Response paper 7; Spock the Sparow January 31, 2008

 On a beautiful cloudless Saturday morning Spock the Sparrow was wondering aimlessly in the park. The other birds in the park started staring and talking about the little bird, you see he was talking rather loudly to himself. He was saying something crazy to the “voices in his head”. “Leave me alone!” Spock the Sparrow was screaming. One of the birds casually walked over to Spock to see what was the matter. “Is everything alright? I mean you are talking rather lould and its very disturbing.” He politley asked. “I’m just trying to stop everyone talking to me at once! I can’t think when everyone is talking to me.” Spock shouted. “You know what, I need a vacation. I can’t work in these conditions. I’m leaving and all of you can stay right here!” He scrame and stormed back to his tree house to pack, leaving the other bird to wonder what the heck it was all about.

The next day, a gorgous Sunday, Spock left for his vacation. He went everywhere, all around the world. Unfortunatly for Spock his little friends decided to join him on his journey. All threw his travels Spock was talking and screaming to himself. Leaving an impression on and in every country, town, and park he went to.

The most unforgettable visit was in Bangkok, Thailand. Spock was at the Temple of The Emrald Buddah, when he created his biggest fuss. In the middle of his tour he began kicking and screaming like a mad-man. He kept sreaming as loud as birdly possible, “Leave me alone! Go away! Stop talking to me! Don’t touch me!” Of course no one was anywhere near Spock the Sparrow, or did anyone even talk to to the bird. And as you could have guessed Spock was asked to leave first politly but then, not so polity he was literally thrown out of The Temple of the Emrald Buddah. Spock immediatly left for Adwa, Ethiopia.

Spocks last visit was to Adwa, Ethiopia. What a tragic ending for a small pitiful, scitzafrentic bird. You see birds never last all that long in Adwa, they don’t get much food.Not long after he arrived he was ambushed by a tribe of starving Ethiopian children. He luckily got away from the children but ran right off a cliff. It was a sad sad day in the town of Adwa, a good plump sparrow gone to waste. At least now Spock is free of his friends in his head. The moral of this story is: never visit Ethiopia if you are plump, a bird, or scientifically crazy.

     

     

Response paper 6; Hadreien January 31, 2008

Hero’s are very nice things. Well, to begin I suppose it would be nice to start with this heroes name. Her name is Hadreien. She is an ugly little child who belongs in the loony bin, which is where she is right now. She thinks she’s an all powerful goddess who has been trapped in a human body her whole life. Which is why her parents locked her up and threw away the key.

If I didn’t know any better I would believe everything else about her. That she is crazy and deserves what comes to her but, being her sister I know from spirit that she is what she thinks she is. Hadreien has gone threw many hardships in her short little life. Her real parents died in a fire set by the evil Catrina. Hadreien wants Catrina dead, and will do anything to kill her. So this is where we are I guess thats what this story is all about.

As you may have guessed Hadreien escapes from the loony bin in search for her evil mistress. Catrina lays hiding away far from civil life, beyond the little brats reach and in case you didn’t know I am Catrina. Whaahahahahahaha.

Right now as far as I can see Hadreien is in the village down the road from a town by the name of Lapsen where it smells of honey and sweets. How wonderful the little brat is getting sweets thats just what she needs. She probably wont know where to go from there. Even if she knew where I was she wouldn’t be able to find me because my house is hidden in the far valleys of Nembose a dangerous town indeed.

When I look through my crystal ball I can see any and everything that Hadreien does. She stands in the middle of Lapsen searching high and low with all her might to find a speck of me. For the past few hours Hadreien has been asking anyone in sight if they have seen or heard anything from me in the past few weeks. Of course when they heard Catrina slip her pale pink lips they ran in fear or began to cry, all but one. One poor peasant girl, Tyronasana, did not run or cry in fear she told the story of her poor parents death, boo hoo hoo. Tyronasana believed it was my evil doing that caused her parents to start up in flame and burn. Well, what can I say? I take pride in torturing the loved that are not worthy of love. With this information at hand Hadreien decides its a bout time to leave, Tyronasana wants to join her on her journey to the depths of my lair. Halfheartedly Hadreien denies the girls accompaniment, this is something she must do alone.

After leaving Lapsen with Tyronasana’s information at her disposal she begins to journey to a more treacherous land, the land of the CHUDs, cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers. The CHUDs do not accept foreigners with a very lively attitude, in fact they may be even more evil and maniacal than me, then again maybe not. The CHUDs have been cursed with the most hateful curse of all, the curse of cannibalism. They have been starved for the past eleven and half years, the last time someone ventured onto their Island. Oh, how very sad for Hadreien, to become a dinner party for the CHUDs, too bad I can’t join them. As she ventures onto the island she relizes that something is not quite right. As she goes further into the dark deep forest Alejandra, the CHUD queen, comes forth and approaches the girl.

“What brings to our lovely and humble island my dear, sweet, skinny child?” Alejandra asks in a raspy, witch-like voice.

“I am so very sorry to have disturbed you, ma’am, but I am looking for the evil Catrina, I intend to do her harm.” relies the sweet girl.

“Well then I must say you are welcome hear, as long as you join us for a little, get together we are having. Boys, grab the girl!” Alejandra yells. Confused and scared Hadreien tries to run past the four incredibly strong men. As she scurried for freedom and tries to pull out the sword at her side, she is knocked out by a bolder flying in the air. The four men bring Hadreien to a little camp about four miles away from the islands edge. Alejandra quietly whispers that the child is to brought up to her castle well seasoned and ready for dinner.

As a few CHUD women begin the proper seasoning ritual Tyronasana runs at them with a giant stick and jabs at them screaming for them to let her go. Little did she know a giant CHUD was behind her with a boulder, and knocked her out too. With both girls the CHUDs would a very hearty dinner. Right as the women began to season Tyronasana Hadreien wakes up and crawls past them. As she stands up she realizes she still had the sword, and she swung down on them. Fortunately for her she had had some practice at the Loony Bin. Unfortunatley it was to late to save poor Tyronasana, she had already been cooked. As Hadreien begins back to the water to continue search for me, who does she meet?

Here I stand right in front of this poor little hepless “hero”. But will she recognize me? I think so. She stares for a while then relizes who it is she is staring at, the one the only Catrina. When she relizes who it is she pulls out the sword and challenges me to a fight, and of course I accept. With swords clincking and some magic flying through the air we relize it is a lost cause and stop. As we sit on the sandy beach and talk we disscuss what really happened to our parents and I confess to not doing it, I had to build a reputation somehow. When we finish talking we stand, hug, and head for home.

Its about time we avenge our parents together, but thats another story.

Response paper 5; My Superman January 10, 2008

The smell of gasoline is in the air as a dark figure is thrown across the sky. Superman is flying up above the dark figure his red cape flapping in the wind. The dark figure begins to get up and jump at superman biting and growling in mid-jump. Superman runs around him in with his super speed power. Superman picks up the dark figure and with great strength throws him into the outer realm of this world. Superman is the hero of the small town. What makes him a hero anyway? Is it his super speed? Extreme strength? Ability to fly? No, superman is considered a hero because of his bravery, willingness to fight evil against all odds, and who can forget about how very attractive Superman is.

What makes a hero a hero? You could do the nerdy thing and look hero up in the dictionary or you can look into your heart. When I think of a hero I think of someone who will fight (not always with weapons or powers) to stand up for what he/she believes in. A hero is not just some one who stands up to “villains” to get fame and glory but for the greater good. Take superman for example, yes he has some totally awesome powers and a great six pack, he has a choice to fight against evil and save man kind. Superman doesn’t have to leave home and nearly die for the world he could just sit home and pretend that there is no evil in the world. A hero is also some one who will do what is right in a time of crisis. They will protect the ones the ones they love and sometimes even a complete stranger.

`In the story The Odyssey Odysseus is thought to be a grand hero. While reading it yesterday it didn’t really seem to me that he was that much of a hero. To me a hero doesn’t go into another village to plunder and enslave women and children, would Superman do that? I feel that in order to call some one a hero they need to act and treat others like one. Although, the story also said that he fought almost to the death to get his men home safely, that is a hero-like trait. It just doesn’t seem right to call Odysseus a hero because of some of the things he has done to other people and villages.

Everyone has a personal hero, whether or not its a super hero like our dear friend Superman or an everyday hero. My hero is my dad. He has many hero-like attributes. For instance he has done everything he can do to provide and keep his family safe and alive, even if it means we never get to see him but once or twice a week. My dad works very hard to make sure everyone has things they need and are kept safe and sound. Sure he may go out and DJ a few nights a week but at least what he is doing is making it possible to care for his family. Besides what hero doesn’t have his flaws? My dad may not be the perfect hero or person that ever walked the face of the earth but thats ok. In our times of crisis he always makes sure everyone is happy and healthy. My daddy is my Superman.

Being a hero can be hard work but in the end its worth it to see the smiling faces of all the grateful people in the world. If I was in a fight and I had a choice to be on either my dad or Odysseus’s side I would without hesitation be on my dad’s side. To me my dad has more hero like attributes than Odysseus. I know for a fact that in a fight between us and Odysseus we would win because we would have more hero ambition than Superman and Odysseus combined. A hero isn’t in a fight for glory or fame but for what he/she believes in and the “greater good”.

 

Response Paper 4; New Year January 10, 2008

I have a problem. This was a big issue to me last year, it really was. I enjoy biting my fingernails. I need to fix myself and stop biting my nails. I think in order to stop biting nails I should put something on them. Maybe if I put glue on them I will stop biting them and stuff.

One big problem with biting your nails is that they always hurt. I mean when you bite your nails you can also bite your finger which doesn’t feel to great. I think to stop my fingers to stop hurting is to stop biting my nails. But you see, I’m an addict. I am addicted to biting things I always have to be chewing on something so I bite my fingernails. It is a problem.

My dad told me if I don’t stop biting my nails I could get worms. I don’t know about that because dogs get worms and I am certainly not a dog. Woof Woof! I mean how in the world can a HUMAN get worms. I imagine dogs get worms because of the way they hello, sniff each other you know. People don’t do that, I hope. But I also don’t want little white things in my tummy, so that’s also an issue. I guess to solve the worm problem I could just stop biting my nails.

Last but not least! Another problem is that when I bite my nails my nails shrink. So when I have to open something like a can or something I can’t I have to get a spoon or knife. This is a problem because after trying for a while I get rather frustrated and begin throwing things. Sometimes the things I throw hit some one, it is rather funny especially if it’s my little brother because he starts crying, which makes me laugh even harder because he’s like 12. So I guess that could be a good thing, because it makes me laugh to see my brother cry. On the other hand it’s a problem because someday I might throw something and break a window and that would just suck. I guess to fix this problem I could just simply stop biting my nails.

But really it’s not simple at all. You don’t understand what its like! It makes me happy and sad and everything. I really do need to stop biting my nails though, I really do. It’s really disgusting if you think about it, it’s sick. Alright, well to stop all my issues, not all for that I would need a mental institution, I will stop biting my nails.

Response paper 3, Twenty Dollars January 4, 2008

Smash! Crack! Boom! Are the sounds heard form a hotel room. A young boy is lying on the ground. Another man and a woman dressed in a black silk dress are standing above the bloody and bruised boy. “That’s what happens when you underpay for one of my girls”, the man says in a scruffy voice. The young lady takes a wallet off the dresser and pulls out a twenty dollar bill. They both exit the scene kicking the boy in the stomach as they pass. All this could have been avoided if only the boy was allowed to read The Catcher in the Rye.

The Book The Catcher in the Rye has been around for many years, since 1951 to be exact. Through those many people have objected to this amazing, unique tale. Due to the harsh language and realism in this book many people have chosen to ban it from schools and public libraries. I believe this book has a moral of some sort, you just have to be open minded enough to look for one under the rough pages of Holden Caulfield’s life. This book can teach us many things

One thing we can learn is redemption, deliverance from sin; salvation. For example, in the book, Holden Caulfield picks up a prostitute for $10. He didn’t do anything with her, but the next day at the train station Holden meets two nuns and gives them $10 for their convent. This is a sign that he felt bad about the night before and wanted to make his peace. Redemption is good for kids to learn about because it shows us that even though we do something terrible we can make up for it and be forgiven.

Another great reason not to ban it, is that it gives us a new perspective. You could thing about something one way and read this book and be introduced to a new way of thinking. For example, during his stay at the Pencey boarding school he tells us about his thoughts on Jesus and the Disciples. Holden says, “I like Jesus alright but his disciples were always letting him down”. That is a new idea to me and is unique because we always hear how great Jesus and his disciples were you usually never hear about anyone bringing one down without the other. I feel it necessary to learn and know about new ideas, thoughts, feelings, and beliefs because if we don’t how will know how to interact with people that use the same understanding.

Lastly The Catcher in The Rye should not be banned from schools or libraries because it’s a major wake-up call to what real life is really like. For example, Holden talks about suicide, transvestites, and things that are in other words “uncomfortable” subjects that people don’t really like to talk about. But if we kids don’t how can we prepare ourselves for when we come across them? Life shown through the eyes of Holden Caulfield gives us a new perspective on how life really is. Its not all the sunshine and butterflies that Hollywood likes to portray and if we don’t open our minds up to real life we won’t recognize it if it hit us between the eyes.

A young boy is walking down the street. He sees an old homeless man sitting on the front steps of a broken down shack. He goes up to him and gives him a twenty dollar bill and says, “Have a nice day sir.” The young boy did this to redeem himself for earlier that day. He learned the idea of redemption from the book The Catcher in The Rye.