Abstract & Concrete Paragraphs

               What was hoping to be a great day turned into a horrible one. It was the third a final day of bid sales for winter fan. I had been too late the first two days to even get a ticket, Because I am so small that while I raced to get in line I got thrown around and pushed to the side by everyone. But this time I was determined to get a ticket, all of my other friends had already gotten theirs so i wasn't going to be the only one not going. 5 Min before the class bell rang I tightened my shoes and waited anxiously by the door. I had a good feeling about it this time. I sprinted like I never had before to get into line. I was the 10th one in line. I kept moving closer and closer. Then it finally became my turn. But thats when the disaster struck. I went to grab my form and check. But it wasn't there! I was the only one that didn't go to winter fan,

 

                             
               I was fed up! It was my granddaughters 7th birthday party. The party was full of fun and joy there were multiple bounce houses with many games to play for the kids too. And I made cookies for everyone. But it seemed as if no one liked it. At first they kept their mouths shut and didn't say anything at all about it. But then came the first person to tell me that they didnt' like my cookies at all. Naturally it hurt my felling but I brushed it all fairly easily. And then came the second person to tell me that they didn't like my cookies, Then one after another one after another, everyone started to tell me that they didn't like my cookies. Even my niece that I made the cookies for told me straight in the face that she doesn't Like my cookies. So I became so aggravated that I grabbed my block and shot a couple in the air.

               I had received some of the worst news that a child should ever have to hear. My dad was gonna be deployed. I had loved my dad. He was my best friend, we did everything together. But when I found out that he was going to be deployed I couldn't help but to break down and start crying. I was so worried that something was gonna happen to him as he served our great country. I didn't want to know that my dad had a high chance of dying or getting severely injured. One of the things that we would always do together was play tea party with my dolls. So that he could remember that well I  made sure that he drank a nice cup of hot tea and gave him one of my dolls to take with him, Then i leaped into his arms and had him carry me to the car. I was crying as I waved by to him. It was the saddest day of my life.

Coming Of Age Essay (Draft)

Fearing the thoughts of other people is experienced in every teenager. Before and in the beginning freshman year I would always care too much about what other people thought of me. And with over thinking about what people think of me made me more scared of doing many things. And to this day I regret it I was too shy and I have  missed out on a lot of things because of that. But then came along the extra baggage I had to lug around that we call “The Boot”.
When I had first received the news that I couldn't play any sports this year and I had to stay in a boot for most of the school year my heart dropped. I felt like shit, I remember sitting in the doctor's office just crying. It felt as if my life was over and I couldn't do anything about it but just to wait and hopefully something good comes out of it. Being with the boot was a big learning curve for me. I remember the first week that I had  received the news that I was still in shock like “I cannot believe this is happening to me”, “what am I gonna do?”, “What are people gonna think of me?” then I remember the second week that I was more mad, like I would say things like “Why does it have to be me?”,  “ Why couldn’t we deal with this earlier or faster?”. And then by the third week I was just tired of complaining already, I realized that my foots not gonna heal faster if I continue to feel bad for myself and complain. And that is when I really realized that I have to learn and work on being patient. Before I had the boot I had barely any patience at all. I always wanted things or wanted things done then and there I hated waiting. But now I feel like I can wait a lot longer. But before I even had the boot I would always consciously worry about what people thought of me, It was always something that I would worry about before and I would over think about it too much. But from being in the boot people look at you and treat you differently, a lot of people treat you as if you can't do anything, or they feel really bad for you. And for me that was one of the worst parts about being in the boot. I never really liked how everyone felt bad for me because I just always kept the thought in my mind that someone out there had it worse than me and couldn't come back from it at all so they should feel bad for them instead of me. But eventually I had gotten used to how people looked at me and just didn't care anymore. And that translated to how I am without the boot, now that I am out of the boot I don't care about how I look anymore and I have more self love about myself, knowing that I am who I am and I can't change that and I shouldn't for anyone, so I should just embrace myself more now and not care about what other people think of me.

Being in the boot has taught me so much. And it has had to do a lot with who I am today. I don't care anymore about my fear about what people think of me, I can understand waiting longer and I am actually ok with waiting longer now too. But I feel like being in the boot has also brought me closer with my self and to start understanding myself better now. And I am willing to do more things and try new things now.

Netflix argumentative letter

1215, Pa’akama’a st
pearl city, Hawaii, 96782
september 16, 2015

Netflix
100 winchester circle
Los Gatos, California 95032


Dear Netflix Administration,

I have thoroughly enjoyed your program and service for many years. I love your wide selections of TV shows and movies, the different categories that you have for different age groups, and your reasonable prices.

Although, I have been having some problems with your updates. I feel like you guys could do a better job with updating your system with newer movies. some big box office movies come on DVD and I believe that if those movies come out on DVD that they should also be there on netflix. Netflix is my go to and only system to stream movies and if I can't find a movie On there I don't really have much more options to see that movie and it makes me feel less or trust Netflix less. And I am Informing you about this because I feel like it is a big flaw within Netflix and that many people have this problem, and I would really benefit you with better customer satisfaction and maybe even more people registering for Netflix.

                                                                                                                                          Sincerely,
                                                                                                                                    Duncan Clark

Digital Life (Final)

               Social media is great! Social media can help us connect better with friends and family, it can allow us to see what kind of things people around the world are doing, it can even give us warnings a head of time of upcoming events. But social media can also be a very dark and scary place even I don't want to get on it sometimes. Social media makes teens insecure about themselves about things like wanting to fit in, their looks/body, and in some cases it makes them feel unwanted. And this happens to everyone today in some type of way.

               Social media may stir up a lot of insecurities but it can also be good for facing them. If you are insecure about something and you post something online facing that insecurity depending on your followers they can help you get through that insecurity. Another reason why it is good is because it can make you feel better about yourself if you post something say a selfie and you get these comments like " wow you look amazing ", or if they comment a heart eyes it can actually make you feel better about your self and boost your self confidence. So although many people may perceive social media as something to just make you more insecure it can actually have some perks to make your feel better about yourself and feel better and boost your self esteem.

               Imagine your sitting at home all of the time and you never go out but you always see the people you know your friends going out 24/7 and always posting about it on social media sites like Instagram, and you are never invited, how would you feel about that? That is exactly what a lot of teenagers feel today. "High school students who feel they do not fit in are less likely to attend college" phys.org. This is an example of how social media can effect you in the future and how if you let it consume you it can take away your hopes and dreams. "Particularly at risk were girls who are obese, who are 78 percent less likely to attend college than non-obese girls, and those who are gay, who are 50 percent less likely to attend." News.utexas.edu.com. And this also shows the type of people that it primarily effects and and the percentages of those people. So having the feeling of not fitting in is one of the main insecurities with in social media because you are seeing people post of going out all the time and you not being invited can make you and the people around you very insecure.

              Another big thing that teens get insecure about is their looks and body image on social media. But it's not just seeing other peoples nice body that makes teens insecure but it can also be the stages of puberty that we are going in. "The changes of puberty and resulting sexual maturation often make adolescents feel self-conscious and awkward about their bodies." Education.com. This gives us a insight of another thing that majorly influences teens feelings of insecurities of their body, and how it's not by seeing other people making us feel insecure but it's from with in ourselves and how this contributes to also seeing people's nice body's and then looking at yours and feeling ashamed. "A study found that adolescent girls were more fearful of gaining weight than getting cancer, nuclear war or losing their parents" justsayyes.org. This shows how bad teens worry about their size or how big they are because socia media has brought upon this almost rules on how you should look and how skinny or muscular you must be and it is sad to see that this frightens teens this much and that they have to even worry about it. 

               Although social media can be a good thing for us by making us feel better about our selfs but it has mostly a negative effect on teens for insecurities. It shows proof that it makes teens insecure about their body's it also shows proof that it makes teens feel like they don't fit in. Insecurities has become a bigger issue with in the last few years and it's been growing at increasingly fast rate and has shown no sign of slowing down. And the only possible ways to stop this now is for parents to instill a sense of self worth in their children from a young age. And hopefully if everyone does that the percentage of insecurities with in teens about social media may go down.

CITATIONS:

"Teenagers Who Feel like They Don't Fit in Less Likely to Attend College, Sociologist Finds." Teenagers Who Feel like They Don't Fit in Less Likely to Attend College, Sociologist Finds. N.p., 5 Apr. 2011. Web. 31 Aug. 2015.

"Teenagers Who Feel Like They Don't Fit In Less Likely to Attend College, Sociologist Finds." UT News. N.p., 04 Apr. 2011. Web. 31 Aug. 2015.

"Teenagers and Body Image." Teenagers and Body Image. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Aug. 2015.

"Self Image Media Influences - Just Say Yes." Just Say YES. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Aug. 2015.

Digital Life (rough draft)

               Social media is great! Social media can help us connect better with friends and family, it
can allow us to see what kind of things people around the world are doing, it can even give us
warnings a head of time of upcoming events. But social media can also be a very dark and scary
place even I don't want to get on it sometimes. Social media makes teens insecure about themselves
about things like wanting to fit in, their looks/body, and in some cases it makes them feel unwanted.
And this happens to everyone today in some type of way.
               Although social media can make teens insecure it can also help teens face those insecurities. "When a person is insecure in their relationship and feeling down about their partner, they take to
Facebook for some kind of validation." This is how some people use social media to make them feel better about themselves they use it as a outlet to let people know whats going on in their lives at that moment. But this can also be a bad thing for those people that do it too much "We all know at least one person who turns to social media to constantly do one thing: complain about EVERYTHING imaginable. Whether it’s about an ex or school or just life in general, these people don’t hesitate to make a Facebook status or tweet about it… like maybe five times a day." This is a bad thing because they feel more comfortable writing about their feelings in the public rather tan face to a real person where if its in the public there is more of  a chance that they will get judged and feel even more about themselves after seeing those comments.
               A lot of teenagers love clothes and love to get new ones, it makes them feel better about themselves, it makes them feel more wanted it, makes them feel special and pretty. That's the reason behind why girls wear make up. "Girls use clothes, accessories, and fashion to define themselves, make statements about their choice of peer group, and to establish their psychological identities." this shows one way that teens feel better about themselves or make them feel better about themselves. its also one of the things that teens are the most insecure about.  "Fifty-six percent of women revealed that they were dissatisfied with their overall appearance, and an astounding 89% of women wanted to lose weight." This goes to show that a large chunk of out teenage population is insecure about their body.
               In some cases teenagers feel as if they are unwanted, and feel like they are invisible to everyone else. This is probably the worst that it can get. "i am at the point that i hate myself and anybody else and I feel like theres no hope and i thought that you might be able to give me some advise since you are good at stuff like that.  my mom is always screeming at me and her and my dad don’t love me and i don’t know why cause i try to do everything i can and i’m not a bad kid but they always tell me i am in fact my mom today sayd that i am one of gods biggest mistakes cause i slept threw my alarm and missed my bus. my dad doesnt ever hit me but he is always calling me an idiot or a retard or stuff like that. anyway at school i don’t really have very many friends cause i’m to shy i guess. i don’t know what to do cause i am just wanting to give up even trying anymore cause why should i? have you ever felt like nobody cares if you just disappear cause i really feel that way even with my parents.” this is what happened to one of the teenagers that feels unwanted and as you can see it is a very dark and scary state to be in and this is why I also think that this is the worse case of insecurities because no one especially teens should feel this way about themselves. They should not hate themselves.
              So as you can see social media can make teens very insecure, and these are just some of the things that they get insecure about (Looks/body, feeling unwanted, wanting to fit in) So with social media being a big part of todays society it has increased the amount of insecurities and if it continues to grow at this rate it will get out of hand and it will maybe to late to stop. And a way that we can stop it is by simply giving support at and encouragement at a young age.
              
           

4th quarter portfolio

http://duncanclark4thquarterportfolio.weebly.com/

Merchant Of Venice Final

           Love is one of the most powerful words known to man. Greed is one of the biggest sins known to man. These two words can make someone who they really are and bring out their true personalitys. The book " The Merchant Of Venice " by Shakespear is all about that. The difference between Love and Greed, how they are connetcted, and what it can do to people. And That is exactly what I am going to talk about.
           Love and Greed are two very different things. They are almost polar opposites. One represents happiness and the other one represents greed. In this book one of the main characters Shylock is the face of greed he was so greedy that he didnt even care how he looks as long as he got what he wants. For example "if every ducat in your six thousand ducats had six parts and every part were a ducat, I would not take the money. I want my bond!"pg. 159. What was happening in that scene was they were in the court room andShylock wouldnt take the money from Bassanio even though he had doubled the amount that is owed because all that he wanted was a pound of Antonios flesh. And Antonio the other main character is the face of love. No matter what happened to Antonio he just accepted it and did not complain at all. For example "very little. Ihave braced my self and i'm well prepared." this is an example of how he has never complained even when shylock so desperatly wanted a peice of his very flesh.
           Even though Love and Greed are opposites they can still be connected, Because there is no love without greed just like there is no super hero with no super villian. it can also be connected because with love you love that person or thing so much that you dont want to let go and with greed you love that thing so much that you dont want to let go. For example "In Belmont is a lady richly left, And she is fair, fairer than the word, Of wondrous virtues." This is what Bassanio said to Antonio when he was telling him why he needs the money. And it shows that love and greed are connected because bassanio loves that girl and he loves that girl so much that he is willing to do anything to at least get a chance to get with her which he ended up doing. Another example is  "An honest exceeding poor man." this also proves that love and greed are connected because it shows that he loves exceeding but he hates being poor so he would do anything which is greedy to become rich.
          Love and Greed have a tremendos effect on how people precieve of you. for example "This is not an answer, you callous man, to make excuses for your cruelty!(Bassanio) I am not obliged to please you with my answers!(Shylock)" This shows the effect that greed has on people because Shylock is about as greedy as they get. He will litterally jump in front of a train if it ment getting what he wants. And that persona makes him seem old and cruel and now no one really likes him anymore because of that. An example of how love affects you is " You know all my wealth is tied up in cargoes. Ihavent the ready cash, or things to sell, to raise the money now. so go and see what my credit is good for in venice. " this shows that Antonio is a very kind and loving in person because even though he was very depressed at that time he still gave plenty of money to his friend Bassanio. And because of his kind and loving nature he ended up haveing a happy life after it all he dosent have that much money but that dosent bother him by his thankfullness and happiness.
            " The Merchant of  Venice " book is all about love and greed and how greed never wins. And how it can affect the way that people look at you and how it is different yet similar, and this book also goes on about how if you choose Love how you will be treated and how if you choose Greed how you will be treated. and pretty much its saying what goes around comes around. But also Love is the passageway to happiness and with Greed you will never succeed. And we should always know the burden that greed can have on you and the praise that love can have on you.