The Butterfly Project

“You wanton quiet memory that haunts me all the while
In order to remind of her, whom love I send
perhaps when when you caress me sweetly I will smile
You are my confidante today, my dearest friend

You sweet remembrance tell a fairy tale
About my girl who’s lost and gone you see
Tell, tell the one about the golden grail
And call the swallow, bring her back to me

Fly somewhere back to her and ask her, soft and low,
If she think of me sometimes with love,
If she is well and ask her too, before you go
I am still her dearest, precious dove

And hurry back, don’t lose your way,
So I can think of other things,
But you were too lovely, perhaps, to stay
I loved you once. Good-bye, my love!”

Gratitude

       As Thanksgiving is coming up, we start thinking about what we are thankful for in our life and the gratitude we have for the people who help us get through our days. Every morning, my mom gets up, makes my brother and I breakfast, and makes sure we get to school on time. I typically think nothing of it, because it’s such a normal thing. But, actually it’s a pretty big sacrifice. I think of some kids who’s parents just send them to school, no breakfast or anything and I become very thankful for the mom I have. Then I think even further to how my dad goes and works every day so that we can have the money to buy the things we need, like food and clothes. My whole family makes sacrifices each and every day, which gives me gratitude.

       I also have gratitude for the people who have taught me and who have made me who I am. This includes, parents, siblings, friends, and teachers, who have all taught me something, which has helped me live and be successful in everyday life. I think of all the things I know and all the things I can do and how if I hadn’t known these people, I might have turned into a completely different person. I’m thankful for the opportunities these people have given me, like art and robotics classes my parents have signed me up for and classes the school has given me. There are so many people and things to have gratitude for.
   

Quarter One Reflection

My greatest struggle in ELA during this first quarter was studying my vocabulary words. Every week, I would make my vocab index cards on Monday, then put them away, thinking I would be taking them out and practicing every day. But, by Thursday, I had not taken them out again. Then I remembered I had the vocab test the next day and freak out, studying frantically until the test, where I would do average. This upcoming quarter, I will remember to take out the cards every day, which will help me get a better score on my test, while also keeping the frantic studying stress away.

      Refugees have been the main topic throughout.the first quarter of ELA. Through reading articles, looking at websites, and finally reading a book, I have become aware of the refugee problems in the world. Refugees seek refuge in hopes of escaping the terrible circumstances of their former home. They leave everything behind, including their friends and family, just to get away from the war or diseases that they had to face. Then once they move, they are faced with more problems. From school bullies to drunk drivers, refugees might still feel unwelcome in their new home, which was supposed to make their life better. Bringing light to the troubles refugees face is important in helping to make their troubles go away, or it at least get better.

      During first quarter I only wrote four blogs, so I didn’t have much of a chance to see myself improve or not. But I can see improvement from my introduction blog to my other, later blogs. In my introduction blog, my writing doesn’t flow. I read it now and it just seems like I listed a bunch of facts. To me it almost seems like I put together a bunch of bullet points. There are no transitions or anything. But then I see my next blog and I have some transition and it’s not as choppy as my introduction  blog. Then I see my next blog, where I have a lot less choppy paragraph and have obviously improved at least a little bit.

      Now that the first quarter is over, I see many areas where I could improve my work in ELA. As I’ve already mentioned, one of my goals is studying my vocabulary words during the whole week. Another of my goals is to make sure I read every single night because I have found myself going one to two nights without reading. I also want to practice writing even when it isn’t assigned because I want to get better at writing and I have a lifelong goal to publish a book. This will also help me write better during the writing assignments. Some other goals I might think of along the way and stick to also.

OBAA lifelines poem

His new heart had been inspired

Your heart of gold

Weeps and smiles

Welcoming Angels

Is what it truly meant

to develop a heart

She looked

Like an angel

They would trust her

Most angels don’t look like angels

Beggars

Vagrants

Misfits

A twenty year old angel

Sing with us, sing to us

Take us to play soccer

Teach us

See past their disguise

This particular angel was well disguised

Ungodly odor

Nasty clothes

Muddy body

He was

an angel

My family encouraged me:

Don’t. Give.Up.

My lifelong angel, my mother Tsege

Sent from heaven

AoW #2

In Of Beetles and Angels, there is a family of five; Halieb,Tsege,Selamawi,Tewolde, and Mehret who leave their homeland of Sudan because of wars and rebel groups. Before Halieb and Tsege had to leave their home, they had a good life for themselves. Halieb was a well known doctor and they had a fine home and their kids had a good education. But, their life there ended once they had to leave. They went to a refugee camp, then eventually to America. In the article Syrian Refugees find Rare Path to Chicago, Fatima and Fadi lived happily in Syria. Fadi was a painter and Fatima was going to school to learn English. They had a good home and a child. But one day, “We were sitting in my house when … it was destroyed over our heads, said Fadi Adris, recalling the bomb that leveled the family home.” Once again, a story of a refugee family who had a perfectly good life and were forced to leave it because of war. This shows how war affects the people who are living in that area so terribly.

      In of Beetles and Angels, both Tewolde and Halieb died from a drunk driver hitting them Tewolde had his whole life ahead of him and a Halieb wasn’t yet done with his life. But it was taken away by someone else’s mistake. Tewolde was about to become very successful. He had plans with his life, but didn’t get to do them.“But Tewolde never talked to management...never graduated from high school... a drunk driver killed him... My father is not here... one night...a drunk driver stole his life.” This shows what dangers could come with moving America. This could have never happened in Sudan, where are know cars and definitely no drunk drivers. In the article Syrian Refugees find Rare Path to Chicago, while Fatima is still in Syria, her brother and father get shot to death in the streets due to the war going on around them. “violence caught up to them and claimed the lives of Fatima Adris’ eldest brother, who was shot in the street, and her father,who also was gunned down.”
This shows that refugees really don’t have a choice to leave or not. For a refugee, it’s a matter of life or death. These events in Of Beetle and Angels and Syrian Refugees find Rare Path to Chicago show the dangers all refugees have to face.

            War effects many individuals and societies alike, not only the people who are in the war, but the people who live near the war or sometimes even far away from the war. The citizens of the area could be in danger of bombing and families might be pulled apart. People usually become refugees because of the bombings, destruction, violence, and war. War could ruin societies, making the crime rate go up and  buildings getting destroyed. War can effect areas and separate friends and family. War is terrible for everyone.

1st Book Blog- All the Wrong Questions: Why is This Night Different from All Other Nights?

    The book I am reading is All The Wrong Questions: Why is This Night Different From All Other nights? By Lemony Snicket. So far, I’ve read until page - . If you are reading this series or plan on reading the series, Do Not Read Further- Spoiler Alert, Spoiler Alert!  This book takes place on a train, that he had to jump onto while it was was moving, leaving a fictional town called Stain’d by the Sea, sometime in the past. It’s about a 13 year old boy, named Lemony Snicket who is on a journey to save the town Stain’d by the Sea, defeat the villain, Hangfire, and prove that his chaperone,S. Theodora Markson is not guilty of murder.
       I like what I’m reading in this book because it is full of mystery and suspense, and those are my favorite qualities of a book. My favorite genre is mystery so this book is perfect for me. This book follows Lemony Snicket figuring out clue by clue to get to the mystery of Stain’d by the Sea. It leaves on total cliffhangers and is a perfect book for anyone with a longing for adventure.
       If I could talk to the author, Lemony Snicket a.k.a. Daniel Handler, I would ask him if anything, what inspires him to write such creative books. I would be interested in knowing this because I would like to write books like his when I grow up and because I’m interested in that. I might also ask him if he’s always wanted to be an author or if he had no idea that he would be writing books as a living. It’s always interesting to find out if a successful person also at thought or knew they would be so successful so, it would be nice to know about that.
       

Welcome to my blog

               My name is Maya Miller and I am 12 years old and in 7th grade. This is the beginning of my seventh grade blog. I live with my mom, dad, brother, and two guinea pigs. My brother’s name is Isaac and my guinea pigs are Charlotte and Andrea.

         During my free time , I like to read. My favorite book is The Westing Game. My favorite authors are Lemony Snicket, who is the author of A Series of Unfortunate Events and All The Wrong Questions and Pseonemous Bosch, who is the author of The Secret Series. 
       I also like to draw and act. My favorite TV shows are The Office and Modern Family. My favorite subjects are ELA and Science. I also like to write and want to possibly be an author when I grow up.  I hope you enjoy reading my blog this year.

I commented on Alejandra’s blog, Clementine’s blog,