Environmental Club for Journalism (2012)

Environmental Club

The Autumn was quiet, only interrupted by the whispers of the rustling trees as the sunlight wove through the leaves from a sideby tree. Then, the bell rang and students all over campus would make their way to either clubs, or the parking lot. For a typical Tuesday, eco-enthusiastic peers rush across the hallways, making their way towards Mrs. Godfrey's class. Mrs. Godfrey is the supervisor of the environmental club, has been teaching for eight years, and is currently teaching the majority of freshmen Pre-AICE Biology as well as AP/AICE Environmental Science for the upperclassmen. Every grade level and from each distinct life history comes an individual that offers to support. At approximately 2:57pm, almost everyone has signed in and already initiated their contributions towards the club. "We get rewarded at the end, which is positive reinforcement," gushed Chandler Holland, a freshman. She added, "Either hours or sweets, that's indeed not the point. It's whether you care or not that's noteworthy because it reverts to integrity. In the end, if you really do it, there shouldn't be guilt, but that accomplishing, indescriptive feeling." Her friend, freshman Eliza Myers said, "Besides, if no one cares, the world's a mess." Eliza twirled round, scrunching up her locks disheveledly.

The club went to the back hallway of the science building to push out the rolling blue bins as they returned to the environmental homeroom and clutched a couple of gloves. When one of the girls asks to wear plastic gloves because it was waterproof, Mrs. Godfrey, who thought it thoroughly, replied responsibly that if they were to use plastic gloves, it would "defeat the purpose." From an outsider's point of view, it makes complete sense. "There are ethics, like it or leave," Eliza Myers claimed after the gloves inquiry. As much as she is a freshman, she appears to be off towards a compassionate beginning, perhaps a difference trailing in the fog, awaiting for the right time. The club each signed for the buildings that they'll be helping out and left calmly, some swiftly, as they make their routes to a destination of recognition.

The afternoon warmth swirled through the atmosphere and no one was left, minus the other clubs, in the hallways. Students were out and away, some in building 2, some building 8, among many more. Kathleen "Katie" Giovanni, another freshman yet, pushed into the first floor of building seventeen. With her fellow environmental members, they each dedicatedly collected each blue bin from outside of the classrooms. "Sometimes, we would peer into the classrooms and try to twist the doorknob, as if that's of any help,"she began, recalling her past times. Another member, Jen Johannesson, a junior, said, "The rooms would be lights out most of the time, and it's frustrating for us to see bins left inside, all piled up and full. Since it's my first year at Fort Lauderdale High, I don't know how everything circulates, but I'm sure that when recycling bins are full, they're supposed to be left out. Take the teacher's meeting room for instance, which lies midhall. I'm so thankful for the lady who opened the door for me, else it might as well be impossible to clear out that bin." Kathleen and Jen made their way to the elevator and stood there patiently, their eyes shone with hope and reason for all that environmental club stood for. Katie noted, "Oh, forgot to tell you, we're allowed to use the elevator for organizational purposes." "If anyone stops us, we'll explicate explicitly that it's for our club," Jen spoke without hesitation. "She's right, explanation plus teamwork prioritizes our objective, and get things done faster," Katie puts in.

There came more and even more bins to come and leave, sorted out into the rolling recycling bin. Katie, walking up and down the hallway, said, "The rules are pretty simple. If there's soda, gatorade, juice, or et cetera in the bottles or cans, get to the restroom and rinse it out. The papers and water bottles goes into the blue bin, and the soda cans are tossed into the black plastic bag that ties to the side of the blue bin." Jen admits, "It's not as hard as one would think it is. Besides, if it was, the social setting of it would fit anyone right as home. Making new friends and working together keeps us going, and once someone gets used to this, like me, it's become more of a leisure activity." After they finished the second floor, they pushed the bin downstairs to the recycling section of the dumpster, which was right outside the fences on campus. After flipping the bin 180 degrees forward, everything tumbled into place.

One more floor was left. They made their way back into the building and were lifted upstairs again by the elevator. When the third floor's bins were cleaned out and neat as the clothes they wore, Jen stated sincerely, "It's been a long day, but totally worth it." "Yes, let's get back to the homeroom, " Katie suggested. So after another time of dumping things out, they pushed the bin to class with the bag of cans. As soon as they got inside, Kathleen and Jen were greeted by Mrs. Godfrey, and they exchanged sisterly greetings by Chandler and Eliza. Everyone gathered at the sink in the back of the class and started to rinse out the soda cans. Chandler, who was washing her hands at the end of session, said, "We wash them out so they aren't icky and Mrs. Godfrey would sell them for our treats." She left the club, exclaiming, "Bye, Mrs. Godfrey, bye y'all! See you next Tuesday!" It was shortly before the majority left to make it to their activity buses and parents waiting outside. Eliza and Jen seemed recharged of energy as they left the Biology classroom, soaking themselves with the setting light. They smiled, chewing their Butterfingers. Katie went out after and caught up. "The moral is, every little deed counts, because when it is shipped in with others', it could make a great impact for our community." They all branched out, but that wasn't their end. For years to come, and another environmental story told again.

Chapter 1

My mind flies away to the wonders far beyond dismay. Dreams engulf my brain, blurring my vision that once was so plain. Stains of my past threw me around, until my journey's end will I feel sound. Whispers circled my presence, and suddenly, everything blacked out.

    I was in the middle of the sea. I don't know how I got there. I'm not even sure if this is a dream——it feels so real. But then again, I always take dreams as reality. The vast ocean extended to the far horizon, sunless as the skies caught indigo. Wherever I was swimming to, the answers were unknown. Having no compass, I just swam, hoping for the best. It wasn't until the blackness vanished from the blue did I find a verdant island on its stony cliffs, where there's town and forest. To the stairs I climbed and after each step, the stairs reformed into its natural structure. The cliffs' hidden stairs, according to the legends of Fleurence, are to foreshadow one's haplessness. I paused to ponder about that, about the possibility if misfortunes would intersect my trail. I don't know if there will be any, and I assured myself so to retreat into comfort. The breeze embraced me cruelly. I think it is close to zero degrees Celsius. My gossamer gown was unlike the winter apparel that I should've brought, but if I did, the warmth meant to ameliorate me could be soporific. I'd rather be cold if that's what it takes to be awake and aware until I find shelter.
   Unquestionably, the fear of entering the forest without a candle lit calls for flight. But somehow, I managed to stand. There I was, standing still like the pristine trees in the acres ahead, trusting my own sagacity, which could be unreliable. I thought to myself, "Take risks because there may not be a second chance when you turn around." This was supposed to encourage me, just when I realized that what I dreaded poisoned my mind of wonders——what if I went forth without turning back? But the hope for shelter, the hope for discovering it pulled me forward. Forget idleness, there's no time for such a phase in the freezing atmosphere. There was something appealing about the forest that I couldn't quite grasp, and its mystery drew me in. I couldn't resist the privilege to find out what lies buried at its heart.

     The woods lacked its usual moonlight. I stepped cautiously, not knowing where I was going in the evergreen woodlands. My schoolteacher, a constant lecturer of safety, would have find my decisions perilous and chide. I recommenced my strides, where echoes reciprocated even its slightest sound. The touch of birch reminded me of a blazing fireplace that I yearned since arrival. I sighed, being so lost and hopeful all at the same time, having strode with the comfort of the fir in this environment, without answers known. I turned to gaze back, and could see the edges of the cliffs, the pastures from where my journey initiated, the less dense parts of the forests that invited heavenly radiance that came each dawn, subsiding the reign of night.

       A few paces forth or so, I saw firelight at a distance. I couldn't make out what it was, but kept going. It could be a wildfire. Why didn't I leave? There was still that enigma that drew me. There has to be an explanation for what I saw. But when I got there, all I wanted to do was depart. Dreary drops of wistful water tumble to the blades of grass. The estate before my eyes was mine, it was where I could've sought shelter and reside. It was lit on fire. I couldn't smell the smoke, much less inhale the ashes, but clearly saw the pieces of the roof drift into nothing. Why was my house on the cliffs? How was I in the middle of the sea? Was this a dream? I instinctively fled. I wanted to stay there and mourn for my family, but I was, without reason, compelled to run.
        I dashed out of the woods. I was trying to breathe, trying to take it all in and make sense of it. Where did that intuitive decision to flee originate? The dewdrops fell on the stone-hard cliffs from oaks above, where leaves diverged, but sheltered the edges and too lively to be forgotten. I dove off its edge. Again, without my sagacity involved. It was like some other instinct drove me, and everything fell into place. It made sense. I was in the middle of the sea in the end because I fled home. I survived.

To finish, although not well done, is farther down the road than the incomplete.

A new June. A new haircut.

I haven't had a haircut since August 17, 2012. So that's almost two years. If I count it out correctly, it's 1 year, 9 months, and 16 days. June 1st. My last haircut before graduation. It's about the same length, more or less, as last summer. Graduation ceremony photos will stay that way. Aside from that, the end of my junior year has been of journal signing, getting my cap and gown, and my red cord just for being in the AICE Programme. Yesterday, I met Cameron at Dunkin Donuts and Miranda with her bf at Barnes & Noble. I drank green tea there. I also met a generous college girl, an alumni of my high school, at CVS before going to the bookstore. When I got home, my mom says that she saw the cat that occasionally visits us around our house. I went book shopping online last month. I ordered a novel, Winter's Tale and this book about Quantum Mechanics. I'm excited to travel this Winter.

The Downside to Apparel Advertising

   Advertising promotes modified reality, through its effectiveness of portraying bliss and narrowing societal standards unethically, thus leading the unbelievers to scrutinize at its infallible downside.
Every time monthly magazines arrive in the mail, pages are immediately leafed through. Readers' eyes are fixed on stunning snapshots of advertisements. Perhaps too much credit is given for such an unethical industry. If argued, the downside would have more bullet points.
   Most girls are easily influenced in what they see, hear, and this so results in the acceptance of what society has framed as natural. Walking into malls, there are posters on either side of the hallways, each encouraging shopping by offering attractive discounts. Consequently, consumers who think that they are saving money end up spending more. It's like a negotiation with a con artist. People soon realize that they have a hole in their pocket when they lack cash or have their cards declined. So while the advertisements are beneficial for corps, consumers walk out and into the majority crowd and its recession. Meanwhile, saving money isn't the only way costumers thought they were achieving happiness. Websites like Abercrombie and Fitch advertise with fresh phrases such as, "Here's to longer days & short dresses" and "Here's to laid-back days and lightweight layers" with photos of models drenched in bliss. It is misleading when costumers think that wearing what these euphoric models wear will bring them happiness, for it will be happiness of materialism, which is unquestionably temporary. True happiness cannot be bought, but rather found and kept. Still, it enforces the harsh truth that happiness could be gained by following current trends. Schoolgirls of recent years appear to turn their hallways into a runaway and fashion bullying is on the rise. Back in 2008, girls were shut out of the "in" group for not wearing Abercrombie in Clifton, Virginia, "the sweetheart suburban town of estates and grandeur." It contributes to the bitter truth that advertisements set standards that determine happiness. Certain clothes, although portraying similar images of people shot with happiness, do not carry out happiness as fashion bullying does suppress it. On the critical point of view, happiness should not be determined by what people wear, and moreover, by shopping for clothes.
 Advertising establishes the notion that how you drew makes who you are in society. First impression, labels, stereotypes... no wonder advertising proves to be effective. On the other hand, teenagers dress in ways that they want to be perceived as. Maybe behind those black, sleek clothes, there's a sweet, shy girl who wants to find her place in society. She is who she wants to be... with her clothes. Likewise, there could be a girl who dresses so floral, with flutter layers, but she's more of a fit for metal-pointy clothes that matches her everyday, get-out-of-my-way attitude. Advertising, with its false promise of happiness, also seals deceitful impressions from society. It's America, yes, and you can dress however you want, of course, but sometimes dressing just to fall into the space instead of finding your place isn't what our founding fathers would agree on. They fought for a freedom of expression among many other freedoms, and there wouldn't be America if the patriots were all loyalists. That's one way to look at the advertising/perception situation: loyalists buying their labels. At the same time, dressing in certain labels results how people will accept you in society. This therefore explains the "wrong-girl-right-clothes" theory mentioned earlier. If the mean girl dressed in porcupine metal jewelry and clothes, she may not be as admired or taken in society as she would be. The serene, introvert wouldn't belong in a more noticeable clique if she didn't dress in intimidating Black Canary clothes. Acceptance is why people dress the way they do. Advertisements set those standards, as always. And the rest is how society will take you. Advertisements also implant the idea that "To really dress well is to fit well". While this might be true for its models, it certainly has a negative impact on society. In AP Psychology, students learn about various disorders that girls take in their endeavor to become skinny. Anorexia, bulimia, you name it. This originates with seeing models flaunt their high-fashion apparel in stem-like figures. So shopping would not be enough; girls had to make themselves a clone of what they see so frequently. "How you dress makes who you are in society, how you fit takes where your acceptance belongs in society." Although indirectly implied, there cannot be more truth to what advertisements are sculpting.
  At length comes a group of critical unbelievers, also known as researchers, columnists, parents, and psychologists, all of whom complain of the downside to apparel advertising. Advertising does display happiness, which would be considered the purest element among its artificial standards of trends and shape. But does outer beauty of contemporary age now considered more important than inner beauty? To think, advertisements have models indulged in happiness because of how they look, wear, and fit. Their photos do not tell anything of their inner beauty, and their smiles could be a ploy to make their mark on the world, but a mark of unethical standards should be disregarded. Seeing advertisements affect the way teenagers see and treat themselves. Students at Fort Lauderdale High, after being exposed to magazines and advertisements embedded within, are more likely to talk about what they think of themselves figure wise; advertisements succeed in sales as they succeed in destroying students' self-esteem. "I feel thick", "I hate myself", et cetera are a couple of random things one would hear while walking through the school's hallways, eating at the patio, or after school before extracurriculars. Photoshopping fashion snapshots frame unrealistic ideals that results in the questionable statement as to whether teenagers will ever be happy with who they really are. Perhaps how they feel will change as they realize that advertisements' photos of the apparel industry are edited during photoshopping. The attempt of boosting sales brings unethical advertisements, which in a karma-like backfire, reveals the photoshop trick. Though advertisements could be deemed unethical, there are and in continuance, costumers who buy their fictional standards. Credulous page-turners and "in-style" consumers will shop their way to shallow happiness, which could cause impulsive buying. Parents are concerned about their teenagers' financial instability, and while they hope their teenagers' allowances will be managed wisely, advertisements slowly hook teens to break their budgets, which leads to a possibility of the inability to pay tuition for future education. Education is part of the American Dream, and advertisements could be ruining it. Besides that, trends and new arrivals could be distracting in the schools' environment and interrupting the success of students' true potential. Some years ago, Tyra Banks hosted a talk show that brought out the popular and unpopular girls on stage. Advertisements sneakily smuggle their standards into the schools' environment, and thus results in what has become of the schools. Parents who went through it understands that fashion bullying is comparable to a reign of terror, and columnists collect research on the analyzation of that matter. With advertisements, researchers will always have more to add to their statistics and its downside appears to be never-ending, or its end, if ever lived to, seems distant.
  Advertisements minimize the freedom of expression, with labels for certain trends and certain collection of styles, thus bringing consumers to be narrow-minded and ignoring their self-impressions. Audacity rules, but suppressed by the recent reign of modified reality. While corporations are eager to put out persuasive ads, which are deemed successful in carrying out its profitable purpose, the unethical procedure towards cash for the headquarters and its branches may be impacting America in ways underestimated. With luck, criticism of the unbelievers could find an egress to the dystopia of impressions advertising has created.

The Aftermath of The Cask of Amontillado

The sunlight spilled through the leafless spaces of the oak above. Each Earl sister was an adventurer herself, but reacted to the tour differently. Novelle Scotia, one of the sisters, kept lifting her chin every so often and flipped her tousled waves as if her actual purpose was to catch each breathtaking sight along the trail. Her amber eyes took everything in generally, and her silent exhalation left the turtledoves' chirps unbroken. Her interest lies in all things aesthetic, as she herself was an aesthete. Novelle Scotia's major is Environmental Archeology, which was slightly more related to this tour than her sister, and although their pace matched, she was different in matters of perspective. She scrutinized at one kind of plant, bird, or butterfly momentarily before shifting to the next since she always had to write papers such as the analysis of plant physiology or biodiversity. Scotia Rosemarie was skeptical of commercials, first experiment results among many other things, which made her financially stable, successful in confirming data and conclusions, and street-wise, as she was an extrovert, unlike her typically introvert sister. Her gray eyes were calm and patient, but shone with unbiased judgement. She ended up on this tour with her sister because they both signed up for Mediterranean Mysteries as their elective, each having a different intention: Novelle Scotia thought that mysteries in an artisan land was beautiful, and Scotia Rosemarie wanted to have more incredulity to shatter. "Ouch!" Novelle Scotia screamed. THe tour group ignored her, lost in their observations. Novelle Scotia paused on the trail. Scotia Rosemarie broke away from sightseeing a minute later and glanced back. She followed her sister's gaze toward a bite bigger than a mosquito's bite. "Maybe if you stopped acting like an It girl, dressed properly, and lit that citrus candle I gave you, you could've had a 90% chance of avoiding that bite." Scotia Rosemarie commented, waving one hand unseen underneath her trench coat and held up her mug with a strongly scented candle in the evening-turned-twilight. "And listen to you complain about your straightened hair getting frizzy the other 10% of the time?" Novelle Scotia questioned provokingly. Scotia Rosemarie always took people's blunt remarks well, however candid they were. If she was irritated, she certainly didn't express it. So she replied, "I just mentioned wishing that it was less humid."
"And you combed your fingers through your hair, indicating----"
"Indicating that if you thought that I said otherwise, or assumed what you did, you have strangely intruded my mind."
Silence.
Thought so, Scotia Rosemarie thought to herself. Novelle Scotia didn't want to be involved in anything strange nor be described or accused as an intruder. So she twirled ahead of her sister, letting the wind whip her skirt and catch full volume of it, as if to forget their conversation. Her sister concealed most of her face with a sheer scarf, and put on a pair of night vision glasses to see beyond their trail. When they arrived at the brick and stone dome, Novelle Scotia said to her sister, "Your hair, like mine, matches your trench coat."
"Thanks, " Scotia Rosemarie replied, both appreciating her sister's attempt to pacify their relationship and not appreciating her obvious comments.
"Good evening!" Their tour guide began. "If you didn't hear my self introduction earlier because you were busy shopping at the airport," she paused and glanced at Novelle Scotia before returning her eyes to the group, "my name is is Eve Shire, and I am your tour guide. For another time, I suggest that more of you will wear adventure-appropriate clothes." She pointed at her outfit that looked as if it came out of an Indiana Jones movie. "I know that we're in Italy, but we're on an educational tour, and not at a fashion show." Novelle Scotia giggled from the group, which Scotia Rosemarie thought was ironic. Eve Shire continued. "The catacomb which you will tour was rumored to be where the real Romeo and Juliet died. There are evidences that these star-crossed lovers existed, and you are for yourselves to decide if it is true that they were buried here."
 She went on with her lecture about the evidences of the real Romeo & Juliet and their story. Novelle Scotia, although very much liked Shakespeare's romantic tragedy, found the lecture boring, and a tad bit frightened about going to explore an underground cemetery. "I'd rather not tamper with my natural ignorance," she said in a low voice. Eve Shire's outfit seemed as serious as her personality. Her sister paid the lecturer undivided attention. When she decided to not let her mind drift off and listen, the lecture ended. That quickly. As the tour group descended down the staircase, their tour guide guide was far ahead, with Scotia Rosemarie following closely behind. The tour guide hold her peace to let their imaginations grow.
"It's eerily uncomfortable!" Novelle Scotia exclaimed.
"I'm with you," Klara Engelstad agreed. Klara Engelstad was another student from their women's college, and her appearance mirrored Scotia Rosemarie's, even though they are unrelated by blood. She was serious about studying on-site, but the catacombs were her place in preference. Scotia Rosemarie wished that her sister would hold her tongue. She almost believed Romeo & Juliet's existence, but her doubts held her back from falling into persuasion. The Romeo & Juliet story that she just heard of was a coincidence to Shakespeare's play, and even if she thought it was real, she would keep it to herself to avoid disbelief and explanation. Novelle Scotia caught up, and started to knock on the burial entrances, in an attempt to soften her fear. Eve Shire tried to be patient, yet she spoke firmly, "We're with you. Let those who rest in peace rest." Upon Novelle Scotia's last knock, however, she, Klara, Scotia Rosemarie, and the group heard empty space behind it. "The irony keeps on getting intense," Aria Romanova said. Novelle Scotia was the last person anyone expected to discover anything. Eve Shire sensed the group's curiosity elevating. "Alright, let's get back to the hotel," she said, hoping that saying something about the hotel would invite comfort and convince everyone to retreat to shelter. She hoped that Romeo & Juleit would be buried behind that brick wall, but decided that some mysteries should be left undisturbed. Most of the tour group, including Eve Shire, left. Scotia Rosemarie remained, as she was interested, along with her sister and Klara Engelstad. Whether it was Romeo & Juliet's mystery or not, Klara would leave without knowing about the empty space and why there was no entrance. So Klara pulled out a hammer from her beige, suede bag and swinger at the brick wall with determination. The bricks were more fragile than estimated, perhaps by age or the damp conditions underground. When the wall collapsed, it unveiled a secret long hidden: a skeleton in the shape of an elderly man was chained to the wall on the opposite end. There was a wooden branch, shaped like a torch at one end, that laid on the floor of that unfortunate room.
"I think that the torch dimmed and burned out. The man didn't die from fire because his clothes and skeleton survived; he must have died from suffocating from the smoke and was deprived of oxygen. He died before starvation," Novelle Scotia pointed out.
"Who was the man?" Klara wondered.
"Doubtless he was noble. Maybe it was revenge. But it is a crime," Scotia Rosemarie concluded.

Montressor lived in his antique estate at peace all these years. He has forgotten what he had done fifty years back because he was ashamed of not feeling guilty or sad that he buried that night at the back of his mind. Reclining in his soft, cushioned sofa, he held up a withering rose by the fireplace. The edges of its petals seemed all the more fiery against the blazing background. "Scarlett," he described the rose. That very word brought back flashes of memories of his wife, from their engagement to her end. She caught the cold, and he tried to nurse her back to health, but even with all the medicine, all their wealth, her case was hopeless. He tried to not think about her end, and instead, about their life together. "Scarlett," he repeated, and her name echoed in their house. He saved each of the little moments of their life together to be replayed each day, so that everyday's reminiscence differs. When he was done replaying, he turned on the television. A reporter right outside the catacomb said, "Investigators claimed that this historical crime scene occurred about fifty years ago." The camera shifted to a group of young women whose faces were blurred. One of them began to speak. "We're college students from northwestern Europe and traveling to write papers on our first-handed experience of the Mediterranean mysteries. Originally, this particular tour was to see if Romeo and Juliet were buried here. Luck led us to another road, and we found a chained prisoner who ran out of it," said the woman with skinny jeans, an ivory flutter-sleeved shirt, and a beige, suede bag. A woman with a dark red dress, a matching rose in her hair, black stilettos, and a french manicure stepped forward and declared, "I was knocking underground, and I couldn't really see in such a dark place, but I remembered knocking a plain wall, and behind t sounded like empty space. My friend knocked it down, and the chill ran up my spine."
"We thought it would be ideal to keep our identities blurred. If this crime happened fifty years ago, then the avenger must be somewhere around seventy years old or so. People around here live long, and most Italians have lived here all their lives, with their title and inheritances," The girl with the trench coat said.
"Too close," Montressor said, wide-eyed. These women were simply too close to the truth. He turned off his television, but could't turn off the past that haunts him. Ire erupted from within him. he was provoked by what he had done, and swung his walking stick to purposely shatter a nearby glass vase. But then he cooled down by unlocking that secret happiness of having taken revenge. Then he heard an elderly man's deep voice, crying out, "The Amontillado!" with a rich, hopeless laughter that followed. Montressor typically daydreamed of the past, alternative scenarios that could've happened, and remember many voices adequately, but this time his voice seemed real, as if the past crossed into the present. Montressor said aloud, "Fortunato, you are not real." Maybe it was his mind and anxiety deceiving him. Fortunato's voice replied, "What is real?" Montressor became confused, but confusion faded as dear sank in. Fortunato was replying, and he definitely wasn't imagining it. "Leave me to my peace," Montressor said, trembling. There was a moment of silence. Then, when Montressor thought that Fortunato left he spoke again. " I won't leave you as you have left me." From the top of the staircase, he was a figure descending. He couldn't see that well, but soon after realized that it was his servant, Marinella. It was a quick relief before he returned to anxiety. What if she knew? Around the time that Fortunato disappeared, the town started talking about what might have happened. But that was decades ago. Maybe she didn't hear. Maybe she doesn't know. But then she served the teacup as gently as it was fragile, and her movements were perfect, but fleeting as it never were. When she turned around to leave, she appeared as a captive fleeing. Montressor rose higher from his slightly bent posture, and called out, "Marin..." She stopped, but did not dare to look back. She hinted unwilling obedience, as if it was the quickest egress out of this situation. Montressor walked towards her and have her a comforting, cozy hug. She exhaled, and when all of the nervousness left her, Montressor said, "Thanks. He then injected her with a colorless, odorless liquid and she fell to the floor. From a faraway crevice of a mahogany door, his wine taster, Francesa heard and watched everything. She was not only a wine taster, for her master, but an eavesdropper for herself. She knew that she couldn't trust anyone; everyone seems to be hiding something. Her sleek, ebony mane contrasted the ignis of the logs in the chimney. She had to seek help. She sought shelter from a feudal conflict that she decided to runaway from, and now it's time to runaway from such madness in this former haven. An hour came to pass. She stepped outside her room, walked quietly downstairs to get herself a glass of water. After greeting Montressor innocently, and without malice nor knowledge of her friend's disappearance, she offered to cook his favorite dish. "I must go to get wheat though, for pasta without wheat isn't pasta."
"Of course, of course," Montressor replied. He seemed sad, but calm at least.
"Then the champagne ran out from Sunday's bash. Will you fancy more tonight?"
"I ought to sip some, lest my gelato is deemed too sweet."
"Then leave it to me," Francesa said.
"Let it be so."
Francesa hiked through the forest to the catacombs. It was almost night again. Almost dinnertime. She got the ingredients to cook for Montressor tonight. So since she did as she said she would, her mind shifted to other matters. Please, she thought, let luck come; let me find the students. A girl walked toward her, and held out her hand the western way. "Hi, my name is Scotia Rosemarie."
"Hi," Francesa said in return. Her voice started to choke. She grabbed Scotia Rosemarie's wrist, and kneeled. Her eyes rained, and sorrows silenced her. She has seen too much. She knew too much.
"Do you know something?" Scotia Rosemarie said, trying to be calm towards Francesa, who was emotionally unstable.
"My, my master..."
Klara approached. "What is going on?"
Novelle Scotia came soon after. "I think she knows something."
"Montressor," Francesa began, hesitated to breathe, then resumed. "is my master, and landlord. He has recently fell into inevitable hallucinations, and sometimes, I pity him. I think that his life was too malignant, and he ought to rest. But now that I still think so, I think so for different reasons."
"Different reasons?" Klara couldn't stray from the weeping Francesa.
"Yes. He mumbled, 'Fortunato' just lately and that is the name of the man who was long gone. Rumors say that he has been intoxicated with wine and slept forever for what he loved. But heard what Montressor said. A servant girl that lived next door to me heard it, and because Montressor take tea during tea time, she served him tea as if she didn't hear. But he has an uncanny ability of detecting soon-to-be traitors. Except for me. I am the daughter of smugglers, and while a wine taster, an actress as well. I am the last one he can guess is lying, and the first he claims loyal."
"We are not here to persecute you. For you have the key to our mystery, we must hear it out," Klara said.
So Francesa told them about Montressor and what people thought became of him, of Marinella and her untimely death, and all the details that contribute to her conclusion----Montressor had something to do with the death of Fortunato.
"I must go home. It is an hour before dinnertime, and forty to get home."
"Wait," Novelle Scotia declared rather bluntly. "Will you show us----"
"----the way?" Scotia Rosemarie finished the question.
"Yes, but I must run. I am frightened."
So The girls ran to Montressor's estate, and they, except Francesa, hid in his botanical garden. They watched through the kitchen windows that extended to the dining room.
Montressor reclined, and Francesa remained unsuspected of eavesdropping.
She prepared his dinner, with its champagne and gelato set to the side.
Montressor followed the aroma of the herbs and looked as if he craved for food.
"You've tasted much of my champagne," he commented in a jolly manner.
"As you advised beforehand," she said. "Dine well, my lord."
He clutched his silverware, started to dig in, and turned on some jazz music.
Then the entrance was violently intruded by three of the girls he recognized on the news, with reporters and photojournalists.
"Francesa!" He still believed that Francesa didn't tell them so, even if she heard him.
They questioned him if he knew anything about the skeleton at the catacombs, then embraced him, cuffed him, and took him away, despite his absolute denial.
He looked shocked.
Scotia Rosemarie said, "Innocence, denial. Those things give away, sir."
He was taken to the psychiatric hospital.
Francesa visited him, and brought samples of different kinds of wine each time.
He accepted it with gratitude.
Then one day, another servant of Montressor came to visit him. His name was Romeo, and like Montressor, he lost his beloved one, but did not die like the original Romeo with his Juliet. He was appointed as the new servant by Francesa, who saved up enough silver to hire a servant to do Marinella's dusting duties. Francesa told him the story of everything that has happened to Montressor, and what she found it along the way, being a wine taster in his estate. After Francesa visited Montressor, and brought his wine, which she couldn't identify what kind it was, and left him to his peace, Romeo said in his deep voice, "The Amontillado."
He strongly believed in justice. He believed that torturing evil will make the torturers become what they despise. To eliminate evil would be the one thing that will prevent what might come. Just because people didn't see things coming doesn't mean it won't.
Montressor tried to breathe calmly, but his heart was racing, and his teeth was starting to tremble, though it wasn't of the chill Autumn air. Did he hear that? Was it mind tricks? His imagination, his imagination, he wished. But that deep voice that was so similar to the one he had heard fifty years ago...  Those words. Everything was exactly what he wished to run from, to forget and find euphoria in his lost haven.
Romeo stood behind Montressor, and placed his hand on Montressor's shoulder. Reality took his breath away, and Montressor dropped back to his lounge, stiff and blue.

U.S. History module 8

8.02 The 1980s
"1980 election: This was a political event because it caused a change in the government. Americans wanted a firm, patriotic leader who had a plan to fix the economic problems carrying over from the 1970s. Jimmy Carter was running for reelection, and Americans overall were very unhappy with his leadership. Ronald Reagan emerged as his challenger, a former actor with great public skills and a plan. They elected Ronald Reagan in 1980 who had a controversial plan for fixing the U.S. economy, later dubbed “Reaganomics.”"
Reagan and Nicaragua: Political. When Nicaragua went through a revolution to take down their government because it was corrupt, the Sandinistas took power. The Sandinistas preferred to postpone elections and emulated the Soviet Union. Reagan decided to help fund the Contras, who wished to take down the Sandinistas. Americans were afraid that Reagan's involvement would make it somewhat similar to the Vietnam War. His consequence was an investigation of the Iran-Contra Affair.
Reagan's Plan: Economic. Former President Reagan proposed to decrease the government's taxes, influence over business, and relaxed rules in banking and savings. Job training, mass transportation development (underground metros, buses...), and student loans were reduced as well, since the government needed a balance. He increased defense spending, and in consequence, people thought that he wasn't caring for the poor.
1980s Deregulation: Economics. Since people thought that the poor was less cared for by Reagan, he made changes to his plans. People started to buy more(consumerism) in 1983 and initiated or returned to investing in the stock market. Consequence: The stock market crashed 3 years after his reelection and American found low-paying jobs under Reagan, thus causing a controversial debate of Reaganomics.
Sun Belt: People were leaving the Rust Belt, where industrial and manufacturing was in the Northeast and Midwest, for the Sun Belt, the South and West. Globalization caused plenty of unemployment in the prior booming corporations. Many workers were displaced as businesses extended overseas. Since the 1950s, there had been a demographic shift.
The Cold War Ends: Social/political. Mikhail Gorbachev founded reforms in the Soviet Union——Perestroika and Glasnost. His people had more rights. This caused Reagan to challenge the sincerity of his reforms. Reagan addressed Gorbachev at the Brandenburg Gate, saying that the Germans were separated from each other and that there was doubt of mankind's freedom. Reagan demanded Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. When the wall came down, Germany reunified in 1990.
First Lady's impact: Social. Cocaine ravaged many cities. First Lady Nancy Reagan visited many schools to warn schoolchildren of drug use. Although many students listened and avoided teenage drugs, others went down the wrong path. As of today, far from the "War on Drugs," there are stoners and people who are non-addicts. Her impact couldn't help everyone, as everyone made their choices, but inspired people then to stay away.
Punk/Glam Rock: Social. Both were the music of the 1980s. Its popularity brought the Live Aid concert. The concert was watched all over the world, and with support, millions were raised to relieve famine in Africa. The Live Aid concert, which helped Ethiopia especially, took place in Mid-Atlantic America and England. A consequence was famine relief, and soon music was reached outer space; it was method of waking up astronauts.
1. Ronald Reagan's policies had a negative effect overall, in my opinion. I respect the fact that his plans kind of parallel with Calvin Coolidge's. He also was definitely anti-Communist and preferred the Berlin Wall to be torn down, which I would support, were I in his place. But for this country, for America, his improvement was a temporary mark that faded. I believe that countless low-paying jobs would affect people's happiness (referring to the history of minimum wages and strikes), and the our happiness would be what will bring our economy up, or crush it down. If the urban poor do not improve, it will leave the majority with the doubt of how much change there was.
2. I would think that it's the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Wall has been there for so long and I agree with Ronald Reagan when he addresses Mikhail Gorbachev. The Berlin Wall reminds me too much of the Union and the Confederacy and the sad segregation in the early 1900s.

U.S. History module 7

7.02 Peace or Power?
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks was told to get up from her seat on the bus, but she was tired and so refused to give up her seat for white passengers. She was arrested. The NAACP fought charges, saying it was unconstitutional, and organized the bus boycott. So Rosa Parks initiated the situation, and the NAACP led the boycott. This event was non-violent because African Americans didn't react aggressively, but rather passively for 381 days by taking other ways of transportation, thus having a significant impact. It was a success, for in the end, the Supreme Court eliminated the Montgomery bus law.
Freedom Rides
The first Freedom Ride left Washington, D.C. with thirteen riders on the Greyhound heading to New Orleans. They sat in outlawed positions, defying unenforced laws. Most participants were members of CORE and SNCC. Arrest and violence were aimed at Freedom Riders. JFK sent federal Marshalls to restore order in Alabama and because of the violence, requested a cooling off period. The Greyhound bus drivers almost stopped for good, but the Kennedy Administration told them to resume since the Freedom Riders would like to finish what they started. In Alabama and Mississippi, the riders were supposed to be safe during their travels, so they were arrested. After they were arrested, they weren't safe because they were abused in captivity. Despite this, 450 Freedom Riders participated throughout the summer since the first riders in May and while jailed, sang songs of freedom. This event is non-violent because the Freedom Riders were determined in taking part of this protest and accepted their arrests, including lifting up their hopes in prison. The Freedom Ride was a success because President John F. Kennedy enforced laws ending segregation, and segregation signs were gone.
March on Washington
On August 28, 1963, 200,000 people marched to the capital of America singing songs of freedom, with one of the most famous songs being "We Shall Overcome", and carried signs. The March ended at the Lincoln Memorial. Leaders of the March on Washington were Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Roy Wilkins, A. Philip Randolph, and Whitney M. Young. MLK gave the most famous speech of the March, the "I Had a Dream" speech. This event was non-violent because the March was not an attack; it was an exercise of their freedom of speech. The March on Washington was a success because President Kennedy gave hope towards it, and after MLK's assassination, his dream came true.
I think that non-violent protests were more effective, and more well-known than violent protests. Schools teach the non-violent side more, and it is exemplary in schools because school authorities prefer reporting bullying instead of reacting physically. I think that non-violent protests were effective because violence in response to violence would bring more violence and the rejection of white Americans and African Americans' peaceful coexistence would be indifferent to segregation. I think, though, that both kinds of protests were enough to initiate change, whether peaceful or threatening, if persistent.

7.03 Minority Rights
Betty Friedan wanted to understand why many women her age were discontent despite material comfort and family. But the mainstream did not acknowledge that women in the 1950s had any reason to be unhappy, unless they had ambitions outside the home, so... Friedan surveyed many young wives and mothers and wrote The Feminine Mystique, which helped bring attention to the issue of women's lack of opportunity and rights.
Women wanted to be equal to men in almost all areas of life, but back in those days, women were thought to be inferior to men in talent and pay, so there was a 1963 act established for women to earn an equal pay to men for performing the same tasks, Title IX for all genders to take opportunity of government-funded sports activities, employment despite gender differences, and Billie Jean won the tennis tournament.
Native Americans wanted to have better living conditions, but the U.S. government throughout history took their lands, broke their treaties, forced them to travel to reservations, and tried to Americanize them, so NCAI fished at an abandoned prison island since Abe Lincoln signed a treaty that any government abandoned places may be reclaimed by Native Americans and AIM had armed Native Americans gathering at Sioux, where there was a massacre in 1890.
Hispanic Americans wanted better salaries and percentages of employment since their arrival to the American Southwest, but since there were many illegal immigrants integrating with the legal immigrants despite efforts of the government to prevent it, both kinds of immigrants were treated similarly, so Cesar Chavez, along with other Hispanic Americans, boycotted grapes in the region, and other citizens throughout Americans also boycotted grapes to support the cause.
Women established the National Organization for Women and as of 2012, has about half a million members. Betty Friedan wrote The Feminine Mystique since she couldn't publish her article on the research and surveys of her former peers, alumni from Smith College, regarding their happiness as homemakers. The Women's Rights Movement were similar to the other groups that demanded change in that there are usually two kinds of groups with different perspectives. Think Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. versus Malcolm X and the Black Panther Party. ERA versus STOP ERA. NCAI versus AIM. Non-violent protests were mutual in all of these groups: African Americans, women, Native Americans, and Hispanic Americans.

U.S. History module 6

6.01 The Fifties and Sixties
Veterans/What did they gain in World War II?
They gained the loss of unemployment. They gained the opportunity to travel overseas to fight, and to country untouched by destruction. Veterans came back to America with benefits of the GI Bill.
Veterans/what challenges did they face at the end of the war?
Returning veterans came back to take their former jobs, and along the war, they had to set society's homemaking standards as the women were unwilling to give up their World War II occupations. Veterans who lived far from major cities has no channel or one channel to watch on televisions in 1951. Not many could afford televisions immediately after the war. They also needed homes for their new families, and the cities were too crowded.
Veterans/What progress did they make for their postwar period?
Veterans were educated and thanks to the GI Bill, could start businesses or buy homes with low-interest rates. Most settled in the new suburban Levittowns. Returning veterans made families, thus causing the baby boom, which lasted from 1946-1964.
Veterans/What struggles might this group have in the decades to come?
There will be war again in the following decades for the veterans and their children. Some veterans will be traumatized by the experiences during WWII and the wars after that.
Women/What did they gain in World War II?
Women gained the right to exercise their knowledge. Some who went to college found use of it as they take men's occupations temporarily, such as mending aircraft or running businesses.
Women/What challenges did they face at the end of the war?
Women faced unemployment again as returning veterans take their jobs back. The posters recruiting women to help during World War II had no purpose in the following decade. Their ambitions are clouded by society's expectations.
Women/What progress did they make in the postwar period?
Women decided to speak out how they felt about society's standards. Betty, a homemaker, mother, and article writer, interviewed Smith College's alumni, who reported dissatisfaction with their roles. Betty found no one to publish her article because it went against the ideal belief of women, so she published her novel, The Feminine Mystique.
Women/What struggles might this group have in the decades to come?
Women will probably fight, or protest, to alter their public image. They will speak to revert back to those days when they could take occupations of men. As more women become educated and determined, society will soon have to cross out the idealistic homemaker.
African Americans/What did they gain in World War II?
African Americans gained the equal privilege to fight. They also had jobs during World War II.
African Americans/What challenges did they face at the end of the war?
They knew that they would be returning home to face discrimination.
African Americans/What progress did they make in the postwar period?
African Americans founded a kind of music, known as rhythm and blues. This soon became Rock-and-Roll. African Americans' music were broadcasted on radios. Jackie Robinson was a baseball champion. African Americans changed history through the integration of sports and music.
African Americans/What struggles might this group have in decades to come?
Although the baby boomers enjoyed rhythm and blues as well as Rock and Roll, their parents are concerned of the music roots. As another decade arrives, there will be tension as the schools integrate races. The discrimination will decrease in the following decades, and the 1980s will have influential African Americans like in the 1950s and the Jazz Age.

6.04 The Korean War
North Korea wanted to stay with its communist government and spread communism throughout the peninsula, but the United States feared communism aggression and the domino theory, so the United States and the United Nation sent troops to South Korea, thus creating a seesaw war.
General MacArthur wanted to attack North Korea troops from the west coast, which was a success widely praised, but his confidence led to a disrespectful encounter with President Truman and commanding the soldiers as he saw fit, so he was relieved from his duty.
President Truman wanted General MacArthur to follow his orders since the president is the commander-in-chief, but MacArthur wanted to eliminate Chinese communism, which led to Republicans smearing Truman's reputation, so Truman decided to fire General MacArthur and nor run for reelection.
China wanted to keep American troops off their border assist North Korea, but their help only made the Korean War a seesaw conflict, so the Chinese drove the UN force south of the 38th parallel before the cease-fire and armistice.
The United Nations wanted to help South Korea, but the war was ongoing and both sides had advantages at different times, so North and South Korea signed an armistice in 1953 and there is a demilitarized zone with United States troops in South Korea.
1.How did General Douglas MacArthur react to the events in Korea? What was his stance on the Korean War?
 General Douglas MacArthur made a counterattack towards North Korean troops. Whatever his moves were, it was to support his belief to eliminate communism. He underestimated China's army, but meant to prevent the domino theory. He is anti-communism.
2.How did President Truman respond to the events in Korea? What was his stance on the Korean War?
 President Truman sent troops to the Korean peninsula to keep Korean communism from spreading all over Korea and maybe Asia. He was anti-communism as well, but knew his limits and didn't want to create a greater threat to Asia's communism and provoke China. He also knew that he was failing his popularity, and blamed for "losing China." All this explained where he stood and the lengths that he went.
3.Which leader's actions were the most justifiable—General McArthur's or President Truman's? Support your claim with evidence from the lesson.
I think that General MacArthur's actions were the most justifiable. Although I don't agree with his rising confidence that would soon doom his intentions, he had creativity and knew where he wanted his troops to go, which faded when he was relieved. President Truman relieving him was like the sudden death of President Roosevelt. I believe that if he was temporarily relieved and his confidence died down, then granted a second chance, he would have seen things differently and win the cause America has hoped for.
4.Would the outcome of the Korean War have been different had General MacArthur not been fired? Why or why not? Support your claim with evidence from the lesson.
Yes and no. I think that at some point, every general will have their strengths and weaknesses. Victory at one time does not predict another. I think that China's advances were underestimated and General MacArthur should have been prepared for that. His confidence led to his downfall. So letting him stay would not make the ending different. But if he was temporarily relieved, that is to hope that he doesn't come back with a grudge, or better yet, have a month-long return-to-America vacation to think things thoroughly, he might return to the war clear-minded and with advantageous plans towards victory.

6.07 Disillusionment
Question: Explain how events such as the Vietnam War and Watergate affected the American public’s opinion of the U.S government.
    The majority of the American public before the 1960s trusted their government. They believed that with the rights they have, it is sensible to believe that there's much truth to what their government say or does. In other words, they have no reason to doubt their government. In an attempt to contain communism, however, the U.S. government sent young soldiers across the ocean. People began to resent that, but only some. Mostly college students, whose education were interrupted or blocked. They thought that the Vietnam War was going to be short-term, but although years of the executive power heightening, they saw otherwise. The living room war was televised, and the people saw what happened to the American troops that were sent there. They wanted an end; the war dragged on. Distrust of the president arose. Pentagon papers were published. The court overruled Nixon and his administration when they wanted an end to these Pentagon Papers. The Supreme Court decided that freedom of the press will assure the people that their government is not deceiving them. These publications shocked the public and the early 70s were a time of disillusionment. The Watergate scandal was the next upcoming thing that shattered American trust. The burglars that tried to break into the Watergate headquarters had ties to the executive branch. The president tried to soften FBI investigation. The Washington Post undermined his denial of involvement with the Watergate event. He refused to show his video tapes. However, he eventually had to give up these tapes. Americans realized that he was a crook. People in the executive branch have done wrong deeds and the so during the 70s, American believed that their government was run by criminals. Distrust of authority led to reformed opinions of the government.

U.S. History module 5

5.01 World War Again
1. The U.S. favored neutrality even before World War I. It wanted to have nothing to do with war, but things happen. Ideas about neutrality changed with three-fourths of the population expected war, and Roosevelt initiated intervention with foreign warring countries. As Roosevelt began supporting democratic countries and he mistrust peace from totalitarian countries, neutrality acts altered, thus convincing Americans to reconsider normalcy as they foresee the inevitable spiral of incidents.
2. The point where U.S. turned down its isolationist nation and defied normalcy was when the neutrality act was passed by Congress. Although the First Neutrality Act with its Cash and Carry policy (hinting the beginning of a series of conflicting interferences) was subtle, it was undeniable that the slightest involvement pushed the U.S. off its edge of neutrality. U.S. was no longer neutral was Roosevelt and Churchill made agreements in Newfoundland. Evidence of the States' fading neutrality revealed through isolationists' preferences to help Allied nations, even when it means having a war.
3. First Neutrality Act- This act opposes the idea of the nation's wish to return to normalcy. It disrupts normalcy, and the Nye Committee had every right to investigate whether or not America was pushed into World War I in favor of profits. The First Neutrality Act was proof that although Americans wanted to keep themselves apart from warring nations, they sure sought after profits. Egotism therefore drifted the states from its prior aim----- isolationism.
Cash and Carry- cash and carry policy shattered the very meaning of isolationism. Even if the warring nations had to support themselves to and fro to gain supplies, and America was being paid in cash, it would only be the first chapter of America's impulse to intensify its actions with international intervention. The only exception for the cash and carry policy is that it supports the U.S. economy as it dived into the Great Depression.
U.S. aid to China- Yes, this is also defying the concept of isolationism, but since China is halfway across the world, and two countries alone in its imperialist conflict doesn't have much to intertwine with Europe and its pre-World War II tangling tummbleweed. It is more tolerable for the U.S. to sympathize with China. U.S. just wanted to help and in 1937 until today, China hasn't forgotten that. U.S. and China has always been good partners, aiding in imports, presumably since defending China and isolating it from Japan. It might anger Japan, who is tied to Germany and Italy, but one of Europe's treaties were weak without the United States, so these countries know and have learned during World War I that the U.S. is strong.
Lend-Lease Act- The Lend-Lease Act is so biased, it almost eliminates the idea of isolationism. First, the cash and carry policy is intervening with foreign nations, but the lend-lease act suggests that the U.S. could aid any nations involved in a war, casting the notion that the hopes for normalcy is lost as U.S. interests in warring nations surpass the former.

5.04 Holocaust
My name is Hannah Kaplan. My world, my life, and the very ground I stood on was almost flawless. If there were mistakes, it was only to drive perfection into my destiny. I was born in Poland to an extended family of affluent Jews. I myself am also one, as the cliche goes, "the apple does not fall far fro the tree." My family owned a business selling apparel of every kind and elegant sheets of fabric. Several friends of mine were loyal, as they saw my mother as their benefactress. Even the neighbors who disliked us would not dare to oppose us. But that was then; a long while back I was a seven-teen year old girl who was often lost in her books, skilled in strings, and enjoyed finding herself in a catch. What were others' grandeur delusion was my reality. Then that evening came. I was in the boutique founded by my grand parent, and while painting a gown that I intended to sew out of intrinsic motivation, I was aware ere the glass windows shattered. I ran to the corner of the room as my arms were scraped, to a corner where I cowered behind a line of coats. A chill ran through my spine and fear penetrated my mind. It was the moment when I felt as though my dignity had evaporated. Alas, I was soon discovered as my concealment served to be only temporary. One of what I recognized to be a Nazi took me by my arm and threw me in to the back of a truck covered in mud and dried blood.  The attack came so harshly that I convinced myself that wherever I was being sent to, it wasn't going to be pleasant. It was then that I was told that I was going to be sent to a labor camp, which didn't sound anywhere near destinations I would otherwise eagerly look forward to, and not being fond of the Nazis, much less the truck I was thrown in, I found it difficult to believe that it was a labor camp that I was heading to. My mother, father, and  other relatives were also in the truck. They all acted like they tolerate this acrid situation. I couldn't. I won't. As much as I wanted to speak my thoughts, none of my people did, so neither did I, lest we would get shot by the armed Nazis. After a while, I was led to a concentration camp. I think their discrimination has gone too far. My family members were separated into different groups. My life was spiraling down. The whole scenario was is amiss. I was thrown into a place where people surrounding me appeared half-dead and I wondered what will become of me. Indeed, escape was not an option because barbed wire encircled us. I haven't heard of my family ever since we were separated. I knew that I wanted to be idealistically slim, but being starved wasn't part of the plan. I counted the nights since arrival and after the fourteenth night, which turned to daylight, my camp was liberated. The Nazis were out of sight, and unfortunately, so was my family. Having studied English in school, I understood what the armed men were saying. We were given some bread and water, then told to go anywhere we could find refuge. Unquestionably, my imprisoned peers were frightened to leave the area, holding with them the possibility that the Nazis would find them again and they will be shot. I couldn't bear the stench of dead corpses right around my imprisonment about a mile away, so I occasionally inhaled when necessary and dashed across the field, looking to the sky, to avoid what remained of their untimely deaths. While hiding in a forest and surviving with berries, I thanked God for my liberation. I was soon founded by Eisenhower, and sent on a ship. Many months later, land come into sight. It was America. The War Industries Board initiated aiding me. I will strive to regain the social standing that I once lost. My world has changed in that I will never take the belongings I have for granted. I ought to patronize others no longer as i faced worse consequences following Hitler's theory.

5.06 War Ends
The United States and Allied forces had to use the bombs on Japan because they believed that it was the only way to end the war quickly. Many military leaders knew that fighting the Japanese would cost multiple lives, as evidenced by the 82-day battle of Okinawa when approximately 50,000 Allied troops were deceased or injured. Despite the fact that more than twice the Allied troops were Japanese and killed, they weren't prepared to surrender. Not even when Tokyo was attacked and engulfed in flames. The obvious way to victory was to further bomb Japan, thus saving effort and lives of Americans. This way meant that the Japanese weren't prepared to die nor fight, but unexpectedly lost their lives.
    These bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was an absolute tragedy of the 1940s. Americans decided to save their own lives and the lives of their people, but destroying humanity on the other side of the world would contradict what they attempt. If the scenario was seen from the Pacific side, the Japanese would like to save their people, too. Even thought they were ready to fight to their deaths, they were ready to fight and die, not just die or suffer all of a sudden. Like General Dwight Eisenhower said, Japan was close to defeat, so it unnecessary. Admiral William Leahy, an adviser to both Roosevelt and Truman during World War II, said that bombing Japan with mass murder weapons would make Americans like the barbarians of the Dark Ages. Bombs should have not been dropped on these cities because in a way, it was like cheating; having your people saved and others die when some aren't even in battle. Even if the Americans fought the Japanese, which would be the alternative, the Japanese would have outnumbered in deaths.
     The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not as necessary as President Truman thought. Americans should have believed the rumors of the Holocaust and rescued all the Jews, then gather all the Nazis that have tortured and still intend to, and have them bombed. The root of evil, once gone, shall prevent more sinister deeds to come. If that seems unjust, consider what America has done to Japan. We have done something of similar equivalency to what Hitler had done. Eisenhower was right in thinking about what the world would think of us. What would they think? To have innocent lives killed and many survivors dying from the radiation, their businesses destroyed like during Kristallnacht. This terror could have been prevented, if isolationism returned and some treaty was made to divide the Allied regions from Japan.

At Barnes & Noble bookstore.

Water refreshes the mind, and brings out a fresh attitude.

Tapping to take a shot shifts to a wave. Mistake excused.

Starbucks

I went to Starbucks. There's a new kind of Frappuccino, the Caramel Flan Frappuccino.
It's a chill place to sit back and study, with extras being Wi-Fi and music.

English module 4

4.02 The Power of Words
"But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract."
We, as Americans, cannot dedicate the battlegrounds for the soldiers that fought there. The soldiers, who are still with us or gone, has it dedicated to us more than we can to them.
These lines inspire listeners to honor the soldiers that fought in the war and remember all of their heroic deeds.
"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion."
We are dedicated towards honoring the dead, and dedicate ourselves to their task. From what we see of them, the last of them, it increases our devotion for what they were devoted to the end——fighting in war.
This should inspire listeners to take up what our soldiers have taken, to not take their service for granted, and to be devoted as they were in what they have done.
"...this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."
America, under God, shall have freedom and the government created by the Americans, for the Americans, will not die from this world.
Listeners will probably be more involved in the government as everyone has gained their independence. Their political activities will make these lines stay true——the American government lives.

English module 3

3.03 Two Idealists: Double Feature
Part 1
1.According to the first sentence what does every person realize at some moment in his/her education?
That envy is ignorance and imitation is suicide. Every person must realize that they must make something of themselves apart from commonality.

2.What is the opposite of "self-reliance," according to Emerson?
Cowardice and conformity... both of which has no muse, hope, nor peace.

3.What does Emerson see as the most sacred aspect of a person?
The integrity of one's own mind.
4.What does Emerson think of people who call for consistency in thought and action and who fear being misunderstood?
People who have nothing to do and would not be a man.
5. Emerson makes many of his points through a series of figures of speech - comparisons between two things that are basically unlike. In "Self-Reliance" what does he compare with the ordinary things and events listed below? Be sure to respond in complete sentence format.

Example: He compares cannon balls to words: "Else if you would be a man, speak what you think today in words as hard as cannon balls, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said today."
A.planting corn
He says that a man cannot get nourishing corn unless he relies on himself to plant it without imitation, for better or for worse.
So the nourishing corn is something, like a reward, a man gets when he takes on self-reliance.
B.an iron string
He compares an iron string with cowards fleeing before a revolution.
I think that an iron string is like a person along in a world of conformity, but they are strong; they are a nonconformist.
C. clay
Pious aspirants are compared with noble clay; something that can be mold into its own shape.

3.04B Frederick Douglass
Reading about Frederick Douglass can give some insight, as he explains and lead us on his journey of agony. However, even thought we find ourselves pitying those that went through slavery and shocked by the cruelty, it does not give us a full understanding of what it is like to be a slave. In Frederick Douglass's story, he has a friend who decided to help him, someone who went through those torturous times as well. I believe that one who has gone through what he has can truly understand what slavery was. A true insight cannot be exchanged with words. It is experience that will make you flinch, wash fear over you, and spark your determination, as was with Frederick Douglass.

3.05 The Fireside Poets
Fireside Poets questions
1.What metaphors does Holmes use to describe the ship in stanzas one and two of "Old Ironsides"?
"The meteor of the ocean air" and "The eagle of the sea!"
2.In 1830, the 44-gun American warship Constitution, the inspiration for "Old Ironsides," was scheduled to be scrapped - that is, stripped of everything valuable or reasonable. What proposal is put forth by Holmes, in the last stanza of his poem?
Holmes proposed that the Constitution should be allowed to sink below the sea, where her flag stays attached to her mast.
3. What do you think Holmes want the ship to symbolize?
A symbol of patriotism, of America. I think that Holmes wants the ship to symbolize courage and victory.
4.The term, "Harpies," in line 15 of "Old Ironsides" is an allusion to predatory flying creatures in Greek mythology, which have bodies of vultures and heads of women. The name meant "snatchers" or "robbers." Why do you think that Holmes uses this allusion in his poem?
"The harpies of the shore shall pluck
The eagle of the sea!"
These lines bring out most the allusion's meaning. The harpies of the shore are the government officials plotting to destroy the Constitution, which he wrote as the eagle of the sea, a possible insight that it symbolizes out nation with its glorious moments that represented fearlessness that the warship went through.
5.In Longfellow's "The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls," how does the title foreshadow the fact the traveler will not return?
I guess that "The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls" is like a traveler rises to set his journey forth, but in the end falls; he doesn't return. If he doesn't return, it could mean that he fell, perhaps suggesting that there was a shipwreck or that he fell to his death during the journey. If the traveler falls, then the journey falls. So it would be the end of the journey. The title foreshadows a placid, but sad ending.
6.Do you think Longfellow's poem is about one specific traveler, or could it apply to all in general? Explain your answer.
I think that Longfellow's poem refers to a specific traveler, maybe one that he has known. But if taken into the general perspective, it could mean that soldiers who served the Navy didn't make it back ashore. Back to what I thought, he mentioned, "The traveler, so it must be a singular noun, therefore implying that it was someone he knew who was lost at sea.
7.Personification is a figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes. Cite an example of Longfellow's use of personification in "The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls."
"The little waves, with their soft, white hands
Efface the footprints in the sands..."
8.How does the division into stanzas reflect the passage of time in the poem? Example: Stanza One presents twilight darkening into night. What do stanzas two and three represent?
Stanza two represents the town and its sea swallowed by darkness as night sinks in and stanza three represents the morning arriving, conquering the fading night, but with happiness of the light, there is a quiet absence.
My poem
Defiant Drusilla
Sometimes with materialistic glee,
one isn't bound to liberty,
to make choices of theirs,
when they are entitled heirs.
There on the throne sits an heiress,
and although she sinks in cheerfulness,
her happiness in love was far much less,
when her marriage fell into a loveless mess.
Her family thirst for royalty like light of dawn,
that her life was destined to take part as a pawn,
and so away into the woods she ran,
and there she found a caring man.
Preferring her new life instead of old,
her audacious moves were disobediently bold,
She ran from everything once precious like gold,
to find new treasures misunderstood if told.
The life she found was on a thread,
but so much better than when married,
for if she stayed indulging elegance instead,
someday the king might decide to take her head,
Her betrayal has brought revenge,
and only by her husband would she be daggered,
to please him as it was his amends,
to separate her and her other man in different worlds.
To his kingdom there he rids of the faithless,
for it was under his law to enforce morals,
but past him would he never guess,
that his wife cursed him with laurels.
3.06 Moby Dick
1.In this video, we immediately learn of an obsessed captain who wants revenge. Why does he want revenge and against whom or what?
He wants revenge because he lost his leg to a great white whale, to whom he is against, known as Moby Dick.
2.Who is the narrator of Moby Dick and what is the first line of the novel?
Ishmael is the narrator and the first line is "Call me Ishmael."
3.There are two significant Biblical allusions mentioned in the film. To whom do these allusions reference? How are the names significant?
In the Bible, Ahab is a wicked king who goes against God's will. The white whale may be a symbol of all that thwarts human intentions. Ishmael means "outcast" or "wanderer".
4.The narrator states that Moby Dick symbolizes three different meanings for three different characters. List the characters and the meaning which Moby Dick symbolizes for each of them.
To Captain Ahab, the whale represents all that is evil in the universe.
To Starbuck, the whale's just an animal to be killed for oil.
To Ishmael, the whale's nature in all its wonder——beautiful, yet terrifying. "The ungraspable phantom of life."
5.Why did Melville choose to write about whaling? Why was the industry significant?
Melville's New England was at the height of the whaling era. The United States dominated the whaling trade, supplying the world for its lanterns, streetlamps, and all kinds of machinery. It was a major industry in New England in the 1850s. When Melville wrote Moby Dick, New Bedford was the richest town in the United States. Whale oil was the oil of commerce.
6.What did Melville do when he was 21?
He set sail for the South Pacific.
7.What established writer did Melville befriend while he was writing Moby Dick?
Nathaniel Hawthorne.
8.Comment on the four harpooners of the Pequod; politically, why were they significant?
Each represented a different culture, a different race. The Pequod becomes a symbol for the ship of state, almost like a little democracy.
9.What happens to the Pequod towards the end of the book? Ahab? Ishmael?
The Pequod attacks Moby Dick. The white whale was so enraged, he attacked and sinks the Pequod, killing all the men on board. Ahab and Ishmael watch helplessly from their small boats. Suddenly, Moby Dick turns and surface next to Ahab. Ahab strikes the whale, and the rope caught him around the neck. He was shot out of the boat ere the crew knew he was gone. All but Ishmael vanish into the sea. He is the only survivor of the Pequod. He floats alone until he is rescued by the whaling ship, Rachel.
10.What were the final years of Melville like?
15 years after the publication of Moby Dick, his book has fallen into obscurity. The American public did not understand it. He was broke, and the father of four children. He took a job as a customs inspector for $4 a day at the port of New York. He continued to be a prolific writer until he died at the age of 72,after writing 15 books.
Interview questions for Ishmael:
1. If you could, would you stop the whaling industry?
2. Do you think that Ahab deserves his ending?
3. What are the differences in terrifying for Moby Dick and the blubber room?
4. How was the whale a mystery of the universe?
5. Which did you think was more dangerous to Moby Dick, Ahab's obsession with revenge against the whale, or his shipmates' view that would be like Starbuck's, endangering whales for their well-being?

English module 2

2.02A Declaration Discussion
2.02 Founding Father Thomas Jefferson
Your Assignment
A. Discussion
Discuss these questions with your family:
1. The last line of the Declaration of Independence asserts: "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."
a. What does it mean to pledge your "lives, fortunes, and honor"?
I’m thinking that it must mean to pledge to America with each other as American citizens everything that we have. It means that we will sacrifice our belongings to our country, but also have an equal opportunity to save the things with love and cherish. As for honor, it could mean that if you give America your service, your honor, then that will be very honorable of you.
b. For what causes would you be willing to make a significant sacrifice?
Feminism, radical revolutions to defend our rights,
 a cause for justice and liberty, for people that I care for, I would sacrifice my belongings if it is to save them,
there are causes like social equality that I find worth being sought-after, as I think that there is too much social class injustice and prejudice out there. There are too many scandals with the elites and socialites, and the hard working industrial workers being good at heart and getting cheated off of their well-being; this is a cause worth sacrificing for and there needs to be a change. Regardless of the intimidation and fear of persecution or being ignored, someone needs to speak up. These honeybees deserve more to their lives.
2. Look at the Amendments to the Constituiton with a family member. How does one or more of the Amendments protect and limit an individual’s rights? Identify at least one instance of protection and one of limitation. Be sure to name the Amendment(s) and explain your thoughts. After you have discussed these questions with your family, go to the Discussion area of the course and post your responses. Be sure to respond to at least one other student's posting.
Amendment 3- Quartering of soldiers.
This, I believe, is an amendment of protection because the fathers who wrote our Constitution didn’t want the same thing that happened in history to reoccur. Back during the Revolutionary War, Brit soldiers were sent to America to guard the uprising colonists and were quartered in their houses. This led the colonists to become enraged that they have to take care of the British, who they believe has caused injustice upon the colonies.
This amendment particularly protects our people from having the responsibility of taking care of soldiers, since some American citizens will feel uncomfortable, as before with the British soldiers.
Amendment 14- Citizenship Rights.
This is where the amendment has a limit. It states that a citizenship is limited in where s/he cannot ask for help from America to pay for their debts if used to aid rebellion against the United States. Also, it is illegal to borrow from the U.S. and turn against it; therefore it makes sense that the U.S. will not pay for your debts.
2.02B Thomas Jefferson
Declaration of Independence

Believing that every person is privileged to rights, this declaration will be addressed to all of my despotic friends in the past. As friends you all have claimed to be, I find it unjust to have a friendship with one person of more authority, and the other, as I, felt weak. Read this, and see to it that there was a reason why our friendships did not last as long as you might expect.

She says, "Give me something, or else I won’t be your friend anymore." Were you even my friend in the first place?

___________________________________________________

She uses her sad face, or collapses in her dishonest, emotional phases to get things her way, to earn the possessions of others.

She ignores you when you ask her "What’s wrong?" to depict that her other friend was ignoring her. How were you supposed to know?

She acts as if she’s mad and goes her way home, or has just begun to, and when you decide to go into your house and shut the door to give her some time to herself, she wails and exclaims that she was joking.

She forces your corgi, or puppy, to play with her on the playground, despite the fact that puppies can’t jump from places so high; they aren’t cats. Your neighbors tell you that your friend was playing mean, and he more your puppy resists and seems scared, the more she tugs the leash.

She knocks on your door every morning just to "walk to the bus stop together" and thinking it’s okay because "we’re best friends," when your mom’s roommates needs some sleep to recharge themselves for work.

She thinks people are her best friends when they’re not because they don’t even hang around with her; they hang around in their groups, where they feel comfortable and not forced to do every little thing she wants. There was that time when she would say of your other friend, "She’s my best friend." and you were skeptical because your other friend rarely hangs out with her.

She asks to share your lunch when you were so slim in the old days that you were below 100 lbs.

　

She was so clingy that she went wherever you went, and so it was hard to talk to anyone else, especially if the person didn’t get along with her. To make things worse, she was in your neighborhood.

She thinks that people who were born younger than her should listen to her, and that didn’t work out so well with one of the tough girls at our school.
_____________________________________________________

She gets scared that she will lose her best friend, so when her best friend invites you to her party, she tells you afterwards that her best friend doesn’t want you to come.

She copies your classwork, gets A’s like it’s a breeze, and ends up in an extracurricular that you would need to have an invite to get in.

She tells you that you’re going to graduate high school at twenty when she knows that you’re taking multiple challenging classes and aiming to graduate in 2014.

In addition, she doesn’t believe in you and just makes your sympathy of getting failed by one of the hardest history classes hatched and become something from a butterfly to a Loch Ness.

She calls you psycho and threatens to slap you after you grab her fragile, very small and skinny wrist in an attempt to drag her away from being involved and actually spreading gossip about you that you eavesdropped.

I, Lynn Pham, have grown weary and grew out of these friendships, sometimes because I was lucky that you have moved away out-of-state, or I just drifted apart from you after our transition to upper secondary school. My advice, however, is that if you all want stronger, and more genuine friendships in the future, you would have to be kinder, and definitely, more amiable. A friendship becomes stained if there is one who is like queen and like glass if the other feels unwilling.

I would give my Declaration of Independence a C.
2.04 Thomas Paine
Questions on The Crisis The Redcoats and the patriots.
They deserve love from men and women.
Britain has a right to "bind us in all cases whatsoever."
He’ll pursue his principles unto death.
Thomas Paine finds offensive wars as murder, but he explains that man has a right to defend himself against whoever has wronged him, and whoever it may be would not matter at the time. I think that he means since Britain has wronged America, she would fight back to represent herself, even if she has to defy her mother country.
Patriots are like sunshine to our country because they’ve fought to gain their own independence and eliminate high taxes from a lost mother. They are always shining, always fighting for what they believe, with intrinsic motivation, voluntarily. Summer soldiers are the redcoats, I believe, and they are "summer" as in they aren’t fighting for their independence, so despite their technology and ammunition, they will fight weaker. They are seasonal, and this is their profession. They do not fight at heart, and as Summer is seasonal, so are they. They won’t help their monarchy to have control over America and hold that control for long.
America wants peace. "Give me peace in my day." refers to America’s longing for separation. The patriots want to see peace in their day.
Enraged and hopeful.
A loyalist might have said, "Give Britain our taxes, and there will be peace." "…for though the flame of liberty may sometimes cease to shine, the coal can never expire. . . Thomas meant that although America may lose its independence and rights at times during the rule of Britain, times around the American Revolution, America will not end its anger until victory has been accomplished.

2.05A Olaudah Equiano

Part A
For this assignment submit your answers to the questions below:
Give four facts about conditions aboard the slave ship.
One. The stench was intolerable.
Two. Perspirations were common.
Three. It was crowded, somewhat like the Upper East.
Four. Fresh air was nowhere; suffocation was constant.
What happened to the slave that got caught after jumping overboard?
He was "flogged… unmercifully."
Why did many people die during the journey?
The closeness of the slaves brought a sickness, which many died in conclusion. Some also managed to drown themselves.
Why did Olaudah think the crew possessed magic?
He looked through the quadrant and the clouds looked like land, so therefore his wonders were heightened and from an instrument so strange, he ought to think that the crew possessed magic.
Find a picture that would be a good one to go along with this excerpt. Copy and paste the picture into this assignment.
Cite this source: http://www.equiano.org/images/about_equiano/1.jpg


This is a picture of possibly a slave ship. I chose this because the water on which it sails are in the memory of those who have drowned themselves along the way and the space exterior from the ship would have fresh air, the air these wretched slaves so longed for, and may have died without ever seeing their destination, nor the fresh air which was in such abundance outside. The sky, and the clouds were what Equiano saw through the quadrant.

2.06 Native Americans
Venn Diagram (I couldn’t type into the pasted chart, so I’m going to type.)

Squanto:

He has lived in England.

He traveled with the colonists.

He was in allegiance with Smith.

He was sold in Spain.

He sailed to England again.

He went to Canada.

He went to New England.

Squanto stayed with the settlers.

He and the English had mutual trust.

Powhatan:

He never went to England.

He had power over the region.

He never absolutely trusted Smith.

He has had conflicts with the English.

He was not ever under European rule.

He made it clear that he had power.
He did not like the settlers that acted powerful.

He wasn’t used to disobedience.

He wasn’t subject to obedience.

He demanded gifts to be returned.

He didn’t like broken promises.

He had a daughter that made peace.

Similarities:
Both had started out great with the English.

Both had helped the English survive with crops.

Both had lived in North America.

Both had known who John Smith was.

Both were mistreated by Europeans.

Both knew about the struggle of the English.

Both had struggled because of English contact.

Write a story.

Our culture is great. We should have no shame in immersing ourselves in it, nor telling our descendants of it. We are from Powhatan. Our chief has much power. He could aid you or destroy you. By tradition, the paramount chief is the nephew of the former chief. Our culture consists of great respect to our king, and perhaps to the English, greater respect than they have for theirs. When the chief sleeps, there are four guards standing around him and they exchange messages to make sure that one another is okay. Failure to reply to a co-guard results in punishment. Our chief, known as Powhatan to the English, had bodyguards that are tall; in fact, the tallest fifty men of our people. Although we do have enough land in his territory, he expands it with ambushes and protects his farther regions with the sub-chiefs, or brother-in-laws, as he has made them. He marries to most of his less powerful chiefs’ sisters, and this guarantees peace and agreement between them, and strong friendships, stronger than when he weren’t married. Our culture has many arts and crafts. We have furs and jewelry, of which the Englishmen covet and we’ve asked them to trade their weapons with our precious stones and jewelry. Pearls and gold are saved for Powhatan, who was also offered eighty-percent of our labor’s supplies. We work hard, but don’t ask for more than what we deserve. Additionally, we don’t need much. For as long as Powhatan is in bliss, we will also be in bliss, knowing his well-being is achieved. We take orders from our chief, and there is much reason for what he orders us to do. Whenever the settlers take our gifts and don’t return us anything, it angers him, and as he views this as treachery, he finds reason to call an attack on them. Besides, there was a time when the English sailed around the Chesapeake Bay upon their own curiosity. They’ve acted as thought they had more control of the region that they literally do. To protect his region, Powhatan called for his sub-chiefs to attack wherever ad whenever possible. The English simply cannot conquer land and conquer us just when and where they please. As long as Powhatan is living, we are safe. We would not fall under English rule. Our chief’s younger brother will do the same for us in the memory of Powhatan and for the good of our people. Trust is important, and in our culture, when distrust arises, it can hardly be restored. The biography of our late chief Powhatan should be told and known of, and all that he had done that kept us safe from the settlers. The settlers are so unpredictable, but with strong chiefs, misfortunes can be prevented. We do not want war, but if the English is cause of it, we will go to further lengths to keep our land safe. Good deeds must be exchanged with good deeds. Our people may be simple in the eyes of the English, but we know ways of survival, which they have to find to cope with the New World weather and winters, and however savage we appear, we know of hospitality. Hospitality and virtue runs it our blood. It never dies, and neither will creativity. We must grow strong to live up to our reputation; archery, weaponry, and hunting will transform us unto manhood. We grow strong, and this is to protect ourselves and those we love. We aren’t subject to any other rule but to our chief, and other than that, we are free.

This is where we live. Our lives are lit by light and the coziness fills our home. Of warmth for winter, and space… is enough to not disturb nature. This is where we hunt. Where Powhatan takes walks during his childhood.

Descendants of these English settlers took what they call "photos" of our tribe’s surroundings and posted it on Google images.