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.

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.

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.

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.

Marines in Israel

 An article on CNN by Barbara Starr, entitled US sends warships near Israel In Case Evacuation Needed, is about warships that are being used to evacuate people from Israel if needed.
In the artcies Starr states,"This is due diligence. It is better to be prepared should there be a need," one official said Monday. Both officials said the ships would be used only for assisting Americans and not for any combat role." The ships are not being taken over to Israel to use in the Israel-Ghaza conflict, but merely just to evacuate Americans out of Israel. It would also be more safe to use these warships in case of an attack, warships would be more prepared to protect the passengers.
In the article Starr says, "The most immediate impact will be on the ships' crews and the estimated 2,500 Marines on board. They had been scheduled to return to Norfolk, Virginia, just after Thanksgiving; their homecoming will now be delayed several days depending on events, the officials said." Among these soldiers some of them are getting to come home for the holidays, but since the conflict has US citizens involved the soldiers are doing their part and protecting their people. Even though it is hard not seeing your family and the best time of the year, their families should be happy for what these soldiers are doing for their country.
 Lastly Starr explains, "The U.S. military also maintains three to four ships off the coast of Israel that are capable of shooting down ballistic missiles. That deploymentt has stretch for some months in the face of a potential ballistic threat from Iran." Our military is not only helping the American citizens in Israel, but helping protect Israel. Our military is going to help Israel in any way they possibly can, and that is all anyone can ask for.
 The people in our country should take after our military, we should not only help out the people we care about and know, but also the people that are outside of our little "cliques."
 Knowing that our military is helping out fellow American Citizens instead of coming home for the holidays is upsetting, considering my uncle is in the military, but if that means another family gets to see their loved one again, that is quite alright. People need to put other people before theirsleves, and this country would be a much better place than it is now.

"Political Parties"

    When it comes to people and their "political party" some take their beliefs way too far. Becoming very upset, people end friendships and have heated arguments. It should not matter what political party you belong to, doing what is best for your country should be your main concern. People say you should not believe this or you should not believe that, people are too busy worrying about what a certain group of people think and not worried about what is best for this country. Yes, some beliefs should be taken into concideration, but when a person does not agree on something just because it came from a certain person that belongs to a specific group of people, that is taking it just a little too far. Political advisers need to have America in mind, not just theirselves. America need to be put back on track, becoming the best nation we can be.