The Three Gorges Dam Was Not Worth It

How would you feel if you had to relocate to save a city that you have never visited in your entire life? Not very good, right? I don't think the Three Gorges Dam was worth all of the negative things it caused. First, even though it creates hydroelectric power, it causes water pollution. Second, the dam made 1.25 million people have to relocate. Third, it can create natural disasters like earthquakes and landslides. Last but not least, the dam has had a very negative environmental impact. Therefore, I think that the Three Gorges Dam was not worth all of the negative things it created. 

Even though the Three Gorges Dam makes clean energy, it causes a lot of water pollution. When the dam was built it caused a rise in the water behind it and some factories had to be abandoned, but those factories had pollutants in them and they leeched into the water. Water pollution kills fish which can be a food source for the locals. The pollution also contaminates the water which is used for drinking water and washing food, so if the people drink the water they can get very sick. The fact that the Three Gorges Dam produces clean energy does not mean that water pollution is okay.

Since the Three Gorges Dam created a lake behind it, the flooding caused all locals to relocate if they lived below 175 feet above sea level. The government gave the locals compensation, but it was not nearly enough for the houses the government wanted them to live in. The soil around those houses is infertile, which makes it hard for the people to feed their families. This means that the locals had to pick up extra jobs to earn enough money to survive. I think that it is terrible that locals who had no say in the dam being built had to move. 

The Three Gorges Dam can also cause devastating natural disasters like landslides. If a natural disaster was big enough it could ruin the dam and that would be a huge waste of money. Also, it could destroy homes and villages. If the dam ruined homes or villages, the locals would either die or be displaced even more. The Three Gorges Dam should not be an excuse for natural disasters.

The dam also has a huge environmental impact. Because of the water pollution, it hurts animals. The water pollution also ruins crops. Also, the current landscape around the place where the dam is is limestone, which dissolves in water, changing the landscape forever. We should not have the Three Gorges Dam because of the negative environmental impact.

In conclusion, the Three Gorges Dam was not worth it. First, just because there is clean energy, does not mean water pollution is okay. Second, the Three Gorges Dam made locals move to different places. Third, the dam can create natural disasters that can be very devastating. Fourthly and lastly, the dam has a very negative environmental impact. We obviously don't need this dam, the traditional Chinese people have survived for centuries without this dam, why do we need it now?

Book Review 3: We Were Here

We Were Here by Matt de la Peña is about a boy named Miguel Castañeda, who gets sent to juvenile detention and then to a group home, where he is to write a journal about his daily life so, as he puts it, "some counselor could try to figure out how I think,"(5). In the group home (the Lighthouse) the counselor, Jaden, a white, surfer-like dude, is very welcoming and nice, but Miguel just ignores him. The next day, when Miguel is getting introduced to the other group home kids, Miguel gets in a fight with this psycho Chinese dude named Mong because he called all the group home kids b****s under his breath, then yelled it when Mong asked what he said, Mong spat at him, and then they were fighting. When they got pulled off each other, Mong spat on Miguel and Miguel attacked him again. When they finally stopped fighting, Jaden told Mong that if he fought anymore, he would go back to juvie and told Miguel that if he fought a lot more, he would probably lengthen his sentence. After that, the kids did their chores and Lester (the overseer) came by to pick up Mong, to bring him somewhere none of the other kids knew, later, Miguel found out it was to the hospital because of his kidney disease. Then, that night when Miguel is sleeping, he wakes up in the middle of the night because Mong is leaning over him, smiling, Miguel is very creeped out, but he goes back to bed. Since this book is the "actual" journal Miguel is writing (he is fictional) there is a gap between June 10th and June 21st where Miguel "just chills solo" during this time, basically ignoring everybody else. Nothing else really happens until July 3rd, when the same person that Miguel shared a room in with at juvie, Rondell, comes to the Lighthouse and has to share rooms with Miguel. Then, on July 9th, Miguel wakes up in the middle of the night with Mong leaning over him, again. Miguel asks him what he wants and Mong tosses him a letter addressed to Lester from the president of the San Jose group homes. The letter said that the state was going to increase the funding for the entire program which would affect the sentences of all residents. Miguel asked "so what?" and Mong told him that he was leaving in a week and asked Miguel to go with him, Miguel told him "probably not" and Mong gave him three days to tell him if he'd go, once Mong left, Rondell told Miguel that if Miguel was going with Mong, he had to take him too. Miguel decides to run away with Mong and Rondell, and on the night that they were going, Miguel stole the keys to the counselor's office and the safe inside the counselor's office, he snuck in and opened the safe to steal the cash in there. After Miguel, Mong, and Rondell got out, they waited for almost three days for Mong's cousin who was going to give them a ride farther down the coast. Turns out she was going to drive north, so Mong could visit his "gung gung" (grandfather) on the way Mei-li told a story about a Chinese singer who gave up singing for her family and moved to the US with her husband. They went to lunch together and when Mei-li got up to use the bathroom, Mong told Miguel and Rondell that he was leaving and they could leave with him or not, they chose to go with him, and they started heading south. They found a bus that took them as far as it would down the coast, to Davenport. Then after they ate some food on the beach, Miguel went farther down the beach to write in his journal, which he didn't do immediately, instead, he pulled out Mong, Rondell, and his files from the lighthouse, and read Mong and Rondell’s. It turned out Mong had been shot in the face when he was 14 by his dad and was diagnosed with a major kidney disease when he was 16, and Mei-li's story about true love had been about his mom and dad, Rondell had been held back in the 1st grade and then again in 3rd grade, he was arrested at eleven for assault, at eleven for grand theft auto, at twelve for assault, at thirteen for assault with a deadly weapon, and had a history of alcohol and substance abuse, once Miguel was done reading them he tore them up and buried them in the sand. They took another bus to Santa Barbara and wandered around for awhile, bought some new clothes and ended up stopping by a basketball court, they played for awhile and when they were about to leave, Miguel realized that someone stole their cash, he spotted the thieves sneaking out of the gym and they started chasing after them to get the money, they ended up having a fist fight on the street which Mong, Rondell, and Miguel won. One of the basketball guys asked if they had any transportation, they shook their heads and the dude said he would give them a ride, and Mong told the guy to go to Malibu beach. They spent the night on the beach and in the morning, Miguel woke up to Mong taking off his sweatshirt, shirt, socks and shoes down by the ocean, Miguel asked Mong what he was doing and Mong said he was going swimming, and he just went out to the ocean until Miguel and Rondell couldn't see him anymore, they never saw him again. From July 24th to July 27th Miguel and Rondell made their way down to the border, and on July 28th Rondell crossed the border over to Mexico, but Rondell came back a couple days later and he and Miguel were together again. Later on, Miguel and Rondell met a girl named Flaca, with her friends, they invited Miguel and Rondell to a party. At the party Miguel and Flaca almost had sex, but they got interrupted by the sounds of a fight. Miguel and rushed out and saw Rondell beating up this one guy even though he had already passed out. Miguel got Rondell to leave and they ran out as fast as they could, Flaca and her girls following them. After that, Flaca told Miguel to meet her at a ballpark at night and while he was waiting, he wrote in his journal to pass the time, but, he didn't pay attention and the money that was left, got stolen by one of Flaca's friends left with a note that said, "No hard feelings, Miguel. You guys did your thing getting this money, and now we're just doing ours by taking it for ourselves. You understand.-Jules P.S. Flaca wants you to know she really did like you." (280). Then Miguel sort of had an epiphany about the fact that since he did a crime he would be better off just serving his time, and he and Rondell tried to raise the money that they stole from Jaden, to give back to him by going to Miguel's by pretending to be on a basketball team that needs to raise money for their trip and also going to Miguel’s grandparent’s farm and working there for a while. The story ends with Miguel and Rondell showing up back at the lighthouse, and Jaden introducing them to the new group home kids.

I think the theme of this book is you are who you are, and you've done what you've done. I think this is an important theme in this book because Miguel has some trouble throughout the book realizing that he can't change what he did. My first example of the theme is when Miguel is talking to Mong, on the beach in Malibu about his brother, Diego. "'I used to try and be just like my brother. In every possible way. Used to copy his clothes style and how he did his hair. Even copied the way he walked. But then I realized I was wasting my time. 'Cause no matter how hard I tried, Diego was always gonna be Diego and I was always gonna be me.'" (186). My second example of the theme which leans more to the "you are who you are" aspect is Miguel realizing that he and Rondell are homeless "We looked like we were d**m homeless or something-which I guess we were. I thought about that for a sec. And then that s**t really hit me. We were homeless. I was a homeless person." (290). My third example of the theme is when Miguel and Rondell are in Fresno working for Miguel's grandparents and neither his grandpa or grandma will talk to him or make eye contact, because of what he did. "I think none of us will ever get past what happened with me and Diego. Including me." (326). My fourth piece of evidence is when Miguel tells Rondell why he won't see his brother again. "'I killed my own brother, Rondell. My own brother. Dead, man. 'Cause of me.' It was the first time I'd ever said it out loud." (337). My last quote is not so much evidence as it is an explainer of how Miguel killed his brother, "This time our messing around isn't just messing around because I trip and fall with the knife and my head bangs on the cupboard door and when he goes to tackle me there's the knife and he falls on it and it goes in him." (340). These are my reasons that the theme in this book is you are who you are and you've done what you've done. 

In We Were Here the almost constant changes of setting show how Miguel is constantly changing and adapting. At the beginning of the book when Miguel is still at the Lighthouse he is in denial about what he did and he just ignores everybody. A quote from the book to support that is when Miguel is new at the group home and Jaden is welcoming him, "Jaden came up to me and patted me on the back. 'What's up, bro? Welcome to the Lighthouse. Ha ha! That's what everybody calls it, bro. Because all the other houses on this street are old and brown and gray and ours is bright yellow like a lighthouse. Ha ha! Anyway, bro, you wanna meet the guys now or in the morning?' I didn't say anything back." (16). Then, when Miguel and his friends break out of the Lighthouse and they are staying on the beach it sort of represents a freer person and that is shown in this quote by Mong. He said this on the beach in Malibu when he and Miguel were talking about love, "'People only think of romantic love, but that's just one kind. Love can be anything. Since I was a little boy, staying here every summer, I've been in love with the ocean.'" (186). I think this story really showcases Miguel's changes with the changing setting. Matt de la Peña did a very good job with the juxtaposition of Miguel's changes and Miguel's thoughts of himself "just being a group home kid".

I would recommend We Were Here to other seventh grade readers depending on the reader. This book does have quite a lot of profanity and some mature ideas. It took some time for me to get into the book, but when I did it was pretty good. I liked how it is Miguel's point of view in some places, but I think that in other places it would have been better to have the author explain some things better than Miguel did. Since it is from a fifteen-year old's point of view, it is not very descriptive and I would have liked it to be more so. Despite that, it was a pretty good book overall. 

Gay Marriage is Perfectly Fine!

Alaska and Hawaii were the first states to legally ban same-sex marriage in 1998, but in June of 2015 gay marriage became legal in the U.S. because it was ruled unconstitutional! Why should gay marriage stay legal? First, people should be able to love who they want. Second, gays and lesbians can adopt kids. Third, homosexuals are born that way. Therefore, gay marriage is OK!

First, you should be able to love who you want. America is a free country. The reason that gay marriage became legal was because making gay marriage illegal was deemed unconstitutional! Homosexuals are human, they have feelings too. Also, straights can love who they want, why can't homosexuals? Don't you think you should be able to love who you want?

Second, gays and lesbians can adopt kids that need to be adopted. As of 2016, the world is overpopulated, adopting kids can help with the overpopulation by not having more kids, but adopting them. There are a lot of undeveloped countries in the world that are very poor, many families give up their children so they have fewer mouths to feed. These kids get put into orphanages that don't have enough money to feed them, and they are chronically malnourished. So, it is very good that gays and lesbians can adopt kids.

Lastly, homosexuals are born the way they are. A human's sexuality is decided at birth. If a homosexual transitions from gay to straight, it wasn't their choice, it was what their body wanted. Furthermore, a person's personality is decided within the first 6th months of their lives. So it is clearly obvious that homosexuals were born that way, and they can't change. 

In conclusion, gay marriage is OK! First, you should be able to love who you want. Second, gays and lesbians can adopt kids from developing countries, who need to be adopted. Third, homosexuals were born the way they are and they can't change that. That being said, let's make sure that we do the right thing and keep gay/lesbian marriage legal. After all, marriage is a human right, not a heterosexual privilege.

Book Review 2: The Lions of Little Rock

The Lions of Little Rock, by Kristen Levine is about 1957/1958 in Little Rock, Arkansas, when there is a battle between the people who want to keep schools segregated and the people who want integration, and equal education for all races. The story begins with the life of Marlee, a quiet 12-year-old girl. Her biggest relationships are with her wonderfully kind and understanding older sister, Judy, her often rude and stuck-up "friend" Sally, and with the lions at the zoo, who comfort her. Then Liz comes. She becomes fast friends with Marlee and inspires her to talk more and show others what she is thinking. Then one day, Liz isn't at school, and the teacher tells Marlee Liz is sick and won't be coming back. The truth is that Liz has been caught "passing" as white. Marlee was about to retreat back into her "shell", but after she spoke to her Sunday school teacher, her father who was for integration and the family's black maid, Betty Jean, she starts to think about the injustices Liz and other black people face. She continues to see Liz in private, despite the dangers it could bring to their families and she also starts to work with organizations working for integration. One day when Liz and Marlee are meeting at the "rock crusher", an old quarry. JT, a boy from Marlee's grade and his brother Red, who come from a family against integration and colored people find Marlee climbing down a tree she was in with Liz. Liz was still in the tree and so Red and JT didn't know she was there. As Marlee starts to leave she stumbles on what she thinks is a rock, but that is actually a box of dynamite from the old quarry days. Red bullies JT into helping him take the dynamite home. Marlee tells her parents, and they call the police, the police search JT and Red's house but they don't find the dynamite. A few days later when Marlee and her parents and Liz and her parents are at Betty Jean and her husband, Pastor George's house, Red drives by and throws a brick with lit dynamite on it inside the house. Marlee gets everyone out quickly and no one is hurt, but Liz's parents decide they don't want Liz and Marlee to be friends anymore. When Marlee sees Liz for the last time, Liz gives her the digits of her new phone number. The story ends with a new chapter of Liz and Marlee's friendship.

I think the theme in this book is to fight for your friendship. My first piece of evidence is when Marlee's dad is driving her to school and Marlee asks, "Can you find her for me? Maybe get her phone number?"(73). Another piece of evidence is when Liz and Marlee are seeing each other at the zoo and Liz says, "'Give me the book for a minute.' I handed the book to her. Liz pulled a pen out of her coat pocket and began to write on the front leaf of the book. When she was done, she handed it back to me"(96). Liz hands the book to Liz with what's called a magic square and says, "The first two and the last two digits are the year,' said Liz. I looked: 1958. "The other five are my phone number'"(96). My last piece of evidence is when Liz got in trouble and she said, "'It'll be Halloween before I'm let out again,' said Liz. 'Sorry,' I said. 'I don't know what I was thinking.' 'You were thinking like a true friend,' said Liz"(290).

The setting in this book is 1957/1958 in Little, Rock Arkansas. In the beginning of the book Marlee is happy and at peace with her family. One piece of evidence of that is, "My sister and brother and Daddy are the only ones I feel really comfortable talking to,"(5). In the middle towards the end of the book Marlee is scared because the violence is increasing towards her family and colored people, Liz and her family in particular. A piece of evidence for that is when Liz gets a phone call and she answers it, "It was a man's voice. ' Is this Richard Nisbett's daughter?' 'Yes,' I said politely. 'Little nigger lover,' he snapped. 'You'd better watch yourself, because-'"(138). At the end of the book Marlee is happy because Liz gives her phone number indicating that she still wants to be friends. My piece of evidence for that is, "On the seat where she'd been sitting, was another three-by-three magic square. The first two and last two digits were the year, 1959. And the other five numbers, well, they were her new phone number."(290).

I would totally recommend this book to other 7th grade readers. Ms. Levine makes you feel like this story is happening right in front of you eyes. You can feel the hurt when Liz leaves without a goodbye. You can feel the rage when Red is treating colored people like scum. Also, this book seems really important now, in the midst of these shootings of young black people by white place officers and the officers getting away with it. It really made me realize that even though our schools aren't segregated anymore, that we can go to the same bathrooms, use the water fountains and ride in the same part of the bus now, does not mean that colored people today are treated fairly, and we need to fight for their rights as much as we fight for ours.

Tie a Tie

I was early for the play. Well, actually, it was the dress rehearsal, but anyway, I was early. I ran my fingers along the costume rack, feeling the different textures. I smelled that delicious smell of Odess Theater, soon to be tainted by the smell of  hairspray and makeup. I heard some of the boys coming in and I decided to put on my makeup before I got my costume on. When I was done, I got on my pants and tucked in my white button up shirt in. I stared blankly at the awful red plaid tie I was supposed to wear.

Olivia Wilcox walked in and I asked, “Olivia! Do you know how to tie a tie? Because I really need some help!”

“Sure,” she said. “Once I get dressed.”

“Phew! Because no one else was here yet and I have no idea what to do!”

She got dressed pretty quickly.

“It’s okay, calm down, I can’t tie it if you’re jumping around!” she told me.

“Can you just do it for me and then I can try it tomorrow?” I asked.

“Sure,” she said.

“First you wrap it around, and then again, and then you bring through, and slip it through,” she muttered as she was doing it.

“Whoah!” I said, amazed.

We then went outside the dressing room to look for Mary Boose, our head costumer, to see if the tie would be sufficient.

“I wonder where she is,” said Olivia.

“Right there,” I said, pointing.

Mary was over by the boys’ dressing room talking to Zeke, our director. We ran up to her and Olivia asked,

“Is this tie alright?”

“Yes, it’s very nice,” she said in her quiet, calm voice.

“Awesome! Thanks!” I said to her.

“Thanks,” echoed Olivia.

“Oh my goodness, thank you so, so, so much!” I exclaimed as we walked away.

“Your welcome,” she said.

“ I figuratively would have died if it wasn’t for you!” I exclaimed, over exaggerating, as usual.

“I would have saved you anyway,” she said in a fake heroic voice.

“My knight in shining armor!” I said, and we collapsed into giggles.

Composing herself, she said, “Of course, my lady,” she bowed.

Then Zeke came out and asked (jokingly), “What is all this noise?”

We started laughing again.

“I just tied her tie for her,” Olivia answered.

“Oh, great! Could you spread the word around that we’re going to do warm-ups in fifteen to twenty minutes?”

“Sure,” we replied.

I think this not only a fun skill to have, but also kind of important. I love acting and am often cast as roles of the opposite gender, so tying a tie might come in handy some day. Yeah, yeah it may not be as important, as say, driving a car, but like I said, it’s fun. The play went well, and we all had fun. There was a cast party afterward and we had fun. I had a great time during The Merry Wives of Windsor!

Book Review 1: Brotherband: The Outcasts

Hal's boat, Heron

Brotherband: The Outcasts, by John Flanagan, is about a Skandian boy named Hal Mikkelson. Hal lives in a country that values physical strength over intelligence. Hal is often bullied at school because his dead father was a strong Skandian warrior, but he doesn't use his physical strength. On top of that, his mother used to be a slave until his father set her free. The story starts off with Hal testing the new boat he designed, that had a triangular sail instead of a square one like all the other Skandian ships. He named the boat Heron because of the way it sailed like a bird. He had to put his ship away for a while because Brotherband training would soon be underway. When the choosing of the Brotherbands started, Hal and seven other boys were rejected from the other leaders' teams.  Tursgud, one of the team leaders, had been Hal's main bully at school. They soon formed a Brotherband called the Herons, after Hal's boat. The first assessment was the Mountain Run, and even though Rollond and Tursgud came in before the Heron team, the Herons won it anyways because it was a team assessment, not individual. Soon Hal knew what it was like to be the "skirl" (captain) of his team. Hal made sure he utilized his whole team, not just doing all the assessments himself, like Rollond and Tursgud. The second to last assessment was the night attack, a bit like capture the flag in nighttime. To make it possible for the Herons to win the Brotherband training, they would have to tie in this assessment. They did. The last assessment was the navigation test and the Herons were doing very well, but then, Tursgud's ship was right behind them and it became a crazy race to get back, but the Herons crossed the finish line first. The Herons won the Brotherband training! As a reward, the Herons got to guard the Andomal, Skandia's most prized object, for a night. But everything went wrong and the Andomal was stolen, and the Herons had to go on a mission to get the Andomal back and prove that they were rightful Skandians. 

I think the theme in this book is to always stick together. My first example of this is when the Brotherbands have the test of mountain running, and the Herons decide to run together. "'We're all running, sir. We'll do it as a team'" (229). My second example of this is when the Herons are trying to complete the obstacle course and Ingvar is falling behind but the Herons all stick with him to help. "'We've got to, Stig. It's the only way. And every team member has to complete every obstacle'" (287). My third and final example of this is when the Herons are getting ready to go steal the Andomal back and Ingvar says, "'Put it this way, Edvin. We never had any chance of beating the Wolves and the Sharks. But we did. Because we're the Heron Brotherband. And we can do anything we set our minds to'" (426). So those are my reasons for why I think that the theme of this book is that you always have to stick together. 

I would totally recommend this book to other 7th grade readers! It gives a wonderful sense of adventure with each page you turn.  I really like how Mr. Flanagan makes you want to read more, and to want to finish the book. Also, I like how the book is set in a fictional place, Skandia, which is based off of a real place, Scandinavia. Overall this was a great book.

Practice Book Review: The Veldt

The Veldt, by Ray Bradbury is about a family in the future that becomes too dependent on technology. This family, the Hadleys, have bought a house that does everything for them, it clothes and feeds them, ties their shoes, and bathes them, and everything else you could think of. The Hadleys have a "nursery" that becomes whatever you imagine it to be for their children, Wendy and Peter. The story starts off with Lydia, the mother, asking George, the father to take a look at the possibly malfunctioning nursery. When Lydia and George go into the nursery it is a hot African veldt. They see lions eating something that they can't see, and then they hear a sccream. The lions start advancing on George and Lydia and when the lions get too close, George and Lydia run from the room. They leave, and as they are standing talking about the nursery the lions jump against the door and Lydia gets worried about the lions coming out and they decide to lock the door. Later, George goes back to the room and finds a bloody wallet of his. When the kids get home their parents ask them about Africa, but they lie and they say that they don't know anything about Africa. Later, they go to bed and then they hear screams in the middle of the night, they found out that the kids had broken into the nursery. In the morning, the psychologist came and said that George and Lydia should turn off the nursery. When George and Lydia turn off the nursery,   Peter and Wendy beg for one last minute, the parents agree reluctantly. But when they hear screams they run into the nursery and suddenly, the door slams shut behind them and the lions start advancing. They get eaten.

One theme in this book is that spoiling your children can have disastrous consequences. One example of this is that George and Lydia didn't think that anything was good enough for their children. "But nothing's too good for our children" (pg.9) My second example of this is that that the kids become too controlling of their parents. "They're insufferable, let's admit it. They come and go as they like; they treat us like we're offspring. They're spoiled and were spoiled" (18). My third and final example is that even the psychologist thinks that the kids are spoiled. "I sensed you had spoiled your children more than most" (22). These are my examples of how spoiling your children can have negative consequences.

I would definitely recommend this book to other 7th grade readers because of the technology that Ray Bradbury envisioned, such as a table that produces food from inside, a shoe tier, and a tube that sucks you up too your bedroom. I think that because of this technology, other 7th graders would enjoy it.