SPELLBOUND

Should we still have spelling bees? Why? Why not?

When it comes to spelling bees my position is neutral. I believe that participating and preparing in a spelling bee has positive and negative effects. When you inscribe in a spelling bee you are submitting yourself into a long process that has various rounds of competition. If you want to get far in the competition you have to study a humungous quantity of words, now this will take up a big amount of your time. Having little time left makes it very hard to have a social life , and even if you had time many societies specially the one in the United States doesn't include "nerds" much, well at least that is what many people consider the participants of spelling bees. But on another side the positive outcomes of participating are that you don't get involved in things like drugs , gangs , alcohol and other unhealthy things. You also develop more academically and expand your knowledge. When you go to the contests you can become friend of other participants that are just like you and that will give you a social life that is more suitable for you.

Allowing spelling bees to continue have good opportunities just as I had mentioned before, but also has its down side. The state gives children a chance to participate but it is their choice if they give up their social life and possibly stress from the pressure that is placed on them. But it also gives them a chance to participate in a group of few people who share the same interests.

Choose one subject (person). Describe how winning the spelling bee is important to that subject.

Neil , a indian child from Sanclemente, California was probably the one with most pressure to win the competition. He studied 8,000 words daily and had various tutors for the different languages. His parents where very demanding on this subject and pressured him a lot to do his best. His grandfather hired various people to pray for him and offers to feed a few thousand people in india if he won the spelling bee, so he had the pressure from his family. It was important to him so that he didn't disappoint his familly.

ETHOS, PATHOS , LOGOS

This advertisement is ethos because it is promoting a brand (Nike) by using a characters credibility (Serena williams).

This advertisement is pathos because it appeals to our feelings in order to help a cause (help Haiti).

This advertisement is logos because it uses facts and reasons for people to do what the add indicates ( stop smoking).

Malala Yousafzai

As I read this article I was shocked that there was still a country that was in the midst of a religious and ethical war. I thought that as technology advanced people would begin to become more modern and more tolerant to different religious and ethical beliefs. But this girl opened my eyes to a whole new idea of Pakistan, a country that is in one of its worst moments and that is reflected on society. Malala shows us the reality of being a teenager in pakistan and is not afraid to do so. She wrote under an anonymous name but that still didn't keep her safe and now she is in the hospital in recovery , but the consequences could have been much worse.

In the article they show a passage from her diary  On my way from school to home I heard a man saying 'I will kill you'. I hastened my pace... to my utter relief he was talking on his mobile and must have been threatening someone else over the phone." This shows us that she didn't get very alarmed but she did take precaution and walked faster. This demonstrates to us that to threaten someone with killing them is very common , and i can relate that this to the years 2000 in colombia when drug lords would have people kidnapped, killed , etc.

I want to thank Malala for risking her life to show the world what is happening in her country and I believe that she has a great future.

The Passport

Even though the book says that this was a while ago many countries still close their borders during wars nowadays. And many times civil wars start since people want to leave the countries for safety reasons or other personal reasons , sometimes they even have to escape.

When they mention that the little girls uncle dies because of a grenade I start to think that maybe he was so shocked and stressed that any little thing would make him have a heart attack and that was why the grenade killed him even if it didn't explode. they also state that his son was take to be a soldier at a very young age. You can see this in colombia and many other countries with terrorists groups like the guerrilla who take children with little resources and convert them into guerrilleros.

The Sheep

I can relate to this personally since I feel that when the little girl tries to participate in a adult conversation they make what she says useless. To be more specific she told the adults what she had heard on television , and her father reacted in a way that disapproved her comment since it stated something that he didn't agree with. Sometimes when I talk with my parents I feel that way because I don't know much about the topic, but when i try to participate with a comment that i believe is use full it is just ignore by them.

Persepolis

I once read in a book about the holocaust that during the wars they would take away the man of the family. This reminds me to the part in this chapter where many children's fathers are taken away for prisoners. In the book it mentions that the mother or woman is forced to make uniforms for the nazis.

Another thing I can relate this chapter to is a movie I watched that talks about a man who goes out hunting and leaves his daughter at home, but he never comes back because he was kidnaped. So that could have been a possible outcome from the situation that the main character faces when her father does not come back.

The Veil

Capitalism : an economic system that is based on private ownership, and the creations of goods and services for profit.

Decadence : it is used to describe decline because of a moral or ethical tradition.

Veil : a piece of clothing that is used to cover the face, mostly used by women.

Prophet : a man that has been chosen by God to be his messenger.

Demonstration : a political protest.


Questions :
Why does the main character skip 2500 years and is still alive ?
What are her parents protesting against ?