Persuasive Essay Topics

The first topic that interests me is animal rights. Many animals such as mammals, reptiles, birds, and marine life are becoming endangered due to society. Aside from animal testing, there are many other issues that are life threatening to numerous animals around the world. Commercial development is destroying the homes of animals, causing them to wander outside their typical environment. This could then lead to death of the animal. Illegal hunting is another big issue when it comes to animal rights. The government tries to make laws to protect endangered animals, but people knowingly disobey these laws. The government must find a way to strictly enforce the laws that could put an animal's life in danger.

Another topic I found plenty of information on is the privacy of celebrities. It is in our human nature to worship celebrities. However, it can be easy for the paparazzi and even just ordinary people to go over board. There have actually been accidents leading to death due to the paparazzi. Princess Diana died in a car crash that was caused from the paparazzi chasing her vehicle. The media plays a huge part in this as well. The amount of rumors and unproven facts about celebrities is never ending. We do not know the truth about what is going on in a celebrity's life, but that doesn't stop us from judging and criticizing them based on what we hear in the media.

The last issue that interests me is high school sports injuries. It is not hard to see that high school spors are a very big part of a youth's schooling. Sports allow teens to feel as part of a team, get physical exercise, and learn important life lessons. With that, it is clear that athletes will get bruised and banged up. However, athlete's are often pushed too hard which could eventually lead to a serious injury. That single injury could affect the teen for the rest of their life. It has been proven that many high schools are not taking the proper safety precautions to protect student athletes. The schools and coaches will regret doing this when their star athlete is out for the season because of a critcial injury.

Blog #5 Informative Essay Topic

I was thinking for my paper I could write about physical therapy. I want to be a physical therapist when I grow up so learning new information and facts about it will definitely help me. There is an endless amount of research that can be found on physical therapy. Plus, I've had plenty of experience with physical therapy. I have seen how it can completely change someone's state of health. I think it would be an interesting topic and I would be able to find plenty of support and research for it. Some people who haven't needed physical therapy don't understand the significance of it. In my essay I will give examples of how physical therapy has completely transformed a person. I will really just try to focus on informing people that have or haven't needed physical therapy then benefits of it. I will also explain what it is and how it works.

Blog #4 Practicing Informative Writing

Most people throughout the world enjoy sandwiches. A meat and cheese sandwich is a fairly easy concept. Unlike other meals, there is no cooking, heating, or cooling required for this type of sandwich. Preparing a meat and cheese sandwich is simple and quick. It will be ready to enjoy in no time!

First, the bread must be laid out in preparation for the meat and cheese. Next, you can add however many slices of meat you want. You can also choose what type of meat. You could have ham, turkey, salami, and hundreds of other kinds of meat. Then, it is time to add the cheese. Again, there are many choices you can choose from when selecting what kind of cheese. There is American cheese, provolone, cheddar, and an endless amount of other cheeses. Once the main ingredients are on the bread, you can add any extra condiments you want. For example, some may prefer mayonnaise, mustard, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, and many other things. After you have everything you want on the sandwich, you press the two slices of bread together and bon appetit!

Blog #3 Essay Ideas

1)  The first experience I would like to write about is all of the knee problems I have had. It all started with a few days left of my 8th grade year when I tore my ACL for the first time. At that time I had no idea what I was getting into. Now, about 4 years and 3 surgeries later I am still having knee issues. I have yet another surgery in about 4-6 months. As terrible as it is to have to go through all of this, I wouldn't change anything about it. Ultimately it has made me a much stronger person. My pain tolerance is extremely high and I also have become more emotionally stable. There are times when I catch myself feeling sorry or depressed, but then I remember that there are people that have it so much worse than me. There are people that spend their whole lives in hospitals, or don't even get the chance to fully live their life. At times life may get rough and it could seem like there's no way out, but we need to take a step back and think about others. Even with what I have been through, I am grateful for every part of it.

2)  The other option I could write about was one that I just experienced yesterday. We had to put our chocolate lab down. Her name was Comet, as in "Haley's Comet." She had been growing up with me since when I was in pre-school all the way up to my senior year of high school. She was truly the best dog anyone could ask for and was a member of the family. Going to the vet's office and actually being with my dog as they put her down was probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do. People that haven't experienced the love of a dog or a pet would not understand why I'm so upset about this. I keep wanting to pet Comet or say hi to her and then realize that she isn't here anymore. It just feels so lonely without her. Eventually, we will move on and get another dog, but I know that I will never forget her.

Blog #2 Summer Experience

After tossing and turning in my seat for about eight hours, I was more than ready to get off this plane.  It was a restless night due to the uncomfortable seats and great amount of excitement.  The pilot announced to prepare for landing.  My heart automatically dropped.  I was thrilled and a little nervous to begin this journey. With my parents back in the U.S., I was under the watchful eye of two of my teachers.  To make this experience even better, my closest friends were also attending the trip.  The plane tilted downward as my ears tried to adjust to the change of pressure.  With a little bit of bumpiness, we were on the ground.  I took my first steps out of the plane and onto this new ground.  I was ready to begin this ten day journey of exploring London, Paris, Florence, and Rome.

We landed in a small but nice airport on the outskirts of London.  From there, it was about a 45 minute bus drive to our hotel.  Everything here was different.  The cars were all extremely tiny and exactly the same. There were very few bigger automobiles such as vans and trucks.  After dropping our luggage off at the hotel, it was time to explore the city of London.  Our first stop was the London Eye.  This was a magnificent sight.  We hopped on board a big ferris wheel car where we could see the whole city of London.  This included Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and many other glorious buildings.  We then took a short walking tour of the city.  The next day we took a bus tour.  This was excellent because we were able to see truly all of London.  The buildings and architecture was astonishing.  Everything was big and ancient.  It was all just so old, but in a very good way!  Even though the buildings were centuries old, they were kept clean and in pristine condition.  This was very different from the U.S.  I am not saying that the architecture here is bad, but our country is so new that we don't have any of the ancient and historic buildings like places overseas. After the bus tour, we walked to Buckingham Palace.  Lucky for us, the whole family was home and in the palace.  This was showed by the flags hanging outside.  The building was magnificent and decorated beautifully outside.  The landscaping was luxurious and fit for a queen.  With this being the last day in London, we were given some free time to shop in this big square in the city.  To wrap up London, we took a late afternoon walking tour of the city.  On this tour we saw many of the famous murder sights of Jack the Ripper.  I found this more interesting than I thought I would.  Of course, because I am a Harry Potter fanatic, I remember all of the places where Harry Potter was filmed.  These film sights include Diagon Alley, the Wibbly Wobbly Bridge, and many more famous places from the movie.  I literally felt like I was in one of the Harry Potter movies!

In order to get to Paris the next day, we had to take a train and go under the English Channel.  The train ride was mostly peaceful and quiet due to everyone sleeping because of the early wake up alarm.  Once arriving in Paris, the same rush of excitement washes through your entire body. Paris, the city of love.  Everyone dreams of coming here but few actually make the journey.  We first saw the outside and inside of Notre Dame.  The large cathedral was even more enormous than what it may look like in pictures.  The great stained glass windows were astonishing.  Basically, if someone was to describe Notre Dame in one word it would be huge.  The next and probably most famous sight to see in Paris is of course the Eiffel Tower.  The tower has been described before as not very pretty or kind of plain.  I would disagree completely with these ideas. The Eiffel Tower is the symbol that defines Paris.  It is absolutely beautiful.  However, it is not as tall as you would think.  You can't really see the tower unless you are in the heart of the city.  Yet, it is still one of the most famous structures in the world.  The architecture in Paris was somewhat similar to London.  There were a few differences such as building styles and even little things such as windows.  Paris tended to have longer and more elegant windows.  Truly, the architecture was incredible.

After a long day in Paris, it was time to take an overnight train to Italy.  The night train was a new experience that I will never forget.  Although the train cars were extremely tiny and stacked three fold out beds on each side of your room, everyone slept surprisingly well!  Arriving in Florence was amazing.  The city, yet smaller than the others, was just as beautiful.  This was where most of the shopping took place.  Stores and stands were set up all throughout the city.  After spending just one day and night in Florence, it was time to make our way to Rome.  I was probably most excited for Rome out of all the cities.  I can't even describe how neat and incredible Rome was.  Ancient ruins were all around you.  The list of famous sights and buildings we saw goes on and on.  Just a few of the places we went included the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican, and the Coliseum.  These are all historic places that could take days to see everything.  However, we covered all of these places in one day.  By the time we were on our way back to the hotel, almost everyone had passed out from exhaustion.  Unlike the convenient hotels in the U.S., none of the hotels in Italy had air conditioning.  That was something hard to get used to.  It was especially hard with Italy being the hottest place.  Another minor thing different from our country was that there was rarely any ice in the drinks.  Most drinks were either warm or room temperature.  There were many other little inconvenient factors differentiating our lifestyle from someone overseas, but it was all part of the experience of being in a different country.

While most people were happy to be returning home, I was rather sad.  I fell in love with Europe and all of its cities.  I know for a fact that I will definitely be going back someday.  Who knows, I might even end up living there!  Whatever happens, I know that Europe and I will meet again.  This journey was truly life changing and I am extremely grateful I had the opportunity to do such a thing.

Blog #1

With the help of Honors English 3, my abilities as a writer have increased immensely. I have learned multiple techniques and styles of writing that were foreign to me before last year. When starting a major essay, I first plan everything out as thoroughly as possible. This includes pre-writing activities such as an outline. In this outline the topic is clearly stated, the thesis statement is properly written, there are supporting ideas, topic sentences for each paragraph, and then plenty of examples/quotes supporting your ideas. One of my strengths as a writer is that I do take the time to make an outline and plan out how I am going to write the essay. Although this does take more work and effort, it ultimately helps out in the long run. Probably my greatest weakness as a writer is that I do not always expand upon my ideas as much as I could. This year I am really going to focus on trying to find as much research as possible and then include that in my essay along with facts I already have stated. Writing is a lengthy process, however, it is also extremely important. Whether you are a journalist or fashionista, you will have writing experiences for the rest of your life. All jobs involve writing at one point or another.

I am looking forward to this class. Writing does take a great amount of time and thinking, but I don't necessarily dread writing. As long as the topics are interesting, I find writing enjoyable. During this semester I hope to continue to expand upon my abilities as a writer. I find it challenging the amount of essays we will have to accomplish this year and how we will be working on multiple essays at the same time. However, I think this will only make me a stronger writer. This will also help me out in college. Because I do not know what I want to do when I get older, having good writing skills will be an excellent concept to have.

Final Gatsby Discussion

At the very end of the novel Fitzgerald states, "He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled under the night." Throughout the whole novel Gatsby believed that his dream was to be with Daisy and to win her love back that he had once had before. However, Gatsby did not know that his dream was unreachable. For Daisy had already moved on from Gatsby and she would never go back to him. From the outside, Gatsby seemed to have the perfect life or the dream life. When actually he had nothing at all. Gatsby held numerous extravagant parties that many people attended. He had more money and riches than anyone could even dream about. Yet, none of Gatsby's party guests or so called friends attended his funeral. Sometimes things aren't always what they seem. It may appear that someone has everything they could ever ask for when in reality they are always striving for something they would never truly have, happiness.

As briefly previously stating, Gatsby dreamed to be with Daisy. He wanted nothing more. In fact, Gatsby became somewhat obsessed with achieving this goal. Daisy, however, was mainly after one thing in her life, money. This was so noticeable that even Gatsby once said, "Her voice is full of money." That is the whole reason Daisy was interested in Gatsby when they first reunited. Gatsby took Daisy to his mansion and showed her all of the fancies in life. But soon Daisy realized that she already had these things with Tom. On page 179 Fitzgerald writes, "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made...." Daisy did not care that she somewhat used Gatsby and hurt his feelings. She only cared about herslef.

Honestly, the whole message of this book is kind of depressing. In my opinion there are two ways of looking at the message. One way of looking at it is that we most likely will not achieve our goal or dream in life unless we do things like lie and cheat. By this I mean that Gatsby did not accomplish his goal of winning over Daisy while Daisy, on the other hand, did accomplish her own goal of money by doing bad things such as cheating. However, I think another way of looking at it is that we won't reach this goal if we lie and cheat. For example, Gatsby held these huge parties with people he didn't even know. He never really took the time to get to know any of them either, unless that person had something to do with Daisy. Because Gatsby did not let many people truly see him for who he really was, there were hardly any people that showed up to his funeral. While it is good to dream big, sadly we may not always accomplish these hopes and dreams.

Gun Control Letter Rough Draft

Whether you are young or old, Republican or Democrat, or black or white, almost everyone has an opinion on gun control.  Should it be legal to carry guns? Should it not be legal?  This is a growing problem here in the U.S. and it’s time we face this problem head on.  Unfortunately, the prevention of gun control most likely would not lower the death rate.  It also would not stop killers from getting guns.  If it is truly what they desire, criminals will find a way to obtain a gun no matter what.  The real issue here is that citizens need to be able to protect themselves from shooters.

            Within just the past few months there have been mass shootings that have devastated our country.  One example of this was the Colorado movie theater shooting.  A total of 12 people died and 59 were injured.  Would this number have been different if civilians were allowed to carry guns?  Another example of a tragic shooting was the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.  Here, a total of 26 people died; 20 were students while 6 were adults.  We all know that it must take someone crazy and insane to do such a thing.  But that is my whole point.  These crazy people will not stop doing crimes if guns are banned.  Even if guns are illegal, killers will find ways to acquire one.  In 2011 when guns were supposedly “banned”, around 33,000 Americans died from gun-related incidents just in that year.  If killers cannot get their hands on a gun, they will use other various weapons such as knives and explosives.  It has been proven that something as simple as a household pen can be used as a weapon.  Therefore, the death rate would most likely not increase or decrease depending on guns.  But there is a chance that we could maybe stop or prevent such horrific crimes if citizens were allowed to carry guns on them.

            While Obama’s plan to prevent gun violence addresses the need for background checks on all gun purchases, it simply would not be enough to stop a potential killer.  Just from the two incidents previously mentioned, the killers did not have a troubled background that would require them to be denied the right to a gun.  I know that it makes me extremely uncomfortable knowing that sick people such as these killers are walking around with guns on them.  Thus, I would want to be able to protect myself against someone like this.

My main goal in this letter is to address the matters at hand.  This includes the problem of mass shootings taking places more frequent than not.  Because of that, I am not saying that people should be allowed to carry automatic guns.  The definition of these types of guns states: “A firearm that reloads itself and keeps firing until the trigger is released.”  These types of guns simply are not necessary for civilians own.  The types of guns I think should be legal are ones that are made merely for protection.  For example, that includes guns such as pistols and rifles.  These guns would enable you to defend yourself under an attack, yet they would not be out of control and in constant fire like automatic guns.  The types of guns I recommend are also the ones that the second amendment supports.  This amendment clearly states that if needed for protection, people have the right to bear arms.  The second amendment was written way before automatic guns were even invented.  Therefore, I think there should be a law excluding these weapons from the public.

What’s to stop people from leading a shooting everyday with or without the prevention of guns?  Nevertheless, my point is that we might be able to defend ourselves as well as others if citizens could carry guns on them.  While self-defense is always a possibility if one is being attacked by a criminal, many victims would not be able to take on and fight the attacker.  Sadly, that leaves them helpless and in danger.  All my life I have grown up in an extremely small town with a total of approximately 1,860 people.  When I go to a big city or someplace I am not comfortable, I literally have a fear of what could happen.  Life is a precious thing and should not be taken for granted.  Before we know it, our lives or the lives of a loved one could end suddenly.  We need to take every precaution that we can to save lives.

When saying that citizens should be allowed to carry guns on them I am thinking about the safety of our people.  No matter how hard we try, our officials cannot stop all killers and shooters from doing what they wish.  It simply can’t be done.  Guns were not originally designed for killing.  They were designed for protection.  Guns do not kill people, people kill people.  I am proposing that citizens should be allowed to carry guns on them purely for the reason of safety and protection.

Edna Pontillier

At the beginning of the novel Edna seemed very normal and simple.  She fell in love with a Creole man and then married.  The couple had children and lived a typical Creole life.  Once getting into the novel a little more we found out that she does not take care of her children the way Leonce wants her to.  He believes that the children should be her number one priority.  While I do somewhat agree with that, I also think that Edna was not acting out by letting her children have some freedom.  But as the novel progressed, we continued to learn more in debt about Edna's character.  She started to do some things that were against the Creole society.  For example, in chapter 17 Edna did not follow her usual routine of greeting and entertaining the guests that would show up at her house on Tuesday afternoons.  Leonce reacted to this by saying, "Why, my dear, I should think you'd understand by this time that people don't do such things; we've got to observe les convenances if we ever expect to get on and keep up with the procession.  If you felt that you had to leave home this afternoon, you should have left some suitable explanation for your absence."  I personally do not find what she did that big of a deal.  I'm sure it seemed so bad to Leonce because it was against what Creoles would do and because Edna was doing something different.  I was actually happy that Edna wasn't taking orders from Leonce and she stopped trying to constantly please him.  Now, after having read over half of the novel, at this point Edna has changed completely from the way she was at the beginning.  She is now lonely, troubled, and at times it seems like she is crazy.  This is when I start disliking Edna's character.  It seems as if she has gone over the edge and she doesn't care about anything anymore.  It is not just the Creole society she is opposing, it is more like human society.  Edna now is just a little too psychotic for me to like her.

If I was in Edna's situation I think I would act the way she started behaving more towards the beginning or middle of the novel.  If I did not believe in the Creole society, which I don't, then I would do minor things that followed my own personal views.  Edna knew that she was marrying a Creole man and that was her decision.  Therefore, if I was in the same position I wouldn't have done anything too drastic.  I wouldn't dare act the way Edna does more towards the end.  In chapter 29 it says, "Without even waiting for an answer from her husband regarding his opinion or wishes in the matter, Edna hastened her preparations for quitting her home on Esplanade Street and moving into the little house around the block."  It starts to seem like Edna is not just protesting the society, but she is also being disrespectful and selfish.  In my opinion, Edna does not need to act this way just to get her point across.  However, after saying all of that, you can look at this from both ways.  I'm sure if I was treated the way Edna had been for all those years I would be sick and tired of it.  At some point, I would probably reach a breaking point as well.  It just seems somewhat hard to support and agree with Edna's decisions unless you were truly actually in her same position.

Longfellow vs. Whitman

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:
Longfellow was born on February 27, 1807. He was a well known American poet and educator. He grew up in Portland, Maine where he attended a private school. There, he studied hard and was very intrigued with learning. His mother, Zilpah, was the first to influence her son to pursue reading and poetry. At the age of 15, Longfellow attended Bowdoin College. He continued his interest of learning while at college. After graduating college he then began touring Europe. Shortly after returning back to America, he started teaching at his formal school, Bowdoin College. A few short years later he married Mary Storer Potter. While the two were living abroad, Mary had a terrible miscarriage and she did not survive. That is when Longfellow's poetry really took off. He began writing nonstop because he was so miserable and heartbroken from the death of his beloved wife. After a couple years later he remarried to a woman named Frances Appleton, Franny for short. Together the couple had six children. Longfellow eventually died from the comfort of his own home on March 24, 1882 from peritonitis.

Walt Whitman:
Whitman was born on May 31, 1819 in West Hills, New York. Just like Longfellow, Whitman is a popular American poet from the 1800s. He grew up in a large family that was once wealthy. By the time he was a child, they were forced to sell much of their land due to money issues. Whitman, with influence from his parents, was greatly inspired by America's history and it's great leaders. When Whitman was 11, once again due to money problems, he was pulled out of school and forced to work in order to provide food for his family. He then started a job in the printing business. By the age of 17, Whitman then switched his career to teaching. After about 5 years of that job, he went down the path of journalism. He became the editor of a few newspapers before he eventually started his own newspaper. Whitman had a very strong opinion of slavery and worried about the impacts slavery would have on the country. In 1855, he published a book of traditional poetry. When the Civil War came, Whitman volunteered in Washington and made numerous hospital visits. That only inspired his poetry even more. Whitman died not terribly long after the Civil War on March 26, 1892.

Work History:
Longfellow was always striving to learn more and more. His passion for learning grew when he was studying at Bowdoin College. He liked the school so much that he then went back there a few years later to become a teacher. He also was inspired to learn when he was touring Europe. It was because of this that he became so interested in poetry. With poetry, there are various styles and an endless amount of subjects to write about. Poetry seemed like the perfect calling for Longfellow.

Work History:
Whitman had many different jobs while he was growing up. All of which included some sort of learning and using his brain. Whitman's first collection of poems, Leaves of Grass, ultimately began his poetry career. It was this short book that got his name out there and people started being interested in his works. Whitman also had many inspiring topics to write about. Everything from his rough and poor childhood to volunteering during the Civil War. The events in Whitman's life furthered his passion for poetry.

Similarities and Differences:
From my perspective, Longfellow and Whitman appear to be very similar. They both loved to learn and even at one point in their life had a job as a teacher. They also lived around the same time period and not that far from each other. They also both had some tragedies and hard times in their life. They expressed these tough events through their poetry. For example, Longfellow wrote about the death of his wife and Whitman would write about the troublesome times and people of the Civil War. However, there are also some slight differences between the two poets. Longfellow had more of a priveleged childhood while Whitman had to work hard to provide for his family. Along the same lines, Longfellow was able to go to the college of his choice and even spend time touring Europe. Whitman, on the other hand, had to have many jobs while he was growing up and learned something different from each of those jobs. But even saying this, they were both outstanding poets and are still inspiring poetry today.