Community service

The First time I went to community service I had to help adults with their Citizenship test. I pretty much tutored them on what kind of questions would be on the test and how they should answer them. I found this very challenging because my adult didn't speak english well so it took longer to complete the test then the others. I really liked tutoring because I was helping someone who really needed it.

The Second time I went to do community service it was much different. I had to help organize by filing papers by year and month. I thought I waz very helpful because there was a lot of papers dating from 2003 to the present.

The Third time was very similar to the second. I again helped them organize by making sure thier papers were filied correctly. I also had to come up with ideas for the Christmas party and made a flyer for what hours they are open. It was more relaxing this time because there were many volunteers so we were able to talk to them about their thoughts.

Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography

Amy Moore. "Adoptions bring joy to parents, security to kids. " McClatchy - Tribune Business News 20 November 2009 ABI/INFORM Dateline, ProQuest. Web. 20 Nov. 2009.

This passage is about a single mother who adopted many kids when she was divorced and had an empty nest. She loves having chaos and lots of children around which is why she adopts many children. They give them a place to call home. All her kids for the most part get along even at various ages. One important aspect is that the children do not know whether they are biological or adopted. The reason the mother likes this statement is because it shouldn’t matter. It doesn’t matter where they came from what is important is that they are there now.

Lancaster, C., and K. Nelson. "Where Attachment Meets Acculturation: Three Cases of International Adoption. " Family Journal 17.4 (2009): 302. Research Library, ProQuest. Web. 20 Nov. 2009.

This passage is about three families that have adopted a total of 8 children from china. In each of these children they have notices issues such as not being ready to survive, have fear and grief and attachment problems. They also have the issues of not being able to fit in at school and identity crisis. These issues are problems because not being able to identify who you are as a person is unhealthy. It causes the child to not know who their real family is and to question everything around them. The author concludes by stating these problems affect the children which is why adoption can never work.

Trisha Marczak. (13 November). 'He has a place to call home now'. McClatchy - Tribune Business News, pg 1-3. Retrieved November 20, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Dateline. (Document ID: 1900431571).

This article is about a family who knew they wanted to adopt a child. They knew about all the statistics and most important they knew the amount of children in the world who didn’t have a place to call home. With this known they looked at many different types of adoption until they choose the right one for them. After this they went searching for the perfect child to bring to their house and they found him in Texas. Now this child is happy and has a place to call home. This article is primarily about the adoption process and the feelings that the adopted parents felt it is important to see how the family and child must feel.

Anonymous, . "BEAUTY WILL RISE. " Christianity Today 1 Nov. 2009: ProQuest Religion, ProQuest. Web. 20 Nov. 2009.

This article is about a couple who happily adopted their first baby daughter from China. As many people don’t know adopting is very expensive which isn’t fair to all the people that want to adopt, can afford to take care of a child but can’t afford to adopt the child. This couple has been trying for a very long to make adoption more affordable, so anyone who wants to adopt can as long as they meet all the requirements. It is important that this happens because they are many children who want homes.

Michelle Reese. "East Valley parents adopting children in need: Federal grant will help more kids transition from foster care. " McClatchy - Tribune Business News 23 September 2009 ABI/INFORM Dateline, ProQuest. Web. 20 Nov. 2009.

This article is about Arizona getting a 500,000 thousand dollar grant to help promote the adoption agencies in Arizona. This is really important because it will help take kids out of foster care. It will also make the adoption process more affordable so more people can afford to adopt. There are so many kids who need to be adopted and luckily a couple states were able to get this grant for the next five years to improve this.

Argen Duncan. "Statewide children in need of families. " McClatchy - Tribune Business News 15 November 2009 ABI/INFORM Dateline, ProQuest. Web. 20 Nov. 2009.

This article is about all the children in foster care who need to be adopted. It is important that people know that there are more than just babies who need to be adopted there are also teenagers and children. These kids are kicked out of foster kid at the age 18 years old which everyone knows that no person is mentally ready to be on their own at this age. It is important that all these children get families for once.

Sherry Long. "Celebrating adoption. " McClatchy - Tribune Business News 14 November 2009 ABI/INFORM Dateline, ProQuest. Web. 20 Nov. 2009.

This article is about a young couple who adopted a child. They couldn’t have children so adoption was their only way to have a family. With this said they researched all the adoption pros and cons and came to the conclusion that adoption is good. However their child who was in foster care for a while had so behavioral issues which he needed to grow out of. This can happen but for the most part adoption is a beautiful process.

Adoption issues

There are many issues with adoption. Many people believe that kids who are adopted have more problems than kids who aren’t. These problems consists of fighting, not knowing their true identity, loss and confusion. There are many other aspects that are hard to swallow such as being a surprise pregnancy but also being a planned child as well. As an adopted child I never had any of these problems. I know who I am, who I want to be and where I’m going. I also was never confused about who my parents were. However, I have many other relatives that are also adopted such as my sisters and two of my cousins.

I know that we all have different reactions to being adopted, in fact at least one of my relatives have one of the problems I listed. For example my cousin has been on a mission for years to finding her biological parents. This is a huge issue with adoption; many adopted kids are confused about their identity. Identity completely changes. There is confusion on who their real parents are and who they, themselves are. Many things change during the adoption process such as the names of the children, the language and life in general. It’s hard to think that I could have been a different person if I my parent’s never adopted me but I know who my parents are and have never been confused about that. Another major issue with this is many people believe that adoptive parents should only be allowed to adopt from the country that is the same race that they are. I do not agree with this. I grew up in a family with two other Korean sisters, an Italian mother and a Scottish father. I don’t have an Asian last name, speak Korean and I know more about the Italian culture then the Korean culture. I am questioned constantly about why my last name is Asian? I have to repeat my story many times. I think that adoptive parents should be allowed to adopt children from anywhere as long as they meet all the requirements, it is wrong for someone to say no to this.

Another issue that is related with this is that many people think that the child or children will get teased because they don’t have the same race as their parents, however I can honestly say I have never been teased about this. It is really not as important as people think and I don’t ever feel self conscious about showing who my family is. I have had knowledge about the adoption process for as long as I can remember and am pretty open about it. I don’t think it is anything to be ashamed about or to hide.
Another major issue with adoption is loss, anger and fighting. Everyone I know that is adopted wants to find their biological parents. However this is not possible a lot of times because closed adoptions do not release any information about the biological mother or father. I always wondered whether I looked more like my mom or dad but I am not going to search for them. I love my parents and I don’t need to find out who my biological mother is. Another problem is when the adopted child is angry at their biological parents for giving them up, but what many children don’t understand is at the time they had no other choice. It is hard giving up a child and there must have been a really good reason to do it. Lastly many children fight when they are young. This is because adopted children are placed in foster homes while the process is finalized. Here there are many other children so fighting may occur. It is a habit that will eventually stop.

In conclusion, there are many issues that are related with adoption but this doesn’t make it bad to do. I think it is a good process and yes there are issues but everyone has them. From my own experiences I never had any of these issues and I think this is because my parents gave me so much information about the adoption process. I was constantly taught and told which is why I am so comfortable. The more information that people know the more comfortable they will be.

Movie thoughts

I thought the movie was very strange. I have heard about this situation before but I was never shown any pictures and I never thought it was this bad. This movie really opened my eyes to how the prisoners were treated and lied too! It made me mad for the prisoners because this situation should of never happened. This is why no one should ever be lied to because you never know what the consequences are.

Truth and lies about teen pregnancy

Teen pregnancy is a major issue among many adolescent girls. For a long time this was looked at as shameful and some girls would even go away to “aunt’s” houses and come back after the baby was born. Back then, most of these pregnancies occur because the lack of birth control. Birth control for a long time was not permitted to young girls because of religion. Many religions believe that girls should take birth control because it hurts the chances of later having many children. Another reason that teen pregnancies have decreased is because of the availability to have an abortion. Abortions are relatively easy to get now. A long time ago various other techniques were used such as falling down stairs or using a hanger.

A great deal of public attention has focused on the welcome drop in the teenage birthrate. The birthrate decline reflects changes in the level of teenage pregnancies and in how these pregnancies are resolved. Birthrates can fall if pregnancy rates decline or if women who become pregnant make increasing use of abortion to avoid unwanted births. There is also the attention of the media. There are now many shows that have teenage adolescent girls in the cast with the show revolving around them. These episodes show the life of a pregnant teenager and the obstacle they resolve which are impacting girls thoughts on intercourse and being safe.

list of topics

swine flu shots
too much sleep
taxes
HIV/AIDS
Overcoming Dyslexia
overcoming credit card debt
elections
health care
children labor
children abuse
teen pregnancy
toxic waters

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/opinion/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/LIVING/

http://abcnews.go.com/primetime

My Biology

In Latin class, there was one boy named Nishant who everyone was friends with. He was pretty nice and always got everyone laughing. In my school, race wasn’t that big of an issue, it seemed as if no one ever really even noticed. Since this was the case, when a little Indian boy came up in Slumdog Millionaire, it was awkward when John made a rude comment. I don’t think there was supposed to be any offense towards Nishant but he took it seriously and so did my teacher. We were then given a lecture on race where I believe my class first saw different races. It was a turning point for my Latin class, no one expected race to ever be an issue.

I'm here...

I’m here because this is my history. Although I grew up in the same house for 15 years, I was surprised every day. Milford is considered a city but split into two different parts, Woodmont and Devon. I lived in Woodmont and went to the high school everyone in Woodmont went too. Here, everyone knew everyone and everything, there were never any secrets. As time passed, construction began. The playground and other areas near my house vanished and were replaced by major organizations. It was sad to watch someone knocking down pieces of my childhood. However, there were many pieces left. There was still the Sundae house and other family-owned restaurants and boutiques that I spent so much time at.

My parents have also lived there almost all their lives. They both walked the same walls of the Elementary, Middle and High school that my sisters and I attended. It strange to think that my town has watched my mother, father and myself grow. Our family has had so much history there, that I can’t imagine living anywhere else.

Parts of me

As a graceful young girl skates her way toward winning the Olympic gold, I couldn’t help but watch with amazement. Every leap was perfectly choreographed and perfected as if she was floating in the air. I longed to be a perfect ice skater like Michelle Kwan. I wanted to float and glide gently around the ice as the crowd applauds at my lack of flaws and charisma. I was a shy, clumsy girl who fell more on the ice than actually skated.

My Dad was more knowledgeable about baseball then a priest is about God. He knew everything there was to know, especially about the New York Yankees. As a young child I would anxiously sit with my father as he his eyes watched the game. I would know what was happening based on what emotion he expressed until he taught me how to play. He comfortably sat with me and articulately explained every possible aspect of the game, from beginning to end. My knowledge got to the point where I knew all the players and when they had to bat. I could never know as much as my Dad did, he was like an open book while I was barely cracked.

My mother has always been a delicious cook. She puts unique ingredients together to make even more different meals. I was troubled about her impeccable timing. Whenever I got home from dance dinner would just be taken out of the sweating stove. I was never able to cook a delicious meal. My original ingredients would turn into disgusting looking meals. My mother tried her hardest to teach me wisdom about cooking, however I failed.

My cousin Louis Vitelli is amazing at playing any instrument; he has a distinct sound and an incredible hearing. He is able to find and hear unique sounds as a dog can. I would watch him play and play repeatedly, wishing I could play as he did. I could hear the sounds, not as well of course. I was able to learn the piano. I would constantly practice trying to perfect song after song. I think I inherited his perfectionist way to learn every note until I could play the song in my sleep.

I love musicals. I would watch them in awe when I was little. I don’t have a specific favorite but I hoped I could be in one. I would dance childishly in my room singing all the songs of Cats or Mamma Mia, pretending I was a beautiful cat or teenage girl about to get married. My friend Krista and I would put on shows for my family every day we hung out together. It is one of the greatest memories we have as children.

My cousin Danielle Vitelli has an excellence in putting together stunning outfits. For prom I asked her to help me pick out a beautiful dress. She told me to find one that is unique and resembles the essence of myself. I watched as she touched each dress gently as if it was a piece of art. She picked out a thousand dresses and each one was as unique as a fingerprint. Finally I found the perfect dress. Trying to put my own outfits together I try to remember to be different and be myself.

Dance is a gigantic part of my life. It has taught me determination, hard work and has given me a passion. It is everything that I am. As I hear the continuous music and put the different steps together I can’t help but close my eyes and feel like I am in a different place. I love the way my pirouettes glide on my feet and my jumps feel like I’m flying. I express myself through each different step and style that I am given.

I am a shell. There are never two of the same kinds; each shell has a different essence, shape and color. It is similar as every person is different; there is never two of the same person. Each person has their own strengths and weaknesses such as music, fashion or cooking. I am my own person.

Prompt

There are many people who have spiritual qualities other than nuns, priests and deacons. For me, I think anyone who truly believes and follows God has spiritual qualities. When I was little I was told that priests and anyone involved with the Catholic Church is considered to be holy and full of God and although this is true they are not the only people who are holy. Anyone who believes in a higher power or has the want to try to be the best person they are, I consider spiritual. It doesn’t matter what God or how you act, it matters on your morals and values.

Quote

“If writing is thinking and discovery and selection and order and meaning, it is also awe and reference and mystery and magic” Toni Morrison

This quote was written on the wall in the writing center. I think this quote symbolizes what writing is as a whole. Writing has so many different messages and meaning that it’s hard to characterize writing in one subject. I think writing is universal and it can be turned into anything. There are so many branches and different kinds of writing that it would impossible to name them all. Writing is really amazing because it is something that meant a lot to the writer. I can defiantly tell when something was written with great emotion, the words make me feel the same way.

Questions

My thoughts about words, reading, writing and speaking languages are very mixed. I do like to write but not in a structure form, I prefer to write about my opinion over a given topic. When I am given a topic to read or write about I find it very hard. I would rather write or read something that I choose or I find interesting. For example I really like free-writing. I find free-writing a good way to express what I want to say or what I did that day. With this, there is no structure or outline I need to go by.

The first experience with words that I can remember was in kindergarten. My teacher had the class take a book home every night to read with your parents. The only book that was memorable to me was about a dog. I can’t remember the title of the book but I remember reading it to my mom and begging for a dog like the one in the book. I don’t know why I liked that book so much but I read it all the time.

I don’t speak any other languages but when I was growing up my grandparents had strong Scottish and Italian accents. It was hard to understand their accents and some words they would use. For example my grandpa would call me “hen” which meant “girl” in Scotland. My parents told me that they didn’t even notice the accent anymore.

I remember writing about my dog in first grade. I remember reading a book about a haunted house. I remember my mom reading Harry Potter with me. I remember writing in cursive. I remember reading The Kissing Hand in second grade. This book was very important to my child hood because I was really close to my mom and I wouldn’t want to go to school.

A time that writing went particularly well for me was the DARE essay in fifth grade. I had to write about drugs and alcohol and why kids shouldn’t do them? The object was after writing your essay; police officers will read them and pick out the one they like the most. I can’t really remember what I reasons I wrote but I did learn how to write a five paragraph essay.

I’ve never actually fallen in love with my writing or someone else’s but I do like reading Shakespeare. I like reading his works because they can be interpreted with more than one meaning which draws in different kinds of audiences. Also it gives a broad range of ideas to think about.

My third grade teacher influenced my writing a lot. When she used to read to the class she would make different voices for the characters which made me feel like I was in the story. When I read I also do this because I try to put myself in the story so I can understand it better.

Writing diaries, letters, online writing and poetry affected my development to becoming a better writer because I think about my opinion more. I have learned that I do not always need to write in a structure which makes writing a lot more enjoyable.

Reading has affected my development of writing because overall it has made me a better writer with vocabulary. On top of this reading has taught me to use my imagination and to see everything in a different way. I love reading mysteries because I like to try to put clues together to figure out the ending before I get there. I also like these kinds of stories because they make me stop and think.

I don’t really have a specific time I like to write, it’s usually when an idea jumps into my head. I love writing in pen because when I don’t like an idea it’s still there and I don’t forget it. I can go back to that idea at any time. I usually write with noise because I can get ideas from a conversation or a song. One habit I have is I tend to cross out a statement and then write it over. Sometimes my thoughts don’t seem right the first couple times I write them.

My strengths are probably my ideas but I can never write them like how I thought of them. I’m not very good with making my papers flow either. I really like to learn how to fix this because I tend to jump around a lot. I can contribute good conversation but I have to be comfortable enough. If I’m not comfortable I won’t talk.

What represents me?

An object that I think represents me well is my charm bracelet. My bracelet is made up of different charms that each represents an important stage in my life. Each charm symbolizes a choice I made or some characteristic about myself. Something that is very important to me is my name. Since my name is often confused with a “C” or a “CH” it is significant that there was a “K’ charm on my bracelet. Every person is given an identity when they begin their life which is why I thought it was appropriate to use this charm to start. After you are born the next feeling you get from your parents is love thus symbolizes my next charm, a heart. Throughout all your life “love” is present whether it’s your family, your significant other or you best friend, it is a feeling that can never be taken away. The day you are born is crucial when you are little but makes you miserable when you are older. However, the day and month you are born distinguishes your birthstone, astrological sign and your birthday which is my next charm.

The next stage is my childhood. As a child I always had a friend with me and this friend was my stuffed animal giraffe. Over the years though I lost my giraffe but the memory is carried on my arm. Memories are very important, they remind me of times that I had with my family and friends. My first memory charm is a snowman, when I was little it snowed all the time and my Dad would take my sisters and me into the snow to make a snowman. We did this every time it snowed in the winter. One Christmas I received a telescope and almost every night I would try to map out the stars. Because of this I was always very interested in astronomy and astrological signs, thus my next charm, a star.

As any other sixteen year old, all I wanted was my license and a car. The day I finally was given a car I was also given a charm of a car to mark the legendary day. Also like every teenager I had to get a job. It felt good to make my own money because I learned ways to budget and act responsible. It may seem odd that I have a charm for this lesson. Another major turning point in my life is when I graduated high school! This charm is very important; it symbolizes growing up and starting to do things for myself. It also symbolizes my transition from high school to college. Now my very last charm is for the future. It is of an owl. Owls are very wise birds so my charm symbolizes making wise decisions which every person needs to do. My charm bracelet means a lot to me. It reminds me of so many memories and lessons that I use every day. It is everything that makes up me.

Lies and Truths

A lie is an untruthful statement that can cause hurt feelings and is usually used to hide something. This is why lying is never good. There are so many side effects with lying such as hurt feelings, punishment and trust issues. However in spite of all of these effect many people lie. Many people believe there are two types of lies; a good type and a bad type. An example of a good type would be when someone lies to stop hurting someone’s feelings and an example of a bad type would be when someone is trying to hide something. In my opinion I don’t believe either type of lies is good to do. They both have positive and negative effects and in the end someone always gets hurt.

One lie I recently made was when I told my mother I was in one place when I was somewhere else. This is a common lie among teenagers. What had happened that night was I wanted to stay out all night so I told my mother I was staying at a friend’s house while my other friend said she was at my house. Now this was only the first lie of the night. As the night progressed I had told lies to many of my other friends who wanted to join. I told them that we decided not to stay out because we were afraid of getting in trouble. Little did I know I some them later that night. They had decided to stay out anyway. Well this started a huge fight that lasted for ten days. This is lie number two.

The next day I was really tired. I went home from my “friend’s house” and feel asleep. The reason I told my mother that we had stayed up all night talking, thus lie number three. I slept all day and for a couple days my mother didn’t find out anything. Until one day when my mom saw my text messages that I wrote to my friends. The whole night was summed up in these messages so she clearly knew what happened. Well as any parent would be she was very angry with me and I was grounded.

Over the next weeks my mother would say “the guilt lecture.” This is the worst lecture I have ever received, it was about how she would be worried about where I am and how there are weird people in the world. My favorite line is: it’s not you it’s them. My mother must have said this line a bunch of times during her speech.

In conclusion, lying is never a good idea. It just causes more problems and someone will always find a way to seeing the truth. A famous quote by Sir Walter Scott: Oh what a tangled web we weave, when we first practice to deceive. This quote means as soon as one lie is made, many more lies have to be made to cover that one. This process will keep going until there is such a big web of lives that only the truth will let you get though. As you can tell from my example, I made one lie which ended up causing me to say three lies until I just had to tell my mother and friends what had happened.