Thursday, May 3, 2012
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Oil Drilling: Harmful of Helpful
Author's Note: This piece is a persuasive essay that has to do with whether or not we should drill for oil in Alaska. I will be explaining why I think that we should not drill for oil in Alaska.
If you have ever thought about Alaska, chances are you have not pictured workers with big machines and drills looking for oil. No, you have probably pictured all of the people dressed warm in their fur clothes or those cute baby snow bunnies hopping around without a care in the world. Maybe it was the little kids running around with their sled dogs playing in the frozen tundra, their cheeks rosy and their runny noses. If we drill for oil in ANWR, all of this will go away; there will be no more fun and games. Big machines and workers will take over this winter wonderland. It will be gone, and for what? You, and your family, your neighbors, everyone in the United States, all because we need more oil provided for us. We are using it up way too fast. Drilling is wrong and everyone knows that; it is somewhere deep down in their hearts, but we Americans are too selfish to admit it.
Oil drilling is a big project, not to mention costly. We could use this money for other things like putting it towards figuring out how to get rid of using oil in our everyday lives. We would also have to pay for all of the workers to live up there and pay them for their services. According to CNN Money, Time and Science Eccentric magazines, About.com, and many others, drilling would not lower the prices of gas. Oil is an important everyday resource in America, but we could be discovering ways reduce demand instead of using it all up on pointless things. Using wind, solar power, water, and even vegetable oil to power our homes, cars, and create electricity are things that some people in America are already doing, so why not everyone? The US is the leading user of oil in the world and alone we use 21 million barrels of oil a day, compared to China, the second leading oil user, which only uses 6.9 million barrels a day and Japan,the third leading oil user in the world) which only uses 5.4 million barrels a day. Our oil consumption is out of control and soon we will be damaging our environment in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, otherwise known as ANWR.
If we drill for oil in ANWR, we could do serious damage to the land, plants, resources, and the animals that all live and grow there. The government and the workers who are applying for the jobs have to think not only about themselves, but about all of the people and animals that live in ANWR. They don’t know if they would have to abandon their habitats because of the disturbances that the oil drilling would cause for the animals and the environment. Not only would we be forcing these animals away, but we would be losing lots of the natural resources that come from ANWR. According to Live Science, if an oil spill happened it could be fatal to almost all of the marine life that inhabits Alaska like seals, sea lions, sea otters, whales, polar bears and all of the birds that live there as well, not to mention how the people of ANWR feel about this matter.
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has been protected since 1977 to prevent drilling there because there are not many places left in the US that aren’t already providing oil. The people of ANWR feel that the drilling is wrong according to Ecoworld because they feel that they would be greatly and badly affected by this change. It would disrupt the natural routine that the people have established there. They would have to change lots of large details in their lives and a lot of people may have to leave because of the disturbance it would cause. If you put yourself in these people’s shoes then I think that you would agree that drilling in ANWR is wrong.
Politicians always think that they know what is best, but they don’t because deep down in their hearts they know that we should not drill for oil in ANWR. No matter what age you are, or how much experience you have with anything, does anyone ever really know the right thing to do? We can say that we do, but even though no one likes to admit it, no one is perfect.
If you have ever thought about Alaska, chances are you have not pictured workers with big machines and drills looking for oil. No, you have probably pictured all of the people dressed warm in their fur clothes or those cute baby snow bunnies hopping around without a care in the world. Maybe it was the little kids running around with their sled dogs playing in the frozen tundra, their cheeks rosy and their runny noses. If we drill for oil in ANWR, all of this will go away; there will be no more fun and games. Big machines and workers will take over this winter wonderland. It will be gone, and for what? You, and your family, your neighbors, everyone in the United States, all because we need more oil provided for us. We are using it up way too fast. Drilling is wrong and everyone knows that; it is somewhere deep down in their hearts, but we Americans are too selfish to admit it.
Oil drilling is a big project, not to mention costly. We could use this money for other things like putting it towards figuring out how to get rid of using oil in our everyday lives. We would also have to pay for all of the workers to live up there and pay them for their services. According to CNN Money, Time and Science Eccentric magazines, About.com, and many others, drilling would not lower the prices of gas. Oil is an important everyday resource in America, but we could be discovering ways reduce demand instead of using it all up on pointless things. Using wind, solar power, water, and even vegetable oil to power our homes, cars, and create electricity are things that some people in America are already doing, so why not everyone? The US is the leading user of oil in the world and alone we use 21 million barrels of oil a day, compared to China, the second leading oil user, which only uses 6.9 million barrels a day and Japan,the third leading oil user in the world) which only uses 5.4 million barrels a day. Our oil consumption is out of control and soon we will be damaging our environment in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, otherwise known as ANWR.
If we drill for oil in ANWR, we could do serious damage to the land, plants, resources, and the animals that all live and grow there. The government and the workers who are applying for the jobs have to think not only about themselves, but about all of the people and animals that live in ANWR. They don’t know if they would have to abandon their habitats because of the disturbances that the oil drilling would cause for the animals and the environment. Not only would we be forcing these animals away, but we would be losing lots of the natural resources that come from ANWR. According to Live Science, if an oil spill happened it could be fatal to almost all of the marine life that inhabits Alaska like seals, sea lions, sea otters, whales, polar bears and all of the birds that live there as well, not to mention how the people of ANWR feel about this matter.
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has been protected since 1977 to prevent drilling there because there are not many places left in the US that aren’t already providing oil. The people of ANWR feel that the drilling is wrong according to Ecoworld because they feel that they would be greatly and badly affected by this change. It would disrupt the natural routine that the people have established there. They would have to change lots of large details in their lives and a lot of people may have to leave because of the disturbance it would cause. If you put yourself in these people’s shoes then I think that you would agree that drilling in ANWR is wrong.
Politicians always think that they know what is best, but they don’t because deep down in their hearts they know that we should not drill for oil in ANWR. No matter what age you are, or how much experience you have with anything, does anyone ever really know the right thing to do? We can say that we do, but even though no one likes to admit it, no one is perfect.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Words
Author's Note: This piece is written as an analysis of a book titled Speak that is a fictitious story about a girl who is in trouble with a guy.
Why me? why me? It’s just not fair. No, I know, this isn’t happening. Yes that’s it, it’s just not happening. These are some of the questions victims ask themselves while they are being attacked. According to the office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 2004 Victims of Violent Juvenile Crime. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, victims of sexual assault committed by juveniles are younger than 18 years of age approximately 96 percent of the time. If you are in trouble you need to talk to someone because no one wants to be assaulted, and they may be able to help you. I learned that you should never let anyone that you don’t know get your personal information because of this book. It helped to make the lesson clearer to me. In Speak Laurie Halse Anderson teaches us that our actions will always speak louder than our words.
When you are in your teen years, you can be succumbed to sexual violence. It is usually never fair. You can’t always help it if you are in trouble, but you can help yourself by always being careful in what you say and do. The main character, Melinda, is greeting her freshman year of high school with no friends because of THE event that happened during her summer vacation: she was sexually assaulted by a boy that she hardly knew. She feels like an outcast, but on the first day is greeted by a new girl named Heather. Melinda doesn’t really have anything in common with Heather except that she is an outcast because she is new. Melinda quickly figures out that her old friends want nothing to do with her. She wants so badly to tell them the truth but cannot because they wouldn’t believe her. She tries to write her old best friend, Rachel, a note to be careful, because Rachel has gotten involved with the boy who assaulted her. Her ex-best friend chooses not to believe her because she thinks that she is just jealous that Melinda is not going to the prom and she is. Rachel ends up almost getting hurt because she thinks that the boy she is with is perfectly harmless.
Actions are taken louder than your words because body language gives away the tone in your voice. Laurie Halse Anderson teaches us this important lesson in the book Speak. Why do people do these awful things? No one ever knows.
Why me? why me? It’s just not fair. No, I know, this isn’t happening. Yes that’s it, it’s just not happening. These are some of the questions victims ask themselves while they are being attacked. According to the office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 2004 Victims of Violent Juvenile Crime. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, victims of sexual assault committed by juveniles are younger than 18 years of age approximately 96 percent of the time. If you are in trouble you need to talk to someone because no one wants to be assaulted, and they may be able to help you. I learned that you should never let anyone that you don’t know get your personal information because of this book. It helped to make the lesson clearer to me. In Speak Laurie Halse Anderson teaches us that our actions will always speak louder than our words.
When you are in your teen years, you can be succumbed to sexual violence. It is usually never fair. You can’t always help it if you are in trouble, but you can help yourself by always being careful in what you say and do. The main character, Melinda, is greeting her freshman year of high school with no friends because of THE event that happened during her summer vacation: she was sexually assaulted by a boy that she hardly knew. She feels like an outcast, but on the first day is greeted by a new girl named Heather. Melinda doesn’t really have anything in common with Heather except that she is an outcast because she is new. Melinda quickly figures out that her old friends want nothing to do with her. She wants so badly to tell them the truth but cannot because they wouldn’t believe her. She tries to write her old best friend, Rachel, a note to be careful, because Rachel has gotten involved with the boy who assaulted her. Her ex-best friend chooses not to believe her because she thinks that she is just jealous that Melinda is not going to the prom and she is. Rachel ends up almost getting hurt because she thinks that the boy she is with is perfectly harmless.
Actions are taken louder than your words because body language gives away the tone in your voice. Laurie Halse Anderson teaches us this important lesson in the book Speak. Why do people do these awful things? No one ever knows.
Monday, February 6, 2012
The Girl on Fire
Author's Note: Catching Fire, is the sequel to the Hunger Games. If you want to know which book is better you will have to find out for yourself.
Why would she do that? What was she thinking? These questions kept bouncing around in my head while I was reading Suzanne Collins’, Catching Fire. Why would Katniss, a girl from District 12, the poorest district, who has always been short on money, clothes, food, water, and had very few nice things, want to sacrifice her life for someone; give up her life for this boy who had been nice to her one time? She was crazy. If I were offered a lifetime of luxuries for free, just for surviving a few days at the most, a week, in a place called an arena, I would for sure take that opportunity, as long as I didn’t have to kill anybody; I would just sit on the side and watch it all and do my best to survive because that is the point of the Games: to kill people. Collins teaches us that we need to be grateful for the things that we have, and that we can’t all have anything and everything at the drop of a hat.
Why would she do that? What was she thinking? These questions kept bouncing around in my head while I was reading Suzanne Collins’, Catching Fire. Why would Katniss, a girl from District 12, the poorest district, who has always been short on money, clothes, food, water, and had very few nice things, want to sacrifice her life for someone; give up her life for this boy who had been nice to her one time? She was crazy. If I were offered a lifetime of luxuries for free, just for surviving a few days at the most, a week, in a place called an arena, I would for sure take that opportunity, as long as I didn’t have to kill anybody; I would just sit on the side and watch it all and do my best to survive because that is the point of the Games: to kill people. Collins teaches us that we need to be grateful for the things that we have, and that we can’t all have anything and everything at the drop of a hat.
When we were younger our parents, sometimes our mothers, and sometime our fathers, taught us that we need to be polite, have manners, and be grateful. These are some of the few main things that we are taught and are not only encouraged, but it is expected that we do these things with the utmost respect. In this book: it’s obvious that President Snow was never taught these things. He has zero percent respects for all of the people he ‘rules’ over. While manners play a big part in our world, but sometimes power plays a bigger role.
Even though the Hunger Games, takes place in the distant future, these issues are still present in today’s world. In our time, according to the website Africanpress.me, Sudan’s leader, Omar al-Bashir is the worst dictator in our entire world out of the 70 countries that are ruled by dictators. We are very lucky to be able to live in a country where we are maybe not allowed to act upon our opinions necessarily, but we are at least allowed to have opinions.
Being grateful is important, although we can’t always have everything that we want, and Suzanne Collins does a spectacular job teaching this in Catching Fire. Now you need to remember and realize that it is not all about us and our needs, but about helping others and being thankful for what we are privileged enough to have.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Author's Note: This piece is written based on a quote that I found when I was bored and looking through quotes, I thought it was a great description of what life is all about and what we forget along the way.
One day I was searching the Internet looking for quotes and I came across this one. At first it took me a while to understand what this meant and then after I read it a few more times, I understood what the author meant when they were writing these words. It’s about life, and everything that we go through, and no matter how hard we try we will always have to deal with life, and rough patches, but everything will get better. You just have to go through life not pretending, smiling, and no matter what anybody says, what you say to yourself is what matters the most. Because even though life is rough, we always make it through, we may get a few bumps and bruises on the way, and even broken hearts, but everything is going to be alright. When I read this quote I thought of the song called Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift, because what it seemed like to me was that it was a summary of her whole song. I felt a feeling that was a mix of all of the feelings in the world, anger, happiness, sadness, and everything in between. It made me think of when I was a kid, and nothing mattered except being happy and playing with friends in the yard. I think that sometimes, when we all get caught up in our busy lives, we need to just stop and remember that we need to enjoy life, not just get through it.
Everything Will Be Okay
Author's Note: I wrote this piece, based soley on my emotions, what I felt while I listened to and read the lyrics of Taylor Swift's Safe and Sound.
I remember tears streaming down your face
When I said, I'll never let you go
When all those shadows almost killed your light
I remember you said, Don't leave me here alone
But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight
Just close your eyes
The sun is going down
You'll be alright
No one can hurt you now
Come morning light
You and I'll be safe and sound
Don't you dare look out your window darling
Everything's on fire
The war outside our door keeps raging on
Hold onto this lullaby
Even when the music's gone
Just close your eyes
The sun is going down
You'll be alright
No one can hurt you now
Come morning light
You and I'll be safe and sound
Just close your eyes
You'll be alright
Come morning light,
You and I'll be safe and sound...
Read through these lyrics. What do they mean to you? What do you think Taylor Swift was trying to portray when she wrote this song? This song, Safe and Sound, is my new obsession, because it has the most emotion in a song that has ever been written. It is about a girl who is talking to the guy that she is in love with, and they are promising each other that they will stay together no matter what happens, because they can’t live without the other person. As they promise each other this, they are sitting inside a shelter, while outside their door a war is going on. When they wake up in the morning everything will be over, and they will be safe and sound. The first time I heard this song I almost cried, because of all of the emotions I felt when I was listening. almost cried because it was if I were the characters in the song, and it was me in the situation not someone else. This song means a lot to me, because it really makes me feel like if I just believe in myself and someone who tells me that I can trust them, that I really will be safe and sound.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
The Christmas Life of a Coach Purse
Author's Note: This short story is about one of my favorite Christmas presents. It starts off with her telling the story because it is a point of view piece. Merry Christmas.
I am a Coach purse. I admit it I think that I am better than all of the other purses because, as every girl knows, Coach is the top brand. I can be snotty at times, but I think that I deserve to be snotty; I mean every purse has a little strap. That’s purse slang for sass; we purses have our own little lingo that we use. Some people think that I am just some ordinary girly purse, but I am much more. Here let me tell you about the time I was a Christmas gift.
Okay, so I had just been shipped to the all time shopping place: The mall! Every girl’s favorite shopping hotspot. Just as I was about to be put out, the stupid guy who packaged me put me on the wrong truck! I was supposed to be going to Johnson Creek and I ended up going to Mexico! The man realized that he had put on the wrong truck, and I was then put onto the correct truck and shipped off to Johnson’s Creek. Oh my GOODNESS! That was all that I could think when I was heading to the outlet mall! AHHHH! YAY! I am soooo happy. Oh boy there are always all of those cute shoes. I can’t wait, I mean all of those boys, and ooh maybe I will find a boyfriend. That would be lovely. Now you may be asking, what boys do girl purses meet up with? Well that’s easy boy shoes of course. Shoes are every girl’s best friend and sometimes even better boyfriends. EEEEK WE’RE HERE! Wow look at all of those purses in the window.
2 weeks later
I have been here for two weeks now, and it is amazing! I mean all the cute boys, and all of the purses love me because, I am Coach. They are just knockoffs, but me, I am the real deal and they all want to be me. So today I woke up and this lady came into the store and walked over to me. She then picked me up and wait is this really happening, I think? I mean I am heading towards the register. YES! She bought me! I can’t believe it, for two weeks I’ve been here and thought it was the life, but now I am going to be a Christmas present. The woman takes me to her house and wraps me in the most beautiful paper. Then a few days later I get opened by this wonderful girl and now I am living at her house. The girl takes wonderful care of me and I love it here. We now are living happily ever after. I know it’s corny, but it’s true.
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About Me
- MadysonS
- I love the colors orange and teal, my favorite foods are pickles and chocolate covered strawberries. And I am crazy for anything hippos.