Cason's English 1 Blog

My topic is the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. It is interesting because it is still a major problem today. It is believed to be the leading cause of conflict and terrorism in the world today and for the past 50 years. To this day there is not a solution and there hasn't even been negotiations in the past decade. In a really basic way, Palestine and Israel are located in the same area, but Israel came much later so when Britain declared Israel a nation they took land away from Palestine to do it. Palestine wants the land back, but the Jewish population of Israel (which is the majority by far because Israel is the Jewish homeland) naturally wants to be citizens of Israel, not Palestine. That is a very basic and brief explanation, but in reality, the conflict is very complicated and hard to understand.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is an interesting book. I think it took a lot of guts for Junior to leave the reservation and go to a predominantly white school. Especially considering the fact that no one he knows goes to school there and Rowdy refused to go with him. I think it was really interesting when Junior punched Roger but later in the story, Roger was nice to him like he respected Junior. It was amazing Junior's grandmother knew exactly what had happened even though Junior didn't believe she had a clue. Overall I kind of like this book and could see myself recommending it to someone.

Drew-Free Post Addi-Research Update

Dylan-Free Post Cade-Free Post

     In 2017 14 new flavors were introduced to the Oreo lineup. That is nearly double the flavors introduced in 2016. Along with some appealing flavors like Mississippi Mud, Hot Cocoa, and Cookies and Creme, there are some odd flavors like firework, PB&J, Keylime Pie. While some of these are good by themselves they may not be great between two chocolate cookies.      Traditionally Oreo has released less outside the box flavors this year has been particularly odd. Oreo typically releases flavors in coordination with upcoming holidays. For example, firework was released just in time for summer and the forth of July, Peeps was released for Easter, PB&J was released for school, and Pumpkin Spice was released for the holidays. Oreo while they released almost double the flavors many were bizarre and I would imagine flops.

     My topic it the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. My research on my topic has been going well I have just finished my note cards and finished my bibliography Friday. I have been doing really well with analyzing sources and picking out important bits of information. I feel that I have a good variety of multiple points of view along with a few articles that provide a decent overview of my topic.      Some things I have been struggling with are doing a summarizing an article. For example, I find most of an article to be relatively important so limiting it to 2 or 3 bits of information can be hard for me sometimes.

     Naya: What is something you know now that you wish you knew two years ago?      I wish I knew to appreciate middle school while I could. Everything was so much easier then. Going home most days with no homework because I got it done in class. Not having to worry about studying for tests. Being able to just show up the next day and trust that I had gotten everything done the night before along with having an hour or two of free time.      I wish I knew this two years ago because if I did I would have been able to appreciate how good life was. I probably would not have complained when I had a tiny bit of homework at night knowing two years from now homework would be all I do during the week. I think I would have appreciated life as a whole much more when everything was easier.

     My first semester taught me many things like I need to work harder in high school than I did in middle school. It taught me that I need to put school before fun. One of the most important things I've learned is that sometimes you might actually have to try to make a good grade in school. The common thing between all of these things is that I need to try harder and focus on finishing my work before I can have fun.      I think the second semester will be better than the first because I have learned what it takes to make the grades I want and how to do things I've never had to do like study. If I apply all of what I've learned in the first semester to the second combined with putting school first I think the second semester can be better than the first. High school is a lot harder than middle school but it is not impossible.