Parent Conference!

Hopefully for this years parent/teacher conference my teachers won't have anything to bad to say about me. I think when the conference occurs my teacher will talk about how I've done in our class's current event quiz bowl, which is undefeated, about my short story I am writing for writing class, or just maybe about writing class in general. A subject that might come up in conversation could be about me and my role as head of the Cleaning Committee, and how I have tried to the best of my ability to get people to clean, and maintain a clean classroom. I hope Martha and Greg, my teachers, will talk about how I have participated in class, and how I'm not as talkative with my friends as last year. At the conference, Martha and Greg can talk about anything about that happened over the course of this year, because I'm confident that I have been a good student and that I haven't done anything that is to bad. The year I'm confident that any report from my teachers will not be one that will get me in any trouble with my parents and hope that my confidence is not misplaced. I have tried to be a good student this year so that I will be ready for high school next year.

Pontis tops Technology Fast 50 list
By SHARON WROBEL
10/19/2010 07:01
Israel’s fastest-growing technology companies grew average 740% in five years. 

Even in this time of economic hardship Israel is still doing well in terms of hightec companies. On averaged the Technology Fast 50 List (Israel's 50 fastest growing technology companies) grew on average 740%. But some companies grew even faster with Tufin Technologies Inc., #2 on the Technology Fast 50 List, clocking in at 5,359% in the past four years. Kontera Technologies Inc., No. 3, grew 3,689% over the past five years.

US, Israel: Iran among 'greatest challenges' to stability
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
10/19/2010 12:13
Joint statement: Iran's continued noncompliance with int'l atomic obligations, continued support for terrorist entities, of grave concern.

In a joint statement the US and Israel said that Iran is the biggest roadblock to stability in the Middle East and that they are still against Iran developing nuclear capabilities (for weapons). Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon did not talk about the stalled peace talks between Israel and Palestine, but both did confirm that Israel and USA are still in favor of them. 

Jerusalem Post Article

"Abbas Demands New Settlement Freeze before Talks Continue." Jpost.com. Jerusalme Post, 7 Oct. 2010. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. .Israel and the PA have run into yet another road block in the peace talks. Palastinian Athority Presidant Mahmoud Abbas said that he would not continue peace talks with Israel unless they freeze settlement building. The U.S.A. have preposed a two month settlement freeze so that Israel and the PA could come to the table together.Yasser Abed-Rabo, a chief PLO official, said that he would not talk to Israel if Prime Minester Binyamin Netenyahu continues his current policies.

Twist

Twist is a Americanized version of Charles Dicken's novel Oliver Twist. The main character in the play Twist is a mixed racial orphan in Prohibition era New Orleans. Much like an archetype orphan, who needs a family and will do anything for love, he is also a "mulatto" who cannot identify with a racial group, an therefore is not accepted by either. This non-acceptance is shown in a key line. In the orphanage he is being teased by a group of kids when one says, "I have White Pride, and he has Black Pride, what do you have? No pride."

  Lucius is the antagonist of the story, and is also the wealthy uncle of Twist. Revealed early in the story, and was made easy to forget, was the scene of the KKK lynching Roosevelt King. Lucius is the brother of Roosevelt's girlfriend. He was also one of four KKK members that killed Roosevelt King. This might strike you as portraying Lucius as a racist, but i disagree. When every one is calling Twist names for being mixed racial, he is merely calling him his nephew. He is purely a money driven person who will do evil to anyone as long as money is his reward.

      As amazing as the play was, I thought that the play did not use it's cast to it's full potential. More difficult and eye pleasing dances would have been a welcome sight in the mostly vocal production. Other than that and a few rounding out of rough edges, this play is very close to being ready for broad way!

Ghana

I have decided to send the kids in Ghana a small Green Bay Packers symbol. Football is a big part of American culture so I decided to send them the symbol of my favorite team. In class we talked about what is American culture, so I picked this symbol for that reason. Me and my dad love to watch the Packer game every Sunday and although they can't watch the game, I hope they enjoy it.

5 weeks, 8th grade

8th grade is very similar to 7th, except we have more homework, and we don't have some of the great teachers like Che or Eddy this year. So far 8th grade is much like what I expected it to be, but it is to early to tell whether I will have as good of a year I had last year.

Although I miss many of my really close friends that either left the school or graduated to high school, I still have many friends in both 8th and 7th grade and I look forward to meeting new ones.

I look forward to getting to know some of our classmate, especially some of our new sevvies. I lead by example, and by trying to talk more in class and get involved in the class discussions more often I would like to show the sevvies that talking in class is a very important thing to do.

I would like to learn to become a better studier for high school because studying is a very important skill for high school and I and not the best at it. I'd also like to become more organized so that I don't lose as many things and I forget to do less assignments. I think it is very important to prepare for high school this year, but also very important to make the 7th graders feel welcome to junior high, and also ready for the differences and challenges in their 7th and 8th grade years.

CIH

This year our class is working with CIH (Children Inspiring Hope). The program will connect a North American kid and my class with another class of kids in the same grade as us in Ghana. Through mail and projects we will connect with the class and develop a friendship with the kids from Ghana. We will be creating peace through friendship, which is a very good way of creating peace. I create peace through information. The more you know the less room there is for racial stereo-types and prejudice of other people because you know the truth. To me peace is the lack of serious negative conflict, a peaceful world, to me, is not a world without any conflict at all. It is a world in which there is equality, not complete equality, but equal opportunities for people in the same situation, even if they have a different heritage. As the project we will send to our new Ghanaian friends I think we should send the speeches we wrote for elections minus all the election parts so they know a personal story about us and we have made it safe for a strong, open, and trusting friendship between us.