2.29 - Bullying

Since bullying is still a problem, I don't think schools are doing their best to prevent it, and should really step up their act. Saying that, I don't think it's a major problem in South Portland. SPHS could do better by making punishment for bullying more serious, but I think we're doing all right as a school.

2.27 - LePage's Changes

It seems to me that one of the changes LePage wants to make is to make it easier for students to receive better education. From what I've read it seems like a good idea, and will improve the education of students in Maine, but I am worried as to where the money required to do so would be coming from. So, yes, it looks like a good proposal, but I would need to know more to make a definite opinion.

2.16 - The Door in the Wall

The story begins with someone telling about a story another man had told them, which they did not believe to be true, though they had when it was being told. They ponder the story, and begins to retell the previous night. The man telling the story, Wallace, began by saying he was being haunted, not by the supernatural, but by a longing of sorts. It then goes back to explain their relationship, having gone to school together, but that Wallace had gone on to be far more successful. He retells the story, as Wallace explained that "the Door in the Wall" came to him first when he was a very young boy. He tells that the Door evoked a certain emotion in him, a desire to open it, but also a knowledge not to. So he went on pretending not to notice the door, but eventually ran and burst through it, coming into a garden. And he tells of how beautiful the garden was, and that it had a certain air to it that caused exhilaration. The garden also had to leopards in it, playing with a ball, that came up to him and purred. The garden must have been magical, he tells, as it made him forget all his worrying to be obedient and fears. He played with the leopards and ran about in the garden, until a tall girl came upon him, and carried him along through the garden to a palace. Everyone they came across in the garden was friendly and loving, and the young Wallace found playmates, though what they played he could never remember. And a woman came and took him off to show him a sort of biography that had moving pictures in it. But it didn't show the garden, it showed him crying in the street, and then he was there, crying because he couldn't return to his playmates. When he returned home, his nurse and father questioned him, then thrashed him for telling lies about the magical garden. His fairy-tale books were taken away for him being too imaginative, and he dreamt of the garden often, but never tried to find his way back to it. But later, while he was at school playing an adventure game, he saw the Door again, but didn't go in, as not to be late for school. But at school he told another boy about the garden, who told other boys about it, and so young Wallace was teased for it. So he told them he could show them the Door, but when he went back to where it was it was gone, and he got beaten up. He saw the door again when he was seventeen, on his way to Oxford. But it was just in passing and he was too surprised to stop the cab. So he continued on and got a scholarship to Oxford. And he went on to fulfill his career, but he still dreamt of the garden. Once, after returning to London from Oxford, he was going to call on someone he loved, and took a shortcut, in which he saw the Door, but again did not enter. As he became more successful, and worked through the years, he saw the Door three times, but still didn't enter. He tells that he wanders about at night, looking for the Door.

The story then goes on to explain that Wallace had been found dead, presumably having gone through an unfastened door that lead into an underground railway, and had fallen to his death.

(2.14) - Relevance of the Odyssey

I think the Odyssey will always be relevant, it contains a lot of important messages about life, like staying focused on your goals and knowing that there will be things in the way, but you have to get through them.

(2.10) - Superbowl Metaphor

I think America is at halftime, or perhaps just a "lull in the game" so to speak. America has had economic and political trouble before, and we've always come out of it eventually. It's only been 200 years, America isn't done yet.

(2.8) - The Tell Tale Heart

The story begins with a man's thoughts about himself and what he plans to do, though what it is unclear. He convinces himself that he isn't mad, and then proceeds to explain he is going to kill the old man he presumably works for. He talks of how clever he is for planning ahead for a whole week, sneaking into the old man's room every night at midnight. He also tells that it isn't the old man he has problems with, but his eye. On the eight night he tells that the old man started when he put his head in, and cried out. But he stayed still, and stood in the doorway for an hour, but the old man was still awake, and groaned in "mortal terror." So he opened the cover on his lantern a sliver, and the light fell on the old man's "evil" eye, which made him furious upon looking at. His heart began beating faster and louder as he stood looking at the eye. Then he opened the lantern and lept forward, dragging the old man to the floor and smothering him with the bed, killing him. After making sure he was dead, he took the old man's body and dismembered it over a tub, hiding the pieces beneath the floorboards. But when he was finished, three policemen came to the door, as the old man's shriek had been heard by a neighbor. But he showed them about the house and brought chairs into the old man's room, placing his own above the boards under which he had hidden the old man. He convinced the officers nothing was wrong, but soon began going mad, as the sound of a heartbeat rang in his ears. The sound became too much for him and he admitted his crime and showed them the body, crazedly.

2.6 - Riots

I think the riot was just sports excitement that went too far. Riots surrounding football games are common in a lot of the world, and Egypt is just another example.

2.2 - Heroes

i think a hero is anyone that does something good to make people admire them. My hero is Gertrude Bell, because she was a powerful, influential woman in a time when women couldn't be. I think it's sad that people know about Lawrence of Arabia but not her. Look her up, Hoy. She's awesome.