Should Juvenile Offenders be Prosecuted as Adults

                                                                      No
            When juveniles are 13 and 14, their minds are not fully developed. By placing them in a prison with other adults, this would probably cause more harm then good. It is scientifically proven that 90 percent of teenager offenders actions do not effect their adult life. If placed in prison as an adult even though you are a child, your punishment will be much more severe. this includes more prison years, harm from other adults, etc. as a child, these punishments would not been as harsh.

                                                                      Yes

              If a juvenile does a very bad crime, such as first degree murder, then they should be sentenced as an adult. This can teach them lessons on how not to be a criminal and how it is bad for you. There are very harsh punishments for improper actions. After the crack and cocaine epidemic, laws were changed so juveniles could be charged as adults.

The Thing About Luck

       In the book i have just started to read, the two main characters named Summer and Jaz are very different. This blog post is going to be about their similarities and differences. Lets start off with Summer. Summer has lots of friends and is a normal kid. She always ttys to help other people and look on the bright side of life, even though she hasn't had much herself. Summer had gotten malaria, which was very rare that year.

       Jaz, on the other hand has no friends. He spends hours building amazing lego sculptures in his room, alone. He is a child who concentrates very hard, works very hard, but everyone acts like he is different from everyone else. He and summer are brother and sister, even though they are nothing alike. 

     The only things they have in common are that they both are brother and sister, and they both care for each other. They both do not have the greatest amount of luck, but they are still grateful for what they have.

character change

 In the book Lord of The Flies, the main character Ralph has not changed very much. In the beginning of the book, Ralph had already felt that he was a ruler, and that he would be great at it. Thinking this he is elected ruler by all of the other boys on the island. Now halfway through the book, the group of boys are still stranded on the island, and ralph is bossing everyone around, and he doesn't do any of the work. I think that ralph is going to go insane. I think this because he has not been a very good leader and he has been very stressed. He will probably crack under all of the weight of maintaining everyone.

Memoir

   The hard sound of the school bell indicating the end of the period knocked me out of my glaze. The

room around me erupted as everyone packed up and ran out to their next class.  As quickly as I could,  

I jammed all of my social studies supplies into my bag And ran out into the  narrow ocean of people.

I can find my way to my next class by following everyone else in my class I thought. The hallway

was so full of people that I couldn't see anyone. That's when the second bell rang. The hall emptied

like a bathtub draining. The only sounds I could hear were my own footsteps echoing down the hall.

My face was hot and sweaty, and I had no idea where I was going. My stomach was in knots like

garlic bread. I was too stressed to think about how to find my way anywhere. They must have started

class already I thought. Coming to reality, I took out my agenda book and found my way to the

classroom.  While walking there, I came to the important realization that you can't only rely on your

friends.

How my character has changed

    I have just finished reading The Kill Order, the prelude to the amazing series, The Maze Runner. Mark, the main character had changed drastically over the course of this book. In the beginning, before the sun flares struck the earth Mark was a very timid and shy person. When all of the power went out in the railroad, Mark was too scared to think, so Trina, Marks friend has to save him. But as life gets harder, and the men in the berg attack their homestead in the Appalachian mountains, Mark has to harden up and be strong. Alec, a former solider for the military helps him do this. When Trina gets captured by the cranks, Mark and Alec have to go find them. But when the PFC catches them, Mark releases his anger bubble and is almost driven to the edge with lunacy. He catches himself and tells himself everything will be okay. By the end of the book, Mark is not a shy timid person anymore, but a tough solider, like Alec.

The Death Cure

     The death cure is about a boy named Thomas. He has survived the flare, a disease that makes you go insane. This is because he is immune to this disease. Thomas escapes from WICKED, only to learn that the world is almost all destroyed. He and his friends fight their way to their Berg. A Berg is a type of ship that is very large. One of Thomas's friends Jorge piloted a Berg that they stole from WICKED and they flew away. One of the only cites left with civilians in the world was Denver. Two gladers from Group A, Minho and Newt were forging credit cards and IDs for everyone. When they land in Denver, they had to be decontaminated and checked for the Flare. The group met a man named Hans who helped them remove their tracking chips from WICKED. Then the group goes to a cafe, but there are guards blocking the entrance. They were checking to see if anyone had the flare. One person had the flare and everyone ran out of the cafe except for Thomas. The guard then tried to sell Thomas to the government because immunes are worth alot of money. The guard gets killed by rat man, but he is in a cop machine. Newt gets infected and he is taken to the infected palace. Thomas is then taken to the right arm, a resistance group who's priority is to destroy WICKED. They tell Thomas that they want to blow up WICKEDs headquarters. They send Thomas in with another operative. wicked tries to cut open Thomas's head to remove his brain, but chancellor paige stops them and tells him where all of the other immunes are. he goes to rescue them, but as soon as he reaches them, the right arm activates the bombs. Thomas is able to escape with many immunes and his friends.

    Overall, I would rate this book a 4 out of 5 stars. I would rate it this because at some parts in the novel, the book was very dry and boring. this book could improve by explaining why Thomas's mind was the best mind to make a cure for the flare.

Phone Recycling Issues

     I do not think it is acceptable to pay developing counters to take our electronic waste. I think this because people in these countries are using children to work for them. The children have to burn the electronics, so they can extract wires such as copper wires and silver threads. Then the country throws the e waste into mountains, which affects the environment and the life that lives in the mountains. The workers brains are effected greatly by this. The children smash batteries with mallets to retrieve cadmium. Sprinkles of cadmium, a toxic chemical coat their feet as they work. This means that they are inhaling toxic chemicals. A way to get out slivers of gold from circuit boards is to cook them. This is exactly what the woman do. The circuit boards are cooked in lead, a poisonous chemical.

      I think the U.S. Cellphone manufacturers would change their ways if the citizens would make videos to the public and made everyone realize what is going on. Then the public will send their phones to the recycling facilities where no one is harmed while working. this way, more parts are reused for future circuitry and phones.

Has the Arab Spring Failed?

        The Arab spring did fail. I think this because at first the protesters were very enthusiastic. But now the Middle East is full of bloodshed and violence. At first, they were doing a pretty good job of protesting and getting their way, But as stated in the article, the uprising turned into a civil war that has killed over 100,000 people. If you overthrow a ruler, there will be no government and that will lead to pandemonium and chaos. The Arab spring has caused the Islamist government to almost collapse on itself, causing the country to start to go into a state of war. I think that the Arab Spring has injured democracy in the Middle East.

      Although the Arab spring was not successful in my point of view, I still believe that the Middle East      can still achieve democratic reforms over time. I think this because the government can regain control and repair the damage and seize the Arab Spring. I think that the Arab Spring is causing more problems than the military crackdown. If the government can reinforce the arab spring than the government has a good chance of getting back in control.

how the author uses craft to reveal character

     In the book Jurassic Park, the author Michael Crichton uses craft to reveal character. For example, the paleontologists doctor Grant and doctor Ellie use beer as their calendar. They start with one hundred cases and count by how many cases they have gone through.  This shows that the two paleontologists like beer. Then, after leaving Jurassic Park and everything that happened behind, he wanted to go back and finish his excavation in the desert. The author shows that doctor Grant is very passionate about his job.

     A piece of imagery in Jurassic park that describes Ian Malcolm the mathematician is that he relates the chaos theory to a pool ball. This explains that Malcolm believes in the chaos theory, and that the future is unpredictable. Another thing that the author uses to reveal character is that Malcolm says "with subsequent drawings of the fractal curve, sudden changes may appear. This means that Malcolm is saying that something bad is bound to happen. This could also indicate that Malcolm is superstitious. overall, this book so far is very good. I cant wait to read more of it!

My Name

    I was named Jasper after the stone, Red Jasper. My name is hard, just like the rock. It is a unique name, a joyful name with great amounts of significance and meaning. The stone is rare and special to come across, and I believe the same with my name. Ancient people believed that the stone was sacred, and I think that the same could be said about my name.

    I like my name because it is based on a real object, the Jasper stone. The name Jasper sounds awesome  and the rock looks awesome. The name jasper sounds righteous to me and I think i suit my name perfectly. My name is Jasper Starr Townsend.

 

"Year of the Hangman"

   
9/18/13


  "Year of The Hangman" is about a young boy named Creighton. Creighton was raised by a wealthy family in England without a father. When he is kidnapped at age thirteen, and taken to America by General Gower, everything changes.  While they are sailing, there is an unexpected attack by the English army.

  After, General Gower is captured by the English troops. Gower expects Creighton to spy on the Americans. The English bring him to New Orleans. Creighton lands himself a job working in Benjamin Franklin's printing shop because Franklin was letting him live in his house. As Creighton learned more about the country, his emotions changed about his view of America. Before this, he did not like the country at all.

  As time passes, Creighton persuades everyone that he is not a Brit. Once General Arnold has Creighton's trust, he asks he and his friend Peter if they can help him out on a mission to go into British territory and rescue General Washington from execution. By now,  Creighton's allegiance is with America, because after reading "The Liberty Tree",  Benjamin Franklin's rebel newspaper, he realized that America was a very good country after all.

  Once in England, Creighton, Peter, and General Arnold locate General Gower and convince him that they want to help him and give information about when America is going to attack and where.

  But General Gower doesn't believe General Arnold and challenges him to a duel. During the duel, Gower gets shot and dies. but before he dies, he whispers in Creighton's ear where his father is and that he isn't actually dead. The group goes to a prison and they find him there. While doing this, a guard notices them all in the chamber so he locks them in. Peter rams the door down and they all flee the prison. As they are running down the hall, Creighton gets shot in the leg. Once they make it to the boat, Arnold removes the bullet from his leg.

  This book taught me a lot about The Revolutionary War, but it was written in a dry tone, which made it slightly dull.