John

 John made it through high school with never putting in any effort. He showed up to school just so he could graduate and move on his life. Never making an effort to get A's or make a sports team, or in fact make any friends. Enlisting in the Army was his way of getting away. Away from his home town, and even his dad. His father raised him as a single parent -- his mom not around. They never had much in common and rarely talked anymore. John was always getting into trouble and his father did not know what to do with him.

John's father had a disease called Aspergers, a mild form of autism. His disease had a huge impact on John's life. John  had a lot more freedom because his father was not able to keep him under control. John loved his father very much but it was hard for him to connect with him. Their conversations were brief and to the point. John kept most of his feelings inside, he was very to himself.

John's life changed the moment he met Savannah on his leave from the army. After getting to know her John looked at life with a different perspective. He felt as if he had a reason to get up in the morning. He had someone to talk to, someone to laugh with, and mostly someone who kept him company. His dad was always there for him but not in the same way Savannah was.

John's life was impacted by his father and Savannah. Without each of them John would not have made the choices he did in life. Even though John and Savannah did not end up together in the end and that John's dad passed away John knew that his life was headed in the right direction.

Point of View

In the novel, the Bean Trees it is told in the perspective of the main character, Taylor. With Taylor telling the story we only see her opinion coming out. We miss the other characters perspectives and opinions which can limit how the reader comprehends the story.  When Taylor is handed a strangers baby at the gas station the reader can only see how confused and terrified Taylor is. We don't know if the lady giving her the baby is sad, scared, or even happy about putting her baby in a strangers possession.

Switching the point of view of the book can completely change it. If it changes from a happy character to a sad character the book now becomes sad. If the lady who gave Taylor the mysterious baby was the one telling the story we would have been able to see why she gave it away and what she was feeling when she did so.

 Author's Note: This is my prediction piece for the book "Bean Trees"

I believe that when Missy finds the child in her car at the gas station she will keep it. I believe this because she will become emotionally attached to the child as if it was her own. I believe She will start a new life in a new town with the child.

DNA

 Author's Note: This is my essay I wrote for science class on DNA.

Could something as small as a piece of hair put you behind bars? Yes, even a tiny hair at a crime scene could if not put you behind bars, it could send you to court as a suspect.  After many years of researching DNA scientists have proved that every single person can be identified by just their DNA. DNA is like your bar-code, whatever traces you leave can come back to you.  (Harris)

Every single person has their own unique DNA pattern. No one on the Earth has the same DNA as you, unless you are an identical twin. DNA, also known as Deoxyribonucleic acid is like your body's computer. Your DNA is found in your cells, specifically in your nucleus. It is arranged in spirals called a Double Helix. Each strand of DNA is filled with millions of bases. There are four main bases; cytosine, guanine, adenine, and thymine. Since DNA strands are very long the base pairs can be arranged in millions of different ways. The order of which your DNA is in, makes you, you! Each strand of DNA determines a different trait you have such as hair color, eye color or how tall you are.  (What is DNA?)

Whether you have a piece of DNA or a finger print, you may be able to figure the person it belongs to.  They have DNA databases where there is people's DNA stored from other investigations so that they are able to find and locate the person who committed a certain crime (Harris).  One small piece of DNA can prove someone's guilt or innocence. (Smolenyak) Even when they think no one will ever find out about the crime they committed, a small piece of DNA can be found and turn them guilty.  (Lieberman)

Your DNA makes up who you are and all your traits. No one’s DNA is exactly like yours. There is no one on this earth that is an exact match with someone else.

Bibliography

Harris, William. "How DNA Evidence Works." How it works. 23 may 2012 <http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/genetic/dna-evidence.htm>.

Lieberman, Kate Brinton and Kim-An. "DNA Finger Printing." May 1994. Protist Biology. 16 April 2012 <http://protist.biology.washington.edu/fingerprint/dnaintro.html>.

Smolenyak, Megan. "Five things you didn't know about DNA." 30 January 2012. Book Page. 25 April 2012 <http://www.bookpage.com/the-book-case/2012/01/30/five-things-you-didnt-know-about-your-dna/>.

"What is DNA?" 24 April 2012. Genetics Home Research. 26 April 2012 <http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/basics/dna>.

Sweat Shops

Author's Note: I wrote this piece expressing my thoughts toward the use and of sweatshops. After learning about them in social studies I have thought a lot about it and how I believe they are wrong. I also believe that it does no good just to spread the news. one person can change it.

Can you imagine a life where your daily salary is hardly enough to pay for one meal?  Not an easy day either; a 16 hour, break free day. I don't think anyone can imagine it until they have actually lived through it. But why are people treated like this? For the people in countries like Indonesia, this is their reality. Many people don't have a choice; they need whatever job they can get just to stay alive.  Large companies such as, Nike, Wal-Mart, Disney World, Abercrombie, and Apple use sweatshops so  they can force hard labor on people for extremely low wages.   In a way it is like slavery -- unfair and wrong. 

America is supposed to be the land of the free and the home of the brave. Treating people poorly in sweatshops is going against that.  Just because they live in a different country, speak a different language , or have less money than we do, does not give us the right to boss them around.  People say we are helping them by giving them jobs. Yes, we are providing jobs for them but we are also putting them in danger with the working conditions. Also, they are not able to live off of the wages they earn. Most don't have enough money to send their children to school. How is their country ever going to have a good economy if their children aren't even educated?

You could say it isn't our fault their country is poor ; and it entirely is not. I believe we play a contributing factor though. Is it so hard to pay these hard working people minimum wage? Currently they are making less in one day then an average American makes in an hour. We should be paying them what they deserve.

Put your self in their shoes and take a look at the situation from a different point of view. We should be putting sweat shops in the past and moving toward a considerate way to still give these people jobs. A way were they can live off their wages, send their children to school, and most importantly live in a safe and healthy place to raise their families.

Death of Life

In my essay Death of Life I have proven that in the story House Taken Over the house represents life and the house being attacked represents death. The two people in the story are an older couple and I believe death is coming to them. I believe this because in the story the woman really enjoys knitting and when something starts attacking the house she loses her ability to knit. 

Innocence

 

Author's Note: This is my response to To Kill a Mocking Bird. I wanted to focus on the theme of innocence and how it is shown through out the book. I wanted to explain how people of maturity can affect those of innocence both in positive and negative ways.

 Innocence is only a stage.  In the book, To kill a Mocking Bird Jem and Scout are innocent children until struck by evil events.  Carelessly playing in the yard with each other and friends was a daily activity for them until the trials. The trials changed them into children of maturity. They had to see so many events take place that included a lot of racism. Even though they grew up with racism around them they had never seen it so harsh before.  They had to question what was going on and why. Their father told them on page 30,"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." They saw things happen to innocent people that should have never happened. This led to the loss of their innocence. 

Innocence is a state where you have no care in the world, where everyone is your friend and nothing matters but the present. Innocence is mostly displayed in children. Most children grow out of it when they view events that are hard for them to face. Deciding their beliefs and opinions and standing up for what they believe is a change from innocence to maturity. For most it is a time in their life where they grow up and change as a person.

Atticus, Jem and Scout's father, was a man of maturity. When Tom Robinson, a black man, was convicted a crime he didn't do Atticus was the only one in the town who stood up for him and took his side as his lawyer.  When he did this he showed his children that at a point in your life you need to grow and stand up for what you believe in even if the larger percent of the people go the other way. On page 220 he says to his children, "As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don't you forget it-whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash." Atticus emphasizes that everyone should be treated fairly, and he realizes that his children are old enough -- mature enough-- to learn that lesson.

His children did learn and they were able to make decisions for themselves about their beliefs. Scout, his daughter displayed this when she thought of their unknown mysterious neighbor as a real person and respected him as a human being even if he was slightly different from the people she was used to.  She is the only one out of the three children to meet Boo Radley in person. For the first time he is not in her mind as a creepy neighbor, but a real person.

When Atticus could say that he taught his children the importance of maturity and making decisions, he succeeded in being a father. His children are now mature young adults following in the footsteps of their father.

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