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I took this class in hopes to better my skills in essay writing. The constant nagging, from my global teacher, of how I cannot write an exemplary essay within 30 minutes finally got to me.  

Signed up for an English class in Baruch, I mean what better way can a 16 year old hs student spend there summer? In another classroom of course!

But I didn’t mind, I took a business course here last summer and I loved it. The first day of class I quickly realized I was not going to practice my essay skills, rather I was going to go read and keep up with the news daily (something I have been telling my self to do since I stopped watching t.v), report on the street (scary at first but surprisingly very fun and spontaneous), and write news articles (which apparently is a totally different type of composition, but I never realized to notice that). A whole new medium is used to write news articles, journalistic writing has a lot more than what it seems  on the surface. It requires the opinion of the people, statements from agencies, and city officials. Voices are heard and ideas are exchanged.

All this time I thought journalists were just euphemism for paparazzi.

In the past two years the skateboarding population in New York City has grown tremendously. Despite this afflux of enthusiasts towards the sport, local skate spots have been closed due to a wide array of issues.

The Brooklyn Banks, a skate spot under the Brooklyn Bridge was closed down because of bridge construction. There was no construction where the skate spot was, but workers needed space to park their cars and other trucks.

The skate park on 12th Street and Avenue A was shut down a few months later due to a few individuals that decided to smoke marijuana in the wooded area behind the skate park. They were arrested, and police shut down the park. These kids were not even the skaters from the park. They were students from a local school. 

Although for a few months the Lower East Side (LES) skate park under the Manhattan Bridge was closed due to a remodeling job funded by Nike, the park was reopened on “Go Skateboarding Day” June 21st 2012.

City of Bones is a great book that is the first book of the Mortal Instrument series written by Cassandra Clare. This book changed my life, I hated reading before I read this book in the 10th grade and now reading is all I ever do because this showed me how great reading is. Cassandra Clare’s characters are funny, witty, dangerous and with a touch of mushy romance between them. Clare Fray a normal 15 year old girl life changes after she headed out to the Pandemonium Club and witness a murder. She never expected to witness a murder much less a murder done by 3 teenagers with strange tattoos and armed with weapons from head to toe. But what is a girl suppose to do when the body disappears into thin air with not even a smear of blood left behind as evidence. Clare see’s Jace, one of the murders all over the place, he even talks to her but why cant anyone else?
When her mother disappears Clare is force to ask for help from Jace and walk into a world of demons, shadow hunters, angels, and reveal so many hidden secrets. Can she survive or will she die?

The New York City Subway system is one of the most important system in my life. I’ve been riding on the subway ever since i was born. Although it is a very convenient  transportation system, it is important to consider the sanitation and environment of the subway. Moreover, i think the subway could’ve been better if they upgrade the system frequently.

Yesterday i went to Broadway Lafayette to interview the New York State Youth Leadership Council. The meeting was great, the atmosphere was full of energy and the people were so generous. We sat in a circle, played a game called ZIP, ZAP, ZOP. It was a great start to meeting new people. They went over the Deferred Action Workshop, NY dream act, federal dream act and lots more. After the meeting, i interviewed a college student who is currently attending Lehman College. She was so open and polite. I also interviewed the coordinator of the organization. I received great quotes from both of them. I felt like a real journalist, i felt that rush in my body when you have to write quickly because the other person is talking. I used all the steps that we have been learning the past week. To me it was a great experience and i will return to the meetings to learn more and also to help out.

Last week my family and i saw the movie Ted. sorry to admit that this was not a movie i should have seen with my parents. Like Seth MacFarlane’s shows Family Guy and American Dad, his movie Ted was both funny and inappropriate.

Although i knew the movie was rated R i didn’t expect the main character Ted to be so…..explicit. I was laughing throughout the entire movie, but sometimes had to look over at my parents to see there reactions. Luckily they enjoyed themselves as well.

I believe Ted was the funniest movie I’ve seen in a long time. I think most other comedy movies have gotten lazy with the jokes they provide to the viewers. This movie had all the same types of jokes like family guy but was still worth watching.

I recommend everyone go see this movie, just do not take your parents or little siblings with you.

The book How to be a Wallflower was published in 1999 and tells a story about a quite and innocent teenage boy during the 1990s, entering the stages of adulthood.

Charlie, his aliases, writes a letter to a person, depicting his experiences in high school. He does not want to mention his name or his friends and families names to the person he’s writing to.

The book starts out with Charlie an innocent young boy writing a letter to a person, telling this person that he is about to enter High School and is scared about his first day.

Weeks pass by and Charlie starts making friends slowly through his schools social gatherings, he also becomes great acquaintances with his English Teacher, a man with an equal passionate for reading.

The story goes on with Charlie dealing with problems and secrets from his family and friends that he must not whisper to anyone.

The Author Stephen Chbosky has a great way of writing and informing the problems of the teenage world in a humorous way.

An example of this comedy can be extracted from this scene. Charlie has just attended his first high school party and then the host started passing food around.

Charlie innocent and naïve, picked up the brownie in a house covered in smoke. “I ate the brownie, and it tasted a little weird, but it was still a brownie, so I still like it. But this was not an ordinary brownie. Since you are older, I think you know what kind of brown it was.” Charlie said in the novel.

Chbosky, also refers to hot topics during the time, such as openly gay teenagers, religious views shifting, drug use among teenagers, the trauma of suicide from both sides, rape, and puberty (Always a hot topic).

The author also used great symbolism, referencing modern day shows and old American texts as his literature techniques

Overall I would give this book a 9 out 10 for it’s original comedy and reference to teen problems in a learning environment for both parents and teenagers.

READING AGE 15 AND UP

9 OUT OF 10 STARS

It began in a school dedicated to the disabled children and a desire.

For 4 years, teachers at the school sexually abused and molested the children.

Defenseless, the children could only cry only to be silenced.

Even after this was revealed, not many people knew about this incident and the perpetrators only received minimal punishment.

How could this happen?

Why would people do this to children?

This is a horror that no one wishes to reoccur, and as a result, this incident was adapted into a novel by Gong Ji Young and later a movie, Silenced (Dogani, in Korean). Upon the release of this film, many had created protests and petitions fighting for a reinvestigation of the original case as well as a law that ensured the disabled victims sex crimes to obtain the justice they deserve.

I had only recently gotten the chance to watch this movie and the horrors disgusted me. I felt infuriated and aggravate at manipulation of the legal system and the negligence by people at the education department.

I developed the same emotions as millions of views had when they watched the movie. It was heart wrenching to see that no one was properly punished for their deeds and victims did not get the justice they deserved.

But what surprised me the most was how easily the lawyer for the children and the judge of the trial was so easily manipulated by money and power. It unveiled the repulsive and horrifying aspects of society that many have no idea existed.

The portrayal of the strength of religion was also extremely shocking. They displayed the dark side of religion and what happens when one becomes too bias and subjective to their points of view.

Through the excellent cast of Gong Yoo, Jung Yoo Mi, Kim Hyun Soo, Jung In Seo, Baek Seung Hwan, Jang Gwang and many more, the story became alive and it not only told the story of this incident, it allowed a spotlight to shine on sex crimes in general.

“The reason we are fighting so hard is not to change the world, but instead not to let the world change us.”

Those that were originally silenced by sex crimes now have a voice. 

    The most recent movie Brave, released by Pixar is one of the best movies I have ever seen. First of all, I am a huge Disney fan, so this post may be little bias.
[Spoiler Alert]    
The movie is basically about a princess, Merida, who is always pushed around by her mother about her misconduct as a princess. Then she goes to a witch and gets a spell that turns her mother into a bear. (LOL)
    Through the movie, there was not a point where I got bored. Merida is adventurous and plays archery (obviously, I mean this is like the Hunger Games effect). The movie is very entertaining and funny. The behaviors of the 3 candidates for the prince, the 3 little princes, and the queen kept me entertained throughout the whole movie. They kept parts real and linked somethings to others, which was fascinating. There was another bear in the story and later, it turn out to a the legendary prince of what everyone thought was a myth. The end really brings out your emotions since it portrays a mother and daughter connection which we can all relate to.