Final 9th Grade Project

Nolan B.

Mr. Salsich

English 9

4/25/11

Final Project

Dear Reader,

This is only for people who have or want to learn about strength of spirit. If you believe yourself to not have any strength of spirit, this is most likely not for you. You should behold some amount of confidence in yourself, but not so much that you will do unintelligent things. You shall not fear many things, like death because as Caesar says, "...death, a necessary end, will come when it will come". You must use your bravery and not hide it away because everyone has it in them, and it just comes down to whether or not they choose to use it. You should believe in what you believe in, and not what others encourage you to believe in. You should do what you think you should do, and not what others tell you do. I know this may be many things to follow, but they are necessary because this entire project is on strength of spirit. I can anticipate that my writing will give you a better handle on what it means to have strength of spirit. All you have to do is read on.

Sincerely,

Nolan

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News Cast

We interrupt this program with some interesting news. We have received reports of an unknown author that is going to write an alternate ending to the world renown novel known as Tale of Two Cities. This author supposedly claims to be an ancestor of Charles Dickens. He has made remarks that he believes the ending of this novel is too unrealistic. The author thinks that no one could ever have as much strength of spirit to do what Sydney Carton did at the end of the book. In his head, there is no way someone in reality could switch places with another, knowing full well that he would soon be headless if he did. This accusation has angered many of the people who respect Charles Dickens' books and love how this particular book ended. Many of them completely disagree with this author and believe that anyone can show an infinite amount of strength of spirit since everyone has it in them. These people don't want this author to disgrace what Charles worked so hard on by creating a new end. We have heard nothing about what this author plans to make the new ending about, but we will try to keep you posted as often as we can. This is Nolan Burkholder and thank you for listening to this slight interruption in your program.

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Diary Entries

My name is Brutus, and I was once believed to be one of Caesar's most trustworthy of friends. I did too at one point consider him a good friend, but now my opinion has changed. A man named Cassius had come to me to ask for my help to assassinate Caesar. I was puzzled at first, but he was able to convince me of the true tyrant Caesar actually was. It took quite a bit of strength of spirit on my part to agree to kill one of my good friends, but Cassius made me understand that Caesar thinks much too highly of himself, and I believe he must be removed from the role as Emperor of Rome. We have been discussing different plans to kill Caesar, but it will not be easy. I can use the trust he has in me against him though, which is why Cassius needed me. The "Ides of March" is coming soon along with the death of Caesar. A glorious day shall that be.

Today, I have done the deed of killing him once and for all. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life, and now that it's over, I feel that I have made a huge mistake. It took a lot of courage to do what I did today. It was awful looking into Caesar's dying eyes while he spoke the words "Et tu, brute?". It took a lot out of me to have to finish him off with one final blow, a blow that I almost had the urge to go back on. I sure hope Cassius didn't trick me, and that this action was actually going to benefit everyone. There is much on my mind right now, and I need rest. Goodbye my old friend.

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Short Story

I have been a cancer patient for a couple of years now, and I'm still fighting to survive even today. I first developed it in my liver, and it has gradually spread among the other organs in my body. I have received many different surgeries to try and stop it from spreading, but not all of them have been successful. Now I just sit here and wait for any results at all, whether they be good or bad. People come and ask me if I still have the will to live, and I just shake my head at them. My spirit will never be let down, especially not to cancer because I know I can defeat it. My will is much stronger than anything thrown at me. I still have much life to live and many memories to create with my five-year old daughter, Amber. Her mom and I have had our issues over time, and we are not together anymore. I still love her, but this hospital bed refrains me from attempting to get back with her, but I know that after I have defeated this curse of cancer, I can bring her heart back to me. I want our family to be reunited again, which is my only hope and dream, and I know that my spirit can guide me to that dream. We will all be together soon enough, to live our life to the fullest. I can feel it. No cancer can ever take over the spirit that thrives inside me, and my spirit will be victorious.

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Poem

I have grown so much over the years.

Overcoming many obstacles

And shedding many joyful tears.

When I first came here to school,

I rarely spoke to anyone.

Now my voice is my favorite tool.

I wish this wouldn't be my last day,

But I need to let my strength of spirit take over,

Even though I would rather stay.

The experience has made me stronger.

Shaping who I am today.

I will be leaving much smarter

By learning to shut the pain away.

I was taught to tackle anything thrown at me,

Creating rumors about the kid to be remembered,

And I be he.

Essay #18

Nolan B.

Mr. Salsich

English 9

4/19/11

The Power of Strength:
An Essay on the Book Julius Caesar

It's hard for someone to display their strength to others because everyone has so many weaknesses, but the characters in Julius Caesar by Shakespeare seem to do it effortlessly. They all have someway to show their amount of strength and will in them. Whether it be doing something completely outrageous and brave or holding dark secrets within themselves, they are still considered to be strong. The characters in Julius Caesar are perfect examples of people with lust.

Strength appears to be a major theme of what we have read in Julius Caesar so far. Cassius showed his bravery by revealing his chest while in the midst of a thunderstorm. To do something this wild takes crazy bravery or he could also believe himself to be immortal. He told people of this bravery to show his strength over Caesar. Brutus is another person that has quite a bit of hardiness to agree to kill one of his good friends. Caesar trusts Brutus, making him a key person to help with the assassination, but it also puts a ton of pressure on Brutus. Brutus's amount of might and will is helping him get through this tough situation though because without it, he would most likely fall apart and even tell Caesar of their plans. Lastly, Portia has a great deal of inner vitality. She stood up to her husband Brutus because she felt betrayed when he wasn't being completely honest with her. She felt obligated to know what was wrong with him, so she confronted and demanded to know his secrets since she was in fact his wife. Brutus, Cassius, and Portia all have the same characteristics, strong and full of courage, and they even keep these attributes in the most difficult of times.

Shakespeare's Julius Caesar has actors that are not afraid to show the strength they own. Almost every person inside the play reveals their interior power and has immense amounts of it. For example, Cassius shows multiple times how brave he his, not just once. Shakespeare must have believed that once a person found their strength, it would usually stay there until the end of them.

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Self-Assessment

1.) I am still continuing to work on being specific in my essays. I still sometimes appear to be too vague in my writing. In this essay I felt I was specific only in some parts.

2.) A strong point of this is my concluding sentences. I usually have boring finishing sentences in my paragraphs, but in this essay I tried to create a more interesting concluding sentence in each of my paragraphs.

3.) A weak point of this essay is my assonance uses. I had a tough time fitting this special effect in and the examples of it are exactly my best work.

4.) I would give myself a B- on this essay.

Essay #17

Nolan B.

Mr. Salsich

English 9

4/11/11

Controller of Our Fates:

An Essay on the Book Julius Caesar and Our Opinions on Fate

Cassius says that people are "masters of [their] fates" in the book Julius Caesar by Shakespeare, which was believed by most in that time period. I can both agree and disagree with these words, making this a hard topic to discuss. I believe it definitely depends on what you are trying to control about your life. There are parts of your life you can control, while there is also parts considered uncontrollable in my opinion.

There are ways in your life that you can actually decide the outcome. Choosing where you work can potentially be your choice if you devote yourself enough. For example, if you want to become an engineer, you have to work painstakingly hard in area's such as math and science. Becoming an exemplary student in these subjects, doing every assignment to the best of your abilities, being an over achiever by doing extra work, are all ways to get you that much closer to getting your dream job. There are points in everyone's lives where they can choose between different things. This comes into play when you're determining the kind of car you want. It's in your own control to pick a car that you like, but that will also keep you safe. Lastly, I think that karma can be a deciding factor to your own fate, since I'm a believer in karma. Any good deeds done by you, like helping someone in need, will result in good things to come later in life. If I were to be callous to my piers, bad things would end up happening to me instead. You can keep control of your fate in only some instances of your life.

There are times where we can't manipulate what happens in our lives. Sometimes our fate can be put into other people's hands. When in need of some serious surgery, doctor's are put in charge of our fates instead of us. Any mistakes made by the doctor can potentially pull powerfully on our life force, coming to the point where that mistake could even kill us. Sometimes I can't seem to decide something on my own, so I ask someone else to choose for me. I guess that could still be considered me deciding my own fate, but it also is letting someone else do it for me. I usually only do this with things that aren't that crucial though. I believe that sometimes no matter how hard you try, you won't always be able to get what you want. I would love more than anything to be an amazing basketball player and go into the NBA, but that's impossible because I can't swish almost every shot; I can't dribble between each and every player on the other team; I can't be the high scorer in almost every game I play in. I practice everyday, but my chances are still extremely slim to go into the NBA no matter how much effort I put into basketball because I wasn't born with the right genes. Whatever happens in our lives isn't always entirely controlled by us, but instead our fate can be put into other peoples command or it was just how we were born.

To be honest, I really wish I could decide my entire fate, but that's unrealistic in my eyes. I understand that you can in fact control what happens in your life based on the decisions you make, but you can't control everything. If everyone were able to control their entire fate, then everyone would be happy and have their dream job. This topic to me is still very hard to discuss because it is based entirely on opinion.

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Self-Assessment

1) I'm still working on putting more of more own style into my writing. I feel that most of the time my writing is pretty plain and not very interesting. This essay I tried to switch up my wording to make it more interesting.

2) The strong point of this essay is my first paragraph. I thought I stated my idea's very clearly in that paragraph, while also making it interesting.

3) The weak point again in this essay might be my special effects. I have trouble finding spots to put them in. Not all of my effects are bad, but most of them could use some improvement.

4) I would give myself a B- on this essay.

Essay #17

Nolan B.

Mr. Salsich

English 9

4/11/11

Controller of Our Fates:

An Essay on the Book Julius Caesar and Our Opinions on Fate

Cassius says that people are "masters of [their] fates" in the book Julius Caesar by Shakespeare, which was believed by most in that time period. I can both agree and disagree with these words, making this a hard topic to discuss. I believe it definitely depends on what you are trying to control about your life. There are parts of your life you can control, while there is also parts considered uncontrollable in my opinion.

There are ways in your life that you can actually decide the outcome. Choosing where you work can potentially be your choice if you devote yourself enough. For example, if you want to become an engineer, you have to work painstakingly hard in area's such as math and science. Becoming an exemplary student in these subjects, doing every assignment to the best of your abilities, being an over achiever by doing extra work, are all ways to get you that much closer to getting your dream job. There are points in everyone's lives where they can choose between different things. This comes into play when you're determining the kind of car you want. It's in your own control to pick a car that you like, but that will also keep you safe. Lastly, I think that karma can be a deciding factor to your own fate, since I'm a believer in karma. Any good deeds done by you, like helping someone in need, will result in good things to come later in life. If I were to be callous to my piers, bad things would end up happening to me instead. You can keep control of your fate in only some instances of your life.

There are times where we can't manipulate what happens in our lives. Sometimes our fate can be put into other people's hands. When in need of some serious surgery, doctor's are put in charge of our fates instead of us. Any mistakes made by the doctor can potentially put our lives on the line. Sometimes I can't seem to decide something on my own, so I ask someone else to choose for me. I guess that could still be considered me deciding my own fate, but it also is letting someone else do it for me. I usually only do this with things not that crucial though. I believe that sometimes no matter how hard you try, you won't always be able to get what you want. I would love more than anything to be an amazing basketball player and go into the NBA, but that's impossible because I'm not big enough; I can't swish almost every shot; I can't dribble between each and every player on the other team; I can't be the high scorer in every game I play in. I practice everyday, but my chances are still extremely slim to go into the NBA no matter how hard I try because I wasn't born with the right genes. Whatever happens in our lives isn't always entirely controlled by us.

To be honest, I really wish I could decide my entire fate, but that's unrealistic in my eyes. I understand that you can in fact control what happens in your life based on the decisions you make, but you can't control everything. If everyone were able to control their entire fate, then everyone would be happy and have their dream job. This topic, in my opinion, is still very hard to discuss because it is based entirely on opinion.

Essay #17 Outline

Nolan B.
Mr. Salsich
English 9
4/6/11

Paragraph 1
TS: Cassius says people are "masters of [our] fates"
CM: hard topic to discuss b/c it can be true and not true
CM: it depends on what your trying to control
CS: I believe we can in some ways and cannot in other ways decide our own fates
Bell words: Control and Decide

Paragraph 2
TS: there is ways in your life to decide the outcome
SD: deciding where you work
CM: working hard in the particular subjects for that job (engineer = math + science)
CM: be a good student
SD: there are points in life when you have to pick one thing over another
CM: choosing the type of car you want is an example of this
CM: you want to have the best car to keep you safe, but also have a nice look
SD: I'm a believer in karma which can effect your fate
CM: doing good things for others like lending them a hand will only bring me good later in life
CM: if mean to my piers then bad things will happen to me
CS: you can decide your fate but only until a certain point

Paragraph 3
TS: there are certains things uncontrollable by us in my eyes
SD: sometimes our fate is put into others hands
CM: if you need surgery, your putting your fate in a doctor
CM: if the doctor messes up your life is on the line

SD: sometimes I ask others what I should do

CM: I can't decide so I like having others do it for me

CM: usually only do this with things not that important though

SD: sometime no matter how hard you try at something, you won't always get what you want

CM: I would love to be a basketball player, but I'm just too small

CM: I play ever day, but my chances are very slim

CS: whatever happens in our lives is not totally based on are decisions

Paragraph 4

1) I wish I could decide everything about my life

2) It's not all entirely in my control though

3) if we could decide our own fates completely, then everyone would be happy

4) this topic is based on opinion though, no ones really ever right or wrong