Academic Writing

Youths in the Foster Systems

Meets Objective

Explanation:

I ranked myself as “meets objective,” because I was able to use research and apply it to something that meant a lot to me. I was able to put real facts down and show how this is a struggle in todays society. I used many different sources and I was able to get a decent grade on my paper, which shows that I was able to put meaning into the research. I would say I am a master at putting meaning to my research because at some places in this paper I don’t make a lot of sense with explaining what the quote has to do with anything. I could improve on that as well as some other places in order to reach the mastering of the objective. A place that I could do better with my quote integration is in the second to last paragraph, ““Educational achievement escapes many of these youth, with completion rates of high school as low as 34%.” (Reilly, Thorn 728). These youths don’t have anyone to encourage him or her to stick with it.” I could make the integration better by making the quote mean something significant instead of making it sound like I don’t care a lot about this topic when I really do.

 

Creative Writing

Nightmares Coming to Life

Meets Objective

Explanation:

I rank myself as “meets objective” for this objective. I think that my creative piece had good word choice. I also think my piece was descriptive and that the descriptions helped show the story instead of just telling it. I think this is one of my best areas of writing because I can write about anything to make it creative and it comes easily to me. I feel like the creative pieces that I write about myself come the easiest because I experienced what I’m writing about instead of making it up. In my piece, “Nightmares Coming to Life”, I was able to be descriptive in the second paragraph, by saying, “I trudged my way in, plopped down and started putting on my basketball shoes.” I was able to show that I was tired and somewhat dreading going to practice that day. Another way I showed something in a creative way was, “There was no blood, but as I pulled my hands away, I saw it laying there so pure and clean, my tooth.” This make it sound a little suspenseful of what that object could be and I doesn’t just flat out say that it was my tooth at first.

Found Poem

Katrina Staab
Mr. Stoltenow
English 2
2 September 2016
Found Poem

I am delighted,
For the promise,
For something new.
Everybody who starts something,
Wonder,
What the next place
Will be like.

What a man wants more than anything
Else in the world,
Is a friend who will stand by him,
To do things with.
They must think,
Avoid the mistakes.
Let them have their own way.

Life would be different,
A better world is important to have
It is more important to render life.
Someday you will come together,
Stand with glad confidence.
The best gift is not life,
It’s blessing and comfort to others.

Speech:

Helen Keller

“Knights of the Blind”

Knights of the Blind, I salute you!

I am delighted to participate with you in the Lions International Week for the Blind. This week for the Blind is an event full of promise for thousands of handicapped people.

There is always a sense of adventure in a new enterprise, and the Lions’ way of serving the blind is something new in the world. I think nearly everybody who starts something is a good deal like a traveller in a strange land. We wonder what the next place will be like, and what kind of people we shall meet; and ever there is the unexpected — the hope that an event out of the common may happen.

I began by saying that the Lions’ attitude towards the blind is something new in the world. What I mean is the Lions are trying to help the blind as they would help one of their own number who had met with a misfortune, and not as people different from everyone else. The usual attitude of the seeing man emphasizes the difference between himself and his blind neighbor. If he would only stop for a moment and try to imagine what it would be like not to see, how he would feel if an accident dashed the light out of his eyes! Of course it would not change him in any respect, except to make everything in life harder for him. Mentally, morally, emotionally he is the same man as he was before the accident. He would like to go on with his work if that were possible. He suffers terribly because of his helplessness. He finds himself out of a job, out of luck, dependent on others. Pity does not help much in such a situation, and mere charity is degrading.

What such a man wants more than anything else in the world is a friend who will stand by him through the period of readjustment. He must learn how to live in the dark, how to do things with his hands, how to find his way about, and usually he must learn a new way of earning his daily bread. Because the Lions are active, and many of them young and intelligent, they have grasped the situation, I think. That is why the Lions are going to be a power for good in the work for the sightless.

To do anything well, we must first get a right concept of what we are aiming at. We must think right before we can act right. Keep the blind before your mind’s eye as people just like yourselves, and you will avoid the mistakes that are so often made by those who started out to assist the blind. Do not think “the poor things” will all want to read the same books, or engage in the same kind of occupations, or marry the same kind of women. The Lions can build up in the business world an intelligent valuation of the capabilities of the blind. The employer should not lower his standard of efficiency to meet the requirements of people without sight. If they can do a job at all, they should be held to the prevailing standard. They are just average human beings. If you coddle them, and let them have their own way in everything, they become spoilt, and behave like irresponsible children, just as you would do under similar circumstances.

Another mistake to be deplored is, many blind youths receive excellent vocational training in the schools for the sightless, and are not able to utilize it. Thousands of dollars are expended on their education. They devote years to the study of music, and when they leave school there is nothing for them to do but go into the semi-charitable workshops for the blind. This is a waste of money, time, capacity. If these young people were assisted until positions could be found for them, life would be different for many of them.

It is hard enough for people with all their faculties to succeed in life alone, and it is almost impossible for the blind to win their way without the right kind of help. We, blind and seeing — we are all parts of a great whole, and we depend one upon another. This thought is at the foundation of our institutions, our civilization and our homes. Beneath the superstructure of our civic life there are thousands of devoted men and women giving of their very best towards this principle of cooperation, and whose joy is service to their fellow creatures. It is in this capacity of upbuilders (sic) of a better world that we meet here tonight.

It is important to aid those who have been wounded on the battlefields of life. It is still more important, more intelligent to render life safe and sweeter for coming generations, and that is what prevention of blindness and other physical disasters means. I rejoice that the Lions International has manifested such earnestness in the movement for the conservation of human eyesight. This is the rallying-point of progress. It has taken centuries to bring about the wrong conditions which have resulted in so much suffering. We cannot hope to abolish these conditions in a day; but if we all brace ourselves for a long, grim fight against ignorance and wrong living, we shall not only save men’s faculties, we shall also build up a saner, nobler civilization for the future.

Some day you will come together again here in this beautiful capital of our country, and look over the field of your endeavors. If I am alive then, I shall stand before you with glad confidence and say to you: “Well done, good and faithful Knights of the Blind,” and you will say with equal joy, “We have received as richly as we have given.” Thus we come to the conclusion of it all, that in every useful work the best gift is not in admiration or endowment, but in the life and character which pours out of its spiritual wealth and power blessing and comfort to others. This is a proud moment for me because I feel that I am one in a valiant crusade of fifty thousand Lions to arouse nation-wide interest in the blind and the best way of helping them to help themselves. Again, I salute you, Knights of the Blind, torch-bearers in darkness. I thank you.

Of Mice and Men Questions

Katrina Staab

English 10

30 October 2016

Part 1:

1.

The cause of making a character disposable is when the character doesn’t fit in. They are used in the story but people treat them like they don’t matter. They see these characters as less than what they really are.

Lennie is an example of a character who is disposable. He is seen as someone who is less then anyone else because of the way he acts. However, there are a few other characters that are seen as disposable such as Crooks. Crooks is disposable in this book because of his race. He comes across as less because of his skin color. These people around him don’t like being around him because he is black. On page 66, they describe him by saying, “Crooks, the negro stable buck.” He is called a name that is disrespectful about his skin color. He is seen to be less because of his skin color along with him being cripple. People are seen as less when they have something visibly wrong with them.

Crooks’ being disposable is justified when he talked about how he is unwanted. On page

68 he says, “‘Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, all of you stink to me. Other people don’t treat him respectfully. They don’t include him simply because of his race.

In the section where you learn about crooks, there is imagery. On page 66, it says,

“There were cans of saddle soap and a drippy can of tar with its paintbrush sticking over the edge.” You can visualize what is being talked about. Also, the point of view in this book is 3^rd person. It uses he, she, it, him, he, etc.

2.

I think that this book is titled with a name that fits very well. At first when you think about it, it might not make sense. However, there are some things that are somewhat parallel in the poem and the book. They have different meanings for some things but there are some that are similar.

The poem reminds me of the book when I see the lines, “Thou need na start awa sae hasty, Wi’ bickering brattle!” When I look at the original writing it doesn’t make sense however I looked at the modern English translation and it says, “Why dash away, so quick, so rash, in a frenzied flash.” It relates to when Lennie and George ran away from Weed. They left quickly without going back. They needed to leave. They were scurrying away from things that were troubling them just like the mouse is running away from the farmer in the poem.

When I saw the part of the poem where it says, “An forward, tho’ I canna see, I guess an’ fear!” It reminds me of the part where George had just shot Lennie. People were looking at him. Also, George would have been terrified because he just shot the person that the other people were looking for.

There is setting in this book. They are on a ranch in the Salinas valley. There is also symbolism. The rabbits along with the ranch that they want to get symbolize and dream of freedom. They want to be free from having to find work and getting into trouble. Part 2:

A dream that was shown in this book is Lennie and George wanting to get a ranch and Lennie wanting to tend rabbits. They want it so that they don’t have to work at the ranch anymore. They want to be able to not worry about getting into trouble. They want to be by themselves with this ranch where they can make money off of that instead of working for other people. The spark of the dream is when they first talk about what they want to do. On page 14, they say, “An’ live off the fatta the lan’.” They want to get that house and everything else.

The blaze of the dream is when they bring it up again, but in front of Candy. Candy get involved and excited about this plan. They talk about how in about a month they will have enough money to get that ranch and leave. Candy even offer to help pay for it just as long and he can get out of working where they are currently. Candy also says on page 59, ” I’d make a will an’ leave my share to you guys in case I kick off, ’cause I ain’t got no relatives nor nothing.”

He talks about how he is willing to help them and write his will to them if they would be willing

to let him go along too.

The dying of the flame happens when Lennie kills the puppy and Curley’s wife. Lennie says on page 87, “George ain’t gonna let me tend no rabbits now.” He knew that he had done a bad thing with both the dog and Curley’s wife. He knew that the dream wasn’t going to come true because they were going to have to leave. He felt bad and he wanted the dream just like George and he killed the dream just like a flame dies.

On page 93, there is personification when the book says, “But the barn was alive now.”

This is personification because a barn can’t be alive which is giving a non-human thing, human like characteristics. Another device is dialogue. This shows how the people talk and it shows you what kind of a personality they have.

Nightmares Coming to Life

The night before, I slept extraordinarily well and as I dozed off, I experienced what seemed to be a nightmare. I dreamt about what might happen the next morning at practice. In my dream, I considered the idea that something bad was going to happen to me. A feeling of discomfort had settled in that I was for sure going to get hurt. I was thinking in my mind, that I would probably tear my ACL, break my arm, or possibly snap my leg. I had a feeling that something was going to happen to me, I just wasn’t sure what that would be.

We pulled into the school parking lot. I walked in half asleep trying to avoid anyone that could cross my path.  I trudged my way in, plopped down and started putting on my basketball shoes. My coach looked at me and hollered, “Are you awake?” I smirked and replied, “Barely”.

Everyone was sitting in a circle putting on their basketball shoes for the start of practice. This wasn’t just any practice though. It was the practice where parents were allowed to come watch as everyone was scrimmaging. We started out with warm ups so that we could treat it like it was a game. The first warm up we did was forwards jogging and then moved straight to backwards jogging. As it continued, we switched to whatever our coach told us to do. Then we started layups and after that, went to shoot and stretch. I stood on the sideline as the matchup started. It was white against blue. Who was going to win? Tweet! The game started at an instant. The girls who were playing were the people who were going to start Varsity and the people who were going to play Varsity but not start. They were running back and forth after what seemed like hours. Tweet! I was caught off guard at the sound of the whistle. “Subs!” Our coach hollered to us. It was my turn to go in. It was my first time playing a basketball game as a high schooler in front of parents.

Every time I would get the ball, and I was open I would shoot. The majority of them were misses. Suddenly, I went up with a shot. Everyone was looking like it would be a tie breaker. It felt like the ball was moving in slow motion. Swish. Just kidding. It was the exact opposite sound. Everyone heard a thud on the ground. Airball. I was thinking, oh well, it’s not like everyone saw it. Tweet! “Let’s take a quick drink break.” You could hear sighs of relief as there were about 20 of us panting as hard as we could because all of us were out of shape.

After the break, we started back up again. I was once again back on the sideline waiting anxiously to be able to go back in. I just kept watching in admiration of the older girls. I wished that I could be as good as them. I kept watching and cheering on my team. Tweet! Yes! It was finally time to go back in. I was thinking that I really needed to make up for all my airballs. I was sprinting down the court to get on offense. I was playing wing at that time. The pass that was meant for me had been deflected. The ball went out of bounds. Our ball on the baseline. We passed it in and someone made a shot. It was the other team’s ball. We got a steal. We were running back down the court. I was running at full speed. The ball was flying down the court. I was going to get it. I was going to get a layup. I kept running and running. Wham. “Ahhhhh. I think it’s my toof.” I pulled my hands up to my mouth to see if there was any blood. There was no blood but as I pulled my hands away, I saw it laying there so pure and clean, my tooth.

My sister had sprinted over to me to make sure I was okay. She kept saying I was fine and that everything will be okay. She got me up and we started walking into the trainers room. I was full of emotion. The first few things I said were, “Now I can’t eat my Mexthican food tonight. And my smile won’t be pretty anymore.” Everyone started laughing as tears were draining out of my eyes. Everyone felt bad so they started assuring me I was going to be fine, and that my smile wasn’t going to be ruined. Many hours later, after an emergency root canal, a fake tooth, and having a tooth popped back into place, they proved to be right.

Adversity Blog Reflection

I learned from reading my book and from hearing what my peers have said, that adversity comes in all shapes and sizes. I think that adversity has many ways to be overcome. All people overcome adversity differently. Some people have to reach out of heir comfort zone to get out of the adversity and some people have to go too far into their comfort zone. Adversity is a hard thing to over come but if you have the support and people around you to help you out, it will be easier. When people have adversities, they need people to help them out even if they seem like they don’t want help. I think that adversities are things that need to be overcome to help people move past hard times and to help them figure out who they are. I think this because if you don’t move past an adversity, the feelings could just pile up and stay with you until you face the reality of it. I know that facing adversity can be challenging because it makes you face hard things that you don’t want to deal with. With what Eleanor had to go through, I feel like it was good for her to have someone like Park to help her through her difficult time. Even though Eleanor didn’t want anyone to know about what she was going through, I feel like she needed someone to help her get it off her chest. Adversity can be scary and it can be hard but the people you have around you to help you through it, are who helps you through your difficult times. People need encouragement to get through difficult times to help them to want to keep pushing through the adversity. People can help you even if you feel like they can’t. They can encourage you and push you to keep going even if you feel like giving up.

Memories that Last Forever

Katrina Staab

Mrs. Jank

5 April 2017

English 2

Memories that Last Forever

“You aren’t loved, and you never will be.”

Those may not be the exact words that were said, however he showed them with the actions he used against my brothers and my mom.

Joe, my biological dad, often used his actions to harm us. He wasn’t fit to be a parent. It wasn’t until my brother Travis went to school with a black eye that someone finally called the police on Joe. I refuse to call him my dad because all he did was hurt the people around me that loved and cared for me. It was hard to be forced to see my loved ones in pain. It was also scary seeing someone do that to the people that I cared about without being able to do anything about it. The only thing I still clearly remember were the screams of pain and agony coming from my mom and my brothers. As well as, police sirens and lights showing up on a regular basis.

I was a young, cute, little girl. Nobody wanted to harm me. However, seeing my loved ones in pain will continue to be an experience I never want to relive. That experience alone hurt me. It also, effects with the way I see relationships now in my life.

My mom was so dependent of someone in her life that she couldn’t leave him. Because of this, my siblings and I had to be put in the foster system. Our mom loved us, but she couldn’t do what was right to take care of her children. I moved to two foster homes before I was adopted. However, my brothers had to experience many other places that effected the way that they will see people around them for the rest of their lives. They had to deal with many different people coming into their lives which makes them take their relationships for granted because they didn’t have the same people continually giving them love. I notice in my relationship with them that they don’t know who wants to show them love and who wants to make them feel unloved. However, with the experience that I had in foster care, I didn’t feel the love that I now experience. I was able to learn who was going to love me through it all and who was faking it. I now don’t take my relationships for granted because I have been put in some difficult experiences.

I still remember many experiences where the police came and punished my brothers for things that they didn’t even do. That happens to be one of the largest reasons why I am so afraid of police to this day. Every time I see one, I shut down. I want to cry because of all the bad memories I have with them. Other instances when I didn’t feel loved included of the times when my foster family didn’t allow me to stay hydrated after a certain time. This made me extremely thirsty and in need of water. I stole the cup from the fridge that was stopping a leak and took it to a bathroom and drank from the toilet because I couldn’t reach the sink. Another time included when I had to go to the emergency room to get my eyebrow glued closed because I got scratched by their cat, but they told the hospital that it was my fault because I was up past my bedtime and I fell off the top bunk. However, I slept on the bottom bunk.

These experiences have made an impact on who I am today because they have helped me determine who I should shut out of my life because they will be bad for who I am. Although I still have many situations that make me feel vulnerable, I work through them because these situations have made me a stronger person. It has taught me to be strong because I have been through bad situations that not very many people have. I also have had to stay strong for my brothers because they have experienced the worse end of this situation. All of this gives a story that can encourage people to just keep going because it can get better. I was given a family who loves me and wants nothing bad to happen to me.

One thing I have done to try to overcome this adversity is, the fact that I wrote a letter to my biological grandma to try to track down my mom to get answers. I haven’t gotten all my answers yet, but I will learn more to help me understand why this happened. I may not have completely overcome this, but it has gotten much better than when I was a little girl. I will continue to receive answers, which will help me cope with the events that happened in my past. I also thank God every day that it happened because if it didn’t I wouldn’t be blessed with everything that I have. I am now stronger and have many experiences that will help me to keep going in the future. I now know that I have many people who love me and care about me. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for this happening. Sometimes it really isn’t fun how I’m not able to see my brothers and tell them everything I’m thinking, but if it weren’t for this experience I wouldn’t have a loving family who cares for me and loves me for who I am.

About

This blog is my writing projects as well as reading projects for the school year of 2016-2017. It includes the topics of people seen as disposable as well as a project from the reading of Julius Caesar.

Bio

My name is Katrina Staab. I am a sophomore. I enjoy playing sports and spending time with friends. My favorite color is blue. I enjoy being outdoors. I enjoy going to my farm and riding 4-wheelers around in the grass.

Julius Caesar Campaign

 

Quotes
Act 3, Scene 1, 117-122 BRUTUS
Stoop, Romans, stoop,
And let us bathe our hands in Caesar’s blood
Up to the elbows, and besmear our swords.
Then walk we forth, even to the marketplace,
And, waving our red weapons o’er our heads,
Let’s all cry “Peace, freedom, and liberty!”
This quote shows that Brutus would do anything that he thinks is right for the people. He will show that he did it and he will make sure the people know his intentions.
Act 3, Scene 2, 19-24 BRUTUS
If there be any in this assembly, any dear
friend of Caesar’s, to him I say, that Brutus’ love
to Caesar was no less than his. If then that friend
demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my
answer: not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved
Rome more.
This quote shows that he cared for his people and he wanted them to be happy. He loved his people and he shows that he is doing anything that I should take to make the people of Rome happy.
Act 4, Scene 2, 46-52 BRUTUS
Cassius, be content.
Speak your griefs softly. I do know you well.
Before the eyes of both our armies here
(Which should perceive nothing but love from us),
Let us not wrangle. Bid them move away.
Then in my tent, Cassius, enlarge your griefs,
And I will give you audience.
This shows that Brutus cares about people. It shows that he is willing to hear what Cassius has to say which shows that he will listen to his people but yet he will take things into his control if he has to.
Act 5, Scene 5, 56-57 BRUTUS
Caesar, now be still.
I killed not thee with half so good a will.
This shows that he will confess to things which will make his people trust him more. This is a good quality to have because if he has the trust of him people then he will be able to make decisions that the people would be completely okay with.

Speech
My name is Brutus. I am the loyal husband of Portia. People respect me and I respect them. My wife even hurt herself to prove that she is good enough for me. I stay true to myself and who I am. I make choices based on what I think is best for me and the people around me. I am loyal to the people that I am wanting to lead. I will defend my people with respect and the way that they would want me to lead. I feel as if I am a good fit for the job because I am not afraid to do what I need to do in order to get things done that are important. I will show the people that I am trustworthy and that I will make good choices about what kind of leadership Rome needs.
I will willingly defend each person’s rights and make sure that everything is handled in a people pleasing manor. I will make sure that what I am doing to lead is in the best interest of the people of Rome. I will come right out and tell people what I have done and I will show the people why what I did was the right choice.
The people will show their respect to me because I will do the same in return. If people are seeming to ambitious it will affect Rome. That is why I should be the leader. I know what is best for Rome and I am willing to protect what I believe in. Rome needs a leader who is willing to show that they aren’t afraid to do what’s best for the people. I am willing to prove that I am not afraid of anything that will come my way. I have good intentions on what Rome should be like. If you want Rome to be the best city it can possibly be, you want me as your leader to make sure that Rome is put in charge of by the strongest and most willing person to be the leader of Rome.

Attack ads
Cassius: (Act 1, Scene 2) CASSIUS:
And it is very much lamented, Brutus,
That you have no such mirrors as will turn
Your hidden worthiness into your eye,
That you might see your shadow.
Cassius is really reliant on Brutus. He doesn’t just take things into his own hands which shows that he is weak because he has to rely on other people to get things done.
Mark Antony: (Act 3, Scene 1) ANTONY:
Over thy wounds now do I prophesy
(Which like dumb mouths do ope their ruby lips
To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue)
A curse shall light upon the limbs of men;
Domestic fury and fierce civil strife
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy;
This shows that Antony is emotional about Caesar’s death. Rome is in need of a leader that will let that live in the past and carry on from what happened instead of being emotional about the death.
Julius Caesar: (Act 3, Scene 1) CAESAR:
I could be well moved, if I were as you.
If I could pray to move, prayers would move me.
But I am constant as the Northern Star,
Of whose true fixed and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.
This quote shows that Caesar isn’t humble. He is saying that he is important. He may be important but he should show that people that he wants to lead for the people not for himself. Him not being humble could lead him to making decisions that are only good for him.

Poster explanation:
On my poster, I have a picture of Brutus reaching out. I have a picture of this to show that he wants to reach to everyone and make everyone happy with him being the ruler. A picture of him reaching out also resembles that he is loyal and is going to reach out to his people and chose things for what the people want not completely what he wants. I also have a picture of two hands shaking to show that he will make sure that people agree with him and he will make sure that he isn’t making decisions to make him look good. I also have a picture of a sad faced emoji to show that he cares about people when they are sad and he cares about what happens to the people around him. It also shows that he can be sad when bad things are occurring but he chooses to do things that benefit the people not just himself. The slogan is “I will defend you as myself” because he defends himself why he thought is was best to kill Caesar. He defends himself in a way that will make the people happy if he defends them that same way.