Choose an Article.

            I chose the article “Justice Denied” from Upfront magazine. I chose this because exactly as the title say many people were denied trial because many of the witnesses and evidence that were present and could have used back in the 1950’s are now missing. What is more is the motives of the murderers are clear ,this was all about race and occurred in the civil rights movement . Even if during the time period the case was made, the police were uncooperative.  Many were fearful of their lives and even though they had the first amendment on their side they were afraid to speak, in fear of attacks  on them. There were also may terrorist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan who were conducting these murders in the first place.  What is the saddest part of all is that many lacked faith in the Judicial system. The cases are now reopened and many cannot be solved. Richard Cohen states ”The reality is that justice in a few cases is going to have to serve as  a proxy for justice in them all.” That is insult to injury opening a case then refusing to solve it even when someone has passed away.   

            This makes me think about my life and how many of those cases weren't opened even when murder had occurred and makes me somewhat doubt the Judicial branch’s credibility. I also linked this article to the George Zimmerman case. They make a huge deal about a racial killing but ignore proven racial killings such as the Frank Morris case. The many killings that occur now seem a bit more important to me as well. I also look at the judicial branch with a bit more unease because I don't really support their way of handling the situation.                                                                                          

Dear Mrs Berner Essay on book banning.

Dear Mrs. Berner

    

In my opinion, young adult  books should not be banned, regardless of the child's age or content, including sixth graders. A child can read whatever their parents see fit ,and if their guardians support this type of literature then they should have access to it. Ellen Hopkins the author of Crank essentially agreed stating “If you don't want your child to read a book take it away ". She then goes on to express how parents have no control over children except of their own . In present times, young adult fiction does have grotesque content but many still enjoy reading it ,so banning is not the solution. Warnings of explicit content allows children to be aware of  the  mature nature of the material and whether it is appropriate or not for them to read. In addition, such instructions promotes the monitoring for the parents. The most important factor of all is however is that one person cannot be allowed to ban the book for everyone because there are many whom could still enjoy them.

These young adult books should be kept because of the many who enjoy reading them, and one's personal opinion cannot be put over the educational benefits for many. Bill Moyer also expresses his opinion stating one person cannot "deny an entire community's curiosity." This means that one person cannot ban a book for many . Regardless of the graphic content of the books , children can easily choose not to read them or simply get a different one. Sherman Alexie, the author of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, states that many adults are only protecting their idea of what literature should be. This is true, just by looking at how many books are challenged by adults, the mature people. Banning young adult books should refer to the children, because it is them who are really affected. The most effective way to have both ways is warning those who don't want the explicit content about it, and those interested end up with a section of books that they like.

Take recently the challenge of a classic Fahrenheit 451. Diana Verm and her father objected the book and although given an alternate assignment her father insisted on  the book's removal from the curriculum. The main reason for this request was the description of  the burning of a bible. What they don't understand is that the author wanted that portrayal to be disturbing. It was a dystopian world after all! The  message of the entire book was that banning free thought and books is unhealthy for the public. Ellen Hopkins expresses her opinion by stating " I don't sugarcoat but neither is the content gratuitous, something would be censors could only know if they'd actually read the books rather than skimming for dirty words." In this case there were also many objections with students speaking in support of the books. Showing the difference between those who read and those who censor This shows how adults have their own privileged opinion of what literature should be.

  

Parental control should be exercised on individual base, for the need of each family and child. The individual parent should be responsible for drawing the limits of supervision of sensitive material. As long as a warning is made public and children are aware of what they are about to read, there is no need to ban the material. After all it is picked by their own choice. If books were to be banned, in the first place, children should have the say somewhat in the decision making, instead of having grown ups try to comprehend children's literature. There is a reason why there are books for children and books for adults.

Inquiry question for nonfiction article.

     Tensions are rising between Obama and Putin ,Russia's president ,as Syria is unseeing weapons of mass destruction. This is not helped by the fact that Edward Snowden an information leaker has been granted asylum by Russia and that all aide provided by America has been ordered to leave. All though there is constant bickering between the two countries; what would happen if they worked together. Thomas Friedman in the passage " A New Cold War ?" states " there is no major problem and the world today ... that would not be easier to solve if the US and Russia work together?" This is true because many major issues involving U.S and Russia.

     The author shows this is true by listing all the issues involving the two countries. The author first shows issues such as the banning of American aide , prohibiting the adoption of Russian children by Americans, and reprimanding nonviolent protesters requesting a more democratic government . This includes the more recent Edward Snowden case  where Russia is granting asylum to him against U.S's approval. They all could be solved with cooperation and even Syria could be stopped . Russia supplies Syria with billions of dollars worth of weapons , then blocking any action U.S can do to stop it. If they agreed the weapon dealing could be stopped there could be possible world threat could be prevented as well. This includes the massive amounts of oil Russia has in its arsenal which along with the currenttechnology  could last a lot longer.

      Thomas Friedman is right with the  cooperation of these two countries a lot could be done. There could be the removal of another dictator who harms his citizens. There could also be the capture of someone who leaked out confidential information . There also could be aide given to those in Russia who need it and a home for a child. In conclusion if these countries cooperate a lot could be done recently Russia and America have just worked out a deal for Syria to remove its chemical weapons and much more could happen in the future.

Inquiry question for non fiction.

     Sally Green burg of the National Consumers League notes that "child labor perpetuated a cycle of poverty "and what this means is that the two issues were linked. This cycle is still in effect today in places without child labor laws. The only way to break this cycle is to place labor laws to prevent the the usage of a child workforce.

     Child labor started a cycle of poverty, because families still kept the practices they had when they were farmers this included working with their families.Then factory owners only hired children for cheap labor and their relunctance to speak against their bosses. The passage even states "Factory owners liked hiring children for their nimble fingers and relunctance to complain. They could also pay them less". Some examples of pay were boys as old as eight separating coal and slate in hazardous conditions for one to three dollars a week. This lead to a lack of jobs because children were prefered and due to low pay the children couldn't support the family.

      This cycle is till in effect today In India recently a photo was was taken of an eight year old shoveling coal in northeast India. There are also many children still hired outside our country. The National Consumers League reported that there are 250 million children under the age of sixteen who are working mainly in factories or mines. Periodic exposes  shows how many children worked in garment factories for popular brands in the U.S

      This cycle can only be stopped by removing child labor and placing laws to make sure this doesn't happen there should be a serious fine that is more than the profit made. There is also a need for regular checks to. The national consumers league is correct and we are lucky that child labor is banned in the states  with exceptions such as agriculture. It is still an issue outside the issue and American industries are taking others countries' lack of labor laws to bypass ours. This is unacceptable because they are still hiring children. In conclusion there is still child labor and only other countries can solve this for themselves because as Sallly Greenburg said child labor states a cycle of poverty.

Inquiry question for nonfiction

     In the text " The End of America's Car Culture" a researcher, Thilo Koslowski states that the iPhone is the ford mustang of today. This means that today the iPhone is similar to the Ford because of its popularity, which is similar becuause of how popular the Ford Mustang was. This statement is true just like with cars after World War 2 everyone has an iPhone yet it is still popular and nobody is tired of it.

    The way the author supports this idea  with a quote the parent " If I talk to m parents about cars, they remember how everyone spent their weekends working on cars". Then compare this to the iPhone and iPad ,everyone works on them from a phone call all the way to this blog post being completed on my iPad. To even further support how desirable cars are the author brings in Mimi Sheller, director of Drexel university's Center for Mobilites Reaserch and Policy who quotes " Everybody wanted a car. Everybody wanted to drive." The author then states how cellphone apps used for carpooling have also been related to the decline in car usage. This directly relates to the iPhone and it's apps or applications and shows how versatile the phone is there is an app for anything, another reason the product is so popular. This also relates to cars as well because just like the phone during  age where cars were popular specific things were made for the new product drive in fast food joints, drive in movie theaters, and Shopping malls.

    Thilo Koslowski was not far off. Both the car and the iPhone are or we're popular, both hads things dedicated to them apps or drive ins, and there are also the fact that nearly everyone has one and how desirable they are. The comparison between the two is accurate both had there popularity and just like the Ford, Apples popularity has decreased after the realease of iPhone 5c. 

Essay on Inquiry Question : How are Issues Addressed in My Book ?

     In my book The Curious Incident issues are addressed slowly as Christopher tries the solve the mystery of who killed Wellington the dog. This brings Christopher on a journey through drunk neighbor and and hidden drawers.Then he soon understands and has to deal with the lies that were made to protect him.

     Christopher deals with the issues in this book through running away or counting cars to calm himself. This is mainly because he is social challenged and can't show how he feels, this also happens to even people whom aren't like Chris and that is how the author addresses issues. He also addresses issues by showing us Chris' point of view. This lets us know he he feels and it shows how he is just like us and we relate to him when he feels sadness.For example when Chris decides to go to write his book he learns about his mother's affair with Mr. Shears this shows that he really was unaware. All of us love someone , and Christopher although a bit challenged shows his love to his father though touching hands. This shows he is just like us and we can understand the problematic things in his life. The author shows how Christopher need order to survive just a bit more than us such as counting cars to calm himself down or to draw faces to understand other people. He shows more importantly like us he can be afraid . For example when figuring out his father killed Wellington he runs away and has to ask strangers for help showing how scary someone you don't know can really be.

     In the end the author portrays Christopher as a normal boy and allows us to understand how he feels about these issues . Then shows them as pieces that occur just as  a mystery that needs to be solved. 

Theme of "Faithful Elephants"

     The story Faithful Elephants is about a heartbreaking tale of the deaths of three elephants.During a time of war the government declared all dangerous animals to be killed.The author Yukio Tsuchiya links this to war and teaches the reader that war can cause tragic things outside of the battlefield.For example the deaths of all the innocent animals in the zoo.This along with the fact that trainers were forced to kill animals they loved especially the three elephants.

     All the "dangerous" animals were to be killed despite the fact that they had nothing wrong. Including the elephants. This along with how they were killed , is cruel and terrifying. They first injected poison into all the animals food this continued until John ,Tonky ,and Wanly (the three elephants) were to die . Then because their intelligence they were to have poison injected directly into their body. Still the elephants were to strong and their skin was hard so they were finally starved to death.

     The most tragic thing of all however was the fact that trainers had to kill their beloved animals with their own hands, especially the elephants." The zoo keepers wanted so much to keep Tonky and Wanly alive they thought of sending them to the zoo in Sendai." They still had to be put down however. The trainers were so sad and the author even stated that one trainer loved them like they were his children."He could only pace in front of the cage and moan"Oh Tonky oh Wanly". The trainers were soon so sad because of what they had done they had even refused to look at the cage. In a final attempt for food the elephants did their banzai trick for food and the trainer gave it to them begging them to eat it.The other trainers ignored it showing that they also cared for the elephants as well. This including ,how depressed the trainers were after the deaths of the elephants shows they loved the elephants. These actions show how they truly cared for the elephants and their agony because of the precautions of war.

     The story "The Faithful Elephants" through the tragic deaths of John, Tonky, and Wanly reveal to us even though not on the battle field tragic things happen . Many lives were lost including the lives of all the animals and the elephants. The setting was also a zoo showing how the effects of war reach farther than just the deaths of soldiers. 

Theme of Redwall

                                                              Reading Response about Theme
     During the book Redwall by Brian Jacques, the main character Matthias continually does courageous acts one after another ,however it is his friends who propel him to do these these acts . The many other characters in Redwall relate to the conflict because they push the conflict forward and help Matthias resolve it. The story shows how important friends are by showing how they help Matthias.
 
     The scene after the great tapestry was stolen Matthias was heartbroken but he stood up and spoke to his comrades even though injured.
       
                 " Your face is swollen after the fight with the black rat." Matthias gave a lopsided grin. He shrugged cheerfully " I'll be alright"...(then the elder talks to him privately)"I know how you feel Matthias. I could see you were only putting on a brave face (pg.178)

     This act  shows that Matthias is motivated by his friends ,because the elder was right and it was just a show. This act also shows how much he cares for them because he doesn't want them to scared. This keeps Matthias brave even with the later death of the elder.
   
     One other example of how Matthias is encouraged and helped to resolve the conflict.This happened when Matthias was leaving to go get the tapestry"Matthias ducked deeper into the ferns and was just a silent ripple , Making through the lush green to St. Ninians." The act of him leaving was because of his friends whom emotionally supported him and made him brave enough to take on the burdens along his journey. He also did it because he him self willingly does it. His friends hopes push him forward because he doesn't want to disappoint them. If he didn't have a friend the conflict wouldn't advance and he wouldn't have the emotionally support to even be brave enough to think about it.. The helplessness of the many people are Matthias drive and Brian uses this as a hidden propellant

    One last example are the friends he gain who physically help him. The character Basil  The hare Physically helps resolve the conflict by guiding him to the tapestry though a hidden entrance. He also helps Matthias escape when they were caught along with leading him to the keeper of a sword and much more. There are many more such as warbeak, his brother, and the elder.

      Matthias' friends are a propellant to the conflict and are extremely helpful and give him the support that can lessen the burden he carries. The character that Matthias thinks are helpless propel him because of his will to protectcreating miracles and impressions on how important friends are