36 Words

1) King loses millions, peasant buys island

2) War over, private given new arm

3) Spaceship is recovered, aliens are welcomed

4) Bears win, Jay cutler's foot reconstructed

5) New evidence found, innocent man released

6) Boy extinguishes fire, firework warehouse saved

John Proctor... Hero Or Stooge

I believe John Proctor is a hero. He used Puritan ideas and values to make the decision to kill himself. John Proctor didn't allow himself to be hanged just to save others, although that was a large part of his decision. He also "killed himself" because he wanted to follow the puritan ideals that each and every person he has come to know and love live by. He decided to do right in the eyes of the people he was saving and god. This makes John Proctor a hero instead of a stooge because he was handed a set of morals and followed them. He was not being stupid or naive, he was sacrificing one life and being honest in order to stick to the teachings of the bible and to save others.

Arrivals... There Goes The Neighborhood

About a week ago a large boat of strange looking men and women beached near the ocean. The strange people have a much different face to mine and their skin is a completely different shade of brown. We call these newcomers white people. When the white people landed on our shore most of the younger less white people ran to hide in the their homes. I turned to run until our wisest adult demanded to meet the white people's leader. The few that ventured off of the large vessel stared at the adult with quizzical looks. It was obvious these people did speak our language. They wore much more clothes than my people. One even wore a shiny chest plate with a golden cross hanging from his neck. We identified this man as their leader. One brave elder woman gestured for the white men to follow us to our homes. As we led the newcomers to our camp they looked at each tree and animal as if it were a strange fish trapped in a pond. At home the elders and newcomers gestured awkwardly for a few minutes until the white men went back to their boat. 

A few days later the white men returned with bags on their back. The amount of shiny objects they had was enough to leave me in awe. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. Every man in this white group held sharp shiny spears they called swords. Their leader pointed in the direction south of hear and explained to our leader (as best he could) that they were settling. Our leader wanted to object, but each of our people were too terrified  by the white people's odd technology. 

Just yesterday the white men came to our camp bearing more odd crosses. They even brought another white man wearing all black clothing with a white collar. They drew the attention of our people with more shiny objects. I am beginning to realize that these new people are very invested in the objects that they own. There armor clad leader explained in more awkward gestures that this cross was a big part of their life. It seemed almost as if the white people are trying to bring their way of life to our people. 

Later that night our elders explained to every person over the age of ten and explained that these newcomers will probably bring much change to our lives. They will bring many new ideas and objects to our life, whether they are good or bad. But our people cannot be changed by these ideas. We must stick to our way of life so that our children can live well and keep our culture alive. 

Me

My name is Owen Speth and I am 15 years old (almost 16). I play lacrosse at Whitney Young and plan on joining other clubs at Whitney like Model UN. My favorite subject is US History, and sometimes english class, if I don’t have to write too much.

I would describe myself as a generally nice person. I try to make friends with everyone I meet and I love to make people laugh. I can be pretty sarcastic and I enjoy cracking jokes with my friends.

This summer I had a lot of fun. I played lacrosse on a travel team and spent time with my friends. I went to a lot of movies, my favorite of which was Guardians of The Galaxy. I also went to Lollapalooza and North Coast music festivals. My favorite part of the summer was going to Colorado where I found out that I love hiking mountains.

I am excited for sophomore year. I hope to do very well in school, because I usually have trouble getting good grades. I am also excited for chemistry class because it is fun to watch things blow up. I hope to have a great time in English class and all throughout school.