Mattie Cook and the Yellow Fever

        Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson is an amzaing book with vivid charcters and an exciting plot! A teenaged girl named Mattie Cook must escape Philadelphia with her grandfather while the yellow fever rages and destroys the panicked city. She has to quickly learn how to survive. Other students should read this book because it will inform them of how people lived in the late 1700s. Fever is an interesting book, and it is easy to read.





This is the book cover. It is interesting because it is not only in black and white,
but it is also in yellow which represents the yellow fever.
http://www.readingandrooibos.com/



O. Henry!

1.  O. Henry is the pseudonym used by William Sydney Porter.
2.  William Porter was born in 1862 and died in 1910.

3.  He grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina.

4.  One of O. Henry’s most famous stories is “The Gift of the Magi.”

5.  He attended school until he was 15, dropped out, and worked in his uncle’s drugstore.

6.  He moved to Texas in his 20s and became a clerk and bank teller.

7.  O. Henry went to jail for embezzling money.

8.  He began writing while he was in prison.

9.  He was released from jail in 1901 and moved to New York City.

10.After jail, he became a writer full time and is known for his famous short stories.

http://www.inspirationline.com/Brainteaser/ohenry.htm



Student Encarta O. Henry Article

Wise White

http://blog.chloeveltman.com/2008/03/masque-of-red-death.html

            In “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe, the fifth room, which is furnished and lighted with white, represents the ages of fifty to sixty year old people. The color white explains the knowledge, wisdom, and aging of that part in the life cycle. It also means settled down and simple. It is the age of a grandparent, and the people that age are accepting their life. The white stage of life is close to dying from old age because it is two rooms away from the black room. The life cycle is almost complete.

            The color white represents the close to ending phase of life. People are not as colorful and energetic as they would be in the previous life phases. They are more of a colorless white, but they are still bright. By this, in other words, it means that the people this age are still living, but they are not as active as they were before when they were younger. They tell stories of the earlier times, so they are not as fun. They know what has been done and is needed to be done before their time is up and life is over. They are the wise people of society that know many things. They are on their way to become the violet people of society, who are the oldest ones that are prepared to die. The white room is the last chance of having a good time on earth. In this part of life, the ebony clock is almost ready to strike. The ebony clock of life is ticking and is all set to ding when a person dies. Old age is approaching the life of the human in the white room, and death is soon to make its arrival. The white room exemplifies the last bright part of human life.

            Though I am not fifty years old, I can still relate to this part in the life cycle. I can imagine how it would feel to be that age. When I think of white, I think of the white hair that the people in this part of the life cycle have. My grandmother died in her white phase of life. She skipped the violet phase of life because she died from a heart attack. I was only two years old when it happened. This shows me that some people can actually skip any part of the cycle and go straight to the seventh room because death can catch anyone at any moment. The white room is very important because it is one of the seven stages of life. It is like the “almost there” stage. A person in the white room is very close to the violet and black stage and still has the ability to live in the white stage. I hope that when I die, I will be able to experience each room and stage of life.



White room
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Niebor%C3%B3w_Palace_-_The_White_Room.jpg





Edgar Allan Poe Web Quest



http://medchrome.com/extras/stories/berenice-by-edgar-allan-poe/


Website Questions:
1.  Poe's was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. He died on Sunday, October 7, 1849.
http://www.poemuseum.org/life.php
2.  Being a foster child because his mother died when he was two influenced his writing.
http://www.poemuseum.org/life.php
3.  Five theories on how Poe died are that he had tuberculosis, epilepsy, diabetes, rabies, or a combination of alcohol dehydrogenase deficiency syndrome and brain disease.
http://www.eapoe.org/geninfo/poedeath.htm
4.  According to the Edgar Allan Poe Museum, Poe considered Richmond, Virginia as his home.
http://www.poemuseum.org/life-richmond.php
5.  The Poe Society of Baltimore claims that Baltimore defines the beginning and end of Poe's life. Although he was known as a Virginian gentleman, he was in Baltimore during many important parts of his life.
http://www.eapoe.org/balt/poebalt.htm
6.  In 1831, the famous military academy, West Point, expelled Poe.
http://www.poemuseum.org/life.php
7.  Poe married his cousin, Virginia. He was 27, and she was 13.
http://poestories.com/biography.php
8. I think that Poe marrying his cousin is inappropriate. They are first cousins, and she is less than half his age. I guess it was legal in the 1800's.
9. "Murders in the Rue Morgue" is the first detective story Poe had written.
http://poestories.com/stories.php
10. "The Raven" was published in 1845.
http://poestories.com/read/raven

        Last year at St. Margaret's, we read "The Black Cat" and "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe. We had a whole unit about him, and we watched a movie, too. We learned a lot of these things about him. I remember knowing that he went to West Point like my dad, and a lot of the people that Poe knew and loved had died from tuberculosis. I can't wait to read more from Poe.

We're Back!

         It's a new quarter, so I refreshed my blog! I changed the background and added gadgets. I even got a Shakespeare gadget for the theme of our short story unit. I can't wait to learn about William Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe! It will be an adventure while we read A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. Poe's eerie stories will become a great introduction for Halloween. This will be a great short story unit!

This is a picture of my friends and me before the John Carroll Homecoming!

The Handling of Juvenile Delinquency

           The complications of juvenile delinquency cases have caused a social issue in the United States. When juveniles are charged as adults and go to prison, they are negatively affected by their experiences. They have the urge to sell drugs to make money and end up in jail again. There should be more restraints on the verdicts in the juvenile justice system and more things done to prevent the crimes because juvenile delinquents are being treated too unfairly.

            Mental disorders, moral panics, family environment, peer pressure, labeling, and strain are all causes of juvenile delinquency. Gangs and gang violence have also been major sources of delinquency. They have caused patterns of delinquency in the poverty-level neighborhoods in the city. Internationally, the rate of delinquency cases are higher in the more technologically and economically advanced countries. Teenagers that are emotionally ill with disorganized family situations have a higher chance of delinquency (‘juvenile delinquency”).   According to Brenda and Charles Griffin, “unstable families, drug abuse, failure of school, violence in the mass media, and the weakening of religious bonds all have had popular support as explanations for delinquency.” There are a lot of causes of teenagers in prison, and they have become life-threatening cases. For these cases, they are being charged as adults and sent to the criminal justice system.

There are too many juveniles being charged as adults in the justice system. Most states debate whether to charge teenagers as adults because of the offenses they have committed. Society states that people under the age of seventeen are unable to drink, smoke, or join the military, so they should not be treated as an adult for a crime (Update: Juvenile Justice). Stahl mentions that, “the judge can waive jurisdiction on the juvenile, so he or she can be tried as an adult in criminal court.” Juveniles should not be going to jail with adults.

            Juvenile delinquents are being negatively impacted from jail and need to leave with the confidence and reassurance that they can succeed. Teens are better off going through the juvenile justice system than going through an adult prison. They have a higher chance to be psychologically damaged if they go to an adult prison. Juveniles that have attended adult detention centers are the ones that stay criminals for the rest of their lives (Update: Juvenile Justice).  It is shown by the conduct of the ones that have been released. In Update: Juvenile Justice, critics argue that, “Juveniles can be more greatly influenced by certain factors, such as abuse, than adults can, and their treatment by the law should reflect that.” There are many alternatives to making the juvenile justice system more effective. One of the ideas is teen courts.

            Teen courts are courts which use teenagers to serve as jurors. Some people argue that there should not be teen courts, and the verdict of a crime should be left to a professional's decision. They also think teen courts are pointless because teenagers are too naive to know how to administer the law (“Teen Courts”).  In reality, there should be more teen courts because they are an additional way to solve juvenile crimes.  Teen courts are for nonviolent crimes, and teenagers have the chance to tell the offenders why their crimes were wrong.

If a juvenile has committed an extremely bad crime, he or she should get the appropriate consequences. The death penalty is used when the offender deserves it, and the juvenile is tried as an adult, depending on the crime. Juveniles should not be in the criminal justice system when they are too young for it, even though it has proven to cause a drop in juvenile crime. Additionally, attorneys argue that executing a teenager violates the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution (Update: Juvenile Justice). Juveniles in the adult criminal justice system will stay as offenders for the rest of their lives.

When juveniles are out of jail, people should help them get treatment, so they will live a controlled life. The best way for parents to make sure their children don’t turn into a delinquent is by preventing the causes of it. To prevent juvenile delinquency, parents should have their children join programs and become involved in their community at an early age. Helping children avoid becoming delinquents will ensure that they will not be treated unfairly.

 

http://rolemodels.jou.ufl.edu/rolemodels/studentissues/juvcrime.shtm

Works Cited

Griffin, Brenda S., and Charles T. Griffin. "Juvenile Delinquency." Encyclopedia Americana.      

        2010. Grolier Online. 27 Sept. 2010.

"Juvenile Delinquency." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com.     

        Web. 3 Oct. 2010

Stahl, Anne L. "Delinquency Cases in Juvenile Courts, 2004." OJJDP FACT SHEET. Feb. 2008:            

        1-2. SIRS Government Reporter. Web. 24 Sep 2010.

"Teen Courts." Issues & Controversies On File: n. pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File       

        News Services, 10 Mar. 2006. Web. 30 Sept. 2010.        

Update: Juvenile Justice. Issues & Controversies On File: n. pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File

        News Services, 14 Dec. 2006. Web. 20 Sept. 2010.            

Juvenile Delinquency

Griffin, Brenda S., and Charles T. Griffin. "Juvenile Delinquency."Encyclopedia Americana.      
2010. Grolier Online. 27 Sept. 2010 <http://ea.grolier.com/article?id=0226690-00>.

·         “Juvenile Delinquency. The term was coined in 1818 by the Society for the Prevention of Pauperism and initially was used to describe the disapproved activities of neglected immigrant children who roamed the streets of New York City.”

·          In 1899, the first juvenile court was in Illinois.

·         Anyone minor that does the crime is considered a delinquent. It doesn’t matter what their background is.

·         “The unstable family, drug abuse, failure of schools, violence in the mass media, and the weakening of religious bonds all has had popular support as explanations for delinquency.”

·         “The network of agencies that identify, classify, and treat juveniles in trouble is known as the juvenile justice system.”

·         Parts of the juvenile justice system include law enforcement, detention, correctional, juvenile court, and aftercare agencies.

·         One third of all the juvenile cases in the United States came under investigation.

·         At court, if the evidence proves that the defendant is guilty, it is called “found delinquent”.

·         There is a separate hearing to determine what the consequences are, if the minor is found delinquent.

·         “The most promising prevention and control programs have been characterized by intense neighborhood or community involvement.”

·         “The resources of the community must be mobilized to accomplish the threefold goal of prevention, treatment, and control.”

http://thecrimereport.org/topics/juvenile-justice/juvenile-courts/

Delinquency Cases in Juvenile Courts, 2004

Stahl, Anne L. "Delinquency Cases in Juvenile Courts, 2004." OJJDP FACT SHEET. Feb. 2008: 1-2. SIRS Government Reporter. Web. 24 Sep 2010.

·         "In 2004, there were an estimated amount of 1.66 million cases that involved juveniles charged with criminal law violations."

·         Most juveniles are white.

·         Delinquency cases involve several steps, and a significant one is detention.

·         "Juveniles may be detained for a variety of reason such as for their own protection, to protect the community, or to ensure the juvenile’s appearance at court hearings."

·         In 2004, 57% of juvenile cases had juveniles under the age of sixteen.

·         The authorities in the justice system handle the case by deciding if it should be taken to the judge.

·         "The judge can waive jurisdiction on the juvenile, so it can be tried as an adult in criminal court."

·         The most increased offense is the liquor law violation.

·         "Estimates are based on data from nearly 1,900 courts with jurisdiction over more than 77% of the Nation's juvenile population. Each case represents one youth processed by a juvenile court on a new referral, regardless of the number of individual offenses contained in that referral. A youth may be involved in more than one case during the calendar year."

·         The number of male delinquency cases surpasses the amount of female delinquency cases.

Update: Juvenile Justice

Update: Juvenile Justice. Issues & Controversies On File: n. pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 14 Dec. 2006. Web. 20 Sept. 2010. http://www.2facts.com/article/i0702550.

·         Juvenile court is separate from regular criminal courts.

·         Offenders are under the age of 17.

·         In the 1980s and 1990s, there became an increasing rate of juvenile crime, and it became extreme.

·         Some cases, the prosecutor could decide whether to charge the juvenile as an adult.

·         “Juveniles can be more greatly influenced by certain factors, such as abuse, than adults can, and their treatment by the law should reflect that, critics argue.”

·         Juveniles are more likely to have a negative impact from prison than adults.

·         The death penalty is used when it is deserved.

The Juvenile Justice Debate:

·         Most states argue whether juveniles should be charged as adults because of the offense/ offenses they have done.

·         “The juvenile justice system is too lenient to effectively deal with underage crime.”

·         “Tough legislative and judicial policies are responsible for the recent drop in juvenile crime.”

·          “Attorneys argued that executing someone for a crime committed when he or she was a juvenile violates the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.”

·         Society states that people under the age of 17 are unable to legally drink, smoke, or join the military, so why can juveniles be treated as an adult for the cost of a crime.

·         There are a few other countries besides the United States that execute juveniles. (the Congo, Iran, Pakistan, Yemen, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia)

Research Questions- Juvenile Delinquency

1. What is the main cause of teenagers in prison?
2. Does divorce cause juvenile delinquency? If so, what are some ways to prevent it after the divorce?
3. Do juvenile delinquents go to school? Where?
4. How do juveniles recover after prison? What are the processes they have to go through?

Juvenile Delinquency Topic Paragraph

Book: Jude by Kate Morgenroth

Topic: juvenile delinquency

Search Terms:

1.       mental disorders

2.       moral panics

3.       family environment

4.       individual risk factors

5.       labeling

6.       strain

7.       differential association

Juvenile Delinquency

                Juvenile delinquency is illegal behavior made by adolescents. There are many different theories people have of the reason of the crime. The crime could have been caused by a mental disorder, peer pressure, family environment, labeling, or strain. It could have also been caused from a moral panic. A juvenile delinquent is one who repeats the crime. These crimes are committed between the ages of fifteen to twenty-five years old. In the book, Jude by Kate Morgenroth, Jude was a juvenile delinquent that transformed into a lawyer. When Jude went to jail, he changed how he thought about his life. He changed his outcome to a positive influence. Disciplining adolescents for illegal behavior is a great way to keep them cooperative and change them for the better.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juvenile_justice_system)

http://realpeeplz.blogspot.com/

Letter to Jude

703 Churchville Road

Bel Air, MD 21014

September 6, 2010

Dear Jude,

Hi, my name is Kirsten, and I liked reading about your quest for success. Jude by Kate Morgenroth is a great book! I am a freshman at John Carroll and the middle of five children. Both of my parents are in the army. This summer, we flew to Hawaii on military planes. I went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. We also went to a luau at the Polynesian Cultural Center. The picture is of me and my older sisters after the luau, and I am on the left. We had a great time.

I liked how you overcame your problems. You were a jailbird, and now you are a lawyer. You worked really hard and influenced me to do the same. I hope I can become as successful as you did. You handled your problems with Harry well. I wish you didn’t fight while you were in jail, though.

Kate Morgenroth’s writing style was very interesting. Once I started reading, I couldn’t put the book down. You were a very realistic character. There were many twists and turns in the story that surprised me. I was shocked when I found out that the guy that killed your father knew Harry.

I would like to know about your experience in jail. Was it scary fighting the men that were way bigger than you? What if Benito really died? Would you hate yourself for killing someone? What if you did turn out like your father? How would you feel? Through all the things you’ve been through, I’m glad you didn’t turn out like your father.

I hope most teenagers will become aware of the risks there are involved with drug use and possession. Some don’t realize how bad it is until after they get in trouble. I am sure that after they read this book, they won’t want to use drugs. With all of the things you went through, it would be a bad idea to. This book has definitely made me aware of the consequences.

In conclusion, I advise you to become friends with your mom. I know she isn’t important to you anymore, but she is all you have left in your family. I hope you get this letter and write back soon.

Sincerely,

Kirsten 

Jude

This summer, I read Jude by Kate Morgenroth. It was an interesting book with many twists and turns. Jude was a 15 year old teenaged boy that saw his father get murdered, but he was threatened to keep a secret. Then, he had to move in with his mother that he had never met before. He had to confront many difficult situations and overcome his past.

The Book: Jude by Kate Morgenroth
1. Who is the main character and what is that character’s personality like? Type a complete sentence or two that include three different adjectives that describe your character.

The main character is 15 year old boy named Jude, and he is brave, smart, and tough.

2. Most good stories have a beginning, middle, and end. Type a complete sentence for each of these three parts that summarizes what happens.

Jude sees his father get murdered and keeps it a secret. After the murder, he moves in with his mother, Anna Grady, whom he has never met. He told Anna’s boyfriend, Harry, that he killed his father, so Harry would defend him and stop the reporters from talking to him. Jude takes a kid from his new school to his old neighborhood to buy drugs. The boy overdoses and dies. Anna is a lawyer and has to solve the case, but she is also running for mayor. Police officers saw Jude with the boy that died, so they knew he was involved. Harry told Jude to pretend he sold drugs and set him up. Jude was found guilty in trial, so he had to go to jail for five years. His mother won the election. He wanted to impress his mother, and he got interested in becoming a lawyer. He studied in jail. When he got out, he teamed up with a kid from his high school that worked for the newspaper to make Harry tell his mother the truth. The high school friend published Jude’s story in the newspaper, and Harry went to jail. Anna ceased her time as mayor, and the people hated her. Jude became friends with his high school friend’s twin sister and got into Yale to be a lawyer.

3. Think about the experiences that the main character has and the changes that she or he experiences by the end of the story. In a complete sentence or two, describe what you think the author is trying to say about life.

If you persevere, you can succeed. Anybody from anywhere can overcome obstacles and become successful.



The Issues: Mother and son relationship; teenagers in prison; juvenile justice system

1. Explain how one of these issues affects the character(s) in the story. Write three complete sentences – either three different ways that one character is affected, or one way each that three different characters are affected.

Jude was affected by being a teenager in prison because it made him want to change his mind about how he was going to live his life. He had to give up five years in the outside world because of a lie. He became a stronger character by living in a harsher environment.

2. In complete sentences, describe two specific events that make the book’s social issue(s) seem real and important. How does the author make a big issue immediate and personal?

The social issues seem real and important because it was really easy for Jude to get caught for selling drugs. After Jude was declared guilty, his life in jail seemed very painful for him. People hated Jude’s mother personally for not believing her son at the end of the book.

image website:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Jude/Kate-Morgenroth/e/9781416912675

My Unique Profile

My name is Kirsten, and I am a freshman at John Carroll. I was born on November 4, 1995. Last year, I went to St. Margaret's Middle School. I am the middle of five children. I have two older sisters and two younger brothers. Both of my parents are lieutenant colonels in the United States Army, and my family likes to travel. We have a dog named Rudie. I am a John Carroll cheerleader. My goal this year is to make new friends and get good grades.