Connor Blake

Alldredge

Grade 8

5/26/2017

     Food Waste

If there are so many backyards with orchards and fruit trees that have tons of fruit going to waste, then why are people in Santa Barbara and other places around the world still faced with hunger? While many people have fruit trees and may take a couple oranges a week or a couple apples, many of this fruit goes to waste. I for one have an orchard that we pick almost nothing from. All of this unused fruit goes to waste, while many people really need this food. While there is already a service that allows you to sign up to get all of your fruit picked and donated, many people with unused fruit do not take advantage of this.

Without a solution, people will continue to waste food, which is not acceptable. One solution to this problem is a mandatory requirement to donate food that is not being used. With this law people would be required to donate produce that is being wasted. Once a person has registered a monthly or weekly free service team would come and harvest any produce that has been selected to be picked. This way we can cut down the amount of food waste and feed many people who don't have so much food.

Another solution could be to offer a low yet fitting price for people's wasted produce. This could be a possible solution because people would be more open to getting paid for the fruit that they grow rather than it being donated. This could increase the amount of people participating in the donation. While this could be more expensive than the other option of mandatory donation, it could be worth it if we get a bigger income of produce.

Abstract

If there are so many backyards with orchards and fruit trees that have tons of fruit going to waste, then why are people in Santa Barbara and other places around the world still faced with hunger? While many people have fruit trees and may take a couple oranges a week or a couple apples, many of this fruit goes to waste. I for one have an orchard that we pick almost nothing from. All of this unused fruit goes to waste, while many people really need this food. While there is already a service that allows you to sign up to get all of your fruit picked and donated, many people with unused fruit do not take advantage of this.

transformation book

Lord of the rings had a lot of transition because of what Frodo goes through in the book. At the beginning of this book Frodo is weak and by the end he is able to carry the ring up the slopes of Mordor and in the end destroy it. Sam also undergoes a huge transformation. At the begining of the book Sam is scared to do anything and by the end he was brave and strong.

I dont understand why I cant hangout with Danial. I didn't do anything wrong and i would really like it if you could let me play him. Just because I have a different skin color than you that means I cant hang out with my best friend? I say it is not ok and I would like you to reconsider your decision. 

Serenely, Martin

Acceptance: The Lack of it Killed Millions

When I read Elie Wiesel quote about the Holocaust, I remember The hardships of Bilbo and Frodo, In the Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings. I remember all of the decisions Bilbo had to make, like keeping the ring of power a secret from gandalf, or when frodo didn't end golems miserable existence. These are all things, then if done by frodo and bilbo, would have made their story much more of a walk in the park. When I was reading and came across there major decisions that more or less decided their fate, it made me want to think about my everyday decisions more. If Bilbo had told gandalf about the ring, bilbo would never have had to hide it and become another golem slowly, if he had just told gandalf, in spite of his love for the ring, he would have returned to bag end, and lived his life out as a happy normal hobbit. If hitler had just accepted that the germans lost and did not use the Jews as a scapegoat, then hitler would have been able to live a full happy life. If Hitler did not want to rule the world, then millions of people would be spared from a horrible fate of death, work and overall torture. Even though hitler had a horrible childhood, “The needs of the many, outweigh, the needs of the few.” Even if we as people make a mistake, we must take responsibility for it and learn from those mistakes to make out future decisions better.

Another book that wiesel's quote reminds me of is The Ranger's Apprentice. The villain in this book, morgarath wants complete control over all of Araluen, even though he is already the Baron of a huge fief. If he had just worked his way up the ladder the become ruler, or just stayed in the place that he was in, Thousands of lives would have been saved. Because of morgaraths jealousy and hatred, many people died, all because one man was to selfish. The story if the same with hitler. If Hitler had not been so jealous and envious of his rulers and the Jews that had so much to be thankful for, than many lives would have been saved, and stories would not be told of how some people escaped from death camps, or fled Germany, and over all, the earth would have had a different but happier future. Once again, “The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few.”

In this day and age, it is easy for any person, to take acceptance, and make the choice that can save lives. It is so easy to not accept a loss, in war, or a game. If we as people can take acceptance, and learn from our mistakes, then we won't have to end lives or relationships.

“The Needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”

Museum of tolerance

the museum of tolerance in LA is a humbling experience and I still am sad for those who died in the German concentration camps. Just the fact that man brutally killed his fellow man for no reason is frightening. If just one man was able to make an entire country turn against less than 1 percent of their populations, and kills millions of them, then how do we know this wont happen again. We need to realize what happened to Germany when Hitler became ruler, and realize out leaders today and make the connection to all the other horrible leaders that have caused terror in our past.
When you compare what is happening today in America and all over the world, then realize what our present day world has in comparison to the time of the Holocaust.
When you enter the museum of tolerance, you see pictures of survivors of the horrid acts that the Germans did. As you journey farther into the museum, you hear stories of those who died, and those who survived the holocaust. You are given a card with a picture of a child, who either lived, or died to the hands of the Germans.

Confederate soldier

Dear Mom,
Sense I have joined the war, I have killed 5 men, and seen many of my fellow confederates die to the hands of the Union. After seeing so much pain and destruction, I am wondering if is really worth all the bloodshed for slavery. Just 3 days ago, at the battle of The Battle of Bull Run, We defeated the Union, but at the cost of hundreds of out men. I know that people say that owning slaves is one of our many rights, but at this point, I am afraid for my life, we have no clue when or how the union will attack. Pray for me to not die in this bloodshed that is war.

Meow And the martians

Once upon a time there was a small space raccoon, his name was meow. Meow was lonely being the only being on earth, and he made mars, then he made the martians and gave them a home. But Meow gave the martian too much power. But being so close to humans, the Martians wanted more and more power. Meow realized what was happening to them, and he gave them the power that they wanted, and it corrupted them. With all of this power, they wanted to make themselves as powerful as Meow, they took a Martian, and the most powerful people on Mars zapped him with pure energy, and and they accidentally made a being called the Quatie, the Quatie destroyed the whole village, and then the Martians realized what they had done. They pleaded to Meow to give them more power to kill the Quatie. Meow, seeing that this time they had good intentions, gave them the power, and told them that they must travel to the Qualities home. He told them where the Quatie lived and started the journey of 7 days and 7 nights. On the first day, they traveled over a mountain, that would soon mark the border of the Qualities terrain. As they were hiking the mountain, a shadowy figure appeared in front of the Martians, It morphed to the biggest fear of each of the martian,1 of the 7 Martians ran in fear, and tripped while he was going down the mountain, and died. The 6 remaining Martians traveled on. On the 6th day, the Martians traveled through a large plane, And a lion appeared and walked up to the Martians, and purred and their feet and walked away, and looked back at them and roared. Seeing that the lion wanted them to follow him. All of the Martians followed him except one, who thought it was a trap, and turned back, and as he was walking back, a snake attacked him and ate him whole. They kept following the lion, and he led them out of the planes. On the 5th day, they were stopped by a river. They pleaded to Meow, and then the waters parted, and thunder boomed in the sky, and they heard a voice say, do not hesitate, believe in me and you will be safe. All of the Martians but one did not hesitate, and plunged into the mud, but the Martian who hesitated sunk into the mud, and died. The martians crossed the river and were on their way without a scratch. On the 4th day, the martian came to a stop of a shear cliff, that was impossible to scale. They saw a cave appeared and they all went in except the 4th martians, who hesitated in fear and the cave entrance collapsed on him, but all the other martians were safe. On the 5th day, the martians saw a huge storm, but they heard a voice in the sky saying, you will not be harmed. All the martians went in with out a blink except the 5th martian who hesitated and was struck by lightening. On the 6th day, the martians came across a giant crevasse, they heard a voice in the sky say, jump you will not be harmed. The martians jumped except one who hesitated and fell to his death. On the 7th day, the last martian arrived at the quaties lair, and without hesitating changed in to find Meow, waiting for him. Meow said, "You have passed my test, among all the others, you showed faith in me, I shall make you the king of the martians, and you shalth be a good ruler.

Raft #1

Dear Millard Fillmore,

Slavery should not be allowed allowed to spread west because there is already to much slavery as is in this "Beautiful" country of yours. If this was really a free nation then why would you let humans own other humans? If you honor your bill of rights than us slaves should be free. If you don't want your new country to crumble, than honor what you promised. Instead of just having the free states and the slave states be balanced, terminate slavery for all of the states, and let all of us be equally free. For the people who own slaves in the slave states, make it so the slaves are given shelter, food, clothing and a wage. Even if the wage is small, and the clothing is not brand new, and the food scarce, it would still mean that we would be free, and that we would have the chance to save all of our money, and maybe one day have enough money to start our own farm or business.