppose it's like dreaming accept the dream is already set in stone, figuratively speaking. It can be wonderfully entertaining and bewitching if the book is enjoyable for me. I read fiction because if i didn't then life would be without dreams or wishes. Fiction is what lets my imagination wander and explore every possibility in life.