Non-Fiction Blog Post

This article is about Russia's plan to go to the moon. They want to send a rover, or a space probe to the moon. This mission is their hope in collecting data for further Mars missions. Like Past competitions between Russia and the U.S.A, both countries want to get the reward of getting to the red planet first.
I think that this article is very interesting. I am always interested in the affaires between the US and Russia. I also think that the battle between the two countries will be very close. Who ever gets to the red giant first will make honor for their country. I also think that the mission will be extremely hard. I think that Russia's plan to go to the moon is smart, because you can collect data from the moon and use it for the mars missions.

Comment

Jeffrey- I think that your post on child soilders was really good, it is really cool that you read this book because we did child soilders in class.

Its Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

I am currently reading the book "Its Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini, This book is very deep and emotional. It is about a 15 year old boy named Craig who is going through depression, on top of the depression he is going through eating problems. Whenever Craig eats something, shortly after he throws up.

In Craig's mind he thinks his problems all started when he got into one of the best schools, executive pre-professional High School, the year before he started studying. He spent all his free time studying, in school and at home. This led him to a bit of stress, this leads him to smoking pot. After a while Craig becomes addicted to Pot, and almost everyday he goes to his friends house to hand out and smoke weed.

After all of his hard work Craig aces his test and makes it into the school. In the summer he gets a summer reading list and doesn't finish any of the books. This leads him to getting a 70 on his first test. It doesn't go uphill from here. He keeps doing bad in school and something what he calls a cycle starts. First he eats, then he throws up, then he looks at all the homework he has, then he doesn't do it, and then he can't sleep because he is wondering why he didn't do his homework. '

All in all I think that the book touches on deep topics that I can go on and on about. And I think that everyone should read this book.

Observe your surroundings.

Observations: Monday- many people have littered on the bus.

Tuesday- Kids of all ages are littering, not only younger kids.

Wednesday- Less 8th graders littered perhaps because of picture day.

Tuesday (back fro break)- bus driver looked annoyed because he saw some 7th graders

throwing garbage around.

Over the last week I noticed that many kids don’t care for the bus drivers and city

worker, on each day of the week at least 50% of the kids on the bus have some kind of

food from the deli. 48% of the wrappers end up somewhere on the floor or behind the

seats. On Tuesday November 20th I looked at who had wrappers from chips and other

food, I wanted to see which grade threw the most litter on the floor. The majority of the

kids in the back where 8th and 7t:h; graders, with the exception of a few 6th graders. I saw

that all the 7th graders threw their garbage on the floor and most of the 6th graders did, and

near all 8th graders did, this made me fell bad for the bus driver, because I know that he

would have to come back and pick up the litter when his shift is over. I think that the

favor is doing a favor for us by driving us already, first of all everyone on the bus is

talking, and many are yelling, it gets annoying even for me.

At first I thought that the majority of the littering would be done by younger

grades because they are not as mature. But many 8th graders are doing it too, maybe

people will grow out of it, this inspired me to walk around and look for people who

littered in the street. I was shocked to find so many people littering, I wish I brought my

camera because every couple of people would throw something on the floor. Another

thing I realized was that people litter in different ways. Some people read newspapers on

the train, and once they are done they just put it under their seat. You may not think that

putting your newspaper under your chair counts, but it does.

To wrap up my observations I noticed that many people of all ages litter, and it’s

not fair to the people who have to pick it up.







































Interview:
Me: What made you want to walk around the neighborhood and pick up garbage.

Lady: I saw how dirty the neighborhood got and wanted to get it cleaner because I have

lived here for many years, and do not want the neighborhood to become dirty, I want the

neighborhood to be like it was 10-15 years ago.

Me: About how many hours a day do you pick up garbage?

Lady: It depends how much litter I find, on average I start around 4:30 to 5:00 then got

until about 8 to 10.

Me: That’s a really long time! Do you think it is making a difference, is it starting to feel

like it did a few years ago?

Lady: I feel that if more people started to help it would be better! But I think I should ask

you if its making a difference, or at least if the neighborhood feels cleaner.

Me: I think any effort to help the community is great, I do think it is cleaner, but I think

that someone should tell the people that produce the litter to stop because it would make

your life easier, and make the neighborhood homier.

Lady: I agree

Me: Has walking around and doing this great deed become easier to do? Or do you just

tell yourself that you have to do this, and it’s the right thing to do.

Lady: That’s a hard question, I guess some days its easier that others, during the winter I

push myself to do it, because it’s colder outside. But during the summer I don’t mind

because its warmer and its really nice outside, I also like to watch the sunrise and I think

that it’s a beautiful couple of hours in the day. I think its sort of like running, most people

don’t like to run but they tell themselves that its good for them and they do it. So in a way

I like to think of this as my run, plus I don’t work because im retired so its good for me to

get up and walk around too.

Like I said in my interview I think what this lady is doing is great for the

community, I think the Earth is becoming over littered and people should stop. On the

bus I always see kids throwing wrappers on the floor, and I think of the people who have

to clean it up, it’s usually the bus driver himself, on top of driving the kids around then he

has to clean after them. If only we had millions of this women who picks up garbage. So

next time you have garbage hold on to it and throw it out, don’t litter, think about the

people who pick up after you, it may be your parents, a bus driver, or even a lady on the

street.


I made a collage to show a person littering and others showing that its bad, or

even giving them a dirty look. I think the image of the wrapper by the garbage shows just

how lazy some people really are.

In Carters Big Break by Brent Crawford one of the main issues is Hilary Idaho and her booze (beer) problem. Her bodyguard and Carter are the only people who know and "care" about it. She gets to the set of the movie they are shooting Hillary Idaho is always tired, her breath smells, and her eyes are blood shot.

If I where Carter I would do something about this, its not like it only happened once it happens very often, then she goes and takes ADD pills to get hyped up. In my opinion Carter should step up, tell more people, or try to help Hilary in a way, Because if this keeps happening its going to screw up the movie, but even bigger its going to kill Hilary's chances in staring in another movie.

I think she is going way to far, the author shows this issue many times and its becoming a theme for Hilary. The author doesn’t show this but I think Hilary is going to be in big trouble in the next chapter, because the last words I read was "My mom is coming"- Hilary Idaho. I think she thinks her mom will be on her side but I think it will be the other way around and she will pull her out of the movie, because she has a tough mom. This connects to my next thought on how this will pull Carter and Abby back together.

To wrap it up I think that its not smart of Hilary to drink and take pills and she will suffer from this, and Carter has to step up, or this might bring Carter and Abby back together.

In past days one of the worst natural disasters hit the New York New Jersey area. Many of people where left without houses or had major flooding, schools were even closed for a week (a new record). After Hurricane Irene in 2011 many did not think that Sandy would be so horrendous.


I was looking on the Internet and stumbled upon an interesting article. Its name is “Standing Water and the Disease Bugs,” even after all the sad story’s of flooding and houses gone, we might be dealing with a disease outbreak, I know at least 3 families with flooded basements and thousands of New Yorkers has similar problems, but after all the clean up and hard work people may get sick. According to the article water that stands in a basement for a long period of time can host a great place for fungi and other bacteria to grow. This could lead to people getting sick. They say the only solution to fixing this problem is to complete destroy the affected parts and rebuild. This is time consuming as well and money consuming.


I know one family that just built there house and got 8 feet of water in their basement, now they have to rebuild all over, that’s not so easy considering that they have to work and have 2 kids and a dog, on top of that it gets dark around 5 o’clock and they don’t have power yet.


To sum it up many families have been hit by this hurricane and maybe people will react differently the next time there is a threat like hurricane Sandy.

Revised Blog post. 6 Teen Angust Nahhhh... ned vizzini

I am currently reading Teen Angst? NAAAH... by Ned Vizzini, the book is a QuasiAutobiography of Vizzini’s life. The story goes back to when Vizzini was in High School, Vizzini attended Stuyvesant High School, or Stuy for short. Vizzini talks about what got him through his hardships and what helped him survive school. Lets face it, everyone has some way of getting rid of stress, and relaxing once school is over.



For example Ned Vizzini had multiply ways of getting rid of his stress. He had Nintendo, and buy Nintendo, I don't mean wii or gamecube, I mean the very first Nintendo. Before he got into high school and before he studied for the stuy test, he would come home and play on his old Nintendo. This actually inspired me to hook up my old Nintendo 64. It brought back old memories and was actually really fun. Anyway that is just one of the ways that Vizzini got rid of his stress and made it through the long grueling days in school.



In Vizzini’s second year of high school, he was really into these cards called Magic. He collected these cards, and gave me a whole chapter on how somewhere more rare than others, and how they are just like baseball cards, some are really rare and can sell for 100’s of dollars. Vizzini said he even spent a whole night at a magic tournament, he told his parents that he was going to his friends house, then left for Manhattan. Even in the most odd times he brings up the cards. When he sprained his ankle playing volleyball, he want to the nurses office, then he had to get his stuff because he was going home, and he grabbed his cards from his locker. These are just 2 example of how Vizzini survives school. I am pretty sure there will be more later on in the book, given the fact that I am only half way through.



Later as you keep reading you barely hear about his school life because he gets a girl friend. Instead of hearing about his school life and homework and stress, all you read about is, “So a normal day is me calling her from the Stuy payphone.” Or “I called her as soon as I got home. He also plays dominoes with his new friends in Manhattan. He goes there every week, while there he gets free beer and has fun. So instead of school he is focused on his social life.



To sum it up, we all have some way of realizes our stress and getting through those long days of school. Ned Vizzini is no different from us, as shown in his book.