Is Skateboarding A Crime?

This is an essay responding to the issue of if skateboarding should be illegal for Language Arts.

It’s been a hot topic for a while now. The main reason is because all the adults think these young teenage skateboarders are just trying to be rebels and cause trouble. Truth is though, these kids are just trying to have fun. Skateboarding is more than a sport, it’s a lifestyle. There’s no reason why the law should take that away from millions of skateboarders, and today I’m going to show you all why it shouldn’t be taken away.

Skating is more than just a sport. Its more than just grinding rails and “ruining your property”. It’s a life. There’s so much more to it. There’s just a feeling you get when you land a trick that makes you feel better than anything else. Skateboarding accepts every culture. The many friendships that people have made through skating is amazing. There’s no reason to take all that away from these kids. They’re not destroying property at all. We leave scuff marks on rails at most. Maybe the person that freaks out about a black mark on their shiny precious rail should be the one changing their lifestyle. People need to lighten up a bit and let us teenagers be teenagers.

The cruelty towards skaters should be the real crime. The law is harsh on skaters only because the other teenagers set bad examples for us. They see us as rebels and smokers and stupid kids, but really skaters don’t do that kind of stuff.  One of my friends was once fined $200 because he sat on a bench eating a sandwich with his skateboard right next to him. I’ve seen videos on YouTube of skaters being threatened by people when the skaters didn’t even do anything besides try to have a little fun. There’s videos of skaters being attacked by uncivilized people. The funny thing is, most of them are elderly. If the elders want some respect, skaters should be treated the same.

Skateboarding also shouldn’t be a crime because there are thousands out there making money off of it. There are multiple millionaires in the skate industry. Why would you want to make some kids future illegal? Even pro skateboarders get chased by the law for leaving a tiny scuff on a rail. The owners will also say it’s for insurance reasons, but we skaters know what we’re getting ourselves into. If I get hurt on someone’s property, I will pay for my own injuries. People think we are disrespectful teens but we can actually be nicer than most people.

It’s funny how some cities worry about skaters more than actual crime like drugs or stealing. In Philadelphia, the law enforcement actually just looks for the skaters. It’s almost like discrimination. Theres no reason the skateboarder should have to deal with that. They get called potheads and rebellious teens when in reality they can’t do drugs because it would mess up their skating and they are actually probably some of the most respectful of the teens if they’re actually treated with respect too.

Skateboarding isn’t really a crime. It’s really just discrimination and misunderstanding. Some few skaters may set a bad example but that doesn’t mean you should make the whole sport illegal. It ruins it for everyone. Skateboarding is not a crime, it’s a way of life, a way to meet people we’ll never forget, a career, maybe just a hobby, but skateboarding is truly the best thing that’s probably happened to me and it’s just irrational to take that away from all of us.

This is a parody of This Is Just To Say by William Carlos Williams. Its supposed to be kind of based off of “Who Stole The Cookies From The Cookie Jar”. The tone of the piece is kind of sarcastic and the mood is trying to make the reader feel jealous.

The Cookie

I have stolen

the cookies

that were in

the jar

and which

you were probably

hiding

from little children

Forgive me

they were so crunchy

so chocolaty

and so yummy in my tummy 

Compare & Contrast

This is my Compare & Contrast piece for Language Arts.

There are so many weird things us peoples believe in. From phobias to religions and even superstitions, there’s crazy stuff people will buy. It’s almost like a person’s mind is a wacky book, like The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams. The stuff in that book shouldn’t compare to some things in our own world, but today we’ll find out how weird our world is compared to a book that has a cheese god.

In this book there’s some pretty crazy religions. On a planet named Nano, a supposed recreation of  Earth, there was a cult. This cult believed in the God of Cheese. The form of their god was basically a fifty foot block of cheese. The religion banned eating any other things other than cheese in their village. There are other weird religions in books like The Lord of the Rings. They see dead people with weird names as their gods, and pray to them when they are about to die in battle. Now, in the real world, there is a religion called Jediism. It worships the practice of the fictional “Jedi” from the movie Star Wars by George Lucas. They carry around light up swords, representing light sabers. They believe that they can use the “Force”, the Force is the energy that holds the Universe together and flows through every material thing. These Jedis can control the force. So yeah, the religions are just as weird in real life.

In The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy there is also a character that has a fear of bodybuilders. Odd, right? Well, this book is just as weird as our world. There are tons of phobias that are just as wacky as that. Here are some of the weird phobias that actually exist. Anatidaephobia  is is the fear of being watched by a duck. Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter clinging to the top your mouth. Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is the fear of long words. There’s fear of wet wood, fear of chins, and fear of bald people. There’s just tons. What can I say?

Just because The Hitchhikers’ Guide and our world are so similar doesn’t mean that everything is alike. Some stuff is just too weird in that book we couldn’t even think of it existing. For example, there is a planet inhabited by mattresses that flop around in a swamp and the only word in their vocabulary is “flurp”.  I’m pretty sure there’s nothing like that on our planet.

So, in conclusion there is so much similar things between a fictional book and our world but there is some things that are just too weird in The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy. From weird phobias to very odd religions, I guess our world isn’t that different than an odd book.

Ghost Kittens
This is my creative piece for Langauge Arts Class.

It is past midnight in my house when I am jerked away from deep sleep by the shock of someone touching me. I shoot straight up and examine the room. There is nothing there but my usual things. But an opened door screams suspicion as I just gaze at it. Its beckoning me with curiosity but at the same it is telling me KEEP AWAY. But I couldn’t take it anymore, so I stumbled towards the door and into the darkness.

Just kidding, its not really that dark. In my living the TV was already on, which was really strange. Whoever did it, they have horrid taste in entertainment because when I walked in there Jersey Shore was on. I continued past the TV, not really frightened that there might be a ghost. The only frightening thing about that is that people watch Jersey Shore. I lazily stalked into my kitchen, mindlessly opening the fridge. I hoped there was something to drink but instead I was greeted by my cat, Squeebles. I literally freaked out so much I flew back and hit my dinner table. I guess it’s okay because cats.

I got back up on my feet and started to explore more. I had just heard the upstairs floorboards whine in pain as weight pressed down on them. All of a sudden the ceiling snapped like a twig and wood clattered to the floor through the now gaping hole in the ceiling. Nothing else fell though. For some odd reason I could feel the presence of some sort of a cat. Speaking of cats, an invisible claw or blade ripped my new “swag” pants. Out of fear, I jumped back and rushed to my pant’s side like a paramedic. I started talking to myself asking if the pants were okay. I was suddenly interrupted by a cat appearing out of nowhere, and it wasn’t my cat either. I closed my eyes and prayed I lived as the cat sprang towards me, its sleek black fur engulfing my face until I was in complete darkness.  

I woke up but I wasnt really awake. It was like hovering between dreaming and reality. My brain was broadcasting me what was going on but yet I couldn't move. I tried to wiggle and to my suprise I moved! My  face showed an expression of utter joy.....until my eyes fell down upon the ropes around my ankles. How did that happen? All I remember was a cat attacking me, then black. Maybe it was like some kind of evil cat wizard thing! That would be so cool! My excitment died though when I remembered my feet were tied up by this evil cat thing. Just as I was thinking about the ......thing, a cat's little paws trotted across the hardwood floor and by the time the sleek kitten as black as a void it suddenly shifted into human form leaving a cloud of      black mist. In front of me stood . . . Barack Obama.

I don't know why but as soon as I saw him, I said "Untie me and I'll vote for you." To my surprise, he took a sharp blade out that shined like bright like a diamond. The knife screamed as he brought it down on the rope, barely missing my ankle. After that, he just . . . left.
And I lived happily ever after.

Songs About Scarecrows

You know how there’s always that one person that disagrees on you with everything? Imagine you wrote a book from your point of view, and guess what he does? He writes a whole other book about the same thing  except from how he sees it. Think about how Taylor Swift’s ex-boyfriend feels about all those songs about him. How do you think you would interpret Taylor Swift’s boyfriend’s version of her song? Instead of a Taylor Swift song, I’ll take a trip into the song “Tin Man” by Future Islands from Scarecrow’s point of view.

“Tin Man” by Future Islands

You couldn't possibly know how much you mean to me
You couldn't always view inside my tarot
You couldn't possibly find it in your heart to forgive
me
You are the savage sun and scarecrow

And time goes by and you've got a lot to learn in your
life
And our hearts, locked inside(?), and Ive got to find
the one that's just right
You offer all our amends In hopes of saving me
You'd never imagine life could be straw without you
You often leave the branch out the piece that peeks
through
As long as it welcomes me, it must be truth
And time goes by and you've got a lot to learn in your
life
And our hearts, large inside/large in size(?), and Ive
got to find the one that's just right
And time goes by and you've got a lot to learn in your
life
And our hearts, locked inside(?), and Ive got to find
the one that's just right

I am the Tin Man
I am the Tin Man
I am the Tin Man
I am the Tin Man
I am the Tin Man
I am the Tin Man

It seems like this song is about a love story or a very good friendship between two people, but then one of them did something wrong. The song clearly is based off of The Wizard of Oz because of two character names in the song; Tin Man and Scarecrow. It appears that Tin Man did something that hurt Scarecrow but Scarecrow dosen’t know how much Tin Man loves him. Scarecrow wants to forgive him but finds it unbearably challenging. This song could also ccould be a real life story but put into Wizard of Oz form.

If this song was from Scarecrow’s point of view, the readers would interpret it as a person who was betrayed by someone very close to them. They want to forgive them but they don’t want to also. In the second verse, it talk about how Scarecrow offers to fix everything up and welcomes him. Scarecrow has had a hard time forgiving Tin Man but eventually just realizes that two wrongs won’t make a right.

If Scarecrow wrote this song, it would go something like this.

“Scarecrow” by Scarecrow

You couldn’t possibly know how much you hurt me

You couldn’t have ever known my feelings

I couldn’t possibly find it in my heart to forgive you

You are the savage night and Tin Man

And as time

goes by

 I’ve got a lot to learn throughout my life

And our hearts, unlocked inside

When I stand

By your side

I offer all my amends in hopes of saving you

You’d never imagine how dark life would be without me

I’d often leave a branch in my hand that peeks through

And hoping that it welcomes you

And as time

goes by

 I’ve got a lot to learn throughout my life

And our hearts, unlocked inside

When I stand

By your side

I am the Scarecrow

I am the Scarecrow

I am the Scarecrow

I am the Scarecrow

I am the Scarecrow

I am the Scarecrow

                In conclusion, it is important that the readers know Scarecrow’s point of view, or else they would not the whole story of how Scarecrow forgave Tin Man for the bad things he did, even though he didn’t want to.

The Perks of Being a Hitchhiker

This is my Compare and Contrast piece for Language Arts.

Comparing two completely books can be difficult, but truthfully, in books you can find any similarity even if one book has talking robot birds and the other is just a story of a troubled teenage boy, and that just happens to be just like the two books I just read. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and the perks of being a wallflower sound completely different. In reality though, they’re actually somewhat alike. For example, they both have extremely long titles. These two book are actually very opposite though.

The Perks of Being A Wallflower is similar to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy because in both books there are two characters that fall in love, but when they think everything is working out, something breaks them apart. For example, in The Perks of Being A Wallflower, the main character Charlie falls in love with Sam, but he doesn’t share his feelings until she leaves for college. In Hitchhikers Guide, Trillian and Wowbagger fall in love but Wowbagger wants to die so he gets himself killed.

A second similarity is that these books both have extremely long titles. They are both at least six words long. They also have hidden nuggets of humor throughout the books, but the humor is less subtle is The Hitchhikers Guide.

These two books seem so different, but in actuality there are very similar. From failed love, to extremely long titles, to hidden humor these are both amazing books.

 Theme

Your plane just crashed. Flames flicker as you drag yourself to a ripped piece clothing to stop the bleeding on one of your injuries. You’re stuck on the top of a mountain capped with snow. Good thing you brought your survival guide…Survival is everything. Its what keeps you alive. When  there is a threat to your life or anything, the only way to get through it is to survive.

In the book My Side of the Mountain, Sam Gribley feels crowded in his New York City apartment with his family so he decides to run away to the Catskill Mountains. Sam can’t just walk into a wilderness and live there though. He is going to need to know how to survive using hunting skills, hiding, building, awareness, etc.

Even towards the end, the theme is always survival. He’s always talking about how to skin animals and build houses and fires out of trees, etc. Some of it is almost like a survival guide sometimes.

Island of the Blue Dolphins is another book about survival. Karana, the main character, is part of an native tribe on an island that looks like a dolphin. One day a ship of Aleuts from Russia come to hunt sea otter but the natives want to be payed back. One day the Aleuts try to leave without paying though, so a battle breaks out. The tribe leaves the island after most of their people die, hoping to find new land. But they leave Karana behind, making her face the wilderness alone. There is a pack of vicious wild dogs after her, and she has no house yet. By collecting whale bones and other things, Karana builds a house. Later, her brother swims back to the island to live with her. They tough out the rest of the book by using whatever they can find to survive. Island of the Blue Dolphins is a perfect example of survival.

Throughout these two books, the theme of survival stays strong. In My Side of the Mountain Sam realizes that if he wants to live in the wilderness it comes with the risk of having to get everything on your own and live independently without starving or dying or anything, and I think that’s what survival is all about.