Some of you may ask yourself these questions: “Why does the book Because of Romek matter?” “why is it important?” “What’s a valuable takeaway from that book?” “How does it end?”. If you find yourself asking yourself these questions then it’s your lucky day buddy, because all your questions are going to be answered in this very blog post. So sit back, relax, and let’s get started.
Like I said in my many past blog posts i’m reading a book about the holocaust called Because of Romek. And if you ask me I say it matters a lot and it is very important. Why you may ask? Well i’m about to tell you that just be patient. This book demonstrates the holocaust in a jew’s point of view, and it’s quite frightening what the germans did to the jews during that time. This book is important because it shows how bad life was for the jews in Europe, and for me it lets me see how fortunate I am today. I for one am glad i didn’t have to experience the holocaust and i feel very bad for the people who had to endure such pain and turmoil. So why is it important? It teaches the reader about how bad the holocaust was, and it will educate them and these days education is very important. Anyway to sum things up, Because of Romek is a very valuable book. I think there are many valuable takeaways from this book. One moral that i’ve noticed while reading this book is that family is most important. The mother and the father try really hard to keep their children safe and alive, and the children do everything they can to help. In desperate times you always put family first. Another good takeaway is to have hope when things get dark. I’m sure they thought it probably would’ve been easier to just end it all but most had hope that the nazi’s will be vanquished and they will be free.
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As I said in my last post In my ELA class I am reading a book called Because of Romek, A Holocaust Survivor’s Memoir. It’s a very interesting and captivating book, I always end up wondering what will happen next. It is in perspective of a young boy named David, and him and his family struggle to get away and seek refuge from the infamous nazi party. There are many ups and downs in this book, so it will always keep you interested. One thing ive noticed while reading this book is that it has some connections with our current day. One example is prejudice on other people that are not like us. The germans sent millions of people to labor camps because they didn’t hold up to the “perfect Aryan Race”. Theres also prejudice and stereotyping and things like that in our present day, but it’s on a lower scale than back then. Another example is discrimination of other cultures. For some odd reason the human race can’t accept that people are different than us so as far back as history records we have always treated people differently for their skin color or religion or political view. Why? It beats me. In my ELA class i am currently reading a book called Because of Romek: A Holocaust Survivor’s Memoir, by David Faber. As you may tell from the title it’s about a young boy and his jewish family trying to make it in the holocaust. I am several chapters in and I am really enjoying it, it’s very suspenseful and sometimes sad and also frightening. The holocaust lasted from around 1933 to 1945, it was when the nazi’s treated jews and other groups (polish people, gypsies, african americans, homosexuals, etc) very poorly and unfairly by putting them in labor camps and concentration camps. Around 6 million jews were killed during this time, and pretty much all of them were innocent. It was truly a horrible time in history and it will be remembered forever. This links with my book because my book is about a jewish family escaping the nazis and the father gets put in a labor camp for a little but escapes soon after. It takes place in Poland, soon after the nazis took control of it. A lot of the things that happen in my book compare to real life historical events because it’s a memoir of a holocaust survivor so the author has experienced it for himself. I decided to choose homelessness in North Carolina for my community issue. I chose this because it's an important issue and it affects a lot of people. I also chose this topic because everytime I see a homeless person begging on the street I feel really sad and I would like to make a change. The largest numbers of homelessness comes from more urban and populated areas. With Mecklenburg at the top with 2,418 recorded homeless people and Wake coming in second with 1,098 recorded homeless people and Guilford in third with 949 recorded homeless people. this information was recorded in 2013. To help, you can donate to several foundations that are helping homeless people by giving them shelter, food, clothes, and helping them find jobs.
http://demography.cpc.unc.edu/2013/10/24/homelessness-in-north-carolina/ Pollution in our Community
Introduction Pollution is a large issue in the world today. The many gases factories release into the atmosphere are hurting our environment. Whether the effects of the pollution are visible or not they affect our air supply and the health of many. Wake County received a grade of “D” for ozone pollution. While the grade went up from a “F” to a “D” the air quality is still poor. Adding to the air pollution there are excessive amounts of carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides emissions in the air surrounding Wake County. There is also large amounts of pollution in our soil and water here in Wake County. Many water treatment plants dump over their allotment of wastewater and chemicals into water sources. While there are fines going along with these violations, they have not stopped the violations from continuing. Many creeks in Wake County have so much pollution and runoff in them, that it is not safe to eat the fish from them. Many people need to be made aware of pollution and its effects upon the environment. Though we cannot make large improvements, we can still help the cause. By cleaning up trash and debris in parks and rivers, we can better our environmental situation. The Issue The issue with pollution is affecting people worldwide. We specifically are the 142nd most polluted city in the nation. That might not seem like a huge problem, but considering the amount of cities in the United States, us being 142nd is pretty bad. The American Lung Association said that there were unhealthy levels of ozone pollution in the triangle. This is bad because it affects the air quality here, so people will be breathing in pollutants which can do severe damage to your lungs and airways. Things that cause our environment to get “sicker” are trash like plastics that get discarded poorly and float away into the air. Another thing that usually gets let go of are balloons that are filled with helium, which can hit something extremely hot or sharp, pop from compression and the remaining plastic float into bodies of water or just land on the ground and stay there for a very long amount of time, or the balloon becomes deflated and floating to the ground then to be eaten by an animal killing it by getting stuck in their throat or digestive tract. The reason I talk so much about plastics is because plastics can’t go away. See, plastics are made from a material that doesn’t naturally decompose, making the plastic object, whatever it may be, everlasting. Unless they are burned, which is also bad for the environment because while the plastic melts, it emits very strong and dangerous chemicals into the air, causing the air to slowly start to become unbreathable. This might be more of a minor problem, but it can still cause a great deal of slow, but sure destruction. The thing that I’m talking about is sediments.Some sediments are problems because they have a dangerous effect on things like water. For example Flint, Michigan has an ongoing problem with lead from old pipes contaminating the water that they use for sustenance. This is causing the people a lot of problems, like forcing most to move out of the vicinity of where the water flows to taps. “There have also been a lot of people who have been throwing trash into sewers making them completely filthy”.https://www.raleighnc.gov/environment/content/PWksStormwater/Articles/WaterPollution.html Solution By picking up trash, we create a better and cleaner environment. We are also reducing air and water pollution, which saves wildlife and makes our parks look good as new. Also, ultimately we are reducing climate change and global warming, even if it's only by a little bit. Picking up litter is not the only way we can save the planet. There are many ways to reduce pollution. A really successful way to reduce pollution is to conserve energy. You can do this by turning off lights, computers, and other electronics. Another way to reduce air pollution is to use energy efficient light bulbs and other electric appliances. Another good way is to rely on solar power rather fossil fuels. It’s very good for the environment and it’s cheaper. Not only does doing all of that reduce air pollution, it helps wildlife. over one hundred thousand sea mammals die each year because of water pollution, and those numbers are rising dramatically. We can help decline those numbers by cleaning up at your local beach, or cleaning up a lake. Even if you only clean up one small lake a little bit, it will really improve the aquatic life. To help out wildlife on the land, we can go around our local parks and look for any litter and dispose of it. Animals could eat it and get sick so this is really helping them out. Conclusion There are several ways that we can help our community, that will eventually clean our community and make it more desirable to live in. We personally can go and clean up a local park one day and pick up some trash. We can conserve energy by pledging to turn off lights at home, not leaving the water running and by taking some shorter showers. This helps us to not overuse water, and to keep our environment clean. By turning off lights you can conserve energy therefore not polluting the environment and requiring less pollution by energy providers. I also propose that we take some students out and pick up trash, or make the park really clean. This would eliminate some of the pollution that is in the park, and make it all clean. To help with this issue we propose the idea of going to a local park to clean up trash. We will go to a local park and clean up multiple bags of trash to make the park cleaner and more pleasant to look at and play in. Specifically at Laurel Hills park or Jaycee park, one with high foot traffic. To get all of the supplies we will buy some heavy duty lawn waste bags and several boxes of gloves to successfully and safely clean the park. We also will need several parents to volunteer to help being chaperones on the trip. The requirements of getting to volunteer are simple. Filling out some paperwork/permission forms to go to the parks, and some safety release forms, and release forms that the volunteers must fill out, but that is it. To get transportation we can go and get some money from the eighth grade fund, and or have each student bring in 5 dollars to pay for the bus. We would hope to do this on June sixth in the early afternoon or morning so the heat would not be too bad, and we can work easily into lunchtime. Some important info you may need and or want to know is that we already have someone willing to partner with us and help us to clean up the parks. They work for Raleigh Parks and Rec. and they have given us a lot of information on things we can do and are willing to partner with us. We may need some money from the eighth grade fund for this but that would be it, and it is a fairly simple project in terms of supplies. We only need trash bags, gloves and possibly trash spikes but that is it. And finally our goals for this project are to collect ten bags total of trash and waste we find in the parks. We want to make a noticable difference in how the parks look and how they feel when you go. All we want to do in this project is to make the parks more enjoyable and nice to look at for all of the families that go there so that everyone gets a pleasurable experience, and wants to come back. We want at least 40 volunteers to go along to maximize our trash pick up and our expanse we can cover. We hope to make this a wonderful project and one that will succeed and make our community fun and clean once more. I believe that even if you practice a lot at something, you still won’t be perfect. I play several instruments including the piano, viola, bass guitar, and others. The instrument i have been playing most is the piano. I have been playing piano for eight years under the same teacher. I have gotten really good at it, although i’m nowhere near perfect. That is because i keep advancing in songs.
The reason why you cannot be perfect by practicing is because the more you get better, the more you advance in the thing you’re practicing. For example, i have been playing the viola for about three years. I started by plucking two or three notes on the strings. Then during the summer i took private lessons and improved on my viola skills. Now i am in eighth grade and i am playing in the honors orchestra in my school, granted, i still hit many wrong notes. If i were to stay plucking two or three notes on a string i wouldn't be advancing or practicing. That is why even though you practice, you cannot be perfect. Another reason why practice doesn’t make perfect is because it is impossible to be perfect. We are all human beings and it’s normal to make mistakes. It is inhumane to be perfect. Yes, if you practice at something a lot you can get really good. You can nearly get perfect, but it is impossible to be perfect. For example, if you were perfect at piano, you could play literally every song ever created without any flaws, none whatsoever. That doesn’t sound natural, does it? But do not let that discourage you from pursuing something you want to do. Who knows, maybe you will become the first person to be perfect at something. |
Authormy name is sam and I am an 8th grader at martin middle school Archives
April 2018
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