Article # 1;
http://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/lawenforcement/article/787799--jail-for-youth-not-safe-report-says

The inmates are being taken advantage of by the "bigger" guys(law)
This reminds me of when Jack took advantage of the younger boys

Article # 2;
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/807157--son-of-democracy-icons-leads-philippine-presidential-race

This reminds me of when the boys on the island voted for Ralph, he was most liked by the boys.

Article # 3;
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/crime/article/807199--almost-4-400-drivers-ticketed-for-cellphones-mp3-players

This reminds me of how the boys had to pay for their consequences when they broke the rules.

Article # 4;
http://www.cp24.com/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100510/100510_vakhtang_court/20100510/?hub=CP24Home

This remindes me of how Jack and Roger got away with bad things that they did.

Article # 5;
http://www.cp24.com/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100510/100510_twitter_bug/20100510/?hub=CP24Home

This reminds me of how a lot of the boys are forced to do and believe things like Jack forced Sam and Eric to join his group.

I have no sympathy for Emily Goldin, but I do have empathy. The whole time I was reading the artical about Emily it wasn't shocking at all how people could be so cruel. When I was younger I wanted friends so bad, eventually I got them. Unfortunatly, they were not the best group of friends. Long story short school taught Emily how to cry, for me it was a whole different story.

One day a light bulb went off in my head, and I knew exactly what I needed to do. I needed to change. In the beginning I was a push over,made everyone walk all over me. I'd go to school and almost everyday have someone pick on me in some sort of way. Down the road to be honest I didnt change for the better I changed for the worse. I basically became the "BULLY". Some say that if your bullyed you'll either become depressed or take on the form of your bully, thats what I basically did. Now, when I say I basically became the bully I just mean i took on a couple traits of a bully. I had attitude, especially to other students. My personality was very bipolar, I was a good kid one second and a wild child the next. I didnt do drugs though,didnt pick fights and prefered to stay out of drama. I was still a good kid, even though it doesnt seem like it. I know what your thinking, how does that makes sense? Dont worry it makes sense... in my head.

Back to Emily. She did a lot of crying. I did too. I was bullied by girls, and girls can be so MEAN! So when ever I had the chance I would cry. My friends were going through the same things I was but they handdled it differently than me. Emily ran, I was too stubborn. I was getting sick of having to deal with people picking on me and trying to make my life a living hell. There was a couple of times I wanted to leave school, start fresh, but I had to suck it up. On my own I learned how to defend myself,not by kicking peoples you know what but standing up for myself. I started speaking my voice when I thought something was wrong. I learned so many things, too many to list.

To be honest, if those girls didnt bully me I would probubly not be the person I am today. If I could go back and change all those bad times, I wouldnt. I know I sound crazy, oh well. Not everyone is as lucky as me to break the cycle. Bullying sucks and those people bullied Emily because they we're probably bullied or had surpressed anger they needed to let off on someone weaker. I havent forgotten anything, and sometimes the memories come back, thats what sucks. That I have to live with that the rest of my life. When I have children I am going to try my hardest to make sure they are not bullied and they dont become bullies. I want to teach them good values.

Bullying is wrong.

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. ~Voltaire

Should there be limits to this constitutional guarantee?


Freedom of speech is the best thing since toilet paper. Nowadays everything is being controlled by some kind of monarchy. People are being set to believe one thing ,when some of us know its not that way at all. In countries like Canada we have freedom of speech, which allows us to state our opinion, of course there are limits. Even though there are limits which help protect certain groups and what not, we can still shout from the mountain tops what we think,and believe, and not have to go to jail for it. Without these limits people would take advantage of freedom of speech, like they always do with others freedoms we have. Without these limitations we would be lost.

In Canada and some other countries we don't have to fear of being killed for saying what we think. Sometimes people speak garbage that isn't true but what about the ones that do speak the truth. Some of them help us open our eyes to reality. Some people go a little overboard when they protest and without the limit of freedom of speech bad things may occur. For instance not everyone is Christian ,or Muslim, or Jewish and there are some people out there that feel that they must add they're two cents into everything ; without a limit on what they say this could cause riots. Sometimes things like newspapers need to be limited, there are just some things that don't need to be printed for example things that could say expose where troops are camping. The Freedom to have an opinion is a right and as long as we don't offend a group we'll be just fine.

In conclusion, everything is limited no matter what anyone says. Limits are what help promote the safe practice of what we can say and what we cant say. Limiting things to keep people safe and happy is one thing, but if the limits are to hide truth. I PROTEST! And I had the right to say that.

Write a three-paragraph blog post in which you argue for against the following statement:
"It was the mother's responsibility to intervene in her daughter's life as she did."
In your post, you should express your point personal point of view and provide strong arguments to support it. Include specific references from the story.


I personally think that in this case the mother had no right to intervene in her daughters life. Of course the parent thinks they know what's best, but not always. When a child is born their parent / guardian is who helps shape the beginning years of their life. I don't blame her mother for caring but she was beginning to go a little too far for all the wrong reasons. The protagonist was not doing anything wrong, and her mother was acting the way she was because she was prejudice of Wilhelm. Knowing that she had authority the mother used it to her advantage, by doing everything in her will to keep her daughter away from Wilhelm.

Her mother asked as Wilhelm turned his back “Who is that great bean stock?”. Here was a man being chivalrous by walking her daughter home and all she could do was ask who is that great bean stock? Wilhelm did nothing for her to start judging him, if anything she should be pleased that he was so generous as to take the time to make sure her daughter got home safe. Her mother quickly forbade her to go over to the O'Neills where Wilhelm was boarding because she was prejudice and she felt like since she doesn't approve of his status neither should her daughter. “He took over my great bundle of books...” Wilhelm was being a gentleman by helping the protagonist with her books. As soon as her mother found out she forbade her to see Wilhelm. Wilhelm did nothing wrong. The mother had no reason to forbid her form seeing him at all. Even after her moms outrageous demands Wilhelm still obeyed her. She should have then realized that maybe Wilhelm wasn't such a bad guy. The protagonist was forced to stop contact with Wilhelm. “One day my mother found in my room a scrawl on which I was practising my handwriting...” On that letter she expressed things for Wilhelm, “My dearest heart” is what she started her letter with. It is clear that the protagonist feels ways about Wilhelm. Her mother didnt even consider having a talk with her. I feel that if there was some inappropriate things going on , then maybe, just maybe the mom should have intervened. The protagonists mother was not fond of Wilhelm at all, at no point of time did she think her daughter might really be interested in this man. “ Maman had added that the 'Netherlander' had a face as thin as a knife blade.” She continued on also calling him a “Hollander”. It is very clear the the mother does not accept Wilhelm because he's a bad person but because he's of another nationality.

The mothers prejudice against Wilhelm has caused her to not be aware of her daughter and how she feels. Obviously the protagonist was fond of Wilhelm and there was no evidence to why her mother took such action against him. Her prejudice has caused her daughter to become confused which is why she hung up the phone on Wilhelm while he was playing the violin for her. Nobody else accepted him and thus causing her to slowly feel like maybe Wilhelm wasn't a good choice of a suitor. There for her mother has no right to intervene with her daughters, clearly harmless feelings toward Wilhelm. Once a child has reached a certain age you must believe that you have raised them well enough to let them make their own decisions, in this case it wasn't even about that, and the mother unrightfully took advantage of a harmless situations all because she was prejudice.

"Saturday Climb" by W.D. Valgardson


Once, when she deviated from the route her father had taken, she became stuck at an overhang. Not having dealt with the obstacle himself, Barry could not help and had to leave her to find her own solution.




There are many obstacles that people my age have to overcome which were not present in our parents' generation. Our parents did go through a few obstacles in their day but back in the days, way, way, way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, just kidding. But seriously, way back when our parents were our age there were many things our generation had to go through which they did not.

When our parents were growing up they probably had little or no technology around them, unlike teens today. We have computers, laptops, mp3 players, cell phones, THE INTERNET, FACEBOOK, and many other social sites. We are more exposed than our parents were when they were younger. There are many more chances of us being bullied over the internet and seeing things that maybe we shouldn't be seeing. A lot of things have changed over the years and money is to be made so parents are out working, leaving their children to face obstacles alone. One of the main obstacles our generation goes through is knowing whats right from wrong. We are so exposed to so many things through the media and go through so many situations at school. Peer pressure is so common in school and its getting worse every day. We know whats right but since our friends are doing it or our boyfriend or girlfriend wants us to do it we ... do it. Its easy to do whats wrong and hard to do whats right. Media has corrupted our young minds. Its also given us a lot more obstacles to go through. Being accepted by our classmates and friends by wearing, buying, and doing things everyone else is doing.

The value of life has gone up DRASTICALLY. If you wanna get paid big bucks you gotta have a good job. If you wanna have a good job you gotta have a good education. When our parents were growing up education was important but not like how it is now. Expectations have gone soaring high, if you wanna make your parents happy you have to well be a doctor or a lawyer, etc. Yeah, Yeah, they want whats best for us but that's another obstacle we have to face somewhat on our own, getting through school with good grades. For some its as easy as 1,2,3 but for a lot of us its as hard as (THE QUADRATIC FORMULA).

Further more our parents did go through somethings that we have and it seems like they've gotten out of it alive. I think it's hard for parents to watch their kids go through these things. But what can they do except cheer us on along the way.

- Shakura Galloway

The title speaks for itself.
-Metaphor