I Believe Speech

“Tell the Truth”

By: Anthony Gonzalez 

Have you ever told a lie that has completely backfired on you? Well that has happened to me before. After that situation I believe that you should always tell them truth right away. Cause if you don't tell the truth right away it can really backfire on you, and you can some consequences

I was looking for an excuse for not doing the homework for the that, but I finally came up with the perfect one. It was that my internet was not working, when it worked I was completely surprised. It worked so good that I had decided to use that same excuse a second time, but this time I wasn’t so lucky. This time the teacher, had asked for my parents phone numbers so she can contact them and talk to them about the “internet problems”.

The class that I didn't do the homework for was my accelerated ELA class. The teacher of the ELA class was Mrs. Larson. This event had happened to me during the 7th Grade. It had occurred like about December or January.

This had happened for one reason and for one reason only. The reason why I lied saying my internet wasn't working because of the fact that I never understood the homework. But instead of asking questions I just lied saying that my internet was down.

With this experience I learned one really important lesson. That lesson is that to just tell the truth right away, because if you don’t the lie can really backfire on you, and you can get some serious consequences. After this had happened it really changed. It had resulted in me usually not lying about why I did not do my homework. It also resulted in me not wanting to tell lies about why I didn't do my homework, and just tell the truth right away. I will apply this into the future, by just doing my homework.

So after everything I learned that if you should just tell the truth right away, or if you are going to lie make sure that it does not backfire on you.

Trash

So far throughout the book “Trash” by Andy Mulligan, a lot has happened. Currently the boys are on the run, and they are escaping the police. They have been on the run since the day after the left the prison, because the officials from the prison have contacted the Behala police. Before leaving Behala they only have a little bit of time in order to get the rest of Rat’s money. After a while of being on the run the decide to  buy Gabriel Olondriz bible from a police officer, but in order for them to buy it of the police they need to pay $20,000 pesos. In order to get that money Rat goes back to Behala and steals from Father Juilliard. Right after stealing the money Rat goes back to Raphael and Gardo, right away Gardo goes to meet with the police officer to get the back. After Gardo g to the Bible and gets up to leave he realizes that it's a trap and runs away. The next day the police officers track them down to the place they were staying at and the chase starts up again.

After finishing reading the past few chapters I have a few questions. One of the questions is why Rat is so far away from his home country. I know that he says that he left because he was sent away, but he really never explains why he was sent to Behala. Another question that I have is that are ever going to actually find the money. I have this question because they have been looking for the money for a few chapters now, and I'm kind of starting to doubt whether they are going to find it. My final question is that if they do find the money what are they going to do with that money.

While reading the book I have liked characters and hated characters, and the character that I hate the most is Senator Zapatana. The reason why he is chapter that I hate the most is for mainly one reason. That reason is because he basically stole money from his country, by keeping the money that other countries gave to them all to himself. Currently my favorite character is Raphael. The reason why Raphael is my favorite character because of the fact that he seems like a really down to earth kid, and kind of acts like any normal kids would act.

Life is Beautiful

There are many differences between the Movie Life is Beautiful and Night. But the main difference between the two is the fact that Life is Beautiful had a bit of humor in it, while the book Night had no humor in it whatsoever. An example of humor in the movie is in the beginning when the brakes stop working, and the they can’t stop it. Another example of humor is when Guido meets Dora for the first, when she falls on him and he sucks the wasp poison out of her. The final example would have to be when Guido dresses up as the inspector and he shows the kids his belly button.

Even though there are a few differences there are also a few similarities. One of the biggest similarities are the father and son relationships. One way that the father and son relationships were similar is that in both, one was helping the other survive. An example of this is shown in Life is Beautiful when Guido convinces his son to go with the other German children. An example in Night is when Elie helps his father learn how to march, so his father is not killed. Another way that both relationships were similar is the fact that both dads would rather die themselves than see their sons die. Another similarity between Life is Beautiful and Night is the fact that both fathers die, while the sons stay alive. So those are just some of the similarities between the movie Life is Beautiful and the book Night.

Throughout the movie it is shown that life is beautiful, even through times of need and suffering. One of the most important examples of how Life is Beautiful is how Guido convinces his son that it's all just a game in order for him not to be scared. Another example is that when Guido is being taken to his death, he still plays along with the game. A final example of how life is Beautiful is when Guido and Joshua find the intercom, and they call her letting them know that Joshua was still alive.

An extreme difference between the movie, Life is Beautiful, and the book, Night, is the mood. Throughout the movie Life is Beautiful there is happy and humorous mood to it, while in the book Night it is completely different. An example how the mood’s are different because in the movie Guido makes it fun for his son making him think it was all just a game, while in the book there is just a bunch of death and torture. A final way that the mood’s are different is the fact that at the end Joshua has a happy ending reuniting with his mother, but in the book Weisel is basically all alone because most of his family has died.

Third Quarter Reflection

The area that I feel that I have made the most improvements in this quarter has to be using the TIQA format. The first improvement that I had made is that now I understand it a bit more, because I would always struggle with it not knowing how to use it, but now that I understand it a bit more it has become easier to use. Another area that I have improved in is how much I use it. Before the third quarter I would rarely ever use the TIQA format, but now I use it a lot more often. The third improvement that I made is how I use the TIQA format, because before the third quarter I always felt that I ways doing it wrong, but now I know I am using the TIQA format the right way. But even though I have made a lot of improvements using the TIQA format I feel that I still have a long way to go until I completely master using the TIQA format.

Something that I have accomplished this quarter that I am proud of is that I beat my twenty Book Challenge. There are many reasons why I am proud of that, but the most important reason is because I rarely ever read and this Quarter I have read a lot of books. Another reason why I am proud of this accomplishment is because last year when I was doing this challenge I only read like five books. The final reason why I am proud of this accomplishment is the fact that because I have read so many books this quarter my vocabulary has improved. So those are the reasons why I am proud of beating the twenty book challenge.

The most challenging part of the third quarter for me would have to be the Butterfly project. The reason why it was the most challenging part of the Third Quarter was because I'm not really used to doing project’s like those. Another thing that had made the Butterfly Project the most challenging part of the third quarter, for me, would have to be presenting the Butterfly to the whole glass. That’s what made is the most challenging for me because I don't really like doing class presentations, because I get extremely nervous while doing them. So that was the most challenging part of the third quarter for me.

Night Blog

Throughout the book Wiesel changes a lot, but the biggest change is seen with his religion. In the beginning of the book Wiesel states, “I believed profoundly. During the day I studied the Talmud, and at night I ran to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the temple. One day I asked my father to find me a master to guide me in my studies cabbala.” (1) So Wiesel was so extremely pious that not only did he study two different religions, but he also begged his father to find him a master to guide him in his studies of the Cabala. So that just goes to show how pious Wiesel was at the beginning of the book. But even though he is extremely pious in the beginning it does not stay that way for the whole book because Wiesel states, “Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my god and my soul…”. (33) So this was the start of Wiesel’s “hatred” of god, because all of the jewish people are suffering while god is just watching it happen, doing nothing. 

Another transformation that Wiesel goes through is his relationship with his father. This is stated in, ““My father was a cultured man, rather unsentimental. He rarely displayed his feelings, not even within his family, and was more involved with the welfare of others than with that of his own kin”(2). This shows that before everything had happened they really did not have a good relationship, due to the fact that he never really showed emotion. But even though they did not have a really good relationship in the beginning of the book, it does not stay that way. Later on in the book, “They said that we were sick, that we would die soon, and that it would be a waste of food ...I Can't Go on … I gave him what was left of my soup” (102).This shows how could of a relationship they had because even though his father was dying, he still gave him part of his rations.

So as you can see Weisel had went through many major changes, during his suffering. He went from being an extremely pious boy to a broken man. But even though he is broken he also got stronger, all of the hardships that he had gone through those times had just made him stronger. 

Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York: Bansom Edition, 1960. Print

Butterfly Poem

"Terezin" by Hanuš Hachenburg

“That bit of filth in dirty walls,
And all around barbed wire,
And 30,000 souls who sleep
Who once will wake
And once will see
Their own blood spilled.

I was once a little child,
Three years ago.
That child who longed for other worlds.
But now I am no more a child
For I have learned to hate.
I am a grown-up person now,
I have known fear.
Bloody words and a dead day then,

That’s something different than bogie men!

But anyway, I still believe I only sleep today,
That I’ll wake up, a child again, and start to laugh and play.
I’ll go back to childhood sweet like a briar rose,
Like a bell which wakes us from a dream,
Like a mother with an ailing child
Loves him with woman’s love.
How tragic, then, is youth which lives
With enemies, with gallows ropes,
How tragic, then, for children on your lap
To say: this for the good, that for the bad.

Somewhere, far away out there, childhood sweetly sleeps,
Along that path among the trees,
There o’er that house
Which was once my pride and joy.
There my mother gave me birth into this world
So I could weep . . .

In the flame of candles by my bed, I sleep
And once perhaps I’ll understand
That I was such a little thing,
As little as this song.

These 30,000 souls who sleep
Among the trees will wake,
Open an eye
And because they see
A lot

They’ll fall asleep again. . .”

I commented on: Lazar's Blog, Jesse's Blog, Kezia's Blog, Julian's Blog, Antwone's Blog

Berlin Memorial Activity

During this activity I learned a lot of this things, one of those things was that the Jewish people had suffered a lot. One of those many things was that one day you could to work and might never be seen again. Just imagine one day you can go to work, and then your children will never see you again. Another thing that I had learned during this activity was that sometimes Jews would have to do forced labor, so basically they were like slaves. One last thing that I learned was that on any piece of clothing they had the Star of David sewn on it. So as you can tell there were really strict rules set against the Jewish people.

There might be tons of reasons why the monument was built, but there is one reason why I think that it was built. I think that the monument was built in order to honor those who were killed in the Holocaust. So they can honor the Jewish people, the homosexuals, and the people who would disagree with the believes of the Nazis. So they can never forgot the complete wrong that had happened during the Holocaust.

As the years would go by they would keep adding restrictions. Something that I had noticed about the  restrictions was that at first they were extremely specific, but as the years went by they would be kind of random. An example would be that in the early 1930's the Jews were banned from going to beaches, but on in 1942 they were not allowed to buy milk. Another thing that I had notice was that they would slowly add more restrictions, instead of adding them all at once. The reason for this might be that the Nazi's did not want the Jewish people to revolt.


With all of  the restrictions they had a lot of them would have been hard to follow. But in my opinion the restriction that would have been the hardest for me to follow would have to be the restriction that would not let the Jewish people have pets. The reason for this would have to end up the hardest one for me because I absolutely love animals. Another thing that would be hard thing for me is that if you did have a pet and you were Jewish then, they would either kill or take away the pet.

2nd Quarter Reflection

Throughout the second quarter I have made some improvements. One thing that I feel that I have improved in during the second quarter, is the quality of my blogs. Now I feel that my punctuation has gotten better, because there aren't as many run on sentences now as there used to. Another thing that I feel that I have improved on is the way that I answer question because before I felt like I wouldn’t use complete sentences, but now I feel like I do use complete sentences when answering questions. The final thing that I have improved on during the quarter is my organization skills because before I wouldn't be able to find things and I would always be losing things, but that is no longer the case because now I can find things a lot easier and I no longer lose things. Even though I have improved in some areas, I still think that I can improve in a lot more things.


Throughout the second quarter I have been struggling with some things. The thing that I have struggled the most with is the fact that when we are doing things that require a quote I have trouble finding a good quote, because when I do find a good quote I feel like there are better quotes to support my topic. Another thing that I have struggled with throughout the second quarter is time management. I struggle with time management because I don't manage it wisely, so I don't have enough time to do my homework that same day. The result of this is that I either do the homework in a rush the next morning, or I don't do it all. With these in mind, my goal for next quarter is to improve on these.

Something that I have accomplished since the new year is that I have done good on tests. A test that I have done good on is my math, because I ended up getting a 3 on it. Another test that I did good on, was the final science test of the quarter. I had gotten a 3 on it. The final test I had did good on was the ELA test, with the vocab test I had gotten zero wrong and on the roots I got 3 wrong. So even though I did good on these test I can still do better

Book Talk

Book: The Phoenix Files Arrival 

Author: Chris Morphew

Genres: Action/Science Fiction  

After his parents divorce Luke and his mother move to Phoenix, a town that is in the middle of no where. When they arrive they find out that it is a strange town. There are no cars, no phones, or even internet. Eventually it is kind of a paradise, but good things never last. While in his room he finds a flash drive with the initials J.B. During the next day at school they find a girl a matching flash driven, but with the initials L.H. Then after Peter, Luke's friend, looks the files they find out that the world will be ending in 100 days, and they are the only ones that can save it.

The book was absolutely great. The reason that I liked the book so much, was because of how the author wrote it. There was just such great sequence throughout the whole book. I liked it so much that. I could not stop reading it. The thing I will remember the most of the book will be, the moment that they find out that the world will end in 100 days. I would recommend this to everyone, even if they don't like adventure or science fiction books, because of how good this book was.