Where The Sidewalk Ends

This book is brought to us by Steven D Salinger. It is a classic action novel filled with fire fights, hand to hand combat ,and treks through hostile jungles. The story takes place in the jungles of vietnam and on the streets of Washington DC. In chinese restaurants to corporate buildings there are fire fights and rogue Vietnamese agents.

A young John Carpenter was captured in the vietnamese war and was presumed dead for twenty four years. Finally his salvation comes after saving the life of one of his own. This salvation turns into an armed conflict between the US and the vietnamese government. The hopes of John being reunited with his mother are high but very unrealistic.

What kept John Carpenter going through most of the book was the thought of seeing home and his mother again. With the drive and determination to stay alive he survived in the jungles of Vietnam and the urban jungles of New York City. With an assassination on his back and the police at his heels John is forced to stay in hiding. No where to turn, No one to trust he survives only by his will to survive and his skills to kill.

The fear of death is what keeps most people moving during conflicts in their lives. Some have trained to harness this and use it to their advantage. Sometimes it is fear of death which keeps us going in our darkest ours. Without this fear we as people would not feel alive. A good scare or fear of something keeps us grounded as people. If we can stay grounded then we wont get to ahead of our selves and this might save us from a self induced death.

I would recommend this book to more of my friends that are guys than those of the girls. The constant gun fire and and fist fights makes this novel very exciting. This book keeps the readers interest all the way through.
This novel was well written with small chapters and four sections to the story plot. Readers with a low level of skill could read this book due to the simple sentence structure.

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When you picture a hero you see a man or woman in a cape with super strength and lasers in their eyes. Well I see a firefighter.
My heroes are all the men and women in the emergency services. From the police men, ambulance technicians, and the firefighters.
They all show great courage, strength, honor, and compassion while in the field. It is thanks to all these people that we make it home safe every night.
I know that if I am ever in trouble I can dial 911 and some one will be there to help me. The police are responsible for taking hundreds of drunk drivers off of the road.
For every drunk driver they take off the road that is at least one more person that gets to go home and see their family. If thats not heroic I don’t know what is.

The brave fire fighter that braves the flames to rescue the trapped inside. It takes a real hero to risk ones life to save another’s. The Images entrapped in their heads after i terrible crash they had to respond to after some one loses control will stick with them for the rest of their days. To be able to function properly after witnessing and participating in these horrific accidents is a great gift to posses which only few have. The sacrifices these men and women make should be put into consideration as well. The sleepless nights, emotional trauma, and some times family issues that come from serving as an emergency services operator are all great sacrifices that should be acknowledged.

These are my heroes. They will always be my heroes no matter what. If I can grow to be half the man that these people are I would be very happy.
To commit my life to the same values as these men and women will make me a better person. The best thing about having these people as my heroes is that i know they will be there no matter what the problem is. They know no fear and ask nothing in return except for your respect and that you keep safe.

The firefighters are my heroes especially because I live with these brave men and I have grown up beside them for most of my life. The fire hall is my second home. We have gone through bad times and good times. What made those bad times bearable was that we all knew that we could rely and support each other no matter what was thrown our way. It is this sense of family that has brought us so close together. These men are my heroes every last one of them, and that will never change.

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Caesar was your classic epicurean. He enjoyed living life to the fullest. The main belief was to drink be merry have a good time until you die. But his nemesis Pompey is a totally different story. Pompey is your normal stoic.
He believes in the gods, that he has no free will and that his life determined by the gods as well.

Caesar burned to many bridges on his way to power. He had a lot of conspirators amongst him. There was always a threat for assassination especially by Pompey. But after Pompey was defeated in battle he was out of the picture. Many of his followers switched over to caesars side and promised to be eternally faithful.

Supposedly Caesar was going to run the empire to the ground but on the other hand others thought that he was going to bring the Roman empire to power. The real question is were Caesar’s assassins patriots or tyrants. Was Caesar going to raise Rome’s power by himself and become an all powerful god hated by Pompey’s followers, Or was he going to run Rome into the ground and be hated by all.

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Pressures make up our every day life. We live with them, we deal with them like any other problem we face. It takes a truly unique person to be able to stand up and take all of life’s pressures straight on like Ender Wiggin does. The lives we lead and the families we grow are all faced with pressures and it is up to us to face them head on and say. ” Im not going to fail, I will not give up.”

Through out Enders life he has had pressure put on him. All of his family and the view friends he ever had always expected him to be the best of the best. It was not until the pressures built up to much for him that he almost lost sight of his goal. During his time at military school he was faced with new harder obstacles then he had ever faced and they were built especially for him. The pressures of being the best soldier, the best strategist almost burned Ender out.

It is with these pressures that we live with every day. The pressure of being a good student, parent, employee, etc. There is always a chance of burning out. A good teacher once told me that new teachers are like stars. They burn bright in the night sky, but over time they start to get dimmer and dimmer. The reason for this is because they worked so hard to make sure they could accommodate every body. In the end they over worked themselves and couldn’t handle the pressures of their own lives, so they eventually burned out.

While Ender was at military school he was separated from the rest of his class mates, made an outcast by the teachers. All of a sudden Ender started to feel the pressure of having to make new friends and try to fit in with the rest of the group. Finally in time the pressure of having to make friends was lifted and he soon formed a brother hood with the other boys at the academy. They formed a bond much like the men in the poem the One firefighter in a group of firefighters

Once again when one pressure is lifted another is added on. Now Ender needed to focus on not only helping him self but helping his friends as well. Ender as a student all of a sudden became the teacher. He was very advanced in his knowledge of hand to hand combat and tactics. All of a sudden extra pressure is being put on him to teach every thing he knows to his friends to help them better succeed. The very pressures of being a good friend can run a person down into the ground. These very pressures that I described earlier are like a crushing force to any individual No matter how strong you are http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mentally or physically.

After Ender left military school earlier than most he was not respected as much because of his huge age difference. Trying to gain the mens respect that he was leading would be especially difficult for a person enders age. The stress that this would put on anybody would be horrific. To gain a mans respect you usually have to be better. What I mean by this is that you have to be faster, stronger, tougher, and smarter. It will take a long while for this to happen usually. Time was something that ender didn’t have. As you can see the pressure of time is now coming down on Ender and he has to decide to give up his command or power through and gain the respect of his men.

Ender hasn’t seen his family since he left for military school which would have been for a six to ten year period. The very image of them has faded from his mind, but the chance to see them again has brought up old feelings that he didn’t know he still had. Thoughts about what were their names, what did they look like now, would they except him, all came pouring in. This frightened him.
To not see your family for a duration of ten years would be the worst thing in the world to me.

The pressures of visiting family and listening to their ideals that you don’t agree with is tough. To have these ideals pushed on you can be even tougher to handle. Many times i have had to deal with on with family members from calgary and other places around Canada but it has been my great pleasure to say. “No I do not agree with you. I am going to do this my way and you wont influence me.”

Like every other human being on this earth I have had to deal with life’s pressures. I do not have as many or as difficult of life pressures as most of the people on earth but I do still have them. It is up to all of us to slow down take a load off and relax. Give up the crazy running every where like a chicken with your head chopped off. Together we will face life’s pressures, and together we will conquer them.

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Many people have done good deeds for me over this past semester, but the most recent one was done by a good friend of mine who goes by the name of Derek. Derek Taught me how to do my amazon showcase widget and my DVD Showcase.

Thanks to him I was able to get those checked off of my list. It truly shows a persons sense of character when they do a good deed for someone else. Good deeds are gods way of telling us that there is still some good in this world and that every thing will be ok. The life we live can be determined by the deeds we do and by the deeds we except. If it wasn’t for Derek’s sense of character i would not have known what do do.

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Hancock is brought to us by Peter Berg. The setting in this movie is the the city of angels, Los Angeles. It is span across the suburbs, business district and the projects of the city. The people of Los Angeles Have grown to hate Hancock for his destructive powers.

Hancock always gets the job done but how he does it is another story. The destructive power that he harnesses has always been for good, but in doing these good acts he always manages to destroy half the city. People see only the bad that Hancock does and not the good because of his destructive personality.

The real question through out the movie is if Hancock will be able to change his ways and become the amazing super hero that every body wants to love and respect. Through meeting new people and opening up about his true feelings he might be able to turn his life around and actually grow a relation ship with the public.

I would recommend this DVD to all of my friends and anybody else who likes the idea of super heroes and villains. This film was very well directed and the screen play is pretty amazing. Also the special affects were very well done and are not corny at all. Hancock Is very well interpreted by Will Smith. If your into explosions fighting and a little bit of crude humor than you will definitely like Hancock.

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The House Of The Scorpion

This novel is brought to us by Nancy Farmer. With every chapter the plot thickens more and more. It was difficult to put such a book down once I started reading it. This book is filled with action, adventure and self discovery. The scenery in this book is in future Mexico which is now called Aztland and in the southern mountains of America.

Matt was a regular kid. He enjoyed running, jumping, playing, and pretending. Just like every other child likes to do. But one day his life changed when he met some new friends out in the opium fields where he lived, and this turned his life around for the better. It turns out that he is a clone that was harvested for more reasons than one. Matt is not only a clone, he is a very special clone. What makes him so special is that he is El Patrons clone. El Patron is the richest man in Mexico and by far the oldest.

Matt never really knew who he was but when he found out that was a splitting image of El Patron himself at his young age. He quickly began to adapt to the personality traits of his genetic father. Through the years he learned more and more about his purpose for living. Because El Patron is so old, he began to use clones as extra parts. After this discovery Matt is forced to leave home to save his own skin literally. After a journey over the mountains he will be reunited with freedom and his long lost friend Maria. If he survives.

I would recommend this book to every body I know. Boys and girls. The obstacles that Matt had to over come are phenomenal and the over all scenery is beautiful. The book was an easy read and would be enjoyed for kids twelve and up. I have already recommended this book to one of my fellow class mates and he is enjoying the book very much. So if your into clones, futuristic settings, and Mexico this is the book for you.

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These are my top three poems that i have selected to enter into the contest
THE LOST FIREFIGHTER
http://iblog.stjschool.org/lroth/2009/05/05/the-lost-firefighter/
THE LONE FIREFIGHTER
http://iblog.stjschool.org/lroth/2009/05/01/the-lone-firefighter-2/
BROTHERHOOD
http://iblog.stjschool.org/lroth/2009/04/29/brotherhood/

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He is lost in a cloud of smoke
Surrounded by trees
He can see about two feet in any direction
The fire is getting closer, hotter, brighter

He knows that he has to move
To live, to survive
All he thinks about is his family
Nothing more nothing less

With axe in hand he runs toward the opening in the fire wall
But all of a sudden he is cut off with no where to go
He searches frantically
No where to go

He leaps threw the flames
Covering his face with his hands
He stumbles, falls, rolls
Getting up with all his strength he keeps moving

This unburned territory is unfamiliar to him
He is truly lost
With the fire on his back he runs faster and faster
He sees a clearing untouched by the flames

All of a sudden he is cut off again be flames on all sides
He has no choice but to go back
Seeing that he is trapped he chops furiously at a close by tree
For the chance of it to become a bridge to safety

Fearless he leaps through the flames once again
To a little peace of earth untouched by the fire
In the distance he sees flashing red lights and men dressed very similar to him

He doesn’t know how he did it but he some how managed to find his way back to the fall back point
His work is not done yet he is still there to fight
He has to go now, he needs to look for the rest of his men and keep on fighting

The divided trail written by Dellaney also shares some of the same meanings as my poem. Even though they are both about a journey to know where they both consider different aspects of being lost and searching for something. Both of our characters are lost and have no idea where they are going or how they will get there. It is an adventure in its self. While trying to find there way both characters learn from their mistakes and discover skills that they didn’t know that they had.

The obstacles that both characters both have to over come are very similar. Being lost, finding home, and there group. These are all things that most of us will have to deal with in our own lives. Over all Dellaney’s poem was very well written and kept my interest all the way through.

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The lone firefighter is only affective as the group he works with
With out is fellow firefighters he can never by the best that he can be
The lone firefighter knows that it is his duty to protect and save the lives of the people

He knows what his job is and he does it with out question
With out him some of us would not aspire to be model citizens
To the firefighter brotherhood and family are all that matters
The bond a firefighter has with his brothers is unbreakable

If I am ever in trouble I will call on him to get me back out of it again
The firefighter can be courageous, brave, and smart.
The trust that this firefighter can share with his brothers is the greatest thing in the world

At the end of the day
He is my brother
He is my family
And amongst all he is my hero

Most of my poetry is based on firefighting and the men that I have grown up with over the years. In just about every one of my poems I throw the word hero around because this is how I see these men and how these men should be seen through out every community that they serve in. A lot of my poetry comes from real life experiences and stories that I have heard form the firefighters down at the firehall. These men and women should be noticed for their dedication and bravery. That is why i write about them and the things they do.

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The lone firefighter is only affective as the group he works with. Alone the firefighter can be courageous, brave, and smart.
But together they are like a well oiled machine.
With out is fellow firefighters he can never by the best that he can be.
He knows what his job is and he does it with out question.

The lone firefighter knows that it is his duty to protect and save the lives of the people. With out him some of us would not aspire to be model citizens and to be the people we are today. To the firefighter brotherhood and family are all that matters at the end of the day. The bond a firefighter has with his brothers is unbreakable.

To have the trust that this firefighter can share with his brothers is the greatest thing in the world. The lone firefighter is amongst the bravest people in the world. I consider him to be a hero among heroes. If i am ever in trouble I will call on him to get me back out of it again. He is my brother. He is my family, and amongst all he is my hero.

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His hands are rough, beat ,and broken, you can tell this by his gloves

He is smothering fire with his two hands.

The fire is a tropical heat.

Why do you smother the fire with your hands by your self.

What do you mean, I do this because this is my job.

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I belong to a brother hood,
My family are the firemen,
We have been together through the bad times and the good
We all share an unbreakable Bond

They have witnessed death in all it’s forms
Between kicking in doors and fighting fire
They have all been Baptized by fire
The axe and the hose are these mens tools

They wear a uniform that only the best can wear
No man is left behind
They always come home
We work as a team

Recovery is by far the hardest of these mens jobs.
Some times they see quick painless death
But some are not so lucky
Their bravery is unmatched

They eat, breath, and live in smoke
The most precious of their supplies is water and foam
This could mean life or death if they do not have them
They are trained to survive

They are built for speed and strength
When the trucks role,
you know you have the best of the best sitting beside you
The very presence of these men comforts me

We are brothers
They are my family
But over all
They are my Heroes

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