If you can’t learn to do it well, learn to enjoy doing it badly.
May 8, 2008 at 11:18 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Today, social interactions help us convey our thoughts and ideas through various means of advanced communication. It’s our choice that can either make impacting others a success or a negative influence. What I know to be true in society is the influence and impact of negative peer pressure. People are being pushed and forced to “follow the crowd” and are losing their own self-control and dignity. People are letting others make decisions for them, and this negative peer pressure has to stop. Peer pressure is changing the people we know around us into strangers. I need to learn to resist negative peer pressure before I do any harm to myself or to the people around me. And yeah, the truth hurts, but doing nothing about it is only going to make things worse.
April 24, 2008 at 11:51 am · Filed under Uncategorized
In my family, I try my best to keep a very close relationship with everyone, especially with my parents. Even though I sometimes think that what I need from my parents are materialistic things, it’s the smallest and simplest things that matter the most. The love, encouragement, support, and the appreciation from my parents is basically all that I need. Many others are very negligent about how much affection and dedication our parents put in to supporting us and we may take it for granted at times. But realizing and knowing that my parents do all they can to love & support me reminds me that everything else just doesn’t compare to that. Time is also something that I need because being closer to my parents can help me build a stronger relationship with them.
April 24, 2008 at 11:32 am · Filed under Uncategorized
My family comes from a Vietnamese background and there are many different aspects of my culture that I would like to learn about. There is just so much about Vietnam that fascinates me, and I would like to dig deeper into how and why everything is the way it is today. Vietnam’s history is what interests me the most. Even though I’m pretty knowledgeable about certain events in Vietnam’s history, I know there’s so much more to it. Knowing that my home country is crippled by political injustice, my interest in Vietnam’s history will emerge me to learning so much more about the origins and roots of how everything began. Another aspect of my culture that I’m interested in is the lifestyles of the Vietnamese. It would be great to learn about how the people in Vietnam work and live. Much more is still on my mind about the Vietnamese culture, but that’s it for now.
April 8, 2008 at 11:52 am · Filed under Uncategorized
My background/heritage is Vietnamese. Three aspects that I favor and respect about my culture that I would want people in the future to know about is the fact that the Lunar New Year’s is celebrated (Chinese & Vietnamese New Year). During this time, festivals and parades are very common with nightly celebrations filled with lantern decorations. I am also fond of the different kinds of Vietnamese art. Paintings, lacquer, and other styles of art created are amazing. One more thing my culture has that I find interesting is the musical instruments incorporated into Vietnamese music. There are many different types of musical instruments that are very unique that separate them from the other cultures.
April 8, 2008 at 11:48 am · Filed under Uncategorized
For me, success means several things. Knowledge is an important one though. Being a sensible individual with sufficient amount of knowledge will help me be a successful citizen. Education, family, and love are other things that I would consider as “success.” Having a good education helps me gain knowledge to deal with the world and get a good job. Having a family I would consider successful.
April 2, 2008 at 9:33 am · Filed under Uncategorized
The case of New Jersey vs. TLO was appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1984. Events that led up to the case being brought up to the Supreme Court began at Piscataway High School in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. Two female freshmen attending the school were caught smoking cigarettes in the bathroom by a teacher. They were later interrogated by the assistant vice-principal (Theodore Choplick) at the school. One of the two girls had admitted to smoking while the other, known as TLO, had denied the accusations of her smoking. Choplick had not believed this girl at all, and later began to search her purse and belongings. Cigarettes, marijuana, and other drug-related paraphernalia were found. TLO had finally confessed when they took her to the police station. However, TLO didn’t go down without a fight. She argued that the search of her purse went against her rights stated in the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution.Because of this, the case was later appealed to the United States Supreme Court. In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court decided that the search and seizure by school officials without a warrant was constitutional as long as it was justifiable. When the assistant vice-principal was searching the purse, it was believed to be upon probable cause. Probable cause is “a reasonable belief that a crime has been committed.” So, the court decided that the search was reasonable because under the circumstances of that situation, reason to suppose TLO had drugs was justifiable.
I agree with the decision of the United States Supreme Court because everything was justifiable. When the other girl had already admitted to smoking, suspicion had arose with TLO and how she denied the accusations. Having the fact that suspicion led to the search and seizure, it was later proven justifiable with drug paraphernalia found in her purse and because of probable cause.
December 18, 2007 at 11:58 am · Filed under Uncategorized
This whole experience working with Canada was pretty new to me. But after everything, it actually turned out to be a fun and motivational experience for me. There were moments while working on this project where I was kind of frustrated because I couldn’t really connect very well with the people in Canada. But other than that, working with my group was wonderful. Everyone was very cooperative and we all got to do something productive. But one thing I would like to change is our schedules to meet and chat because we weren’t very organized with that. So, our project actually turned out okay. And from doing this, I think I’ve learned how to be more patient and I also learned more skills in order to work more efficiently in groups.
Now, my opinion on the actual book itself is that I think that The Outsiders is very entertaining! There was a little bit of everything including drama, action, suspense, friendship, and even some short-lived moments of romance. Overall, I believe that this book can be very influential and educational for some because the book is based on real life events that take place everyday. So, maybe some people can really relate to this book. I would think that The Outsiders would be a great novel for young adults and for anyone looking for a good, meaningful story.
So, in conclusion, my reflection on this whole experience is that I basically had a good time, I got to learn new things, and I made new friends!
November 16, 2007 at 2:57 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
FINALLY!!! The book is finished. Anyways, for the last two chapters of the Outsiders, I chose the word friendship. In chapters 11 and 12, the gang goes to court to discuss if Johnny should be charged for killing Bob and if Ponyboy, Darry, and Sodapop should be put into a boys’ home. Anyways, after that, Johnny was dropped of all his charges and the brothers got to stay together. The word friendship applies to these chapters because with everything that has occurred, the boys realize that the most important thing is that they have each other. When I use the word friendship, I’m talking more about how the gang is close as a family rather than just being school friends or something. Anyways, since two of the gang’s members have died, they have become closer because they realized that each one of them were important to one another. So, again I think that the word friendship is suitable for chapters 11 and 12 of the Outsiders.
November 12, 2007 at 9:08 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
The word I chose for Chapters 9 & 10 is fear. This word almost exactly depicts what and how the characters are feeling during the chapters. The gang prepare for a “rumble” with some of the other gangs in the neighborhood, and they’re all anxious and fearful that something bad is going to occur. Since Johnny and Dally are in the hospital, the gang told them not to attend the rumble because they might get injured even more. Despite the gang’s warnings, Dally still comes to the rumble and fights the Socs. After the rumble, the Greasers won and they went to the hospital to check on Johnny because they feared that he was dying. Johnny eventually dies and Dally gets killed too. And so 2 members of the gang have been lost. So, this is why I chose the word fear.
November 8, 2007 at 2:30 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
For chapters 7 and 8 of the Outsiders, I decided that the word friendship is appropriate. I chose this word because in these chapters, the gang gets really close and they show their concern for each other. They respect each other and they care for each other like brothers. For example, Johnny was in the hospital because of his attempt to save the children in the burning church and the gang goes to visit him. They say show their friendship towards each other by sticking together and appreciating that they have each other. So, friendship is the word I chose.
