Night blog

            In the book Night by Elie Wiesel, Elie changes from being pious to then having very little faith in God.  A quote early on in the book gives the reader a understanding on how pious Elie really was, "During the day I studied the Talmud, and at night I ran to the synagogue to weep over the the destruction of the Temple." (Wiesel 1) this quote shows Elie would do nothing but study the Talmud and then cry over the destruction of a church,  the "Talmud" is basically the bible and Elie studies it everyday.  Another quote I found to prove that Elie was pious was "One day I asked my father to find me a master to guide me in my studies of the cabbala" This quote shows that Elie was ready to learn more about the Talmud and cabbala (the ancient Jewish tradition of mystical interpretation of the Bible,) but Elie has changed very much throughout his time in the concentration camps.

            Elie changed faithfully,  "Where is God's mercy? Where's God? How can I believe, how can anyone believe in this God of Mercy?" (Wiesel 76) this quote shows how Elie's perspective on God is.  Elie is losing faith in God because he feels as if God created these men to then make these camps to kill others.  Another quote I found while reading was "I cried because because something inside me felt the need to cry. That was all I knew. 'Why do you pray?' he asked after a moment. Why did I pray? Strange question. Why did I live? Why did I breathe? 'I don't know," I told him, even more troubled and ill at ease. "I don't know.'", on the other hand this quote represents Elie's faith in God, he still hasn't lost all of his faith but Elie will never go on to be how pious when he was is the beginning of book. Where is God's mercy? Where's God? How can I believe, how can anyone believe in this God of Mercy?

            Elie has also changed his father-son bond with his father. In the beginning of the book Elie has a great relationship with his father, "the moment when I left my mother. There was no time to think, and I already felt my father's hand press against mine: we were alone."  this quote shows their bond when the father grips onto Elie to ensure that nothing would happen to Elie and so to keep Elie safe in his hands. Later in the book Elie and his father's bond grew weaker, "My father groaned once more, I heard: 'Eliezer... I could see that he was still breathing—in gasps. I didn't move. When I came down from my bunk after roll call, I could see his lips trembling; he was murmuring something."  Elie just was leaning over his father just watching his father die and not at least hug his father, Elie just fell asleep without saying anything to his dying father.

Butterfly Project

I am a Jew and will be a Jew forever. 

Even if I should die from hunger, 

never will I submit.

I will always fight for my people, 

on my honor. 

I will never be ashamed of them, 

I give my word.

I am proud of my people, 

how dignified they are. 

Even though I am suppressed, 

I will always come back to life.

 

- Franta Bass

Berlin Memorial Activity

While talking about the holocaust, the nazi party, and world war 2.  I learned a lot of things such as the reason why Adolf Hitler wanted to kill the Jews, I also learned that Hitler shot himself because he didn't want to be caught and killed.  I think the Berlin monument was built to remember those people that were killed for no reason, and to show love towards the families of those who were put in concentration camps.  As the years kept going on, the laws started targeting more and more Jews, laws kept restricting Jews from doing things and they couldn’t have/ possess certain items.  I would have a hard time dealing with being deported to Auschwitz because people there had a hard time.

Revision of 2nd Quarter of 8th Grade

The area I improved the most on was the blogs I think.  I used to not try blogging because it got so boring at times, but now I write about stuff I want to and I write even more so I accelerated with the blogs.  My favorite book of the 2nd quarter was Solar System: Facts and Exploration, I liked this book because I really enjoy reading and learning about space and the solar system.

Something I’m proud of since the new year was that I started to read way more than before, before I wouldn't read one page because I found no topics I was interested in.  I know it's not that great of a accomplishment,  but I'll start to read more on what I want to learn and what I'm interested in.

One thing that I had trouble completing were my IXLs,  I didn’t really do my IXLs because they bored me and some of them were very hard to finish, the thing I did to complete them all was go to my room and do nothing but IXL until I finished them all.  I started to learn about the holocaust and it's already interesting to me, there's so many facts and so much to learn about, I really like history.

Book Talk

Book Talk

Book: The Solar System: Facts and Exploration
Author: Gregory L. Vogt
Genre: non-fiction
Summary: The book The Solar System: Facts and Exploration by Gregory L. Vogt is about facts and the history on the studies of our solar system.  The setting of this book is the solar system.  The mood I had reading this book was interesting, it made me want to discover and learn more about the solar system. I think the theme is that the author wants to inform the reader of facts and the history on the solar system.

Review

I liked the book because I find space itself fascinating,  it makes me wonder about the things we humans have not discovered yet.  It gives me the urge to go and explore space.  I remember the Apollo Missions facts in the book the most because I want to learn more about the moon, I also want to travel to the moon one day.  I would recommend this book to those children that want to have a career in space or just to learn about space.  Well you don't have to get the book, but if you want to learn a ton of facts about the solar system, you should go and read this book.

Investigative Journalism - Deportation

            Deportation is a very serious matter, it can take any family member/friend away from you and you won’t be able to see them unless you cross into their country.    Deportation is an ancient practice, one of the earliest stories of deportation was about Khosrau I, Sassanid King of Persia, he deported 292,000 citizens, slaves, and conquered people to the new city of Ctesiphon in 542 C.E.  All countries around the world reserve the right to deport people without right of abode, even those citizens  who are longtime residents and/or have permanent residency.

            An example about deportation is from Donald Trump, he said this when he was interviewed about criminal illegal immigrants, “What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, where a lot of these people, probably 2 million, it could be even 3 million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate”.  This quote helps because it gives his point of view of what Donald Trump thinks about those criminal immigrants, deportation is happening everywhere but mostly in the United States with president-elect Trump wanting to deport all of the gang bangers and criminals.

            Sergio Martinez an immigrant from Mexico says this when he thinks of Trump becoming the presidential the United States, “I still cannot believe it. Sometimes, I'm like, 'No, there's no way.' Just waiting for something. But no, it's real.”  Sergio Martinez has a temporary permission to stay and work in the U.S. under a program for children of undocumented immigrants, but Sergio fears that he could be deported under the presidency of Donald Trump.  This quote gives the reader information that most undocumented immigrants are fearing for their lives with Donald Trump becoming president, they don't want to be deported to their country and be far from family and friends

Nonfiction Reader Response

1) Lately I've been this book called Sammy Sosa by Arlene Molzahn.  This book is a biography of the well known baseball player Sammy Sosa.  This book gives a brief history of Sammy's career, Sammy Sosa grew up in a small town in the Dominican Republic and found the sport of baseball through a wealthy man that came to the Dominican Republic to build a factory and sell shoes.  Sammy was on many teams such as the Texas Ranger, the Chicago White Sox, and most famously; the Chicago Cubs.  Sammy Sosa had a wonderful career and was adored by many baseball fans around the world.

2) "Sammy had another slow start in 1998. But he soon recovered.  Sammy hit 20 home runs during the month of June.  This number was a record for the most home runs in one month". I find this passage very interesting because it's gives the reader a idea on how good of a baseball player Sammy Sosa was and why he was loved by many fans around the world.

3) Some things that I learned while reading Sammy Sosa by Arlene Molzahn was when Sammy was on the Texas Rangers, I've already known that Sammy was on the Chicago White Sox then later trade to the Chicago Cubs but I've never known that Sammy once played for the Texas Rangers.  Another thing I've learned and I'll never forget is that Sammy scored a record of 20 home runs in one month, that's impressive.  One last thing I've learned is that Sammy wasn't introduced to baseball until one random man taught Sammy and saw potential in Sammy, Sammy then grew up to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame!