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The King is DEAD!!! = )

Considering that I wasn’t here for the last week, I’ll have to talk about these last few days. When I first heard about the taxes, I almost immediately thought of the taxes that the thirteen colonies had to pay, such as the tea act and stamp act. Like the colonists, I thought the taxes were ridiculous. It was a definite form of injustice. King Coyle was a tyrant, because he was unfair to us and held all power. He also didn’t care much about how much money we had or not. I’m sure that King George the Third was also unfair and careless to the colonists in the thirteen colonies. But, when I think about it, the colonists had it much, much harder than we did. Mainly, because we weren’t in any REAL danger or we didn’t REALLY have to pay with REAL money. I’d bet that if you were against King George the Third during that time, your head might have been chopped off. While we were all going through these ridiculous laws many of us had self-determination to make it through or to revolt against the king. The colonist did so too. For example, the Boston Tea Party was planned and completed. This has been one of the most “interesting” simulations yet.
www.geocities.com

The Forty-Third War

Jake and I think that the Forty Third War was set in El Salvador, for a few reasons. First of all, El Salvador’s history involves civil wars that lasted for twelve years. These wars started when the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) waged guerrilla warfare against the government. The U.S.A. supported the FMLN. In the book, it mentioned the waging of guerrilla warfare. Also, the geographical features in El Salvador are very similar to the geographical features in the book. Some parts of El Salvador are mountainous, which reminded us of the game that Uno and the rest of the soldiers were playing as a training game. They played this game on the mountainside. Also, in the Nations of the World Atlas, it says that 80% of El Salvador’s religion is Roman Catholic. In the book, the main religion was Christian. On the CIA World Factbook, it says that about 19% of the work force in El Salvador is agricultural, and in the Forty-Third War, Uno worked in the banana plantation, which has to do with agriculture.

London, England) Collins (Firm :. Collins Nations of the World Atlas. New York: HarperCollins, 1996.

Feedback: JOIN, or DIE

When I look at this picture, I see a snake. But, when I look closer at the letters, I see eight of the first colonies of America. For example, NY stands for New York, and NJ stands for New Jersey. I think the snake is cut up into different parts, because it signifies that the states might be independent, but its still part of a big country. The issue that this political cartoon is about is the colonization of America. Ben Franklin would say that people that didn’t join the colonies of America that they were most likely to be killed or that they would have a hard time surviving, and die. The words, “JOIN, or DIE,” support what I’m suggesting of the cartoonist’s opinion. I don’t really think that the cartoonist needed anymore to make this cartoon more persuasive. He might want to use something else besides a snake though. Overall, his cartoon immediately captured my eye.

Feedback

One way that we could be sure that this book is trustful, is to actually go to the Library of Congress and look at the actual quotes that Julius Lester has written in his book. But we wouldn’t need to. Isn’t the Library of Congress a trustable source? Why would there be lies in an important library? We can also trust him, because he has used many peoples’ quotes or diary entries and have stuck the ones with the same subject together. He has also added facts about slavery which are true, if we researched it.

I am also sure this book was truthful, because, in 5th grade, I had to research Harriet Tubman. She was a woman born into slavery, and helped slaves escape when she was older. When I researched this woman, I also read about the conditions slaves were in. So, I had another source to assure that this book is truthful. In the book, it says, “The selling of the slaves was inhuman itself, but many slave owners did not even have the decency to tell a slave that he was going to be sold.” (pg. 42 To Be A Slave.) I know this is true, because when I was researching Harriet Tubman, one of her family members was sold without even knowing it.

One reason why I might NOT trust it, is because of this quote, "Even more rare was the occasion when the auction block became a source of joy." (pg. 51 To Be A Slave)How could the auction block possibly cause joy? Would you be happy if your only child was being sold or if you were being separated from your best friends? I certainly would not. Even though I find this quote very questionable, but I understand that it MIGHT lead to joy.

Overall, this book is trustful, and is pretty good.



Lester, Julius. To Be a Slave. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1968.

www.jnpa.com

Great Powers Game Debrief

I was U.S.A., with my partner Joel. Powerful countries such as, Great Britain, U.S.A., Russia had advantages at the start. We had these advantages, because we were stronger countries to begin with, and we were also larger. My empire was a good one that had a strong army and navy at the start. It was probably more important to buy industries and colonies so that we could buy large amounts of armies in the end. But, instead of using that method, my empire grew slowly and steadily. We did very well with backing up our allies, unless they’ve crossed us or betrayed us. We should have bought more industries and colonies at the beginning to help improve our power. About half of our alliances were good and trustful. We were allies TWICE with Great Britain, but they crossed us twice and declared war against us. Some allies such as Italy, France, and Japan, definitely could be trusted.

I learned quite a few things about conflict from this simulation. First of all, you can’t trust anyone but your self/country. Some of the countries we were allies with, completely turned on us. One of them declared war against us, so in the last year my country, the U.S.A. declared war on them and five other countries joined us. Only one country joined Great Britain. After the simulation was over, I realized how allies could suddenly become enemies. Secondly, I learned that conflict could make a country greedy for more power. For example, when my empire lost the war declared upon us, the winners asked for TOO much. They went almost over the top. Lastly, conflict could also lead to new alliances. When a country declared war against Russia, we weren’t on Russia’s side, but later on Russia and the U.S.A. we were great allies and fought against Great Britain. In the end, we didn’t win, but I was quite proud of our country.

www.worldwar1.com

Goals

Feedback

When it came to my goals last quarter, I think I did quite well. My notes were all basically in my own words. Sometimes I did need some help phrasing things. And my writing style did improve a little more than last quarter. I STILL could work on that.

My goals for next quarter are;

•To have AR done within the first month of this quarter
•To study harder for tests and quizzes (spend more time studying…. Maybe half an hour more)
•To research more thoroughly for the projects that I will have in this quarter