2 voice poem by: Erik and Gabriel

I am a Teenager
I fight for America
I fight for Vietnam


Going into war
I willingly went into war
I was drafted at 18


Fighting
I was a natural fighter
I struggled to shoot a gun


I want to go home
This war was a mistake, the nightmares are too much
I'm sick of fighting for what I don't believe in


I just want to see my family


Me and Gabe came up with this poem because we really thought it would be a good idea to show two different sides of the war and the two different perspectives of the soldiers in the war. We used a lot of our prior knowledge to get out our poem. 


I think that this is a really good poem because it shows how the two groups in the war differed and I think we tied it all together well in the end with the line that both of the people say together.

Poem on social issues

My Labor
We get no pay
yet we do this every day 
the sun beats down on my bare back
I can not stop or i'll be attacked.
My voice is drowned out by the cries of pain
but they do not know that it is all in vain.
Then they come, they steal and kill until they've had their fill.
They have no heart or remorse and I still lie here with no voice.


This poem is about child labor. I think that child labor is wrong and that is why it was fought to get rid of it by many groups like the AFL and Knights of Labor. I think that it is important that we all are free and children should not be put to work at young ages. Many people have to work for their families to live but I think that those countries need to give parents and others more opportunity for work. I know that many of these countries are poor and it might be the only option but I think that in the future they should look to other options of work . This poem was about the pain and difficulties people have to face on a daily basis to provide for their families and how children are the main bread winners for their families. I also wanted to show how corrupt the people who run these places are and how people take advantage of children.

Response to a poem on social issues

Silent Scream 1998 Is that him coming? The creak of a stair quiet click of the door soft shuffle on the carpet Is that him coming? She stiffens… the scream torn from her throat by fear soundless terror ripping through her soul Is that him coming? She buries herself within herself fleeing to escape running, running, running Is that him coming? I think that this poem is about child abuse. I think that this poem is saying that the effect abuse can have on a child can devastate them for the rest of their life. I think that this poem went very detailed and in depth about how it was tearing this girl up inside because of her fear of what this person was going to do to her. I think that child abuse is a huge issue and I think no one should ever have to go through that pain. This makes me think of how the coaches of the sports teams in college were abusing children and it was never taken seriously because no one ever reported it and these kids were left on their own with no help which I think is unexceptable. I think that kids need to know that someone is there for them and will be there for them to get through the pain of having to deal with abuse. I think this poem shows how this kid would feel more comfort if there was someone there for her. I think that this poem shows her loneliness and her feeling of being lost with no one to save her because it does have her all alone with no one there with her to protect her.

Blood Diamonds

My social issue is on blood diamonds in southern Africa and what was involved in all of that. About 65% of the whole worlds diamonds come from southern Africa but these diamonds are called blood diamonds because they are used to buy weapons and fund the military they also are produced by the hard and painstaking work of women, men, and even children. Some diamonds are even stolen from legitimate producers of the diamonds. Many people kill, torture, bribe,and threaten people to get their hands on these diamonds. 

I think that this is an important topic because the way people are using this resource is horrible and it is shameful that many of these people are stealing these diamonds and doing many inhumane things to get these diamonds. I think that this just goes to show how greedy people in this world are and how they will do anything to get rich. It is also really shameful that they are being cruel to their own people. It seems like slavery didn't really matter to them and that they don't really respect each other when they really should because of slavery and what they all had to go through. They don't seem to care that so many people fought to get them freedom so that they can just kill each other for diamonds. I think that if Martin Luther King could see what these people are doing he would be really ashamed of it.     

Lord of the Flies

I think that a big theme in this book is power. I also know that from doing the play last year but while reading the book it shows really early the want of power and how two groups are brought together and a leader has to be made. I could tell really early that there would be some conflict because Jack is used to being the leader of the choir and having them look up to him and being praised like a god but now with Ralph in the mix Jack might feel like his authority is being undermined and that since he is already insecure he might feel like now he is nothing. I know that there will be conflict but there is also another interesting character in the book besides Jack and Ralph and that is Piggy. Piggy tries to keep the peace and now even though Ralph is "chief" Piggy is like the leader of the little kids Piggy helps them and unlike Jack and Ralph he doesn't ignore them and act tough. Even though Piggy is like that he is still looked down upon by the older kids because he doesn't fit. I know that in the future of the book Piggy and Ralph are stuck together because the people separate and I think that tat is when Ralph truly appreciates Piggy. I think that Piggy has power but not the type of power that Jack and Ralph have.


I think that even in the real world people have struggles with power just like in the book because many people in the world are like Jack in the book they have a hunger for power and will do anything for it but just like in the book not a lot of people want him as their leader. I think that is a message from the beginning when even though most of the kids don't know each other most of the votes go to Ralph as being chief because I think they could sense who he really was and the same with Jack I think they could sense who he really was too. Jack's are dictators who want to be worshiped. There are also Ralph's in the world they are the people who are seen to be good leaders and are put up to be high leaders but have many hard things to deal with or they can't handle it all. They face difficult problems and they are seen to be natural born good leaders but they do have problems and hardships just like Ralph. Then there are the Piggy's they are the people who are not seen to be good leaders but are really the people you want as a leader and not a dictator but a caring person who overlooks no one just like Piggy but they work behind the scenes most of the time and are not really recognized just like Piggy who is an outcast from the beginning. 

Social Problems in Independent Reading

In the book Mockingjay a big theme in that book is identity and who you really are. I remember even in the first book of the series Peeta tells Katniss that after the games he still wants to be himself he doesn't want the games to change him and make him something he is not. Also throughout the 3 books Katniss has to make decisions that reflect who she is. She also has to examine herself a lot and dig deep inside herself to figure out if she is who she thinks she is. Also she has many social problems because if she likes it or not the games have changed her she is more tough and she never could get out of the feeling of being in the arena even when she was out and the rebels won the rebellion. Also she has to pretend to be someone she is not throughout the book because she wants to save the people around her. She lost her identity going through the games and having to control and then fight in a rebellion. It even caught up to Peeta who was seen as so good at pretending and speaking but he also ended up going through some violent and brain altering torture. i think that just shows how identity can alter you.

What Katniss had to go through many people also go through trying to pretend to be someone they aren't and trying to fit in and be popular. I think that Katniss shows a great but extreme example of what doing that can eventually cause you to do. Katniss kind of went insane from all the  things she was forced into just to protect her family and keep everyone safe. Also being fake and pretending that she was someone she wasn't effected her future because she has some serious damage done to her. 

Even if this might be extreme this series really makes you think about identity and even though Katniss eventually comes out okay she still has some memories that will haunt her for the rest of her life. I think that all of this could have been stopped if Katniss knew from the beginning who she really was. A huge part of the book Catching Fire was Katniss trying so hard to stop a rebellion and by the end even though she is forced into it she realizes that rebelling was what she is and that she was meant to do it from the beginning.   

Mockingjay

In the book Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins I think that the moral of this book is that things that you like can also be bad for you. In the book it says "That what I neede to survive is not Gale's fire, kindled with rage and hatred. I have pleanty of tfire myself. What I need is a dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destuction." I thought that this quote was very powerful because it showed me that some things that we might have loved at first might be hurting us and bringing us down.


In the book Katniss feels at first that she has a future with Gale and that he is the best thing for her. She also thinks that because of the bad blood between her and Peeta they would never have the same relationship ever again. It might have been harder with dealing with someone who has some problems because of the capitol that a person who would rile her up and make her feel angry. She realized that even if Peeta has issues Gale in the long run would cause her more hurt. In the book they end up growing apart and Katniss turns to Peeta for comfort and she realizes that he is the best thing for her because even the arena and the capitol can't damage the strong bond they had and the ability he had to comfort her and calm her fire and her fiery personality as well.


I felt like in the book Katniss had a mean and standoffish personality that caused many people to be intimidated by her and stay way from her. That was even a problem she had in the games when they did the interview. Katniss was mean , uninterested, and she was not comfortable. In the first book we see that Katniss does have a softer weaker side that she feels like she has no need to express because she is like an adult and is preoccupied with her family. But also we see how Katniss and Peeta met at first and from that one moment with the bread and Katniss starving after her fathers death and Peeta reaching out to help he sees the real her and he is attracted to that but Katniss doesn't have time for friends so she strays away as usual but Peeta has never stopped looking at her in that way and unlike Gale who has never shared an experience on that level before sees her in the way he always has and even though Katniss says she is open and there are no boundaries between them there is a boundary but Peeta knows what really goes on in her heart and that is what makes Katniss push him away because she doesn't want to be seen as having a kryptonite as it were, she has always wanted to seem strong and unbreakable but Peeta knows what her soft spot is. Also the reason he didn't exploit that soft spot in the arena shows that he has true love for Katniss. Peeta has always been pure and he is a rock just like Katniss but he is a different kind of rock, he is a rock that is there for protection and also one that doesn't hide who h is because he wants to be gruff and hard. That is why he always had a lot of friends which is what Katniss says in the book, whereas she only had one.