Flaws of America

Flaws Along With Perfect Changes

Calista Bulacan

7^th Grade

Patriots Pen Essay

Mrs. Reagles Hour 2

"Tis’ done, we have become a nation," Benjamin Rush had quoted so long ago.  Men shaking hands and cheerful shouts arising from the stands.  Smiles stamped on faces, some fake and some real.  Worry was behind most smiles for they knew something some didn’t: mistakes were inevitable. 

Mistakes, the sweet sound of what can only make you better.  Not banning slavery though was quite fatal though and cost many lives to be lost, many people overworked, and many humans to be treated unfairly.  Moreover, the right for women to vote was omitted.  It could have been the simplest thing as forgetfulness, or merely not knowing any better.  Either way, this caused an abrupt stop in time while women fought for their rights.  The apex of the flaws comes to be unfairness.  If any given number of constituents vote for one person; if one of the people running in the election get s one more vote, he therefore wins all the votes for that states.  That contestant therefore will have replete votes, even if they weren’t for them.  I think they would’ve needed to change these to have successfully created a ‘perfect’ Constitution.

Yet, the constitution wasn’t all imperfections.  I mean, the Constitution is what made America what it is today.  Also, it set out a very basic guide for government that even in the present we follow.  Overlooking all the flaws, this document is what conjoined thirteen states into one family.  This action is why we can all get along today and have no civil wars. 

Thank you, founding fathers, for helping America get a kick start and progress forward to ensure the eventual future for our generations.  Even though the Constitution wasn’t unblemished, it  shaped the USA into quite the country.   We did become a nation though, a beautiful and strong country.  We will never be done perfecting, but we will forever be united.

The Conflict of 451

Fahrenheit 451

Author's Note:  We had to identify the conflict and resolution in a book during LA.  I used the book Fahrenheit 451 as my example.


Guy Montag in the beginning knew of no love. There wasn't any grieving, someone died? Burn their body, forget of their meaningless soul, start a new life.  Nobody was ever to be missed, only forgotten.  Books were the outlaws and firemen were the officers.

Clarisse moved in and showed Guy what the world was intended to be.  The books were supposed to be read, even though it may have been difficult to understand, they had important life values.  This is the moment in which Montag went against the world.  He was to set out on a mission to have people understand how to have feelings.  To peel their eyes away from their parlor families for one second to see what the sun was telling them, 'Don't burn," the sun would've said, "I am already doing that."
No one helps Montag, but he does it on his own.  He finds his own group to help him through this; people like him who have realized the true meaning of the way to live.

Without the Volunteer

Authors Note: In LA we had to analyze a story of our choice and choose an event and explain the conflicts leading up to it and how it would change the story if it didn't happen.

Hope.  Luck to, but mostly hope. That's how life was in Panem when Effie arrived with the bowl of names.

Katniss promised Primrose that she wouldn't be picked, it was impossible. When the picking of the tributes came the words "Primrose Everdeen" escaped Effie's lips too naturally. A thousand eyes found their way to Primrose slowly walking through the crowd.  "I volunteer!" Shouted a girl from somewhere beyond the stage.  Primrose turned and with one look saw that Katniss had just volunteered to meet with death face to face.

Why risk her life?  What was the rising action that led her to have to be entered into the Hunger Games?  That cold morning, she shoved her nervous feeling down deep inside her and told Prim that she wouldn't get picked, that it wasn't possible.  So when Effie announced her name, guilt set in and caused her to want to take her place.  Also, with Katniss' mother already depressed with the killing of her father she knew she couldn't let Prim die too.  Katniss knew she at least had a chance to win, so she took the chance.

If this didn't happen, if Katniss didn't volunteer, no one would have.  Primrose would have been sent to the capitol and  she would have been targeted as a small and weak child.  Surely someone whom they would want to kill first.  When the Hunger Games started, without the hunting skills Katniss had developed, she would be killed very early in the games.  So, by Katniss volunteering it resolved a problem AND saved a life.

This reminds me of Guy Montag in Fahrenheit 451.  Guy didn't volunteer for anyone but he did represent someone. He might of not realized it until the end, but the whole time he was representing not only Clarisse, but all the poor souls trapped in plastic people.  Much like Montag, Katniss didn't realize that she wasn't only representing her district: she was representing those who think the capitol is horrible, but can't rebel for fear of standing as a lone soldier.  

The Giver

By: Louis Lowery

The Giver is mostly person verses society. Jonas (and The Giver) are going against the government even though the government doesn't quite know it until the end. They secretly are plotting a plan to go against everything the government has made and give back the memories while The Giver still has energy to take care of the society afterwards.  They hope that this will pull the people out of the 'perfect' world they've been given to live with and change it just enough that people will remember the love that they do not know.  

The resolution I found was to be that Jonas would leave the town and set off to find another world and the farther they go the more memories are returned to the town.  This for sure will send the town into chaos, so The Giver stays behind to help them through this.  The government never found Jonas and never will.  So, the resolution isn't the happiest, but if you think about it-these people live in a twisted world of secret murders.  The Giver and Jonas' resolution was the best thing that could possibly happen.  And hopefully the government will realize that.

Un-Life Changing

The Un-Life Changing Event

Calista Bulacan

9/18/12

Mrs.Reagles L.A.

Memoir

To a little girl, outside is another location to get lost and explore.  You leave everything behind, your mom and dad, and you go and investigate this alien world.  Well, no question, this was my point of view of the world at three years old. 

                It was a party, a big family get together in California, and the dancing was in full swing. Hundreds of people crammed into a little park, known as a party hotspot.  My mother turned her back for a minute, greeting a relative she hasn’t talked to in a long time.  This is the moment I slipped out of her grasp, out of my restraint.  A three feet one inch child wasn’t exactly easy to find in a celebration like this.  Looking back on this, I could’ve told my mother I was leaving, but what three year old has the comprehension to do such a thing?  

                So, there I was, moving like a shadow in the night, unseen and as if I was nonexistent.  By this time, my mom had discovered I was missing and was now panicking, asking everyone if they have seen her kid.  I don’t remember if I had heard her or not, but I kept moving.  I was like a train unable to stop.  I finally maneuvered  my way of the party and was now out in the middle of trees with fall leaves beginning to crumble and fall.   Not turning to look back, which in this case was a bad idea.  I laughed, amusing myself by stomping on the leaves.  A slight breeze had begun to blow, and I realized I desperately wanted my sweatshirt.  A quick turn to run back in and find my mom, but now, I saw there were three different parties all right next to each other.  At my age now, I would easily be able to pick up which one was the party we were at, but my little self didn’t know and I wish I could’ve gone back and helped little me back to the party, but I can’t.  Time continued and I used my best problem solving skills (which, were not good at the time) and looked for someone to help me. Anybody.

                I watch the news on TV currently, see how kids are stolen, taken from their beds at night.  That could’ve, no doubt, been me when I walked up to a fisherwoman trying to catch a fish.

                “Excuse me!” I exclaimed tapping her on the shoulder, she turned to see me, “Excuse me!” I repeated.

                “Yes dear?” She asked smiling.  I pointed to the parties behind me, “What about those parties?”

                “My mommy is in one of them,” I explained my pigtails bobbing from side to side, “I’m lost.”

                “Your lost?  Well that’s not good now is it?   Can you tell me what your mommy looks like? Or what she’s wearing?” 

                I thought long and hard before coming up with an agreeable answer, “She has hair, and she’s wearing a shirt.” I was proud of myself for remembering this.

                “What kind of hair?” She calmly questioned.

                “The pretty kind.”  I answered.  The lady chuckled and took my hand to lead me to one of the parties to see if she was there.

                “Calista!  Cali!” shouts arose from behind us.  My mom, aunts, and dad were running to catch up.  “There you are,” my mom said pulling me into a hug.

                “Hi mommy,” I said unamused.  I didn’t realize the relief she was feeling at that point and the relief I should’ve been feeling too.  The lady who had originally helped me kneeled down.

                “Well, I know your name now, nice to meet you Cali.  Just so you know, next time don’t ask a stranger. You’re lucky I’m actually a life guard,” she pulled her badge out of her front pocket and revealed it to my mother. I didn’t know what the badge meant, or why everyone was so happy, but I was just happy to have been running around and having fun.

                “Mommy, I’m hungry.” I boldly stated.  Three words that were so irrelevant to the conversation at the time, but was enough to make everyone say thank you and goodbye to the kind lady and head back to get some food.

                There’s so many things you do as a child and don’t quite comprehend.  If we could only travel back and see what the past us was thinking at the time.  Why did I not feel worried?  How could I have forgotten what party I was at?  Questions arise everyday and if only….  crosses my mind every time my parents tell a story about me when I was little.  Maybe the child’s mind is supposed to be a wake-up call to the busy world.  They’re so carefree and happy, as some adults are so serious and secretly mourning over the death of their childhood.  So, overall, take a break and remember that pirate ship the couch once was.

EXTRA: (I called this the un-life changing event because, I wasn’t fazed at all by the event of being lost because it didn’t matter much to me, I just wanted food and my sweatshirt.  Yet, to others it taught them a lesson. So, to some it was life changing, to me it was The Un-Life Changing Event)

Uncovering Secrets

The School For Dangerous Girls

 By: Eliot Schreffer

Author's Note: We had to re-tell the story other than summarizing it and telling unneeded details.  This book has action, adventure, and mystery.

A girl is admitted into the infamous School For Dangerous Girls after accusingly 'murdering' her grandpa. Throughout the book she is constantly being pressed for information about the day she committed homicide and how her relationships are with the other girls in the school.  Finally, in the end she uncovers the secret that this school was hoping would never be enlightened.