Introduction to Poetry

                In his poem Introduction to Poetry, Billy Collins elaborates on his view that students should enjoy poems. He describes that poems are vibrant and full of life but students decide to just take it literally and forget that there is a meaning behind every word. He states that “all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with a rope and torture a confession out of it.” Personally, I believe that he is saying that the poems should not just be broken down because you are told to do so by an instructor, but poems should be read for entertainment during leisure time.

Reflection

           This past year has been filled with difficulties that were hard to overcome yet not impossible. The decision to join this challenging course was spontaneous. Although, AP Language was not as difficult as I thought it would be, my biggest obstacle  was my time management. Balancing my chores, academics, and work was the greatest trouble of them all. 

         The work given to me this year was entirely too much for me. The work itself was not difficult, it was the amount of essays that had to be written. Instead of being proactive by doing the work when given, I became a procrastinator. Therefore, my work was turned in past minute. Yes, I am ashamed for displaying such dissatisfying work ethics, but I plan to better them during the upcoming year.

The Death of a child

Is there a heaven? Is there a hell? Can you have one without the other? How do you achieve the golden ticket to heaven? The answers to these questions vary from person to person. These are questions that might never be answered and proved with physical evidence. However, a question that is indisputable for those who believe in such places is whether children go to heaven, hell, or just linger around in an endless sorrow. Of course the innocence of children takes them on the expressway to heaven.
Although here on Earth us mortals cry because we have lost a sister, a brother, a cousin, a friend that was so young and still had a bountiful amount of experiences to live. We must trust that we gained an angel. The phrase “gone but never forgotten” should be implemented by those who are left here on Earth. We should not mourn the death of a child. You should not wear black to remember a child; one should wear white to represent the child’s purity and ingenuousness.



**In memory of all the children whose physical bodies have left our side, and are now watching from above.**

You Can Control the Future!!!!

What is left for generations to come? Currently we are facing life changing situations throughout the world such as global warming and debt; this leads to uncertainty amongst parents. As the years go by the probability of children not having a secure future increase.

For example, presently the US has had to minimize the amount of money that is available for high school seniors that has been used to help them pay for their college education. As a result of the reduction, requirements for scholarships have increase, making it difficult for graduating seniors to receive scholarships.

Not only have the funds for education been reduced, but also the amount of money available for senior citizens, that has so far been given once he/she decides to retire. Is this really fair? The money that these citizens receive is just a payback of the taxes they payed while in the work force.

As urbanization progresses an excessive amount of trees are being cut down. As we all know trees are vital in the purification of air; without them the air will continue to become more and more polluted. Therefore, causing global warming, environmental decline.

A New Start

Change has brought a new perspective to the Roman Catholic Church. After being reigned by European popes for more than 1000 years, there is now an outsider in charge. After the resignation of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis I, a formal Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, has now made history as the first Latin American to become the head of the Roman Catholic Church.

As expected, responses to this election were made immediately. As soon as he walked out on the balcony to make it known that he was chosen as the new leader of the Roman Catholics, there was first an awkward gasp because of the fact that he was not European as expected. However, Pope Francis was not intimidated by the first response, instead he joked about his ethnicity. “In Italian, he seemed to address his outsider status by joking: ‘As you know the duty of the conclave is to give Rome a bishop. It seems that my brother cardinals went almost to the end of the world.’” In response to the pope’s decision to name himself Francis “after the humble Catholic friar St. Francis of Assisi,” President Barak Obama referred to the pontiff as "champion of the poor."

Although at first, I thought that the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI was unacceptable because there was no one to directly follow him, as it would be if the president were unable to fulfill his duty then the vice president would take charge. However, with the election of Pope Francis I there bring new views and also some diversity in the history of pope’s.

Will this be enough!

                    It cost the massacre of 20 innocent angels for this country to realize how much danger easy access to assault riffles represents. Finally the risk has been minimized a bit; President Obama has recently signed 23 executive orders,"  which don't require congressional approval -- to strengthen existing gun laws and take related steps on mental health and school safety." President Obama is not only doing what he alone, as president can do,but he is also pleading to Congress if they would reconsider renovating an assault weapon law that ended in 2004.
                     On a more personal level, being that President Obama is a father himself; I believe that he understands how hurt those parents where. Therefore, he made it his personal goal to ensure that things such as this one will not repeat itself. Many may oppose his decision say that it is unconstitutional, but they are not weighing out the possibilities that one day a dreadful event like this one may affect their own family . As our president said earlier today, "This is our first task as a society -- keeping our children safe."

Bash, Dana, Carol Cratty, Jim Acosta, Paul Steinhauser, David Ariosto,

Kevin Liptak Contributed to This Report, and Mark Morgenstein

Updated from Atlanta. "Pushback on Obama's Plan to Stem Gun

Violence." CNN. Cable News Network, 16 Jan. 2013. Web. 16 Jan.

2013. <http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/16/politics/gun-laws-battle/

index.html>.

The Past is Always Present.

          Adolf Hitler, the name of a man determined to purify the world of individuals without "pure blood."  Adolf Hitler himself was not German; Hitler was a native Austrian. However, like many Germans he believed that Jews were the reason why Germany had lost a war in 1918. Therefore, he made it his mission to rid the world of Jews and other impure individuals. The main targets for this task include Jews, homosexuals, and gypsies. Not content with taking their properties, clients, carriers, families, and with that their identities, they were sent to concentration camps.
          As a result of being sent to these camps, killing millions of Jews became easier. They would be tightly arranged in rooms were they would be gassed to death. However, this was not the only method used to kill them. Once the German ambition became out of control many countries allied to fight against them. This fight came to be known as World War II. The Nazi, German Army, finally surrendered on May 18, 1945. Yet, the trauma lived by Jews will forever live.
          On a different note, I personally think that morally the actions that were taken by the Nazi's under the reign of Adolf Hitler was immoral. There is no reasonable explination for why any human would enjoy the pain of others. The misery of the Jews during that period of time has no comparison. Although, this is not an event that should be remembered for its attempt to purify the world and it's atrocious outcome; it should however be remembered for the adversities that made the Jewish culture what it is today.



http://www.history.com/topics/the-holocaust