c17sp

“There was the greatest store of fowle that euer we saw.”

Mourt’s Relation

We have been studying Alice In Wonderland. First we read about Lewis Carroll and the real Alice. We learned that Alice In Wonderland was first told to Alice and her sisters by Lewis Carroll on a boat ride. Then we read the book. Ms.Edinger had an annotated copy that she read to us. We learned the real poems, comparing the real ones to the fake ones they are pretty funny, for example Old Father William. While we were reading Alice and after we were watching The 1900 House. The examples I just showed you is just some of the things we did to prepare for Alice but there are so many so I will not say all of them. Then we had to make a comic of one chapter. Me and c17am are doing The Mad Tea Party. First we had to make a script, then we did the pictures, then we scanned them and then we are going to make the comic in comic life. Then the class is going to have a tea party. Well that is are Alice project.

It was the beginning of World War II. German bombers were ripping London apart.  It was the front line for many young men.

 Sam was a small but smart man. Well, he was 18 so he was not yet a man. He was stationed in the western part a Germany in Unit 702. His fellow unit members were very mean to him. They were mean to him because his inexperience and his small height.

 One day Sam and a unit member named Mike were on guard duty. Mike said “Where’s your funeral gonna be?”

“What?” said Sam. “I am not going to have my funeral any time soon.”

“When you get killed in the war,” said Mike.

“I am not going to die in the war,” Sam said.  “I thought I was  in the best unit in the sector,” Sam said sarcastically.

“You little runt, come here! shouted Mike.

Mike lunged at Sam. Sam dodged his attack but just by a little.   When Mike sided on the ground he pulled out his pistol, he shot Sam in the foot. It did not pierce the skin but his foot was very damaged.  Mike ran to the woods.  His captain came and said “What happened?”

“Mike shot me.” 

“Mike is not here, wait where is Mike?” said the captain. That’s  when Mike came running out from the woods and said ,“I’m here captain.” Sam felt like killing Mike right now but he did not.

 The captain announced to the would unit that  he was going to a  captain’s meeting. He said to the soldiers, “You have a great responsibility. You must guard the meeting with all the other units.” So they went. When they got to their destination they made a camp. It was the night of the meeting. Their camp was where they had to patrol. Sam could not figure out how to impress the captain. He did not have anything special. Then he heard a familiar voice but could not make out what it was.Then he heard another voice but he could not remember who it was.

All of a sudden, a ghost like image of his parents appeared. “Mom, dad!” Sam said in a shocked voice.

“Yes,” said his Mom, “we know why you are upset. Here take this bullet proof vest and helmet but remember their magic goes away at midnight and will no longer protect you.”

All of a sudden he heard someone coming. He hid the vest and helmet. A head peeked through the doorway and said, “Captains are taking a break.”

“This is my chance,” he thought. When he looked back to thank his parents they were not there. Sam walked out of his tent to go to the meeting when he heard this. “We’re under attack!” Good thing he had his bullet proof vest and helmet. German bombers were dropping parades of bombs. Sam rushed into battle. He saw a unit of Germans. He fired and fired, destroying countless German troops. He could go in and out of cover more than the others because if someone shot him it would hit his vest. They were fighting all night. When  his watch turned 11:58, Sam realized what was going on. He had 2 minutes. He ran away into the woods away from the battle.

Little did Sam know the head captain was watching but could not make out his face. Sam was running away when a grenade went off. His helmet was blown off. He kept running into the forest.

After the battle, the head captain went over to the helmet and picked it up. He thought that if he tried the helmet on every man in each unit, that he might find the mystery soldier. So he did but not one man fit the helmet. Then he saw a small soldier that he hadn’t seen before. He tried the helmet on him. It was a perfect fit. The soldier was Sam.

So Sam did get the medal and rank of captain. He was the captain of Unit 705. In the second year of WW2 he was promoted to general. And he lived happily ever after.

                                                                           The end

                                    Amistad

Africa, I have not seen it for a year and a half.

I am just a child.

Why should a child have to go

through such horrible events?

I remember my brother and my sister

and my mother and father.

But most of all I remember Africa.

My home Africa.

The trees, the fruit, the animals.

So now I am going on this ship Home…Home.

Margu Kinson has an amazing story of almost going into slavery. There is so much to tell so I chose to write about the Amistad slave revolt. On the Amistad “cargo” ship there was a slave revolt. It was very gruesome. There were dead Africans and dead Spanish. Margru was hiding in the door way of the hold with the rest of the kids. She was to scared to go any further than that. When the battle was over Margru came out. She was horrifed. There were dead bodies everywhere. The slaves took control of the Amistad. They did not kill the captain. They told him to sail the boat toward Africa. So he did, but when nightfall came, and all the slaves were asleep, he would sail toward the colonies. But when the sun rose in the morning he would sail toward Africa. They did this for who knows how long. Finally they reached the colonies ,then another slave ship came and captured them. Well that’s the whole part about the slave revolt.

Joyce Hansen’s book The Captive is based of Olaudah Equiano. We had to read a Historical fiction book, one of them was The Captive. So me and some others chose The Captive. This book was very good and I could see how it was similar to Olaudah Equiano’s story. It was very harsh at some parts. One part that was a lot like Olaudah’s story, well this person named mistress Browne she shows Kofi (the main character) how to read and wright and is nice to him but will not let him free. In Olaudah’s story the same thing happens. Also in the end he becomes rich and gets a big ship, the same thing happens to Olaudah. Also how could I forget Kofi go’s into slavery for a long time and Olaudah go’s in to slavery for a long time. There was a lot of good Historical stuff not just Olaudah but places. Like for a part of the book they are in Salem. Also Kofi gets beat on a wiping post. They also mentioned a black settlement which were reel places. Well over all it is a great book I hope you can read it.

On 2/6/09, Elizabeth Alexander came to the Dalton school and talked about her poetry and read some of her poems as well. She talked about the Amistad and read some of her Amistad poems. She lived near the New Haven Green and always wondered about what happened in the past here. She did some research and found out that the Amistad captives exercised there when they were prisoners. That inspired her to write an epic about Amistad. Shortly after that she broke it up in to shorter poems. 

Next, she talked about a book called Miss Crandell’s School for Young Ladies and Little Misses of Color that she and another poet wrote.  It was a book  of poems that was about Miss Crandell’s school.  Ms. Crandell was a white, Quaker teacher.  She taught white kids.  Although African American girls were allowed to come, no one came.  One day, a black girl came to school . The white parents chose to take their white children out of the school because they didn’t want to be taught with African American people.  After that, many black children came to the school.  The town’s people got mad and started doing horrible things to the school.  For example, they poisoned the well with cow dung, they killed the school pet and left it on the the front steps of the school and they also burned down the school.  The people kept coming, they didn’t give up.  For example, when they needed water in the winter, they’d get the snow from outside, they put it in buckets, they brought it inside, warmed it up and then cooled it down.  These are examples of the kinds of events Elizabeth Alexander would write about. 

Her most exciting moment was when she got a call three weeks prior to the innauguration to write a poem.  She didn’t have a lot of time to prepare.  The world would be watching.  She finished a few days before.  When she practiced, she cried because it was so emotional.  She was able to invite a person on stage.  She chose her father because he was involved in the civil rights movement her whole life.  He was actually at the March on Washington.  He wore a pin at the march that had a black hand and a white hand shaking which had three words on it…job, peace, hope.  He wore that same pin on the  day of the inauguration. 

Yesterday we saw Oliver the middle school play It was the musical version. I had seen it twice before and I went again last night and I shall see It tonight also. My brother is in it, he is Bill Sykes. He sang solo in one song, it is called My Name. It was cut out of the musical movie. My brothers friends were in it to.

If you have never seen Oliver, here is a synopsis. There is a work house were boys are fed gruel. Oliver gets sold to an undertaker but runs away to London. He meets the Artful Dodger, they sing a song called “Consider Yourself” . Then they go to Fagin’s place. They sing a song about how they pick pockets. Then a woman named Nancy comes she is the person who gives the boys food. The next day he goes on a job with the Artful Dodger. They pick pocket this guy named Brownlow. The Artful Dodger runs away but Oliver is still there. Brownlow turns around and sees Oliver. Oliver gets arrested and goes to court. The shop keeper comes to court and says a different boy pick pocked Brownlow. So Brownlow takes Oliver in.

Then there is a scene where Fagin and the boys and Nancy are in a bar. Nancy sings a song called Oom Pah Pah then Bill Sykes comes and signs the song My Name. Then Dodger comes and says that Oliver was nabbed on the job. Bill says they have to get Oliver back. They decide that Nancy and Bill will go. So they do. Oliver is in Bronlow’s home when he and the sellers sing Who Will Buy. Then Brownlow comes and tells him that he has to return some books to the book seller. But when Oliver comes out of the house he gets kidnapped by Bill and Nancy. They take him back to Fagin’s. Then Nancy goes to Bronlow’s house and says that she will bring Oliver to the London Bridge at 12:00 and he should come and get Oliver. But when she gets to the bridge Bill Sykes kills her. Then The Bow Street Runners come and find Bill Sykes and shoot him. Oliver is safe. Then he lives with Bronlow. Well there’s the play for you. Hope you can see a production.

The acting in this production is really good.

See you later.

To me and my family Obama getting Inaugurated was very important. We were Obama supporters from the beginning. We went to Pennsylvania to campaign for Obama on different days. Obama said in his speech that America is so great because we are so diverse and we all come together so well. African people use to be slaves, now African American people are now there in the white house. I feel the Obama administration will be great.

Jan. 20, 2009, the first African American President was sworn in to office. All the past presidents came to see Obama’s Inauguration. The Vice President, Joe Biden got sworn in first. For a short time, Joe Biden was the Vice President and George W Bush our President. When Barak Obama was sworn in he stumbled on the oath and he laughed a bit at himself. After he got sworn in, he gave a very inspiring speech. I hope he does everything he promised to do. Aretha Franklin sang My Country Tis of Thee. Elisabeth Alexander read a poem that she wrote for the Inauguration. They say that there were 5,000,000 people at the Inauguration. Overall, it was an amazing day.