Monday, February 11, 2013

CC#3: Deleware courthouse shooting

In a recent article on CNN, entitled 2 women, gunman killed in Delaware courthouse shooting written by, CNN staff intels us of a shooting at a Deleware courthouse.

 In the article CNN reports  "Three people are dead, including a gunman who opened fire in a courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware, Monday morning, Delaware State Police said." Here lately there have been more and more shootings happening. That is certainly not a good thing.


CNN does not give us a motive of why the gunman opened fire in this Deleware courthouse, they tell us "The man entered the lobby of at the New Castle County Courthouse around 8 a.m. and began shooting, said State Police Sgt. Paul Shavack." People do not just go to a random place and start shooting at random people, it just does not make sence.


The article tells us that "Wilmington Mayor Dennis Williams has told reporters that police killed the gunman." Atleast the officer went in and did something about the shooting. The officer probably saved many more lives that could of been taken.

 Since the shooting at Newton, these things are becoming more and more common. Our nation needs a serious reality check before things get even worse.

Quite a few years ago a shooting happened not to far from batesville, it happened in Jonesboro at Westside school. Two boys pulled a fire alarm and waited for the kids to come out and opened fire. This incident happened way too close to home, and hopefully another one never happens again.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Book review #1 13 Reasons Why

   Jay Asher's 13 Reasons Why tells us a story behind bullying, and how far one girl goes to make sure the people that caused her pain, know what they did.
  The style of this book was very dramatic, and very back and forth. By that I mean it went from person to person quite a bit. In this book, a boy recieves a set of 13 tapes that tell why a girl commits suicide. The book goes from the girl talking on the tapes, to the boys commentary on what she is saying. I like this style of writing by the author because you get to know the story and opinion of two people. I also like how dramatic he is, because it makes me feel what the characters are feeling.
  Hannah, the girl that commited suicide makes me feel sorryt her, and want to psychically ask these people why they did what they did. Hannah sends out 13 tapes, each with two sides, and a different story to tell. She is very detailed in what she has to say about each person, and it makes me realize, if you do not know what a person is going through, don't do something stupid, that could potentially make the person go over the edge. When Hannah is talking it makes me feel very sympathetic towards what those people had done to her.
  The setting of this book is in the town where Hannah goes to school. If you read the hard copy, like I did, then the covering comes with a map of all the places she points out in her tapes. The guy, Justin Foley, that recieves the tapes in the book, goes to all the places she has marked, and he almost takes the place of Hannah, he feels all of the emotions he thought she would feel, and it makes the stroy that much more interesting.
  I would highly reccomend this book. It puts in perspective what some people actually go through and what goes on in their lives. The book also makes you take a step back and think twice about your actions, and what you say. This book was amazing, and I cannot wait until 13 Reasons Why is turned into a movie.

Thursday, January 31, 2013

CC#2: Boy Held in Bunker

   An article on CNN "Boy Held in Bunker", written by Lateef Mungin, and George Howell, talks about how a man took a boy in an underground bunker, and has had him in there for several days.
"A kindergartner, snatched from the safety of his school bus by a gunman and stashed in an underground bunker;" This story reminds me of the book The lovely bones, but how could a man take a child, one with special needs, and keep him in an underground bunker. 
   "The gunman stormed into the school bus Tuesday afternoon and demanded that the driver hand him a child." The man did not just take the boy, he also shot the bus driver multiple times at a close distance with children on board.
   "Davis, who works a night shift, said Dykes worked on his bunker in the middle of the night -- every other night, between 2 and 3 a.m., for a year and a half." If a man was out in the middle of the night working on something no one knows about, why didn't someone investigate it? I know i would have.
   This story reminds me of the book The Lovely Bones. The book was amazing, but it makes me wonder if this man got the idea from that book. People are crazy.

Friday, January 18, 2013

American Dream Essay

   What is an "American Dream?" To live in America means to be free, to be able to pursue whay you want. It is written in the constitution,"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." In a few years from now, I see myself graduating high school, going to college at ASU, and eventuallly going to medical school to become a doctor.
   Being a junior in high school, my ultimate goal right now is to graduate,and go to college. I do not want just to graduate, I want to be a honor graduate and make my family proud. My dad never graduated from college, and my mom waited until she was older. She had four kids, two twin babie, and and older son and daughter. I have seen the struggles she had to go through, and it was tough. I want to be able to go to college, and focus on school, and have the college experience. I will hopefully become a freshman during the 2014 fall semester at Arkansas State University. Not too far from home, but just far enough. While I attend college, I want to meet new friends, but more important than that, I want to keep my best friend and the friends I have made throughout high school. This is where I want to be in the next five years.
   In the next ten to fifteen years, I see myself going to medical school, and graduating from medical school. I want to become a doctor. During medical school, I hope to find a man I can start a family with, and grow old together with. After medical school, I hope to have a great job at Childern's Hospital. I have had numerous experiences with that hospital, and the place is phenominal. After I find a job, I want to build a house, and start a family. I want to be able to take care of my family, not just my children, but my parents and grandparents. There is still a lof of deatails to be worked out for the next ten to fifteen years, but this is a good start.
   Everyone's "American Dream" is different, and each and everyone of them include obstacles we have to face. No one knows what the furtre holds for us, but with hard work, dedication, and perseverence, I think I have a pretty good idea.

Friday, January 11, 2013

CC#1: Proof of Heaven

   In an article entitled, "The Science of Heaven", a nuerosurgeon named Dr. Eben Alexander debunks other doctor's reasonings of how people have "visited" heaven when they were in near death experiences.
   When Dr. Alexander spoke out on his experience, like others have done before him, doctor's said that the unbelieveable trip "was a brain-based delusion cobbled together by my synapses only after they had somehow recovered from the blistering weeklong attack." This pretty much says that the doctor's say that the brain was still functioning while in the coma, and that's what caused the dream.
   But, Dr. Alexanders coma was different from others, the part of his brain that controls his neurological function, the cerebal cortex, was completely shut down. Alexander said, "Yet in spite of the complete absence of neural activity in all but the deepest, most primitive portions of my brain, my identity—my sense of self—did not go dark. Instead, I underwent the most staggering experience of my life, my consciousness traveling to another level, or dimension, or world." Coming from a doctor, that believed that these experiences came from synapses, is reamarkable, and the part of his brain that controls these actions was completely shut down, I would love to see the critics explain this one.
   Proving the point even further, Dr. Alexander says, "My synapses—the spaces between the neurons of the brain that support the electrochemical activity that makes the brain function—were not simply compromised during my experience. They were stopped."  When the activity in your brain is completely stopped, there is no way of having these experiences, but Dr. Alexander did.
   This story goes to prove that our God does unimagineable things. He proves to us everyday that he is always there, and this happening to a doctor who believes in science, is even more remarkable.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Season of "Peace"

   An article on CNN entitled, In Newtown a Season of Peace Destroyed written by Rose Arce, and Soledad O'Brien talks about the tragic shooting of an elementary school. Just like any other town around this time of the year would be getting ready for Christmas, which they were, but their holiday peace was interrupted by the actions of a senceless individual.
   In the article, In Newtown a Season of Peace Destroyed, Arce says, "Now, the high spirits of the holidays have been darkened. Signs in storefronts have stopped declaring holiday cheer and are calling instead for prayer and mourning." 20 children are not going to see Christmas this year. How can a town celebrate the most wonderful time of the year when something this tragic has happened? Parents have to sit and look at the presesnt they have wrapped up for their children, that will never be opened, and all of this happened because, well... nobody really knows why, that is the big question.
   Also in this article O'Brien says, " Like a lot of mothers in the area, she had been swept by panic wondering which school had an unfolding crime and whether her child might be among those injured or killed." Getting a call from a school saying there has been a school shooting is horrific enough, but having to wait for everyone to go through the record of that school, to see if they were going to get to see their child again, had to be even worse. Parents sent their kids to school that morning not knowing what was going to happen, probably getting anxious for Christmas break.
   Lastly in this article Arce states, "It was as if an entire town suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder." Using this analogy the writer put everything into prespective. Everyone in the town, whether their child was among the taken or not, still are suffereing and wondering why this would happen in their town. Around this time of the year people are getting ready for Christmas, parents are worried about what to get their children, but none of that even seems to matter anymore. Everyone just wants to mourn the loss of the taken.
   I have twins brothers that were born in 2006. They are now 6, and in the first grade. To know that this happened to kids their age makes me sick, I could not imaging life without them, and I do not see how these other people are coping. I hope I never have to live through something like this, but my thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Newtown Connecticut.

Looking for Alaska

     Looking for Alaska, a novel by John Green, is about the life of a typical teenage boy, who goes off to a private school where his father used to attend. He meets some people there that turn into life long friends, and the situations they go through bring them even closer.
     One possible theme for this novel could be that when bad things happen, do not sit around and think about what ifs, do something to memorialize that person, do something that they would do.
      Green's writing style draws the reader in by putting the reader in the place of the main character. The reader relives the experiences in first person. You feel the same emotions as the main character, you go through all the situations as that person.
      The setting for this novel is in Alabama, at a private school. The way the author perceives the location is very southern, and very hot. The school is around a lake, that all the kids go to. They also have a smoking hole that they go to. The setting seems much like a ordinary high school but just a little bit more. The principal of the school seems to live in a big house on the outer most part of the campus. The author makes out the principal to be this awful person who doesn't let the kids get away with anything, but they really do.
       This book reminds me of the book 13 Reasons Why. This book has a girl in it that is very different, and she dies in a car accident. Her friends go to the ends of the earth to figure out what had happened, and why she had left when she did. Also in the book 13 Reasons Why there is a girl that has committed suicide and she sends tapes out to people to tell why she ended her life. The guy that recieves the tapes in the book is trying to figure out why his name are on the tapes, just like the kids in Looking for Alaska are searching for the reason why Alaska died.
       I would reccomend this book to anyone who enjoys a good read, especially teenagers. Some teens may be going through the same situations, and this book might help them. It taught me not to look at the bad in every situation, try to find the good.