PB: Historian of Genesis

I have chose to be the Historian for my literature group this week. My job is to show information and inferences about history. In the beginning of the book the Price family travels to The Republic of Congo on a Baptist missionary trip in 1959. During this time period of The Republic of Congo, Belgium who was in power began to lose control of what was going on in the country and the people of the country wanted independence. This time was one of the most crucial in the history of Congo and the Price family probably experienced many incidences in which the Africans wanted independence because they were in the heart of the country.

My Practice Essay

I believe that media does determine what is important to most people. Because of the effect in our modern world we are surrounded by influences like movies, magazines, and television and these definitely do affect the way we live and think.

One very influential television shows here in America is America Idol. In this show contestants are auditioned from cities around the country and are then chosen by the judges to compete in Hollywood. Despite the singing part of this show viewers definitely ask themselves, of whom of these contestants are my “Idol.” With the “Idol” concept and 30 million viewers watching every show, I believe many people are affected by it and they strive to be like their “Idol.”

But there is also another side to this question. Despite the amount of influences crushed on people everyday, there are some whom make their decisions not affected by media but by their own standards. But I believe that these people are looked down on in society because they do not meet the proper qualifications of the norm, which is developed directly from the media.

In my life my parents have always tried to limit my time while watching television and being on the Internet but it seems that almost is affected by media in some way and to hide away from it is nearly impossible.

In conclusion television, Internet, magazines, the radio, and newspapers definitely do have an affect on what people think and these views are almost unavoidable. As media seems to grow in the world I believe that it will continue consume what everyone thinks.

Chimpanzee Communication

The discussion we had in class on Friday about communicating with chimpanzee's was extremely interesting. It was so cool that when I went home I began looking at the research of the chimp's at The Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute of Central Washington University. Before this discussion I did not realize that Chimps are so intelligent and that they share 98.5 percent of the same DNA as us. After researching I was even more surprised to see how the Chimps can communicate with American Sign Language (ASL) and that they communicate with the other Chimps with (ASL) in the same format as a human conversation. The chimps also invent new signs for things that they haven't learned and they have been seen to use (ASL) in their sleep.

I believe that it is so cool to know how animals communicate because normally you would have no idea what they are saying. But now we know and understand how they can communicate with each other and the outside world. With such an intelligent species I think that they can do much more than sign language and maybe help us understand more about the animal kingdom.

Essential Questions

The only two essential questions I have come up with since the beginning of the semester was, How can others benefit from me? and What is my role in the world? After thinking about my quotes for a while I havent come up with a disticnt answer yet. I believe that I need to think more about more ideas and more questions before I really come to a conclusion.

The Place I Know Well

The place that I have spent much of my life at and I know very well is Kailua Beach. Because my home is so close to my place's location I have spent many days and weekends at this beach. When first seeing the beach from my beach access you can see many shades of blue throughout the bay and you slowly begin to feel the soft and powdery sand underneath your feet. As you look over the bay one can spot a rainbow of colors with the kites of kite surfers gliding across the waters surface and as you walk by Flagploles and Kalama beach you see many surfers catching small and gently waves which quickly break on shore. In my special place the waves depend greatly on the tide and the winds direction and speed. I have surfed all across this beach and I know the ins and outs of every spot. When the conditions are perfect the best spot to surf, bodyboard, and bodysurf is flagpoles. Thus named after the silver flagpole with the American flag waving in the sky directly in front of the break. Here at the beach I have spent times with friends and family and I have had a great time. There have also been times in which I was angry because I broke a surfboard or lost something special to me in the water. With all of these special experiences, Kailua Beach is my special place.

Shark Encounter

Last weekend for my mom's birthday my family and I went to the shark cage encounters in Haleiwa. I wasn't to frightened at first but my mom and sister definently were. After traveling about 2 miles out, over 20 ft swells rolingin we finally got to the spot where the sharks were. When we arrived the captain of the boat poured some blood out of a bucket into the water and within minutes we spotted a shark at the surface. Since it was about 7 in the morning it was pretty cold as we got into the cage which was in the water by that point. My sister was the first one in the cage and I could hear her screaming inside of her snorkel. As the rest of my family slowly got into the cage I was able to seeeveryone's reaction towards the sharks. My dad and I were fine but my mom and sister were freaked out. As I was in the cage I was suprised to find that sharks are actually beautiful animals. They are very graceful and when you see them face to face they dont seem to be very mean but due to their size they are definently kindah
scary. I have a couple pictures if you would like to see them.

This I Believe (Rough Draft)

This is a very rough draft of the first and second paragraphs of my essay.

I have been thinking about what I believe in and because of my passion for surfing, I believe in waves. I have grown up with all different kinds of waves since I was born. I have lived in Kailua, Hawaii all of my life and because the beach is right next to my home it is a place in which I spend a lot of time. Since I was young my mom and dad have taught me how to surf and the also golden rule of the beach “never turn your back to the waves.”
The reason you must not turn your back to the waves is because waves can suddenly become larger and sweep you off your feet and then sucking you out to sea. During a large north swell that was about 30 to 40 ft my family and I went to Waimea to watch the large waves come in. As we watched we slowly began to feel that there was not much danger so my mother and I decided to walk down the beach to take some pictures. As we walked we where vigilant of the breaking waves on shore and when we stopped we turned around to put our stuff up higher on the beach. As we did this a wave large than normal wave had unexpectedly broken on shore and swept up the beach and grabbed both my mom and I down into the water. We were terrified, I can tell you that for sure but luckily there was not another wave to sweep us further out as we climbed up the beach, this time much more attentive to the waves.
When I was younger I was especially scared of the power of the waves but as time goes on you begin to feel more and more comfortable with larger waves. There have been many instances in my life in which waves could have controlled my fate.