Patriot's Pen

 Patriot’s Pen

Dear Founding Fathers:

You’ve seen the ads and you’ve heard the debates. Election time for the next president is right around the corner. Citizens of the United States of America get to vote on who they want to lead this great country for the next four years. Why do we have the ability to vote for our next leaders? The answer is you, the Founding Fathers. You are the reason we have so many freedoms that make us such an incredibly great country.

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and the rest of the Founding Fathers, you are responsible for the creation of two of the United States’ most historical documents. These important documents are the Declaration of Independence and eleven years later, the United States Constitution. If it weren’t for the Declaration of Independence we would still be under the rule of the British Monarchy. Kings and queens were born into their role of leader. You, the Founding Fathers wanted independence from this form of leadership. You wanted independence for America, an opportunity for a government with representation, and a chance for we the people to vote for our leaders.

              With your next document, the United States Constitution, you laid the foundation for our government and created the three branches of our government. You also pledged to protect our rights like freedom of speech and freedom of religion. This is why we are able to speak our thoughts without fear of government retaliation. This is why we are able to practice whatever religion we want.  These are freedoms that we value today.

Founding Fathers, you achieved great things in your time.  You drafted two important documents that influence the way we live today. Today we enjoy many freedoms because of you.  Election time is a great time to remember your accomplishments and to appreciate the opportunity we have to choose our next president. 

Sincerely,

Jaeger Hoang

Cause and Effect

Author's note:
This piece is about cause and effect in the story Serpent's Shadow. I wrote this to demonstrate my understanding of cause and effect.


The book I read was Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan. Ultimately the main event of this book is when Sadie and Carter cast the spell to capture Apophis' shadow and banish him into the duat.

The effects of this are having the world not be destroyed and being able to live another day.

On the other hand if Apophis had taken over the world there would be so much more. He would've destroyed the world and transformed it into a whole world of just Chaos' sea. It would be interesting because if Apophis had won then Rick Riordan could possibly made another book about the future of earth.

Personal Narrative

Juggling

It seemed like I would never achieve my goal. It had been a goal of mine for years. I just couldn't seem to keep the stinking ball in the air. Yeah sure it looks easy but truth is it is really hard. You don't just kick the ball. You have to control it with the right mechanics. Starting this year in January I have been working on juggling for as much as I could and it showed. Pretty much every single practice I had increased my number of juggles. But I was still frustrated. When I got to 20 I just couldn't get out of that number. I was now like a person stuck in quick sand. Something in me knew that I had to increase my time practicing. Now  I was working as hard as ants trying to lift a block of wood. Obviously to get good at something you need repetition. That's how I started getting better. Before I was kind of streaky in getting outside and juggling. Yes I tried using a lot of my free time but no it wasn't enough. At this time of year I had more breaks in between practices and other sports activities. Now was my million dollar chance to take it and get to my goal. I was now outside almost every day, juggling for at least 15 minutes. 15 minutes a day is all I needed.

The day had come. I had to reach my goal right here right now. 5 minutes is all I had to get to the magic number of 100. First try, 25. Dang it!!! I wanted to get on the first try. Second try, 57. All right I’m getting there just keep going. Third try, 76. Yes!!! Just passed previous record. Now’s time to get the big boy number!! Fourth try, 85. Just one more chance. Let’s do this. This was my last chance to get it. I was sweating buckets, nervous that I would get so close then drop it. Here goes nothing! I just knew somehow I would do really good. All right 20 keep going. Now 40. Now 60. Now 80. Now 90. Then it happened. The worst possible thing in the world. I had dropped the ball at 96 juggles. Standing there stunned as ever I stared at the ball. I had just failed by 4 juggles!!! That’s it. Just 4. Now all I did was fall to my knees, devastated as the deadline had past. But little did I know I was about to get my absolute last chance. It wasn’t over!! Coach had given me another chance to prove that I could get 100. Now I made sure I showed that I could. As focused as a cat chasing a mouse I juggled up the numbers. 20,40,60,80,100…..100!!? I got it!! The ball was glued to the path it was bouncing. Same bounce every time off my foot. This absolutely excited me. But excited me too much as I dropped the ball at 122 juggles. But this time I didn’t care. I had just passed one of my personal “tests”. Coach was ecstatic and was beaming with joy as he congratulated me.

 As my mom drove me home they told me something. Something very important, A life lesson if that’s what.

“ I think you have taught yourself something today Jaeger,”

“What’s that?”

“Never give up on your dreams. Push yourself to achieve those goals.”

And that is what I had followed the whole time trying to juggle. I never gave up I kept pushing and pushing to get there. This is how I will accomplish my other sports goals. This is how I will accomplish my school goals. This is how I will accomplish my life.

Doomsday (Conflict/Resolution Response)

Author's Note:
This piece is about the conflict and resolution in the story Serpent's Shadow. I wrote this to demonstrate my understanding of conflict/resolution.

The book I read was Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan. The main conflict in this book is a person vs. person conflict between the chaos god Apophis and Sadie and Carter. Apophis is trying to destroy the world and Sadie and Carter have to stop him before this happens.
As time runs out Apophis rises and the gods have to hold him back while Sadie and Carter cast the sacred "Capture Shadow" spell on him. After a few heart-pounding seconds the duo finishes their spell and cast Apophis into the duat and in the process saving mankind.