The Leak

Wrapped in blankets,

Pillow over head,

Jimmy couldn't sleep,

With the sound of the leak.

He tossed and turned,

even covered his ears,

But drip drip drip was all he could hear.

He tried to sleep,

But all through the night,

Drip drip drip,

 something wasn't right.

Jimmy rose from his bed,

When he saw the light,

Then drowsily he said,

"I'll call the plumber,

yeah that’s right!

He'll fix the leak."

The plumber arrives,

And Jimmy's amazed,

For all these days,

Lying restlessly in bed,

The loud dripping noise,

Was all in his head.

Themes from The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

Author's Note: This is an analysis of a theme from The Lottery by Shirley Jackson.

Blindly Following Tradition

A theme I noticed in The Lottery is the danger of blindly following tradition. They are completely blind toward the tradition because they have yet to realize the inhumanity and brutality of "the lottery". Warner, the oldest person in the town, claims that without the lottery there would be no order. That alone shows how little they actually know of what they're doing. You don't need an iron fist, or in this case a lottery, to keep people from getting "out of line".

I believe that The Lottery relates to Touching Spirit Bear and The Hunger Games. The short story relates to Touching Spirit Bear because Cole Mathews, the main character, blindly takes part in an old Alaskan Indian tradition called Circle Justice simply to avoid going to jail. The Lottery relates to The Hunger Games because they both blindly follow a tradition in which they draw pieces of paper and people are brutally murdered for no reason.

Stem Cells (Science Research Paper)

What is a stem cell? You are probably asking yourself this. It is ok, most people have never even heard of

stem cells. Whether you know about stem cells or not, I'm sure you'll agree. Stem cells are surprisingly

interesting.

Generally, stem cells are a fairly simple topic. Stem cells are cells that can divide indefinitely and have

the potential to develop into different types of cells (NOVA scienceNOW: Stem Cells). According to

theory, Stem cells can divide forever to replenish other cells as long as the organism is still alive (Stem

Cell Basics). This ability may make them important in treating diseases caused by the failure of a certain

kind of cell. There are two different kinds of stem cells.

The first kind of stem cells is adult stem cells. Adult stem cells are found among distinguished cells in a

tissue or organ that can regenerate and can differentiate to allow some or all of the major specialized

cell types of the tissue or organ (NOVA scienceNOW: Stem Cells). The primary roles of adult stem cells in

a living organism are to maintain and repair the tissue in which they are found (Chavis). Adult stem cells

are only able to differentiate into cell types of their tissue of origin (Chavis).

The other kind of stem cells is embryonic stem cells. They are derived from human embryos (Chavis).

Embryonic stem cells are fertilized and grown in specialized laboratories (Chavis). They can become all

cell types of the body because they are pluripotent, or capable of giving rise to several different cell

types (Chavis).

Stem cells are pretty cool. Studies show, stem cells may be the answer to treating devastating diseases.

A few examples would include type 1 diabetes, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and Arthritis  (Chavis). Do you think that we should continue to research stem cells?

Bibliography

Chavis, Jason. "eHow." Advantages of Embryonic Stem Cell Research.

NOVA scienceNOW: Stem Cells. 16 April 2012 <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/teachers/viewing/3209_04_nsn.html>.

Stem Cell Basics. 13 February 2012. 16 April 2012 <http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/basics4.asp>.

Public Transportation (District Assesment)

Public transportation is an extremely valuable offer that the government gives to the citizens. Looking at the public transport systems around the world in attempt to find the ideal set is very interesting. It is almost impossible to find the system that will always be appreciated by employees of the system, government and, of course, users of the public transport.

Public transportation and the way it should develop and benefit population in the country is one of the topics that media gives special attention. First of all, public transport and its role in development of convenient and easy living for elderly people from low-income families as well as disabled individuals is always on top of the social responsibility discussions. Should public transportation be free for everyone? Should it provide particular population segments with discounts and subsidies for its usage? Or should it be based on commercial ground and become a revenue generating tool for the governmental authorities? These are the core issues that are debated on high levels in the government as well as among regular citizens of the country we live in.

From my perspective, the purpose of public transport is to help people be mobile in the cities. It is especially important for elderly people, children and those, who for various reasons cannot afford personal transport. On the other hand, this is an investment of governments in protection of the environment and reduction of the pressure on traffic and air pollution. With that in mind, I strongly believe that while public transportation should be a self-sustainable mechanism and should be able to bring income to the authorities, it should also take into account the primarily objective of any community and government initiative to satisfy basic transportation needs of population.

Having a public transportation system that is approved by everyone is quite a ways away.What do you think is the purpose of public transportation is?

Gregor The Overlander POV

The point of view in Gregor the Overlander is told from Gregor's perspective. I'm pretty sure it is 3rd person limited, because it shows only Gregor's thoughts but tells the story in 3rd person style (Gregor said, instead of I said). If the book was told from the rat's point of view the book would have been way different. However, they didn't make an appearance until after the first few chapters, when Gregor tried to run away down the river. The book would have started with Gregor pulling the boat onto the beach, the climax would probably be the death of Shed and Fangor (the first 2 rats) because they threw the bodies into the river, and hen the other rats found out, it started a war. Then it would go through all the battles, which wouldn't really be that different; and in the end Gorger will get overthrown (killed) just it would tell it from the rats perspective.

Fast Food and Physical Education

People today are becoming addicted to fast food without realizing the effects. Anywhere you go today, you’ll find McDonald’s fast food near you, which is harming American children more than anything else. A typical child today lives and grows up on fast food just because parents don’t have enough time to cook. On top of all this, computers have made it even worse, as all children do is eat junk food and spend their free time playing computer games. Furthermore, children are not able to develop their life skills and harm their health by eating junk food, filled with harmful calories. As a result, due to present circumstances, physical education classes should be required for all public school students in all grades.

The foremost benefit of physical education courses in public schools is that it promotes general health. A typical teenager today spends much more time in front of a PC or TV, on a regular basis, than doing physical exercise. On top of this, children don’t eat healthy nutritional food which ends up harming their body in many different ways, such as having a poor heart at a young age due to obesity, breathing problems etc. Keeping this in mind, researchers have found out that exercise has maximum benefit if done regularly. Furthermore, learning about the importance of physical fitness it not only helps students stay fit, but also helps them to remain healthy throughout their lifetime.

Besides promoting general health, physical education teaches children transferable life skills. As children start to exercise or play games, they start to socialize in society among other children. Furthermore, playing games, they actually become a part of a team and start to learn about teamwork, by developing their confidence and leadership qualities. Furthermore, children also learn about important aspects of life, such as not letting themselves down even if things don’t go their way. They also learn about the benefits of healthy competition.

The third reason why physical education should be required in schools is that children can be better trained effectively, efficiently, and faster under a trained professional. Even though children can get exercise at home, trained physical education teachers can teach more effectively than parents. Furthermore, physical education teachers can usually point a student toward the sport that is more appropriate, as they monitor a student's progress on a daily basis. Also schools generally have the appropriate facilities and equipment to aid in better results, rather then exercise done at home.

However despite of all the benefits of physical education in public schools, some parents claim that only academic subjects should be taught in school, as physical games might be a distraction for students. However, most parents don’t realize that they themselves don’t have enough time to oversee their child's physical exercise, nor do they have the available resources in order for their children to get enough exercise. Therefore, it becomes the school's duty to ensure that children are healthy in both mind and body.

In conclusion, one can see that as children are growing obese, physical education is becoming more of a necessity than an elective in public schools. Physical education has often been downplayed as a minor part of daily school life and not been considered necessary. However, if its benefits are taken into account and if schools adopt a twelve-year fitness plan, the positive results will foster a new awareness of not only physical fitness but also communication skills.

Touching Spirit Bear Quote Revision

Author's Note: This is a revision of a previously written quote evaluation.
  

“The dances, carving the totem, carrying the ancestor rock, touching the Spirit Bear, it was all the same thing—it was finding out who I really was.”

Cole to Peter, p. 283

This quote, near the end of the novel, summarizes in a sentence the point of the book's title as well as the whole book. These particular events, while their content and character were interesting and important, were merely means to get to the end of personal growth, healing, and forgiveness. In this way, the author makes the lesson of the book go beyond a particular boy in Alaska who encounters a bear into a broader story of the man's search for self and meaning.