John Milton's "Paradise Lost" talks about Gods first creations, Adam and Eve, and how their lives in heaven are affected by the two sides, Angels and Demons, described in the poem. The two humans have been given strict instructions by their creator to not eat from the Tree of Knowledge but even so they are tricked by a transformed Devil, Satan, and end up disobeying God's will. As their punishment they are sent to Earth where they have to learn how to make a living on their own and soon enough find themselves regretting what they had done and praying to God for forgivness. Seeing this, God decides to show mercy upon these lost souls and welcomes them back into His kingdom.
How are you? I know that it has been a very long time since we’ve spoken to each other and for a dominant part of that period the silence has been killing me.
I have come to the conclusion that this nonsense must come to an end and as father and son we should be united. I don’t know if you can forgive me for ignoring you all the years we spent together before you left but I’m willing to make up for our lost time and I’d also like you to know that I will support you and the goals you want to achieve no matter how strongly I disagree with them.
I have tried contacting you on your cell phone but you probably aren’t using it. Anyhow, I’ve been thinking that over the past years I have supported you quite a lot as far as your expenses go and I feel that if I ever needed your help, you should be there for me. As my son, I mean.
So I’m just going to come right out and say it. Kevin, I desperately need your help and I hope you will be of assistance to me, and act like an adult for the first time in your life; take responsibility. My problem has to do with a co-worker in my building named Jonathan Frank. He’s been hovering over me, and trying to get my position for over a year now, and ever since he brought up that he was after what I had, strange things have been happening.
Strange things such as weird e-mails from people I don’t know threatening to destroy me. I feel like I’m in high school all over again where I steal the captain of the football teams’ girlfriend and he wants to pound my face out by the fountain area after school. Only this seems to be much more serious than that. This man has strong communications and I’m afraid his paranoia will lead him to the extreme and I won’t be able to stop him.
I was hoping you could help me by hacking into his email account or something that has records of who he talks to or what he plans to do. That is what you specialize in isn’t it? Well we need to be one step ahead of him if you want to continue the comfortable life you’re living now. After all this is cleared out I’ll leave you alone if that is what you wish, but until then I am begging you to look past your anger and help me overcome this difficulty.
I will be looking forward to your response, that will arrive soon I hope.
Best wishes your father, Arnold.
September 27th 2004
213 Amsterdam
and West End
Dear Arnold,
I’m fine, but apparently from what you’ve told me in your letter, you’re not. I’m not sure I can
help you and it’s not like I’m holding any grudges against
you, but I don’t feel like we can ever be connected as father and son. And I want to make it clear that I don’t believe your sudden guilt for the way you’ve acted these past years. I’m not sure if I even want to help you because even in your letters you insult me and boss me around as if I’m some little kid you think you can control; and the thing with you supporting me financially is your duty, not something that you’re forced to do.
Anyway don’t expect any miracles from me. Why don’t you send me the guy’s information; this is what I need: his email, home address and zip code, home number and cell, the name of his block, I already have his full name from your previous letter, and date of birth. I’ll take care of the rest and when I find something I’ll let you know. In the meantime you can’t show him you dislike him because if he’s into any business with anyone dangerous then he’ll know. Just play it cool and we’ll talk.
And Arnold? Don’t try to look for me okay? After all this is over I don’t want to have anything to do with you… things are better the way they are and the only thing that we would end up doing is making them even more complicated.
I hope things go well, Kevin.
October 1st 2004
114 Saint Andrew str. ManhattanNY.
Dear Kevin,
Thank you for your decision son, but I want you to know that if you ever change your mind about wanting to improve our relationship, please I beg you, let me know immediately. It’s never too late my boy but until you realize that I won’t look for you.
Okay let’s get down to business. I have all the information you need in order for you to find out who he’s working with and when he’s planning to take me out. His email is JonathanFrank@gmail.com, his address is 15691 Silver Spur rd. ManhattanNY, zip code 92504, his home phone number is 909-780-1507, his cell number is 347-479-6480, and he was born July 19th 1958.
More things have been happening Kevin; last night at around twelve thirty or so, I heard noises outside of the garage and when I walked outside to see what was causing it someone broke the bathroom window. I went back inside and I found a note tied to the piece of rock that did the damage, and it re
ad, “You don’t want to do this the hard way”.
I must admit I’m quite terrified, so please Kevin, make this as quick as possible wont you?
Again I’d like to thank you so much for this and please, think about my offer son. This is my cell phone number if you ever need to reach me: 951-264-3095. Please don’t hesitate to talk to me or ask me for anything you need. I don’t mean to be pushy but it’s unfair to both of us Kevin and I’d like you to meet me at Kelly’s Café this Friday so we can talk in person. I would love to see you and I want to be a part of your life. I have no one else but you and it’s a shame things had to come to this point for us to communicate. Let me know when and what time you can meet me please. I’m looking forward to your next letter.
Love, your father, Arnold.
October 5th 2005
213 Amsterdam and West End
Dear Dad,
How are you? Not too good I bet…
It’s been a year since you’ve been gone and I still can’t stop myself from writing you letters. I don’t know what I expect will happen by writing so many since you will never be able to read them, and I blame myself for that. I never answered your last letter and obviously I never helped you with that unfortunate situation you were in last year and look what happened… I lost you. I never quite had you, but I guess its human psychology that works in a way where when you have something, you don’t realize how much it means to you until you lose it.
Remember when we used to go fishing when I was eight years old? You showed me how to get the bait onto the fishing rod and I remember hating to wake up so early but loving the trip in the car. I look back at those times and I see how ridiculous we both were; fighting over which school I would go to, and how foolish I was to walk out on you the way I did.
I hope you can forgive me father. I tried to make it to you as soon as I could on the day of the shooting but I was too late. They tricked us both. That Frank guy made you think that I had been captured by his men, and told you that if you didn’t quit your job and showed up at the meeting point with half a million bucks they would kill me. But they never had me… then they told me that you were in this with them and all you wanted to do was shut down my business and force me to go to law school like you wanted. I can’t believe how annoyingly stupid I was to believe them.
People tell me I should stop living in the past; I should stop trying to find ways that could save you since your murderers have been shoved deep into prison, but I find it impossible. Thanks for trying to get to me first by the way. And also, thanks for wanting to be my dad even though I was a disappointment to you.
I have written countless letters since the day of your death but this is the first one I’m going to send to you. I hope you rest in peace father, and hopefully we’ll meet face to face again one day. I love you and I will until the day I die. I’ll visit you soon, I promise.
Your son, Kevin Carlson.
P.S: I’m in school now dad and I’m planning to master in Law. I found out that this connects me to you, and surprisingly I love it! I guess I’ve always had a little bit of you in me, and I want you to know, that I couldn’t be more proud to be your son.
"Could you?" asked Betty. "I don't know" said Greg. As urgent as the situation had been Greg couldn't deal with the tension at that time, but he had no other option. This was a matter of life or death and he had to make a choice. He could murder this innocent man and save his daughter, or he could walk away from the gun, no harm done, and never see his little girl again. Whatever his decision was,ten minutes was all he had. "The clock is ticking Greg." Betty urged him. "This is all you have to do and look at the bright side; no one will ever know you commited this "heinous" crime. "But I.. You.." Suddenly it was as if he forgot how to speak. This woman was mad. And to think that he knew her ever since they were young,made him sick. She was always the quiet person in the group. Always observant,but quiet. What would his wife have him do? Everything was just a blurr in his head now. He started thinking about how this all started; even worse he tormented himself thinking how this was all going to end. Then an idea struck his head and he turned his gaze towards the gun. As if reading his mind though, Betty said:"Sure,you could try killing me but that would just make things worse for you. You see, my people have instructions from me saying precisely this. If anything happens to me, your little angel is...history." "Well, what if I made you an offer?" Greg asked hopefully. "An offer? Ha! Greg darling I don't think you understand the generosity of the situation. I am giving you a chance to kill someone you don't even know yet you refuse to do it. Is that how much you really love Christie?" The ominous look on her face brought chills to his skin. "Well then tell me one thing. Why did you pick me?"he waited paitiently for her response. "I.. I..Don't Know" was all she replied. What was she really playing at anyway? How far would she go until she was satisfied? She started walking away from him. "Leave.." she croacked. "What?" "I said leave!! Go!! She's at your apartment. She never left from there. Go get her.. Before I change my mind." He could feel the adrenaline rushing through his veins, pushing through him like his cheast was going to burst. Christie lived, and he was going to be with her shortly, but ofcourse he had his doubts. What if she was twisting things around again. He had been through enough already. Even so, he was willing to take that risk for Christie's sake. A loud gunshot was heard in the air. Greg knew what it was instantly; still he did not stop to think about it. He drove on never looking back through the rearview mirror and sped down the road, like an animal escaping from it's predator, eager to hold his most important posession, Christie.
SOCK PUPPET VIDEO: Good- This video was funny and very entertaining to watch. The background was nicely set up and fit the plot. And finally I think that it was simple and that helped me understand and follow what was going on throughout the story. They seemed like they put alot of effort into it and I'm sure that if I had no idea what the play was about I would understand the main idea of the play. Bad- I noticed some sarcasm in the way they speak throughout the dialogues and I didin't like that. They also used some bad language and the fact that they were skipping scenes confused me at times. Ways to Improve- They could be more serious about the play and their acting could have bee improved. It would probably be better if they had included the scenes they skipped.
STOP MOTION VIDEO: Good- This video was very well done, they put alot of effort into it and the outcome was excellent. The fight was impressive and so was the background and toys they used. The music in the beginning wasn't very clear but the rest of the dialogues were clearly spoken and I liked it better than the first because they used the original language the play was written. Bad- The only thing I didn't like about this video is that the audio wasn't very clear and that's the only thing that needs to be improved.
THE SUICIDAL: Good- There weren't many positive things about this video. I liked some of the writing and I noticed that the idea that they used to show how much Romeo and Juliet loved each other was clever and creative. Bad- The drawings were very simple and this showed that there wasn't much effort put into it. I didn't like how they presented Juliet as an alcoholic =/ or the song that was chosen for the presentation of the video. Ways to Improve- They could make their scenes more detailed and they could have chosen a different song for it.
FLIPBOOK: Good- This idea for the play was very very creative and I thought it was good that they introduced the characters in the beginning. I also liked the subtitles that were added when the drawings didn't include text. Bad- The only thing I didn't like was the color of the drawings. They could have definitely added more colors. Ways to Improve- The audio could have been more clear and the music could have changed a bit throughout the flipping.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Jamal S. Adams
INTRODUCTION Jamal S. Adams was born in San Francisco, California, in 1975. He was a successful lawyer and had his own law office in New York by the time he was just 30 years old in 2005. He was known as one of the best lawyers in the United States and rarely lost any of his cases; this meant of course that he earned a lot of money from his profession. Apart from the fact that he was wealthy and talented at what he did, many people showed interest in his life due to the fact that he was homosexual.
Contents:
• Childhood • Early Years • Achievements • Marriage • Adopting an Orphan • Court Trials • Happy Ending
CHILDHOOD Jamal Adams was raised by a good family that was wealthy and willing to give him everything, but mostly desired to give him an excellent education. His father, William Adams, was a respected man amongst society and very hard working. He had studied medicine at the University of St. Bernard in Italy and returned to the USA to raise a family and work in a hospital until he was able to have his independent office. The first education he got was at San Fernando’s elementary school in San Francisco, in 1981. Growing up, Jamal showed strong interest in all his classes in school and his teachers were always talking about how talented and smart he was. They always supported him and congratulated his parents for his achievements at such a young age. The whole world was surprised to see how he stood up for the people he thought were being treated badly or were innocent of something they were being accused of doing. At the young age of 11 (1986) he auditioned for the lead character in a theatre play called “The Secret”. He didn’t manage to take the lead so he took the part of the homosexual judge in the play. Surprisingly this role didn’t disturb him at all; instead he did very well performing it and was well known after the show. He led people to believe he was suitable to study in the area of law because of how well he had slipped into the role he was assigned. “It was almost as if he really was accusing someone of murder!” said Sara Black, in one of the interviews that was done for the play, “Truly amazing!” After that first play he decided to enrol in a drama club, “The International School of Arts” but he soon interrupted his lessons there due to the death of his mother, Anne Adams, in November 1987.
EARLY YEARS Jamal graduated high school at Eastwood High in 1993 and was accepted in multiple universities but decided to complete his studies at Harvard Law School which happened to be one of the best universities at the time. About a year later he was facing some changes through himself that put him in a sudden state of depression. Adams was fighting against nature and himself. He realised that he was “different” from all the other men at the university, and he had noticed this difference during his High School years as well. The problem was that he wasn’t attracted to women in any way a man is expected to; Jamal was gay. Learning to accept this was not easy for the young man and he had to go to hundreds of conferences and made a countless number of appointments with therapists that attempted to help him. After 14 months of therapy Jamal was struggling to face himself, society, and his school work. He was never a boy who gave up though and he kept on trying until he escaped from the terrible prison he was inside with the help of a friend. The person who helped Jamal was Jeff Harrison, another student studying at Harvard. The two had spent much time together and Jeff had convinced Jamal that being the way he was, was not a disadvantage to his life. Before they finished their studies they were in love and decided to graduate (1999) and move in together.
ACHIEVEMENTS After Jamal graduated he found a temporary job at a law firm which was called “Clarkson’s Law Firm” in New York; meanwhile Jeff was working at his father’s estate company in Manhattan. Jamal was very successful in almost all his clients’ trials and always tried to be fair about the case. Soon enough in 2002 he was running his own law firm “Adams lawyers NY, State Law Firm”. Many people trusted his law firm and all went well for him in the first years of his new business.
MARRIAGE On the 13th of February 2004 Jamal Adams and Jeff Harrison got married in Las Vegas, Nevada, in the only Gay Chapel in Vegas. The two were very happy together and had made many plans for their future. They were not affected by the paparazzi gossip, especially Jeff, since his partner was one of the greatest lawyers in the United States. Jeff’s positive spirit though was not enough to keep people from being disrespectful and somewhat afraid that the famous Jamal Adams was attracted to the same sex! So, Jamal’s law firm had lost some very good clients and this made Jamal angry. His anger was not because of the loss of money, but because he strongly disagreed that he should be treated differently just because he chose something else than the ordinary.
ADOPTING AN ORPHAN After a year of disrespect and criticism from society, Jamal decided to take action and he was determined to prove that homosexuals had as many rights and deserved as much respect as any other couple would. His idea was to go through trial and adopt a child. Of course he already knew how difficult and complicated this would be; even so he proceeded with his idea and aimed to achieve his goal. He thought that this would be like some sort of voice for all homosexuals in the world. The first thing him and his partner Jeff did was visit an orphanage in New York City called “St. Mary’s”. The lady in charge of the orphanage, Julia Mendes, seemed thrilled with their idea and was willing to help them although she was aware of the complications that would follow this request in court.
COURT TRIALS The couple was dragged in and out of court and was exhausted by the time they made it to their last trial. Previous meetings and trials went relatively well at first but things got rougher as the end was coming. The last audition in court they attended was exasperating. The trial took place in a court house in Florida called “The Old Orange County Courthouse” and after a handful of evidence and the help of Julia Mendes and some of her attorneys they managed to win the case! Jamal’s success had a drastic influence on present day homosexual individuals and their rights.
HAPPY ENDING People today support Jamal and Jeff internationally and they are famous around the whole world, but that was not what is important to them. The thing that matters the most to them is the new member of their family a little girl called “Gracie Adams Harrison”. She is 8 years old and as she has reported many times in her interviews she is very happy that she was adopted by these two fine gentlemen. They all live happily in New York City and in 2007 Jamal and his family are planning to take up the responsibility of raising another child.
Haiti was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492. It was colonized by the Spanish and later on by the French, hence the French and Creole spoken in Haiti. Haiti became an independent country on January 1st, 1804, and the first black republic. In 1957, François Duvalier, a vicious dictator was elected President and had an army to back him up. He was a torturous leader killing many. His son, Jean-Claude Duvalier, took over after him. He too was a cruel dictator, who took 300-800 million US dollars from Haiti. During both their reigns, 20,000-60,000 people were killed in cold blood. In the 1970's and early 80's, there were catastrophic droughts and hurricanes, which brought Haiti in an even worse economical state. On March 1987, a new constitution was created but was later suspended by the military in June 1988. In 1990, there was a Presidential election and Father Aristide won. However, he was overthrown by the military only a few months after his rule, and on February 2004, Father Aristide was exiled. Since 2004, 8,000 peacekeepers have come to Haiti from the UN to try and maintain some civil order. Finally, in May 2006, there was a democratically elected president and parliament.
Political Unrest:
Background Information: On January first 1804 Haiti gained its independence and became the world’s first black republic. The history that followed in the Haitian society is filled with violence and political instability. The capital of Haiti is now Port-au-Prince.
François Duvalier: François Duvalier studied medicine at the University of Haiti and graduated in 1907. He later worked as a doctor and his patients started calling him “Papa Doc.” Duvalier developed an interest for the African roots of Haitian culture, so he helped with the finding of a group of writers committed to black nationalism and voodoo mysticism called, “Le Group des Griots” , in 1938. These people started saying that he was practicing voodoo sorcery. In 1946, he joined the government of President Dumarsais Estimé and became director general of the national public health service. In 1948 he was given the position as minister of public health and labour. In the same year, President Estime was overthrown in a military coup on May 10th and Duvalier was elected president almost 10 years later (1957), for a six year term on the 22nd of September. His promises to the people were to end the privileges of the mulatto elite and bring political and economic power to the black masses. Even so, the political issues were still unstable. A year later there was an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow him and so he took several steps to consolidate his position. After this he began his violent acts. First he organized the Tonton Macoute, a private militia that would be used to terrorize and murder all of his enemies and people who got "in his way". In 1963 his leadership became even more tremendous; he proclaimed himself as the “Haitian Flag” and stated that whoever is his enemy, is the enemy of the fatherland. Later, in 1964, he made himself president of Haiti for life and Haiti was now isolated for good. In 1971 Duvalier made his son, Jean-Claude Duvalier, his successor and was known as “Baby Doc”, after his father’s nickname. François died on the 21st of April and his son took over immediately, while becoming the youngest president in the world at the age of 19.
Jean- Claude Duvalier: Jean-Claude Duvalier was born on the 3rd of July in Port-au-Prince and he was the son of François Duvalier. He became the president of Haiti after his father passed away, but he wasn't really interested in the same topics as his father was, so he left his mother and his father’s associates. He soon married and then fled away to France in order to avoid the mounting social unrest between riots in the country and ugly incidents going on nonstop all over Haiti. He left behind a broken and destroyed country. The years rolled by and in 2002 he decided to return to Haiti and stated that he wished to “rebuild” Haiti. The president at the time was Aristide and Duvalier asked him to retire and let him take over. In 2004, Aristide was forced out of office by an armed rebellion and Jean-Claude was in control again.
Timeline:
1492 - Christopher Columbus discovers Haiti
French colonization
Jan 1st, 1804 – Haiti Independence
1957 – François Duvalier gets elected President
1958 – François Duvalier organizes secret militia, Tonton Macoute
1964 – François Duvalier makes himself President for life
April 21st, 1971 – Jean-Claude Duvalier, François Duvalier’s son, takes over after his father dies
1990 – Father Aristide becomes President
February, 2004 – Father Aristide is exiled
Violence:
In Haiti violence is unfortunately people’s most favorite “hobby." There are many violent and unspeakable acts taking place in the Haitian society every day and no one can stop them or the criminals who have responsibility upon these acts. We chose to show you two out of the millions of violent “demonstrations” taking place; these are sexual violence against girls and slavery. Out of all we believe that these two are of the most important violent crimes and specifically slavery, since it is mentioned in our book that we're reading, "Taste of Salt."
Sexual Violence against Girls: A twenty-two year old woman shares her horrible story about how she was raped at the age of fifteen at the country’s famous Carnival Party. We know that most of the raping takes place every year at this Carnival where people are uncontrolled and where large amounts of women that get raped later suffer from AIDS. The woman describes that being raped makes you feel as though you’ve been shunned by society; you don’t have the right to get an education, you can’t go to a hospital, all you are expected to do is stay in a corner and have absolutely no rights. It’s as if you’ve been rejected from society. Every woman that has been raped has to be reminded that she was raped and it makes you feel as if you are being raped all over again. Every person that knows what you’ve been through expects you to know that you are nothing to this society anymore. You have no rights and you should stay silent in the world that you no longer belong to according to society. As you can see this is an everyday issue that takes place in the world of Haiti and it leads to other problems such as the disease of AIDS and HIV, pregnancy, and illegal abortions, that can cause the death of the mother not just the embryo. There is no one that can stop this but it can definitely be reduced.
Slavery: Slavery in Haiti is common but what is shocking is the children being taken as slaves with the same promise that has been broken before... that they will have a better future. Thousands of children are taken from their families, are being given away or even sold by their own parents. Instead of the children being given food and shelter and a proper job as promised, they are beaten up and whipped by their masters. They work under inhumane circumstances and get almost no food or rest and definitely no money. The children that are often just three years of age are forced to sleep on concrete floors and have absolutely no rights to refuse their master’s commands or leave from the area they’ve been taken to. Many are beaten to death and others probably wish they were dead. The character in our book also experiences what it was like working as a slave and we can tell how awful and what a big disgrace it was to the Haitian Society. This is the biggest act of violence and it reminds us of some sort of concentration camp that no one seems to have any intentions to stop.
Disturbing Pictures:
Man with gun threatening innocent civilians.
A murder or death just occured. Scared peopleare running away from the body.
Countless number of dead bodies prove there is unlimited violence and unrest in Haiti.
A young woman crying either because she has nowhere to go or, because she just lost a loved one.
A violent man with a mask and rocks in his hands, gets ready to do some serious damage.
Two mothers mourning their lost or missing children.
Two Haitian children talking to a UN peacekeeper behind a boundary line.
Disturbing Videos:
Violence in Haiti-1994 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpvcWG0wM78
Violence and Unrest in Haiti http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jO_EcC0Www
Last week I spent my weekend in Greece. We were going on an educational trip to Athens with students from 9th to 11th grade. This photo shows some of my schoolmates at the airport in Larnaka, CY a few hours before our departure.
We finally boarded the plane and settled down. I slept through most of the flight because we woke up really early and I wanted to save some energy. I couldn't wait to get there!!!
After what seemed like a five minute flight, we arrived at Athens and before we knew it we were in the bus and on our way to the hotel.
A short while after we landed and settled down at the hotel, we got into the tour bus and went around part of the city. We made a short stop at a stadium where we took pictures.
Me and Simone. We liked taking pictures throughout the whole trip.
The first place we went to see after our short stop at the stadium, was the Acropolis, specifically the Parthenon. As you can see we were very excited to get there. =)
THE PARTHENON !!!!!!!
My favorite part of the trip was seeing the Parthenon and the Kariatides. I've always wanted to visit that specific area and I really enjoyed the tour.
During our tour, some students started to "drift away". Probably because they were so interested in what the tour guide was saying and they were caught up in their own imaginery world of ancient Greece!! Nice job guys!
In the evening our teachers decided to take us out for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. We had an amazing time and we bought different souvenirs from the cafe's shop. Sitting down for a while did some good for us; we relaxed and had a cool time.
After dinner we were all exhausted from a long day, though I hadn't lost my enthusiasm, and we went straight back to the hotel and had a good night's rest!
The next day we went to the mall and killed a few hours there. We had a great time shopping and definetley didn't want to leave.
2) Agree - I think that all kids are alike in some way and that's why they all go through certain phases in their lives which can often lead to serious problems for them. Teenagers all around the world face issues at school with their friends or school assignments, at home with their family, and that's why they do things they know are wrong and get into more trouble. Teenagers everywhere have the same problems but they all end up in different ways due to the way they deal with them. Maybe one of the reasons this happens is because they all think in the same way when they're going through changes in their lives either they are mental or physical.
3) Agree/Disagree - People have different opportunities in life and i think that is something that could determine whether they are leading happy lives or not. You can definetly work to receive happiness but I think that It's also based on the conditions you live in, the types of problems you're facing and alot of times, luck. For example people who have been abused all their life or have been through a war can never be happy again. Some people are trapped depending on who they live with or how they are living. When you have no where to turn to and no one who cares then you have to deal with that and some people don't have the courage or the right way of thinking.
