What is Bullying?

 There are many types of bullying. People at least will eventually bully someone in their lives. There are ways of bullying that doesn't even need to be verbal. Physical bullying has been popular among the teenagers after disagreements. Bullying mostly consists of trash talking, which is verbally abusing the other person for how they look like, how they dress, how they talk, their ethnicity, all these things would be included when getting bullied. When people bully, it is normally because the person getting bullied was someone special, someone that stands out and someone that is different. People tend to pick out the people who act differently and look differently. When there are some people that does not blend in with the cultural group, they would normally be left out and made fun of. I have to admit, I have bullied people in the past, and maybe I still do sometimes. Bullying to many people is considered a big issue, but I don't see what is so bad with bullying. I was bullied when I was younger, that doesn't really mean anything. When I bully people. I don't normally hurt them as bad as you think. I know, I know, bullying needs to stop and everyone needs to live happily by each other's side. When I was in elementary school, I have been bullied ever since I remember. I moved to Shanghai and went to the American school there, coming from a Chinese Speaking family was very different from everyone else. Everyone had perfect English but me, everyone shared the same culture but me. So I turned out to be the fresh meat people often pick on whenever I made a mistake. One afternoon, I was minding my own business eating my lunch. I happened to compliment on how great the grilled pork ribs were with poor English. "This rib good" I said. A little boy from another side of the table with hair as bright as the sun questioned, " do you know how to speak English?" That was in third grade, my English was poorly developed. I froze infront of all the kids and stared at him while he laughed at my badly spoken English. That kid was mean, but I ended up being the popular crowd in middle school and eventually got him back. To me, bullying is when a person or a crowd picks on a person or exclude them for being different, being special, and trying to stand out from the crowd.

Historical Significance

One of the most memorable days of my skateboarding life, was the day I met professional skater PJ Ladd, along with the rest of the DC team that came to Taiwan. They were here for s project called Project Granite, it is basically grinding on a huge piece of Granite and basically making the company look good by doing projects like this. When he first entered the park, it was a moment I would never forget. This moment is so important to be because this is the first time I have ever met a real Pro skater.
Right now, a huge event that is still going on and will be always remembered, is the Japanese earthquake and the tsunami that is going on right now. Last weekend, a magnitude of 8.9 earthquake hit Japan along with a tsunami that swallowed people's lives. Thousands of people died during this tragic event. When I first heard this, I felt a strong pity towards the Japanese people that lived there, maybe because similar things has happened to us, but except with taiphoon. This event actually hit me hard, once I saw this, I finally understand how powerful mother nature really is. I felt as if the world is changing too much because of Global Warming. I feel as if this was all our fault and we all deserve it for hurting the Earth. This changed my thoughts on polluting the world. 
  Another very astonishing event that occurred was a protest that took place back in 2006 when the ex-president was first announced as president for another four years. There were thousands of people infront of the ex Taiwan president’s home. Parents, teenagers, kids, old people, were all gathered in one plaza, sleeping and eating there, practically treating it as their home.They were all wearing red for showing their anger, and all they want is for the president to be reassigned. They used the “thumbs down” sign to show how displeased they were and how much they wanted him to not be president for another four years. This went on for a few more months until they finally gave up and went back to what they were doing.  

Risk or Play Safe?

 People always try to take risks, this is in our nature. Even on cartoons where things are fictional, people are still always taking risks. Like Tom and Jerry the cartoon, Jerry is always a risk taker sneaking out to fool around with Tom. Taking risks is a perfectly normal thing to do, but so is playing safe.  I have a whole jug of names on my mind right now that took risks. You may think that people don't try to take risks anymore, but I have met many people that did or is still doing it right now. The very first person that came to my mind was Mr.Bain, our computer teacher last year. He was the most inspirational and wise person I have met in my life. He quit his job in America, just to come teach. He quit a job that was steady pay, and a pretty high salary as well, just to come teach in Taiwan. I think that is a huge risk, considering the wage difference. Although I may think so, he sees this as something he loves to do and something he would rather do than making money in a cooperate business. Amelie Earheart was also a risk taker, flying across the ocean alone of the flight, that could have killed her, but she overcame the fear, and followed her dreams. In the business world, the Foxconn chairman, Terry Kuo is famous for his courageous, aggressive moves in the consumer electronics industry. He has burned off millions an millions of dollars on investing companies and developing other types of technology. Some failed, some worked brilliantly. Despite of all the failures, the success rate was much higher, therefore it was completely worth taking the risk. Some other risk takers include my dad, even myself takes risks alot. I don't think I am that much of a risk taker but at the same time I don't think I play safe as well. I am right in the middle, I do not play safe all the time, and I don't make bold moves that could corrupt my entire life. Safe players include my mom, Ms.Tsai, and a couple other people. I think my mom is a goodie two shoes because she really doesn't do anything bad, she is always following the traffic laws, she is always making sure we are eating healthy. Very responsible mom I would say. At times when I am with my friends, I am a risk taker for sure. When I am with my girlfriend or my family, I am a safe player. I am the type of person that does stupid things with friends, but I wouldn't go too far. So most of the time, I am more of a safe player rather than a risk taker.

City or Country

  Different people have different opinions about where they would like to live. Some people prefer the country side with the poultry farm right next door and a weed field as their back yard. While some others preferred living on the penthouse of a skyscraper looking out their window to realize his success in his career and have everything being just around the blocks.  For me though, I am a city boy. I lived in Taipei and Shanghai for my whole live, these two cities are well known for their night lives and absolute busyness at night. I love how convenient the city is, when everything is right around the corner. I could have dinner within 10 minutes walking distance, I could also hit the gym before that, and then after that, I could take a 10 minute taxi ride to HuangPu River and enjoy the night view with some well mixed cocktail at an outdoor jazz bar. That was for Shanghai of course, and Taipei, not much difference, just more shopping than enjoying the view. I can associate my life with cities all I want because I have been living and experiencing this life ever since I was born. As for country sides, I have been to some country sides, like PingDong and other parts of China. I can tell you, I do not like being in the country side. How inconvenient it is to live there, the smell of pig farms would haunt you until you sleep, how people just do whatever they want on the streets. All I can relate my life to the country side are all the food I eat. Things like chicken, eggs, pigs, cows, rice, just all the daily nutrition that goes down our throats. When you speak of country sides, I think about poultry farms and animal barns along the dried weed field. In reality, the country side is much more complicated than that. With their dirty, undeveloped mindsets, it really corrupts the stereotypical country scene, at least all the country sides I have been to.  I feel as if the city was more sophisticated and is a lot more fast pace than the country side.

Analyzing Poem

 When you analyze a poem, there are many essential and important elements a poem should include. Many people when they think of poems, the typical poem in everyone's mind is a smooth flow and it would include rhymes at the end of the sentences. That is not true for all poems, not all poems have to have a rhyme to it. When I analyze a poem, I would read through the poem many times, and try to define the hidden meanings behind the author's pen. I would understand what the author is trying to talk about before I do anything else. The point of reading poems out, is to get the punctuations correct, where the emphasis should be, and where you should pause.I would  begin picturing myself and putting myself as the same position as the author is. I would try to make me the person trying to speak it, and understand how they feel. I believe this is the most important step of analyzing a poem, understanding the material you are reading. If I did not understand the poem, then it would just be words and sentences to me. So I will try to understand the morals or the messages the poem is trying to deliver. Then I start looking for the printed things, such as rhymes, between lines and lines, and then if there were metaphors, or similes. If I was lucky enough, I would be able to come across a poem with alliterations within it. The diction of the story is also very important, I would determine the age group and audience the author is aiming for with the tone and diction of the poem. I would try to also find things like, irony, sarcasm, onomatopoeia, all these English crucial things could make the poem different. Once I am done with all this, I am ready to write an outline or even paraphrasing it.

Death

Because I could not stop for Death- He kindly stopped for me—
The Carriage held but just Ourselves—
And Immortality.

We slowly drove—He knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility—

We passed the School, where Children strove
At recess—in the ring—
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain—
We passed the Setting Sun—

Or rather—He passed Us—
The Dews drew quivering and chill—
For only Gossamer, my Gown—
My Tippet—only Tulle—

We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground—
The Roof was scarcely visible—
The Cornice—in the Ground—

Since then—'tis centuries— and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses' Heads
Were toward Eternity—

 Death, by Emily Dickinson is a very well known poem throughout the world. In this poem it talks about, well, death. The first stanza, Dickinson says that she did not stop for death, but death stopped for her. I believe she is saying that she did not want death to come, but death stroke her anyways. She also wrote, the carriage held just ourselves, and immortality. She was saying she was going on a trip with death to wherever she should be after that. I think this poem is describing the journey of death. This poem is trying to describe the trip to the afterlife, and everything she sees. This poem has some rhymes in it, but not all stanzas include rhymes. There is one alliteration in the poem, which is the entire third stanza. I think this poem is rather fantastic, with the author’s diction being so profound yet so simple. There are hidden meanings behind each stanza, I think the poem is more of a dark tone, a rather sad tone. When people talk about death, they don’t get particularly happy about it. I do not like poems like this. I prefer joyful, happy poems, rather than the deep dark tone this poem enhances. I think poems should be rather enjoyful, than messing people's emotions up afterwards.

Test Essay Question

 I believe that the tone of Women was suppose to be more towards the thankful, warm hearted letter from a daughter. The author has grew up a tough life, her mom had to work alot and she could not see her alot. While that was all going on, she knew that her mom was working all the time for her and for her to get an education so that she could grow up and get a decent job. The poem's diction shows alot for her attitude towards the subject. Especially at the last six sentences, she was stating how she knows that her mother is working for her education. She is also saying throughout the whole poem that her mom was like an army general. That showed that her mom had leadership in her eyes and she admired that she had such strong opinions.

Inherit

 In my family, there are honestly nothing that was inherited from generation to generation. The only thing I think we all inherited was our looks and our ways of thinking. Even though there are no physical objects to be inherited like a family treasure, I think I have inherited everything I could possibly ask for. For four generations, I can actually see the resemblance between me and my great grandpa. When my grandpa would always tell me stories about how all the guys in our family looks very similar and acts and thinks very similar. I think that is the most important thing I can ever inherit from my family. I don't need my parent's money, I don't need the amount of land they own, all I need and all I want, is already within me. Speaking of inheriting things from our families, I came across an article on a tribe in the eastern Africa and one of their interesting rituals with family inheritances. They would have a "family tattoo" that was passed down generation after generation. The tattoo consists of the family name, the family history and a whole lot of other family things that is added onto it. When the boy in the family turns 18, or when he turns into a man, his grandpa would bring him out to the beach, just to tattoo his family drawing onto his grandson's arms and wash away with sea water. This is their ritual for the transition between boys to being a man. After I read that article, I had a very strong interest towards having a tattoo just like that, and it would be passed down generations to generations. I am actually considering doing that when I am a bit older. I think the tattoo proves that your family has a strong history, and a strong bond between family members. When you have the tattoo, you will always remember your family. That would be one of the greatest things I could possibly give to my children.