How Hurricane Isaac’s Impact Affected My Dad's Office

How Hurricane Isaac’s Impact Affected My Dad's Office

My father runs a company called Starmount Life Insurance with more than 150 employees. I have been to the old and new buildings multiple times. Sometimes I even work there. Usually, the business is crowded with employees, working to help customers all over the country.

            However, on August 30, 2012, due to Hurricane Isaac's impact, every other business on the street, lost electricity. But thanks to the generators in the building, our electricity, Internet, and customer service still worked.  There were fewer people working than normal and so the office was pretty quiet, but the people who were there were working really hard. Plus, in most areas, including my dad's office, the air conditioning was not working which means it was incredibly hot. Therefore our employees, many who also did not have power at home, came to work anyway in a very hot and sweaty office. The employees came to work because their families needed money, they had customers all over the country, and they took their jobs very seriously.  It would have been easy for these people to stay at home and just not go to work. I was really impressed with their dedication and hard work.

In Defense of Creative Writing: An Author's Manifesto

In Defense of Creative Writing: An Author's Manifesto

Jake Sternberg

8/26/12

Block 3

Creative writing has always helped people to express their imaginations and creativity through stories. Plus, creative writing has also led to the creation of science fiction, realistic fiction, comedy, mystery, and fantasy novels such as Harry Potter, Moby Dick, Alex Rider, Cherub, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, Treasure Island, Sherlock Holmes, and several others. One of the greatest science fiction writers in history, Ray Bradbury, wrote incredible novels throughout his life.

Throughout history, writers have expressed their ideas through creative writing. This has not only led to the creation of novels, but fiction movies, short stories, comics, graphic novels, cartoons, live-action TV shows, and even video games because the 1st step to creating any of these is creative writing. I have been writing since 2nd grade, and gained most of my ideas from other books, movies, video games, and TV shows. To avoid plagiarism however, I make several changes to the plot, setting, name, and characters, thus trying extremely hard to make the stories my own. As I write, I think about Albert Einstein's quote, “Imagination is more important than knowledge,” and mix my creativity with everything I have learned so far. Creative writing has been a wonderful tool for writers all over the world and I think it will do the same in the future.

Reading Response to "Cherub: The Killing"

Reading Response to "Cherub: The Killing"

Jake Sternberg

8/26/12

Block 3

I am currently reading the forth book in Robert Muchamore's Cherub series. Plus, I spent 6 hours during the 2 weeks of school reading it. This book is called Cherub: The Killing. This book relates to the fact that many people label the way others make money. Usually they may assume that someone either won the lottery or robbed a bank and when it's revealed that the person did not win the lottery, it makes the police highly suspicious.

However, I have many questions to ask about this book. First, why are people always labeling others? Second, why did the police believe a rumor that somebody won the lottery or robbed the bank? Just because they didn't win the lottery doesn't mean they robbed a bank. People shouldn't assume those labels on others.

CHERUB: Maximum Security Reading Response

The book, CHERUB: Maximum Security, is about a top-secret organization that uses kids at the ages of 7-17 to perform top-secret missions, which the CIA, FBI, and MI5 have never been able to accomplish. This book contains a lot of action and adventure, which I enjoyed because they put a vivid picture in my head about what was happening.  These details brought a number of interesting questions to my mind, especially about the role kids play in society.

In particular, I question of how child criminals are treated by the justice system. It is ironic that while CHERUB missions usually involve kids putting adult criminals behind bars, this time, the main protagonist, child spy, James Adams, is supposed to break a child criminal out of a maximum-security prison. The 14-year-old criminal, Curtis Oxford, was convicted of killing 3 innocent people and is being held in a maximum-security prison in Arizona. It’s hard to believe that if a child commits a serious crime, they can be sentenced just as adults by the justice system. I can't imagine being sentenced to life in prison or worse. As a citizen of my community, I understand that the larger good in society sometimes requires tough discipline, even for kids. However, I wonder if a harsh punishment means that child may miss a chance to truly change. Can we trust the system to do the right thing? How do we help kids avoid committing crimes?

Free Response Essay My Incredible Summer

           

        

          Over the past five years, I have been going to a summer camp located on Echo Lake, in Fayette, Maine. This paradise is known as Camp Winnebago. Every summer my family and I go to New York on an airplane, and a few days later they bring me to the Museum of Natural History where the camp’s bus picks everyone up. Next, the campers and I take a long bus ride, while sharing many wonderful snacks, watching a movie, and making a stop for lunch on the way. Finally, we arrive at Camp Winnebago where we give our cell phones to the camp director, Andy Lilienthal, a counselor escorts us to our bunks, and we unpack our luggage. The summer is ready to begin!

            This summer was known as the Summer of Virtue. I was in Bunk 33 with three other campers, Daniel Perreault, Gabe DeSantis, and Kenny Rosenfeld. I went on two camping trips, which we re highlights of my summer. My first trip was a six-day canoeing trip on the St. Croix River. A few weeks later, I went on a trip to Acadia National Park, which was my favorite. On this trip, we went sea kayaking, hiking, and mountain biking. Although all of these activities were incredible, the best part of these trips was that I made many wonderful new friendships.