Jugdes

"Bandu is my name. Nommo Bandu! It means the littlest one on the bottom. And it means the reason for everything. Nelson told me that.

What is it? I said, but not any words came out of my mouth. I looked inside my two hands, where he put it, and there was a tiny box like what matches come in. A matchbox. The matchbox had a tiny picture of a lion on the outside and I thought there would be a tiny little lion inside to be my pet, like the mean ones that eat the ants only nicer. Stuart Lion. But no. Nelson opened it up and took out something, I couldn't tell wat. It looked like a piece of chicken bone with gistle and string all on it and sticky and comething black. What was it, something that dies? I was scared and started fixing to cry.

Nelson said, Don't be scare. He said, this has been in the magic fire. You cak this nkisi. He made me tougch it and it didn't burn me. Look, he said. He held it right up to my eye. There was a tiny hole in the side and a tiny peg that fit in the hole, tied with string. Put your spirit inside here, he said, here quick, blow in this hole. He opened up the peg and I blew in the little hole and quick he said my name Nommo Bandu Nommo Bandu Nommo Bandu! and shut up the hole with the little peg and Now you are safe. He said now if anything happens to me, If I start fixing to die or something, hold on to this tight and banbula! Ruth May will disappear.

How do you know? But Nelson knows everything about dead people. His mam and father and brother and baby sister are aall dea on the bottom of the river.

I dont't want to disappear, I said.

But he said, Only if you are going to die. He said this way I won't die, I will just disappear for a second and trhen I'll urn up someplace else, where its safe. Instead of dead I'll be safe"(239).

In this passage, Nelson gives Ruth May a magic nkisi that will help her disappear to a safe place if she is "fixing" up to die. It is supposed to help her to not be a affraid to die when she does. This passage is significant because it is a good thing for Ruth May beacause she does die. It made her less scared to die even though she didn't really know what would actually happen when she did use the ammulet.

Genocide Meeting

Meeting with ______

At the Genocide meaning, ______ first talked about what Genocide was. I thought it was really good that he made sure that his audience knew what Genocide was. He explained everything first and then converted into talking about how him and his friends first came upon this problem. I thought it was really interesting how him and his friends were very concerned about the problems there are in other countries. That showed passion for something that people their age usually wouldn'e care for or even realize.

I really liked how he had us call Governor Lingle to have her pass HB 34, I think that's what it was called. After that meeting, one of my friends and I called the governor's office and did the same thing. I think the lady answering the phone was getting irritated because by the time I called her she didn't sound very nice. It was kind of funny.

Towards the end of the meeting, he had us all stand up if we were really going to do anything to help once we stepped out of the room. I was very proud because no one sat down. Ofcourse, there is always that possibility that some people could have been shame to sit down, but I'm glad no one did.

I'm happy that I went to the meeting, even though one of the reasons I went was for extra-credit. I am very happy that I did go because I learned a lot. I learned that people always say Never Again, but it always happens again. I really hope that with all the help that we can give that this problem "never happens again!"

Some of these pictures are very disturbing but hopefully it will set an impact on whoever looks at it:

Below is a picture from what had happened in Rwanda.

Tears from a Darfur refugee.

Here is a cartoon that kind of shows the little ignorance that people have in the United States.

Quintessence

THE QUINTESENCE "SLIPPAH"


The house shoe, or slipper, is "a soft and lightweight indoor type of footwear"(Wikipedia). The local meaning for a slipper is "a piece of rubber that you wear on your feet outside the house," one of my friends said. The Hawaiian slipper is commonly used as a bug killer or handy piece of weaponry. This simple Long's rubber slipper, saves your feet from anything. People from Hawai'i use it only outside their house. People from the mainland use it only inside their house.

Basketball

I started playing basketball when I was eight. I've worked hard ever since the first tryouts that I had. I remember that very first tryout that I went to. It was horrible. I got so nervous that I cried. So sad! Well, since then, I've gotten better. I kept trying hard and it all payed off. After being cut from the varsity team, I came back ready to play. This year I made the team.

This season has shown our team much adversity. Because our two best players got hurt from knee injuries, my teammates and I have worked our as*** off to show everyone that we could do it, win another state title, without the twins (star players). We've made it through sickness, injury and drama, and now we are going into playoffs to go to the State Tournament. There is quite a lot of pressure on us because of the fact that we won state champs two years in a row and because every team since 1994 has at least gone to states.

The only thing stopping us from going to states is Kamehameha School. We have lost to them twice, and both times was in their gym. Our first playoff game is against, the young team, Mid-Pac. We have won to them all three times that we played them, but our second game against them was a doozy. It was a pretty tough game because they were winning for most of the game. Hopefully, we come out with a win so that we have another chance to play Kamehameha.

I feel a lot of pressure since the twins are out. I feel like we would be a disappointment if we didn't win states or at least go to states. Everyone thinks that we can't do it because we don't have the twins, but we will prove them wrong. We want to show everyone and OUSELVES that we can do it by ourselves and that we our a good team even without the twins.
I really hope God blesses me with a good game when we play Mid-Pac.

Stuckness

I thought that the stuckness thing we did in class was very interesting. I still don't completely understand it but after discussing it as a class I feel more caught up with it. The screw problem makes sence. Robert Pirsig is telling us that you basically have to look outside of the box to fix the screw, which will then fix the bike. The bike is pretty much nothing with out that little screw. It has to be fixed to become a usable object again. To be able to fix it you will have to figure out different ways to correct the problem.

When Eddie and I were outside talking about this essay, we were thinking of a time that we, ourselves, had been stuck in any situation. Eddie told me about his guitar problem, dealing with a special way of struming that he could not get. At the time, I couldn't think of a time that I was stuck. That night, I was soaking my paper in coffee for my quality project. For some odd reason, my paper was ripping. I couldn't figure out why. After my four pieces of paper fell apart, thought about why my paper wasn't holding up. The next day I told my mother about what had happened and she couldn't understand why that was happening either. The last couple of times I did something like this, I used tea, and the temperature wasn't as hot as the coffee that my mom made. Then, I realized that it was the difference in the temperature.

I think the train idea was really interesting because Pirsig tied Classic Knowledge and Romantic Knowledge together with this simple idea of a train and the railroad. I liked the simple idea of a train.

SAT practice essay 2: Practical Learning

Note: This is my SAT Pratice Essay on Practical Learning. I didnʻt make any changes to it so it isnʻt polished or anything.


I think that there is too much emphasis on learning practical skills. I think this is because the United States pushes everyone to get a good education so that after college you can get a good job. With a good job you are able to get more money. Automatically, you can tell that a good learning experience equals more money and with more money comes a more comfortable living style.

Some people don't have a lot of money to get a good education so it's harder for them to get a good job and provide for their families. Money in some places other than the U.S. means nothing or is close to it. Money is a way bigger deal in the U.S. then it needs to be.

In The Poisonwood Bible, the book that my English class has been reading, the Price family goes to the Congo to teach about God and the bible. The father, Nathan Price, is very passionate about his Christian beliefs, therefore making each one of his teaching sessions an intense one. This book relates to this question because the family, mostly Nathan, pushes for teaching their religion. It compares to how Americans are pushed to get a good education. What I understand or collect from reading this book is that Nathan thinks that you have to learn about the Christian religion or else it will be hard for you to survive or even to live a good life.

In the quote given to us, the last line states, "More and more we seem to try to teach how to make a good living and not how to live a good life." This part of the quote, I think, ties in perfectly with money and the Poisonwood Bible. Before money, we would trade things. We were doing fine with what we had. We were resourceful people. After we developed money, more and more people started struggling and becoming homeless and even went as far as selling their bodies to survive.

Dealing with the Poisonwood Bible, I'm pretty sure the Congolese people were doing fine with religion and beliefs before Nathan Price and his family arrived.

lit circle1: Moderator

For this Literatur Circle, I was the Moderator.

-To me the book starts off very strange with, I think it is Orleanna speaking.
Why does the book start off with a different beginning? Meaning, it isn't like a normal beginning of a book, or at least not what I thought it was going to start off with.

-Why would the father, Nathan Price, have that thought in his head that his family would enjoy it in the Congo? What made him want to go so bad? Religion?