mohammed abed 811

       Runner is a great story about choosing between right and wrong, whether it is justified or not and what the consequences to our actions can amount to. Runner is about a young man named Chance Taylor who lives with his dad on a boat in Seattle, Washington. Chance’s home life is not one that others would consider ideal; his father has a drinking problem, and his mother is not even apart of his life, all while living in poverty. Chance’s favorite thing to do is run. It is his way of getting away from the problems he has to face everyday. On one special occasion, a man confronts Chance with an opportunity, an opportunity making money while at the same time doing what he loves, running.                                                                                                                                                                          Chance is to run packages across town for the man, he is not allowed to ask questions or inspect what he is running, which Chance soon realizes he is partaking in a smuggling activity. Finally Chance has an opportunity to have some financial stability in his life, but is it worth the risk? The book constantly has moments of Chance battling within himself whether his actions are justified and if he should continue what he is doing.

Runner by Carl Deuker by Mohammed Abed 811

     In the book Runner by Carl Deuker the main character Chance Taylor believes that money is a big issue in the world. In the book money is an issue for Chance. He is working while his father is jobless. He lives on a little boat. His father is a drunk and can't get a job. 

     Money is a problem because in social studies class he brings up the topic of money and how the rich don't help the United States. The poor fight in the wars and the rich have a nice and easy life. 

    At the beginning of the book his dad was a drunk. After he lost his job he picked up his act and didn't drink. He got a job interview but didn't get the job because of his reputation. Then his friend offers him money because they are rich and then Chance gets upset because they are just helping to look good.

Reading and Writing for Social Justice Research Project by Mohammed Abed 811

     The article I chose was called "Majoring in Marx." The article is about how the Vietnamese government is offering free college tuition to anyone who studies Communism. I chose this article because it shows how the Vietnamese government will try to change the professions of the students trying to study other subjects such as communications, international studies, and English. I believe that they shouldn't offer free tuition for Communism because it might make some students change their profession. For example, they might change their profession because it is free.

     It makes me think about some things in my own life. It make me think about the United States government and if they would do things like the Vietnamese government.  It all started when most people stopped studying communism. I wonder if students stop studying a subject would the United States government would do something similar.  

     

This a Dunkin Donuts add in Thailand. This add offended many people in Thailand. It offended them because in Thailand they don't like African Americans. It is proven that in Thailand 28% of people don't want a neighbor that is not from Thailand. Which is very high compared to other countries with less than 5%.

    It also offends people from Thailand because of what it says near the mouth of the women in the picture. It says "Break every rule of deliciousness." This offended people in Thailand because it showed a African American person covered in black paint.

- I saw people cussing

- I saw people saying racist things about other kids 

    I believe that saying racist things about other kids is the main thing I observed at my neighborhood and mostly at my school. For example, in my neighborhood I here teens a little older than me walking up to their friends and saying " What's up my nigga." At school they are always cussing at each other and when they are at lunch they are always pushing and shoving each other. 

      

       I did a little research on the word "nigga" which originated from the word negro. Negro was an offending word back in the day but now people just say it and some African American people say it to each other. 

I interviewed my cousin and he said that  "good things about the world are people who created Call of Duty, Star Wars, and Spongebob." 

He said that the bad things about the world are "school, my bedtime, and broccoli."

     This interview of my cousin is about what is good and bad about the world. He clearly is to young to know about what is really going on in the world. He decided that the people who made Call of Duty, Star Wars, and Spongebob were the good things about the world. Which I believe is very funny that he would think out of everything he would say those three things. I thought he would say something such as his family and friends but I was wrong.

       He said that school, his bedtime and broccoli were the bad things about the world. I could agree if I was his age but now I know that you would probably need school to do good in the future. I guess because he is young he is very hyper and doesn't want to sleep earlier than like 9. He also said that he doesn't like broccoli. I thought he would've said that he thought a person was bad but he said broccoli. I thought overall he gave some pretty interesting answers.

    I guess you could say that my father changes the world by reusing bags and recycling bottles, paper, and even electronics. My father said " I change the world by doing the things I listed to you." I didn't know how much it really help the world by doing little things as walking instead of taking a bus,train,or another way of transportation. You can also help by using reusable bottles or just by no using plastic bottles. I definitely start to be more cautious of what would hurt the world and what will help it.

    You can do simple things to help the world and environment in the future. You could ride bikes, scooters, and skateboards to get to places. That will really help the world.

    I was watching the news and saw the tornadoes in Chicago and am wondering what the government is going to do about the houses and homeless people in the country. 

     I think it would be really hard to be in situations on the news because the situations on the news are really hard on some people. If I was homeless if I was in the tornadoes or if the government wouldn't help the people in the tornadoes. I definitely wouldn't want to be in these situations. I would probably be scared.

    In movies and tv shows teenage characters aren't like the teens I know because in the shows most kids are most likely rich and have nice cars. The characters in the movies are usually white males or females. There families have a lot of issues and they bring there children into the problem. 

 

    I believe that it doesn't portray an accurate life of the average teen my age. I believe that it portrays the opposite of what really happens in a teenage persons life. Some students try to be like the people who are on tv.

Argument essay Mohammed Abed

Mohammed Abed 811

Dear Ms. Berner,

I have heard that you will be removing dark books from the sixth grade library. I oppose book banning because I believe that education should be open to everyone. Another reason why books shouldn't be banned is because readers will learn how to cope with difficult issues they are facing. I know that some parents are encouraging you to get rid of some books but I believe that parents shouldn’t be able to ban books for all students. They should only be able to ban books for their children. If a book really challenging teacher should make the child get permission from a parent.

I believe books shouldn’t be banned because education should be open to everyone. For example, Bill Moyer’s says “Censorship is the enemy of the truth.” I agree with this statement because without knowing the whole story you will not know the truth of the story and what really happened. For example, if you don’t know what the author really wrote, you won’t learn new information that could help you understand the book better. In the article “Why the Best Kids Books are Written in Blood” by Sherman Alexie. Alexie says, “I read books about monsters and monstrous things, often written with monstrous language, because they taught me how to battle the real monsters in my life.’’ This shows the reader that books teach people how to deal with real life issues and things that are so bad you can't believe it. The truth can be ugly and unfortunate, but it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen

Another reason why I think books should not be banned is because they teach readers how to cope with some issues. For example, in the article “Why the Best Books Are Written in Blood” Alexie states that “I write to give them weapons-in the form of words and ideas-that will help them fight their monsters. I write in blood because I remember what it felt to bleed.’’ This shows that books are meant to help people cope with issues that the author’s experienced. Bill Moyers also says, “Censorship will prevent us from knowing the difference.” This shows that censorship will change the story so much that we won’t know the difference between the truth and a lie.

    There are probably some parents who don’t want their children to read some of the books in the sixth grade library. For example, the video called “Book Under Fire” on ABC channel 13, Alton Verm is the parent of a child who felt uncomfortable reading a book called “Fahrenheit 451.” The video states that Diana Verm was offended by “The cussing in it and the burning of the Bible.” She complained to her father and then was given an alternate reading assignment but her dad was pushing the issue. He wanted to ban the book for everyone. This shows that they are just greedy trying to ban the book for everyone even though she was given an alternate assignment. You should not be able to ban books for everyone just because you are uncomfortable reading it. I believe that if you are uncomfortable with reading a book you should stop reading it, not ban the book for everyone because others might enjoy reading it.

I hope now you will change your mind about banning some books in the sixth grade library. These books help people cope with some issues and education should be for everyone. Authors write things to help the reader with some issues they might face in the future. Every word they write is important to understand the whole book. In my opinion, books should not be banned or be censored.

                                                                                                        Sincerely,

                                                                                                               Mohammed Abed

enders game by mohammed abed 811

In the book “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card, Andrew “Ender” Wiggin is the main character. Ender developed and changed over the course of the book. My first impression of Ender is that he was eccentric, impulsive, and a pariah. Ender acted as a leader towards the middle of the book. He was also confident towards the middle of the book. Ender changed internally and externally at the end of the book. Ender changed internally because he stopped comparing himself to Peter and he changed externally by becoming serious and cautious.

            My first impression of ender is that he was eccentric, impulsive, and a pariah. I thought Ender was eccentric because he had the monitor when he was six years old and most kids took it off when they were less than five years old. Ender was also very impulsive at the beginning of the book like when he fought Stilson. Stilson beat him up at first with a group of people, after they started to leave, Ender got up and beat up Stilson. He did that impulsively because Stilson had many friends still with him and he didn’t think he would get in trouble for fighting back. That’s when he got noticed by Graff and then he gets recruited by the army. He is also a pariah in the beginning of the book. Ender is a pariah at school and at home. At school he gets bullied and at home he isn’t really noticed as a part of the family, except from his sister.

            Ender acted as a leader towards the middle of the book. He was also confident during the middle of the book. He acted as a leader by teaching his army what he had learned. He was one of the best, if not the best soldier ever so he helped his army a lot. He is confident he can beat any army because he made his army very flexible if put into a tough situation.

            Ender changed internally because he stopped comparing himself to Peter and he changed externally by becoming serious and cautious. Ender would always compare himself with Peter when he would do something bad or something that would hurt someone else. For example, when he beat up Stilson he felt like he was becoming Peter, but now when he does something bad, he doesn’t compare himself like Peter anymore. Ender is very serious and cautious at the end of the book. For example, he wouldn’t laugh as much as he did in the beginning and middle of the book. He also didn’t like to joke as much as he did with his friends and soldiers.  He wasn’t laid back as much and he would always watch his back throughout the end of the book.

            In the book “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card Ender changed over the course of the book. He was eccentric, impulsive, and a pariah in the beginning. He acted as a leader towards the middle and was also confident. He also changes internally and externally at the end of the book. He changes internally because he stopped comparing himself to his older brother Peter when he did bad things. He changed externally by becoming more serious. He also became more cautious with his surroundings. He changed a lot during the book and will probably change even more during the second book.

Response to Rash by Pete Hautman Mohammed Abed 811

   The book "Rash" by Pete Hautman is about how the U.S has turned into the USSA and is obsessed with safety. Bo Marsten was sentenced for manual labor and now hates the law. Issues in the book are treated in many different ways. The most important way is by being sent to Mr. Lipkin at security, safety, and health. That's where they see if you're guilty or not.

       Bo Marsten was sent there many times. Most recently he was sent for doing cruel things. He was doing it to one person inpiticular. He was doing it to Karlohs Mink. First he was accused of calling him a "pretentious droog" (which he did) and then they accused him of giving Karlohs a rash. I dont know if he gave him the rash or not. Both times he was sent to the same place, Mr. Lipkin at security, safety, and health.

      Most issues in the book are handled to Mr. Lipkin at security, safety, and health. Bo Marsten is looking at some serious time for what he did for did to Karlohs. I'm wounds ring if he will run or just do his time. 

Response for inquiry question 2 by Mohammed Abed

       In the book "Tears of a Tiger" issues are treated differently by different characters. B.J handled his issues by going to church, Andy handled his issues by going to a psychologist and talking to the coach, Rhonda handled her issues by writing to her sister and/or writing it in ELA class for an assignment. 

       B.J handled his issues by going to church. For example, when he stopped going to church and then after the acciedent he started to go back and he tells god that he wants his forgiveness and to please help Andy. Rhonda handled her issues by writing in ELA class. For instance, she wrote a poem about how bad it's been lately and an letter about what happens to her sister.

       Andy handles his issues by talking to his coach and going to the psychologist. When the coach sees Andy he always says are you alright and is willing to talk about Rob's death with Andy. Andy also handles his issues by talkng to a psychologist. For example, Andy talked with the psychologist almost every other week until he says Andy has gotten better which wasnt true because he killed himself a little after they stopped talking. 

       In the book "Tears of a Tiger" different characters handle their problems in different ways. Some by talking to people and some by writing it to people or in a diary. For some people it helped them with their problems and others it didn't. In Andy's case it didn't but in B.J and Rhonda's case it helped them a little. 

Faithful Elephants Reading Response by Mohammed Abed

     The short story "Faithful Elephants" by Yukio Tsuchiya is a heartbreaking and drepressing story. The author wants the reader to know that war does not just effect only the soldiers in the battlefield but aslo animals and people who aren't on the battlefield. In the story the author uses the animals and trainers in the Ueno Zoo during World War Two. 

      War effected the animals in the Ueno Zoo. For example, the author states in the story that " Therefore, by command of the army, all of the lions, tigers, leopards, bears, and big snakes were poisoned to death." That shows the reader how animals were effected by the war. In some cases like John, Tonky, and Wanly three elephants in the Ueno Zoo were also effected by the war. In the story the author states that the trainers were suppose to put the poison in the elephants food but the elephants were to smart. Then they tried to kill them by enjecting them with a syringe and that also didn't work. They were forced to starve them to death. 

       War also effected the trainers in the "Ueno Zoo." In the story, the author utilized that the trainers disobeyed orders and gave Tonky and Wonky food and water. They author also pointed out that he gave them the food and water while sobbing to the elephants. That shows how the trainers were effected by the war. 

     "Faithful Elephants" by Yukio Tsuchiya challenges the reader to try pervent the best you can so people and animals won't be effected by war. The author really wants the reader to know that war doesn't just effect the soldiers on the battlefield but also the trainers and animals in the Ueno Zoo.

Reading Response of Ender's Game by Mohammed Abed

     This book is about a boy genius who saves the planet. He is taken from his home when he is six year sold and brought to Battle School, in space. The International Fleet is in charge of beating the aliens so they are training soldiers at a young age. The aliens have already attacked twice, and have almost destroyed the humans. 

      Ender Wiggin was the smartest and youngest soldier in battle school, and also becoming the best soldier the world has ever seen, rapidly advancing through school, both in class and the games. Even though he has some hardships he always gets through them.