Observing Surroundings

    I take the train home every day.  Sometimes I’ll take the bus. But that’s not important. What’s important is what can happen in the time it takes for the train to stop. 
    
    I was listening to my headphones when the train lurched to a stop and a group of teenagers with pants too short and too saggy loaded onto the train. Although the train was jam packed they managed to push everyone (or maybe it was by choice) as far away as possible. I heightened the volume of my music but even The All American Rejects couldn’t drown out the sound of the boys screaming and shouting that they were taking over the “f______ing train”. I wasn’t scared of them, but I could see that some of the younger kids in the train were. It wasn’t fair that they could just waltz in and “take over” the train.
    
    It wasn’t right either, people getting home from work didn’t want to hear their hyena-sounding laughs or their nonstop swearing. I think the cause of ignorant kids like this is their lack of discipline and the effect is that they lose respect for others and become self-indulgent. I think what needs to happen is that schools and parents must explain to their kids that respect goes both ways. No child should be afraid of a teenager, I know when I was younger I looked up to them. That’s the way it should be.

Interview

                                                   
Asma Begum has been a very dedicated member of the “Green Team” at public school MS51, and has been a member for 3 years now.

What exactly does the Green Team do?
We organize all of our schools garbage into 3 groups: anything recyclable, trash and bottles and cans which can also be reused.

Do you think you help the Green Team helps the world in any way?
Not exactly, no, but it does help the school in many ways. It keeps my school organized, clean and more appealing to incoming students.

Why else do you think the school should be kept clean?
If this school is dirty and messy it will become hard for students to concentrate, and will make them want to come there less. Nobody wants to have to spend 6 hours in an unsanitary place, where it smells of garbage and bugs are crawling around. It’s disgusting.

Do you think there’s any way for the Green Team to help our environment more?
Yes if all schools had some sort of green team then slowly all other businesses and buildings would hopefully pick up on it too. Then we would have less global warming because we would be reusing and recycling more. Many of the worlds problems would be resolved.

What do you think will happen if we continue to ignore global warming?
It will be harmful for everyone, there won’t be a safe place to stay. People can die of diseases because sicknesses spread from bacteria, and pollution holds a lot of bacteria.

Shadow Kiss

    I am currently reading the book Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead. The book is about one half-vampire, Rose and how she struggles between whether to follow the future that's been set out for her, protecting her best friend from evil vampires or to follow her heart. I really like how although this book seems cheesy at first, the actual themes and concepts in this book are very serious and realistic. 

    I loved that the main theme of this book in particular was about Rose fighting to keep her sanity. After witnessing several murders, and having to see very gory and horrible things to save her and her friends lives Rose begins to see things. I enjoyed reading this especially because I think hallucinations are so scary, and I thought that the way the author described Rose going crazy  was very accurate to how I would imagine it to be in real life. She goes through multiple breakdowns, denial, depression, angry outbursts and isolates herself from others. She tries to keep it all a secret. 

    The way that the author shows Rose's personality and how she matures throughout the book series feels very real, and is nicely paced-- not boring, but not rushed either. I also loved that Mead keeps the books interesting by keeping every door open, it lets me build many theories as to what's going to happen. I really like that the author gives Rose an obstacle in each book and that with each obstacle that she passes she turns into a better person. For example when her neglectful mom comes back to see her for the first time in years. Although Rose was very impatient and angry with her mother, by the end of the book they had come to a level of understanding and Rose had grown more mature because of it.

    In conclusion, I think that the author does a great job in keeping her books interesting and her characters very believable and that many of the concepts are exaggerated but still true to the world. I also like how there are many ideas Mead questions in her books like, how selfless and kind should one be? How far does "others before yourself" really go? When do you draw the line?  Should there even be one?

Hurricane Sandy

    I recently read the article, "Are Humans to Blame? Science Is Out" by Justin Gillis. The article was on scientists questioning themselves on whether or not humans are to blame for the disastrous hurricanes. Scientists are beginning to think that the global warming caused by pollution from the people has been affecting the weather.

     I think that everyone blames themselves for what happened during Hurricane Sandy, or at least thinks that if they had done something differently then more people could have been saved. This article only further proves this. Added to the government who think that they didn't provide enough information allowing for people to think the situation wasn't as bad as it truly was, ordinary people who blame themselves for the deaths of others, scientists are now also arguing that they didn't put enough research into the hurricanes. Not only Sandy, but Irene too. A climate scientist by the name of Kerry A. Emanuel says, "My profession hasn't done its homework. I think there's going to be a ton of papers that come out of this, but it's going to take a couple of years."

    I also think that the article brings up a good point. No one has yet wondered, in all of this chaos, what the source of the hurricane could be. Hurricanes this bad aren't natural, it's not the way the world is supposed to be. Scientists are also warning that Sandy could just be the beginning, "And they emphasized that Hurricane Sandy, whatever its causes, should be seen as a foretaste of trouble to come as the seas rise faster, the risks of climate change accumulate and the political system fails to respond."

    In conclusion, I think that if there is another hurricane, that next time we should and will be more prepared, because everyone is learning from their mistakes. I also think that something has to be done in order to prevent global warming.