TACKLING THE TRUTH: COREY JOHNSON

This book is about a boy named Corey Johnson who has a secret that he keeps from his family and friends cause they think they won't love him. It all started when Corey was in the sixth gradeand that's when he relized that he was different from his male friends. His male friends were attracted to girls,but the bad thing was that he wasn't attracted to girls. When Corey was in high schoolnsomething big had made a huge impact on his life. When Corey's family was having a partyhis uncle pointed to a gay comedian and used a hateful gay slur his unlce said "Gay people were sick. When Corey heard this he got upset and went to the bathroom and cried then he got mad and he decided to fight back. So the next day he went to the teachers he could trust and told them. His teachers accepted Corey for who he was. The Corey found the strength to tell his parents. Corey's stepfather already knew cause he saw an email that Corey sent to a gay friend, but never told anyone. Corey's mom was surprised, but responded to him in a loving way. At school Corey told his gym teacher and his coach also understood and they finally decided to call a team meeting. Corey said "I wanted to let all of you guys know something about me", Corey said. "I am coming out as an openlygay student here at school. It was silence then Corey broke the silence by tell ing a joke he said "Besides who said you guys were good anyway. And after all of this had happen Corey feels good about himself and does not lt anybody get in his way and he doesn't let anybody judge him.

From Gang Member To Role Model

When I read this it occurred to me that people around the world should read this because there are people out there who are in gangs and they have people in gangs that are dying out there in the wrong place at the wrong time. This all started off when 13 year old Sergio Argueta was getting arrested for something he did and the police man said "Get used to the feel of these handcuffs you'll be in them for the rest of you life", but in the end he proved the cop wrong. Sergio was growing up in a low-income housing complex in Hempstead, Long Island. His mother moved to America so that she could escape the war that was going on in El Salvador. When it was 5:00 a.m she would have to get up and scrub the floors in rich people's houses so that she could give Sergio a better life. When Sergio went to school he loved cause he got along with both blacks and Latinos, but that all changed when he got to middle school cause blacks and Latinos hated each other. Indu was Sergio's best friend and he was the only person he trusted out of Redondel Pride, btu Indu refused to join his group. Sergio was kicked out of school his freshman year year after he got into a fight with a kid in the hallway. His motehr was heartbroken when she heard that he was expelled. Sergio was going to a different school and by then people were letting him through walking down the streets or in the hallways. Sergio thought that he had alll the power, in real he was really powerless. One day five dudes from a gang were messing with Indu a fight broke out and one of the guys from the gang

RAT ATTACKS!!!!! YIKES

This book tells us all about rats like how they fight to become a leader, how they eat, how they live, other types if rats, and how to get rid of rats. In the beginning the author tells us about a rat's the author told us that once when a woman on a plane fell asleep she was awoken by a strange rodent crawling up her leg. The woman yelled "HELP!!" when that rat was scared it ran in the back of the plane to go and hide and when the plane landed the officials were searching the plane, but the rat was nowhere to be found. Rats carry many diseases that can harm humans. A rat is a rodent that belongs in the rodent family with other rodents like prairie dogs, chipmunks, mice, beavers, and gerbils. When rats are hungry they look for like brown rats eat meat, fish, nuts, pet food, and insects. Black rats eat plant food like fruit, nuts, vegetables, nuts, tree bark, and seeds. One day a man named Dave Holman was cleaning his basement and he fell while cleaning it and he was so badly hurt that he was unable to drag himself up the stairs. When he was trapped down stairs for two weeks he attracted rats with hie blood and injuries. Holman had to fight for his life those two weeks the rats started to attack and chew his fingers and legs. Dave was finally rescued from the basement and brought back to the hospital. His lower legs have been horribly bitten and chewed and the doctors had to amputate his legs so he wouldn't get the infection from the rats.

I think this is not a good book because it talks about how rats can kill and how rats are killed it is a nasty book , but it can be educational at the same time because it tells us information about rats so i think this book is a medium, but its good.

MTV

MTV is about teens who are protesting againts the government shuting down music.

THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED

This story is about how Penn High School officials banned music through out the whole school district. That meant radios could not be played on school grounds or on the school buses. The reason music was banned was because of a parent's complaint. There was an offensive song playing on the radio and the parent did not want his/her child listing to that foul language. All the students from Penn High School protested because they thought that should music be allowed on school grounds. Some schools go to the extreme of banning music on school grounds. Students argued on how they have the right to have music on school grounds.

HOMEBOY TO THE RESCUE

The summary of this story is about these two kids named Tony and and his brother Carlos hanging around in the wrong crowd. This all happened when Tony was in 6th grade and that began all his trouble. When Carlos saw that his brother was in a gang and his father was doing drugs Carlos decided to run away and live on the streets, but all of that went wrong. When Carlos wanted to live on the streets, he grew into a gang and started to do drugs and found no way out of it until he went to HOMEBOY a brotherhood that keeps young people off of the streets that is directed by Father Greg Boyle.

I think Father Boyle's philosophy can stop crime for all of the young people.

My Life on the Streets

This story is about a girl named Elizabeth Murray that has a mother that was hospitalized with AIDS and she had nowhere else to go. This all happened on Christmas in 1996 Elizabeth's mother has died and the only people there were her, her sister, and her friend they stood in front of Elizabeth's mother coffin which was just a pine box cause they didn't have enough money to buy one. When she looked down she saw that her mom's named was spelled wrong so her friend took out a marker and fixed it and he also wrote "Beloved Mother" 1954-1996. When Elizabeth was still at the funeral her mom's death woke her up the memory forced her to see how the way she was living. Elizabeth grew up with her sister, her mother, and her father. They lived in a poor neighbor hood filled with drug addicts and the worst part was that her parents were drug addicts also. They never had food in the house and everything was dirty. Drugs were everywhere and she wold see her parents shooting cocaine. When they had welfare checks they were spent before they arrived and her mother would run up a bar tab. Elizabeth spent alot of nights at a 24-hour super market just to pack groceries for tips. She would bring food home with the money she would get for packing groceries. Elizabeth would also go to a self-service gas station to pump peoples gas for tips. When she was 13 her parents had split up so she had to go to a youth center and she promised her mom and her godfather that she would live with them , but by then her mom had a full blown case of AIDS and she was put in a hospital. At age 15 she was so broke that she even had to ask her friends if she could stay at their house.

What I think about Elizabeth is that she is a good role model for everyone because usually people would give up and not even try to help themselves so I think everyone who is or was in a situation like Elizabeth follow her footsteps because she could lead you into the right path like she did her own self.

From Homeless to High School Graduate

This story is about a girl named Zairia Benjamin who was living a simple life until that all turned around one day. This happened one day when Zairia  and her mom were coming  home and they saw that she had a eviction notice on their door the notice said that Zairia's mom hasn't paid her rent, but Zairia had proof that her mom paid for her rent so they evicted them anyway. Zairia and her mom took a taxi to her grandmother's apartment which was in the Bronx. Her grandmother welcomed them, but the apartment was too small for Zairia, her mother, and her brother. So they all went to go stay in the system's Emergency Assistance Unit (EAU). Zairia says "It was horrible. There was a whole bunch of people sleeping on the floor". They gave them blankets to sleep on her mother didn't sleep she watched them go to sleep cause if you all went to sleep they would steal your stuff.

A Big Bug

This story is about a boy named Gregor Samsa who had a bad dream and when he woke up from that bad dream he saw that he had changed. Gregor had a big belly, round, and hard. He had little legs that would wave and twitch every time he would move. Then he had realized that he had turned into a giant bug. Gregor thought that this was strange so he closed his eyes and opened them back up, but when he opened them back up he knew that it wasn't a dream. When he tried to get out of bed he tried his hardest to kove but, he couldn't get out. Then he noticed the clock it was nine o' clock he was two ours late for work. Then all of a sudden he heard a knock on his door it was his mother Mrs. Samsa she told Gregor that he was late but, the problem was that Gregor could not get out of bed.

I Was the Victim of a Drunk Driver

 This story is about a man, Press Naraviz and his girlfriend, Cheryl who was dead in a serious car accident one night because of a drunk driver. This incident took Albuquerque, New Mexico in April 19, 1996 on a a normal Saturday night. Press and Cheryl were a date they were dating for about a few months , but they were heading home and they stopped at a red light when a cop car pulled up to them and Cheryl was joking on how the "should better be careful". Then out of know where a huge truck slammed into them which was going about 60 mph and slammed right into his car and pushed them onto the intersection.

Beyond Brave

When i read this story Bethany is a 13 year old champion surfer who was scared of nothing. Until, one day when she was lying on her board with her dad Holt and sister Alana waiting for a wave and 7:30 passed out of nowhere a tiger shark came out of the water and grabbed hold of Bethany's left arm with its enormous jaws. Bethany was fighting with her life the shark let go. When Bethany looked down she saw that the water was red from all of her blood and her arm.

Intro

My favorite book that I like to read is Jackie Robinson. The goal that I want to set for my life is to graduate from all of my classes in high school and college. Also, one of my goals is to become a valuable architect so that I can help the community.

Teaching Chess and Life

When I read this article Carlos is a boy who who lived in a horrible neighbor hood with drug dealers and gangs that were either dead or in jail. When he was at a gang-infested junior high school he signed up for the chess club so that he could stay out of all of this trouble. The good thing is that he already knew the coach of chess because he was his social studies teacher. During the past years of playing chess he grew at it and he learned to take off his hat when he enters buildings. Carlos and I are similar because I play baskeball and football to keep me out of trouble and on the streets. My goal is to become a good architect and make good money so that I wouldn't be on the streets.

Reader Response Post

I think a reader response is somthing that you can create so that other people can see what you are reading about. I think that a reader response is a thing that you can type or write about so that peolpe can see what you are talking about. Also, I think that a reeadre response is a blog that reader's can type about what they have done.