Dr. James A. Naismith

Author's Note: This piece was written as a research piece on Dr. James Naismith, the creator of basketball and inventor of the football helmet.

Dr. James A. Naismith

                Have you ever played sports in your life? If you have then you are like millions maybe even billions of people who play sports each day. Every single sport has been developed to become safer, more exciting, etc. But without the original founder of the game, none of these amazing games would be possible. Take basketball for instance; it is played worldwide by hundreds of millions of people, and still it’s growing faster than ever thanks to its founder Dr. James A. Naismith.

Naismith was a teacher/professor at a Springfield, Massachusetts YMCA (James Naismith). Naismith’s boss, Dr. Luther Halsey Gulick Jr., asked him to create a game that would be interesting, easy to play in a cold winter gym, and easy to learn. Gulick gave James 14 short days to come up with such a game. Naismith knew in order to create a new game he would need the help of other games to give him ideas. One of his ideas came from the game Duck on a Rock. During a game of Duck on a Rock the goal was to knock a rock off of a larger rock or tree stump (Duck on a Rock). Naismith played this game with his friends when he was a young boy. This game inspired him to think of the “shoot the ball into the hole” aspect of the game.

The first game of basketball was then played in the Springfield YMCA. The final score was an exciting 1-0 (James Naismith). The game immediately started getting more popular, yet Naismith wondered why. He thought that he had only invented a simple activity to occupy students, time, but he had in fact started a revolution and invented a game that many people play and love today.

Dr. Naismith also invented the football helmet. He played center on a football team and the helmet allowed every player to be much safer while not disrupting their level of play at all (Dr. James A Naismith Biography). Without the invention of the football helmet many more people would get hurt playing football.

Overall, anyone could say that Naismith has made as big an impact on sports as anyone in the world has. He invented one sport and made another sport a whole lot safer. Dr. James A. Naismith was a great man and an unbelievable innovator.

Bibliography

"Dr. James A Naismith Biography." Bio. True Story. 29 5 2013 <http://www.biography.com/people/james-a-naismith-9420059>.

"Duck on a Rock." Wikipedia. 28 5 2013 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_on_a_Rock>.

"James Naismith." Hoopedia. 28 5 2013 <http://hoopedia.nba.com/index.php?title=James_Naismith>.

Books vs Movies

Author's Note: This is an essay on the difference between books, and their respective movies, or screenings. This is also my DWA.

Books vs Movies

Typically if I go to see a movie based on a book, I have an image in my head about how everything will look. Although, often times when I go the movie based on a book it doesn’t turn out very well. Producers and directors often try to do too much when making the movie, rather than sticking specifically to the book’s storyline. When making a movie, the producer should try to consult with the author of the book.

There were many things wrong with this film "A Clean Well-Lighted Place"; the first and most obvious was when the movie showed the old man. He was sitting in a bright indoor café, in the story it says he is sitting outside of the lighted cafe and in the shadow of some leaves. This is a very important part of the story because it is a symbol that gives the story great meaning. The symbol of the old man sitting in a shadow shows that he is in the latter years of his life, and he is in the darkness.

Another thing wrong with the screening was the language. Towards the end of the movie after the older waiter walked to the bar he starts saying certain things in English. At one point in the book he keeps saying nada, nada, nada nada, nada, etc. But in the movie you hear nothing, nothing nothing, nothing, nothing nothing. In addition, during this scene in the movie the older waiter asks for a small or little cup. In the book he asks for the cup in Spanish saying copita. The whole thing takes away the foreign aspect out of the story and makes that final scene feel very creepy.

The final thing that stood out to me that I thought was wrong, was the fact that the café was a modern looking restaurant rather than a 1930’s or 1940’s café. The café should’ve been more rundown and old rather than a modern sparkling café. Although it was correct in having good lighting the café was a little too clean for the 30’s.

The Producer of this screening didn’t do the best job transforming the story into a movie. He did the most important part of the story wrong, the old man sitting in the café rather than outside, and that hurt the authenticity of this movie.

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place response

Author's Note: This is a short response about the story A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, by: Ernest Hemingway. I am comparing the two waiters from the story and explaining what the café represents.

     In the short story A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, by: Ernest Hemingway there are two waiters at a café that is open until 3 in the morning. There is a younger waiter who wants to get home as early as possible because he complains that his wife is waiting in bed for him and he states that 3 AM is a terrible hour to go to sleep. The older waiter understands what the old man at the café is thinking. He knows what it is like to want to stay up all night at a clean well-lighted place. The old man doesn't want to be alone in the dark, he wants to have people around him and feel secure.

     In this story I think that the young waiter symbolizes society now, and the old man and old waiter symbolize society as it should or used to be. Now society rushes through life always trying to get onto the next thing in their life, but society should just wait and take a moment to observe the beauty of what's around them. The café symbolizes everything wonderful about the world, or the things that society doesn't stop and think about. The young waiter wants to leave and get on with his life, while the older waiter understands that the old man wants to stay late at the café and adore the beauty, while staying out of the dark.

Mildred's Thoughts

Mildred’s Thoughts

In the book Fahrenheit 451, by: Ray Bradbury Guy Montag’s wife, Mildred is one of the most intriguing characters. Sometimes she just goes with the flow, but other times she acts like she knows what’s going on around her. When Mildred is surrounded by people who don’t think and just do what the government wants, she acts like one of them. When she is by herself she knows that she must get out of the terrible dystopian world in Fahrenheit 451.

In the beginning of the book Guy finds an empty bottle of sleeping pills near Mildred’s bed. Since she had recently been having trouble sleeping she was supposed to take 1 pill each night. However, she takes all 30 of the pills in one night. The next morning Mildred calmly tells Guy, “Didn’t sleep well. Feel terrible, god I’m hungry. I can’t figure it.” (18). When Mildred said this you can tell that she was trying to figure out what to tell Guy.  Then, after Guy asks her what she remembered from last night and she said, “What? Did we have a wild party or something? Feel like I’ve a hangover. God I’m hungry. Who was here?” (19). Mildred is trying to convince Guy that she doesn’t know what happened the night before. Additionally her thoughts are scattered, and you can tell that she isn’t sure what to say. Mildred symbolizes how this dystopian society lives, in fear of the government.

Another example of Mildred being unengaged and not thinking is when Guy comes home from work on page 49. He lays down on the couch and starts talking to Mildred about the day. He isn’t felling well and while Mildred goes to get him an aspirin he vomits on the rug. Immediately after he tells her, “We burnt an old woman with her books,” (49). Mildred, being the dumb citizen that she is states, “Well it’s a good thing the rug’s washable” (49). This just goes to show how the citizens are completely oblivious to the outside world.

Mildred is a very interesting character to say the least. She acts two different ways throughout the book. Sometimes acts like a normal person would. Other times she acts like a normal person in this dystopian society.

The Final Opportunity

The Final Opportunity

                The Pewaukee Pirates had worked so hard to get to the biggest stage in high school basketball: the state championship. They definitely didn’t want that opportunity go to waste. The Pirates had gone 23-1 in their in-conference games with their only loss coming to Whitnall. Although the Pirates did beat Whitnall at home, no one knew how the game would go at a neutral site. The Kohl Center was hardly neutral for the Wisconsin Badgers.

Pewaukee beat the Waterford Wolverines in the semifinals by a slim margin of 5 points. Jack Gohlke hit 4-4 free throws to seal the game off. Frustrated, the Waterford players leisurely walked across the floor to head into the locker room. While the Pirates fans celebrate, the players know they have to keep their mind on their next game against Whitnall.

The big game was today and the players filtered out of the hotel to get onto the team buses. Nothing seemed to be wrong, but Jack Gohlke and Jaeger Hoang were not on the bus. The coach was the only one to notice, but he presumed they had already gone to the arena and were just trying to warm up early. What the coach didn’t know was that two of his players had in fact decided to walk to the arena.

“I didn’t realize the Kohl Center was this far away,” complained an impatient Jaeger.

“Neither did I.” Jack replied, “I thought that is was only a 20 minute walk.”

“I think it’s already been like 20 years.” Jaeger retorted sarcastically.

“I doubt it has been that long. We probably only have like 10 minutes to go.” Jack answered. All of a sudden Jack thought that he saw a group of angry Whitnall fans down an alley. He asked Jaeger, “Did you see that?”

“See what?”

“Never mind,” Jack responded not wanting to sound frightened.

“What were you talking about?” Jaeger asked.

“Well I thought that I saw a group of deranged Whitnall fans.” Jack stated.

“Wow, you have issues.” Jaeger acknowledged as he laughed hysterically at Jack’s comment. They continued to walk down the street, and Jack kept peeking into alleys making sure that there weren’t any Whitnall fans looking to cause some trouble. Nervously, Jack started sprinting down the alley, with a heart beating at the speed of light, while Jaeger had to hustle to keep up.

“Let’s just get to the arena and suit up.” Jack said in a panicky tone.

“Calm down.” Jaeger replied in a voice that wasn’t quite as calm as he would have liked. Focusing on the game, Jaeger tried to slow Jack down so that he wouldn’t be so afraid of his own hallucinations so that he would be ready to go. Achieving the state championship goal would require a great amount of focus and concentration.

“Okay, I think we are almost there.” Jack stated as he finally slowed down.

Considering the circumstances, Jack and Jaeger should have been very nervous about what was around that corner, but the two of them were very good at handling these kind of circumstances. As they turned the corner they saw… the Kohl Center.

Irritating was the word that came to Jaeger’s mind when he thought about this experience with Jack. He was bored out of his mind the whole time and thought that they should’ve taken the bus along with the rest of the squad. Finally, they could relax and prepare for the biggest game of their high school career.

Quote from Fahrenheit 451

"Didn't sleep well. Feel terrible, god I'm hungry. I can't figure it." Mildred said this after Guy asked her how she slept last night. He knew that she took all 30 of the sleeping pills last night. Guy suspects that Mildred was trying to commit suicide, and he is trying to figure out why. This quote symbolizes their awkward relationship and the fact that they probably shouldn't be married.

Unfocused and Un-Concentrated

Author’s Note: In this piece I tried to create a mood describing Artemis Fowl from the book Artemis Fowl 7: The Arctic Incident with figurative language; such as similes, metaphors, etc. Then I analyzed the short description in an essay format.

Unfocused and Un-concentrated

                Artemis is a shadow of his old self. He is now focused on numbers and has extreme OCD. He is normally smarter than Einstein, but now he has the attention span of a nat. While he is focused on numbers, he thinks anything that has to do with 4 is deadly, and 5 is lucky enough to get him out of a jam. Additionally, Artemis always acted affectionately while addressing accomplished fairies.  Now he is as soft as a child’s blanket although he used to be as hard as a rock.

Unfocused and Un-concentrated (Essay)

                Have you ever considered using figurative language in your writing? As you can see in the piece that I wrote above, the mood can be changed dramatically by just using a little figurative language. Figurative language is one of the best ways to get someone into and excited about your piece. Once they are into your piece they will definitely appreciate the use of even more figurative language.

                In Unfocused and Un-Concentrated the main use of figurative language includes similes and metaphors. The similes and metaphors provide the story with thought provoking comparisons, such as “He is normally smarter than Einstein, but now he has the attention span of a nat.” This metaphor references the fact that Artemis Fowl used to be one of the smartest if not the smartest person on the planet, but after he got a fairy disease he cannot focus on one thing for an extended period of time.

                Towards the end of the piece, there is an example of alliteration, “Additionally, Artemis always acted affectionately while addressing accomplished fairies.” With this example the reader gets an interesting, yet somewhat silly sentence. The main reason that alliteration is used is so that the reader can take a little break from the seriousness of the piece and enjoy a sentence or two of silly wordplay. Alliteration is also great to add a playful mood to a piece if you think it's a little dull or dreary.

                Figurative language can create a great mood in a piece. It helps you get readers engaged and interested in your piece. Once you know how to  use figurative language, you should definitely make use of it right away. If you don’t use figurative language you are like a dog chasing its tail, never making progress.

Dear Donor

Author's Note: This is a letter written to a wealthy donor (Mrs. Smith). The prompt was to write to a donor about which facility they should use their money to build.

Dear Mrs. Smith,

I understand that you are having trouble deciding what facility you want to make with your money. I think that a gym would benefit children and teens like myself. There are many different designs and plans for a gym, but it would be best if the gym included a basketball court, a workout area, and a couple of racquetball courts.

Although you might think that this is too expensive, it really depends on how much money you are willing to spend. The minimum for just a indoor basketball court/facility would be 700K, but it could be upwards of $1.5 million. With that in mind if you were to build a YMCA type complex it would be between $3-5 million. Although the cost could vary depending on the land that would be used to build it and the size of the facility. While that is expensive you could get some of your money back by charging a small monthly fee for membership (ex. $10).

Another reason why this facility would be great is the fact that it could be built on the land at the end of my neighborhood. For about 3 years now there has been an open chunk of land that is easily big enough to fit a sports complex. It would be a great place to build a sports facility because of the large space and materials wouldn’t have to be transported very far. This plot of land would be a great place for a gym, or sports facility. Furthermore, if the complex was built there could then there could be a bus that took kids there when school ended. This would allow kids to have something to do after school. Also the children would love the welcoming facility, and the kids could then stay out of trouble and go there if their parents were at work or at some other sort of obligation.

Finally, this facility could allow high school kids to have a chance to volunteer. These volunteer opportunities for high school would be a great way to encourage and motivate the students to volunteer and earn a merit award. This would even create some jobs for adults or teens.

If you want kids to have the optimal experience from your facility, you should create a sports facility. As you can see this would benefit many people, including creating jobs and keeping young people out of trouble.

Darry's Point of View

Author’s Note: This is a prediction piece on Darry’s point of view during the scene where he slapped Ponyboy.

Darry’s Point of View

I have been waiting nervously for Ponyboy for almost 3 hours. If he does not come home soon I’ll definitely have to call the cops. I’m too nervous--I should maybe read a book-- no I’ll read the newspaper. Maybe that will calm me down before he gets home, if he ever does. I cannot believe he would disobey me and stay out late like that. If I ever did that to Mom or Dad they would flip out on me, although they would probably forgive me eventually. That’s how it will go when Ponyboy gets home. Everything is alright now he’s just a little late.

While I was reading the newspaper I heard the door slam shut in one swift motion. I jumped up from my seat, disregarding the newspaper. I saw Ponyboy and I immediately started screaming at him, “It’s two in the morning, I was about to call the police and have them look for you!” Ponyboy stirred nervously while I continued to holler, “Where in the world were you!” Then Ponyboy said something that I wish he would not have.

“I fell asleep in the lot.” Ponyboy stammered.

“You what!!! You know it’s dangerous out there. You should never go near that lot at night. You should not even go there during the day.”

Ponyboy stuttered, “W-w-well, sorry.”

“Sorry does not cut it!” I shouted and then I slapped him as hard as I possibly could. I’m not exactly sure what happened after that but Ponyboy started sobbing and he ran out the door. Then I did something that I knew I would eventually regret… I just let Ponyboy run...

Ponyboy's Point of View

Author’s Note: This is a point of view response on The Outsiders by: S.E. Hinton. It analyzes the main character, or Ponyboy's point of view.

Ponyboy’s Point of View

          In The Outsiders by: S.E. Hinton, there are two rival gangs of teenagers; the greasers and the Socs (socials). The Socs drive around in their mustang’s jumping greasers. Ponyboy and Johnny, who are young greasers get jumped one day while trying to run away from home. Johnny loses his cool and kills a Soc, therefore they have no choice but to leave their already broken households. This story is written in Ponyboy’s point of view. From Ponyboy’s point of view, characters in the story are described in a way that allows the reader to understand the other characters, in a way perspectives of others wouldn’t allow.

                One way that the perspective of the story would change was during the scene when Ponyboy gets slapped by his older brother Darry. In Ponyboy’s perspective Darry is no fun, he also thinks that Darry hates him, finally he thinks that Darry is just a workaholic. What Ponyboy doesn’t know is if Darry stopped working they would not be able to afford living costs. When both of their parents died in a tragic car accident Darry had to pass up on a football scholarship so he could support his family. If this particular scene was told from Darry’s point of view, it would tremendously alter the reader’s thoughts on the situation. Someone who read The Outsiders would then be thinking about how mad Darry was and not about how much Ponyboy hated his brother. The reader would also be feeling bad for him because he was trying to help Ponyboy but Ponyboy never listened to him, but as the story is told from Ponyboy’s point of view it makes Darry seem like the bad guy in all scenes.

                This book would be changed a lot if it was written in Darry’s point of view. Some of the scenes would not be in the book and others would be completely different. One scene specifically would be altered greatly  would be the scene when Ponyboy and Johnny had already run away and Darry had to figure out what to do. The reader would experience the intense emotion that Darry was feeling. Also the reader would 

not be able to listen to Sodapop talk to Darry. Additionaly if Darry knew that Ponyboy went to Dally he would have been even more scared because he would have known that Dally gave Ponyboy and Johnny a gun. Overall the whole book would be extremely different.

50-50

50-50

Eleven year old John Webster had no idea what was about to happen to him. He was an innocent little child who was carrying just a little too much cash in his hands for the mean streets of Detroit. Everyone knew carrying too much cash often caused a lot of trouble, very fast.  Even as a child, John Webster knew what happened on the streets of Detroit, and it terrified him incredibly. His parents didn’t know he could see their TV through his cracked open bedroom door, and that was how John knew about everything that happened, as long as it was on the 9:00pm news.

As John continued down the mean streets of Detroit, suddenly he heard something, or someone stirring behind him. I should really be heading home now, he figured. Impatiently, he picked up his pace and noticed a figure out of the corner of his eye. Could It be?, he wondered, no I’ve just been watching the news too often, he concluded. But as young John turned the corner, he was mugged by three men that apeared to be wearing big numbers on their black jackets.

Hours later, John’s parents, Martha and Mike, sat anxiously beside his hospital bed. It terrified them to think of their son laying helplessly in a coma, when just hours ago he was walking home through the streets of Detroit. The doctors had recently informed John’s parents, the longer someone is in a coma; the higher the chances are they won’t wake up. After hearing this the Webster parents were shell shocked. They asked the doctor what the chances were John would wake up. After a painfully long silence, the doctor answered, “It’s a 50-50 chance.” Astonished, John’s parents gasped in horror.

“Y-you-you mean that his chances of life and death are the same?” retorted Martha, furious at anyone who could think to hurt her son.

“Yes,” the doctor answered nervously, “Sadly, that is the case. I wish I could tell you better news, but there is nothing I can do at this point, but wait along with the two of you. I am so sorry.”

“Well, I think that we need a little bit of time alone, Doctor Jones,” said Mike.

“Yes, of course,” Dr. Jones replied.

Mike and Martha closed the door behind Doctor Jones. Martha was uncomfortable, and it showed with the long silences between the two of them. “I can’t believe we let John walk around the mean streets of Detroit alone,” Martha said as she broke the silence.

“Well,” stated John, “it wasn’t really our fault.”

“Not our fault!” Maria yelled, “How could you possibly think that this was not our fault?”

“Quiet down. This room isn’t sound proof,” Mike snapped. “People can hear us.”

“I don’t care how crazy we sound! It’s our son and he was so badly injured his life is on the line!”

“I know, but that doesn’t mean that we need to be yelling. You know we could be adults and talk with inside voices,” Mike retorted with impatience toward Martha.

“Oh, pish posh! You and your kindergarten talk. Talk in inside voices, blah, blah, blah.” Maria stated mockingly.

“Hey, I was just resorting to what I know best! We always had to talk to John’s teachers about that,” Mike declared. “But never mind that! What we should be talking about is why we gave him that much money to walk with around town. Maybe if he didn’t have all of that money for the night, or if we would have communicated better, and he had gotten picked up on time, then he wouldn’t have gotten mugged.”

“Of course he wouldn’t have gotten mugged! The only reason he got mugged in the first place is because someone knew he was carrying all that money,” Maria yapped.

“Fine, whatever, what we need to know is…” Mike retorted before he was cut off when the door instantaneously burst open.

Dr Jones cried, “Little Johnny just woke up!”

Maria sat speechless, but Mike answered, “W-w-what do you mean, is he out of the coma? Is he back with us and among the living?”

“Yes! Amazingly, he is alive! I just happen to be in the room checking his pulse when I noticed he opened his eyes,” the doctor excitedly stated.

“I am speechless, but it’s the, it’s the, the, the best news I’ve heard all evening!” Martha stuttered.

“I would have to agree with you on that, Martha,” Doctor Jones said.

“Soooo…” Mike and Maria stated simultaneously.

“So, do you want to go see your son, or keep talking about it out here in the hallway?”

“Okay, take us to John!” Mike said with a certain excitement in his voice.

Swiftly, John’s parents walked out of the conference room, and Maria whispered to her husband, “We should be so thankful John is awake and with us again.” As they walked down the hallway, Mike thought to himself, am I dreaming this, or will I really see my son looking into my eyes once again?

 They continued down the corridor until they reached John’s room. “After you,” said Dr Jones.

Impatiently, Mike nodded, opened the door and noticed that there was a TV with the news on in the background… Mike saw his son lying up in his hospital bed. For several minutes, Mike stood motionless realizing he would not have been able to stay strong for his wife if he had lost John.  Their son meant the world to both of them, and they had nearly lost him. “Hey Dad,” John whispered in a hoarse voice, “I just woke up, how long was I out? What happened? Why is-”

Mike shot John a, We will talk about that later look, and John closed his mouth and just smiled. Mike then asked his son if he felt alright, and John replied, “I’m fine, I guess. Just a little sore.” When Martha first saw her son awake and talking, it stunned her into another silence. Martha hadn’t really known what she would do when she saw her son come out of the coma, but she there would certainly be tears of joy. Abruptly, Martha started sobbing on her husband’s shoulder as she tried to focus on her son’s whispering voice.

“Dad…Mom, listen to the news,” John said in a scratchy voice as everyone looked up to the television.

A reporter came on and announced in an unemotional voice, “The police have just found evidence that eleven year old John Webster was mugged by three members of the 50-50 gang..."

Montag's Key to Freedom

Author's Note: This is a cause/effect piece on Guy Montag from Fahrenheit 451. It is a spoiler.

Montag’s Key to Freedom

                In the book Fahrenheit 451 by: Ray Bradbury, a 30 year old firefighter lives in a society where books are outlawed. Guy Montag experiences the cause of the climax of the book and his life when he sees a woman getting burned in a fire that was meant to burn her books. The effect is that Montag realizes that me must find out what makes books so special, so he steals some books from the old lady’s house. When Montag is safe at home he starts to read the books and he learns the wonderful secrets that they hold, but when he goes to visit an old friend, the government begins to chase after him. Montag survives the chase and meets a group of men who have each memorized an individual book and one day hope to reprint them for the whole world to enjoy.

                If Guy had not realized that he needed to help save the society from the government then everyone in the city would have lost sight of what was important. Additionally, the government would have them thinking the craziest thoughts. Guy also would not have made the same friends that he did. He would have still been a lonely firefighter his whole life.

                The events in Fahrenheit 451 are similar to the events in Alex Rider: Stormbreaker. In Alex Rider Stormbreaker, Alex realizes that he has to change his frame of mind so that he can find out what happened to his parents. Alex understands that he has to help the MI6 so he can have the information he needs. Alex changed just like Guy in the sense that they both knew that they had to change so they could do what was right. Both of these characters reflect each other in few but important ways.