Daily Journal

3-18-11
If I could have one superpower it would be to have the ability to fly. I chose this superpower because if it were possible, then I would be able to explore the universe, I would be able to see other planets up close, and maybe even figure out some astrological mysteries

3-21-11
The only way for there to be human equality is if we all had a common enemy. This can only happen if there were some sort of alien life, which is likely as there are billions of stars in the universe each with a chance for life. So based on this I believe that there will be human equality but only in hundreds, maybe thousands of years. I think that after all human equality happens I also believe that we wouldn't be split up in countries and continents anymore, I think we would just be "Earth".


3-22-11
What would it be like if we knew everything?
If we knew everything it would be very interesting. If that were to happen then we would know the seven wonders of the world, how the universe was truly created and how everything works. But the more i think about this the more I realize that this would be a terrible thing, because if you include human error into infinite knowledge, then you could get countries bombing other countries, not cities, but entire countries. I also think that we would eventually just bomb our current Earth to death, but then move on to another inhabitable planet, or uninhabitable if we know everything. But we would soon destroy this world to, and then we would keep doing this until there is simply no more planets left inhabitable. So I honestly think that knowing everything would eventually lead to our ultimate demise.

3-23-11
According to the story it depicts how many buzzer-beaters there have been this year as there is every year, but also how many bonehead plays there have been. Like the Butler-Pitt game where two dumb fouls both came in the last three seconds. Or the botched 5 second call made in the Texas-Arizona game. This shows how extraordinarily exciting March Madness is and how exciting basketball is, proving that basketball really is the best sport.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/sports/ncaabasketball/23ncaa.html?_r=1&ref=sports

3-24-11
Reflection-
I thought that this assignment was a good assignment that helped us because public speaking is something that we will do for the rest of our life. I thought that our discussion was a good discussion because we had responses to most things that students brought up  despite the fact that we weren't totally prepared cause our topics weren't memorized. Something I thought was challenging was working in a group that I usually don't work with and something easy was thinking up things for my topic.

3-24-11
If I were in control of the school I would do many things. For one, I would add more teacher to the school to keep class numbers low, I would do this because I personally have been in a class with nine people and it was great. I would also add more elective business classes because right now there are three and a large amount of students I have talked to want to go into some sort of business. The last thing I would do is offer more honors courses, I would do this that way everyone who could succeed in an honors class would have the opportunity to, instead of just the top students in the building. After doing this I feel that the students would be more prepared for high school because of the reasons listed above.

3-25-11
I think that most people have free will, but not all. I believe this because in some countries people are actually condemned to death if they even have thoughts about not liking the government. That is why the USA is so great, because in reality you can believe anything you want. Basically, so long as you don't hurt anybody you can be both neo-nazi and KKK. Now I'm not saying that those are good things but our country is great because you can do those things if you want to. America the Free and Home of the Brave

3-28-11
In some instances you could say that it is indeed justified to fight. Not over small things like someone pushing you off a table or something but things like the civil rights movement. If you say that you can never fight then you're basically saying that this shouldn't have happened. plus the movement is great because it showed that humans can in fact fight without throwing fists. I feel that the only times that you can fight is for either self-defense, or for something you believe is right, much like in the civil rights movement. Something that I would fight for would have to be my rights as an American citizen.

3-29-11
There are many things that motivate people, but I say all of the above. In today's day and age people are motivated to do things from virtually anywhere. Whether it be love, stupidity, or to just out-do your fellow human, we are motivated from anywhere and everywhere. I'd like to think that none of us are selfish but in reality everyone is a little bit. Now I say a little because if one of us were to see a homeless person on the street if we had some money we would probably give them a few dollars, but being totally selfless then that means you would be comfortable giving your life for someone you love, which I believe virtually no one in this room would do. Something that I really wanted as a kid was an allowance, I begged and begged my parents for it, one of the things I would say is why not? Or something along those lines. This happened until one day my dad said he would sleep on it, after hearing this I tried bargaining with him, trying to get a low allowance just to make sure I had one. But, all of this eventually failed, the next day my dad said that he decided not to give us an allowance because we got a lot of money for report cards, birthdays and Christmas.

3-30-11
For my story I have a few ideas. I was thinking about maybe doing something where I depict exactly what happened to John Wilkes Booth after he assassinated Lincoln, or maybe do that but make it like some sort of alien visitor came and brainwashed him into killing Lincoln. These are some of the possibilities that I thought of for my story.

3-31-11
Why are they looking at me? I heard a gunshot but I soon realized what happened. I need to get out of here. outside, something, something, there, a barn. I'll hide out there until they realize what actually happened. OK, I'm in the barn, wait whats that? that must of been the true killer! I must tell them. Hold on, whats that? Smoke? That's definitely smoke. Fire, FIRE! "No No!  You've got the wrong man!" I'm searching helplessly for an exit. There is none. If only I actually had killed Lincoln, then I would have a gun to kill myself. That would be a lot better than burning alive. Finally I have given up. Fire everywhere I lay down and close my eyes. I begin to fall asleep until I hear a creaking above me. Then a crash.

4-1-11
One fact that startled me was the fact that over 200,000 soldiers from the union, were African American. I found this interesting because I always thought that the union was against slavery but I guess they needed all the manpower they could get. I also think that it is on this list because there were a large amount of African Americans that fled to the north because that freed them. I can't use this for research as my topic is the assassination of Lincoln and that didn't happen until the end of the war.

4-4-11
Booth- "You know I didn't do it right?"
Lincoln- "Yes I know this, but it has to be someone."
Booth- "But why me?"
Lincoln-"You just happen to be unlucky, you were just the one they picked out."
Booth- "It was you who picked me wasn't it!"
Lincoln-"No, No, I assure you, they picked you randomly."
Booth- "Yeah, right. You know I was against you, you knew I used to be for the South!"
Lincoln- "That is it, I do not have to take this, goodbye."
Booth- "Goodbye."

4-8-11
            Dear John Wilkes Booth,
I am writing this letter in complaint of what you did on Friday of last week, I realize that you have definitely received death threats and you probably realize that you will be dead before your trial, but on the off chance that you do receive this I would like to point out a few things. First of all, really? you are so stubborn that you had to kill someone because you didn't get what you want, that's just sad. You know, I actually laughed when I heard you broke your fibula when you jumped down to the stage. I mean, you couldn't even think that through enough? you just had to do the huge stunt and jump off the stage to make it more spectacular, I mean it's not like you killed the president or anything. All-in-all, I am looking forward to seeing your name in the obituaries.

Sincerely, John Doe

4-11-11

John Wilkes Booth, died April 26th 1865

John was thought to be a peaceful man, one who just happened to be at the losing end of a war. But all of that changed on the fifteenth. Booth entered the Ford's theater with one sole purpose, to kill the president. Now I believe that I speak for everyone reading this that this man can burn in hell, he killed our beloved leader, and deserved every bit of thing that happened to him, and is going to happen to him.

 4-13-11

Question #1 Who's bright idea was it to jump off of the stage, when you broke your tibia?

Response: Well, actually me and my fellow conspirator Lewis Paine were going to shoot the president and general grant, then run backwards outside of the box, but he wimped out and I quickly realized that that was my only option.

Question #2 Why did you think people would embrace you with open arms, after you shot him?

Response: Because I had heard plenty of people in the south talk about hating the president, and some people wishing him dead, so I just figured that would hold true when something like that actually happened, but apparently I was wrong.

Question #3 Why did you do it?

Response: I did it because I hated the mans guts, I thought people would embrace me with open arms so I thought I could get away with it, guess not.


4-14-11
I found this assignment rather easy because you allowed so much time for research beforehand, and I thought it was challenging because we only had three days to write it. But that didn't bother me too much because I used my class time wisely and I think I could have made it better by putting more detail into the story, although I would eventually turn it into a novel if I did that.

4-15-11
1. One of the major causes of the civil war was when Lincoln was elected. I think this because he wasn't pro-slavery, which led many of the pro-slavery states to recede.
2. One important battle was the battle of Gettysburg, and to be quite honest that's the only battle I know of and I don't know much about it.
3. One important person in the civil war besides Lincoln was a slave named Dred Scott. This was important because he was rightfully free but after 14 years of trials and retrials he was not granted freedom, this led many people of the union to be very upset, which eventually led to the war.

4-15-11
I would like to go down in history as a gracious man. Someone who climbed to the top then helped people up from the bottom.I think that I probably won't remember most of the things that happened this year, like most years.

4-25-11
My spring break was simple but fun, we didn't go to Florida as we usually do because we went to Europe last year but we did go to Chicago to see the family. Over the break basically all I did was hang out with friends and paint my room. But all of this being said, the highlight of my break had to be a 3D movie about a bunch of people doing some very stupid things, all in all, my break was average.

6-6-11 

• I have learned that it is pertinent that I have a deadline
• I have learned that I overuse words like pertinent
• I have learned that procrastination is my worst enemy when it comes to writing
• I have learned that so long as I'm not rushed too much, I can come up with some amazing essays

6-7-11

Wind like a fall day

Beautiful beyond belief

Until the snow comes

Ocean air cleansing

Waters lowering quickly,

The tsunami comes

Warmth enveloping

Clear like any other day

Death outside the eye

City bustling,

Seventy two and sunny

Then a creaking, Crash

Advice for the Class of 2016,

Don't procrastinate, if you don't then you can actually survive 8th grade with good grades. Another thing, if you get Mr. Roehl, congratulations, make sure you pay attention when he teaches you about inertia, you'll soon learn why.