Reflection of this year

This year in English I really love being with the Seniors . It was fun to have more people in the class because there were more opinions on everything and a lot more to talk about. It also gave us Juniors a chance to get to know them better. I have to say my subject we studied was censorship. I loved when we listened to the music that was once banned or had been known for foul language or negative messages. I am big on freedom of speech and expression so I really loved learning about this topic. Another subject I loved was our opinion pieces. It was really fun to be able to express ourselfs and voice our opinion on the ongoing issues in the world and in our state. Even though they were frustrating at times I always felt good about writing them when they were finished. I learned a lot about this year about how are country works and what is wrong with it. I als learned what it would take to make it better, tollerance. I had a lot of fun this year in english. All I know is that I am going to miss the seniors immensly but I'm glad its finally my turn to be at the top. Goodbye Junior English:)

Quote on cencorship

"There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches. Every minority, be it Baptist/Unitarian, Irish/Italian/Octogenarian/Zen Buddhist, Zionist/Seventh-day Adventist, Women's Lib/Republican, Mattachine/FourSquareGospel feels it has the will, the right, the duty to douse the kerosene, light the fuse. Every dimwit editor who sees himself as the source of all dreary blanc-mange plain porridge unleavened literature, licks his guillotine and eyes the neck of any author who dares to speak above a whisper or write above a nursery rhyme."
—Ray Bradbury
I totally have to agree with this quote. It has a powerful meaning. I interpret it as Anyone can burn a book but that is not going to keep people from reading it. It's going to make people want to read it to see what is so bad about it. Another thing I will point out is that if you do something bad and get scolded your most likely going to think twice before you do it again. So Authors have to be careful about what they write and I don't think they should have to be. In our amendments we have the right to speak our minds and voice our opinions. I personally think people just need to deal with it. People don't just go walking around burning people if they don't agree with them so why burn books. It's not like you have to read them.

My favorite book this year

Out of the four books we read this year Fahrenheit 451 was my favorite. It was very intriguing and it kept me hooked. I loved reading it because it was very interesting to see a man's prediction for the future I'm living in. I see very many similarities between the book and the present. In the book people have ear buds. Look at us now with our technology, we have ear buds and most of the time you see people with them in their ears. It's almost like people are in a trance. The only difference is that they are usually listening to music not a voice putting them a brain washed state. It was a special book for me because I found the way he wrote it entertaining and it was almost like a poem and I love poetry. It kept me guessing and that is definitely a good thing.

A visit to Gay marriage

These past few months have made a new kind of history in Maine. Governor John Baldacci signed a bill legalizing gay marriage in the state of Maine. This makes Maine the fifth state to allow gay marriage. This is a follow up to my opinion piece on Gay civil union and Gay marriage. I was overwhelmed with joy when my best friend Tyler, who is Gay called me. He was yelling "Gay marriage is legal in Maine!" I was so happy just to hear him so happy. Even though he probably won't be married for a long time it was still amazing to hear the happiness in his voice. I couldn't believe that the law passed. I mean look at our state we have the manly men and the farmers not to point fingers but the truth is most of these people are homophobic. But all I can say is I am very proud of Maine for not being a prejudice state anymore.

Topics for next year

There are many topics that I would like to discuss next year. One of them would have to be Opinions on war past or present. I think that the word "war" is on a lot of peoples minds these days with the advances of technology to the on going struggles that some countries are having. Over the years we have mass produced nuclear weapons. Enough to destroy the whole world. Most people don't speak of this or speak up. I think that People need to stand up and say enough is enough. We don't need a repeat of Hiroshima. That many people shouldn't have to die to make peace. Another topic I would like to write and learn about is abortions. I think it would be a very good topic to write about with a lot of different opinions. I think that it should be a matter of choice but a lot of other people don't see it that way. Another topic I think would be a good writing piece would be homosexual people. I think that there are many sides to this and it would be cool to study them . There is the bible aspect and the ancient Greek society. I think it would make a good strong argument. I also think just the bible in general would be a god topic.

My improvements this year

At the beginning of this year, you could say that my writing needed some work. My opinion Pieces were very out of order and random topics were scattered everywhere. They needed some major work. I tried to make an outline in my brain so that I could not get off subject and keep to the point. It worked sometimes but not all. You see one topic would take me to the next topic then that topic branched off from that topic and so on. I guess I just have a busy mind. I always tried to find a solution but I never really could. So I just decided that I am going to keep to the topic. So every time I would feel myself going off track I would read the question over again. Then I would read what I had written. Now that worked. My pieces after that point were more put together, sounded better and were more to the point. Now next year I want to work on my vocabulary. I want to be able to sound more adult and intelligent like I know what I am talking about. I also want to work on my structure. My writing sometimes can be confusing. I feel like if I worked on my structure I would be able to make a stronger point and overall make it better.

My favorite opinion piece

I would have to say my favorite opinion piece is the one about gay rights. This one stands out to me and is special because my best friend is homosexual. The subject was equal rights and special privilege. It states "During his presidency, Bill Clinton passed a bill that allows states to choose whether or not they will legally acknowledge gay marriages." The question on the subject was "do you think that Maine should legalize gay marriage?" In my response I wrote "In my opinion I think gay marriage should be legalized in Maine. I think that love and happiness is most definitely is a civil right. I also believe that No one should feel excluded from love. We as human beings have a right to love. Saying that love has a gender is like saying that flowers only come in one color"
I had a very easy time writing this piece and have strong feelings because I have witnesses the pain from being excluded from marriage. As I said before my best friend is homosexual. It has been a life changing Experience overall. You never know how something will effect people until you witness it first hand. I really hope that in the future people can move on from this and just accept people for who they are and not judge. I think that anyone who thinks gay marriage is wrong is selfish. People deal seeing things everyday they don't approve of but that doesn't mean that it's wrong. Many other things that are way worse than gay marriage is going on right now. Notice they are not out with their Hate signs protesting the things that really do matter. Things that don't make people happy. Marriage makes people happy. Gay marriage isn't hurting anyone.