Birdie Egg

Author’s Note: This was my first summative this year for English. The following is the author's note that I wrote for the piece. This piece was written for anyone who is growing up and worried about giving up things that you loved as a kid. I guess everyone is always growing up, although at different stages, so this piece is for everyone who needs a reminder that it’s okay to not grow up at lightning speed. I decided to write this piece because even though I knew all along I was growing up, at the start of the school year, I realized how much I was really growing up. I had gotten a job, my license, and now had more responsibility. Plus, I wouldn’t be riding the bus to school like I had almost every day of my life since Kindergarten. This represents a new stage in my life. Throughout my piece, I reflected on a few of the various stages of life I went through all relating to one topic.

One of my first memories, maybe even my first memory, was of my dad squatting down to pick up a random rock while I stood at the porch of my old house, watching him, as any curious two year old would. He held up the small stone for me to see, saying, “Look, Lauren, it’s a birdie egg!” I squealed with delight as he pressed it into the palm of my hand.

Turning around to show my mom, I showed it to her, saying, “I have a birdie egg!”

She didn’t say anything back to me, but as I became distracted with other random things due to my extremely short attention span, she told my dad, “Why are you teaching her things that aren’t correct? She’s going to grow up believing all of these weird lies you tell her.”

A year or two later, when I took my birdie egg off my doll house shaped book shelf, my dad came into my room. “You know that’s not a real birdie egg, right?”

“Yeah, I know. I still like it.” Even though I had known it was just a rock, it always felt like more to me. Disappointed that it was not special, I set it back on my shelf and tried to forget about it. But every so often, I would still eye it, every time I was crushed. Crushed with new realization that I was too old to believe in silly lies. Crushed that I was growing up.

***

It was the first day of Kindergarten. A huge yellow bus clunked down the street, and after my parents took a few pictures, I was off. The bus only had kids my age, and not anyone older than me like my parents had told me there would be. (I later learned this was because only the Kindergarteners rode the bus that day.) I was never afraid, since my parents rode with me on the crowded bus earlier that week. Sitting all by myself, I can’t recall what I was thinking, only that I saw a green house come into view. I saw two little girls. One was my age, standing near the curb, and wearing a green and pink coat covered with flowers and carrying a matching backpack, while the other was very young and watching from the door. The girl my age seemed a little nervous as she conquered the giant stairs, but her nerves changed to confidence as she strolled up to me and stopped.

“I have a birdie egg,” she said to me, holding out a spherical white piece of clay.

“That’s not a birdie egg,” I said back, annoyed. Still, I turned so she could slide in to sit next to the window. She wanted to sit there anyway.

“Yes it is,” she insisted. “I found it.”

“It’s just a piece of clay.” We continued arguing all the way to school, where we stood in separate lines to go to our separate classrooms.

By the time the end of the day rolled around, with our very short attention spans, the girl and I had forgotten all about the argument. After walking to the bus, making sure not to step over the bright green line painted on the sidewalk, I found the same seat I was sitting in that morning empty, and sat down. A few minutes later, the girl came and stood by my seat, waiting for me to turn so she could sit by the window. Little did I know, this would be our routine almost every school day for the next ten years.

***

In second grade, I had decided my birdie egg was still special to me, even if it really was just a rock. Although I don’t remember for sure, I think I became obsessed with it. Or at least, I was playing with it in the sand box in my backyard with my brother, Connor, and babysitter, Ben. I set it on the railing surrounding the sand box. A minute later, it was gone. I started freaking out, since I didn’t know if it dropped into the wood chips surrounding the sandbox, or into the sandbox where Connor was manipulating the sand with his trucks.

“What are you looking for?” Ben asked.

“My birdie egg. I lost my birdie egg! It was sitting right here and now it’s gone!”

I think somehow, he knew what I was talking about. When we couldn’t find it, I started crying.

“It’s okay. Here, I’ll find you another one,” he tried to make the situation better, handing me a small white pebble, half the size of my birdie egg. “But it’s not the same! My birdie egg is bigger and not the same color!” I protested. Nothing could replace the thing, as useless and unimportant it seemed to others, that represented my childhood, my staying young. I didn’t want to give up my birdie egg, didn’t want to lose any more time, didn’t want to grow up.

A few weeks later, when I saw the birdie egg up on my shelf, I was shocked. How did it get there? I ran downstairs, asking my mom if she had found it. I don’t remember her answer, but the important thing was that it was still there. I took the replacement one Ben gave me out of my pocket, and put it on my shelf next to the original one. It is still on my shelf to this day, and will always be, a representation of growing up. At the beginning of junior year, when I realized I wouldn’t be riding the bus with my best friend anymore, it was a rude, aching awakening. Although I knew it all along, it struck me hard that we were growing up.  Even though people change as they grow older, there is still that child inside everyone, just slightly hidden (sometimes more securely than others) by layers of new personality and interests. Growing up shouldn’t mean destroying everything that is near and dear to your heart. It instead should mean exploring, trial and error, and new opportunities.

Keep the Childhood, Don't Throw it Away

Every parent’s hope is that their child is successful in life. Though they have differing opinions on how they can best help their child, everyone can agree that they want their children to have a great, successful life. However, starting a child’s learning career earlier than the age of three, especially with an intense tutoring program, does not make them more successful. It does not further prepare them for school or enhance their learning abilities, and it takes away from their childhood.

Although school is extremely important for children, and it is a good idea to start sending them to school at the age of 3 for a couple of hours, children before the age of three do not need intense tutoring, or really any tutoring at all other than from daily living with their parents. To be successful in life, children need to be more focused on things like independence, social skills, and how to deal with emotions, instead of memorizing facts and learning how to do math. Sure, content knowledge is important, but small children don’t need all of that content knowledge. They will either forget it right away, or remember it and struggle with basic life skills.

Later in life, academics become more important, but at a very young age, learning essential skills is extremely important. “Social readiness, not academic readiness, should be a priority,” says Claire Haas, vice president of education at The Kiddie Academy in Abingdon, Maryland. Teachable moments come from the child's observations or from things they're interested in because children are excited and curious to learn more. Children are way more likely to be interested in ordinary objects than in learning academic subjects, especially not before the age of three, and probably not before the age of five. They can learn through fun, exciting ways in preschool.

When children start academic learning at a very early age, their childhood is being taken away. If they start working intensely on school work and not on social skills, it prevents them from having a more “normal” childhood. “Research suggests that there is little benefit from this kind of tutoring; that young children learn just as much about math, if not more, fitting mixing bowls together on the kitchen floor” (Schulten). Children are naturally good at figuring things out. They learn from past experiences and use the new knowledge in future situations.

Tutoring before preschool does not prepare them for school or enhance their learning abilities; it takes away from their childhood. The best way to teach kids is to let them figure out things for themselves and to take advantage of learning opportunities. Kids don’t need help being taught things they could easily figure out on their own. Children are naturally curious and learn that way, not from being taught.

Works Cited

"Are Adults Hurting Young Children by Pushing Them to Achieve?" The Learning Network Are

Adults Hurting Young Children by Pushing Them to Achieve Comments. 16 May 2011.

Web. 18 May 2015.  

"Before Starting Preschool: What Your Kids Should Know." Parents Magazine. Web. 18 May

2015.

Elegy

Your old age and wispy beard always

steered me far away.

I wish I had more time to see you

instead of remembering that day.

Every weekend I would look forward

to going up north to see the farm

but never to see you.

It was a million years ago (hyperbole)

I saw you sitting silently in that chair (alliteration)

alone, outside.

You never were a talker,

so I pulled a chair right next to you,

thinking you wouldn’t talk to me.

Of course that’s not the truth.

You really talked to me,

the only conversation I remember.

Sure there are other things

like your love for big toys. (oxymoron)

I’m sorry I didn’t know you more,

but I never will forget.

Author’s Note: The type of poem I chose to write was an elegy. It was written to commemorate my great grandpa, who died in February 2013. As a kid, I remember being afraid of him not only because he was “old” or had a wispy beard, but also because on one foot he didn’t have any toes because a long time ago, a chain from a caterpillar fell onto his foot and he had to have his toes amputated. (I couldn’t really put that in the poem…). In the poem, when I said “that day”, I am referring to both the last time I saw him and at his funeral. The part that I don’t want to remember as much as the others is when he mistook my brother for my cousin, and the last thing I ever heard him say was “How’s your arm?”. My cousin had broke his arm in a snowboarding incident (or something like that), and my great grandpa thought it was my brother who broke his arm. I would prefer not to remember him as someone who was confused. The “every weekend I looked forward to going up north” is there because during the summer, especially when I was younger, almost every weekend, my family would go up to the Sheboygan area and see my great uncle race in his sprint car. (As for the farm part, my great grandparents lived on a farm, and technically my great grandma still does, but there isn’t a barn or any animals anymore). I wrote “but never to see you” because I was always super excited to pet the stray cats and see my great uncle race, but I never got “excited” to see my great grandparents. When I was in 6th grade, I went outside to read my book next to my great grandpa (as it says in the poem), and all of a sudden he asked me what my boyfriend’s name was. I was shocked, because, well, I was 12! Most 12 year old girls don’t have boyfriends. I told him that I didn’t have a boyfriend yet, and he told me that I should get one. That is the only conversation I remember having with him, so I had to include it in the poem. I made it a hyperbole because it feels like so long ago and like yesterday at the same time. In included the euphonic alliteration “sitting silently” to illustrate how my great grandpa never really talked, and seemed peaceful. The “big toys” refers to the excavating company he ran. There were always big trucks, bulldozers, caterpillars, and other equipment up at the farm. I know that he always enjoyed excavating. Lastly, I wish that I knew more about my great grandpa, and who he was, but I won’t ever forget about him.

 

Spring 2015 Concert Review

Author's Note: The band teacher had us do another review like the one I did two years ago. I'm pretty sure it's much better than the other one. 

On Wednesday, April 22, 2015, the Pewaukee High School Bands - Concert Band and Symphonic Band- performed at the High School. All of the pieces were either composed or arranged by Wisconsin musicians. Waves of sound filled the auditorium with beautiful sounds that made the audience want to move along with the music.

Although the tone of the very first note played in the concert, which was during the piece “Couple O’Chunes”, was wobbly with bad intonation, it blossomed into a lively, energetic piece with no further intonation errors. The Concert Band piece, “Patrick on the Railway”, sounded like a variation of “The Ants go Marching In”, bringing the audience back to their childhood and producing a feeling of nostalgia. “Different Voices”, performed by Concert Band, brought attention to the different sounds that can be produced using our instruments, voices, and tapping instead of the usual instrument playing methods. After every piece performed by the large ensembles, a piece was performed by a small ensemble, bringing variety to the auditorium, so the audience could get a feel for what the different instruments sounded apart from the big group. Flute choir’s piece “Toccata” opened up very flowy with slurs plus crescendos and decrescendos, then opened up into a fun, bouncy piece.

In general, the performers seemed to be very prepared and maintained correct posture throughout the performance. However, the biggest things that could be improved throughout the ensemble are balance and intonation. For the most part, balance and intonation were alright, but when they weren’t alright, the contrasting sounds pierced the audience’s eardrums. If all of the balance and intonation issues were worked out, the performance would have sounded even more lovely and pleasing to the ears. Overall, the concert was a gorgeous combination of music performed by extremely talented young musicians.

The Power of Love

Author's Note: Also in English, we read Elie Wisel's Night. This is the summative I wrote. It was a little rushed, so there still might be some mistakes, but it's not too bad (I hope).

Words are used to express ourselves and convey feelings. No matter what, all words can have an impact on people, whether it be a positive one that strengthens them or negative one that tears them down. Although hope has been known to give people a sense of purpose and motivate them to move forward, Elie Wiesel’s purposeful punctuation in Night reveals that the most powerful word is love, proving that we must preserve love or at the end of the day, when all hope decays, we will be left with nothing.

Someone may believe that hope is the most powerful word in the English Language, due to Wiesel’s use of exclamatory comments. In order to prove their power, the Nazis blamed the Jews for the loss of World War 1, and attempted to eradicate them. At first, they were mocked and Jewish stores were vandalized. Little did Elie know that it was the beginning of worst times. Jews were cut off from the world and put in enclosed streets, called ghettos. When the time came to come out, Elie and his family were ecstatic about being part of the world again. Except they were really being transported to concentration camps, shoved in extremely tight quarters on the trains. They were they dumped into huge camps, along with thousands of other Jews. Eventually, the prisoners were to transfer from Auschwitz to Gleiwitz. They were forced to walk for miles, but had hope that if they pressed on, they could survive. Elie states that the S.S. officers shouting at them gave the prisoners hope; “‘Hold on! We’re almost there!’ ‘Courage! Just a few more hours!’ ‘We’re arriving in Gleiwitz!’ These words of encouragement, even coming as they did from the mouths of our assassins, were of great help” (Wiesel 92). The officers’ optimistic words pushed the Jews forward. At first, Wiesel gives the illusion that hope is needed and powerful, however, Elie, along with other Jews, lose hope and cling onto love for survival.

Therefore, love is the most powerful word in the English language as demonstrated by Wiesel’s purposeful punctuation. After spending countless hours with no one to talk to except his father, Elie’s relationship with him grew. Before the camps, Elie hardly knew his father, but now they know each other inside and out. Now they are equal with understanding. Elie describes, “I felt a tear on my hand. Whose was it? Mine? His? I said nothing. Nor did he. Never before had we understood each other so clearly” (Wiesel 68). Of course, Elie had always loved his father, but with nothing else left- no possessions, no other family, no free will- Elie needs to preserve their love and make it grow to protect his father no matter what. If Elie doesn’t preserve his love for his father, when there is no hope and nothing else to live for, the battle for life will be lost.

Although hope can give the illusion of purpose, love is the most powerful word in the English language. If there is no love, only hope for love, then when all hope is gone, there will still be no love, and there will be nothing left to live for. However, if we love one another and create bonds and relationships, when all hope is lost, there will still be love.

Lord of the Flies Writing Responses

Author's Note: The following are writing responses I wrote in English for the book The Lord of the Flies for practice for the final. I will post the final for this book later, because it is very different from the writing responses. 


#1: Animalistic Diction

Civilization has been established as a way to cage our inner beasts. If taken out of civilization, that beast is allowed to roam and thrive. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the use of animalistic diction illuminates that if a group of people is let into the wild without any form of civilization or concrete rules, they will slowly lose touch with the society they left. Unless we are kept under control with a sense of ethics, we will do bad things knowing they are wrong, and turn into something we did not know lived in us and will not change back.

Once someone realizes they have been let free, they will allow that side of them show. During a plane ride, something goes terribly wrong and crash lands into an island with no adult survivors. After a few months of being on an inescapable island in the middle of nowhere, the little boys trapped there start getting bored. Except not long after arriving on the island, once Jack, one of the boys, decides to see what he is capable of by going out hunting by himself. “Jack himself shrank at this cry with a hiss of indrawn breath, and for a minute became less a hunter than a furtive thing, ape-like among the tangle of trees.” (Golding, page 49). When Jack first starts his hunt, he leaves as a human, but once he gets into it, he starts to show parts of his inner beast. Soon, Ralph, too starts to turn into a savage beast and become less human. “Ralph carried away by a sudden thick excitement, grabbed Eric’s spear and jabbed at Robert with it. ‘Kill him! Kill him!’... Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh. The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering.” If a so-called leader can easily be turned into a something unknown, there is definitely a beast inside us all. We need to keep a working society in order to keep our inner beast caged and not let the craving for power stand in our way.

#2: This is What Happens

Little spurts of power excite us, but too much power is never a good thing. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the thirst for power controls the boys and overrides them, illustrated through change in characterization. A working society hides the savage part of people, and if for some reason that fails, everyone will all  turn into something we did not know lived inside us and will not change back, our innocent lives forever ruined.

Once someone realizes they have been let free, they will allow that side of them show. While on a plane, something goes wrong and a group of boys crash land onto a remote island. After a few months of being on an inescapable island in the middle of nowhere, the little boys trapped there start getting bored. Except not long after arriving on the island, Jack, one of the boys, decides to see what he is capable of by going out hunting by himself. “Jack himself shrank at this cry with a hiss of indrawn breath, and for a minute became less a hunter than a furtive thing, ape-like among the tangle of trees.” (Golding, page 49). When Jack first starts his hunt, he leaves as a human, but once he gets into it, he starts to show parts of his inner animal. After realizing he has a thirst for power, Jack has to become less and less human to quench it. “Jack was on top of the heap, stabbing downward with his knife… Then Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands. The sow collapsed under them and they were heavy and fulfilled upon her.” (Golding, page 135). Instead of hunting for food, Jack killed the pig over and over again so he could see more blood and stab the flesh of the pig. He felt the need to slaughter this innocent mother pig just to fulfill his need for power. This is what happens when we are separated from society. This is what happens when we don’t have rules. This is what happens when we are let free.  

#3: Light vs. Dark

Darkness is thought to hold evil. For this reason, most little kids are scared of the dark, and when they hear an unknown bump, they are not confident it is not a monster until the lights are turned on. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, he uses the repetition of light to illuminate how the boys on the otherwise deserted island realize that light triumphs over darkness, but there is not enough light to cover the darkness of the night; there is not enough light to cover the evilness that seems to lurk there. Even when things seem to be going down the wrong path, there is still hope, until we stop believing. If nothing seems to be going right, we must not be without faith, or we will be plunged into darkness.

Without civilization, we will fade into the darkness. While on a plane, something goes wrong and a group of boys crash land onto a remote island. Even though the way they were raised showed a promising future, once they are released into the wild, their inner beast is allowed to roam free. Before they know it, the boys are plunged into savagery, or darkness. “A sliver of moon rose over the horizon, hardly large enough to make a path of light even when it sat right down on the water… there were other lights in the sky, that moved fast, winked, or went out, though not even a faint popping came down from the battle fought at ten miles’ height.” (Golding, page 95). Once the boys have become savages, there is no turning back into the light they used to be. There is not enough light left in them to cover up the darkness they have encountered. When the lights go out for good, they will never come back on.

#4: Ineffective Ending

In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the ending was too abrupt and simple to be effective enough to leave an impact on the audience. The last chapter was sudden, yet thrilling for the reader. “The red rock that he could see at the top of the cliff vanished like a curtain, and he could see figures and blue sky. A moment later the earth jolted, there was a rushing around in the air, and the top of the thicket was cuffed as with a gigantic hand.” (Golding, page 193). Although the beginning of the conclusion was fantastic, keeping readers at the edge of their seats, the ending just sort of happens, and lingers in the air like fog until the reader realizes it was the end. This makes it very easy for the reader to forget about the moral of the book and the impact the heavy topics were supposed to have. The incomplete ending not only forgets to remind the reader of the moral of the story, but also leaves them hanging, craving for closure and filled with questions, wondering what happened to the characters.  

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Formative Writing Responces

Overall Author's Note: In English this year, we read the book Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (shortened title). To practice for the sumative, everyone had to write three writing responses. I probably won't post my sumative, because it's just a glorified version of my last response. Here are my responses: 


#1: Behind Closed Doors

Author’s Note: In this writing response, I wanted to do a poem because I haven’t written a poem in a really long time and wanted to uncover my long lost poet self. The motif I chose to write about was the motif of doors, and the fact that people hide behind them just like Mr. Hyde is doing, trying to mask something.

People everywhere

Are really in disguise

Putting themselves away

Isolated from society

Solitary

Torn away

Hidden

Cover up the past

The door acts as a shield

Preventing

Stopping

Pondering

Unaccompanied

Unapproachable

Unattended

Non-existent

Truth kept under lock and key

And careful supervision

Careful contemplation

Never to see the light of day

#2: The Adventurous Fog a.k.a. Fogquhar

Author's Note: In this writing response, I chose to write a poem. I felt it was the best way to get my point across. The poem can be read three different ways, with a little different meaning each time. Any way you read it represents the fog masking up the secrets kept in the novella.

Creeping along ~~~ Silent, crawling, floating

Always there ~~~ Watching, waiting, impending

Blinding the truth ~~~ Blocking, preventing, forbidding

From those who seek it ~~~ Holding, hiding, keeping

Changing it ~~~ Distorting, crafting, diverting

No one will ever know

#3: Of Course He's Evil

Author’s Note: For the third writing response, I chose to write an IITS ITS CLEAR to hopefully get some good feedback so I know what to work on for the summative. I tried to use unique and cogent voice in my piece (especially in the beginning and the end where it is easier to get creative). In the intro, I used purposeful syntax and diction to make the reader feel uneasy to help enhance my point. I used purposeful organization (obviously) because I stuck to the IITS ITS CLEAR format. Some of the components got mixed together, but that was so everything would flow nicer. My depth of analysis can be found in the analysis section. I tried to make my depth of understanding and what I was trying to say well known. I also used proper mechanics. My membean word is belligerent.

Unnerving, unearthly, cunning things sneak around, shadows in the dark, frantically searching for something, anything to feast on. Demons, monsters, and other evil beings silently prowl around, watching, waiting to come out. Although invisible, we can can catch glances at them just by looking at people. The evil things are craving an escape so badly that they shine through someone’s face. In Robert Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a mysterious man of the name Mr. Hyde is obviously hiding something. Whether it be a concealed secret or a deep hatred, Mr. Hyde is definitely evil, illustrated by the use of the motif of repressed evil. This representation is proof that when evil is locked away for so long and it is finally released, it is like a tea kettle, heating up, boiling, threatening to spill, until it does.

Everyone has at least a little evil in them, but sometimes it is easier to see. Right when Mr. Hyde is introduced, he is described as satanic. Mr. Einfeld said to Mr. Utterson after encountering a strange man, “I never saw a circle of such hateful faces; and there was the man in the middle, with a kind of black, sneering coolness- frightened too, I could see that- but carrying it off, sir, really like Satan” (6). Of course, Mr. Utterson didn’t completely believe him right away because no one should be judged without even seeing them. Eventually, after finding out Mr. Jekyll wrote in his will that Mr. Hyde replace him if he dies or is gone for more than three months. Mr. Utterson couldn’t stand not knowing what Mr. Hyde looked like after Mr. Einfeld had described such a horror of a man, so he went out to look for him. After finally meeting him, Mr. Utterson thought to himself, “O my poor old Harry Jekyll, if ever I read Satan’s signature upon a face, it is on that of your new friend” (20). First impressions matter, and the first impressions of Mr. Hyde of both Mr. Einfeld and Mr. Utterson were that he was some sort of satanic figure, giving off an evil vibe. This is where the evilness inside of Mr. Hyde began to seep through his face, but not quite ready to act. Soon, that time came. When the evil was ready to pounce, it caused Mr. Hyde to act out in a belligerent, inhumane way. “He had in his hand a heavy cane… Mr. Hyde broke out of all bounds and clubbed [a man] to the earth” (29). Just like Mr. Einfeld and Mr. Utterson suspected, Mr. Hyde was up to no good. He has an evil side, and it could be easily caught just by looking at him. This emphasizes the idea that everyone, no matter how they appear on the outside, has at least a little evil inside.

Reaction Outcome CER

Author's Note: In chemistry, we had to write a lot of CER's (claim data reasoning). This one was probably my best, and it is based off of an experiment we did, which I refer to as "the reaction outcome challenge".

      Atoms and mass are conserved during a chemical reaction. In the reaction outcome challenge lab, Potassium Chlorate (KClO3) was heated, turned into a liquid as the intermolecular bonds were weakened, and was continually heated until it turned until a solid as intramolecular bonds formed stronger than the intermolecular bonds, keeping the molecules packed tightly together. The new substance weighed 39.17% less than the original substance. At first, it seems impossible that the Law of Conservation of Matter wasn’t broken. But really the oxygen, that was in the substance and then wasn’t, did not actually disappear. Before the lab was conducted, the following measurements were made: the mass of the empty test tube- 21.64g, the mass of the test tube with the potassium chlorate- 24.12g, and the mass of the test tube with the manganese dioxide catalyst and potassium chlorate- 24.17g. So, the mass of the potassium chlorate was 2.48g, and after the substance melted and solidified again, it weighed 1.61g, or 39.17% less than the original substance. To prove it, 39.17% of the substance (the amount of oxygen) was multiplied by 2.48g, the total weight of the initial substance, to get 0.97g. 0.97g was then subtracted from the total substance to get 1.51 g. The oxygen left the test tube, and did not leave completely. Since 39% of the KClO3was oxygen, and during the process about 39% of the mass was lost, the oxygen only left the test tube and didn’t actually disappear.

      The release or absorption of energy from a chemical process depends on changes in bonding and interactions. According to the law of conservation of energy, energy can’t be destroyed or created; it can only change from one to another or be transferred from one object or substance to another. This indicates that energy can enter and be absorbed by substances or exit and be released from substances. The process of energy entering and being absorbed by a substance is endothermic, and the process of energy being released and exiting a substance is exothermic. During change number three of the endothermic and exothermic investigation lab, solid Ba(OH)2 and solid NH4SCN produced a liquid chemical along with ammonium. The reaction got very cold as the solid compounds liquified. It did not melt to become solid, but in fact energy was absorbed to break the bonds of the solids to become liquid. The energy had to come from somewhere, so it was taken from its surroundings, or the beaker. Therefore, this process was endothermic, as energy was absorbed. An example of energy being released, or an exothermic process can be found in change number four from the endothermic and exothermic investigation lab. Change number four was a spontaneous combustion of the purple solid potassium permanganate. Spontaneous combustion is the ignition and burning of a substance that occurs without using an external source of heat such as a match or burner. The potassium permanganate increased in energy; it released energy in the form of heat, creating a seemingly random fire.

21st Century Instruments and Architecture

Author's Note: In band class, we were split into groups of five to research the different time periods. My group's assigned time period was the 21st Century. I was in charge of finding information on the instruments and architecture (how it relates to music). Not too exciting, I know. But the architecture part is pretty cool if you think about it. 

The original symphony orchestra started out as random musicians playing whatever instruments were available. Soon, the modern orchestra started popping up all over the world. Orchestras still have a big string section, with smaller sections for brasses, woodwinds, percussion, harps and keyboard instruments, just as they have been for two hundred years. The orchestra has similar instruments to band, with an added string section. Other instruments in different genres of music are now more electric, such as electric guitars, keyboards, and synthesizers.

The comparison between music and architecture reveals that the architectural design process has the same elements and components of the music process. The art of music consists of a composer, listener, and the musical work, while architecture consists of a designer, user, and the architectural work. If we recognize the literal meaning of architecture, we will find that the same emotion is in music. Work affects a person, and makes them feel a certain way. The success of the architectural works depends on many factors, the same as in music. Modern architectural work contains the same mixture of unity, variety, rhythm, and harmony as music. According to a mutual relation between music and architecture in design, “arches and colonnades will be transformed to music pieces, columns to drum hits or organs, transparency of glass curtain walls to the most pure voice, the spaces between forms to music pauses, and floors will be changed to music notes”. There have also been architectures specifically designed to look like musical instruments to prove to people there is a great relationship between architectural design and music.

Is Technology Making Us Smarter?

Author's Note: I wrote this for a class I took this year as an essay about technology. My argument is whether or not technology is making us smarter. Read on to hear more about the technology issue that is happening in many parts of the world.

Technology advances have had both a positive and negative effect on society. Although technology has made us “smarter” in the fact that we can now find and kill diseases, help sick people of all ages, able to accomplish more, and have made many other technological advances, as individuals, we aren’t becoming smarter. In fact, we aren’t as smart as we used to be. Of course, this is not true for certain people, because certain people are extremely smart, but society as a whole is becoming less smart. We aren’t as smart as we used to be.

The internet makes it hard to think for ourselves. If there is a school question, everyone asks the internet, right? Well, if something is not clear, especially in school, the internet should not be used. When we use the internet, we are just trying to find the quickest way possible to understand something to write down to get a good grade and remember for the short term. However, when the internet is used, we aren’t really thinking about what we are doing, and are easily distracted by ads and other websites. By being distracted, it is harder to recall information, even if it was just viewed. This also makes it difficult to process information, analyze it, and respond to it in a normal way. If that is taken away, people can’t think for themselves.

People rely on the internet to not only remember things for school, but facts in general. Betsy Sparrow, an assistant professor of psychology, designed an experiment to determine whether  people were more likely to remember information that could be easily retrieved from a computer, just as students are more likely to recall facts they believe will be on a test. Participants in the experiment typed 40 bits of trivia into a computer, half of them believing they would be able to retrieve the information later, and half believing the items typed would be erased. According to the study, The subjects were significantly more likely to remember information if they thought they would not be able to find it later.” If something happened to technology where would we be? There would be no internet to look up what to do. Important personal information would be lost, and people who didn’t back up this information by printing it out will be at a great loss.

With all this technology around, everyone has seemed to forgotten to interact with one another. Instead of talking face to face, or even calling someone, people prefer to text or use social media. This causes social anxiety. Most people would frankly rather stay at home than go out and talk to people they don’t know in a professional way. Bruce Feiler, the author of an article about the Millennials being more socially awkward, said, “Dr. Nass [a professor at Stanford University] told me about research he was doing that suggested young people were spending so much time looking into screens that they were losing the ability to read nonverbal communications and learn other skills necessary for one-on-one interactions. As a dorm supervisor, he connected this development with a host of popular trends among young people, from increased social anxiety to group dating.” If kids don’t learn the communication skills they need, they will have increased social anxiety.

Society as a whole is not smarter than it used to be. We have lost some of our smarts, memory, and communication skills. Even though technology has allowed for great science and medical advances, it has hurt society. The only way to improve society is to put down the phones, stop looking at that screen, talk to people around us, and live life.