Story

     Ben was having a wonderful dream. In his dream he and his baby brother Kevin had to answer to no one. They could leave the horrible orphanage! They could leave all the bad memories behind! Then he remembered that the only way to do that was to be adopted or to run away. “But no! Don’t think that!” he silently pleaded. But it was to late. He knew his life was like a maze. Every time you thought you were out of it, you hit another dead end. No dream was going to change that.

     Ben’s eyes flickered open and he found himself in the terrible reality. He glanced out the window and sighed. It was still raining cats and dogs, like it had been for the last two days. He sighed again. He knew he was lucky, knew that he could have gone to live with his uncle. Luckily the court thought that his law abiding uncle was, “A terrible threat to the children innocent little minds.” and, “It would be like sending the children to go live with a pack of hungry lions.” What with his uncles alcohol addiction and stealing problems ben thought he was right.

     As Ben thought this he glanced out the window again and then turned his whole head towards it in surprise. There were a pair of lights, right out of the blue and coming right towards him. When the thing neared Ben was able to make out a baby blue motorcycle just like his mum used to ride. Sitting on its back was… Ben gasped, “Granddad!

Ben’s Grandfather landed the bike neatly and stepped off to face him, smiling. “Yes my boy, I’ve come to take you. Now, where is you brother?” Ben rushed over to Kevin’s bed and scooped him up. His granddad laughed like Ben had just told him the funniest joke in the world. “You don’t need to do that, if you want to come with me you must leave those bodies behind.” Ben stared at him blankly, “Come again?” His grandfather smile saddened, “In order to come with me you must let your spirit come alone.”

Ben stared at him blankly for a couple seconds then comprehension dawned across his face, like a sun. “Your asking me to dye?” Ben said it like a question, like he hoped it wasn’t true. His granddad pointed at Kevin, who was just waking up. “You and your brother Kevin here.” As Kevin’s eyes opened slowly and spotted their granddad and he smiled (He’d always their grandfather, they’d laughed and played. They had been puppies playing with a new toy) and something started to happen. Something started to push its way out of Kevin’s body. It was a perfect (but slightly see through) replica of Kevin. Ben’s granddad laughed gleefully, “See! Kevin can already do it!”

Ben stared. The gost of Kevin was now sitting happily in the basket at the front of the motorcycle. “But-But how?” Ben asked desperately. “Simply close you eyes and will yourself to do it.” Ben shut his eyes and concentrated harder then he’d ever done before. Slowly a cold tingly sensation swept through him. He looked down at the thump when his body hit the ground. Ben smiled. “I guess we’re all in the same boat now.” he said, obviously delighted.  They flow into the distance, completely unaware that a little girl,me, had been watching them through the key whole.

 

P.S this is definitely not a true story.

Whitewashing

       My social justice issue is on whitewashing. Whitewashing is when a story or a book about a black person or with black people is made into a movie, but instead of casting black people they cast white people. Whitewashing could also be when a white actor is cast for a role as a black person but they make the person look black with make up.

      Whitewashing happens a lot, in movies now, it happens in Hollywood movies a lot and it’s been happening for a long time. For example in Shakespeare plays only white men were aloud to act. They would have to put makeup on and sometimes put on dresses. Some more recent examples are Angelina Jolie as Mariane Pearl in the movie Mighty heart and Laurence Oliver as Othello in the movie Othello

     I hope if anyone gets a job as a person who casts people in movies or shows they consider things like this.

 

Thank you

🙂

Putting pigs in unsafe environments

I’m doing my social justice issue on factory pig farming. I don’t have any problems with pigs, but I do have a problem with how their being treated. Huge numbers of pigs are being kept in spaces that are way to small for them.

There are some people who disagree with ,my stance.  Some think it’s okay to put pigs in these unfair environments. Even though I disagree with this thought I found that there are some reasons.  Some examples are it makes lots of money and some think it’s vital in human life.

There are federal laws state that state that people are not allowed to purposefully harm an animal, purposefully give any animals drugs or poison, or make any animals fight. When factory farmed pigs are being kept in very small spaces, this is harmful.  Also, pigs are being pumped with drugs, to grow faster.

Farmers need to adhere to these laws, but I do not think that these laws are good enough for farmed pigs.  They seem to be aimed at pets.

Story

       It all started yesterday when I was walking home from school with my brother, he was saying something about if I was going to start walking home alone I’d need to bring money. That’s when I noticed the car. It was a black limo with lots of music coming out of it and it seemed to be following us. I tried to tell my brother but he wasn’t paying any attention. We came to a crosswalk and we had to stop, that’s when a car door opened and a man stepped out and started walking straight towards us.

The man was tall and he was wearing sunglasses and a suit. As he walked he said something into his walkie talkie. I pulled my brothers arm and finally got his attention. He looked down, annoyed, “What is it Zoe?” I pointed at the man and said, “David, aren’t you worried about that man?” He shrugged and said, “Let’s see what he wants.” We waited as the man walked right up to us and said, “Hi kids, my name’s Jim. You have to get in the car, we’re going.”

I looked at Jim, then I looked at my brother and then to Jim. Finally I managed, “Who?…What?…Why?” I looked at my brother again. He nodded. Jim led us to the car and closed the door behind us. It locked. We looked around us. I had never been in a limo before and judging by the look on my brother’s face, neither had he. On one side there were seats and above them there were stacks and stacks of cds. There was also a tv on that side, on the other side there was a mini bar. My brother and I both dug in.

It felt like we spent hours in there, watching movies and eating candy and chips. By the time we got to where ever we were going I felt like we had gained two pounds. Jim opened the door and I gasped. We were in front of one of the biggest, most fancy hotels I’d ever seen. He led us inside and told us,”Your clothes are waiting for you in your room. There is a pool on the first floor, the restaurant is on the second floor, the game room is in the basement, oh and of course,” he pulled out a small golden key, “Enjoy your stay.” he handed me the key and and walked away. I examined the key, the letters PH were written on it.

        My brother insisted on going straight to the game room but I decided to go to the restaurant.  I hadn’t had anything to drink in the limo and all I’d had to eat was chips, mars bars, and starbursts. I went into the elevator  and pressed two, the door dinged open and I stepped out. In front of me was a huge elegant restaurant.

I know I should be used to things being huge and fancy but being huge and fancy wasn’t is,it was also completely empty. Now that I thought about it, the  lobby had also been completely empty. In fact the only people in the room besides me were two waiters leaning against the wall on the other side of the room. I sat down at a table and waited.

I had to wait a long time before one of the waiters noticed me. They were laughing and pointing at the chefs door when one saw me, gasped, grabbed a  menu and rushed over to me, ” Sorry miss we didn’t notice you.” he said. “It’s okay” I told him, ” I’ll have one of the chicken sandwiches please.” The waiter hurried off towards the kitchen. About fifteen minutes later he came back  holding a huge sandwich. When I was finished the waiter came back over. He’d seemed to have gotten over the surprise. “How will you be paying for  that miss?” I gulped. I had forgotten that I’d have to pay for the meal. Just as I thought this a voice behind me said, “I’ll be paying.”

  I looked behind myself and gasped.It was my mom. :What are you doing here mom?” I asked. She laughed, “Why do you think you’d be here if it wasn’t for me?” My mom had never been the richest woman, especially after she had split up with my dad. She had been going to job interviews for a while. “Hey!” I said, realising it for the first time, “You got the job at the radio station! My mom’s smile got bigger, “Yep.” When we got upstairs she had finished explaining  how this was the closest we could get to her new job. I was very happy. “You know what mom?” I asked. “What” she asked. “This was the best day of my life.”

 

P.S this is not a true story.

Journalist

I’m doing my journalist on a woman in Quebec who wants to join the police service. The only problem is she wears a hijab and some people think police shouldn’t wear hijabs. A politician even said she thinks police officers shouldn’t be allowed to cover their faces and heads. I think people should be allowed to wear what they want and if they want to keep a something from a culture they should be aloud. The lady even said she wasn’t going to let her hijab problem in the way of her dream of becoming a police officer. I like the way she is fighting for culture even though I don’t think she should have to fight at all.

 

 My sources are:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43758999

http://montrealgazette.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-quebecs-police-hijab-debate-isnt-just-theoretical

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/aspiring-police-officer-stokes-quebec-s-hijab-debate-1.3883835

Thank You

🙂

Bridge to Terabithia

             The Bridge to Terabithia is a wonderful fantasy book by Katherine Paterson. It was written in 1977 about a boy named Jesse who is treated unfairly by his family and a girl named Leslie who moves to Lark Creek from Washington. Together Jesse and Leslie create a magical kingdom that they call, “Terabithia”.

Bridge to Terabithia is about how important childhood friendship is and how creative children are. I particularly like Bridge to Terabithia because it shows a child’s adventure through a difficult year in his life. Jesse has some hard times but he gets through and in the end he has a good time. My favorite part in the book was when Jesse and Leslie stand up to a bully but I’m not going to give you to many spoilers. If I had to rate this book it would be a four and a half out of five

The author Katherine Paterson has also written, a story of my life, the flint hart, and the Grate Gilly Hopkins but her most famous book is the Bridge to Terabithia. I hope you enjoyed!

🙂

Computer Lesson

                Has anyone ever seen inside a computer? If you have you probably know that it can be a bit confusing with all the wires and pieces like the motherboard and the power supply unit (I know, like I said before it can be confusing). So when  me and my family were poking around an old computer I decided I wanted to learn more about the different components. Lots of people use computers at the moment but the majority of people don’t know how it actually works. This is a lesson on some things you’ll find in your computer.

          First of all there is the motherboard, the motherboard is the part that looks kind of like a city. The motherboard is sometimes described as the skeleton, which means it holds everything together so that everything can communicate. Secondly there is the CPU (central processing unit), the CPU is referred to as the  brains of the computer. What a CPU does is it processes information. Next there is the power supply unit, it is in charge of all the electricity in the computer kind of like the human body accept with electricity not food. Fourth is the RAM (random access memory). The RAM is the accessible memory, like when you can recall a memory of the top of your head. I think most people reading this will have heard of a hard drive. If you don’t know a hard drive is what everything is stored on, for example if you are writing something on google drive it saves on the hard drive. Lastly there is the GPU (graphic cards), the GPU is what makes every the on the computer look so nice. If there was no GPU on a computer things would look pretty different.

I hope you have enjoyed my lesson on computers.

Thank You.

🙂

 

Elizabeth Swaney

     Elizabeth Swaney is a cheat and a hero. Swaney is a cheat because she wanted to be in the olympics and so she found a loophole by getting a Hungarian passport (her mom is from Hungary) where there was no one competing and entering there. That’s bad because there are people who have been training their whole lives but didn’t get in because they weren’t the top in america when Swaney did. Swaney is a hero because she showed people that you can always find a way in (well usually).

      In public opinion there is also a mixed response. Some people think she was very smart to find a way into while others think she cheated the other people in her group of americans. Some comments I found where, “It’s a slap in the face to women who have worked their whole lives to compete in this event.” and, “Shoutout to Elizabeth Swaney for finding a loophole and landing herself a spot in the olympics.” As you can see people have very mixed opinions.

My thoughts on Elizabeth Swaney are that she cheated and I don’t like that. I also think she could be a decent role model because she teaches you that if you want to achieve something you can do it, also she got into the olympics because she wanted to be there, not because she wanted to win (it probably would have been nice for her to win but she new that she wasn’t going to).  Even though this doesn’t change my mind completely I still respect her for it.

Thank you for reading.

 

🙂

School for Good and Evil Book 1

 

School for Good and Evil is a fantasy fiction written by Soman Chainani, an American writer and film maker. School for Good and Evil is the first in a series of four exciting books. If you like stories about friendship, magic, and romance then this is for you. Also it is a good family story.

The protagonists, Sophie and Agatha live in a little storybook town called  Gavaldon, surrounded by the endless woods. No one can leave Gavaldon unless the school master kidnaps you and brings you to the schools.  The rest of the story takes place in the Schools for Good and Evil, two castles — one white and shiny the other black and dirty, one for princesses and princes one for villains.

In the beginning,  Sophie and Agatha get kidnapped and are brought to the schools. Sophie thinks she is going to be brought to the school for good and Agatha evil but she was wrong. Sophie and Agatha are confused, scared, and disgusted.  Agatha starts to realize that she is good and Sophie is evil, but Sophie will not accept that she is evil because she has always dreamed of being a princess. There is a boy named Tedros (son of king Arthur) who likes Sophie and just like her thinks it was a mistake that Sophie was put in evil and Agatha good. Agatha and Tedros absolutely hate each other but in a tournament called trial by tale (only the best heroes and villains.) Agatha saves Tedros’s life when Sophie had sworn she would save it so Tedros broke up with Sophie and Sophie blames Agatha for it. There is a huge battle between good and evil in which Sophie and Agatha go back to Gavaldon not knowing the chaos they had started back at the schools.

 

The school for good and evil is a good book. I like how Soman Chainani took lots of famous fairy tale characters and put their kids in school. I also think it’s nice that he didn’t make both protagonists good because that’s how it is in most stories. See you next time. 🙂

Margaret Atwood

Margaret E. Atwood is one of the best known Canadian writers of our time. Atwood has published around 90 books, some of which are, Alias Grace, The Handmaid’s Tale and Anna’s Pet. Atwood was born in Ottawa in 1939 and grew up in Toronto. Atwood taught at universities for a while two of which were, The University of British Columbia and The University of Alberta.  Atwood’s most famous stories are adult stories and some have been made into shows.  Atwood also created LongPen which is a way for her to sign books when she isn’t there.

Margaret Atwood’s love of writing came at an early age. She started at age 6 when she was already writing, morality plays, poems, comic books and had even started a novel. Atwood was won more than fifty-five awards and some of these were, two Governor General’s Awards and Hammett Prize.

See you next time 🙂

 

 


Sources

http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-handmaidstale/bio.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwpfzOBRA5EiwAU0ccN-KQPIjpTvStZ2gQN2tbOMfmqBii8kmDl__yAOBnptU2BeK2aYgnZBoC7D0QAvD_BwE#gsc.tab=0

http://margaretatwood.ca/full-bibliography-2/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Atwood#Drawings