Thankful for my Classmates

Although we should all be grateful everyday for all the good things in our life, Thanksgiving is a special day where we think more in depth about what we value in our lives. There are a few classmates in particular that I am grateful for and that I would like to thank.

First of all, I am grateful to have Genevieve (also known as "Jellybean") as a friend. I met in her last year in Biology. She is such a sweet and fun person to talk to. I'm thankful to have lunch with her this year, so we can discuss all of our boy troubles. She's always been there to give me advice and to make me laugh.

Next, I'm grateful for Yareli.  I've known her since last year, but we weren't as close until this year, since we have more classes together. She's been part of my "Train Squad" since last year. She always makes me laugh. She's a very caring person. 

Also, I would like to thank Maday the dinosaur. I'm grateful to have become friends with her this year. She offered to have lunch with me because I had no one else to sit with. I'm thankful that she's trustworthy, and puts up with me even when I go on and on about my favorite band. 

But most of all, I do want to thank all of my classmates. As someone who's TERRIFIED of speaking in front of the class or just people in general, I'm glad to have such great and nice classmates. This is probably the only class I feel comfortable in, because everyone is nice and doesn't judge anyone for what they say or who they are. This is the only class in all my time of high school that I've raised my hand in and voluntarily talked. So, I would like to thank all of you, and I look forward to a wonderful rest of the year.

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving/five day break! :)

Hemingway

Hemingway was a phenomenal writer. He had a similar writing style to Mark Twain. Both were able to take "snap shots" of certain events or of a setting, and could write really detailed pieces of writing. Both Hemingway and Twain would use very long, run on sentences or many sentences put together with semicolons instead of periods. I really like this style of writing because you can really visualize the scene they are writing about. This can help understand the story better. 

My favorite short story that we read from Hemingway's first 49 stories was "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place". I really like this story because if you use Hemingway's "Iceberg Theory," there was so much more to the story than just some sad old man sitting in a cafe. When you realize how much the cafe really meant to the old man. Perspective and age played a big role in the story. The young and old waiter both had different opinions about the old man. Because the young waiter was young, he had different opinions on life and older people. He thought his time was more valuable because he had a life to live, and the old deaf man was alone. The older waiter had similar problems with sleeping just like the deaf man. Time also played a big role in this story. The older waiter asked the young waiter, "What is an hour?" It may at first seem like a stupid question with an obvious answer. An hour is 60 minutes. But in reality, a hour is so much more. An hour to the young waiter is an hour he gets to spend with his wife and kids, an hour of love. To the older waiter, an hour meant more sleepless minutes filled with drinking. To the old, deaf man, an hour could mean another suicide attempt. Everyone's time is valuable. Anything can happen in an hour.  

Overall, I really enjoyed reading Ernest Hemingway's writing. I really enjoyed his writing style and will continue to read his work.

6 six-word stories

-He went to the funeral alone.



-But it was already too late.



-Her smile disappeared slowly over time.



-His story ended much too quickly.



-A loud scream, a fallen body.



-And in that moment, everything changed.

John Proctor: Hero or Stooge?

My first impression of John Proctor in the beginning of the Crucible was not a good one. I would have definitely called him a "stooge." I guess I'll start with the most obvious reason why, he committed adultery. What makes it even worse is that it was with a young girl, Abigail. There is so many things wrong with this. Elizabeth had trusted him and remained faithful to him, while we was having an affair with Abigail. Then, in Act II, it really bothered me the way he treated Elizabeth. There was the part when he told her the rabbit was good after he seasoned it himself, which may not seem like a big deal, but he could've given her constructive criticism and could've been honest. Also, he kept calling Elizabeth cold and said she judges him too much, but as she said, "The magistrate sits in your heart that judges you." Basically, he felt horrible and guilty about what he did to her, yet he was taking it out on her. Not only that, but he originally did not tell her that he had been alone with Abigail earlier, which is something very important to say. It just made her more angry and suspicious that he didn't tell her.
But, John Proctor was definitely not a static character. Towards the end of Act II when Elizabeth is being arrested, you see the nicer, more caring side of Proctor. As she is being taken away, he promises to help her and that he will get her out of jail. You can tell how much he cares about her and doesn't want her to be taken away. In Act III in the courthouse, he confesses to the affair. I feel like he was finally taking responsibility and owning up to his mistake. He confessed even though it would ruin his reputation forever. One of the main reasons that I think Proctor is a "hero" at the end is that he could have easily accused someone else and save himself, but he decided to not accuse anyone and accept the fact that he will be hung. 
I believe that John Proctor was both a stooge and a hero. He was a dynamic character who changed throughout the story.

There Goes the Neighborhood

It seemed like it was just a normal day, but little did I know that that day would be the start of a horrifying few weeks.
I was helping my mother pick berries as I always did, while my dad and brothers went out to hunt. As I picked a berry from the top of a bush, I saw something in the corner of my eye. There was something in the water, and it was headed right for us.I alerted my mother and we gathered whoever we could to go see what was happening. We could see what looked like a very large ship coming towards us. As it got closer and closer, I was able to see just how gigantic and intimidating it really was. The ship finally approached and out of it came around forty god-like men. They were dressed in the finest clothes I've ever seen. The amount they probably spent on that outfit was unfathomable to me. 
They came to us, asking us tons of questions. I guess they had never encountered people like us before. We told them about us, and about our culture. We all welcomed them warmly, but deep down, I didn't have a good feeling about these strange people who just showed up out of nowhere. 
For the first few days they stayed with us, they seemed like genuinely nice people. They even gave us little gifts. They would also trade us for our items. We taught them our way of living. We taught them how to plant and hunt. Everything seemed to be going great but that bad feeling stayed.
One night, I awoke to the sound of screaming and things being thrown around. As I looked to the source of the noises, I saw the god-like men go to each house, drag the people out, beat them, and then viciously rummage through their house, taking anything valuable. The men violently dragged the people onto the ships. I could see them getting closer to mine and my families house. I had never been more scared in my life. 
As they dragged me, my parents, and my brothers onto their ship, I wondered if we would make it out alive. I also wondered how these seemingly nice people could take advantage of our kindness and hospitality. There went my entire neighborhood, on the ship, to a place we didn't know.

Me

Hello! My name is Sylvia Las. I'm currently a sophomore. I am the youngest out of my seven siblings. I am also Polish. My whole family was born in Poland, except for me. I was born right here in Chicago. To everyone, I'm a very happy person. I have a bad habit of always giggling nonstop, especially at the most inappropriate times. I also have a habit of saying the lamest jokes. But, I'm also very shy. I am a pretty quiet person especially in school. I get really nervous talking to others, so I tend to keep to my self and not raise my hand. Anyone who knows me knows that music is something that's very important to me. Every chance I get, I put in headphones and listen to music. My favorites bands are Pierce the Veil, Falling in Reverse, For All Those Sleeping, and The Beatles. One interesting fact about myself is that I can hula hoop very well. It's a pretty strange talent. I once hula hooped for two hours straight! One of my passions is science. It's fascinating how science can answer so many questions from how our universe was made to what makes up the things in our universe. I hope to have a career in the field of science when I am older. My dream is to also win a Nobel Prize.