Bullying

11/29/2011

 
    One day in January as I was walking home from school I saw two girls, who looked to be about ten, push down another girl, who had to be at least two years younger than them. At first, it seemed innocent enough and they seemed to just be having fun. The smaller girl didn't seem bothered or jurt, so I continued walking. I was only nine and I didn't think there was any way I could help even if it did seem like a problem. The next day, I saw the same thing happen, but it was worse. The two older girls brought a friend with them to help them. And this time they didn't just push the little one down once. They wouldn't let the small one get up. The little girl just sat there patiently and let them do what they wanted. After a few minutes, the big girls seemed to get bored, so they left.
    But once they were out of sight, I saw the little one start to cry. I then knew that this bullying problem would soon get out of hand. I kind of recognized the girls from school, but I didn't even know their names. I couldn't stoop girls that much bigger than me alone. I had to tell an adult. But how could I do that if I don't even know the girls' names? But the next day at school, I went to my teacher and told them about the bullying I witnessed. The teacher said she would talk to the principal and they would try their best to figure out who the girls were. That same day, the girls tryed to hurt the little one again- but there was no way I was going to let that happen. So I went up to them and told them to stop hurting the little girl. They seemed mad at me, but they walked away. The teachers took care of them and the little girl was never bullyed by them again.  

The Last Arrow

11/18/2011

 
Here is a chapter from the book I'm writing, The Last Arrow. This is chapter six, I have posted the rest of it on my other website.

 Death 
 

     “What happened?” I ask Lurali franticly, “Is there a human here? It’s obviously their knife!” Lurali stares at me with terrified eyes. “She was looking up at the pipe, and this knife came plummeting down from the sky straight into her throat with such a deadly force that it slammed her to
the ground and…” she tells me, but breaks out in sobs and can’t continue. 
 
     As I think what to do, I hear the cop’s siren in the distance. That namuh man must
 have blabbed to the police. I know the cops will kill us on the spot. The evidence that we’re the murderers is astronomical. 

     Without thinking twice, I grab Twillar’s lifeless hand and began dragging her to the nearest pond, which was about one-hundred fifty meters away. Considering I’m really strong for my size, it would have been easy. Except for the fact that I’m five feet, weighing 90 pounds and Twillar must be at least five foot three, weighing one hundred pounds. To add to the difficulty of it all, the pond is uphill. Lurali is completely distraught and refuses to help. 

     “Help me!” I whisper at her frantically. She nods and slowly picks up Twillar’s left hand. We begin the back-breaking process of dragging Twillar’s body to the pond.  

     Within minutes, Lurali and I are at the top of the hill. Out of respect, I take the knife out of Twillar’s throat. I discover that the knife was actually a beautiful, handcrafted dagger from the human world. The
blade was skillfully crafted of pure silver with the words, ‘Be Rid of the Namuhs,’ in beautiful script. I gasp. The humans know we exist. The handle was made of shockingly gorgeous obsidian. This human dagger fits perfectly in my hand. As I’m examining it, I realize that along the bottom of the blade, there is a tiny piece of paper. It reads, in nearly illegible scrawl: We are coming to take over. Humans against you creatures.
 Signed,
Solider Green

    I take the paper off the dagger and drop it in the pond after throwing Twillar’sbody in. I rinse off the dagger and put in my money pouch. The cop’s siren isgetting louder by the second. “Come on!” 
I whisper anxiously at Lurali. I grab her hand and drag her to our boards. She’s so distraught I don’t think she can ride. I help her get on the back of my board and drive us, full speed, back to the hotel. 
 
     We get back into our hotel room and I look at myself in the mirror. I see that my once dazzling dress in now splattered with mud and torn in several places. I realize what a mess I am and shudder. I take a quick shower and dress for bed. Lurali falls asleep nearly instantly, but I sit up and ponder what the humans want with us. I sigh and eventually drift off in a restless sleep. 

     In my dream, Lurali was looking up at the pipe when a human came down. The creature had pointy teeth, long claws, and hair made of flames. The human gracefully lands on the ground next to Lurali. But the creature was no longer a human, it was Patrik. He told Lurali to come with him somewhere. I couldn't quite hear everything they werer saying because I was pinned to the ground by another human in the shape of Ladnek. Patrik points at the pipe, then takes Lurali's hand and flys up through the pipe with her. As Ladnek pointed her gun at me, I had just enough time to see Lurali's body fall through the pipe before Ladnek shot. I woke up with a start.  



 
    I think it would be better if China had just one ruler because all the different rulers fight. With many rulers, there was a lot of conflict inside China about rulers having different opinions about something or about who should be in charge of what. With conflict happening between rulers, the rulers couldnt leep peace or order in their part of China. If there was only one ruler, order would be more easily kept throughout China.
    With multiple rulers, China could have been great if the rulers compromised on ideas and listened to each other instead of fighting for power. But, the rulers deffinately didn't get along, compromise, or listen to eachother ideas. They fought for control over the kingdom and caused problems for China Luckily, the age of many rulers ended and a great leader took over China. (I'll tell you more about him later!) Bye!  

Leadership Speech

11/11/2011

 
    Today in leadership class I had to give a speech about someone I thought was a good leader and why. I was assigned this last Thursday and had the weekend and Monday to think about what I was going to do. At first I chose Alexander the Great but then I realized that, as great of a leader as he was, he would be a difficult person to write a report on because he conquered so many people and didn't treat them very well. I tried Mansa Musa, Alexander Ghram Bell, and a lot of other people that I honestly don't remember. I kept hoping that a lightbulb would go off in my head and I would find the perfect person to write about.  Wait a second... did I say lightbulb? That's when it came to me, that's when I knew exactly who to write about: Thamas Edison, the guy who invented the lightbulb in 1874. After that, I wrote a quick speech and put it in my binder. There was just one problem.
    The speech! How could I forget I had to say this in front of the whole leadership class which is over half way filled with eighth graders? There was no way I could pull this one off. I can't speak in front of a class! I have a horrible fear of speaking in front of people. Mr. Armstrong said it was time for he speeches, but just minutes before he had sent me outside to help with the rally. I thought he would forget that I was assigned to say my speech today. But I was wrong. He came out a few minutes later and said it was my

Career Cruisers

11/7/2011

 
    In computers, I got to go on this site called Career Cruisers. On this website, you take a quiz and it gives you many options of jobs that will suit you. Then we had to pick  (at least) 3 possible careers for us and save them to our profile. Nearly my entire life I was positive on what I was going to be when I grow up. From the time I was four I wanted to be a professional author. I didn't know that there were so many other options that have to do with writing but include more things I would like. So, now I'm not quite sure what I'm going to be when I grow up, but I guess that's a good thing because I know that there are so many other possibilities.
    Although being an author is still top on my list, I've now found a lot of other careers that would suit me Such as a lawyer, a movie script writer, or an English teacher. Though it would be difficult, I currently think it would be amazing to be a lawyer and an author at the same time. But, I'm not going to say I'm sure about something so far into the future.

The Simulation

11/3/2011

 
    Today, in history, we had a simulation of the West African silent barter. There was one Soninke monarch, or king, that controlled trade between the Wongarians and the North Africans. The Wongarians and the North Africans spoke different languages anf it would be frustrating for them to attempt to trade face to face. So the Soninke warriors were smart and learned both languages so they could continue trade between the two of them. Once the two villages had come to an agreement on how much they would trade, the Soninke monarch would tax them. If he was a fair monarch, he would just take enough for his people and him to live. If it took a long time for them to come to an agreement, thenthe monarch would charge an extra tax for taking up too much of his time.
    Though both the Wongarians and the North Africans had very difficult journeys to get to the place to trade, the North Africans had it much worse Not only did the North Africans have to climb across the Atlas mountains, they also had to travel across the scorching Sahara desert. The Wongarians only had to go across the Nile river. But that wasn't easy carrying gold in little boats. 
 
    Today I learned about the Empire of Ghana in history class. By the year 800 the Empire of Ghana had firm control of all trade going on in Africa, including the silent barter. The silent barter is when different communities trade salt, gold, and other goods without actually contacting eachother. For example, one villages traders would leave slabs of salt at a certain place, then they would leave, and go beat a drum to alert the other villages that they can go trade. The other village would leave gold or something else to trade with in the place of the salt. If the people liked what they got in return, they would do the same thing the next day.
    As well as being in control of trade, they also were most advanced in millitary and farming because they used iron to make weapons and farm tools instead of using wood like the other villages do. Since they were the most advanced in millitary, trade, and farming, the Empire of Ghana was the most powerful West African Empire of their time.