My friends and I stayed up until 3 am one night, comparing out views of the world, contemplating laughable impossibilities, and just all around chatting. I began a new segment around midnight labeled “I’m an insecure teenager, reassure me.” The tirade began: “I dunno guys… I feel like I’m just not going to be like, a desk job-er, you know, when I grow up. Like right now, I feel like I’m so different than everyone else, but I don’t want to just like, scream that to the heavens, you know, I don’t want to look like a poser. I mean, I’m not a poser, but I don’t want to look like I am. Like, I always act different about different kind of people, but I’m not trying to fit in with them, you know, I just feel like I’m more than one person.”

Johniera McClain

English Benchmark

For this benchmark we had to write a 5 paragraph essay supporting

a diary entry from the “Freedom Writers Diary” and why it should

be taught and allowed to be read in schools. That was the

assignment.

For the English benchmark, our class had to write a 5-paragraph essay on our thesis. We were reading the book, The Odyssey. We were reading up to book 10, and we had to choose a thesis that we were going to prove is a good thesis and were worth arguing about.

    My thesis was about how Odysseus and his crew were being greedy on their journey home, which got them in a lot of trouble. Things that they really didn't need much off, they were being greedy about it, and it caused them a lot of trouble.

If I were to do this project different, I would want to be ahead of the game and read the whole book. That way, I could prove my thesis even better about their journey home. It also lets me prove ma thesis more and it would make it less hard.

Our first benchmark in Mr. Kay’s English class challenged us to write a five-paragraph essay with a thesis statement about “The Odyssey.”  Our thesis had to be very good- that is, it must be something that can be argued, and must be a creative thesis about the book.  The essay had to be exactly five paragraphs, no more, no less, and each paragraph had to be strong and backed up by quotes from the book, and then our analysis on said quotes.

Final Revised Copy Of Auto Essay.

When we came home that night, my dad saw the little light flashing on our phone that tells us we have messages on our answering machine. My sister and me ran off to her room- she wanted to show me something, but we should have known something was wrong when my mom worriedly sat down at the table next to my dad and helped him make phone calls. After a little bit, my dad called us over and told us to sit down because he had something to tell us. He said, quite simply, “George died.” My sister gasped and immediately started to cry. I just sat there, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

“Erik, ¿que fue lo que dijo?” -“What did he say?” This is the very question my father would ask me when I translated for him at the lawyer’s office and everywhere I went with him to translate.
In my family there are two main languages that are used, Spanish and English. At home I speak Spanish, but my Spanish is not perfect. In my family we speak the Caribbean Spanish. There are many different kinds of Spanish.
I was born in Puerto Rico, to a Dominican man and a Puerto Rican woman. When I was two I moved to Philadelphia. In that same year around fall, I started my first day at a daycare/preschool. My parents did not know English at the time, so they wanted me to start learning English while I learned Spanish at home. By the time I was in kindergarden I was able to speak both Spanish and English. My English had a bit of an accent in the beginning of kindergarten but then I improved and starting speaking correctly. When I was older, my parents started using me as a translator. They would take me to their most important appointments.
My parents were really proud of me, but it seemed like what I had achieved was not what they expected, especially with my father. I would translate everything they would want me to translate.
I started to learn more and more and so did my parents. When I went with my dad I helped him with some translation. This is what happened…
“Erik, ven conmigo. Yo te voy a necesitar para que me traduzcas lo que yo le valla a decir al abogado.” said my dad.
“Ok, Pa’. I’m coming down in a few minutes.”
“Bueno avanza”
When we got to the lawyer’s office, I knew that my “job” was about to start.
“Good Afternoon sir, how may I help you?” said the secretary.
“Hi! ¿Erik, que fue lo que dijo?” said my dad.
“Ella dijo, Buenas tardes, ¿como lo puedo ayudar?”
“Bueno tu sabes para que venimos, dile.”
“We are here to see Edward…”
“Your name sir?”
I gave her my father’s name and she told us to wait. When we went into the lawyer’s office, my father started to tell me what he wanted me to say. Then, it was my turn to explain to the lawyer. When I was explaining my dad told me some other things that he wanted me to tell the lawyer. This is something we went through a lot over the years.
When I speak to my parents I have to speak to them in Spanish. This rule has a reason, my parents, especially my dad, hates it when we speak English. He thinks that if I keep speaking in English, I will completely lose my ability to speak Spanish at home. This is what he thinks:
“Ustedes son hispanos y su primer lenguaje es el español y por ley ustedes deben de hablar en ingles en la calle y en la casa deben hablar en español.”
My dad gets very flustered when he does not understand us and he starts making up stuff like, “it’s the law to speak Spanish at home and English outside.” My father is very judgmental of English speaking people. He has gotten in arguments that have had no point at all. This is very stressful and it embarrasses me whenever he does that, but now I’ve started to feel comfortable with that because it’s his way of coping with his inability to speak English. Today I try to help him learn more and more English, which is somewhat helping.

This world holds many people whose couriers and lives revolve around argument. Lawyers argue for a living, debaters argue for sport, my family argues for the sheer fun of it. All my life I have grown up in an environment where people have been yelling, shouting, clashing, growing harsher and sharper each generation. While other families are upstairs watching the game, or enjoying a nice family meal, we’re all sitting around the table tearing each other’s throats out over whether or not a french fry can be classified as a vegetable.
    Some people might call these arguments savage, or refer to us as an unhappy family because of them, however that’s because most people don’t understand that we don’t do it because we hate each other, we do it because we love doing it. Arguing is just how we communicate; though it has different outcomes and goals we always enjoy the thrill of it. Sometimes we argue passionately about politics, or science, knowing that we are right and the opposing side is indefinitely wrong. Other times we create arguments to amuse ourselves, however these are not pointless arguments. Every argument has at least one point or goal, and that’s winning.
    When the cards are down, members of the family are allowed to use whatever tactics they need to win. The most effect and popular of these, is sarcasm. My brother and I eat, drink, and breath sarcasm. Sometimes it’s vicious; sometimes it’s humorous, but most of all it’s exaggerated. We will use humor to win other members of the audience over to our side of the argument, or to simply embarrass your opponent into losing his or her train of thought. One classic win tactic is the bluff. We generally bluff with money or a bet, offering to put money down on a subject neither you nor your opponent is confidant on is a slimy strategy to get the opposite side to back down.
    No matter how slimy the strategy or argument in general, there is no shame in using it on another member of the family, no matter who they are. Whether they’re your mother, brother, uncle, or any person of any status they are fair game. Nothing’s personal. At the end of the day there are no grudges held from arguments lost, or vicious comments made; it’s all to win and has nothing to do with who the victim is.
    It seems as if this aspect is always getting me in trouble outside of the family. By the time I was about 10 I was able to win arguments with almost anyone I want, and I did. Teachers, NTA’s, bus drivers, really whoever presented the challenge. Unfortunately most people do not take as well to losing an argument to a 10 year old as the people I was used to arguing with. Even though being so good at winning an argument is generally thought of as an advantage, I feel that growing up it’s been more of a handicap than a gift. Some people have suggested debate teams, but the fact of the matter is it’s just too civilized for my tastes.
    I tried debates in English class in ninth grade. Though I was quite good at them, and found myself able to win in almost all cases, it was sort of uncomfortably frustrating not to be able to cut in, and to hold my tongue when it wants to lash out. It appears I will have to hold my tongue outside of my family, a lesson I have learned the hard way over the years.
    Society demands that everyone learn this lesson one way or another. It tells us that certain things are savage, wild, and cannot be let out into the world. I wouldn’t say that society controls us, more as domesticates it’s subjects. As animals on the farm are forced to stay inside of their fence, only leaving when the farmers permit, we are forced to keep actions that society views in a negative light inside or in private, and only allow them out on certain occasions that society deems fit.
Through my experiences I have learned an important lesson of life. Not all aspects of the things you love are shared by others, and though it may seem cowardly sometimes it is best to practice these things in private, with people who love as you love.

For english, we had to write a 5 paragraph essay about the Oddyssey.