A Teacher to Remember

"This is the class where you can find your soul, if you dare."  Mr. Freeman told his art students on the first day of art class.  "If you don't learn art now, you will never learn to breathe!"  Mr. Freeman is Melinda's favorite teacher; he pushes them to express their emotions through their art, cares about his students, and give almost everyone an A.  Mr. Freeman, from the book Speak was an character that greatly impacted Melinda from the first time he was mentioned in the book. 

Mr. Freeman teaches and grades his students different than most teachers do, because he has to.  What if you were taking an art class and when you turned in a project, your teacher told you that a ton of details that were wrong, basically telling you that your piece was terrible?  Mr. Freeman had to give most of the students an A for the class because there was no other way of grading them.  The only way you can grade art is by effort.  When Mr. Freeman got in trouble for giving all of the students an A, he took a chisel and sliced his canvas that he had been working on for a while.

Mr. Freeman should express his emotions because he is art teacher and in art, you express your emotions.  Mr. Freeman expressed his emotions in many different ways other than words.  For example, his art always showed his emotions or feelings.  Also his emotions were shown through his actions, like slicing his painting with a chisel because he was upset that his budget had been taken away.  I think that part of the reason Mr. Freeman ruined his painting is because he had painted the school board members in a jail, and it was like they had broken out and taken more away from him.

Meanwhile, Mr. Freeman cares about the problems that his students are having in life.  He wants to help them fix their problems, it probably has something to do with the fact that he wants them to discover themselves and find their soul.  An example of this could be when he offered Melinda a ride to where ever she was going before he knew how close or far he would have to drive.  He wanted to help her.  Another example is at the end of the book when Melinda finishes her project and starts to cry. 

Mr. Freeman notices quickly that Melinda "has been through a lot" and gives Melinda the strength to tell him what happened.

In the novel Speak, Mr. Freeman is an intriguing character.  He teaches his students in a different way.  Most teachers don’t care about their students as much as Mr. Freeman does.  He wants them to find their soul, learn to breathe, and create a masterpiece.

The Homework of Feelings

"I do my homework- choose 5 verbs and conjugate them.

To translate: traducir. I traducir.

To flunk: fracasar. Yo am almost fracarsaring.

To hide: esconder. To escape: escapar.

To forget: olvidar"

Although these words could have been randomly selected, it is fairly obvious that they are not.  First is  to traducir, translate.  Melinda has to translate five verbs. Fracasar, to flunk,  her grades are failing with only an A in art.  Esconder,to hide, Melinda tries to hide the blood, the tears, the pain. Esconder, to escape, Melinda want to escape from her life, escape from her body, escape from the secrets.  Olvidar, to forget,  she desperately wants to forget everything that happened at the party, the reason why no one would talk to her.  These words clearly express Melinda's feelings.

To Take Away the Pain

I predict that in the novel Speak, Melinda will make a few friends.  Then, later in the book, her new friends will remember why they weren't Melinda's friend before and will turn on her.  Poor Melinda will be left with nothing more than what she had in the beginning of the book.

 First, this is a tragedy. It started with a conflict, which was that Melinda had no friends because she had called the cops on them at a party.  I think that her rise to power will be when she makes a few friends other than Heather and more people forgive her for calling the police.  Then I think that she will lose her new friends and that will be the death symbolism. Also, it's realistic because it is possible that a ninth grade girl could call the cops at a party with her friends and then end up with everyone turned against her.

A similar story is the book Finally by Wendy Mass. In that story, there is a girl  named Rory whose parents told her that she could do a lot of things when she turned 12.  When she finally turns 12 and gets to do all of things she wants to, but she realizes that most of them weren't worth it.  The reason they weren't worth it is because she got hurt while doing most of them.  For  example, one of the things she was able to do was get her ears pierced.  She found out that she was allergic to gold and her whole ear was multiplied in size.  This girl just kept getting hurt.  These two books are alike because while Rory was getting hurt on the outside, Melinda was getting hurt on the inside.

Milkweed Comparative Essay

Growling stomachs, loneliness, poverty, and tears gently rolling down the faces of almost everyone, this was how both Misha and Lili lived for a while. They were alone, with no family, no food, and all of this happens to them because of one thing; the fact that they are Jews. Misha fromthe novel Milkweed and Lili, a real survivor of the Holocaust, have many similarities, yet they are very different people.

First of all, these two Jews didn't understand completely what was happening. Misha didn't understand that the ghetto was a bad place when they were first going there, he didn't understand that birthday candles weren't going to burn the cake, nor that the Jackboots weren't his friends. On the other hand, Lili didn't know where she was. She thought that if she was good the nuns would tell her parents and her parents would take her home, she thought that her life of cruelty was normal and that all children lived this way. She didn't understand that none of this was true. As you can see, these two characters didn't understand a lot of what was going on and therefore were very similar, but they can also be considered very different.

As one difference, Lili knows about her family and herself, whereas Misha doesn't. Lili knows that her name is Lili while Misha was given his name by his friend Uri. In addition Lili knows her brother, her mother, and her father. However Misha doesn't know if he has any siblings, or who his parents are and if they're alive. Lili also knew her age and her brother's age while Misha didn't even know his own age. Obviously, Lili knows a lot more about her past than Misha does about his.

Another way that Misha and Lili are different is that Misha's story is fake, while Lili's story is true.  Misha's story seemed miserable, but to think that some of these things actually happened to children like Lili.  How terrible would it be if you knew someone that was happy to eat a piece of moldy bread? It wasn't fair to those poor people who had to suffer just because they were different.

Clearly these two exceptionally different characters also have a lot in common. Living with empty stomachs, without their parents, alone, less than ten years old; these poor kids had a rough time in their lives.

Milkweed Point of View Essay

According to the National Poverty Center, 6.4 million children were poor in 2010. These unfortunate children didn't have an education, food, money, a home, or barely anything else.  These are some of reasons why the book Milkweed is interesting.  This book is about a poor orphan who steals food to survive.  He moves to the ghetto and meet a few friends along the way. Milkweed is told through the eyes of a little boy, about the age of 8,  given the name Misha.

Misha doesn't understand everything that is going on in the book.  He didn't know what a lot of things were. For example, he didn't know what a Jackboot was and he thought they were his friends.  Also he didn't know what Jews or orphans are, nor that when you light birthday candles your not trying to burn the cake, or hardly anything other than how to steal food.  This makes it hard for the reader to interpret because he doesn't know how to read or write and he doesn't know what just about anything is.  For instance, when he ran away with Janina's birthday cake, if it weren't for Uri, neither Misha nor the reader would have known what the cake said and learned Janina's name.

The story told in Misha's point of view was a little confusing because of Misha's lack of knowledge, but if the story were told from Uri's point of view the story would be much different. For one thing you would know about Uri's family and past.  You would also know about Uri's job before Misha found him working at the "blue camel hotel."  Another thing that would be different is that you would know what was going on in Uri's head through all of the book, like why he shot Misha's ear and what he was thinking at that moment.  Also it would be fascinating  to know why Uri did the things he did because we already know why Misha did the things he did. It would also be interesting to see what Uri thought of Misha. Imagine if you brought a kid in off the streets and they kept asking you simple questions or doing things that most people don't do. I think that it would be interesting to read this story from Uri's point of view.

Misha tells the story Milkweed from his point of view.  This book really shows you how terrible some people's lives really are.  There are plenty of children like Misha who are living in poverty now. So the next time you are begging your mom for a candy bar from the grocery store, stop and think about the children living in poverty who are probably begging their parents for something as simple as a glass of clean water.

An Unhealthy Favorite

Author's mote: I wrote this essay to inform people about how unhealthy soda really is.  Most people know that it is unhealthy, but they usually don't know exactly how unhealthy soda really is, especially if you drink it often.

Back in 1767, Dr. Joseph Priestly invented what we call soda. Everyone loved and continues to love his carbonated drink, even though it is unhealthy. Soda is very unhealthy for multiple reasons that most people don't even know. Everyone knows that soda is bad for you, but what they don't know is how unhealthy it really is.

First, it will take calcium from your bones.  Calcium is known for strengthening your bones, but it does much more too. For example, it helps prevent arthritis, high blood pressure and colon cancer.  It also helps contract your muscles and send messages from your brain to your nerves.

Researchers say that drinking soda can increase the chance of becoming obese by 1.6 percent.  Being obese is an unhealthy life style and more people become overweight every day. Being obese could give you heart problems, joint problems, and puts you at risk for type 2 diabetes.  All of these things could ruin your life, all because you drank a little too much soda.

There is also caffeine in these irresistible drinks. Caffeine may seem like an energy boost, and it is, but while it is boosting your energy it can be doing harmful things to your body. For instance, it can force the rate your heart beat to go up and that forces your heart to work harder.  It can also make you feel jumpy or nervous and your hand may begin to shake if you have too much.

Even though soda may taste good, it is terrible for your health.  It is okay to have soda once in a while, but not very often because as you can see, it is obviously very unhealthy. The unfortunate part about soda is that there are very few people that know how unhealthy soda really is for you.

Crushed

"Bye-bye Mommy." said four-year-old Claire, as she left the church with a tight grasp on her father's hand.

"It's okay, Jake," Claire's grandmother said with a comforting voice as he held back his tears, "at least you still have the Claire, whom both you and Meg love very much.”

"But I don't have Meg!" he wailed.

"Yes you do," His mother's voice cued as she gave him a little hug, " you have her in your heart, you've had her in there since the day you got married, and probably even before that."

"It's not the same." Jake moaned as a couple of tears slid down his face.

"I know, honey, but I also know that you have a beautiful daughter who loves you and Meg more than the world." replied the wise old woman, "Make sure you love her too, for one day you will die and leave her alone on this earth to learn and to live without her parents." From that moment on, Jake made sure his daughter was truly the light of his world, the reason he woke up in the morning and the reason he tried to love again.

For the next two years Jake was busier than ever while doing his job of being a firefighter, trying to find a wife and being Claire's dad. Finally, Jake met Kate. Kate was the most beautiful, intelligent, kindest woman that Jake had met, besides Meg. She was also rich and money was something that Jake and Claire needed. The only thing standing in the way of their marriage was a little six-year-old girl, Claire.

"Now Claire," Jake would say in a cheery voice, "Kate is going to be like a new mommy for you and all three of us will live happily ever after!"

"But I already have a mommy and I love her more than Kate and I don't want a new mommy, I want my old mommy back, not Kate to pretend to be her and not anyone to pretend to be her because she is my mommy and I love her."

"You were only four, Claire!" he would scream.

"That doesn't mean that I don't know my mommy and that I don't love her."

"Claire, I know that you love your mommy and I love her too, but after a while we have to have fun in our lives again and that is what your mom would want too."

"Okay!" she finally gave in to her father's begging. Soon, Kate was engaged to Jake and the wedding was in the process of being planned.

It was a perfectly normal day; Kate was at work while Jake and Claire played with dolls and waited for a phone call from the fire department, to tell Jake they needed help. Usually, they never got a call, but today they did. "Claire, grab your shoes and get in the car. Hurry!" he called to Claire. They got in the car and drove to the site of the fire. When they got there, Jake told Claire to stay away from the fire and took her over by the chief firefighter, where she always went when Jake was called to work. Then he got dressed in his fire gear and headed into the burning building.

A few minutes later Claire heard Jake sigh weakly into his radio to the chief "I can't get out."

"What's wrong with my daddy? Go save my daddy!" cried Claire.

The chief ignored Claire and replied back to Jake through his radio, "We can't send anyone in because the building is collapsing quickly, so try your hardest to get out."

"You have to save him," cried Claire, "because if you don't, I won't have a mommy or a daddy." Tears began to pour down her face and then she got an idea. She snuck away from the chief and ran into the burning building screaming "Daddy! Where are you?" Claire ran though the building, dreaming of her father, being safe, at home, where no fire could hurt him. And then she saw him, coughing and gasping for air. "Daddy!" she screamed in relief as she ran to him. The sound of her voice soothed his cough and restored his breath at first, but then his he panicked. 'Why was Claire in a burning, collapsing building?' he wondered frantically to himself. But his body took over and leaped to Claire.

"Let's go Claire." he said in a firm, yet worried voice. He didn't even think to carry her out because of how stunned he was that she was in the fire that almost killed him. They began running out of the building, avoiding the flames and falling objects. Finally, Jake had made it outside. He turned around to see Claire running out, but instead saw something that would change his life forever. He saw Claire, but then he saw the exit of the building collapse on Claire and he ran to her as she screamed until her scream turned to nothing.

The fire had been put out and everyone came to see why there had been a scream. Jake backed away to let the paramedics take care of Claire. After they had dug her out of the collapsed building, one of the paramedics walked over to Jake and told him sorrowfully, "Your daughter is dead. We are very sorry for your loss." Jake fell to his knees, buried his face in his hands and sat there until the crowd had cleared.

Then a familiar voice said to him, "Um, Jake," Jake didn't look up to see who it was because he realized instantly that it was Kate. "I, um, wanted to talk to you about our wedding." she paused and waited for a response, but receiving none, she continued "I know this isn't the best time but that is why I, um" she paused for a moment, "wanted to break up with you" she blurted out quickly. "Jake you’re a great guy, it's just that you lost your daughter, and there was a strong bond between the two of you, and I don't want to interfere with that because I know that it is going to be a rough few years of so because you lost your wife a couple years ago and now your daughter. I'm so sorry Jake." she said before walking away.

And it was only after she left that a tear shed from his eye. After a few tears poured down his face, dripping onto the fire suit that he was still wearing, he took a deep breath, stood up, and glanced one more time at the destroyed building. He took another deep breath and walked away; trying to forget, forget why she had died.