Make A Change

*Author's Note- This is a poem I wrote to the tune of one of my favorite songs. 
The song is called Lessons Learned, and it was written by Carrie Underwood.  I'm
not really used to writing poems,  so I'd really appreciate comments and
constructive criticism .

A very long, long time ago,
The world was clean, so bright it glowed,
But now, can't you see what we've done?
The rivers, they were once unharmed,
Animals were not alarmed,
By these bulldozers tearing up their homes.
Don't say that it don't matter,
The people can work harder,
To make our planet stronger,
And you know,
Our home's at stake,
It's time we take,
This chance to make a change.

CHORUS
With every tree that falls to the ground, every one
With every time we go and let the water run
With every car belching exhaust by the ton
We're polluting our once clean, fresh air
So stop using aerosol for your hair!
Our home's at stake,
It's time we take,
This chance to make a change.

There's pollution in the air,
Bombs are flying everywhere,
But fighting
Will never help our planet.
We're trashing the world's land and sea,
Hurting our earth needlessly,
Children
Do you really want to inherit this?
Don't say it don't make a difference,
The future's still unwritten
Let's fix the world we're given
Our home's at stake,
It's time we take,
This chance to make a change

CHORUS
With every tree that falls to the ground, every one
With every time we go and let the water run
With every car belching exhaust by the ton
We're polluting our once clean, fresh air
So stop using aerosol for your hair!
Our home's at stake,
It's time we take,
This chance to make a change.

And everything that you do,
Can make a difference, you know it.
We can change our actions
For the earth's benefit
And we just gotta keep on working
So we can all
Make a change

CHORUS
With every tree that falls to the ground, every one
With every time we go and let the water run
With every car belching exhaust by the ton
We're polluting our once clean, fresh air
So stop using aerosol for your hair!
Our home's at stake,
It's time we take,
This chance to make a change.

Alas, Babylon Quote

*Authors Note:  This is a response to a writing assignment given to me where I have to pick a quote in my independant reading book and discuss its importance.

"When a man dies, and his children die with him, then he is dead entirely, leaving nothing to show."

-Mark Bragg

Randy's brother Mark already knows there will be a nuclear war, and since he's stationed at an important military base, and that's exactly where the Soviet Union will be pointing their weapons, he knows he's going to die.  But he also knows that just because he dies, doesn't mean his family has to, so he sends his wife and children down to live in Florida with Randy.  The quote above is extremely important in the book, because it's where he decides to deliver his family to Randy.  If Randy didn't have the wife and children there, he most certainly would've died almost immediately, because although Randy leads them, without their contribution and ideas, he wouldn't have stood a chance to survive.

Alas, Babylon- Setting

*Authors Note 
This is a response to a writing assignment. 
The setting of Alas, Babylon is one of the most important things about the 
novel, because without it, there would be no story.  I say this because this book was set in the era of the Cold War.  The Cold War was "fought" between the US and the Soviet Union.  What really happened throughout this war was that both countries had control over nuclear weapons and both countries were threatening to attack each other with them.  Neither ended up following through with the threat, but this book is about what would've happened if Russia really did follow through and there was a nuclear attack on the country.  If this wasn't set in the era of the Cold War, then there really wouldn't be a story.  
 
 
The place, of course, is also very important.  The main character Randy lives in Fort Repose, a town in Florida.  The reason it's so important for him to live in a small town like this is because it's not too close to any big military bases.  
The military bases are the direct targets of the Soviet Union's nuclear attack, so if he lives at or near any of the cities with military bases in them, no matter how deep he digs to hide from the radiation and the explosions, they will still kill him almost immediately. 

Alas, Babylon Character Actions

*Authors Note
-This is a response to a writing assignment on our current novel

-Alas, Babylon is set in the time period of the Cold War (1945-1991).  For those of you who don't know what the Cold War is, it was basically an era of hostility between the US and the Soviet Union, where each threatened to attack each others territory with nuclear weapons.

 In Alas, Babylon, the novel I have chosen for our next assignment,  the main character's name is Randy.  He's 32 years old, and is well known for his drinking habits, his player-like style, and most of all, his time running for mayor, in which he was shot down, the overall ratio of votes 5 to 1.  But in the first chapter of the book, Randy learns a terrible secret.  The Soviet Union is really following through this time.  They're going to launch a nuclear attack.  His brother Mark, who works in military, has told him this and sent his children and wife to live with Randy, because Randy lives in a place farther away from any major targets of the Soviet Union's attack.   Of course, Randy can't tell anybody about this, because if the people believe him, it will spark a nationwide panic.  If he tells anyone, it could also get his brother Mark killed for sharing the information, as it was highly classified. 
When Randy learns about the horrible fate of his country, he immediately goes to the store and stocks up on as much food and other necessities as possible, for him and his brother's family.  I think that this was a smart move on his part, because without food they'd survive maybe a week at the most.  I believe that his actions say that he wants to survive, needs to survive, if not for him, for Mark's family.  This is very important, because even though I've only just started the book, I have a feeling the theme might be survival.

Tom Sawyer Final Essay

Have you ever had a friend that you would travel to the ends of the earth for, and know that they'd do the same for you? A friend that you'd support, no matter what? Well, that's like the friendship of Tom and his comrades Huck and Joe. They stick with each other through thick and thin, and look up to one another. Like brothers, they have their fights, but in the end they realize what fools they've been, and forgive each other. I think Tom is very lucky to have Huck and Joe, and they're lucky to have him, because everyone needs a friend.

Honestly, at times I think Huck and Joe are crazy. They stick with Tom, even when he gets them involved in a murder, drags them away from their life and civilization to a desolate island, gets them lost in a dark, gloomy cave, and brings them into his love life. But then again, isn't that what friends are for? To take with on your adventures and journeys, and help you through your problems?

I believe that Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain, knows how important friendship is, and that's one of the reasons why he wrote Tom Sawyer the way he did, with friendship being one of the most important things in the context. He knows that without Tom's friendship with Huck and Joe, the story would be quite dreary. If the main character doesn't have a friend, he would be a lonely, poor fellow, and since Tom Sawyer's overall mode is obviously romance, the main character can't very well be a lonesome chap feeling sorry for himself throughout the entire book. Everybody needs a friend.

Tom Sawyer Quiz

*Authors Note:  PROMPT-Select one of the more interesting chapters we've read so far and discuss what you found of value in the text.

The chapter I’ve chosen to respond to is chapter 9, which is the graveyard scene where Tom and Huck witness Injun Joe murdering the doctor.  I find that this chapter is very key to the Adventures of Tom Sawyer, because it’s where the first real, severe conflict is formed.  Without this chapter, Injun Joe wouldn’t have become the murderer that the characters fear, and the book’s plot would be weak.  It would be weak because without Injun Joe and the graveyard scene, this book would be mainly about Tom’s on and off relationship with Becky, and his pirate adventures.  It would have no real seriousness in it.

Chapter nine is obviously irony.  It's very unrealistic, because what is the chance that two 12 year old boys happened to be at the exact same place at the exact same time as a terrible killing occurs?  Injun Joe, the evil in the chapter, is completely in control, and Huck and Tom are weak and stupid compared to him.  The only other character that had any potential to be good is Muff Potter, and he’d had a few too many drinks that night, and is therefore also weak and stupid.  The chapter starts off with Tom and Huck going off to the graveyard to use a dead cat’s body to remove their warts, then all of a sudden, three mysterious men arrive and Huck and Tom witness a murder, which is the major conflict.  In the end, the death symbolism is that if they don’t tell someone in authority, Injun Joe will get away and Muff Potter will be blamed and possibly hung for the murder, and if they do snitch on him, Injun Joe will most likely seek revenge against them and try to murder them as well.  Some symbols are the barking dogs that Tom hears, as well as the graveyard at midnight, the weeds that they’re lurking in, and the worm-eaten graves.

In conclusion, I believe chapter nine is one of the most important chapters in the book, because it’s where all the evil business with Injun Joe unfolds, and the plot begins to form.

Patriotism Matters

Have you ever felt you were lost, with no one to turn to, no way to get out of what you have gotten yourself into? This is a feeling many of our soldiers get when they are in the midst of a war. They wonder what they're going to do, how they're going to get through these tough times, how they're going to survive. Then, they pull out that picture. The picture of their family, friends, and country. They realize that they're just going to have to push through and stay tough, so that they can fight for freedom for themselves and their loved ones. They have to fight for our country so that we may live and be free.

To me, that's what patriotism is all about. It's about normal people like you and me, going out and serving our country, even when the odds are grim, when nothing is going right. I’m not saying that you need to go and join the armed forces, of course. Patriotism is about serving your country, but you can do that in many ways. You can donate money to people less fortunate than you, volunteer, support our servicemen and woman, and give them hope. You could simply put up an American flag outside your house to show you care! There are endless ways to show love and devotion to our country, and they're all very simple.

Patriotism matters to me because if we didn't have patriotism, what would our country end up being? If patriotism is what drives our servicemen and women to stay strong and fight for our country, what would happen if there wasn't any of that? Where would America be? Would we have been taken over long ago by a ruthless dictator? Would we be slaves, with no freedom, no hope? What would've happened to our beloved country without patriotism?

So, if you ask me if patriotism still matters, I would immediately respond with these words: "If it didn't, then where do you think our country would be? Not where we are now, that’s for sure."