Lost

Lost

Story

Nick W.

6/4/12

            The woods is a dark and scary place, especially if you’re an 8 year old kid who doesn’t have a clue as to what is going on.  Yes, 8 year old, innocent, little Jacob was in the woods, alone in the woods, without a clue as to how he got there or what to do. One minute he was home alone the next he was being tied up and thrown out of a moving car. When little Jacob woke up he was in the woods all by his lonesome. He looked to his right and to his left but he saw nothing but trees and trees for miles and miles. He remembered his mom once told him what to do when he didn’t know where he was, but he wasn’t really listening considering his mom had just bought him a new video game. He probably should have listened. As he snapped back into reality he saw something approaching from his left, he turned and ran to the right. He ran and ran for what seemed to be miles. He was getting tired but he kept running and running. He slowed down when he had the assurance that the thing didn’t follow him. He looked around and realized the he was……………………Lost.

The Lottery

The Lottery

Theme Response

5/18/12

Nick Woerishofer

            Do you think that stoning people for no reason is right? Well people in the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, do. They play the lottery in a different way than we do. There a number of themes in this story, I think the main one is defiantly blindly following tradition. In this story their lottery is way different then out lottery. In our lottery if you win you become richer then Richie Rich but in their version it like the complete opposite. If you win you get stoned. The people in that village just follow tradition exactly the way their ancestors did. Nothing changed; they don’t understand that stoning people is wrong; they just do exactly what they were taught to do.

            Now a days we would never do that, because to us it seems savage, but to them it was normal, it is a tradition, and they don’t know any better. To them the odds seriously have to be in their favors, because if they get unlucky it means death. During the lottery everyone must throw a rock. Even Tessie’s best friend threw one, in fact she threw the biggest rock. Another book that has this theme is the Hunger Games because they blindly follow the tradition of killing people for food. In real life if you win the lottery, it's a good thing, but not in this story

DWA--Seasons

Seasons

DWA

5/1/12

Nick Woerishofer

Author’s Note: This is my District Writing Assessment about my favorite seasons, summer and spring. This essay is also for my goals. Enjoy!

            What is your favorite season? I like summer and spring. I like summer for multiple reasons like, my birthday is in the summer and I like warm weather over cold weather. I like spring because everything is changing and it looks cool. These are just some of the reasons why I like these two seasons of the other seasons. I think I always have the most fun during summer. So as you can see there are many reasons why I like summer and spring the best.

            First of all, in summer you don’t have to worry about school or homework. I think during the school year the students have a lot of stress, so I think that is why summer is a favorite season for a lot of people. Another reason would be that is hot outside and I think most people like hot over cold. Summer is always hot and people are out doing stuff outside, and during the school year we don’t have as much time to do what we usually do during the summer.

            Another season I like is spring. I like spring because it is the time when everything is changing, like all the snow is melting and the trees are turning green again and they look cool. Plus I like all the rain that we get during spring. Not a lot of people like spring simply because of all the rain, but for me it is the opposite. I like how vivid everything looks outside. This year we didn’t get too much rain during spring.

            One reason why I don’t like winter is simply because it’s cold outside, I like warm weather over cold weather. I do like playing in the snow with my friends. Another reason why I like summer over winter is because there is school. As I said in the second paragraph, that’s why most kids prefer summer over winter. In the winter when there is a bad storm you have to stay indoors, and kids usually don’t like that over going outside and playing in the snow. I think the one reason why some kids might like winter over summer is because there is Christmas during winter.

            In conclusion, I think that the warmer seasons of the year are better than the colder seasons. That is only my opinion. Some people prefer the colder seasons of the warmer ones. I believe there are more reasons that support the warmer months being more popular than the colder months. I think there is more people who like summer over winter. Go summer!   

The Crack in the Mirror

The Crack in the Mirror 

Short Story

5/11/12

Look at me, I'm hideous. I mean look at this crack it's terrible. I used to be a beautiful work of art, but now I'm just another broken mirror. I used to be perfect not even a scratch on me but now I have this crack and you just store me away? Typical, you buy something nice, ruin and throw it out or store and not even think twice. You used to get up and look at yourself and say "wow it's going to be a great day!" but not anymore because you just had to practice your pitching in the house. What happens now? Do I just stay in here the rest of my life? You can't even spend the money to fix me, that’s just perfect , I sit here and wait till I die. Oh! You came back for me! Yay! So where are you taking me? Are we going back to the room, wait why did you pass it? I don’t understand where else are you going to put me? Why are you opening the front door! What good am I going to do outside? NO! not the garbage!

The Controversial Topic

The Controversial Topic

Research Paper

Cloning

Nick Woerishofer

4/24/12

The Controversial Topic

Author’s Note: This is a research paper on the topic of cloning. I will be talking about what cloning is, why it is such a controversial topic, some animals that have been cloned, whether or not we should clone a human, and some other things. Enjoy!

            Should we clone a human? You might ask yourself, what is cloning? Well scientists put it this way, “An umbrella term traditionally used by scientists to describe different processes for duplicating biological material” (Cloning Fact Sheet, 2009). Not too many people agree with the topic of whether or not to clone a human being. Some believe that only God should have the power to make new life, while others might say that it is a complete waste of time and we should spend more time studying things like the universe. Yet, some believe that one day cloning might make all of our lives better. What do you think? Cloning is a controversial topic, that’s no lie, but the cloning process is difficult. Many animals have been cloned but if we could clone a human it would go down in history as one of man’s greatest accomplishments!

Though it is a controversial topic, the process is very difficult. “First you have to isolate the donor nucleus, second get unfertilized eggs, then remove eggs nucleus, later insert donor nucleus, lastly place egg in womb” (Carver, 2004). So as you can see this is a difficult process. The process can sometimes take weeks to complete. And after the egg is in the womb the scientists still have to wait a long time before the clone is born. After the clone is born, they have to do many many test to see one. If the clone is in good condition and two, its time to see if it has all the characteristics as the origonal, then this is the process they must use to make Dolly the sheep.

The process may be difficult but it has been done before. “In 1952, the first animal, a tadpole, was cloned. Before the creation of Dolly, the first mammal cloned from the cell of an adult animal, clones were created from embryonic cells. Since Dolly, researchers have cloned a number of large and small animals including sheep, goats, cows, mice, pigs, cats, rabbits, and a gaur. All these clones were created using nuclear transfer technology” (Cloning Fact Sheet, 2009). So as you can see many different kinds of animals have been cloned. The largest of these animals is definatly the guar, and the smallest being the tadpole. The process maybe difficult and may take a while but they have cloned many animals and have a lot of success doing it.

Some advantages to cloning are “Potential benefits to modern medicine,

Helping infertile couples, Reverse the aging process, Protecting Endangered Species, and Improving food supply” (Advantages and Disadvantages , 2009). This could help stop the aging process. Imagine never getting older. It could save all the endangered animals. So as you can see this could do a lot of good to the world.

      Alone with advantages there are some disadvantages like “The Element of Uncertainty, Inheriting diseases, The Potential for Abuse” (Advantages and Disadvantages , 2009). There are some disadvantages but not too many. This is saying that they are not certain that it will even work on a human, which could have some concequensis. Also if a clone is just a copy of the origonal then it would have all the same diseases, like cancer, it would all the same allergies, like if your allergic to peanuts. So there are some dis advantages but not as many as the advatages.

      If we one day cloned a human being that would be a big step in the right direction, and it could open up new possibilities for scientist and their work. The cloning of Dolly the sheep was successful but it took 200+ times before it actually worked, so when we one day try to clone a human there is a big chance we could fail and possibly kill someone while we are at it. It is a controversial topic because someone may think that it is just a waste of time and that we shouldn’t waste our time in trying to make doubles of things, but it could also be helpful on day.

Bibliography

Advantages and Disadvantages . (2009, January 24). Retrieved April 19, 2012, from Methods of Healing : http://www.methodsofhealing.com/the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-cloning/

Carver, R. J. (2004). Cloning: How To Make Identical Genomes. Retrieved April 18, 2012, from Explore More: http://www.iptv.org/exploremore/ge/what/clone.cfm

Cloning Fact Sheet. (2009, May 11). Retrieved April 16, 2012, from Human Genome Project Information : http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/cloning.shtml

Infinity

Infinity

Chronicles of Nick

4/13/12

Essay

Author’s Note: This is an essay about a book I read over spring break called Infinity: Chronicles of Nick. This is an essay for my goals. Enjoy!

            Have you ever been attacked by zombies, vampires, and other demons? Yeah, me either. Well Nick Gautier (Go-shay) can’t say the same. Over spring break I read the book Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon. It was a great book. The main conflict of the story was person versus society because Nick is battling against all the bullies at school and all of the demons trying to kill him because of his destiny. He has to find a way to keep his friends and his family safe.  Nick doesn’t even know what he is destined to be or what powers he’s capable of. I think the main theme of the story is maybe survival or individuality, I think this because Nick and his friends are trying to survive the zombie attack, and they each have their individual fighting style and personality. This is a action, adventure, humor, and mystery type of book.

             In the story the characters develop a lot. As the story goes on you learn more and more about each character. The main conflict in this story is defiantly person versus society, because when Nick goes to school he has to deal with mean bullies and teachers that that don’t really like him too much. Nick gets suspended from school for fighting because a bully insults his mom and her job. His principle also hates him because he thinks that Nick cheated on the test to get into the school because he is the only one to get a perfect score. These are just some of the reasons why I think that this is the main conflict in this book.

            While main conflict is important to a book there is also the theme of the story. Which in this case is probably survival because Nick and his friends have to fight for their lives because of a zombie invasion his friend accidentally made, and on top of that Nick gets visions and is getting attacked by all different types of demons. But the theme could also be individually because Nick and his friends all have their own individual styles and personalities. These are just two possible themes.

            Another reason why I think that the main conflict is person versus society is because in the beginning of the book Nick really doesn’t have any friends and his dad is in jail. So nobody but his mom likes him. None of his teachers really like him because the principle convinced them that Nick cheated. So nobody likes him, he has no friends, and nobody really wants him around until he meets a boy named Celeb, and he becomes his friend but then Nick gets a vision of Celeb killing him so Nick doesn’t know if he can really trust him because of his vision. As Nick out more and more about the world around him he find out about his destiny and that celeb is actually his protector, and that everyone in school all have secretes

            So as stated above this is a great action adventure book. As you can see this book has a lot of reasons why the main conflict is person versus society and the theme is survival. I think the author’s purpose for writing this book was to entertain her audience and to teach them that no matter how weird and creepy someone may be they still have feelings and that we should be nice to everyone around us.   

      

Response

Big Yellow Taxi

The topic of Big Yellow Taxi is that they took down the nature that everyone liked and changed it with stuff like a mall and parking lots. That is what I think it means. I think the purpose of writing this poem was to tell us that everything we got is eventually going to go away. There was a lot of figurative language used; it was mostly metaphors and hyperboles. I think this poem is supposed to make you feel thankful, because you don’t know what you have until it's gone.

The Field Below

I think the topic of this poem is that the author regrets that she didn’t see the field below. To show that you shouldn’t take everything you have for granted The figurative language used in this poem is simile and personification, metaphor, and anaphora  The tone is the author feels rerate and the mood is that you feel sorry for her.

The tone and the mood of these poems are very similar. The topic of these poems are the same also.