That was then, this is now by Mohammed Abed 811

     In the book  the two main characters  Byron and Mark are  brothers. Things are changing Byron is growing up. Mark is the one who lives the life of the party. Byron is now finding new things about Mark. They both hustle pool at a friends bar. Mark's parents died in an argument with each other when they were both drunk and ended up shooting each other. 

     Mark and Bryon have to make money to help support the family while their mom is in the hospital getting surgery. Bryon gets a job at the local supermarket while Mark starts bringing in lots of cash. Bryon doesn't ask where it's from. Towards the end of the book, Bryon discovers that Mark has been getting his money by selling drugs to hippies. Bryon is horrified since a 13 year old kid they know, named M&M, went missing and became crazy because of someone selling him drugs. 

     That shows you will never fully be able to know someone. In this story they didn't really notice what was really happening between them. When Byron finds out Mark e decides to call the police and has Mark arrested. When Byron confronted Mark, Mark said that he would stop but it was too late. Mark gets sent to an reformatory school.

The outsiders by Mohammed Abed 811

      In the book "The Outsiders" the main character and his best friend Johnny. Johnny and Ponyboy are greasers. They had long black hair and were teenagers. Their enemies were the Socs. Johnny and Ponyboy both ran away from home because of many reasons. Johnny left because of the beatings endured from his father. Ponyboy had no parents but he had two older brothers. Soda and Darry loved Ponyboy but Darry would sometimes yell at Ponyboy but Ponyboy did something very stupid and Darry hit him.

      After the incident with Darry, Ponyboy and Johnny both ran away. Shortly after they ran away Ponyboy and Johnny get  into some trouble. They end up being surrounded by Socs. Ponyboy is being drowned by Socs and is about to die. Johnny takes out his Switchblade and stabs the Soc drowning Ponyboy. Then they go back to get Darry's help.

     Darry is at a party when they go to get his help. He was also drunk but he still helped them get out safely. He gave them money, a gun, and a place to stay. He told them where to go and what to do. When they arrive they have to change how they look. They both get haircuts but Ponyboy had to bleach his hair. They start talking about things that they will not talk about around the gang. Darry comes a couple of days later and helps them even more. He takes them to get some real food and tells them about what is happening back home. They are eager to go back but will they be safe there, will they be safe anywhere.

Runner by Mohammed Abed 811

This story is about a teenager named Chance and his life. His dad is analcoholic and they live on a tiny boat. They barely have enough money to survive. His father just his job and he has to make money fast. 

Someone comes up to him and offers Chance a job. He doesn't say what the job is. All he says is that he will be delivering packages. Chance knows there is something up but desperately needs the money. So he does it anyway. 

At the end of the book he notices people following him. The guy who offered the chance the job died. He tells his dad everything and his dad helps him out. His dad later sacrificed his life to save others. I would definetly recommend this book. 

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