"The End of A New Beginning" By: Vanessa Angeles

      On the night of February 26, 2012 a crime that would lead to one of the most controversial movements in the U.S was committed. Trayvon Benjamin Martin was shot and killed ,with no weapons with him, in Sanford, Florida, by George Michael Zimmerman, who was on neighborhood watch. George Michael Zimmerman was charged with second degree murder of the death of 17 year old Trayvon Benjamin Martin. In the police file report Zimmerman stated that everything was self defense and gave details as to why. He said that he shot Trayvon because “Trayvon knocked him down with a punch to the nose, repeatedly slammed his head on the ground, and tried to take his gun.” After 16 hours of a long careful consideration, over the course of two days, on July 13, 2013,  Zimmerman’s verdict declared that he was innocent. This was the end of the new beginning of one of the most well known movements worldwide.

         About a year later on July 13, 2013 three activists, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, decided to take action. They came up with the Black Lives Matter movement. This social movement became international around the U.S. One of the BLM founders, Patrisse Cullors, explained what change they want to see, in an interview she states, “We’re trying to change the world… developing a new vision for what this generation of black  leaders can look like.” Their purpose wasn’t to only end police brutality and systematic racism but to give basic human rights back to the african american community. The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter became a social trend. Although many people had different reactions towards the organization. The phrase “All Lives Matter” became popular. Some say it was in a way a response to the Black Lives Matter movement along with the “Blue Lives Matter” which was created by supporters of the police. Until this day there are still protest created by the Black Lives Matter organization.

Nonfiction Blog: "Who Killed My Daughter"

     From the nonfiction book that I have been reading Who Killed My Daughter? By Lois Duncan it talks about the experience that the author went through when her daughter was shot and killed. So far in the book I've read that Kaitlyn Arquette, the daughter of Lois, was an 18 year old who lived with her boyfriend, Dung Nguyen. She was shot two times in her car while on her way home. She later on died at the hospital. The police told Kait’s family that it was a “random” shooting. This left Lois and her family determined to find out who killed her and why. As the story progresses you start to notice that a lot of things point to Dung which makes him a main suspect.

        A passage that I found interesting in the book Who Killed My Daughter? was right at the end when Lois talks about who her and her family think were the ones to blame for Kait’s death. In the passage it says,  “We believe Kate was killed because she was getting ready to expose illegal activities involving her boyfriend and his companions. It might have been that she was shot by the Vietnamese; it might have been that they hired someone else to shoot her. But the one thing we are absolutely sure of in our own minds is that this was not a random shooting-  Kait was assassinated.” Kait’s family believes that she was killed because she was about to reveal some illegal crimes about her boyfriend and his accomplices. The Vietnamese were probably the ones that shot her before Kait could say anything. One thing the family is absolutely sure about is that she wasn't part of a “random” shooting, in other words Kait was assassinated. This part of the text stuck out to me the most because now I see the outcome of what happens when we associate ourselves with people who aren't a good influence. Now we see that even though Kait was just trying to do the right thing about speaking up about the crimes her boyfriend was committing SHE was the one who paid the consequences.

          A lesson that I've learned while reading this book was definitely that we as teenagers should speak to our parents if we have friends or a boyfriend/girlfriend who we believe that aren't on the right path. While reading this book I've realized how much a parent can suffer with the loss of one of their kids. If Kait were to talk to her mom, dad or one of her siblings she might of not passed away. The worst part was that Kait and her family were the ones who got hurt at the end even though they had nothing to do with those crimes being committed. Who Killed My Daughter? has really been like a model for me of what could be the outcome if I ever were to come across a situation like Kait and her boyfriend. This is definitely a life lesson that tells me to be careful with the type of people I'm involved with.

                                                         



I commented on tammi's blog
I commented on nathaly's blog
I commented on america's blog

"Thanksgiving Reflection"🦃

      What does Thanksgiving mean to you? It could mean a lot of things for you, but for me in particular its like a realization day where I become aware that I have many privileges that others don't. The fact that my family is healthy is one thing I am the most grateful for. I've witnessed other families lose a love one and its so terrifying to imagine losing one of my family members. Yes I know that everyone always goes through some sort of loss but I'm grateful it still hasn't happen to me. And I hope it doesn't for a long time.

       Having a healthy family isn't the only thing I am grateful for, I'm also appreciative with the fact that there's never food missing on the table nor the fridge. That's one of the privileges that many people don't have at the moment. It's sad to think that we at times throw food away, including myself. Its even sadder to think that some families on Thanksgiving won't be able to have food on their table. I'm very fortunate that I'm not even close to that situation. My parents are the ones that have tried not to let that happen in our house. I'm thankful for them because we've never not had food in our fridge or struggled with food in general.

         Another thing I'm thankful for is my parents. Even though they are very strict I know they have reasons for everything. I actually have some friends who don't have parents because they have passed away. I for one can't imagine what it must be like and feel like to not see your parents and only have them living in your memories. I know they have made many sacrifices and I want to try my best to make them proud and not have them done those sacrifices in vein. I believe that we should be thankful for things like this everyday. Even though this aren't the only things I'm grateful for I feel like this are just the main ones.
       
                                                 

Learning about the Fresno Family

     Today durning the gallery walk I learned a few things going on in the world. For example Nathaly, one of my peers, informed me about the life and struggles of a family of  refugees. In her article " Fresno family represents the fight of Syrian refugees" she talked about a specific family in Syria, the Fresno family, who lived in a peaceful place in Syria with zero violence. As time passed the neighborhood that they lived in suddenly became unsafe. People were getting shot and killed.
       The Fresno family decided to move. They lived in a refugee camp but in there they didn't allow them to work. They decided to come to the United States to seek peace. As they were trying to come in the U.S legally the United States did a background check on all of the members. All of this took two whole years. As people heared their story they said that the U.S was being too judgmental and needed to stop assuming people were terrorist based on their culture.

"Making America Great Again?"

         There were many mixed emotions on the night of the elections. For example, I was really happy because a lot of people had said that Hillary had a really good chance of winning the elections, and I had even seen that the she had a high number of electoral votes. Since It was late I wasn't able to see the results of the election but the next day as I woke up I was very shocked at the fact that Trump had won. But what I though about the elections in general was that I felt like our country had done a poor decision in choosing Trump to be our new leader. But more than anything I felt a bit disappointed, because my generation depends on the adults to make decisions. We all expect that their decisions will have a positive effect in our future. I feel like Donald Trump isn't qualified to run a country. Maybe he thinks that running a country is just as easy running one of his fancy hotels or casinos, which kind of worries me a bit.

          Hopefully by the next election there will be more convenient candidates. By then I will be able to vote and have my opinion matter. And If Trump decides to run for president again I really hope he doesn't get re-elected. Most people would think that since I have a great  interest in the elections that I might have the desire to be involved in politics some day but to be honest I've never really thought about it. The reasons might be because four years ago I might of been too young to understand how politics in work or not have any interest towards the subject at all. Of course now I see how important it is to be informed about the topic but I still don't think that being involved in politics is going to work for me.

           An important topic that I'm anxious to get to see that involves the election is immigration. Both Hillary and Trump have very different views on immigration. After the elections some people have talked and even joked about how Trump will be sending all immigrants back to Mexico. First of all not all immigrants come from Mexico and I think that Trump doesn't know that more than half of these “immigrants” make up the U.S. I also believe that those people who think Trump will send immigrants back to their countries don't know that the Constitution protects them in some ways. But we will all just have to wait and see what the future holds for this country.

"Identities"

Bodies lay without a name, they aren't a person that can be claimed.

 Identities still unknown, not enough information to be put on their stone.

Families wait at home, for their love ones to come back from war.

 But what they don't know is that they won't be coming back anymore.

Today we honor those who were at war and those who never came back home.

To those whose identities are still unknown, and not enough information to be put on their stone.

" The Cubbies enter the World Series"

          The Chicago Cubs have finally made it to the World Series after 71 years! Many people cried of exhilaration and even threw fireworks for the Cubbies as a celebration. On October 22, 2016 the Chicago Cubs defeated the Dodgers by 5-0, making them advance to the World Series. This historic moment happened in Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois. After Chapman got the final five outs the whole team raced to him and mobbed him. After the game ended Rizzo was proud and still processing his astonishment, he said, "We got four more big ones to go, but we're going to enjoy this. We're going to the World Series. I can't even believe that."  Although even before the game many people had lost faith in the Cubs after the “curse” of the Billy Goat was supposedly placed on them in 1945. Since then the Cubs haven’t won a World Series. But the Chicago Cubs have proved to everyone that a “curse” won't phase them or stop them from becoming the next champions.

1st quarter reflection blog

      I’ve completed many great things this first quarter in all of my classes. I’ve grown as a student and as a teenager. Especially in ELA that has shown me how to see the world in a different way. For example I’ve completed many goals that I thought I would never do, such as doing the 10 book challenge. I went above my own goal, which was to try and read at least 10 books, but I ended up reading 13 books. I felt proud and astonished of myself since I don't really read that much even though I like to read. I completed this goal by pushing myself and by being responsible. By doing these two things it didn't only help me complete my target but it has shown me a life lesson. Now I know that even though completing a goal is hard you just have to push yourself to your limits.

            This first  quarter for my ELA class I've also had the opportunity to learn how to properly do signposts. I had done signpost before but they just weren't organized or clear enough to even be considered signpost. At times I would do signpost on random quotes that had no meaning whatsoever. But now I've learned that by using this technique it can help me understand the book even more. For example you're more attentive towards the plot of the book. And you notice little details that can later on have an effect on the whole story. I've also felt I've grown as a reader, because yes I really enjoy reading but I never really noticed how deep a book can be if you pay attention. For example, The Giver was such a deep and amazing book. It was the second time I read it and I liked it more than I did the first time. The first time I read I thought it was very confusing and boring. But the second time I realized that the book had an actual meaning within it.

              Another of the many things that I’ve had the opportunity to get better at for my ELA class was improving on my writing skills. I feel like there has been a drastic change when it comes to writing for me. And it’s a good change too. For example I now know how to write a newscast like the journalist do or how to use the TIQA. It has made me more confident and comfortable with writing. I’m not sure if before I disliked writing because I wasn't good at it or because I thought it was boring. Either way it doesn’t matter because I want to be more engaged when it comes to this class and I’m more interested in understanding how writing works. I want to grow as a writer

The Giver compare and contrast

    There were many events found between the movie and the book of The Giver that we could compare and contrast. For example one of the similarities found in the book from the movie was when Jonas has a memory of war. After he experiences the memory of war Jonas changes. This action leads to Jonas trying to go to elsewhere and release the memories to the community. This happens both in the movie and in the book.  And if this rising action wouldn't of happened Jonas would've never left elsewhere. But also one of the differences found in the movie from the book was that Jonas experiences love first hand with Fiona. For example, when Jonas goes inside of the triangle he confesses to Fiona that he loves her. And later on in the movie Fiona says that she also feels love towards Jonas and describes love as a warm feeling that feels nice. But in the book the romance between him and Fiona never happens. Instead Jonas feels love for baby Gabe. Although Jonas did have a crush on Fiona nothing goes beyond that point

        In the end of The Giver film things were explained a little bit more. Like the fact that the memories did end up going back to the community. The reason we got to see this was because the director chose for us to see everyone's point of view. By seeing how everyone else thought or saw things we got a little bit more of an understanding of the whole plot. Unlike in the book the author chose for us to only see what Jonas thought, felt, and saw. Although the book was very detailed the movie somewhat boosted up our imagination to what we read in the end of the book. But in both the film and the book the story ended in suspense.

         I think the book was the one that impacted my understanding of the story. This was most likely because the book is deeper and was more descriptive. Unlike the movie that skipped or added some parts that weren't in the book. For example in the movie they make the chief elder seem as the villain, while in the book the the setup of the society is the one to blame. Although I do have to agree that the movie does help us visualize the story a little bit better but the book is always going to be the best option because the story plot is way more explained.
        .

The Giver theme

      In the book that I have been reading, The Giver, the main character, Jonas, is a dynamic character because he grows and changes as a person through the book. For example when Jonas shared his emotions with his family about the ceremony he said, “But it’s the ceremony that I’m apprehensive about. It’s almost December.” (9.) This shows Jonas being a little bit selfish because he is only worried about how the December ceremony is going to go for him. But towards the end of the book when he is on his journey to Elsewhere and realizes that Gabe is cold and weak he says, “He wept because he was afraid now that he could not save Gabriel. He no longer cared about himself.” (174.) This shows a drastic change from Jonas because he went from only worrying about himself to only caring about Gabe,

                                                           

    One of the many themes found in The Giver by: Lois Lowry was the importance of choice. We can all agree that making a simple choice can basically define our future. But for Jonas and everyone else in his community choices are made for them. For example when Jonas talks about how much time he will be able to have after the ceremony he says, “The freedom to choose where to spend those hours had always seemed a wonderful luxury to Jonas; other hours were so carefully regulated.” (26.) Jonas practically says that being able to finally chose what to do with those extra hours is a privilege since every other hour of the day he already has a chosen task. Another example of importance of choice is when Jonas realizes that he might of used this privilege to make a wrong choice he says, “Then, when he had the choice, he had made the wrong one: the choice to leave. And now he was starving.”(174.) Jonas does think that there's importance when making your own choice, but in this quote he kind of says that even though he got to make a decision he feels as he did the wrong one.

The Giver

       In the book that I have been reading, The Giver by Lois Lowry, there has been many memories that the main character, Jonas, has shared with the reader. An example of this is when Jonas uses the word “Release” and gets in trouble. In chapter one,  we see that one of Jonas teammate’s and best friend, Asher, make a clumsy mistake that causes their team to lose a game match. Then all of a sudden Jonas gets angry and screams at Asher, “‘That’s it, Asher! You're released!’" This memory might be important because it shows the time when Jonas used the word ‘Release’ after he got mad at his friend, Asher, because of a game. Jonas gets in trouble which causes the coach to pull him to the side to have a serious talk about what he said, it isn't allowed to use the term “Release” when getting mad at someone. Jonas then feels ashamed of his actions and apologizes to his friend Asher. This connects to conflict because this memory shows me that in their society the word "Release" is very a crucial and serious word that should not be used lightly.
        Another of the many signpost found in The Giver was a “Again and Again”. Like when Jonas, the main character, keeps on mentioning an event happening on “December”. In chapter one the author states that Jonas   “......had waited a long time for this special December…. All of the Elevens were excited about the event that would be coming so soon.” This word “December” might keep appearing because it’s trying to tell the reader that an important event is going to happen for Jonas on December. Jonas is riding his bike when all of a sudden he starts thinking about the “Special December”. He tries to express how he feels about this upcoming event. He mentions that frightened wasn't what he was feeling but more like nervous and excited. As he kept thinking about it he said he felt apprehensive. This connects to conflict because it could be giving the reader the sense that since the main character keeps on talking about an event in December maybe something big is going to happen that might change the course of the story.

Welcome to my blog

Welcome to my blog, my name is Vanessa I am a student at Heritage Middle school. I am currently an 8th grader and very excited to graduate. I have two older siblings and two younger ones. One of my older siblings, my sister, is currently on her second year of high school and the oldest one, which is my brother is already working. I look up to both of them a lot.

On my blog I will post about my goals, hobbies, and thoughts. I will post my observations about the world and Reflections. I am really excited for you guys to see my blogs. Thank you for reading!