1. By: Laura Gonzalez 1010 English

2.  Interview  Why I like Step up 3D  Groundhog Day  Fast Food  Your Brain on Fiction  Important person  Uncle  No more Capital Punishment  Friendship  Today’s way of Shopping

3. My name is Laura Gonzalez I was born in Bogota, Colombia. I don’t know what my name means but my second name “Camilla” means closer to God. My whole family is from Colombia which means a lot of delicious food and dancing in the holidays. Family, to us is very important. We show a lot of respect for the adults and the elderly. When I was 7 years old, I came with my family to the United State. I had a very hard time trying to decide my major because I really like to work in the music business anything from creating the beats to the songs to making the videos of the songs. But that is not a for sure thing that I will make it. I want to have a backup plan to fall back in incase I do not make it. So my major is physical therapy. But later on when I become a physical therapist I’m going to chase my dream in the music business. I am taking this English class to improve my writing skills, and be in a higher level in my vocabulary. I like to write a lot when I have time. I like poetry and writing my own songs. I write every day to my friends in texts or Facebook. Something that I find it weird but also interested about me is that I’m very shy when you first get to know me but when I’m dancing or when I get use to the person I can be fun to be around with. I love to dance from any kind of dance types when I don’t know the moves I learn it and then do it. So any kind of dance moves or music I like to dance to. When I dance I feel safe it’s a feeling that I cant describe because I can’t find the right words to explain what I feel inside and in my heart when I start moving to the beat. Loving to dance also means I like to watch the dance movies like step up or stomp the yard those are some of my favorite dance movies.

4. “Step Up 3D” is one of my favorite movies so far. Because I love to dance and watching people dance. This movie brings a lot of different dance move that I find them very interesting. Since it is in 3D, I feel like I am actually watching them dance in front of me or when it is coming towards me, I can feel they are dance battling me. It makes me feel like I am in the movie. Thirdly, it brings the people from the other movies from step up and step up 2. Ever since I can remember I love to dance in my room the thing I love to dance mostly is Hip Hop, salsa, merengue, and R&B. I like to make my own move while I dance like if I’m telling a story with my body. The movie brings a lot of hip hop and the music which is hot in today’s radio. I always wanted to be in a dance battle which in the pass I been in 2 dance battles. Feeling like if I’m in the movie and having them come towards me trying to battle gets me hype to dance watching it in 3D feels more real. Even though I can be very shy when I have to talk or dance in front of people. For over a year now I have been getting out more and showing people I can dance. It is hard when I start because that shyness comes even stronger but then when I am done I feel amazing that I accomplished it. I’m a big fan of movies that keep going like a big story or a Soap Opera. Seeing the characters from the other 2 movies makes the movie better I believe because when you are not expecting to see someone from the other pass movies and when they show up is a big surprise for the people and is sometimes also nice when they are nice in the movie or it can also be a shocking surprise when someone evil comes. The people are more interested in knowing what he or she will do in the moment. It is a feeling so amazing that I get when I see dance movies not only they are fun and keeps you entertained but also teaches people like myself new and cool moves to do. I believe everyone that likes to dance has the same feeling I have when I dance. It is my home that I feel save when I dance I can have a very bad day but if I dance either at a public place or in my room after I feel amazingly happy and since I sweat dancing like if it a work out I feel great knowing I burned calories. There are a lot of different types of dancing ones that we don’t even know they could exist but my favorite things to see on movies are hip hop, R&B, and since I am Colombian I like to also see that the movies can bring different cultures and styles into one big movie.

5. A popular film in the United States is called “Groundhog Day” it’s about a funny holiday only celebrated in this country called by the same name as the movie on February 2 nd. On this day in a small town in Pennsylvania once a year the major or the town leader gets the popular groundhog to sit and if they see the shadow then that means there is only 6 more weeks of winter. In the beginning of the movie he was not happy to go to cast the Groundhog Day in Pennsylvania. He was too cocky and treated his coworkers and people around him bad. He thought he was better than anyone else. When they got there to Pennsylvania, he requested to stay in a different hotel than his other co-workers, because he did not like to stay in a cheap hotel. In the morning it seem like it was going to be a normal day. He did the news and when his co-worker asked him if he wanted to get something to eat but he didn’t wanted nothing just head back home. There was a blister storm so they were suck in Pennsylvania till it was save to drive back home. He thought he was just staying an extra day because of the storm but it wasn’t like that. When he woke up the next day it was the same time he woke up at 6:00 AM everything that happen on Groundhog day was happening to him that same day. He thought it was a joke or déjà vu, but when he started reliving the same day over and over again, he knew it wasn’t just déjà vu. Since he relived the same day every day that he woke up at 6:00 AM, he started doing everything he wanted to do like; driving on the train tracks, going to jail, and stealing money. He did that because the next day it all started over. No one remembered anything so he did whatever he wanted. He had fun for the first couple of days that he did that but then he started being a little nice to his girl co-worker. He took her out to eat, spend time with her and get to know her better of what she liked and disliked to make it seem like they have a lot in. But he wanted to sleep with her and she was not that easy to give it up the first night every night he tried but he got worse and worse to sleeping with her. One day he got so tire of reliving the same day over and over again that he woke up, went down to see the groundhog and he kidnap it then he went for a ride while the cops and the major were chasing him. He tried to kill himself and the groundhog thinking that he would end the day of reliving the same day over and over again, but the next day he woke up again. It seems impossible of ending the same day over and over. He started helping people and learning other things like another language, and playing the piano. Also he helped a lot of people and he was there for people that needed help or something was about to happen to them like, he was there for a little kid when he was about to fall off a tree, and when some elderly people had a flat tire they didn’t even had to get out of the car because he was already fixing it. Things like that got his girl coworker noticed that he was being nice and on a fancy party that she went he was there playing piano like a professional. They danced and laughed they had a very good time just being together the other people that he had helped out they were also in the party and they went up to him to thank him and say how nice he. A lady even told the girl coworker she should keep him because he was a very nice person. In the end of the day they went back to his place to sleep and when he woke up he thought he was going to relive it all over again but when he felt a person next to him when he saw it was his coworker that slept the night before he was so use to repeating the same day over and over again that he couldn’t believe that it was finally over. At the end they decided to stay in Pennsylvania but he was a changed man he was not mean or thought he was better than everyone else. That experience changed him for good and his coworker was his girlfriend and they bought a house in the town.

6. Since a lot of people are working and rushing from one place to another, they do not have the time to go home and eat or make a meal. Especially with the people that have to work more than eight hours a day and they do not have the time to go home and cook. Fast food can save time and does not take a lot of money to eat at a fast food place. In this world we live in today, we have a lot of things to handle at the same time. We have work, school, taking care of the kids, etc. We do not have the time to go home and cook for our families. Fast food saves us like 2 hours of cooking and washing the dishes. Many fast food restaurants are very low in the prices of their foods. The reason to that is that when they produce in large quantities, this high volume means that the company can keep the prices low. Many people wants good food for a low price and since fast food has low prices they keep going there. Therefore, the company keeps growing and keeping the prices low for the people to keep on going to their restaurants. In conclusion, many people these days do not have the time to come back from places and go home to make a 2 hour meal it is easier and faster to grab something that is already made and hot on their way home so when they get home they can eat it right away. And it does not take a lot of money to feed yourself or your family with fast food. You can feed your stomach for no more than 5 dollars.

7. Amid the connections and access of our digital devices, the old fashioned virtues of reading novels can seem boring, even meaningless. But new support for the value of fiction is arriving from an unexpected quarter: feelings. Brain scans are revealing what happens in our heads when we read a detailed description, a personal metaphor or an emotional exchange between characters. Stories, this research is showing awakes the brain and even change how we think. Researches have long known that the “classical” language regions, like parietal lobe and frontal lobe, are involved in how the brain interprets data. What scientist have come to realize in the last few years in that reading activate many other parts of our brains as well, suggesting why the experience of reading can feel so real. Words like “hunted houses” for example, elicit a response not only from the language-processing areas of our brains, but also those devoted to dealing with fear

8. When I still lived back in my country I was very young and I had a best friend that I was really close to my heart. it was my grandfather. What made him my best friend was how he showed me love, played with me, and he was always there for me. Since I was the youngest of the family at the time, he always showed me that he cared and loved me. the bond that I had with him was so amazing. Whenever he could he would take me everywhere and buy me anything that he could. Some say he might of spoiled me but I knew that whatever he tried to get me was from the heart because we did not have a lot of money. He always wanted the best for me and he would take me out to show me off to his friends and coworkers. A game that we always played was wrestling. We would watch WWE and we would pick a guy from the TV and try to do whatever they did on TV. I would get up on the head of the bed and jump on him. By that time he was starting to get sick but the most amazing thing was he never showed me he was sick or he was tired he always played with me and I would leave him out of breath. He always had a video game that he did not let no one touch or use only me. when he passed away he left me that game and even if its old and simple, every time I see it or touch it I feel closer to my grandfather. In everything that I was in he always wanted to be there. I use to be in a soccer team at my school and he was always there supporting me. Whenever I went to my grandparent’s house, I was always with my grandfather. that is why when he passed away it was on Christmas and I wanted to leave the earth with him. At his funeral I kept crying telling my parents I wanted to go with him. At the time I didn’t know what was death. I just thought he was sleeping and at the funeral I was mad at him because I kept telling him to wake up. All I wanted to do is be with him even in death. He was the most important person and he still is. I miss having him around for me to talk to. But I feel that he still around me that he is my angel. He is the only best friend that I will connect with like I did with my grandfather. I think to myself if I had so many memories and times that we spend together, we could have had so many more if he did not passed away. But everyone has to die someday it was just his time to go. But all the lessons and all the memories will never die in me. I will always remember what he taught me and that he loved me with all his heart. that is why he is the most important person in my life.

9. When I came to this country, I left my whole family back in Colombia. I just came with my father, mother, little brother, and my aunt. When I left my country I was just 7 years old. And many years later my uncle could finally come to visit us. I was about 15 years old when he first came to the United States. Since I grew up in the United States I don’t know much about the culture my family back in Colombia have. When my uncle came to visit us my mom explains to me that I have to kiss his cheek. To me that is normal kissing the cheek for Hispanic people. Once I got to the airport we had to wait like an hour or so. When my mom saw her brother she ran up to him and kissed him in the mouth. That is also normal to see my mom doing because it was her brother that she didn’t saw for many years. But when he got to my dad that got awkward, they hug and he gave a big kiss on the mouth to my dad I freaked out because I didn’t expected to see two grown man kissing on the mouth. My brother and I didn’t felt right for those couple of moments. My mom had to explain to me that it’s our culture. My dad even got a little shock he did that to him. Even though he scared us a little bit he was nice and carrying so we didn’t had any problems afterwards. We enjoyed his company the month that he was here visiting us. We went to Las Vegas for a little vacation. After the moth pasted and that he had to leave we were sad to see him go but he told us he would come back again when he can have the time off. I just don’t expect him to kiss my dad in the mouth again/ that was one time only that they were happy to see each other after so many years.

10. Capital punishment, or as some know it as “the death penalty,” should not be allowed to happen. It sends the wrong message to the younger generation that killing people who kill is okay. Also, it will not bring the victim back to the families that have suffered. Another reason is we are all humans and we might make mistakes, and finally, death for them might be an easy way out. Some people might say that justice is served and there is no harm, but according to the Magazine of Student, “The death penalty sends a confusing and contradictory message.” The idea of showing other people that we can kill people who kill is okay, that is not a crime. We are still ending a human’s life. Therefore, the people that kill the people that commit a crime are murderers and should also be killed according to the law. I believe that it is wrong to show our leaders of the future, the younger generation, that capital punishment is okay for them to do. It is not right to kill people. The only person that can end the life of another is God. In the article by Gregory Kane says that the Capital Punishment helps the family heal from the pain of losing their loved ones to know the criminal died. But, the true fact is they want to see the criminal suffering as much as they are suffering losing their loved one. With Capital Punishment, they will enjoy seeing the criminal dying for a couple of seconds, but then what? Killing the criminal will not bring their loved one back to life, and the criminal is no longer suffering. There is no point to capital punishment if the criminals just suffer for a couple of seconds. The better solution is for the criminals to suffer in jail. The prison is a better way to make them suffer, locked up and thinking that they will never be free because of what they did. In the news there are many cases where the police catch the wrong guy and make them spend many years in jail. For example, I heard a story in the news of an old man. When they took him to jail he was in his 30’s but they let him go after forty years of prison because they found him innocent. People might say yes to the Capital Punishment, but according to “The Wrong Men in Death Row,” “For every 7 executions, 486 since 1976 1 other prisoner on death row has been found innocent.” The poor innocent man cannot fight for himself if everyone is thinking that he did it, that he killed another person. And for that, he gets the Capital punishment. That is not fair to know you are innocent but they are going to kill you while the real criminal is out there enjoying life or even worse, killing more innocent people. The people who believe that Capital Punishment is the right thing to do, everything they hear is what the news tells them. But, they do not know if the person is innocent they don’t know if they did it or not. It is not fair and right to take someone’s life away who did not do anything wrong. In addition, people might think that death is the ultimate punishment for the criminal. What they do not know is, in the criminal’s mind, they are happier to die now than being in prison for the rest of their life. For them it is an easy way out, to get away from being locked up all their life. According to Aubrey Nielson, the Death Penalty offers an easy way out. “Death is the easy way out. And that is the last thing a criminal deserves.” I believe the same thing. They deserve to rot in prison for what they have done and also worry about their safety within the other prisoners. In conclusion, Capital Punishment or the Death Penalty should not be allowed. Killing the criminals will not solve anything. The government is giving the younger generation’s mind the thought that killing is okay when you are killing someone who killed. Families will enjoy seeing the criminals in jail more than underground. You are giving comfort to the criminal of ending their lives and ending every worry of being locked up for the rest of their lives. And the authorities never know if the person whose life they are ending is innocent or if they really killed someone. All these reasons are proof that we should not allow capital punishment to happen around the world. Let criminals suffer and die in prison.

11. Many people have many friends but some are not as lucky to even have one good friend to count on or to tell jokes. They stand alone when they’re in need to cherish time with. Everyone needs to have at least one good friend. A good friend is someone that is loyal, trustable, and carrying. One way in finding a good friend is when you find someone that is a loyal friend to you, and then you find someone that you can count on. They will be true to you and not go behind your back. They won’t talk about you and defend you against other people that could be talking about you. Whenever you need them they are there by your side. Loyalty is not something you automatically have, over time you earn loyalty. It starts with your parents, if they taught you when you were young, teaching not to lie, and always being honest. Those are the lessons of life that your parents taught to help you in life and relationships of friends and love partners. Another way for finding good friends is to see if that person is Trustable. Trustable and loyalty are two different things, with trust you have to proof to the person they can trust you. To trust someone is very hard and it comes with time. It can easily be broken in seconds. Having someone trust in you is something that is important and should be cherished. Trusting a friend is very hard, you need to know if you tell a secret, they will keep it. A lot of friends when they fight or get mad at each other they will tell your secrets. Those friends are not really your true friends. The true friends that you can trust on, will not tell no one even if they get mad. In addition there is a saying that goes like, “a friend visits you in jail but a carrying, true friend will sit with you in jail.” Even though it’s a silly saying but the meaning is still true. Friends tell you they are your friends and they have your back, but when a bad situation comes along they won’t be there to pick up the pieces. Friends that truly care about you will visit you in the hospital, jail, house, or anywhere you are in bad times of your life. They will stop whatever they are doing on their free time to go and spend it with you. They really do care how your day is going when they ask. If you’re going through a hard time in your life, they will help you with anything they can. It can either be money, food, shelter, even advice to lift you up from that depressing moment and they can even motivate you to go the extra mile. In conclusion, when you find a loyal, trustable, and carrying friend you should grab on to them and never let them go. Treasure them as if they are the last flower in the desert, but also give back as much as they give you and even more. Give that flower water, hope for a better tomorrow together, that will help the relationship grow like the flower. Care for the friendship you have because having someone there for you is priceless.

12. More and more people are starting to shop not on the stores like the old times where you had walk or drive there to get the stuff you need, but now people are starting to shop online for many items like clothes, toys, music, and even food. Why is this the newest way of shopping? Because it is cheaper, open whenever you need to shop, you can look for whatever you can imagine, and you can shop all around the world. First, in this economy when the gas price goes up like no other, we can gas a lot of gas money. When we shop online there can be discounts or special deals that we don’t find on the stores for example, in the T-Mobile stores if someone goes in they have to buy the phone but if you go online to their website there sometimes phones that are the same that you get in the stores for free. We can also save time by clicking from store to store then by driving from store to store. Online the store sells the items for less than in the stores because they don’t have to make a profit by keeping the store open. So if you buy online you will save a lot of money that you can spend on other important things or even buy more things. Secondly, when you come home late from work and you want to shop but the store is close, you can always go online and shop. It does not matter the time that you want to shop it can be in the morning or late at night you can always find a great deal that you can buy. The shipping and handling comes also within days and most of the time if you are not satisfied with the product you can send it back within 30 days and they will send you another one or give your money back. For example I bought headphones from amazon when they came, one headphone wasn’t working so I went on the website and read how I can send it back I followed the instructions and within days I got my new headphones they work great and sound super. Whenever I feel like just suffering the internet to find what I like or need I just sit down with my computer or lap top and shop. Third of all, if someone wants to buy a crazy thing such as a ball with needles believe it or not they will find it on the internet. People put so many crazy items that no one can imagine but when they do I’m 100% sure they that person will find and buy it. You can even buy or rent animals like on the show of, “keeping up with the kardashians” on the channel E they rented a monkey for the day to show their mom that taking care of another baby would be a lot of work. Crazy things like that you can always time it on the internet you just have to be patience and just click everywhere to find it. Finally, I had many situations like this when I have friends or family members that live out of the state where I live. When it comes to their birthday or holidays like Christmas where everyone is in a hush to getting the perfect gift for their loved ones I think ahead and shop online for discounts or deals and they will send it to where ever I put the address so I don’t need to worry about buying the gift neither of how much it will cost me to send it. Especially on the holidays where the prices goes up like no there is no tomorrow. Someone can be miles away but always surprise their loved ones with great gifts from plasma televisions to as little as a dozen of flowers to show them you care and missing them. In conclusion, in the future people will not shop the old way they will get everything that they need and want from the internet. No more wasting gas money that you know you need, no more paying extra for the same items or mailing costs, shopping online will be the way of shopping in the future.