connection to society

The society in A Thousand Splendid Suns is referring to the society of not so fortunate people in the world that we live in today. It is talking about how someone is born into poverty and they aspire to do something greater with their lives and they try and do that. It is just like the movie The Pursuit of Happiness, where Will Smith is born into poverty and he aspired to do something greater with his life and he fought for it and accomplished it. So just like Will Smith, Mariam aspires to be something greater when she was born on a lower scale and pushes to do so.

supporting character dinner

A supporting character to the main character in my story is Jalil. I would take him to the Precinct. I would go there with him because he is very rich since he owns a theater and he would want to eat at a very nice place, and that way I get a really nice meal for free. I would have a real nice and expensive steak to eat. I would go and take him out to dinner because he has ten children, not including Mariam, and then they would be all asleep so we would have no interruptions. They are worth my time and energy because he is a great father and he has a lot of money, so I would get a good night out of him and his money.  

blog

The main character in my story is a young girl named Mariam. She grew up in a small shack outside the city of Herat where she was know as a Harami (bastard child). She is very strong willed and dreams of a better world for her to live in rather than the very poor one that she was born into. When her mother died shortly after her birth, her father abandoned her and she was remarried to Rasheed. She hates her life with him and eventually kills him and then is executed by the Taliban for her actions. Her story is worthy of having it told because it is one how a very poor girl aspires to make changes in her life and not live like that her whole life. But her mother passes away and father leaves her and then she remarries. And then kills her husband. So it is a very interesting life story and deserves to have it told.

characters and their description

Mariam is Dakota Fanning because she played an amazing role in the movie Man on Fire and I feel like she would be the perfect fit in this story as well.

Jalil is Brad Pitt because throughout this book, he plays the part of a rich movie theater owner and a good father but oblivious to his family. I feel like Pitt would be a perfect fit.

Nana is Angelina Jolie because her and Brad Pitt always make good combinations together in movies and I think that she would be able to portray this character very well.

Muhsin and Ramin are Shane & Brent Kinsman because these two twins create chaos just like these two do In the story and who aren’t liked that much.

4th quarter book

i chose A Thousand Splended Suns by Khaled Hosseini. i chose this book because i did The Kite Runner for my senior research paper book and i really liked the way Khaled Hosseini wrote that book and i really think he is a great author. and throughout my research, this book always came up and was said to be a great book, so i thought i would read it for this assignment.

srp

Throughout the Senior Research Paper process, there are many things that I liked, things that I hated, and things I wished I did differently. I liked how the entire paper process was split up into parts and evenly spaced out throughout a certain number of days. I liked how it was so organized; otherwise I would have procrastinated on everything.  I hated that there was so much research that we had to do and how many sources we had to cite in our paper. I wish I would have done a better job on my research and actually read most of the stuff that I got so I could have written a better paper.

                I recommend for the students next year to read and take all your time on research and find good sources and reliable ones. And just make sure you read the book.

The Cincinnati Bengals

The Cincinnati Bengals Problems..

                The quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals for the last nine years, Carson Palmer, wants out. He has requested a trade so he may leave the team, but the owner, Paul Brown, has repeatedly said that he will not deal his franchise quarterback.  But almost the entire Bengals Nation wants Brown to deal Palmer. After the year he had last year, all the fans want to move in a new direction.

                So with the NFL Draft coming up, it looks like the Bengals will go with some type of Offensive player selection. They have the fourth overall pick in the draft. After the NFL Combine this past week, no quarterback seemed fourth pick overall worthy. They really liked Cam Newton and they are hoping for the opportunity to draft Ryan Mallet in the second round.

                So with their first round pick, all signs point to wide receiver A.J. Green from Georgia. All the analyst have said that he is the best piece of talent that they have seen since Randy Moss, and we all know how he turned out. He is one of the best receivers to ever play the game. So not a lot of people will argue with this pick here, especially with wide receivers Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco will most likely enter free agency or be traded. So with all the young talent they have at that position, they need to get a deep homerun hitter, and that is what they are getting with A.J. Green. So I cant wait for the draft to see what happens.

soccer

Bicycle kick at the end of a game

                The Mariemont High School Varsity Soccer team had an up and down regular season, but won most of our games. I was on that team. I was the starting goalie.

                We had a record of above 500 and we were scheduled to play MicNick. When we did our scouting report on their team, we found out that they had a couple of pretty good players, but one really great striker.

                During warm-ups in that game, we decided to move our starting striker and midfielder Andrew Fields to play in the middle of our defense. We did this because he plays defense for his club team and he is better at defense than he is at offense.

                So we started to play the game. We jumped out to an early one nill lead. But they came back down and scored because someone was left wide open back post.

                So as time is winding down, we are down by a goal. The score is three to two. There is 22 seconds left. We have a free kick. I go up to take it and then I kick it and their player kicks it out of bounds. So we get a corner kick. Quinn Budig goes to take the corner kick and kicks a floater to the back post. From out of nowhere, Taylor Henderson’s foot comes out of nowhere and he hits a bicycle kick to tie the game and keep us from losing.  From that game on, we won a lot of games and went deep  into the state tournament.

http://search.creativecommons.org/?q=zack uchtman

poetry project

Sonnet 18 on PhotoPeach



Diction- The author keeps comparing a women to the idea of summer and how she is so great like a beautiful summer day.
Syntax- At the beginning of the poem, the author starts out by asking a question and using a question mark no emphasize the question on how he compares her to a great summers day.
Shifts- The author is talking to her about summer and even though the summer comes and goes that she will always stay with him and will never leave his heart.
Imagery- The author is comparing this women to many different things. Like when he says how she has a gold complexion and how she is like the darling buds of May. He is praising her.
Language Use- The only language use is when the author is comparing this women to a summers day.
Theme- Love is very strong and once you have found it, you will never want it to go away and will want to keep it forever.
Tone- It is happy and optimistic because the author is talking about his love for a women and how she is so beautiful like a summers day.

This poem is about a man writing about his love for a woman. He starts off the poem by comparing her to a summer's day and how he loves her and doesn’t want her to go away. He talks about his gold complexion he has for her and how she shines like the heaven does. He says how his eternal summer shall not fade meaning he will never loose his love for her. So that is what the author is trying to describe throughout this poem and what he means behind it.

Love

Miss Me by Drake and Nicki Minaj

This is a song completely about Drakes love and affection towards Nicki Minaj. He straight up says in the song “I love Nicki Minaj, I told her, id admit it, I hope one day we get married just to say we f*****g did it.”

So this song is a good example of love because that whole song is about his attraction to Nicki Minaj and how he just wants to be with her.

Ohio State vs. Michigan

Ohio State vs. Michigan

                Every school in college football has a rival. The school always gets super pumped up to play against their rivals because for most schools, it is the biggest game of the year. There are rivalries, great rivalries, and then there is Ohio State vs. Michigan. This is one of the biggest rivalries of all time in all of sports.

                Before every game that they play each other, there is so much trash talk and hazing between the two teams and all of their players. Once the two teams come out of the tunnels, they start their warm ups. But very soon after they start to stretch and stuff, players start talking. There is always this huge huddle at mid field of the two teams. They are separated by the coaches for the respected schools. Both schools hate each other so much that they just want to get at each other before the game even starts.    

                There will be physical confrontations all throughout the game and players will get after each other all game long. It is why the game is so hyped up.

                Ohio State, while under the coaching of head coach Jim Tressel, has beaten Michigan ten out of the eleven years that he has been coaching at Ohio State. Michigan is ahead in the all time rivalry count of the games because they were so great in the past. But in the present and in the future, Ohio State is taking over this rivalry and will come out the better team.

http://search.creativecommons.org/?q=footbal%3Bl

Michael Crabtree Amazing Catch Against Texas

Michael Crabtree’s game winning catch against Texas

                Going into the 2008 season, everyone thought that Texas was going to win the national championship behind the leadership of defensive end Brian Orakbo and quarterback Colt McCoy. Going into the last week of the season, Texas remained unbeaten. They were ranked number one in the nation and all they had to do was win and they were in the national championship game. But they had to play the seventh ranked team in the country in Texas Tech in an old fashion rivalry game to end the season.

                The game went back and forth the entire game. One team scored and then the other would come right back and answer the score with a score of their own. It was a great game.

                There were eight seconds left on the clock in the fourth quarter. It was second down and ten yards to go from the Longhorns twenty eight yard line. Tech was driving with a chance to win the game. The score was 33-32 Texas was winning.

                Gram Harrell dropped back to pass and threw a deep fade rout as a prayer as the time winded down. He somehow got a ball to wide receiver Michael Crabtree. He caught it and fought off two Texas defenders and ran it in for the game winning touchdown catch.

                That picture was worth so much because just the situation when he caught that ball was insane. The stadium literally blew up because of him and that catch.

http://search.creativecommons.org/?q=michael+crabtree+catch+vs+texas

picture blog

Picture Blog

                David Tyree is a wide receiver for the New York Giants. During the 2007 season, Tyree didn’t play much on offense. He was an exceptional special team’s player. He made the Pro Bowl in 2005 for special teams.

                So Super Bowl Sunday came and the New York Giants were playing the New England Patriots.

                So there was one minute and twenty three seconds left in the game. It was a third down and five. The game was riding on this play. The Giants were losing fourteen to ten. The Patriots blitzed to try to get pressure on Eli Manning and try to get a sack.

                So the blitz comes and they have a lot of opportunities to sack Eli. He scrambles away from the pressure and throws a bomb down the field. And from out of nowhere comes wide receiver David Tyree and makes the greatest catch in Super Bowl History.

                Tyree jumps and is battling with the Patriots safety Rodney Harrison for the ball. Harrison almost strips the ball out from Tyree, but somehow David pined the ball on his helmet and held it there as he went down to the ground to secure the catch, as well as a first down. That catch led to the game winning touchdown pass to Plexico Burress.

                So as decorated in the picture, it was an amazing catch the way he was projected into the air and how Harrison is on him and somehow he held on to the ball.

http://search.creativecommons.org/?q=sports

blog entry

Defense delivers as Ravens book playoff date in Pittsburgh

                Kansas City’s head coach Todd Haley tried to prepare his team by saying that the Baltimore Ravens defense would be the best they had seen all season long. He was right.

                The Ravens defense shut down the Chiefs offense and held them to only thirty yards in the second half. Also, they forced five turnovers in the thirty to seven victory in the AFC Wild Card Playoff game.

                The game started out as a close contest, but then the Ravens offense took over and put up thirteen unanswered point. The Chiefs were never able to recover. That keeps the Chiefs streak alive of seven straight playoff games lost.

                The Chiefs turnovers killed them today. It was fourth and inches and the Chiefs went for it and got stuffed. Then their next possession, Ray Lewis hit Dexter McCluster and made him fumble the ball. Those two turnovers led to two field goals for Baltimore. Then, the Chiefs came back and Matt Cassel threw an interception. Every time they got momentum or anything positive going, they turned over the ball and gave Baltimore the upper hand and the momentum to beat them with. It seems like Kansas City just folded and crumbled under the pressure and choked.

                Baltimore now gets to dance with Pittsburg in the AFC divisional round of the playoffs. This is going to be a great game with two great AFC North teams going to battle one more time this season.

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2011010900/2010/POST18/ravens@chiefs/recap/full-story?module=HP_headlines

                

blog entry

Bengals turn it over, 13-7

                The Cincinnati Bengals played their hearts out earlier today. Their defense came to play by shutting down the Ravens offense as much as they could. Carlos Dunlap led the way with one and a half sacks.

                But when the Bengals called on their captain Carson Palmer to lead them to victory, he choked yet again. He had two potential game winning drives and he failed on both of them by turning it over on both drives. The first drive to win the game, he threw an interception. And on the second one, Carson fumbled while diving trying to get a first down.

                Then they got down to the 2 yard line with twenty seconds left. It was a fourth and one. Palmer takes the snap, rolls out to the right, and then throws it out of the back of the end zone over everyone’s head and kills any chance of coming back to win that game.

                The Bengals offense was stopped four times on downs that were third and one; story of the season.

                Well it is all going to change tomorrow. By dinner time tomorrow night, this whole franchise is going to change. Wide receiver Terrell Owens will be gone, head coach Marvin Lewis is probably one, and wide receiver Chad Johnson and Quarterback Carson Palmer might be gone. All the major players in this franchise have the potential to leave, leading to a completely new franchise. So we will see what ultimately happens tomorrow.

http://www.bengals.com/news/article-1/Bengals-turn-it-over-13-7/927c1866-694e-407e-9838-77c87d3dc612

blog 5

Steelers pick off Bengals bid, 23-7

                The Cincinnati Bengals gave it all they had today through the first three quarters. At the 12:21 mark in the fourth quarter, Carson Palmer threw his second interception return for a touchdown. After that play, the Pittsburg Steelers never slowed down. They went on to win twenty three to seven. That interception was Carson’s fifth interception return for a touchdown this season. That is among the league highest with all quarterbacks.

                After the Steelers kicker Shaun Suisham nailed a forty one yard field goal with 5:34 left, the Bengals suffered their club record tenth loss and fell to a record of 2-11.

                The defense totaled for all the Steelers points, aside from field goals. They had a total of two touchdowns and all the rest field goals. They controlled the clock in the fourth quarter by holding the ball for 13:11 out of the fifteen total minutes in the third quarter.

                Ben Roethlisberger had to settle for a lot of screen plays and quick throws because he was really banged up. He picked apart the Bengals secondary with all of their missed tackles and blown coverage’s that left the receivers open.

                On the other hand, Cincinnati’s offense was the exact opposite. Palmer threw three interceptions and just couldn’t get it done today. Wide receiver Terrell Owens had only one catch for twenty two yards and Carson only threw for 178 yards.

                The hard work of the Bengals defense was spoiled by two pick sixes by Carson Palmer. After those, there was no hope and no chance for them to recover.

                It was just another typical week for the Cincinnati Bengals. They can’t move the ball on offense and the turnovers kill them. It is just the way the season is going for the Bengals. Doesn’t look like it is going to get any better with the red hot Cleveland Browns up next week.

entry 4

Saints edge Bengals, 34-30

                The new Cincinnati Bengals kicker that they signed out of free agency Clint Stitser has never played in an NFL football game. He came in with virtually no practice and playing time in his first NFL game and made a 47-yard field goal to give the Bengals a 30-27 lead over the defending Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints. It turns out that that was not enough for them to hold onto a win.

                After that field goal, Drew Brees lead his team down and threw a 42-yard bomb to Robert Meachem which put them in very good field position to either tie up the game or give them the lead.

                When the Saints got to 4^th down, they lined up with the offense still on the field. Drew Brees started yelling commands and changing plays, trying to draw the Bengals defensive line offside’s. It worked with three seconds left on the play clock. The Bengals Pat Sims jumped the snap and Brees snapped it and they got a five yard penalty which gave them a first down.

                The very next play, Brees found a open Marcus Colston in the end zone for the game winning touchdown.

                This is just another example on the way that the Bengals season is going. Last year they would have had the luck and determination to pull this win out, but this year is the exact opposite. The Bengals are losing games this year that they won last year. It doesn’t look like it is getting any easier with the Pittsburgh Steelers on deck. We will see what happens next week.

http://www.bengals.com/news/article-1/Saints-edge-Bengals-34-30/ac11a246-845b-4e66-9ca7-124950da66f8

entry 3

Update: Bengals seek kick upgrade; T.O. salutes Revis (sort of); Bengals-Jets most watched

                The Cincinnati Bengals get the weekend off because they played the New York Jets on Thanksgiving Thursday. They surrendered a hard 26-10 loss to the jets on turkey night. After this loss, head coach Marvin Lewis announced at a press conference on Friday that there will be some roster changes this week. He claimed that they want to upgrade in kicker because their current kicker Aaron Pettery has missed a lot of field goals.

                There have been rumors all around Cincinnati that they are going to bring in the veteran kicker Kris Brown. Brown was recently cut by the Sandiego Chargers on Saturday.

                They tried to bring in the former Pittsburg Steeler kicker Jeff Reed, but he has shot down all the offers that were sent his way.

                Forty-eight hours after Bengals wide receiver Terrell Owens called the Jets corner back Derrell Revis just an average corner, Revis held TO to just three receptions for seventeen yards.

                Besides for the first half in last Sundays loss to Buffalo, the Bengals offense hasn’t done anything since they put up thirty-two points against Atlanta.

                Chad Ochocinco had Antonio Cramarties number in the first half. He had four receptions for forty one yards. But all of those receptions were in the first half. Palmer did not go back to Ocho in the second half at all. Chad stated after the game that he wished that he could have had more chances to help out the team and try to help them win.

                But this was just the typical Bengal game. Their offense can not hold up without committing stupid turnovers. But that is just the way this year’s season is going. They get the defending super bowl champion Saints next week; doesn’t look like their luck will change any time soon.

The Bengals game..

Bills turn first-half anger into a come from behind win over hapless Bengals

                The halftime score to the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals game was 31-14. Everything looked to be going the way of the Bengals. But then the Bills went into the locker room and put their game faces on and got angry. They were upset with the officials for letting Cincinnati kick that field goal at the end of the first half. It was their biggest comeback in thirteen years.

                The Buffalo Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick threw to match his career high with four touchdown passes. Players were talking on the sidelines on how they were not going to “fold up the tent” yet, and it was apparent that the Bengals had folded theirs. Safety Donte Whitner said that it was louder in the Bills locker room at half time than it was in the Bengals stadium.

                Wide receiver Steve Johnson caught three of Fitzpatricks four touchdown passes. He finished with eight catches for one hundred and thirty-seven yards.

                With this loss, the Bengals granted themselves with their eighteenth losing season in the last twenty years. This game failed to sell out. Therefore it was not shown on television.

The star Bengals receiver Terrell Owens said that they are terrible and how he doesn’t blame fans for booing them and not coming to watch them play.

One fan had a bag over their head that said “Bungles” and sitting next to him was a Bills fan that had a bag over their head as well that said “Jills”.  

Story of the year for the Bengals to give up that kind of league. I personally think it is pathetic and some changes need to be made to change up these continuing bad outings by the team. I think that TO said everything that needed to be said and what he said was the one hundred percent truth when he said that are terrible. We will see what changes are made and how they play on Thursday night when they get the really good New York Jets.

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2010112102/2010/REG11/bills@bengals/recap/quick-take?module=HP_headlines#tab:recap/recap-channels:cat-post-recap-full-story

first blog entry

Bengals can't repeat miracle; Ocho frustrated; T.O. on 1,500 pace

The Bengals were not able to repeat their miracles that they had accomplished last year. They beat the Pittsburg Stealers last year on a last second touchdown. This year, they had the same opportunity to do it again but they couldn’t pull it off this time. Jordan Shipley was not able to hold on to the catch at the end of the game.

The Stealers defense were blitzing Carson Palmer all game, but on the last play they dropped into a zone and the Bengals offense was not ready for it.

The special teams had a rough game. Bernard Scott fumbled the opening kick-off, Kevin Huber had a punt blocked, and kicker Mike Nugent missed two critical field goals.

Even though there were a lot of mistakes, it was not a complete fail. Terrell Owens had a great game , going for 141 yards and two touchdowns. This was his third 100-yard game. He is on pace to set the club record by getting 1,540 yards in a single season. The current record is 1,440 yards held by Chad Ochocinco. He is on pace to catch 110 balls and rack up 14 touchdowns.

Chad had just one catch Sunday for fifteen yards. He was getting so frustrated with Carson Palmer and at one point took himself out of the game.

The press after the game “battered” the Bengals pass protection. There was a total of four sacks, five quarterback hits, and a bunch of pressures.

http://www.bengals.com/news/article-1/Notes-Bengals-cant-repeat-miracle-Ocho-frustrated-TO-on-1500-pace/c11f6a8e-4240-44f5-b629-377414455471