Just because im an Islamic Woman

Just because I am an Islamic woman

Doesn’t mean I am less than men

Or that men are more intelligent

Just because I am and Islamic woman

Doesn’t mean I have to cover myself

Or I am forbidden to drive

Just because I am an Islamic woman

Doesn’t mean my husband should have 2 more wives

Or that I should have to walk behind him

Just because I am an Islamic woman

Doesn’t mean I can’t work

Or receive an education

Just because I am an Islamic woman

Doesn’t mean I can be sold to someone else

Just because I am an Islamic woman

Doesn’t mean I can be stoned to death

Just because I am an Islamic woman

Doesn’t mean I should not have rights

citation

http://eatitorwearit.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/stoning-iran.gif

http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2009/07/modesty-patrols-plague-gaza.html

Perfect Leader, Perfect Society

                                                                                          Cascadia

Society

Once upon a time, in a far away land, there lived these mystical fairies called Acantha Fairies. They lived in the land of Cascadia. Cascadia was filled with magical trees, crystalline waters, and colorful flowers. There was a pond named Feodore, a gift from God. Feodore gave life to every single creature in Cascadia.  It contained mythical powers, which sent out waves of love, compassion, hard work, and leadership.

Icarius - Leader

            Every thirty years Feodore would choose a new leader for the Acantha fairies and the rest of the creatures in Cascadia.  Twenty-seven years ago, Icarius the leader of Cascadia was chosen. Icarius was a strong willed, hard working, and compassionate fairy. He was a great leader who led his land with love, leadership, and equality. Icarius led the society neatly and nicely.  He would assign every fairy an important job, which kept the society balanced. Everyone was treated equally and properly.

            One day, when everyone was working like usual, many fairies saw a strange object flying in the sky. It was threedragons that wanted to land in Cascadia. Icarius told 8 Fairies to go and help the dragons and take them to a nearby place where they could land safely.  A few minutes later the three dragons walked into Cascadia looking for Icarius.  After greeting them and presenting himself, Icarius showed Feodore to the dragons.  The dragons were amazed with this powerful pond full of life and love.  The dragons had come with a proposal for Icarius and would not leave until Icarius accepted.

Dragons

“We have come all this way to present a proposal to you. We have been studying your lands and Feodore for many years and have made an astonishing discovery. If we were to combine your ponds water with our food, we would create a destructive flame greater than what we blow right now.  If you would give us Feodore, we would build you a greater land to live in. We will build every fairy a house, we will provide food every month, and no one will ever have to work”.

            Icarius was amazed with this offer, and knew that he would have a much easier life if he were to accept.  The dragons were tempting Icarius and he was not realizing it.  He was becoming a weak leader for Cascadia and Feodore could sense it. Icarius saw this offer as a great one, not only for him but also for the other fairies. What he did not see was the mean intentions of the dragons and how in the end many fairies could get hurt. 

            Meanwhile in the village a young fairy named Piccolo found out about the offer and knew that he had to stop it. He tried telling the fairies, but no one believed him or thought he was crazy.  Piccolo did not know what to do he was confused and afraid.  He went to visit Feodore and asked him for wisdom and strength.  Feodore told Piccolo that he had to go and talk to Icarius and show him the negative effect the dragons offer would have on Cascadia.

            Piccolo went to talk with Icarius and made him understand that it was important for people to work and have their jobs. That the fairies would become lazy because they would not have anything to do, and would then start fighting. Theodor realized that what Piccolo was saying was true. That if he would change the way their society had lived for hundreds of years everything would fall apart.

            In the end Icarius told the dragons that he could not accept their offer. Since Icarius was getting old, sick, and sad he granted his position as leader to Piccolo, who had the energy he did not have anymore. In the end Feodore knew that the people of Cascadia had a new and good leader.

Work Cited
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVLJwLLuICb5Z-Cmd93MO8frGQqylV46DhG90Qygun9UrP4ZFisYIuU3Ec00DDXSmBYl1w1neAKmH5XEfFp116gz5qb9twhimFRwUtLeB5GUtci5A8L2inUEHlGSMFUVwB48Mlv50mNds/s1600/Fairies-Allhanging.jpg
http://www.scrippyjunction.com/members/images/fairyman-tute.jpg

Jean Valjean

We had just sat down to eat our dinner. Mi brother Nicoli was sitting besides me, very hungry and ready to eat. My father and mother both sat down in their places and waited for the servant to bring us our dinner. It was a roasted Turkey bathed with gravy, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. It smelled delicious. It started getting really cold so my father got out of his chair and lit a fire.  It started to get toasty and warm. 

We were just beginning to serve ourselves when the door bell rang. “Who could it be at this hour”! My father said angrily.  All of us looked at each other very puzzled. My father got up and walked towards the door, he asked from inside who it was but nobody answered.  He then opened the door and suddenly froze. His eyes were big and round, his face pale white, and his hands started shaking. My mother got up to see who was at the door but my father told her to stay behind. “Good Night sir, I have been traveling by foot for a long time and I’m in need of food and shelter, could you help me?” said the man tiredly. I suddenly got up of my seat and started walking towards the door. Before my mother pulled me away I caught a glimpse of the man. He was a tall man, wearing ripped up clothes, who had not showered for days. He had a long beard, and looked as if he was going to faint. I was very frightened.

After a few minutes of my parents talking the man in the door said again, “I know you know who I am, but I really need your help, please help me sir”. “How can I make sure you will not steal from me, or hurt my children” My father said nervously. I could hear all their conversation through the living room door. After five minutes of talking with the strange man, my father came to a decision. He called our servant and told her to set the bed in the guest room and prepare a nice hot bath for the poor man.

The man entered our house and presented himself, “Hi, my name is Jean Valjean and I will always be grateful for your help”.  We finally sat down and got to eat our yummy dinner. It tasted great to me and I’m sure it tasted like heaven to our new friend Jean Valjean. After we finished eating my mother went and tucked me into bed. My brother slept with me that night and my father locked us in. I was having trouble sleeping and I could see my brother uncomfortable. So asked him who the man was and why he was so afraid, “Jean Valjean is an ex convict who was sentenced to 15 years in jail. He has just gotten out and has a yellow passport”. After those words my arms filled with goose bumps and I became a rock. It was a night I will never forget.   

sources:

http://crabbyjulius.com/images/Miami's%20Homeless/Homeless%20Man%20Close-up.jpg

http://www.google.hn/imgres?imgurl=http://www.catholichomeandgarden.com/images/Thanksgiving/Colonial%2520Girl.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.catholichomeandgarden.com/thanksgiving.htm&usg=__OGtcoZ09Y0UOMj2g7j_2EkGQqKU=&h=385&w=293&sz=11&hl=es&start=0&sig2=DH3BWu2bv7HbMag57p1iSQ&zoom=1&tbnid=yCPSha0baFre5M:&tbnh=130&tbnw=112&ei=I3GyTNXoNYL48AbM75ifCQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcolonist%2Bgirl%26hl%3Des%26biw%3D1020%26bih%3D343%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=777&vpy=-46&dur=2528&hovh=257&hovw=196&tx=105&ty=164&oei=I3GyTNXoNYL48AbM75ifCQ&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0

Our Brain

1.                                         1.What does the word "hemisphere" refer to when talking about the brain?

-       The cerebral hemispheres of the brain are the right and left hemispheres in your brain.

2. What are the major differences between the left and right sides of the brain?

-       The right side of the brain controls many things like muscle movement in the left side of your body while the left side of the brain controls the right side of muscles in your body. For example damage on one side of the brain would affect the opposite side of the body.

3. What is the corpus callosum?

-       The corpus callosum is what connects the left and right side of the brain. It is made up of thick bands of fibers.

4. Explain the study performed by Paul Broca in which he discovered "Broca's Area."

-       Paul Broca first discovered the “Brocas Area” when studying the brain of one of his patients with speech impairment after their death. Brocas area is the part of the brain, which is responsible for language processing, speech production, and language comprehension, and also controls facial neurons. He discovered that it was located in the left hemisphere.

5. Explain the study conducted by Roger Sperry in regard to "split brain."

-Split Brain was a study and a surgery made on epileptic people in the old times, since there was no other cure. It included cutting the corpus callosum of the brain and letting the two sides spread.

6. Explain the study conducted by Karl Wernicke which led to the discovery of Wernicke's Area."

-Wernickes area is a study that helped discover the region of the brain for language development. It is a language loop that is found in the left hemisphere. And is used for understanding and producing spoken language.

7. Which lobe is most responsible for vision?

-The occipital lobe is our primary lobe responsible for vision.

8. Which lobe is most responsible for hearing and language?

The temporal lobe is responsible for hearing and language.

9. Which lobe is most responsible for performing math calculations?

The frontal lobe is responsible for math calculations.

 10. Which lobe is most responsible for judgment, reasoning and impulse control?

The frontal lobe is responsible for judgment, reasoning and impulse control.

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/split.html

http://biology.about.com/library/organs/brain/blcorpus.htm

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-brocas-area.htm

http://psychology.about.com/od/windex/g/def_wernickesar.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_cortex#Primary_visual_cortex_.28V1.29

http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/d/d_10/d_10_cr/d_10_cr_lan/d_10_cr_lan.html

Letter 1 Classical Parallels

This letter was written from Abigail Adams to John Addams. It is their first letter. Abigail is feeling very lonely and depressed without her husband. She is telling him how anxious she is about her country and for their family. She makes this question, which is very true; “Did ever any Kingdom or state regain their liberty, when once it was invaded without bloodshed”(Addams 676)? She is trying to tell her husband that she is concerned because every time a country fought for their freedom there was an immense war and an awful bloodshed. Abigail Addams is comparing their situation with Sparta, and how when they were attacked they were only concerned of their own land and what led them to defeat. She doesn’t want that to happen to her country. She is then wishing her husband luck and is telling him that she will always support him.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/American_Revolutionary
_War_collage.jpg

Rhetorical Devices

1. “The great anxiety I feel for my country, for you and for our family renders the day tedious, and the night unpleasant”(Adams 676).

 - This quote is important to the letter because it is introducing the reader emotions. This quote is transmitting the emotions Abigail Addams is feeling into the reader so the reader knows what she felt. With her strong emotions she is showing us how people felt in those times over the war and their family.


2. “I have taken a very great fondness for reading Rollin’s ancient History since you left me” (Abigail 676).

-This quote is a red herring or a distraction from the main idea for the reader. Abigail Addams main point is her preoccupation for the war and for her family. So John and the reader would not get too overwhelmed she introduced this part about her, reading Rollins ancient History.  

Works Cited

-Adams, John and Mary. Letters. English class packet

Blog #4 Refuting Patrick Henry

Members of the parliament, you were called here today to discuss about a certain man called Patrick Henry. Gentlemen, the colonists are rebelling against us and Mr. Henry is helping them by presenting new ideas and plans.  We have to work together and find better solutions to win. Mr. Patrick Henry called the Virginia Convention to read to them his speech and talk baldy about our mother country Britain. He has been criticizing our government and has been disrespecting our law. His two main ideas that are setting colonists against us is that first, we are treating them as slaves, and second they have to fight against us for their freedom. Gentlemen, something must be done and fast!

Gentlemen, this is something Patrick Henry told the colonists, “Is life so dear, and peace so sweet as to be purchased, at the price of chains and slavery ”(Henry 2)? This is absurd! What have we ever done to the colonists? Since the beginning we have helped them settle into their new homes and lands. We have always been nice and respectful to them.  Gentlemen, the only thing we have ever asked them for is to help us pay back our debt to help their Beloved country. What gives them the right to rebel and say that they are treated like slaves?  We have to show the colonists that they are not being treated as slaves. We have to teach them how to give thanks and respect our king. They are the ones who are boycotting our goods and destroying our vessels. All of this is treason towards our country; we cannot let this go any further.

Mr. Henry is telling all the colonists that they have to fight for their freedom at any cost. Who said that we are sending our soldiers for war? They are only going to the colonies to keep the colonists in order and stop all of this madness. “If we wish to be free… We must fight! I repeat it sir, we must fight”(Henry 2)! This is what is going around the colonist’s heads gentlemen. I think we have to resolve this problem in a better way that does not involve a war. There cannot, and will not be more bloodshed. We can talk to the colonists and come to an agreement. It is crazy for us to go to war just because the colonists believe they are slaves of Britain.  The war has not started gentlemen and we have to prevent it from starting.

Gentlemen ask yourselves one question, is it worth to loose thousands of British soldiers just because colonists believe they are enslaved? No it is not! Colonists have to respect our decisions and our country.  We have given them everything and they are still not happy. What can we do? We have to set them straight and show them who is the boss. We can talk to them and make a deal, but if in the end they are still not happy, we will have to look for more harsh measures.

Links
http://socialdesigner.com/stored_images/0000/9566/FREEDOM__HAS_NO_FREEDOM_thumb_500_500.jpg

Blog #3 Plan to Change the World

http://www.duke.edu/web/soc142/team7/childlabor.jpg

         “Did you know that nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names”(Shah)? Many kids around the world do not receive a proper education or much less have the opportunity to have a higher education and graduate from school. Their parents do not have the money to enroll them into a school, so instead they send their children to work, and this is called child labor. The children that do not go to school work in factories, farms, sweatshops, or in the streets as beggars.  All of these children have a right to a normal childhood but instead they are exploited. I am sending this to all the banks, governments, private schools, businesses and individuals or families around the world so you can learn about the situation and see how many children you can help. If every child makes his family $5o a month my plan is for you to sponsor the child’s education and give $50 a month to every single family who has a child who is working instead of going to school. You can give them this money to hire a grown up to do their children’s work while they send their kids to school. For you to give them the money, they have to present a document and evidence to show that their children are going to school every day. If there is proper education there will be more jobs, more jobs means more money and more money means better housing and life.

http://mylowcostmodification.com/images/companies.gif

These children’s parents need to understand that their sons and daughters need the proper education for them to make money in the future. You can help many lives and help millions of kids learn how to read and write. You can give children the opportunity to overcome their poverty and make a better living for themselves and improve their quality of life. Imagine how it would feel for you to not know how to read and write, if your parents instead of sending you to school would make you work in fields or factories the entire day. If you decide not to help these children, these poor communities throughout the world will never prosper. The poverty in our countries will be stuck and after a period of time there will be more ignorant and uneducated people. The society will never improve. In the other hand if the poor families decide to keep their children working instead of sending them to school their children’s future will be at risk.  If their child does not receive the proper education he will, in the future, keep earning the minimum wage and that would affect their children and even their parents.

I encourage all of you to think twice about the proposal and these children’s future.  You could make a great change in their lives and in the lives of their future family and their entire communities. Like Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give”. 

Links

http://www.quotegarden.com/helping.html

http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats 

Blog #2 Al Qaeda

Al Qaeda, Kidnapers
http://counterterrorismblog.org/AQ%20OBL.jpg

3 sisters, Hostages

            It was a travel day like so many others.  My two sisters and I were getting ready to the board the plane, going from Miami to Los Angeles.  It was a summer vacation we would never forget. I was very excited to go on a trip with my two sisters Daniella and Natalia. After an hour on the plane I decided to take a nap, it was a long trip and it was just beginning.

            When I was dozing off, a bearded man with a scar across his face took out a gun and told everybody to be quiet. I looked around and the only thing I could see was fear in everybody’s faces. He was a member of the Al Qaeda terrorist group.  One other man came out of the captain’s cabin and told everybody to buckle up and stay in their seats or else they were going to be killed. The two men started talking in Arabic, while everybody else was quiet and very afraid. I started counting the men who were watching the passengers. From what I could see, there were 11 of them including the first two. Natalia, who knew Arabic over heard their conversation. She then, quietly translated to my other sister and I what the two men were saying.

2 Men Speaking in Arabic

“We are going to land in the Dominican Republic. It is the closest airport to the Guantanamo Bay. There, we can call the United States and negotiate the freedom of our members who are imprisoned”.  “ The United states agreed to never negotiate with terrorists, you know that Mohammed”. “ They will negotiate with us. We have a plane full of American citizens held for ransom. We will tell them that if they do not let go of our Al Qaeda members who are imprisoned we will kill and torture all of them.  Hussein is going to be very proud of us”.

          After two hours of pure silence we landed in the Dominican Republic. We were split into five groups, and each group was taken off the plane quietly, who ever talked was killed. I was in the last group with my two sisters. It was pitch black outside, the only thing I could see were five big trucks that were waiting for everyone. We drove for about a half hour. When we got there we were split into two groups, I was separated from my older sister whom I never saw again.  We were put into a big warehouse with nothing in it. We were told to lie face down on the ground, not to move, or speak.

We were kept there for 8 days. Every morning at 8 we were given a small peace of bread and a cup of water.  If we needed to go to the bathroom we had to stand up and stay in the same place until they would take you. It was very dangerous to go to the bathroom, some people would never come back and others especially women were raped.

          On the seventh day my sister and I were taken into a small room. We were both pale, skinny and without a single drop of hope.  A tall guy, with two vests came into the room and made us wear the vests that were loaded with bombs.  In that moment I saw my whole life flash back. I finally saw how easy life was before and how so many of my other problems were meaningless. Any minute I could blow up an entire house full of people and children.  For an entire day my sister and I were kept in the room locked up. Suddenly a  member of the Al Qaeda took us into the big ware house. My sister over heard them saying that the U.S did not want to negotiate, so they were going to blow us up. My sister and I hugged each other tightly waiting for our lives to end. I was suddenly hit in the head with something and knocked out completely.

          Two days later I woke up in a hospital bed with my two sisters and family besides me. Everything was going to be all right. My sister told me that the FBI knew about the entire operation and that’s was how we got saved. I was then told that a member of the Al Qaeda was the one who hit me with his gun and knocked me out.

            Those entire eight days made me realize how fortunate and lucky I was. I saw how blessed I was by god that I returned safely to my family. I learned that one should never loose hope, because everything has a solution and there will always be someone there to help.     

Blog #1

        http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38744453?GT1=43001

U.S troops are crossing the border.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/38744453?GT1=43001

The last U.S combat troops left Iraq onThursday morning and crossed into the Kuwait border. This was the end of a 7 year war that the Americans fought to overthrow Sadam Husseins dictatorship. The war took the lives of more than 4,400 american soldiers, and tens of thousand Iraqi´s. This was a long violent war that was created by the ex United State president George Bush. Msnbc reports us the details and words of the soldiers themselves, "This was a professional soldier’s job,” he said, describing “a war that has defined this generation of military men and women.“And today it’s over,” he said."(Lt. Steven)Reporters do not take sides during this article and event. In my opinion more details of the war and the U.S troops were needed. People who do not know the whole story can get mixed up or confused easily. I really support the decision the United States made by making the troops leave and let Iraq fight their own War,"In 2003, we rolled across this berm into Iraq, and now as we get ready to transition the security of Iraq to Iraq’s own forces, this is a significant retrograde of a combat unit.”(Lt. Steven) Thursday August 12th was a great day for the U.S troops and Iraqi´s.