Escape from Behala

Escape from Behala

caged in poverty

trapped in the trash

imprisoned by the powerful concrete of corruption

surrounded by rubbish nowhere to go

a soul with a passport

the key to escape

run away from the stupp and the broken dreams

you have solved the mystery

Trash Response Questions

Trash Response Questions

1. Describe the conditions in the prison.  Why do you think children would be locked up there?   The condition in the prison was heinous the government doesn’t give money to the prison so the prison don’t have any air conditioning or fans. Also the prisoners don’t get any food, so their families are camped outside the prison and smuggle them food in when they can. Children would be locked up in the prison because they stole things or fought each other, also the whole system there in the city is completely corrupt.
2. How were Olivia and Gardo able to get a visit with Olondriz?   Olivia and gardo were able to get into the prison to see Olondriz, because Olivia is not a citizen in that country and they were dressed like upper class people. Another reason they got in was for an exceedingly high price of ten thousand pesos, Olivia had to that much because she basically had to bribe the people who run the prison. Gardo also said that Olondriz was his Grandfather and he needed to visit him now.
3. What were the few things that Raphael learned about Rat that he "had never known and never asked about”?  Raphael learned that Rat had a stash of two thousand pesos and counting because Rat wanted to eventually save up enough money to go home, Rat’s actual home. Rat’s actual home is an island called “Sampalo”. Of course two thousand is enough to get there, but Rat would also need enough money for a fishing boat so he could make a living and actually stay there.
4. What does the gardener tell Raphael and Rat?  The gardener tells Raphael and Rat that he has spoke to the vice presidents twice in the twenty two years he has worked there. He also said that multiple police cars have been coming to the house every day. another thing the gardener told the boys was that Jose Angelico had smuggled the Six Million Dollars out in an old fridge that he had replaced.
5. What would you do with six million dollars?  What I would do with Six Million Dollars is give one million to my parents five hundred thousand to my brother and two hundred fifty thousand each to my two Grandmas. fro the rest of the people in my family I'd give one thousand each. by then i would have about four million, nine hundred seventy five thousand dollars left. I would then invest one million in stock, and buy company for up to two point five million. after that i would have about one million two hundred fifty thousand left that i would use for whatever.

The War of Technology

The War of Technology

By Garrett Kitchen

           Which side will you take in the war? The war between Mac and PC! The war between the iPhone 4 and the Droid X, and I want to pick a side in this war. Although the side I should pick, is still unclear. That’s why is searched for an “iPhone 4 vs. Droid X comparison chart” and came up with “iPhone 4 vs. Droid X head to head comparison on a tech site called the “PCWorld”. I’d like to access the Internet, play games, listen to music, and take pictures and video, text, call, and more. All on one of these remarkable Phones (or as my dad likes to call them “Gadgets”). So I ask. Which Smart Phone is the best?   

           What type of physical properties do these phones have? Well let’s find out. The Droid X has a 4.3” display size (screen) versus the iPhone’s 3.5” display. Another major physical property of the display is resolution. The iPhone Tops the Droid X with a crystal clear 640 x 960p, although the Droid X’s 480 x 854p is still pretty clear. The next Physical characteristic that these phones clash for is there cameras. The Droid X has a startling 8MP and 720p video capabilities and for the icing on the cake, a Duel LED flash. The iPhone 4 ha a puny 5Mp camera, but it does have 720p video capabilities, and frankly there is no icing with just LED flash. So hands down the Droid X wins the battle of the Cameras.

            The nest comparison category is memory and software. The iPhone 4 has a speedy 512MB RAM Memory, just like the Droid X. But the Droid X has 8GB on board but it also comes with a 16GB micro SD as the expandable storage, making the Droid X in total come with 32GB of storage. The iPhone on the other hand comes with either 16 or 32 Gigabyte on board storage depending on which one you buy. But the iPhone has no option of expandable storage. So once again it’s a tie. The last but not least software addition is the processor and of course both Phones have a 1GHz processor.

The final comparison category is extras. The Droid X can generate a wifi hotspot when the iPhone 4 cannot, and the Droid X has up to 8 hours of talk in 1 battery life and has 3 microphones, and the iPhone 4 has only 7 hours of talk time and 2 microphones. Both smart phones have a GPS. the iPhone 4 has 225,000 apps in its App Store and the Droid X only has 65,000 int its store. a major plus to the droid x is it has SWYPE technology in its keyboard where the iPhone 4 doesn’t.

When I asked “Which Smart Phone is best?” i didn’t know the answer, but now I do. I choose the Droid X. What really sealed the deal and made me choose the Droid X over The iPhone 4 was the Droid X has a bigger screen, and it’s not an Apple product like the iPhone 4(I’m a PC person). Also like I said previously the Droid X generates a Wifi Hotspot, it has a superior camera, it has one more mic, it has a longer battery , and it has SWYPE technology for the keyboard. There are few things I will miss that the iPhone has like the Droid X has no face time camera, not a lot of on board memory, not as light a the iPhone, and the iPhone appstore has more apps. So overall I chose the Droid X, but others may choose differently.Which side will you fight for in The War of Technology?      

Bobby's Respect

Bobby’s Respect

By Garrett Kitchen

Some might wonder what it would be like to stand up to school bullies.

To respect themselves and their classmates enough to just take a stand, well that’s exactly what characters in this book do. The Misfits by James Howe is a novel about a group of four seventh grade friends who call themselves “The Gang of Five” or “The Misfits”. The main character, Bobby9 (the main character), is among this dynamic group of friends. This particular group of friends decides to run for student government. The Misfits is a beautiful well crafted story about the journey of “outcasts” whom overcome bullying and name calling at their school in the quaint little town of Paintbrush Falls, New York. Even though in the beginning of the story Bobby has trouble with respecting others and respecting himself, Bobby gains self respect and respect for others as the novel goes on.
          Bobby doesn’t show respect to himself or others early on in the book. Bobby shows such little respect; he doesn’t even respect his boss Mr. Kellerman. Throughout the book Bobby even calls Mr. Kellerman Killer Man “It is not that I hate Mr. Kellerman, not even that I even dislike him anymore, but I can’t help it. I hope that those two things are all we have in common and all we ever will.”(207). this shows is Bobby doesn’t really understand Mr. Kellerman and doesn’t like him very much and to show this Bobby is disrespectful to him. Bobby isn’t respectful to himself either. For example Bobby thinks: “yeah right. A pretty girl even one, who is socially handicapped like Kelsey Scoggins, does not like a boy like me. And what is a boy like me you might ask? Even if you did not know, I will tell you: a boy like me is fat.”(80). this shows Bobby has low self esteem and disrespects himself, because of his own image. So what Bobby is saying here is that he feels girls will think he is not good looking, and will not want to date him because he is overweight. So gathering from Bobby’s thoughts, he doesn’t respect himself. I think some of the reasons he has low self esteem is because his mother is dead and his father is an ex-alcoholic. Also Bobby is constantly being insulted about his weight and social status from the bullies in his school.

Later in the book Bobby is beginning to respect Mr. Kellerman as a coworker and person and respecting himself as a human being. For instance Mr. Kellerman states “sorry I can’t help with your speech Bobby.” To which I say “You already have.”  What this goes to show is Bobby is letting Mr. Kellerman in and letting him try to help Bobby with his speech. He now has enough respect for Mr. Kellerman that his subconscious mind allowed Robert Kellerman to inspire his speech. As the book goes on Bobby begins to show respect for himself. An example of this is a few sentences of dialogue between Bobby and Addie (on of Booby’s friends). Bobby: “do you really think I can do it?”  Addie: “Absolutely. You’ll be brilliant” I look at Addie and see that she is being serious. Bobby: “okay,” I tell her. “Okay.” (235). What this reveals is Bobby is gaining enough self respect and self esteem to stand up in front of the whole school and read the No Name Party’s speech, which Bobby himself wrote. This reveals that Bobby’s self respect is high enough to take the risk of reading a speech in front of the whole school. Also the whole school cheering for Bobby after he finished reading his speech boosts his self esteem majorly.

          In The Misfits, James Howe shows the importance of respect through Bobby Goodspeed and his attitude toward others and himself. Respect towards others and their self has been portrayed in many people’s lives, plenty of books, and throughout history. The Misfits portraits the story of kids everywhere standing up to those same bully's who beat them down with names and physical abuse. “Sticks and stones will break our bones, but names will break our spirits” is the running campaign for the no name party, and is very true. Names can break the spirit, but bully’s only hurt other people because their jealous of them or admire them as a person and it makes them angry. So if there are bully’s harming people, show them who’s boss, stand up for the insulted people of the world.

Future technology

Future Technology
By Garrett Kitchen

         I use technology in many ways.  For example: the school, the bathroom, my house, electricity, etc.. The type of electronic technology i use is my iPod, my cellphone, my Xbox 360, my T.V., and  my computer, but there is much much more.  I think in twenty years cars will hover, and there will be hologram interactive computers, I think we as humans will be more lazy because there will be robots to do things for us. In fifty years we will have colonized other planets, and probably used up earths resources.  We will no longer dwell on earth, and we will time travel because we will have machines that go the speed of light.  We'll be able to teleport to other places with our science discoveries. I think the future ahead of us is promising and happy, but the road leading to it dark.