What is bullying? Have you been bullied? What happened?

Bullying is making other people feel bad or hurting them emotionally or physically. Bullying is when someone or a group of people going up against one person and putting them down on their self-esteem. The main thing that makes a person a bully is making other people's self-esteem go down. For example, when you call other people names that they don't like, it's a verbal abuse, and considered as verbal bullying. If the person who you're calling doesn't like the name they are called, then you should stop. It's also another form of harassment, which is kind of another way of bullying. Bullying can also be when you hurt someone, both emotionally and or physically. When you hurt someone emotionally, it's when you play around with their feelings and allow them to get hurt. For example, you make a comment about how they look or how they dress. Telling someone that they are ugly or really short like a dwarf is offensive to the person, so it's considered bullying. Physically bullying someone is when you hurt one another on purpose. For example, you or a group of people gain up on one person and start beating him or her up. You're purposely hurting that person, so it's considered physical bullying. One thing that all of those have in common is that it lowers the person's self-esteem. As you've noticed, the people who are bullied have lower self-esteem than the people who are the bullies. It's because they've been put down, and made them feel like they don't fit in, or they shouldn't do what they do, in other words, be themselves.
Yes, I have been bullied, both emotionally, physically, and verbally. I've been bullied ever since I was in kindergarten up til around the end of seventh grade. Even till now I'm bullied, but personally, I consider it as teasing and not really bullying. Ever since I was little, I'm always called short, and I use to take that as an insult. I've been called nasty names that are inappropriate for school, and of course names that related to waste and junk. I would also get bossed around, act as if I'm a slave for other people. I was always controlled by people because they would threaten me if I didn't do what they asked. One time that I remember most vividly would be when I was in kindergarten. My "friend" told me to get something for her in the bathroom at the very end of the room. I walked in and suddenly she closed the door, lights, and locked me inside the bathroom. Ever since then, I was afraid of the dark. Another unforgettable memory was in fifth grade. My classmates accused me calling another one of my classmates a bad word. No one would believe that I did not do such thing, at the end of the year at our water balloon party, people would throw water at me. Not just water balloons, but the water inside water bottles as well. One of the most recent one would be in sixth grade. My so called friends started talking bad behind my back to my best friend at the time. For some reason, she believed her and she started spreading the rumor even further. For a couple of weeks, all my friends isolated them from myself. During class time I would be all alone, and sometimes I would have some people who were willing to work with me. Ever since the end of seventh grade I've been teased, but not bullied.

American History Quickwrite

• The earthquake of 911: Many buildings were destroyed, but luckily our apartment was fine. While it happened, I could feel the whole house shaking back and forth. Our whole family came together and grouped in the living room. It made me think about my family and my life, but mostly, I was just scared.
• The tsunami in Japan(2011): Many of my friend's family back in California has relatives living in Japan. Hearing from all my Japanese friends talking about how worried they are about their relatives, it made me think about the tsunami. What if it hit the West coast, or if it hit Taiwan? It made me think how valuable our lives are, and how you have to treasure each moment with your family and friends.
• At around 2010, a law in California was proposed that all teenagers born during the year 1995 and after, can only drive when they're 18 years of age. Before, all teenagers could learn how to drive and get their license if you turn 15, but now we have to wait until we're 18. I'm not sure if the law was passed or not, but so far, I think it didn't pass.

Turning Points Quickwrite

The people that inspire me about risk-taking are people that are brave and strong. Harry Potter was a big risk-taker, he was never afraid to face the dangers and the evil. When he was in the race for the Goblet of Fire, he stood in front and fought Voldemort. Harry didn’t run away or turn away from this risk he’s taking, and fighting him. Another character is the soldier in Iraq, or any soldiers. The soldiers who fought in wars are inspiration risk-takers since they faced up front with war and fought for our country. Soldiers risk their lives to save thousand and even millions. They never back down from justice or war, they go out into the battlefield and face whatever comes their way and sets out to complete their mission. One of the most inspirational people is Barack Obama. He took a risk to run for president because he's an African American. I have nothing against African Americans, but there was never an African American who became president. He took a big step, and this resulted in a big event that will be marked down in history. Obama is the first ever African American president, who is risking his own life to do that. As you know, when you become president, there will always be people who are dissatisfied with you, so there might be people who want to kill you. Obama is risking his life to make America better, trying to make this country a better place again. Trying to fix up the mistakes that the last president made.

To Da-duh, in Memoriam Quickwrite

I would consider myself more of a city slicker rather than a country bumpkin. I can relate and associate more things to a city slicker than a country bumpkin, because I've lived in the city for more than half my life.

Country Bumpkin

• walk everywhere I go
• watch really little TV
• surrounded by nature (trees)
• not a lot of people at my school

City Slicker

• use the computer a lot
• has the small apartment
• a lot of people
• cars everywhere
• variety of transportations
• poluted atmosphere
• rely on technology
• noisy
• downtown is very busy with a lot of people
• food stores around every corner

Analyzing a Poem

When analyzing a poem, I find lines that are interesting to me. I read over the poem once, and try to comprehend the feeling it expresses to me. I also look for lines that are hard for me to understand. If there are words that I can't understand in a line, I look them up in the dictionary. Once I know all the words in the poem, find lines that are hard to understand or interesting to me, I start to think about what it means. Line by line, I analyze what the line might mean. The best clues that start off my analysis is by looking at the lines that are interesting or hard for me. Usually, those are the lines that I find are the main ideas of the poem. So, by understanding those sentences, I have a small understanding of the main idea the poem is trying to say. After I analyze every line, I put all of the meanings together to see if it makes sense. Sometimes, when I put everything together, I come up with other ideas for the poem or lines that make more sense than the one before. A lot of times, one line or word can symbolize for other things, so I think about the poem over and over again, until I think there's no more to it. After I'm done, I read over the poem and the analysis I came up with, making sure that I found the main points and showed an understanding of the poem.

Becasue I could not stop for Death

-          Death was a gentlemen

-          Gloomy feel of the school

-          Shivering feel, quivering

-          Rhyme in every other line (me, immortality; done, sun; ground, mound)

-          Death seems nice, but yet, eerie

-          Image of death going past

-          Image of setting sun, and everything going dark

-          A barely visible house

-          A black carriage

-          Sounds of horses

-     Death tricked her

-     Death was a gentlemen, but tricked her into death and eternity.

Death was a gentleman who’s patient, who accompanied the speaker. He’s not scary, and people shouldn’t be that afraid of death. He didn’t rush her into anything, only being patient with what is bound to happen, death. Death was civilized, and gave the speaker a rest to her labor and leisure. They went past places, like memories. It’s like the path down memory lane when you know you’re about to pass away. Passing the setting sun, and going into the darkness. Moving away from light and life, and going into the darkness and death. In the fourth stanza, the speaker wasn’t sure she was with death, or that death had passed her. Was this trip just a passing of death, or was it really death accompanying her, because she felt the chill for her clothes were thin. Since then, each day felt shorter, for death is slowly getting to her. The carriage that she’s in, with death and immortality is going towards eternity. Meaning that death isn’t an end to things, it’s just another form of eternity/forever. The carriage is welcoming and taking her towards eternity, knowing that mortality is gone, and going towards death and eternity.

Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.
We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.
We passed the school, where children strove
At recess, in the ring;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.
Or rather, he passed us;
The dews grew quivering and chill,
For only gossamer my gown,
My tippet only tulle.
We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.
Since then 'tis centuries, and yet each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.

Essay Question

In your own words, describe the tone of "Women."  Identify the origins of the tone based on what you can infer about the life experience of the speaker.  How does the speaker communicate her attitude through her words?  Use at least two examples  from the poem to support your response.

The tone of "Women" is a inspired and grateful tone. The speaker probably had a hard life, working everyday just to be able to barely feed her family. The poem shows inspiration of women over the world, working hard every single day. The speaker uses words that are easily related and understood. The words are simple, but together, it shows the tone of inspiration shows. "How they knew what we/Must know/Without knowing a page/Of it/Themselves," shows that the hard work that pays off, it's not for them but for the children. The women who work to let their kids have what they have today, they've never had that privilege. Even though they never had it, they work their hardest to let their kids be able to have that kind of privilege. How they led/Armies/
Headragged generals/Across mined/Fields/Booby-trapped/Ditches/To discover books/Desks/A place for us." Shows that the women works hard like soldiers. They are like soldiers who battle through, work through their everyday life. Fighting for what is right, working for what is right for their children and future generations. What they do isn't for a prize, but for their kids to have a place to go to school and learn. Become a better person, and make themselves a somebody.

The Courage That My Mother Had- Quickwrite

Something that I would like to inherit from my family is the smart brain that my dad has. My dad is a professor who's really smart, and he's especially intelligent in engineering. He went to graduate school and graduated from Berkley. Berkley is a really good school, especially in the fields of engineering. I would like to inherit the intelligence my dad has so I'd do better in school. Not just in school though, also everyday life. If I had the brains my dad has, I wouldn't have to work as hard and sleep so late everyday. I would be able to get concepts a lot easier than I do now.
Another thing I would like to inherit is being conservative and kind like my grandfather. My grandfather the most conservative person I've ever met. He would eat any leftover, choose the cheapest item available while it's still new. He didn't spend much money, but yet, he stilled lived happily. If I could do that, I'd feel really good about myself. I want to save and contribute to my family and the world. Same goes to his kindness. My grandfather was so nice that he got cheated off by his friends. He's an amazingly kind guy, so he believed in his friends, even when they were cheating off of him. I want to be kind like him, but no so kind that I'll get cheated off of. If I had the smarts like my dad, being conservative and kind like my grandfather, I think I'd be a really good person.