Hopeful Haiku

Author's Note:"A haiku is a poem in which the first sentence is 5 syllables, the second is 7, and then the last sentence goes back down the 5 syllables. I wrote two of them because I thought they were very diverse from each other, one is happy and one is sad."

The bright sun shimmered
The waves danced across the sand
This was home sweet home

I feel so alone
In a world full of people
I can’t be myself

Stranded

If you were stranded on a desert Island what would you bring with you?

• Matches
• sleeping bag
• flashlight and batteries
• knife
• book
• flare gun
• first aid kit
• water bottle
• sunscreen and bug spray
• granola bar

If you were stranded on a desert island what 10 things would you bring with you?

Backpack: I would bring a backpack because it is great for carrying things while on the go. It’s portable and can hold a lot of the things I would always want to have with me if I was stranded.

Flashlight and batteries: If the dark I still need to be able to find my way through the woods or the jungle so I would need to bring a device with me that will help me see in the dark. The extra batteries are just in case the first ones die.

Sunscreen and Bug spray: I would bring sunscreen and bug spray because normally islands are very humid and I wouldn’t want my skin to burn. I would bring bug spray because there are a lot of tropical bugs and I hate bugs so I wouldn’t get bitten.

Flare gun: If there were any ships even within a 100 mile distance and I shot the flare gun at night then maybe someone would see the lights and come to rescue me.

First Aid Kit: I would bring a first aid kit in case I cut myself or got sick I would then have medicine and band-aids to help me recover from illnesses or injuries.

Water bottle: I would bring a water bottle so I would have something to hold my water in.

Semantic Devices

Semantic Devices

Is It Really Worth It?

Author's Note:" I oringinally wrote this paper for a Social Studies report, but I found that I had such strong opinions about this topics so I thought, why can't I write it for Language Arts too?"

Alaska is known for many things, such as their cold winters, dogsled races, and the breathtaking Northern Lights. When I hear the word Alaska I think of their wilderness.  I think of all their rare animals that don’t live anywhere else in the world. People pay every month to keep that area pure and not touched. Do you think that it’s fair for the government to just swoop in and take all that away from them? Drilling in Alaska is a bad idea because it will hurt the environment, it won’t boost the economy, and it could kill off many endangered species that cannot be found anywhere else.

                       

Drilling in the U.S. has been a controversy in the U.S. since 1977, but one of the main concerns about this is how will it affect the economy (1)? If the U.S. decided to start drilling it would take 7-12 years to get all set up before they would start producing oil (1).  Currently the United States uses about 21 million barrels a day, and only 6 million of those are produced domestically (2).  According to msnbc, a U.S. news site, drilling for oil will open up jobs but if the oil will only last us 6 months then by the time the oil is gone they will be unemployed again (1). Another great point to bring up in this case would be that by drilling for this oil the U.S.’s economy will not grow, we will simply gain back what we have already lost (3). Lastly the U.S. uses 25-30% of the world’s oil supply, so the best thing that the Unites States of America can do at this point would be to develop alternatives to oil so that we could save more (3).

The ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) is not ready to give up their 19 million acres of land that has been devoted to being a sanctuary and safe place for animals to roar freely (4). This environment is the largest protected wilderness in the entire U.S. To these people this wilderness is their life and they believe very passionately that this land should stay the way it is. Although this does have a lot of affect on the animals it also effects the environment as well. If the drilling is approved it could permanently contaminate the landscape and could have mountains of sewage slush if a pipe breaks or something doesn’t go as planned (1). One mistake and all of it will be gone.

A lot of people argue that this will be a good thing and will help America but what they don’t know is how much oil is actually down there. The oil will only last for approximately 6 months (1). Also the oil is not all in one place it is spread out along the entire ANWR. There is about 10.4 million barrels of oil left in Alaska and what most scientists and trained professionals are thinking is that only 5.7 of those barrels are actually retrievable (3). Are we really willing to take that risk, I mean what if even less than that amount is retrievable. Another main point is how will we repay the people at the ANWR for the oil, we just took their precious wildlife away and destroyed it completely just so that the U.S. could gain some money(4). What will we do when the oil there is gone, we will have destroyed the environment and animals completely so what will happen to that environment?

                  

Killing off endangered species, poisoning the environment, and hurting our economy are all reasons why we should not drill for oil in Alaska. In so many ways drilling is wrong.  I mean honestly, the government has told everyone to saty away from the ANWR yet they want to just change their own rule? Why wouldn’t the United States’ rules not apply to them? What makes them any better than the rest of us? If it could hurt the environment and the animals then we all have to ask ourselves: is it really worth it?(4)

Source 1: "Arctic Power - Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - SHELL OCS Plans Inch Closer to Reality." Arctic Power - Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2012. http://www.anwr.org/Headlines/SHELL-OCS-Plans-Inch-Closer-to-Reality.php.

Source 2: "Arctic Refuge drilling controversy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Refuge_drilling_controversy.

Source 3: "Oil Drilling in Alaska | Environmental News, Articles & Information | Global Warming News | EcoWorld." Environmental News, Articles & Information | Global Warming News | EcoWorld | Environmental News, Information & Articles on Climate Change, Global Warming and Sustainability. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2012. http://www.ecoworld.com/animals/oil-drilling-in-alaska.html.

Source 4:"Would drilling more Alaskan oil cut prices? - Business - Answer Desk - msnbc.com." msnbc.com - Breaking news, science and tech news, world news, US news, local news- msnbc.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2012. <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12993250/ns/business-answer_desk/t/would-drilling-more-alaskan-oil-cut-prices/>.

There I stood

Author's Note: “This song was most listened to on my ipod for over a month, the lyrics coordinate to my life how pieces create a puzzle.  When I first heard this song I would listen to it over and over until the lyrics played silently in my head. It just makes me smile knowing that I’m not the only one in this world that sometimes feels invisible. I wrote a poem about this song, but keep in mind I do not write poetry a lot so I’m just trying to take a stab at it. This song is "Invisble" by Taylor Swift.”

She can’t see the way your eyes

Light up when you smile

She’ll never notice how you stop and stare whenever she walks by

And you can’t see me wantin' you the way you want her

But you are everything to me

I just wanna show you

She don’t even know you

She's never gonna love you like I want to

And you just see right through me

If you only knew me

We could be a beautiful

Miracle,

Unbelievable

Instead of just invisible.

There’s a fire inside of you

That can’t help but shine through

She’s never gonna see the light no matter what you do

And all I think about is how to make you think of me

And everything that we could be

Like shadows in a faded light

Oh, we’re invisible

I just wanna open your eyes

And make you realize

I just wanna show you

She don’t even know you

Baby, let me love you

Let me want you

You just see right through me

But if you only knew me

We could be a beautiful

Miracle,

Unbelievable

Instead of just invisible

She can’t see the way your eyes light up when you smile

There I stood: there I stood waiting for you to turn around and come running back into my arms, there I stood wanting you to love me for me, there I stood with tearing welling up in my eyes while remembering all the times where you told me you loved me, there I stood wanting you to want me.

Here I stood: here I stood wanting to leave my world because you weren’t apart of it anymore, here I stood knowing you weren’t going to come back to me, here I stood questioning if you ever loved me at all.

Here I was wishing: wishing the sting of rejection would fade away, wishing I’d never met you, wishing you wouldn’t have broken my heart into a million irreparable pieces, wishing that I could just move on and love another, wishing you had known how much I loved you.

Here I was realizing: realizing you weren’t the one for me, realizing that you had moved on, realizing I meant nothing to you, realizing I was just a piece in your little lying games, realizing I was done with you, realizing I should stop trying to convince I’m your soul mate not her, realizing I was done with you.

I Smile Because of You

Author's Note: " My friends are the best, we laugh, we joke, we talk, we always have fun. I can't imagine a world without them, that's why I wrote this."

I feel like with this one simple quote, someone could write a novel. It is so empowering the way the words almost speak to me. I’ve read this quote probably a million times and I not only believe everything it stands for, but I also believe in what it symbolizes. To me it means that sometimes hearing your friend’s voice, or seeing a picture of her can comfort you instantly. It amazes me that that people take friends for grant it, honestly my friends are what make me happy, they fill my life with joy. I don’t know what I would without my friends, when going through something like middle school I’ve found that sharing your experiences with others and learning about their experiences really helps you understand who they are as a person.
Not only are friends there for you when you need a shoulder to cry on, but they’re always there for you at the end of the day. A true friend would never abandon you in a time of need, they will be there for you, especially when you most need them. I feel that when something good happens to you or your friend, you share the happiness and support each other no matter what life has in store for you. I’m not going to tell you growing up is easy, but when you have great friends to help you through the hard times and celebrate the good times, nothing can bring you down.
 

The Life of a Tissue

Author's Note: "All of us know how it feels to be alone feeling like we are in a distant planet in comparison to the rest of the world, but its okay to feel that way because things will get better.

I've heard it a million times, my life doesn't matter, but I will defend myself time after time by telling them I do matter. What will you do when you have a a cold or a stuffy nose and there is no box of tissues to blow your nose in? How will you feel then? Could you ever imagine crying, but not having a box of tissues to wipe you nose with: I think not. So next time think twice before you mock the life of a tissue because we are extremely important.
We live a hard life: honestly do you think sitting inside a box is really how you want to spend your life. I've lost my mother and father because they were used and thrown away. I've realized over my weeks of existence that once you are used your life is over, you are left to rot in a landfill until the end of time: but that's my dream, to be of some use to someone in this huge world. I will make myself worth something, I will get out of this box someday and be used and it will be the best five seconds of my life.