Journal 3 - A Long Way Gone

Dear Alex Cesley and Sarahi,

There was a quote in the book that stated “Every time people come at us with the intent of killing us, I close my eyes and wait for death. Even though I am still alive, I feel like each time I accept death, part of me dies. Very soon I will completely die and all that will be left is my empty body walking with you. It will be quieter than I am.” What do you think about this quote that was said by Saidu? I found it impacting. What he said was so powerful so true. I could imagine that if I was in Saidu’s shoes this is what I would be thinking as well. I think that if I was to be going around killing people that I would myself lose the life in me even though I would be alive. I think that I would just stop living. It’s amazing how he says that death would be quieter than he was. I think when you go through things like that then you tend to be smarter and the things that you say tend to be much deeper. It’s too bad though that Saidu dies. I wanted him to live.

The Road (Journal 8)

Dear Cynthia and Alexia,

Well I was finished with the book a while ago and I'm glad that you all finally finished. But yes isn't the end horrible. I knew all along that the father was going to die. Cormac Mcarthy gave a lot of foreshadowing leading onto the father's death. I saw it coming I knew it from the start. But what I thought was that they were going to turn into cannibals in the end, but they don't. It's a Shakespere tragic even though Shakespere didn't write it. I hated the fact that the father left the boy alone. After all the heartache that they went through and after all the pain that they endured he just dies. I think it was because when he was looking for food and happened to run into the flame gun and was in the water. I think that's what triggered his death. I would have been happier if the son would have died. Then the father would have nothing to live for and he could die all on his own. Things would have been a lot better that way. At least I think they would have been a lot better. Also Cormac Mccarthy does and incredible job of telling a story. It doesn't bother me that he doesn't put quotation marks or barely puts in periods. It took me a while to get used to, but when I finally did it made the story better.

- Sincerely,

Ana Hernandez

The Road (Journal 5)

Dear Cynthia and Alexia,

As you may know the mother leaves the son and the father. She states that she can no longer live that way. Do you agree with this decision? Would you have done the same thing? I think that if the mother would have been there with them things would have been a tad bit different. Maybe it would have been harder because then they would need more food to gather and more blankets to cover each other with. But I also think that maybe the sanity between them would have been there. The conversations that the boy has with his father are the shortest weirdest conversations. They don’t talk how we would with our parents nowadays. The way they talk is usually with just two words. The conversations they have makes the tone in the book to be more depressing. But even though they have little or no conversations at all you can tell that the father loves his son. As I was reading Alexia’s comment she states that the father saves his son his favorite food just for him. I thought that was sweet. Also when the father only has one bullet left and they are running away from the bad people, if you read carefully you can see just how much the father really loves his son. The father tells the boy to take the gun and if he doesn’t come back then to put it in his mouth and point up. It was obvious what he was telling him, he was saying to kill himself so that the bad people wouldn’t get him and eat him. I guess it’s true what they say, actions do speak louder than words.
(I’m done with book)


Sincerely ,

Ana Hernandez

Homework 19- Polotics- Vote Online?

I don’t really think this is a good idea. You’re taking a risk by voting online. There are many hackers out there in the world that could intervene with the voting. they could mess with the counts of vote and somehow mess it up. Also computers aren’t a reliable source they could crash at the last minute. I also think that people may think that the vote counting was a fraud. I’m pretty sure people will start complaining saying that they somehow they messed with the voting. Also I think that it might be an ok idea because this will allow people to stay at home and vote there instead of having to go out there to the stands and vote. But over all I don't think that it's a very good idea.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/FutureTech/Story?id=215802&page=2

Homework 18- Health and Science - Breastfeeding Infants can Raise their IQ

If breastfeeding could help a child raise their IQ then I say go for it. What harm could that do to society? None. What’s the harm in that? Nothing. This could only help raise the IQ’s in children with a gene called FADS2. This gene is suppose to control fatty acid pathways that will help infants use breast milk better. Although I say it’s kind of wrong to say that only children with this gene are the only kinds that can raise its IQ. I think there are many other ways to raise IQ’s not only by drinking breast milk. Maybe a mother can let her baby listen to classical music, I heard that can make your baby smarter. I think there are many other ways to make your baby smarter not just this way.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071105171949.htm

Homework 17 Technology- Robot soldiers?

When I finished reading this I was a bit shocked. Robot soldiers? What are they thinking? These people are crazy to even think about creating such a thing. I think this is an idea that will go extremely wrong. There are too many “what ifs.” For example, what if these robots kill each other, or what if they start killing people because they don’t know whether to distinguished bad from good. The people from the Pentagon already talk about these things and say that they will program the robot so that it won’t do these things, but, even so, it still doesn’t make me feel at all safe. They explain that these robots will not forget their orders, they won’t worry about the other robot next to them that got shot, and they won’t be afraid. This has been the Pentagon’s dream to create these robots. But I say no, fighting in war is a real man’s job not for a robot. Robots will fail; we can’t put trust in them. We can always put trust in man to fight for us in wars. They might fail but at least we won’t be worried about them killing the humans that they are fighting for.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/16/technology/16robots.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Homework 16- Education- Kids Punished for Protesting about War

I agree that the students should be punished because of their protesting, but also they shouldn’t. I agree on both sides of the story. All I have to say is “Ok let’s get honest, the war has been going on FOREVER, and these kids haven’t had protests until now and for what? Just to get out of class? Was it to interrupt? To be rebels? Or was it to be cool?” I’m pretty sure their intentions fell under one of the listed reasons. I don’t believe these kids were trying to do anything except interrupt the school and get out of class. But then again they do have rights. We have the right to have freedom of speech. But see they shouldn’t be punished so harshly. Maybe for them to be expelled was crossing the line. I think that putting them in detention will be fine. I say put them in there for ten days, that ought to shape them up. If you’re going to do protests then you’re, one way or another, going to get consequences, good or bad. And you as a responsible person are going to have to face them. If these kids where so bold to do a protest in front of the school then they should be bold to take in the punishments.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/07/us/07protest.html?ref=education