Comments Quarter 4 Week 2

Jack C- Political Article Response

Laura- political response

Political Post

A 14 year old girl has alleged that she was raped in a boy’s bathroom at a high school in Montgomery County, Maryland (click here to view this article) . The alleged rapists were two illegal aliens, age 17 and 18.  This incident has triggered political discussions because it deals with two politically-sensitive issues including issues related to immigration and sanctuary policies and the issue of safety and protection of students on school campuses.  Montgomery County has adopted sanctuary policies.  What does this mean?  The sanctuary policies result in the County refusing to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a Federal Agency of our Government, in turning over accused illegal alien criminals to ICE.  The County acts as a “sanctuary” to protect those accused of crimes.  In 2016, Montgomery County refused to turn over 63 accused illegal alien criminals to ICE.  An analogy would be a situation in which a teacher believes that smoking marijuana should not be criminal.  So, he decides that his classroom will be a sanctuary, and that anyone who smokes in his classroom will be “safe”.  Then, if the principal shows up at the door of the classroom and asks to drug test students, the teacher refuses to release those students, because his class is a sanctuary. This sounds ridiculous, because it is. If this is allowed to continue, what would prevent any Parish/County, City, or State from deciding that certain laws are unfair or unreasonable, and decide to “protect” people who have broken those laws?  

What is also disturbing about what happened in Montgomery County is that it is not being reported by the major news networks.  Some may say that is because it is just an accusation, and a crime has not been proven.  However, the news reports on accusations every day.  I watched an ESPN documentary about allegations of rape against the Duke Lacrosse Team which later proved to be untrue.  The Rolling Stones published a story about an alleged rape at the University of Virginia. The Daily Caller recently published a story about 8 rape “hoax” stories (click here to view this article), and there are many other examples. What does it say about our media that it will report allegations against our own Citizens, but not those allegations against a minor by illegal aliens? I chose this topic because I have heard this story discussed, and I wanted to understand why it was getting attention, and why it involved political issues.

Comments Quarter 4 Week 1

Charles- Free Post 3/20

Maia- Learning Reflection

Learning Reflection

This first year of high school has had its ups and downs. I have performed very well on some assessments and I have performed very poorly on others. These past three quarters had helped me to learn how to study for each subject. I have learned many different studying techniques that are especially helpful in each of my subjects. Although high school is different from middle school, I think that I have adapted to the challenges of high school.

In English, I have become a stronger reader. I understand how to analyze a writing in a way that I hadn't thought of before. When it comes to writing, I think that I have improved greatly over the course of my freshman year. In the beginning of the year I couldn't support any of my claims with the depth that was necessary. I learned how to  elaborate on all of my arguments. I also know how to use techniques like better word choice and vivid imagery. I think the main thing that I have improved on this year in English is my writing ability.

Softball

This weekend, Episcopal held their annual softball tournament. We played three games against McGehee, Acension Episcopal, and Slaughter Charter. The most interesting game that we played was the last game against Slaughter Charter. Our first game of the season was against this team, but in that game, we were always leading. In this game we had a rough start because we were losing by three going into the second inning. We did really well later in the game, ultimately winning by eight.

This was one of my best hitting games of the season. The starting pitcher for Slaughter is slow enough for me to ensure whether the pitch is going to be a strike or a ball and fast enough for my hit to go pretty far. I hit two singles, one of which resulted in an RBI. Part way through the game, Slaughter switched pitchers and I think I ended up striking out at both of my at bats because this pitcher was faster. Overall,  I was happy with my hitting in this game because I lack the experience of other hitters on the team which usually causes me to not hit as well as others.

Comments Quarter 3 Week 8

Lathan- Song

Makenzie- Legally Blind Giraffe or Mak??

Comments Quarter 3 Week 7

Danny- Free Post

Hayley- Analyze a song

Analyzing a Song

The song I chose to analyze was Hello by Adele. Some of the literary devices that I found were alliterations, consonance, assonance, hyperbole, and personification. Examples of assonance and consonance include "go over" and "that the both of us" respectively. These particular examples of literary devices all seem to create a Euphony, which gives the song a better flow than if the letters weren't as smooth. An example of an alliteration in Adele's Hello is "when we were." This also creates a soothingness to the song.

Exaggeration is used in this song which is shown in the form of many different literary techniques. An example of personification is "running out of time."Because we know that time cannot literary run, this word choice is used for dramatic effect. Another example of exaggeration and dramatic effects is the hyperbole "world fell at our feet" because, of course, the world did not literally fall at their feet. Hello uses many literary techniques which enhance the sophistication of the song and it helps the listener to interpret the meaning of the song.


LINK TO THE LYRICS