Mary Lou Thompson.

My real name is Mary. But everyone calls me by my middle name, Lou. I was only fifteen when the war began. I missed my dad and my brother everyday. When I was young, I couldn't understand why people were fightin'. I still have regrets about that day. The day I said goodbye. But what am I doing, thinking about this, I have to live in the present. But it's so unbearably difficult not to think about it. The day that letter came. I remember the way mama cried for weeks. I almost couldn't take it anymore. They asked me to do it, and I accepted. As revenge for my beloved father and my brother. I don't even blink. I've never regretted anything I've ever done. These men deserve it. They think I'm sweet and innocent, but they're wrong. I can handle myself. They think I can't, but I can. There ain't no way I'm lettin' myself down after I've come so far. They've asked me to be a spy and I will fight to the end. I will never let my family go hungry, and I will never ever forget my father or my brother. Something's for sure though, there ain't no better grit than when a woman has it. They say lots a' men have grit, but they ain't never seen anything like us. They don't even know what hit 'em when suddenly their information's leaked to their enemies. Oops, did I do that?

Historical Fiction

The book that I read yesterday was different journals and pictures from people who lived during that time. The point of the book was to show how diverse people's lives were back then. It gave point of view from many different aspects. From young boys to old men. I have started thinking about my story. The story is going to take place in the north, though I am not sure specifically where yet, and the main character is going to be a girl around our age. The conflict in the story is going to be that she really misses her dad and her brother. They went off to war. She has to work everyday with the motivation that her family will be reunited again. I would tell you more, but I do not want to spoil the ending.

Motivations

I believe that there are many different reasons for motivations. Between all of them I believe that well to put it bluntly, Passion, is what really gets people. It doesn't have to be a lovey-dovey type passion, it could be a passion for anything. A passion for writing, a passion for basketball, for skateboarding, you know whatever floats your boat. Passion could motivate someone to go that extra mile, to push themselves to be their best. Yes, I do believe everyone is somewhat selfish. Sometimes reasons to be selfish could be justified, but many times it's just out of greed. One time, I really wanted concert tickets. My parents weren't giving in. So I asked for them for my birthday. Then I kept reminding them and reminding them. I was so determined to get those tickets I even cleaned the entire house. The motivation came from well, a passion. I ended up getting the tickets ad found that motivation is really key to success.

Fighting

I believe that fighting can be justified. It does not have to be violent. In many cases people fight for rights. Actually most of what we fight for are rights. A person that we should all be reminded of with this topic is Martin Luther King Jr. He is one person who changed history fighting for freedom, nonviolently. The nonviolent manner lead to great things. A way to fight without harsh actions is protesting. This way there is not violence and you get the point through. Another way would be to boycott something that you are against. This fights what ever you want to fight in a very quiet manner and there is not really much someone could do about it. The way I see it, it's really better to fight without fists, fighting nonviolently won't get you in trouble and it gets the point through.

Free Will

I think that there are a lot of people in this world without free will. Most of the countries here are restricted to express free will. More or less, a lot of people are scared to express themselves, they are scared of consequences. I mean, sure we have laws to restrict some things, and that's okay, but for the things that are free, I think people should take the opportunity and run with it. People need to do things, face their fears, otherwise life will be boring. Free will is a key factor in day to day life. Free will doesn't mean violence really, but to do something great. Something you're not used to.

Syrian Shooting

Early in the day Wednesday, security guards attacked protesters who were taking refuge in a mosque. The mosque was in the center of the city of Dara'a. At least six people dead. These six include a doctor that was trying to save some of the others. He was shot down. A Syrian news station story aired the story and were far from the truth of what happened. The television reporters said that the people had been hurt after attacking an ambulance. My thoughts on this are simple. I believe that it was completely wrong to the the story like that. The television station really should have told it how it was instead of blaming innocent people for the shooting. Also, I believe it was really messed up that the security guards would just charge in there like that and start firing.

Read the article I read at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/world/middleeast/24syria.html?hp

Ancient Aliens

Aliens are sometimes considered a myth. Notice the word "sometimes." When I say this, I'm saying that some people truly believe in these extraterrestrial beings. Although some people today believe we're still being visited, many people around the world believe that our ancestors were visited centuries ago. Theories that people have come up with have been set in times as far back as India B.C. One controversial topic is that of the stone henge. The rocks at stone henge aren't your usual pebbles, they way several tons. So how is it that our ancient people could have done this by hand if we today would have trouble doing something like that with our new technologies? It really puts into your head, "what if aliens really did do this?" Another take on this subject are tiny carvings of "birds" found in the ancient Mayan cities. The gold was shaped into a "bird" but many people look at it as if it were an airplane. The carvings have very aerodynamic shapes to them. (One of the carvings found above.) Many ancient alien theorists claim that it looks like a fighter jet. So did ancient aliens ever really visit our ancestors? Will they visit us again? Are they walking among us?

Presentation

The thing about this assignment was that it was really hard to get the class involved because we've never really done that, considering all we've done our whole lives is present, I mean, during presentations we've done activities like last year in social studies, I made a jeopardy game, but that was definitely the hard part. Also, I've had Ms. Johann two years now, and we've only ever done like power points for this class, and that was once each year. So we're not used to presenting in Language Arts. Also, I think that our audience wasn't exactly excited to participate with us. They didn't really make any comments or anything.

Could We Ever Be Equal?

In some ways, I think, we could be equal. Someday, maybe I think that we could come to treat each other equally and respect each other as equals, but not as extremely equal as in Harrison Burgeron. I don't think that mankind can ever be completely equal. The world would just be too plain. There would not be a difference in anything, which would make everyone the same, so I suppose there would be some good things to come out of that. One good thing to come out of it would be there would be no cliques, because you couldn't like someone better than someone else, because everyone's the same. But then again, you couldn't have a best friend, you couldn't have that one true love everyone looks for in their life, because everyone would be the same. No one would be special, and no one would rise above and make the world a better place.

Superpower!

If I could have any one superhuman power, I would definitely choose the ability to fly. I think being able to fly would be the best feeling in the world. You wouldn't have to waste money on gas, and you wouldn't have to worry about your car not starting up. Or for that matter, you wouldn't have to worry about missing the bus. Also, there wouldn't be those major expensive air fares. The ability to fly would help with other things too. It could save your life. Perhaps you were living near a volcano or something and it erupted, You could just fly up and avoid the lava. You would truly feel superhuman.

Respect

Respect, to me, is very important. To earn respect, you need to give respect. The school theme is bullying, and this goes right along with that. When people disrespect each other, feelings get hurt, friendships get broken, all in all, it's not a good thing. The way I see respect, is that it's essential. It's a way of everyday life. You've probably heard the quote "respect your elders," and that's true, but respect everyone. Even yourself.