Semester Reflections

In the first semester of my Globel Ed classes I leared several different things. When I first started school I was terrible at writing papers but through out the semester I wrote about a paper every week or more. Some include a letter to the U.N., blogs, my memoir, and weekly responses to articles. From writing all the different papers I've gotten way better at writing. I still have much more room for improvment but by the end of the year I know I will be even better.

In my letter to Paul I started off with a discription of who I was and I went on by persuading Paul to help the inocent bistanders in the whole genocide and to give him ideas on how to end the genocide. Some of my suggestions were, setting up ruffugee camps and getting rid of idea the I.D. cards. Then I finished it off by telling him that I needed his help immediately and thanked him. This assignment was one of my favorite ones to write. I had a pretty good understanding on the Genocide so the paper wasn’t to hard to write.

Every week we are assigned articles to read that are always really hard to understand. When we read them my teacher, Mr. Fielder, tought my class to margin note to make things easier, which always helpes. I think the point of the articles are to get the class to really thing and to open our minds. After reading several articles I can now read one and get a vivid view on what the article is trying to explain.

Throughout the rest of the semester we also watched a few movies like, The Rabbit Proof Fence and The Power of One. I always enjoy wathcing the movies because they are usually pretty good. When I watch the movies it gives me a good understanding of the topics that we are learning about. For example, when we learned about the genocide I read papers and looked over articles but never really new how bad the genocide really was. When I saw the movie I saw how the people felt and what they went through. Before watching the movie I never really thought that the Hutu people really killed almost the whole Tutsi population.

Looking back on the semester I also learned and enjoyed doing blogs. Mr. Fielder assigns a blog every week. I usually like doing the blogs because they allow me to express myself and learn about other people by reading there blogs. Of course I prefer free choice blogs over a topic given to us by Mr. Fielder, but when we have to do that I don't mind to much because it allows me to review over eveything I have learned and to see how much I know. In my opinion blogs are way easier to write than a paper so I can't complain when we are told to write one.

Over all I have learned alot through out the semester and Mr. Fielder is a really good teacher.

The cold snowy days have just begun and there are several more to come. I personally prefer the warm, hot, sunny days of the summer over the cold, snowing winter. The cold weather is just terrible and I hate being cold. However there are a few things that I do enjoy during the winter. Such as, the delicious hot chocolate, sledding, and the Christmas season and spirit.

Every year I go sledding with my dad, sister, and my cousin. When I was younger I went at least 6 or more times a year but as I've gotten older we usually go 3 times a year. It's so much fun but after a while I get pretty tired from walking up and down the hill and I get pretty cold, but my dad always brings hot chocolate in a thermos for me to drink when I start to get cold. I also like building snow men when we get a lot of snow. Recently I just built a frog in the snow and it was really good. One year when I was about 7 years old my mom helped my sister and I make an alligator in the snow and it looked so good and last year my dad came out side and helped my sister and I make a big bunny rabbit. It was huge! And it looked really good. Besides that though, basically the only reason I like when it snows a lot is because of snow days.

Snow days are my favorite! I just love getting out of bed and my mom surprises me and says, " You can go back to bed you don't have school." I usually get so excited and I can hardly go back to sleep. Usually I spend my time playing in the snow or finishing up some homework with the extra time. I also love having them when I have a test coming up because it gives me a whole extra day to study. Last year we rarely ever had snow days. All of my friends that go to different schools always had them and my school never did even if it was snowing pretty hard.

The Christmas holiday is my favorite holiday out of them all. I love when it snows the night before Christmas because it feels more like Christmas. Every year I wish that it will snow. Putting up a Christmas tree is one of my family traditions, along with making cookies. When I wake up on Christmas morning I get so excited and can't wait to open up all my presents. This year I went to my Aunt Patties for Christmas and I had tons of fun.

After Christmas is done and gone, I look forward to New Years Eve. This year I went with my dad and my sister to one of my dad's friend's house. At first I didn't think it was going to be fun but I had a blast. My dad's friend built an ice rink and I spent basically the whole night playing ice hockey with my dad's friend's sons and my sister. I wasn't really good when i started but I got the hang of it and I actually made a few goals.

Rawanda Genocide

The debate about the Rawandan Genocide was very succesful. When it started I was still a little bit confused but alot of my questions got answered and I learned alot more. This debate gave everyone a chance to give there oppinion on the whole situation. I feel it was very succesful and I enjoyed doing it. The debate was also well organized, so that it didn't get out of control. Everybody got an opertunity to voice their oppinion, some more than others. Each group did a good job defending themselves and asking questions. It was very interesting to hear everybody's oppinions and I would definatly do this again.

If I looked back in time, two weeks ago I had no idea what the Genocide was. I've heard about it but I never really knew what it was about. I learned the roles of others and why the Genocide was started. I have a better understanding about it and I enjoyed learning about it. The debate helped with this.

In my opinion Interahamwe and Juvenal is at fault for the begining of the Genocide. They influenced the people to kill other inisent people through radio stations and newspapers. In the descusion alot of people asked America why they didn't do anything. There response was they didn't want to look bad and embarrese themselves. But would they rather look bad or have several people killed and just stand and watch.

The debate was very interesting and I learned alot. It came out very positive and it was a great experience.

"The American Scholor"

Emerson's argument in "The American Scholor" still holds true, to this day.

One reason Emerson's arguement still holds true today is because poeple work as an assembly line. When we take up a job we become that job.` We may be able to do that job very well but we need explore and try new things. People are focused on completing that one job and nothing else. What usually happens is the doctor is just the doctor and the farmer is just the farmer. They don't know how to be anything else. You may be good at your job but the individual needs to be developed and explore and learn how to do new things.

In this article it explains how all man thinks as one and we all have labels, and that becomes our job. The individual is not being appriciated in today's society and we are not creating thinkers. When somebody gets a job often times "The tradesman scarcely ever gives an ideal worth to his work, but is ridden by the routine of his craft, and the soul is subject to dollars." In America you learn several things but you can never no enough. Many people are getting laidoff and have know where else to work to support them and their family. This is because people don't know how to do more than one thing and when you loose your job, where else are you supposed to work?

Trick or Treat, Smell my Feet!

As you may know tomarrow is Halloween. In my opinion Halloween is my favorite holiday of all. Every year my mom makes an award winning costume for my sister and I to wear. Usually we go to the St.Valentine Halloween party, but this year we arn't.

In the past years when I did go to the Halloween party I had alot of fun and EVERYBODY came up to my sister and I and told us how amazing we looked. One year I dressed up as Jack Sparow and my mom made me look exactly like him. I'm always something scary, this year I am going to be a gothic/dead fairy and my sister is going to be a dead doll.

When I told my dad that I was going to go tricker-treating with some friends he said, "Oh really, well this will probably be your last year." But I completly disagree. If I don't go tricker-treating, how will I get all that delicous candy? So I do believe I will still be going for a couple more years. My sister is younger than me by about a year and is going to a Halloween party, so she's not going tricker-treating with me, but with her friends.

What I look forward to most of all, other than being with my friends, is the candy. I love getting the king size candy bars. My favorite candy would probably be Snickers, Kit-Kats, or Butterfingers. A lot of my freinds candy lasts them for a pretty good five months but I'm usually out of candy in one month.

I absolutly hate getting Almond Joys. They are my least favorite candy. When I get home from a long night of running from house to house I pour my bag of candy onto the floor and seperate all the candy. I usually get about 20 Almond Joy's and give them all to my mom or dad. After about five minutes of looking at all of my candy and sneaking a few peices, because if I get caught my mom would probably take away my candy because its "to late to be eating candy", I take off all my spooky makeup and my mom makes me go to bed. This year I don't have to go to bed when I get home because I'm sleeping over my friends house.

After the Halloween night is over I love how everybody usually keeps there Halloween pumpkins and decorations out. The Halloween decorations or another thing I really enjoy. But soon enough Halloween comes to an end and I just have to wait another year for bunches of candy and fun.

St.Vals!

In first grade I moved to Redford from Romulus and I went to Bulmon public school. That year was pretty good for me and I made a lot of new friends, but when 2nd grade came around I had to leave them to go to St.Valentine Catholic School. In kindergarten I went to a private school so the uniforms we had to wear weren't a surprise. I had to wear a plaid dress and white tennis shoes. The rules were pretty strict when it came to the uniforms. We weren't aloud to where ankle socks that didn't show or are shoes had to be pure white with no other color on them or we had to go out and buy a new pair.

When school started I missed about two weeks because my dad forgot to get my sister and I registrated. When I did go my mom walked me to my classroom and gave me a big hug and I was still holding her hand because I was very shy. The teacher basically ripped my hand from my mom and pulled me in front of the class and introduced me. When she showed me to my desk my mom was already gone.

Since I was the new girl nobody talked to me and I had no friends. At lunch my friend Megan asked me to sit by her so I said okay and I was really happy because someone was talking to me. But the next day I sat by myself because she didn't ask me again.

When a week went by and another new girl came in and her name was Payas. When the teacher introduced her, her desk was right next to mine. I remember exactly how we became friends. When the teacher called on her to come to her desk, Payas replied saying, "Who me?" and when I heard this I chimed in saying, "Yes you, who do you think she's talking to you?" And that made her laugh so I started laughing to and she got up to see what the teacher wanted. From there on we talked and played together at recess. We became instant friends.

Later on in the year I made other friends too, but Payas was and still is my best friends.
From 2nd through 6th grade I attended St. Val's and played sports there. Personally I liked it way better than Holmes Middle School. Once again, I had to start over.

The biggest thing I missed was not being able to see all of my friends everyday. I also like wearing the uniforms. It was way better than having to pick out a new outfit everyday. At the end of sixth grade I was practically begging my parents to let me switch schools but into a week of school I regretted it. You never no what you loose until you really loose it. I wanted to go back so bad but I had about a 10% chance and so I just accepted it. After all I was still playing sports there. I always helped out and I basically lived there on the weekends.

Since I'm know in 9th grade I'm not able to play sports with them anymore, which makes me very sad. But I might be an assistant coach for basketball.

Swine Flu

Currently there is a virus spreading through out the world called the H1N1 virus or otherwise known as the Swine Flu. The Swine Flu is a highly contagious form of human influenza caused by a filterable virus identical or related to a virus formerly isolated from infected swine.



The Swine Flu is believed to come from a small town in Mexico and spread from there to the U.S. states. The number of people with the Swine Flu started out very small and increased over time. Recently the FDA approved a scientific manufactured vaccination to combat the swine flu epidemic. Right now there are only fourteen states that have received the vaccine, so far as a nasal spray that starts with kids. The demand for the vaccine is high so it could be weeks or months before the supply catches up.



Parents have been throwing "Swine Flu parties" in hopes to get there children exposed to the virus wail its in its weaker form. A lot of people think this is a very good idea, but scientists say that its a bad technique and the parties are a dangerous gamble and a big mistake. Catching the H1N1 flu virus can be extremely dangerous. More than 500 people have died already from the virus in the United States alone.

You may be wondering how the H1N1 flu is spread. Well its spread the same way as the seasonal flu is spread. They are spread from person to person from coughing or sneezing by people with influenza and also touching something with the viruses on it and then touching there nose or mouth could also spread the flu. So its very important to wash your hands often and cover your mouth when you cough.

The symptoms of the H1N1 includes a fever, cough, sore throat, runny or sniffy nose, body aches, headaches, chills and fatigue. Some people might also vomit. So, if any of this is frequent than you may need to check up with a doctor.

Not all people are at "high risk" of getting the Swine Flu. But the people that are at a high risk would be if you are pregnant, diabetic, people with heart disease, kidney disease, and asthma. Young children are also at high risk, while 65 and older are the least likely to be infected with the swine flu. They are also at high risk of developing serious complications from their illness. People that are at high risk of getting the H1N1 flu would be flu complications that result in hospitalized and occasionally result in death.

The H1N1 is spreading faster and faster and we need to get it under control. Hopefully the new vaccine has a good outcome and this problem is resolved.