Participation

This year in American Studies class I was not very talkative. I was sitting on the side the whole time basically and I wasn’t really talking. I liked a lot of the things we did such as the animoto war video we did in groups. But I wasn’t even that talkative in the groups either. I feel that my grade should be a C or B- at best because I was a real participant in any of the conversations and I did really comment on the blog’s. I mean I started talking a little more towards the end of the year and I was always good with writing blogs. I think that the grade I put on here should be the grade I get. P

The Times Are Changing

Walter Payton was a great NFL player and also a great man. His story of becoming a rising star in football and going to the NFL is like Jay Gatsby rising from being a janitor who will go nowhere and becoming a rich popular man. The image I am using is with him and his quarterback Jim McMahon standing together, looking at the American Flag singing the National Anthem. This image emphasizes the barrier blacks and whites have crossed. The image is of black/white men, who are standing side by side ready for whatever the game and world throws at them. The image shows the sort of bond of between blacks and whites. This image I feel with be the best for my last blog post of the year because of it being a picture of my favorite player and my favorite team.

It's For Our Fallen Children

When I was driving with my brother to see my cousins Stephen and Christian on the South Side. We past by this church that had a American Flag that was upside down. Me and my brother thought it was a mistake on the churches part. But then I realized that I had seen it before and I knew that it was not an accident but it was for a purpose. Later that day I asked my cousins why the church had there flag upside down and they said because there main priest was tired of the people thinking about the flag more than the dying kids. They also told me that someone took it down the first time the priest put it on the pole. He just put it back on and said that if people keep trying to take it down he'll keep putting back up there. My cousin Stephen said that the priest was angry with the public for not taking more interest in the deaths of young men and women around the Chicago area. He said that the priest was on the news talking about how the people around Chicago should start taking a better interest in the children so they aren't dying. He gave examples such as 16-year-old Ramone Morris who was shot on the West Side and the slaying of 15-year-old Alex Arellano, who was found beaten, shot and burned. The priest said the people should be less worried about the flag and more worried about the kids that are dying everyday.

Junior Theme 2

Since my last Junior Theme post I've found a lot of information and I am now starting my body paragraphs. I did my intro already but now I have to do the rest of the paper which also has to be 4-6 pages. I found a book called The Last Lecture by Jeffery Zaslow; it's about Randy Pausch's last lecture to his students and colleagues. It's a great book and I have many ideas for my body paragraphs. I also have many sources from C.Q. Research and I am also interviewing an Oncologist from Northwestern University Hospital. When I started out the paper I started with telling my audience about Patrick Swazye and his battle with Pancreatic Cancer and how dealing with his life threatening illness. I think my paper will be good with all the information that I have and I hope for a good grade on it too. I feel that this topic is a great topic for me because of my insight on this sort of illness.

Thrilla in Minila

Just this Saturday I saw a documentary about the third and final fight with Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. It's from Joe Frazier's perspective and you see footage of there time in the Philippines and of both Joe Frazier's and Muhammad Ali's fights before they fought each other. During this whole documentary you see how Joe Frazier's a great fighter and how he got to be Heavyweight Champion of the World. You also see how the whole country liked Muhammad Ali more than Joe Frazier and we see how Ali is more successful. Throughout this whole documentary I saw the real Muhammad Ali. I saw how he criticized Joe Frazier and how he basically mad his life a living hell for him. Through all the fights I watched with Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier I saw that Ali was the better fighter in the second fight. But Frazier was the better fighter in the first and third fight against Ali. During the third fight Frazier was hurt throughout the fight and was blinded by the 15th round. He wanted it more than Ali though, and even though he lost the second and third fight he was still the best fighter out of the both of them for his courage and his will to fight with a man that did nothing but criticize him. Ali said to Frazier's son at the end of the fight that he was sorry about all he has put his family through. But Frazier didn't except the apology because he thought Ali should have been a man and say it to his face.

Junior Theme

This year has been a wild one so far and now with this Junior Theme paper, it's going to make it a little harder. In our AIS class we've been doing a lot papers and none of them have compared to the hype that this paper has. Some of the seniors I know have been telling me how hard it was for them and how it was very long. Some said there's were about 20 pages. I think thats ridiculous but I have to do it. My topic though is Pancreatic Cancer and quality of life which I feel is a hard topic and is going to take a lot of research. All I know is that this paper will be one of the toughest in everyones high school career and hopefully everyone does well.

Surprise, Surprise

The 2008 NFL season has been over for a couple months now and teams are now getting ready for the 2009 season. There are many trades and free agents that are surprising the NFL and the fans of the NFL. One of the not most shocking trades was the trading of T.O. from Dallas to the Buffalo Bills. I mean, of course everyone new that they needed to get rid of one of the best offensive players on your teams because of issues in the locker room. You can't run a good offense if one of you're best players is not getting along with his quarterback. But one of the biggest shockers of them all was the Indianapolis Colts getting rid of Marvin Harrison. He has been with Peyton Manning since 1999 and was one of his most favorite targets out of all his receivers. Getting rid of him I think was a mistake because they need leadership. Marvin Harrison was and still is one of the best receivers in the history of the NFL and to get rid of that leadership was a bad idea on the Colts part. One of the things that I didn't see coming though was Jay Cutler (quarterback for the Denver Broncos) wants to be traded out of Denver. He's but, he just made to the Pro Bowl and is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. My top five quarterbacks are Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Kurt Warner, Ben Roethlisberger, and I'm still debating on Philip Rivers or Jay Cutler. Thats how good he is and if he does get traded to any other team then the Broncos will have a bad season next season because of the loss of there star player.