London talk

Brother whitman

Bubi

President hinckley sam

checketts

plane miracle

How much of what happens in our lives do we control?

Looks good!
You are just about there!
Last things:

1. Finish things in blue
2. Spell check & keep paragraphs together (make sure there aren't any extra lines jumping down - i.e see section on "Thomas accepts his fate")
3. Read over one more time to see how it sounds (make any last edits for flow)
4. Make a Bibliography of the 4 pieces you used (use website for template)
5. Put it in the Template Document from the site with your name at the top of each page

In our lives we cannot control control everything that happens to us. But we can control certain things like our attitude, our emotions, our outlook on life and our decisions.  Learning to control these things is important because if we don't control what we can control then we will feel out of control. It may lead to not thinking right, always being angry with things we can't control, and maybe even madness!

In this paper I will discuss the following texts to support this claim: Invictus by William Earnest Henley, The Sports Gene by David Epstein, Luck is Not Chance by Emily Dickinson and If by Rudyard Kipling.

First of all we can control our decisions, but the outcome is often out of our control. We may have a feeling what the consequences will be but we can't control exactly what the outcome will be of our decisions. This is why I think we should make the right decision because usually the consequences will also be good. Rarely is there a bad decision that will have a good consequence.

Even it were to have a good consequence you would feel guilt about making a bad decision and therefore the consequence is still bad. If you made a good decision, it may leave you feeling awkward at the moment but later on you will feel good about making the right decision.

In Invictus the authors message goes through the character in the poem and he says that he is the master of his destiny no matter what is thrown at him to knock him off his path. The message the author is trying to show is that you can stay strong through hardships and not let anything faze you, not even the awful things that were going on with the charachter.

In this excerpt from Invictus [Put an excerpt here from the poem]  he shows control by not swaying under the hardships he is faced with. (Henley) He can control his attitude and his willingness to not be disconcerted, but, his situation is beyond his control as of, after he is in it.

The second big thing we can control is our reaction to events. It is vital to be able to control how we react to things that we cannot control for example, people writing untrue things about you in the media.  Need a short intro paragraph about something like, the second big thing we can control is our reaction to events. 

In Invictus he doesn't get to control what is happening to him but he does get to control how he reacts to what he is going through. He stands strong and won't let anything change him. As it says here in Invictus:

"And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid." (Henley)

While we get to control what we want to do or what we plan to do in our daily lives we don't control if conflicts come up at the last minute or if there is traffic on the way to somewhere, or your car breaks down.

One of the most important things that we can control at all times is our attitude and our emotions. As it says in the poem IF, "If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you." (Kipling)

The attitude one has plays a big part in what you control and how you deal with things.

It may be hard to control emotions but if you can control your emotions and attitude then what you can't control becomes much more bearable.

Some of what happens in our lives seems unfair. From everday activities to some really big things that change the way our lives turn. But sometimes something happens to us by luck. Sometimes we want luck on demand. Alas, that does not work. Luck over time is bound to happen, though. If you put in good work and a generous amount of action, over and over, and over again, sooner to later something that looks to others to be luck will become visible. Because luck over time appears because of vigorous contributions, it rarely happens when you actually need it.

While there still is luck in this world luck usually occurs after you have done something over and over until you can do it easily. As it says in Luck is not Chance "Luck is not chance It's Toil. Fortune's expensive smile Is earned." (Dickinson) So if something does happen that seems lucky it is most often the earnings of great toil and work.

In the excerpt the sports gene Thomas shows control by being calm under pressure and winning the gold medal even though he had just trained to be a high jumper for only a half of a year.
"Thomas decided to put his hops where his mouth was... Mattis had already set the bar at 6'6". Mattis waited for the big talker to fall to earth. And Thomas did, but the bar did not come with him. To Mattis' amazement, Thomas cleared it easily. So Mattis pushed the bar up to 6'8". Thomas cleared it. Seven feet. Without a semblance of graceful high-jump technique" (Epstein) 

Although he hadn't practiced he was gifted with a giant Achilles tendon that allowed for a giant hop. He had natural talent but he still had to train and work hard to get the gold medal. Some might say that someone who hadn't trained nearly as long as the others was lucky to get gold - but his attitude and willingness made the difference.

Thomas accepts his fate of being one of the best high jumpers after being challenged by a friend to
see how high he could jump. Being a soccer player you don't know what your fate holds but you can
control how you will work to get on track to be a great one. Like Thomas you can be born with natural talent, you can't control if you do though. But even if you are born with natural talent you still need to work to grow that talent.

Short paragraph about your own experience in sports.

In conclusion there are things that we can control and things that we cannot control but if we focus on the things that we can control and do not worry about the things that we cannot control life will be much more fulfilling. Even if you are going through trials and you can't control what's going to happen to you, you can have a good attitude and make the most of it by controlling the controllables.

Learning Summary 2018-2019

This year I made a list of all the things I've been reading and studying about:


English – 

Reading and Literature Course - James Madison High School Online - (JMHS) – Grade A
English Course part 1 (JMHS) – Grade B

Books Read/Listened to
To Kill A Mockingbird
Percy Jackson Series
Kingdom and the Crown Trilogy (Historical Fiction New Testament)
QB: My Life Behind the Spiral, Steve Young
How to Watch Soccer, Ruud Gullit
Rivals: Frenemies who Changed the World
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Peak Performance, Brad Stulberg
Alice Adventures in Wonderland


History

American History Course (JMHS) – Grade A

Classic/Historically Themed Films -
12 Angry Men
Fountainhead
Atlas Shrugged
Casa Blanca
Shane
Emma
To Kill a Mockingbird
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Flipped
The Monuments Men
Pride and Prejudice
I.Q.
The Hunt for Red October



Language

I traveled to Spain and made some friends there. I also got to watch Barcelona play against Valencia which was Awesome!

Spanish I Course (JMHS) – Grade A
Bulgarian – Reading Heidi

Art
My grandma passed away from cancer this year, so I started a fundraiser for cancer research selling origami stars and raised over $500.

I also sold an origami dragon this year for $85. 

Science
Health Course (JMHS) – Grade A
Biology Course Part 1 (JMHS) – Grade A-

Physical Education 

Completed second season with the New England Revolution  Youth Soccer Academy. I really liked my coach this year and will miss him. I got to train in Spain a little as well which was fun. It's a 36 week season, so it is nice to have a little break in the summer.


Math & Logic

Algebra I Course (JMHS) – Grade A

The Lady and the Tiger Logic Puzzles
Alice in Puzzle Land – Logic Puzzles

Steve Young biography

So I have been reading the biography of Steve Young and it has been really good! I really like it because being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints just like he is we have a lot in common with playing very competitive sports and following our standards. I liked that when he went to the parties he drank milk instead of beer or alcohol. They always had a bottle of milk ready for him. I also like that there were a lot of individuals that helped him a lot through his journey to make him realize that he is very blessed and he shouldn't be taking it for granted like when he goes to see a boy around 12 years old with a terminal brain cancer. The boy says he is fine and after they do the surgery he will be good and will be able to play like Steve with the 49ers. Also his dad helped him a lot to get through hard times and continue to play football. It was really hard for him being the back up to Joe Montana because he really wanted to play, but seeing all of these people who would only dream to be in a position like his he changed his look on life. I love his biography because it is interesting and he shares my standards.

Letter to the Editor - Empathy

False empathy, like anything false, is a lie. You should not jump to conclusions and pretend that you

understand what others are feeling because it could hurt them. It's probably better to be honest that

you don't know what someone is feeling than to pretend that you do.

The problem with most people is that they are so caught up in their own lives, they can't stop

thinking about themselves long enough to have genuine empathy for someone else.

To truly feel empathy for someone you have to either have gone through what they have been

through or to talk with them and understand what they are feeling.

In the first case, it involves learning the hard way. You go through traumatic experiences like losing

someone close. It's a terrible feeling and you can't really think straight. You "feel that paralyzed

dullness with which the mind protects itself against,  too much sorrow and too much pain." (Steinbeck)

You can choose to be bitter and sad or to be positive about it and use it as a learning experience

which you can draw from to help other people going through similar situations. Even through the trial of losing a loved one we must still find joy in our lives to keep us going.When I lost my brother John F. Kennedy, I felt all those negative feelings, but

I  knew that the country needed unity and I was able to use that experience to help others

through their grief when Martin Luther King was assassinated. Instead of just telling people to have

more "love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another", I gave them a choice and showed

by leadership the way I had chosen in the very same situation (Kennedy).

If you learn to have true empathy for

someone, then you can build better and stronger relationships. Also if you learn to talk with and

more importantly listen to what the person you are talking to is saying they will like you more and

genuinely think that you are a friend. Most people just want to get out what they are trying to say and

don't even care about what the other person is saying! To feel empathy for others we must first

understand our own feelings. As I said once, "say a prayer for our

own country which all of us love - a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke."  (Kennedy)

We can pray for others and for ourselves to know how to help someone and receive understanding

and feel empathy for them. God will help you, or someone you are praying for, if you pray with faith.


Excerpted from The Harvest Gypsies by John Steinbeck, published by Heyday.
 Statement on the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. 

New England and other colonies

So the Question is In what ways did agriculture differ in the three colonial regions?

Well in New England they didn't have very good weather like very cold winter and short growing seasons and rugged landscape. But they did get to fish a lot and send the salted cod to Europe.

In the middle colonies the weather was better and they were able to grow large amounts of wheat that they got to trade with Europe. They were booming while New England was stagnated. New York and Philadelphia were two big seaports that prospered in the Middle colonies.

But in the South the weather was perfect and the growing seasons were long they got the most valuable profits and the did the best, they grew tobacco and wheat, which were staple crops which means that they were on high demand at that time.

Cause and Effect of Jamestown

So the cause for Jamestown to be established was mostly from people wanting land, so like whoever paid for passage to Virginia or paid for someone else passage got 50 acres of land there to start plantations and the landowners imported people from England to come help them grow the plantations.

But the effect turned out to be a little bad. After so many people were coming to Virginia the land began to grow it went into the property of the Indians and they got mad and did a surprise attack on Jamestown and burned the plantations and killed one third of colonists!