My Final Comments on this Year

This year has been a good year of learning and has taught me alot, so I will write my final comments on my overall experience.

   OK, the essay that was hardest for me was the rhetorical devices, because that is my weakest area when it comes to writing, I think that it's my hardest because you have to spend the most time on it, in my opinion, and you have to use evidence from the passage. Rhetorical devices has always been the hardest for me but Mr.Thomas made it a little bit easier, but it still seemed pretty hard when it came time to write the essay.

   The essay I found the easiest was the argumentative, it is easier to write an argumentative essay because you don't need to find provide devices from the passage or do anything to complicated all you need to do is pick a side and use evidence to support your claim! What made it even easier to write was the the prompt given it was simple, straight forward,
 
 A novel I enjoyed the most was The Things They Carried, hte book was very well written and engaging, also the characters different perspective was interesting. The book showed different parts of each characters lives and important events  for example when Kiowa died in muddy field or when the authors daughter asked him if he ever killed anyone. I think the book was so enjoyable because it not only told the lives of one person but saw it from everyone point of view, also the events int the story like hte author getting shot in the rear added humor to the book.

The one I enjoyed the least was the Great Gatsby,I feel like it;'s all over the place. Also the characters aren't too interesting and their behavior/emotions are confusing at times. It wasn't as enjoyable as the others because it doesn't have anything that grabs your attention other than a few events throughput the story, and the fact that it is hard to interpret what is going on.

Mr.Thomas I would like for you to know that you have  made APLANG an eventful and fun.  I'm glad i had the chance to have you a my teacher because aside from your awesome teaching you know how to keep the class interesting and theres never a dull day in your class. I widh I could have you for APLit next year but i don't mind because i know you are making APLANG an awesome experience for the future Juniors.
Thank You Mr. T

The Things I Carry

There are many items I carry that help people identify me as a person not just physically but also the way I carry myself, and these things make me who I am.

Physical item: One thing that I must carry with me always is...you guessed it my phone, something every teenager can't live without. My phone provides me with things like homework help, a way to connect to others and even things like the weather! Without my phone I would probably not be able to get through the day primarily because it's a neccesity and helps me get through everyday tasks alot easier and faster.

Dream/Goals: A dream that I have hoped to pursue for a long time is the dream of me becoming a professional dancer. I began dancing in 6th grade and since then I have been on a dance team and was even dance captain, but the reason I want to become a dancer is because everyday I look forward to letting all my stress go by putting all my emotion into a dance and allowing myslef to get everythign off my mind and do what I love. Also a goal I want to accomplish is to be the first in my family to graduate college and get a degree. My mother was wanted by prestigous colleges but turned them down to go to school with her friends and soon left because of an unexpected arrival (me).  So I want to continue on where she left off and build a bright future for my self as a nurse/dancer.



 

 

 Relationship: A person I constantly think about is my mom, because she has had such an impact on me as a person and has given me a life that every kid deserves. She has raised me and my sister all on her own and seeing her get through all the stress that comes along with being a single parent makes me want to be strong like her and accomplish the things she has. I want to build a great future not only for myself but for her, to show her that her efforts weren't waisted and that her putting me through school and being the mother that she was paid off.

 

Personality: 3 words that describe me would be goofy, carefree, and kindhearted. These are all factors that represent me and make me the person all my friends and family know and  love, so there's no one I rather be than me because being me is the best thing I can be! My personality is very unique, I am a procrastinating, hardworking, driven and unorganized person and because I am all these things it makes my life a little bit harder but I still manage to accomplish everyhting I set my mind to.

 





 

Memories: A memory that I have would be when I went to galveston for the first time, it was the first place I had ever gone outside of Houston and all the places and things we saw were so full of culture and history that it had a tremendous impact on me. But what made me love it so much was that one day in Galveston I went to the beach with my mom and sister and for the first time I didn't see worried lines on my moms face or my sister cry because she couldn't get the pink bike with the bell on it for her birthday it  was a day filled with fun and memories and nothing could bring us down.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Break away or choose a side?

My Culture

One of the many things that is interesting about me is that I am African-American and Ethiopian and I have learned many ways to honor my culture. For example, my mom likes to take us to an Ethiopian restaurant for special occasions and that has been a tradition in our family for many years.What we eat is injera,it resembles bread ut it is made out of wheat only and shiro is also eaten with this.
I have also tried learning the language and going to family events with other relatives who are ethiopian or if you are from Eritrea you are habesha. I have also embraced my african-american roots by going to places that my relatives on my dad's side and learning about their ancestors and how they came to America. My grandmother passed down a necklace that has been in our family for nearly 5 decades and I hope to pass it on to my future daughters and so fourth.

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I understand there is a balance between which culture you relate more to but I try to incorporate them both to fit me and I love that I can share many aspects of different styles and customs and make something potentially new. Something that I do that's different is mixing ethiopian breakfast foods with a special oatemeal my African-American grandmother makes and by doing so I created a new dish. Also I recently tried mixing my styles of clothing is wearing a shemma and mixing it with modern american clothes.

For holidays I celebrate both the New Year and then the Habesha New Year or Enkutatash, we celebrate by eating injera and wearing our new clothes. I like to do both because they are joyous occasions and are good luck. There are many traditions that I celebrate and integrate into one in order to enjoy both sides of my culture therefore I am in the middleground and I don't have to choose one side.

Finally, I think that kids like me, can break away from the things they don't like and stil honor their culture. For example, when I first had to wear the shemma I didn't like it but by adding something modern I found that it was not so terrible and it made me want to wear it more often. Also, some people prefer to add to their culture while still honoring it and hte significance it has in their lives so it's just about finding your preferance and what you feel is right while still being unique you can also learn to love what makes you diverse. So these are just my thoughts on the subject hope you enjoyed the brief history of Eritrea!

 

The Haunted House

A Haunted House

  Poe has many interesting stories that are spooky as well as find a way to entertain that part of us that longs for a good scare now and then. The techniques I would most copy from him would be his use of personification, his grammatical skills, his use of diction, the way he structures his writing, and finally how he uses metaphors. There are many ways to use all of these things in an essay for example, if I were to talk about a tree and say it's branches screached as the wind blew past that could be a use of personification. I would apply the use of structuring my essay by planning ahead and figuring out how I should write the thesis, topic sentence and the rest of my body paragraphs.

   I can use grammar skills that are strong and tie my information back to the thesis in order to give more of an effect, and by doing this I can better my essay. Finally I would use metaphors that can be understood like comparing a black raven to a lonsome person. Now that I have told you of the ways I would use his techniques and how I would use them it's time for a spooky story about a HAUNTED HOUSE....

   There once was a house on Oakridge Lane that everyone in town knew all to well about, it was dark, isolated in a deserted part of the town and it seemed as though the clouds were set dark and gloomy right above that particular spot. It had overgrown weeds all around and even the animals kept away from what might've been the scariest house in the whole state! Ashley and mike two young high school students heard stories about the spooktacularr house and in utter curiosity decided to check it out. They drove 40 miles out of town ready and prepared for what could happen in a place that no one would ever go near if they were to be lost, they pulled up to the house and parked in an abandoned barn.

    "Let's go inside!" said Mike, Ashley was brave but even a house like this sent chills down her spine. They neared the house and opened the creaky wooden door that would lead them inside, slowly but surely all seemed well. Walking from room to room they noticed porttraits of the family that used to live there, they were a small family who lived moved there from Eastern Europe around the early 1900's, they were all murdered by a greedy man that sought to take their land.  Ashley noticed the young girl that looked similar to the girl decribed in all the stories she'd heard, long brown hair, pale face and black eyes. Eager to move on Ashley stepped down stairs and saw a figure standing at the foot of the stairs. It was a girl, covered in blood who once had her back turned was now at ashley's level of the stairs. Her teeth were sharpended to a point and she looked as if she just devoured an animal and by the smell a dead one, Mike still clueless headed to ashley and what he saw was truly horrifying... There he saw the girl smile with a grin as blood dripped down her chin and blood splatters on the wall, ashley had just been turned into a human puzzle.
Hope you enjoyed the short story, and hope it was scary enough!


 

The OCCULT!

THE OCCULT

     The occult is so popular in today's society becuase it is a whole other world that we are not familiar with and is uncommon, this is the reason we are drawn to it's unusual yet exciting mystical creatures and events. Examples of the occult in art forms are t.v series  include Supernatural, Teen Wolf and Vampire Diaries all of which are american occult phenomenon that are popular to all age groups. But I guess the real question is, why is the occult so popular and when did it make it's way into american culture?


   Well, the occult phenonmenon has been around since before the 1700's and the start was really the Salem witch trials, which date back hundreds of years ago. It was believed that  people who were witches or worlocks were associated with satan and must be stopped, and years later it has become an interesting topic for many. It is seen as harmless but little do we know that centuries ago an act of witch craft or even being claimed as a witch meant the death penalty.
  
    Another reason for our fascination with the occult is the way it is displayed to us, we think magic and spell books are wonderous things but it is not something that is taken as a good thing and our lack of information shows how easliy some us can be manipulated by t.v directors and other various art forms that show the occult. Some famous plays depict these types of things for example, the infmaous play Macbeth. The story involves three witches who help Macbeth become king but he becomes so power hungry that he causes chaos and loss.
  
    So you could say that the occult has been around for centuries but it wasn't as intriging as we see it now.Although it is seen as a bad thing to certain religions it has had an influence on american culture that will continue to surprise and amaze us regardless of the consequences. So us teenagers/adults  will continue to watch our favorite ghoulish and fantastic t.v shows that we love oh so much becuase who doesnt love a t.v show about a handsome werewolf or a blood thirsty vampire!!!!!!!!!!!!

    









Ichabod crane the man with a plan

     Ok so first off I did alot of thinking about a good character I could use to compare with Ichabod crane the pimp of all pimps and although it sounds cheesy I found that Jafar from Aladdin was a good fit!  I chose Jafar becasue a characteristic they both share is finding a woman suitable to marry, primarily for their money, because what woman wouldn't want a goldigging husband. And although Ichabod crane had women falling at his feet....literally, Jafar however was not so hot with the ladies.
    Another characteristic that jafar and Ichabod shared was that they some how found a way to make everyone not suspect them of anything, Ichabod was seen as an "upstanding citizen" for his work as a school teacher but what some people failed to realize was that he used them in order to steal from his students and take advantage of their mothers by making them cook him food. The differance with Jafar was that he had a magic staff that he could use to control the sultan and was still able to keep a lowkey profile.
     Finally, a third charcteristic that ichabod and jafar shared was their unique traits for example ichabod being compared to a rooster or the fact that jafar had an annoying parrot that spoke too much and gave little advice. So this is my thoughts on the two anti-heros!