Character Essay

Katie H.

Mrs. Zurkowski

English 9 Greens

Character Sketch Essay

If you asked any teenager about their parents, they’d say they were embarrassing. This is an understatement for Hannah James’ parents. Hannah likes the low profile, making herself invisible, but her mom and dad are just the opposite. In the book Something, Maybe by Elizabeth Scott, Hannah James is just a normal 17-year old girl that lives under the radar in high school and works at BurgerTown. She lives in a small town known for nothing special. But her parents on the other hand are pretty well known. People remember her mom as “The woman in the Super Bowl commercial only wearing a pizza box!”, and as an actress in the movie Cowboy Dad. Her mom’s fame didn’t last long, but her dad’s sure has. Hannah’s dad is the famous Jackson James, founder of jacksonjamesonline.com, the home of JJ’s Girls, and current star of the TV show JJ: Dreamworld. Throughout this book Hannah’s going to go from a girl that has a crush on a someone that she insists is her soul mate, and feeling like she’s stuck in between her father’s publicity and her mom’s web chat life, to a girl that has finally met the right guy, and finally know who she really is.

The first major event that happened was when Hannah went to go see her father in New York. Hannah hadn’t seen her dad in over 5 years. She never thought he would call her, but he did call, although there’s a twist. Hannah’s father, Jackson James, truly only cares about himself. He did call Hannah to ask her to come to visit him in New York, but it was because his show needed more viewers and the producers thought that Hannah would attract younger viewers. When Jackson takes Hannah to a restaurant he starts treating Hannah like a princess, like how he acted when Hannah was younger, but it was all part of his plan. The worst part was that Hannah was falling for his “caring dad act”. She thought he might’ve changed. For example, after he asked Hannah to stay a little while longer he said this to Hannah, “I’ll send the girls out and stay in with you. We’ll send someone to get my favorite movies and then we’ll relax, have some popcorn, and keep catching up. I’ll call my assistant and have her take care of everything, alright, Princess?” This really made Hannah fall for his plan. This all turned around when JJ’s Girls showed up out of nowhere with the cameras. Once one of the JJ’s Girls spilled about Jackson having plans set for a big party tonight instead of staying in like he said, this became the last Hannah. She got so angry, she ran out of the restaurant and when Sandi, a JJ’s Girl came running after her asking her why she was leaving Hannah replied, “Well, see, my train ticket clearly says I’m leaving today, in just a little while even. Strange how last minute the whole party thing seems, huh? Almost like I don’t know, a ratings stunt, or something, anyway, I should get going.”

The second major event was when Hannah’s supposedly soul mate, Josh, came over to her house. Hannah was so exciting and nervous at the same time, she has her mom let Josh in, and when Hannah was coming down the stairs she saw Josh looking in awe not at her, but her mom. She thought Josh was into her when it was really that Josh was into Hannah’s mom. When Josh was talking to Hannah’s mom he said, “It’s so great to see you again, my older brother loved Cowboy Dad. When I was little, we used to watch episodes he recorded, and I thought you were the most beautiful woman ever.” Hannah couldn’t believe she didn’t realize this before. Josh even brought lilies and mint chocolate candies, which were Hannah’s mom’s favorites not Hannah’s. Once Josh was alone with Hannah he said, “Wow, she’s amazing, I’ve been dying to meet her- for real, you know- and when you agreed to let me come over- well thank you. You’re so special.” After that Josh starting kissing Hannah, and Hannah was shocked that he seriously just did that after how he was acting around her mom. And she realized that Josh was just like Jackson and so than she left Josh with her mom at her house.

Later that night Finn, soon to be the right guy, came over to talk to Hannah. Hannah’s mom walked in to Hannah and Finn kissing, and she was very shocked. After Finn leaves, Hannah and her mom have a long talk. And after Hannah’s mom says how she’s made some mistakes, and that she doesn’t want Hannah to end up like her, Hannah replies saying, “I’m not you. I don’t- I did like Josh, you’re right. But I didn’t know him. I just saw him at work and school and I thought… I thought he was the perfect guy. The opposite of Jackson. But he wasn’t. And when I figured that out, I left. I shouldn’t have stuck you with him, but I did. And I’m sorry about that. But I’m not sorry about anything else.” Then she went on saying, “I’m not you, and I’m not Jackson either. I can finally- I can finally see that now.” So Hannah realized that she was not either of her parents, she was just Hannah. She finally found out who she really is, and she’s happy about that.

Hannah James’ transformation is teaching that it doesn’t matter what your parents are like, or what they did in past, it doesn’t change who you are. Don’t let your parent’s personalities overrule yours. You are your own person. And so in the book Something, Maybe by Elizabeth Scott, Hannah went from a girl that had a crush on someone that she insisted was her soul mate and feeling like she was stuck in between her father’s publicity and her mom’s web chat life, to a girl that has finally met the right guy, and finally know who she really is. 

Advertise Book-of-the-Month

This interesting, eye-catching book is called The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. This book has an extreme amount of suspense, it has a mystery that you want to try and solve. I would say this book has a creepy, eerie fell to it. If you get easily scared, i wouldn't read this book. Other teens should read this because it tells a story that you wouldn't normally think would happen. It's shocking and disturbing, some ways good, some not. I haven't finished the book yet, but I would give it 4 stars. I encourage people to read this book, they won't regret it.

O. Henry

• O. Henry is just a pen name, O. Henry's real name is William Sydney Porter.
• O. Henry is best known for his ironic plot twists and surprise endings.
• He was not always a writer. He was a clerk and bank teller, and than around his mid 30's he became a writer. 
• He was being accused of embezzling funds from the bank he used to work at, so he ran away to Honduras. Although he ended up coming back when he learned his wife was ill, and after she died he turned himself in.
• He only served 3 of the 5 year sentence in jail, and that is where he began writing his short stories. 
• After O. Henry was out of jail he started writing full time in New York City. 
• During the last ten years of his life, O. Henry became one of the most popular writers in America, publishing over 500 short stories in dozens of widely read periodicals. 
• Some of his most famous stories were "The Gift of the Magi", "The Furnished Room", and "The Ransom of Red Chief". 
• His style of storytelling became a model not only for short fiction, but also for American motion pictures and television programs.
• Writing at the rate of more than one story per week, O. Henry published ten collections of stories during a career that barely spanned a decade.

Information From: Microsoft Student with Encarta. 

Masque of the Red Death Essay

Katie H.

Mrs. Zurkowski

English 9 Greens

The Masque of the Red Death

                In the short story “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe, one of the colors that is defined is green. The color green in this story symbolizes adolescence and money. The story consists of seven rooms that are all different colors. The color scheme has more meaning than just being different colored rooms. Every color counts up through the ages of life, starting at birth and ending with death. This color is not the beginning mark of life but it is still in the early years. The story has a much symbolized meaning, especially through the colors. This will help make the story more understandable and relatable.

                Green symbolizes the ages that people go through around the teenage years up to being a young adult. As time progresses this stage in life will come and go, and people will move on to the next stage, or like the story, the next “room”. Green represents adolescence, going through the years in life. Green could also represent the freshness of starting to grow up and become something of yourself. Being in this stage of life you are ready to start exploring things that you do not know. It’s possible to have that drive inside you that makes you want to learn more. One thing people at this age are exploring is money. Money is yet another symbolization for green. People at this age are really starting to understand how to make money, spend money, and save money. This is the starting point for growing up, and becoming an adult. The stage of green is a life starter. Of course there was life before this stage, but this is about just really getting ahold of things. Growing up is a big part of adolescence. Every year of this stage, something different is coming along and making people grow and mature.

                This color relates to my life because this is the exact stage I am going through right now. I am a teenager in adolescence. I think reading this short story and learning about the symbolism. It helps me understand the stages of life more, and how they can be related to something such as colors. The color scheme in this story goes: blue, purple, green, orange, white, violet, and lastly black. Green is not exactly at the middle, but it is very close. The stage right before it is purple, outgrowing the stage of being a toddler, and becoming a kid. The age group for this stage is 5-9. This stage is about having fun, being a kid, and being happy. I feel like the next step, which is green, is a lot different than this because things get a little more serious. The fun does not go away, but it is just not all fun and games anymore. The stage after green is orange. Orange is the actual middle stage in your life. This is when you have really grown up and headed right into your life. This is one of the longest stages because when you have a lust for life, time just flies by. The age group for this stage is 20-50. During this stage, you also might experience a mid-life crisis. I want to emphasize the “mid” meaning middle. People are realizing they have already been living life for a while now and they are starting to think about when they get much older. I think that this story has way more meaning than what meets the eye. You really have to dig down and unravel what the author is saying, and let it sink into the brain. I think this story was a lot more understandable once I understood the symbolism of the colored room scheme. I think the color scheme represents the stages of one’s life perfectly, especially the green because that color is relatable to where I am in my own life. 

Edgar Allan Poe Web Quest

1.       .Provide the following biographical information: birthdate; birthplace; death date. Birthdate: January 19, 1809; Birth Place: Boston, Massachusetts; Death Date: October 7, 1849.

2.      What tragic childhood events influenced his writing? When he was sent away to college with barely anything, then returning to his fiancés home and saw that she was engaged to another man, all these things made him want to become a poet and to find adventure.

3.       There are 13 theories on what caused Poe's death. List five of them. Epilepsy, Hypoglycemia, Diabetes, Delirium Tremens, or Toxic Disorder.

4.      .According to the Edgar Allan Poe Museum, what state did Poe call home? Virginia.

6.      What famous military academy expelled Poe in 1831? The US Military Academy at West Point

7.      Who did Poe marry? How old was she? Virginia Clemm. Nearly 14.

11.   When was "The Raven" published? 1845

16.  ..Listen to the audio version of the Raven. What do you think of it? I think the voice helps you picture everything that is happening more easily.

17.   Who is the Poe Toaster? He is a mysterious figure who went annually from 1949 until 2009 to Poe’s grave and left three roses and a half-filled bottle of cognac, then would run away.

18.  .List five examples of "Poe in Your Life."

1.       Baltimore writer Laura Lippman's 2001 novel In a Strange City is a murder-mystery set in modern-day Baltimore. It explores a plot to unmask the Poe Toaster, the shadowy figure who visits Poe's grave every year on the anniversary of the writer's birthday.

2.       Heavy metal band Iron Maiden included the song "Murders in the Rue Morgue" — the title of one of Poe's best-known stories — on their 1981 album "Killers."

3.       At least 81 films have been based on works by Edgar Allen Poe — and many of them are about the same stories. There have been ten versions of "The Tell-Tale Heart", and nine of "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," and "The Black Cat."

4.       In 1999 The Hollywood Reporter reported that singer Michael Jackson was slated to star as Poe in a feature film to be called "The Nightmare of Edgar Allan Poe." The status of that film project remains unclear, but it seems even the King of Pop wants to pay tribute to Poe.

5.       In 1945, the Mystery Writers of America, Inc. established an award to recognize outstanding contributions to various categories of mystery, crime and suspense writing. These awards are known as The Edgar Allan Poe Awards. The statuette that winners receive is called an Edgar. 

Fresh Start (:

As I enter the second quarter in school, I am looking forward to start reading short stories. I think it will be fun because Edgar Allen Poe is eerie and mysterious. Besides English class, I will be doing winter cheerleading. Fall cheerleading is about to end so I am looking forward to the winter season. In my opinion i don't think Shakespeare will be as exciting because it's harder to comprehend. I find it boring, but maybe when i start understanding the meaning of his writing i will find it more interesting.

Research Paper

Katie H.  

Mrs. Zurkowski

English 9 Greens

October 2, 2010

Sports Injuries

            Sports injuries are an epidemic that affects over 12 million kids per year. One third of all sports injuries occur with kids ages 14 or younger (Brown). These injuries may include sprains, broken bones, torn ligaments, facial injuries, and head injuries. This paper will examine more specifically, facial and head injuries and how these injuries can be prevented.

             Sports can result in brain injuries such as concussions and amnesia. Such head injuries can cause several different things to happen to the brain. Concussion result from blows to the head causing blurred vision, ringing of the ears, headaches, and swelling of the brain. Amnesia is a serious diagnosis than can change a person’s life. The term amnesia means the loss or injury of your memory (Amnesia). As Dr. Ahmed compares, “A broken leg is a broken leg, but the brain- it is different for everyone. A brain injury is a lifetime diagnosis.” Each year an estimated 1.5 million Americans suffer a traumatic brain injury. Getting a brain injury from sports could end one’s life of playing sports, or even their everyday life as they know it (Keller).

            Depending upon where the head is hit, different resulting brain injuries may occur. For example, localization and diffuse injury. In the United States, a traumatic brain injury happens at least every 21 seconds, making it the Number 1 cause of death and/or disability for people under the age of 44. Even though blows to different areas of the brain can result in different impairments-a concept known as localization- a brain injury anywhere affects the brain everywhere (Keller). As Dr. Jeff Frank points out, “Brain injury is unique, because it affects personhood.” In the type of brain injury called diffuse axonal injury, it affects the memory and other crucial cognitive functions of the brain (Keller). Some injuries happen because the equipment and training they use is not safe enough. Brain injuries are very dangerous, and they need to be better prevented in sports.

Other injuries, such as overuse injuries occur when an athlete has a driving force to win, and not necessarily because of poor equipment or training. Some kids play more dangerously because they feel invincible and powerful (Brown). Injuries will always be a part of sports, but there are ways to protect youth athletes and help them be safer. All sports can be very dangerous, but many sports organizations don’t have the proper safety policies in place to reduce or prevent such injuries. Dr. Lyle Micheli comments, “The lack of public awareness, the assumption that kids’ injuries just happen and can’t be prevented is simply ignorance.” This quote is completely true. People need to start realizing that they do need to change some things in sports to reduce the occurrence of injuries and make it safer for athletes.

Too many sports injuries happen because there is not enough safety policies and procedures to prevention them. Almost 4 million youth athletes each year are in the emergency room because of sports related injuries (Brown). When injuries occur, sometimes coaches will make the athlete keep playing. This is not the way to fix the problem of injuries in sports, it’s worsening it. Young football players are playing with concussions instead of resting and taking time off. Some coaches see nothing wrong with this. By doing this, it will only make the injuries worse. The injuries need time to heal, but if the players are still playing it will worsen the injury and prolong or damage the process of healing. People need to stop playing while injured because by doing this they are hurting themselves even more and potentially endangering other players as well as themselves.

Prevention is a step in the right direction for overcoming sports injuries. There are several kids that think they are untouchable, which makes them play recklessly and more aggressively (Brown). With all this going on more kids are getting hurt and nobody’s doing anything to prevent it. There are several ways to try to prevent more injuries from happening. These include implementing different coaching techniques, new rules, and using safer equipment and training. Educating coaches, players, and parents is key to effectuating these changes. In 1990 approximately 140,000 baseball players went to the emergency room with 18,000 of them suffering from facial injuries. In baseball, players only have protective head gear while they are up at bat, but their faces and heads are not protected the rest of the time. Baseball is the most dangerous sport when it comes to facial and head injuries. You could prevent baseball injuries by wearing face masks on batting helmets, and heart guards worn on the chest to prevent collapsing of the chest when hit by a ball. Also, when kids do get injured, the best ways to heal their injury is to rest and not play while waiting for the injury to heal. This is a very serious problem because sports related injuries happen every day, affecting not only the injured athlete but family friends and teammates. For example injuries outcomes can be very expensive, especially if the injury requires having surgery to fix it. People can end up with a lot of debt with medical bills and insurance payments (Brown).  People need to know how to take this seriously to prevent this from happening again.

As my paper has illustrated sports injuries, while affecting millions of kids per year can be prevented through education and changes in policies and procedures regarding safety and how the sports are played.

Works Cited

"Amnesia." World of Health. Gale, 2007. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 23 Sept.       2010.

Brown, Curt. "Playing Hurt: Injuries in Youth Sports." Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN). Nov. 1    1992: 1S+. SIRS Researcher. Web. 24 Sep 2010.

Keller, Julia. "Brain Injury Devastates Victims' Bodies, Changes Their Personalities." Chicago  

            Tribune (Chicago, IL). Jan. 14 2004: n.p. SIRS Researcher. Web. 28 Sep 2010.