Assignment 12: The Black Cat

     After reading the "Black Cat", by Edgar Allen Poe I think that the story is mostly about the values of trust, self-injuries, betrayal, and how a relationship can easily be turned into hatred. This story has trust within it because at the beginning, the narrator is a kind man who loves his animals and who is in a loving marriage with his wife. His favorite pet was the black cat. Animals are very loving and trustworthy. They don't care weather you are short, tall, smart, dumb, all they want is to feel the love that they give you.

     The beginning of the story, where the man is loving his animals, the cat loves him back until one day the cat starts to bug him. When the man starts to change, he doesn't like the cat as much and his marriage starts going down hill. This is the time in his life where he starts to let alcohol control his actions and his life. Then one day the man got so annoyed by the cat that he decided to kill him. He strangled him with a white rope. This is the part of the story where betrayal takes place. The cat was betrayed by the man because with  all the love that he gave him, what he got in return was not what he deserved. As his alcoholism was getting worse, he started to betray his wife, maybe not by big things but just by having the alcohol. A relationship can so easily be turned into hatred, by little things, but with the man he changed his whole life by allowing himself to drink the alcohol, and get as bad as he did.

     I believe that the first black was used as a symbol of the good, loving times that he has now in his life. He was blessed with a loving wife, and the ability to love animals so much. When he killed the first black cat, he was getting annoyed because he started to drink and that made his temper worse and him more moodier. When the second black cat came into his life, it was a symbol of the bad that was in his life now. The white spot that was located in the breast of the cat, symbolized the white rope that he killed the first cat with. I think that when the second black cat came, it was a sign that what he did was wrong and that all the cat wanted was to be loved, just like the love that he gave to the man, and that something else was going to happen if he didn't stop drinking. Then later in the story he kills his wife and puts her in the wall of the house. When the police realized that the woman was gone, they knew it was the man. Then the man gets sent to jail. I think that the cats could be a symbol of the good he had in his life at the time, but by letting the drinking into his life, he was betraying his family and letting bad come into the family.

Assignment 10: Bullying

     Bullying is so much more then the physical beatings we see today. You can be bullied in so many ways now a days. There is physical, verbal, emotional, cyber, and many others. Children are being bullied everyday, and its hurting them so much more then what is being seen. After watching the bullied video about a man named Jamie Nabozny, I began to have even more sympathy for the bullied kids out there then I already had. The movie was about this kid named Jamie who was being bullied for coming out about this sexuality. It was getting so bad that he ran away from home, because he didn't want to see those kids anymore. Having to deal with the bullying that was happening wasn't only hurting him, but it was hurting his family. Then when he had spoken to a woman who told him that he should take the school to court, he did and won a lot of money. I know that the money wasn't the best thing that came out of it for Jamie, but he got the chance to be free of the bullying that was going on for most of his life, and he also helped many other kids out there who are going through the same thing. While watching the movie I was thinking about the terrible things that he had to go through but also the help that he didn't get. Jamie told the school principle and vice principle many times what was going on, but he never got the help tat he needed. When they got to court the principle was denying everything.

     I have never really got bullied in my life, there has been times where I got laughed at for being myself, and for the things that I liked, but not to the point where I don't want to go back to school. When I was being made fun of for being the fun and goofy person I am at school, I got sad at the moment, but then felt like I didn't need to impress anyone and continued to be myself. I think that this is the reason why I am such a shy person now, because as I was growing up I was scared to be myself, and to scared to be laughed at. When I see someone being bullied I want to go and save that person who is being bullied, and I get so mad at that bully, but I'm not the kind of person to intervene in someone else business. I wish that I could stand up for anyone who was being bullied, but I don't have the courage to intervene in someone else business.

Assignment 8: The Necklace

     After reading the short story "The Necklace", there was a moral to the story. To recap what the story was about, it was a about a young lady who was born into a poor family, but she wanted so badly to be rich. When she grew up, she ended up marrying a man who wasn't the riches man in the village, she wanted to be rich so bad that when she got an invitation to a ball that was coming up, she begged her husband to buy her new things so that she could go. He then agrees and gives her money that he was saving to buy him something that he was really wanting. She goes to the store and buys a new dress and shoes. When she gets home he tells her how beautiful the dress is, but then again she starts complaining about how she doesn't have any jewelry, and cant go. He suggests that she borrow some from one of their good friends. The woman asked her friend if she could and she picked out the most beautiful one. At the ball she loses the necklace and spends a lot of money to try and replace it. After a few years of trying to pay for all their debts , she runs into the friend and the friend tells her that the necklace was only a replica and wasn't the really thing.

     The moral of the story is to not lie to others, don't complain about the things that you have, and money isn't everything. I think that if the woman would have told her friend what had really happened to the necklace she wouldn't have had to work hard for many years and lose all she had to pay the debts they were in. I also think that if the woman would have accepted that she didn't have all the money that she wanted and she accepted and was grateful for what she had, then she wouldn't have spend all her husbands money, and they would have money to pay their bills. Since the woman wanted to have all the money and be able to buy everything that she wanted she should have married into a rich family, the story says that she had everything she needed to be in a rich family, so she should have married into a rich family.

     After reading this story I started to think about my life and what things I have done to try and get myself out of tough situations. I don't usually lie my way through things because that doesn't help anything. If you are going to borrow something from someone then I think that you should take real good care of it, but if something bad happens and you misplace it then you should just tell the truth and see what you can do to make it better.

Assignment 7: My Self-Value

     The quotation by Jennifer James about jealousy, means to me that life shouldn't be all about being jealous of someone else. Jealousy can take a toll on people, and the only thing that can help is having self-value. When you are jealous of someone, it makes you question yourself, but becoming jealous of someone won't make you feel better about yourself. Having the thought running through your head that everyone is better then you, won't make people respect you.

     If you do not take pride in what you do and love yourself, then the people around you won't have the respect to have respect for you. When you take the chance to look within yourself and take your eyes off of others, you will find new talents that you never focused on because you never took the time to find them. Jealousy is all over, and everyone does it, but to take the time to really analyze others you don't really look within yourself. There are times when you get caught in the middle of wanting to talk about someone else, but when you do talk about someone you are putting yourself down. To take the time to look within yourself, you will find hidden talents you never knew about.

     Jealousy can take a toll on people, and it can get so bad where all you do is look at others and don't care about yourself anymore. When all you do is think about the other person and think about how well everything is going in their life, you don't really see the person for who they are also. When you are jealous of someone you are putting yourself down and also not giving that other person a chance for you to know them for who they really are. Jealousy is a terrible thing and can take over very easily, but you are the one who is on control and you need to take control of that jealousy you have.

Assignment 5: Race in America

     The world that we live in now deals with many different forms of racism, but its all the same. Everyday living we have to deal with the fear of being judged. I think that racism is a very wrong thing to do because not everyone is the same, or going to  be the same. The controversy, that is happening right now in New York City, is the kind of racism that we live in today. When I heard that there was going to be a Mosque in New York right around ground zero, my first thoughts were why? I didn't understand why there had to be a Mosque at ground zero, and why it was such a big deal.

     At first I thought that the government and they other citizens that had such a big deal with a Mosque being built at ground zero, I thought that the citizens who were making it a big deal was taking it all out of proportion. I think that the Islamic people who are building this Mosque, do have the right to practice their own religion, but I also think that they shouldn't have built it next to ground zero. Like, the man who lives in Florida, Terry Jones, he is making a bigger deal then it needs to be. Everyone has the right to practice their own religion, but it isn't right to push your religion in someone else. Evey one can believe what they would like to believe but burning the bibles of another religion, is wrong.

     Terry Jones is a pastor who lives in  Florida, and he is wanting to burn the Quran. Which is the bible of their own religion. Mr. Jones wanted to burn the books because he didn't believe in the religion, the Islamic people believed. He also thought that, with them building a Mosque at ground zero, he believed that burning the books would solve the problem. He is very much wrong because no one, with as much power as they might have, they will NEVER eliminate the amount of people who are believing in a different religion, from what they believe.

     In this situation, I think that no one is right. I believe this because, Mr. Terry Jones is doing wrong for burning the books, just because he doesn't believe. The Islamic Mosque that is being built next to ground zero, is wrong to. I think that the ones who are in charge of building a Mosque don't have a right to build it next to ground zero. They say that they are doing it for good and just because the people who caused the issues on 9/11, are of the same religion doesn't mean that they are wanting to do wrong. I believe that the Mosque could  have been built somewhere else, and they could have had enough respect for our troops, and they loved ones who were caught in 9/11 to have been built somewhere else.

    The situation ans conflict that is going on with the people who are building the Mosque and the man who wants to burn their bibles, are both in the wrong but both right. The man who is wanting to burn the bibles is wrong because he should not try and push his own beliefs on someone else, but he is also right because he is standing up for his beliefs. The people who are building the Mosque at ground zero are in the wrong because they should have enough respect for us to build it somewhere else, but are right because they understand they have the right to believe what they want.

Assignment 3: Wisdom Haiku

Life shouldn't be about how many steps you have taken,

But how far you have gone.

Always take pride in who you are,

And the person you are becoming.

You can't take back what is said and done,

All you can do is learn from it.

Assignment 1: My Written Show & Tell

     For show and tell, there would be two things that I would like to share. One of the special items that I would like to show is the baby blanket that I have from when I was born. This old blanket is so special to me because it was made from the love of my grandma Jesse. The blanket is white, with pink around the edges. This blanket isn't special to me just because my grandma made it for me, but also because it is the little piece of my grandma that I will always have with me no matter what happens. I know that, the love that she put into will always be within the blanket! My most favorite thing about the blanket, is the little tag attached to the corner that reads "With Love-Grandma", with a small red heart next to it.

     The other item that I would like to share would be a stuffed dog, named Coco. My mom got this dog for me when I was also really young. Coco is so special to me because, for one my mo gave it to me, and also because I have memories with him. When I was younger my favorite movie was The Lion King. I would watch this movie everyday, and every afternoon my mom would lie me down with a bottle, put the movie on, and I would snuggle with Coco. On the right ear of Coco there is stitches that my mom put on him because as he was getting older he got a hole, so my mom put stitches on him.

     These are the items that I would like to share because, they are old and I have had them since I was young. I have had many memories with them.