Keystone Pipeline: The Goods

The article, "Keystone is responsible oil sands development: Column," by Alison Redford is an opinion piece discussing a decision President Obama might make. (Just want to say that Alison Redford is the Premier of Alberta, Canada.) The Keystone Pipeline is pipeline that will  transport oil from the oil sands in Alberta, Canada to several destinations in the USA. Redford talks about how she is very appreciative of what the President is going to do. "I'm proud to say Alberta applauds and shares the president's strong desire to address climate change and we're already taking action," Redford says.  The President in addition is making a choice that allows two countries become better "friends," he's also making a good decision for the environment. The Keystone Pipeline is using clean energy and equipment so greenhouse emissions can be reduced by 32 million tons. The Premier says, "We were the first place in North America to require by law all large industry across all sectors to take action on greenhouse gas emissions... We take the revenue generated from this levy and direct all the money into a clean technology fund." She is very sure that the equipment used for the pipeline will have a great effect on the environment.  In all, Alison Redford wants to thank President Obama for choosing the Keystone Pipeline to be the line supplying the USA oil. 

Alison Redford, in my opinion, wants readers, especially USA citizens to feel very grateful of Canada's resources. She shows in her article by repeating how "green" the pipeline is going to be and how it will reduce greenhouse emissions. She says, "Through our policies and our actions past, present and future, Americans should feel confident that Alberta is the safest, most secure and responsible energy supplier to the U.S. The same cannot be said for the other foreign countries and regimes that currently feed U.S. energy demand." She's saying that Americans should feel confident. It makes me think that she's very confident that we will be approving of the Keystone Pipeline. Redford wants us be almost thanking them for creating a "such-new and improved" pipeline. I mean, of course every county would try to persuade the USA to become a partner, but the Premier has this ego that gives her all the confidence about the pipeline, but not us. Also, Redford wants readers to think that Canada is a great partnership to be in and there are benefits. She's almost sounds like she's posting an ad for Canada's businesses. For example, she says, "We want to be an enabler of good solutions that achieve the outcomes that all Americans and Canadians are looking for. I'm proud to say, Alberta is already leading the way...Over the past several months Alberta has taken a number of strong environmental actions. " She is giving the world of how Canada is going to be helping the USA with oil and the environment. Basically, the Premier wants readers to know that Canada is open for businesses and the Keystone Pipeline is just an example how. 

After reading this article, I learned much from it. I see many beneficial outcomes if the Keystone Pipeline is approved. Canada is helping the USA and themselves in many ways that include county relations and oil. After hearing Alison Redford's view on the Pipeline's good, I feel like I see the benefits of the pipeline, but I actually want to hear the outside of the argument. What are the bads of the pipeline? If it benefits both countries, what would be the disastrous things of it? In conclusion, I learned that the Premier is very grateful for the President and the government for taking the possibility of the pipeline in consideration. 

Bibliography: Redford, Alison. "Keystone Is Responsible Oil Sands Development: Column." USA Today. Gannett, 25 Feb. 2013. Web. 26 Feb. 2013.

Fainting

Jodi Picoult's "The Pact" is an interesting book. it is about two people, Emily and Chris,they've been inseparable since birth. They fall  in love, which was what their families wanted.But a tragedy brings an end to the families. The death of Emily Gold leaves the fingers pointing to Chris, her boyfriend. The families break apart and there are only 2 sides to the event: Chris's and the accusers. Even after finishing the book, my mind is left with questions. The who, what, when, where, why and how questions are in my head. But one of those questions stuck to me.

The author has Chris, the "supposed" killer of Emily, he faints three times throughout the timeline of this book. In the next three paragraphs, I'm going to explain why I think Jodi Picoult repeats the scene three times throughout the book.

The first time Chris faints is right after the shot that killed Emily, on page 3. I feel like the reason he fainted was because of being shocked and confused. Well, mostly shocked because his love of his life has just been shot in his arms. I mean, some events are actually really mind-triggering that make people want to go away. Emily has been with Chris for a very long time, and in the book, Chris's mother says this line, “He cuts himself,'...“And she bleeds." Chris and Emily are inseparable and since one of them got hurt during the "killing," the other feels the pain and automatically they can't do anything  The reason why I think the author had Chris faint after Emily's death is because she wanted the readers to feel that they were really close and that whatever happens to one of them, it happens to the other. 

The second time he faints is on page 215, this is where he finds out that Emily was pregnant with his child.  It is really sad that he didn't know about the child before hand. He says that he would have married Emily if he knew. But then, he thinks, "Maybe Jordan has been right; the pregnancy had been the thing that made her so depressed. But why? They could have gotten married and had the baby; they could have gone together for an abortion. Surely she would have known that they'd figure it out together.  Unless that was exactly what she was afraid of. All of a sudden a powerful rage shuddered through Chris. How dare she depend on him for one thing, but not the other." These lines come after his second fainting. I think that Chris is starting to get angry at Emily for not telling him. He htinks that he might have fixed it, but instead she decides to solbve it herself. Jodi puts the seocnd fainting after the news is out because she wants to give the readers somethig to think about. I mean, everybody in court thinks Chris killed Emily because he didn't want the baby. But now that the readers know, it'll twist the story plot.

Third, on page 386, nearing the end of the book, the judge declares Chris "not guilty." Chris faints after this. The reasons to why I think the author repeats it there is to stress how the trail has been on Chris. He did not if he was going to be convicyted of murder or let go. I mean, all the evidences points to him killing Emily, I mean, hell, if I was one of those 9 juries, I would have voted for "guilty." But Picoult also put the last fainting there to show that the decision could have went either way. Chris had no idea that he was "not guilty." In the end, Chris had a burden on his shoulders, not guilty or guilty, he stills feels the "jail smell " wherever he goes.

In the conclusion, I think Jodi Picoult repeats the event of Chris fainting several times throughout the book, to either stress how Chris is feeling, let the news seep into the reader or to create suspense. Over all, I think Chris has changed a lot throughout the book, form a young higher-schooler to a mature man. the author has done a great job writing the book, and honestly, I think she's one of my favorite authors. 

I Knew You Were Trouble by Taylor Swift

“Once upon a time a few mistakes ago 

I was in your sights, you got me alone 
You found me 
You found me 
You found me-e-e-e-e”

That’s just the beginning of Taylor Swift’s I Knew You WereTrouble, which has recently been released and it hit big.  This song contains a lot of repetition which makes it really catchy.  On the other hand, it doesn’t contain much rhyming, but the repetition gets to the listener’s head. She writes off her songs about the love life of girls.  On Good Morning America on October 8, 2012, Taylor said, “The song is about being frustrated with yourself because here you are heart-broken and you knew when you first saw that person you saw all these red flags and you just went for it anyway, so shame on me.” Personally, I think the song is about how sometimes the going after a person is not right and in the end; you’re just going to be mad at yourself. Overall, I think this song is trying to tell us that sometimes it’s our fault for falling for something or someone.

In the song, there is a lot of repetition that makes the song really catchy. One line would be, “Cause I knew you were trouble when you walked in 
So shame on me now 
You flew me to places I've never been 
'Til you put me down, oh 
I knew you were trouble when you walked in 
So shame on me now 
Flew me to places I've never been 
Now I'm lying on the cold hard ground”

In my mind, I just think the singer, Taylor is saying that she knew the guy is liked was a bad-boy and she took her chances. This is her fault for going after something that signaled “trouble” for her. She’s blaming herself for going after him even though she knew. In addition to that line,

“I guess you didn't care, and I guess I liked that 
And when I fell hard you took a step back 
Without me, without me, without me-e-e-e-e 

And he's long gone when he's next to me 
And I realize the blame is on me.”

The line, “I guess you didn't care, and I guess I liked that,” tells us that Taylor indeed know what she was getting into. As a fan of her music, I can understand what she means when she says, “I guess you didn't care, and I guess I liked that.” Sometimes for other girls, it feels good to be finally “being” with someone and they forget that they’re with that person for the wrong reasons. Lastly,

“And the saddest fear comes creeping in 
That you never loved me 
Or her 
Or anyone 
Or anything 
Yeah,”

This part is where the truth finally sinks in. Taylor finally realizes that the guy didn’t really like her. He was just there and she happened to be there as well. Basically, in the end, even though she was heart-broken, she knew that she was going to end up like that.

The message that sometimes it’s our fault for falling for something or someone does apply to the real world. Girls sometimes fall for the wrong guys. Like in the real world, people tend to go for people “out-of-their-league.” Or maybe they just happen to be there at the same time. Whatever the reason are, being in a relationship with someone who you know will cause pain to you afterwards, you’ll end up blaming yourself for it. It’s actually quite unhealthy to do that to yourself, even though it may feel good for a while, it will cause pain afterwards. So basically I’m trying to say that the song I Knew You Were Trouble is mainly trying to tell us sometimes it’s our fault for falling for something or someone that isn’t right for us. 

Would you...?

I've just recently finished "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson. This is takes place in the not-too-distant future. Seventeen year old Jenna Fox "illegally" survives the accident that many doctors thought she wouldn't. After awakening from a year long coma, she goes through the recovery of memory lapse. On her journey, she learns a lot about her existence. This not-too-distant future has made biotechnological advances that has made synthetic bodies and brains, illegal. Jenna's father works for Bio Gel, the company that has changed everything. They made everything to possible. Blue Goo is artificially oxygenated and loaded with neurochips. They're smaller than human cell and communicate with each other they same way neurons do but faster. Once you have loaded these neurochips with some basic information, they pass on the information to other neurochips and begin to specialize. The most amazing thing is that they communicate the same way human cells. So you pack a human or a lab liver in Bio Gel and let the neurochips do the rest until it can be transplanted into someone who needs it. And guess what? Jenna is basically only 10% of her original person, meaning her parents had her in Bio Gel so she could live.

Isn't that crazy? Would you put someone you love in  the position as Jenna is in?

Jenna's parents had their reasons. On page 116, Jenna finds out that she is "fake." " 'Jenna, what difference does it make? You're still my daughter. That's all that matters-' " This is the response that Jenna's mom, Claire, says to Jenna when Jenna finally understands why her hands don't entwined right and she can't walk. If I was in Jenna position right that moment, I would freaking out. Why am I not like the rest of the world/ What am I? This is basically how Jenna reacts. "My clumsy feet. My legs. Oh, God no." The fact that she has just found out would be like being able to hear a pin drop in a class. It's just shocking news. But what comes after is really surprising and kind of shocking. Her grandmother, Lily says, "Ten percent. Ten percent of your brain. That's all they could save. They should have let you die." That last sentence just shocked me. "They should have let you die." I mean shouldn't she be happy that her grand-daughter is alive. She should be grateful that the technology they have was able to keep Jenna alive? If I was in Lily's position, I would be hugging my grand-daughter, telling her that I loved her, not trying to keep my distance away from her. Who would be that selfish and conceited to be not at least happy that their loved ones were able to survive a year long coma. I mean, I can see why Lily would chose to act that way. Would you want a loved one to be only less than half real flesh and filled with artificial cells in them? I would rather let them die than let than have to live knowing that they weren't really "human."

In my opinion, I wouldn't really have a side to side with I can see the bad and good of letting someone, artifice, live. Who wants to know that someone sitting right next to you, is only half human. That might creep you out that you can't stand having the world to be crawling with fake humans. But on the other hand, there are good. You can have your loved ones back. Though having your loved ones back, the suffering they'd be going through would pain you. They have to learn that they aren't fully human and their memories wouldn't be there. Jenna has had problems trying to remember and some problems with other memories. Such example would be this line, "Let them go." This line stood out to me. This is where she throws out the backups of her friends that died in the accident. Their voices , she hears them every time she slept. Their voices I think represent the link between her and them. They didn't want to be used as an experiment. They wanted to be freed.

In conclusion, there are many reasons for the substitutions of a real human beings with such substitutes as Bio Gel. If I were in Jenna's shoes, I'd try to understand the concept of Bio Gel and what good and bad it does for me. Then I would try to comprehend everything I could understand. Yea, that's how I would try to live my life at the time. I want to see this future. I want to understand it. I want to TIME-TRAVEL. Muwaaahhh Comment your thoughts:)

Sandy Hook Elementary School

About a month ago, a gunman killed 20 children and 6 educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Now, parents and residents of the Connecticut school are debating on what to do with the school.  The article, "Newtown debates future of Sandy Hook Elementary School after tragedy that claimed 26 lives” discuses the opinions of the concerned residents. The shocked residents are, well, in shocked say that they wouldn’t want to send their kids back to the original Elementary school. On the other hand, others want the school to be renovated and to remove the areas where the victims were killed. In the article, the author includes many voices of both sides.

The author wants the reader to feel that their opinion counts to. They name out all the voices of both sides. For example, they quoted Susan Gibney, who lives in Sandy Hook, “I wouldn't want to have to send my kids back to that school. I just don't see how the kids could get over what happened there.” This gives the reader think that the event that happened at the school is already horrible enough. The reminder that the children will have to go through will be horrifying if the school reopens.  On the other hand, Fran Bresson, a retired police officer who attended Sandy Hook Elementary School, thinks that the school should reopen, but “the hallways and classrooms where staff and students were killed should be demolished.” He says, "To tear it down completely would be like saying to evil, 'You've won,’” This says many to the readers. Bresson wants the school to reopen, but with fresh starts in the places of the old ones. The author shows the reader both sides because they want the reader to understand that there are many decisions to be made about Sandy Hook Elementary School. They include quotes from the parents and residents of the school to give us perspectives. They also include decisions that have been made in the previous years about similar situations. For example, the author tells the reader about Columbine High School’s shooting aftermath. The school reopened several months after the shooting. Crews removed the library, where most of the victims died, and replaced it with an atrium. Another school tore down the original school where the shooting took place and built a new school a few hundred yards away.
The author shows the reader many perspectives and the decisions of similar situations in the past.

In my opinion, I think it is really horrible to think of going back to the school without any changes. I mean, if you had to go back to the school, you would feel like the presence of the victims “ghosts” are still there. Or may the fact that it gives you the willies that you are in the same place where the victims were killed. It’s really hard to explain the feelings and thoughts of a person who had to go back to the school where no changes were made. The author has shaped my mind to think in other ways. I mean, I’d like the school to be either torn down entirely or renovated. But then on the other hand, I wouldn’t want my school to be torn down. It’s like taking your home away. The school has created many memories for many students and residents. Tearing it down would be taking a piece of their memories and throwing it out. It’s would not be fair to the ones who
don’t want any drastic changes to the school. I’d like to know the thoughts of the children on what to do with the school. I really want to understand what they feel about the whole situation. I know some are shocked about the whole shooting, but I’m sure they have opinions about what to do with the school. I’d like to also know the thoughts of the children about guns. Because of guns, the shooting happened. Right now, the issue about guns is very worldly. I’d like to know what the children feel about the controversial topic.

So really to sum up, I’d like the residents and parents of the Connecticut school to really think about what they’re going to do about the school; to torn it down completely, to renovate the areas where the victims were killed, or to reopen with no changes. The issue is really hard to think about while knowing that there has to be serious changes happening.

The Protagonists's Influences

"The Future of Us" by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler gives us a peek into what the "future" looks like to another person in a different time period. It is 1996 and "less than half all American high school students had ever used the Internet." Facebook has not been invented yet. Josh gives his long time friend, Emma his CD-ROM and that's where their adventure in the future begins. Throughout the book, I noticed protagonists; Josh and Emma influence each other through the course of Facebook.

Emma has just logged on to her future to find herself unhappy with her life. She feels like she has it bad compared to Josh (because he lives the “perfect life”.) She doesn’t want to live her “future life.” So she decides to change her future by giving her future husband a call, Jordan Jones Jr., making sure she doesn’t meet him in her later life. This action makes me think that Emma is kind of selfish. Emma is selfish because she wants her future to be perfect. Josh’s perfect life made Emma change her future in my opinion is a negative influence. In the book, she decides to call Jordan up to find out what college he’s in, which shows that she doesn’t want to be stuck with Jordan. This leads us up to the negative impact because Emma tries to alter her future. Josh should not be bragging about his future with his money because it will make Emma upset about her own future.

On the other hand, both protagonists do have a positive impact on one another. For example, near the end, both Emma and Josh realize that they have been too into future Facebook that they didn’t even live the now. Emma notices that whoever she ended up “marrying” in the future, she wasn’t happy with any of them. On the other hand, it seemed to Josh that he was living the life, but he didn’t really seem happy with his family. It seemed like Josh was living by the stereotype. This ends up bring Emma and Josh together realizing the answer was there the whole time. (Oh my god! How romantic! Excuse me, I’m really cheesy!) They realize that whoever else they end up with will not make them happy and they were meant to be together. ©

After reading the book, I realized that everybody has an impact on whoever they’re around. I can relate myself to my friends. Well, the other way around. Don’t fan girl this, but my friends are into One Direction and now I’m sort of liking them too. This isn’t necessary a positive or negative impact, but still I mean, look around you. There are so many influences that sometimes you forget.

In conclusion, Josh and Emma influence each other and they find their way into each other’s arms. Awww©So Cheesy

Am I Afraid of What Others Think of Me?

 "The Miseducation of Cameron Post" by Emily M. Danforth is about a gay teenage girl, Cameron. She rebels against her conservative ranch town and she get sent off to a gay conversion therapy center because her family decides she needs to change her ways.I notice many personalities about Cameron; before the discovery of her being gay and after. I think even though Cameron is free-spirited, but is still aware of what others might think of her.

One way which Cameron shows she's aware is when she felts relieved when her parents died. On page 29, she says, "She doesn't know about Irene and me at all. Nobody knows...Mom and Dad don't know about us. They don't know, so we're safe-..." This shows that Cameron is aware of what her parents might think of her "experiment" with Irene because she doesn't want her parents to find out. This is sort of beyond the whole "aware of what people think of her" part. Cameron is worried that her parents are going to find out. When her grandma tells her that she has some bad news, she immediately thinks of Irene and the kissing thing. This action makes me think that Cameron only thinks of the bad things; meaning only the bad things for her. She doesn't think about what her grandma just told her- her parents just died. If I were here, I wouldn't be glad my parents are dead. I would be in grave despair that I just lost both of my parents.

After a few months after her parents' death, Cameron and her friend, Lindsey start to hang out. When they both end up in a changing stall, evidence shows up of their attraction. Cameron is sort of self conscious when she comes out of the booth. Outside the booth, a group of girls on Lindsey's team are aware of what happened. Because of their "masks of disapproval, sneering mouths and squinty eyes," she ran away from them. She tried to "run" away from her problem. She didn't like the fact that the other girls knew because she thought it was sort of easy for her to pretend like nobody else had noticed anything about her, about Lindsey and her. I feel like Cameron only wants the secret to be between her, Lindsey and God. She doesn't want anybody else involved because she thinks that everything would be better if nobody knew at all. I feel like knowing that nobody knows is a great feeling, but it is still a great burden. Like if nobody knows your secret, you feel safe, but at the same time, you feel like you are in closed quarters. No one knows at all. I believe this is how Cameron feels like because she feels better if only a few people know her secret. But I think that maybe int he back of her mind, she feels like she's going to burst if she doesn't tell.

When Cameron discovers her attraction to her friend, Coley, she doesn't feel secure telling her. On page 172-173, Coley says, "We can find you a cowboy in no time. Or two cowboys. Twelve cowboys." In responds, Cameron thinks, "Or how about a cowgirl?" This shows that Cameron wants to show Coley her true self instead of the one she is told to be, but can't because Coley might not agree with her. I think that Cameron has this gut feeling that she is able to tell Coley that she's gay, but then has her 'devil' telling her not to because she doesn't want to 'scare' her away. It shows that Cameron doesn't have a strong "gut-going feeling" because she cares of what others think of her when she tells the world she's gay. It makes me think that Cameron is insecure of herself.

In conclusion, Cameron is really a girl who wants to let the world know who she really is than who she is suppose to be. She feels scared that others will run away from her and ban her to another corner of the world. She wants everybody to know that she is not what everybody wants her to be, she wants to be herself. I feel like that is a big issue in the real world. People should be allowed to be who they are than who they are "suppose to be."