Sustainability Fair

On Friday our school held a sustainability fair in order to spread awareness of how sustainability helps our world and to provide ways for us to help our environment. At the fair they were passing out cloth bags and reusable plastic cups. The cloth bags are for us to use when we are grocery shopping, so that we don't need to use the plastic bags anymore. The plastic cups are so that we will cut down our use of paper or disposable plastic cups. In order to get a reusable plastic cup you needed to answer a question that they asked you. All of the answers could be found at the fair, and once you answered the question correctly you would be rewarded with a cup. Also the cup can be used at the snack bar, and it only costs 50 cents to get it filled with soda instead of the usual 70 cent charge for a soda in a paper cup. The question that I had to find the answer to was: How long does it take styrofoam to decompose? The answer was 500 years.

The fair also had a lot of interesting booths. One interesting booth that I visited was about the water recycling program we have in Hawaii. The booth was specifically about the Honolulu Board of Water Supply's Honouliuli Water Recycling Facility, which is the largest water recycling facility in Hawaii.. It can produce approximately 12 million gallons of recycled water in one day. All of this recycled water travels through purple pipes because purple pipes are a signal for non-drinkable water. The facility produces two types of recyclable water. One type is only for industry. This type of recycled water doesn't have any minerals in it. The other type is for irrigation. It includes minerals in it. This type is mainly used on golf courses.

Another interesting booth that I visited was one about how our school is a sustainable school. One way that it is sustainable is that uses some pond water to water the lower fields. Also the cafeteria has recently started using biodegradable utensils. The plastic utensils that we used to use cost about 1.4 cents each, now the degradable utensils cost about 5.1 cents each. Even though this change is more expensive it is worth it because it is helping our environment. Also our school uses solar water heaters for the pool and locker rooms. When the panels aren't being used, the cost for heating the water is about $7,000. However when the panels are being used, the cost is only $1,500. This shows that being a sustainable school, can also save some money.

There were many more fun and interesting booths, including one where you got to actually plant your own tree to take home, but I listed the two most interesting booths in my mind. The sustainability fair was a great success!

Philosopher King - A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe

My class just recently finished the last chapter of The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston. For my literature circle entry for the last chapter I am going to do the job of philosopher king, meaning that I will identify the major themes of this chapter.

Voice: One time when this theme was evident was when Maxine's voice was repetitively compared to the sound of a quacking duck. Another time was when Maxine was trying to get the shy Chinese girl to talk, while they were in the bathroom after school. Also, in this chapter Maxine talks about how her mother cut her tongue when she was little. Maxine's mother did this to her because it was said that if you cut your tongue you will be able to talk in many different dialects and you will talk gracefully. "We American-Chinese girls had to whisper to make ourselves American-feminine." (Hong Kingston 172). This quote shows that Chinese girls had to change their voices in order to fit in.

Power: This theme is shown when Maxine is bullying the quiet Chinese girl. She has power over the quiet girl because Maxine is able to talk and the quiet girl doesn't talk. Maxine abuses her power when trying to make the girl speak by pulling the girl's hair, pulling at her face, and screaming at her. Maxine shouldn't have done this because if the girl doesn't want to talk, then she doesn't have to.

Looking Out for Each Other: Maxine claims to the quiet Chinese girl that she is trying make her speak because she is looking out for her. She claims that if the girl doesn't start speaking soon, she says if she doesn't speak she will never get a job or get married. In the chapter, it later says that the family of the quiet Chinese girl, took care of the girl her whole life, they looked out for her.

Secrets: Another theme is secrets. This theme is first mentioned in the chapter when Maxine mentions her sixth grade teacher. her teacher showed them their files and family records, which are things that are supposed to be kept secretive. Another part of this theme, was when Maxine planned to tell her mother all of her secrets. She ended up only telling her a few, until she got annoyed and told her to go away.

Craziness: This theme is shown when she talks about her crazy woman neighbor that is sent to an asylum. When the woman returns home, her husband brings her a son to raise. She is thrilled to be able to raise a son. Another crazy person that is mentioned in the chapter is Crazy Mary. Crazy Mary was born in China and left there until her parents could raise enough money to bring her to America. Since she was left in China and then later brought to America, she became crazy. She also had a mole on the front of her face and wore a bib.

Philosopher King - At the Western Palace

In the fourth chapter of The Woman Warrior there are many themes that can be identified. I will identify some of those major themes as I play the role of philosopher king.

Food: This theme was also evident in the past chapter, Shaman, when they talked about how eaters were in heroes. In this chapter, however, this theme can first be seen when Brave Orchid is waiting at the airport for her sister to arrive. The book says, "On the floor she had two shopping bags full of canned peaches, real peaches, beans wrapped in taro leaves, cookies, Thermos bottles, enough food for everybody," (Hong Kingston 113). Brave Orchid brought a lot of food to the airport with her because food and eating is very important to her since eaters are heroes. Also once Moon Orchid, Brave Orchid's sister, arrives to Brave Orchid's home they cook a great feast with more than enough food for everybody.

111 Degrees: In the Shaman chapter it was mentioned that when the laundry reached 111 degrees, the family would sit around and tell stories. In this chapter, when the temperature of laundromat reached 111 degrees Brave Orchid would go outside and eat lunch with Moon Orchid, who would sit on an apple crate outside.

Women Less Superior than Men: The fact that Moon Orchid's husband married another woman and didn't send for her. Shows that men were more superior. The whole time that Moon Orchid was in China alone, she never remarried. This is because it wasn't allowed for women to have two husbands in China, but it was acceptable for men to have two wives in China. In American it is not allowed for men or women to have two spouses.

Traveling: Moon Orchid traveled about four times throughout this chapter. One time on a plane from China to America. Another time was when Brave Orchid's son drove Moon Orchid, Moon Orchid's daughter, and Brave Orchid to LA. The purpose of this trip was so that Moon Orchid's daughter could return to her immediate family and so that Moon Orchid could confront her husband after all the years. The third time that Moon Orchid travels is when she goes back to Brave Orchid's. She returns to Brave Orchid's house because she believes that some Mexican ghosts are trying to kill her in LA. The last time that she travels is when she makes the journey to a California state mental asylum.

Brave Orchid's Soft Side: This theme has only been evident two times in this book. The first time was at the end of Shaman when she talks about how she is sad that her children don't live at home anymore. The second time is at the end of this chapter. She shows her soft side when Moon Orchid returns from LA, when she thinks that some Mexican ghosts are plotting to kill her. This tenderness is evident because she skips work to protect her sister, cries when she tries to comfort her crazy sister, comforts her sister numerous times, holds hands with her sister when she first arrives back from LA, and performs many healing chants to bring her sister's soul back from wandering.

Night Marchers

There was once two friends that decided to go hiking for about six days on the coast of the Big Island. The trail they were going to take was called the King's Trial. One night they decided to camp out in an old fisherman's hut. In the middle of the night both friends woke up because they heard the crunch of gravel. As they regained their conscience, they realized that the sound wasn't of just one person walking across gravel, but that it really was the sound thousands of people walking across the lava field. Both men were terrified because they both knew who were the ones making it the sounds. They were the night marchers, also known as the spirits of dead Hawaiian warriors. The two men laid terrified in the hut, until the marchers finally pasted them. Both men didn't think they were going to survive. Now whenever either of the friends hear the sound of someone walking on gravel, they instantly remember the night they encountered the night marchers.

Feminist - Shaman

In this chapter of The Woman Warrior the theme that women are less powerful than men and have less privileges is still very evident. One obvious place is when the book talks about when Maxine's mom is choosing a slave to become her assistant nurse. All of the slaves at the market are daughters, there are no sons at all. Since there are no sons, this shows thats boys are valuable and no one wants to sell their sons. Another place that we can see the theme of women being less powerful and valuable than men is when Maxine's mom brews a special soup for a certain couple. She brews this soup for them because they are infertile. The soup ended their infertility and also gave them a boy. The soup was made specially so that a boy would be born not a girl because a Chinese couple would much rather have a boy than a girl that is worthless in their eyes. A third time that this theme is evident is when the book says, "Chinese without sons stole boy babies of Japanese settlers," (Hong Kingston 93). This quote shows the theme because it says that Chinese families without any sons often stole sons. The quote doesn't say that they stole daughters, but only sons. This because they only wanted sons, not daughters. Also you can see this theme when Maxine talks about what would happen if her family moved back to China. She says that her and her sisters would be sold. Also she says that her father would get at least two or three more wives. They would sell Maxine and her sisters because in China girls are useless. Also since her dad would marry two or three more wives, this shows that wives would get less attention and catering to than men. It shows this because each of the wives would only cater to their one husband, but that one husband would only partially cater to each of his wives since he has to cater to more than just one person.

Philosopher King - White Tigers Part 2

For the second part of the chapter "White Tigers" I want to do the job of philosopher king. For this job I have to identify the major themes that occurred in the section.

Make-Believe: A major theme throughout the telling of the ballad of Fa Mu Lan there is a lot make-believe wound in with the reality. An example of this is when she fought the giant general and when she cut off his leg he turned into a snake. This obviously is not true because people can't just turn into snakes when their legs are cut off. Another time the general she was fighting was a genie out of a water gourd. This also can't be true. However the fact that she did battle many generals is true, which means that the truth is hidden in the magic that is told.

Woman are Weaker: This theme is very evident many times in this section. One time that it is evident is when Fa Mu Lan goes to kill the baron. When she tells him that she is a girl, he starts quoting phrases about girls being worse than boys. Two of these phrases are "Girls are maggots in the rice" and "It is more profitable to raise geese than daughters." Also we see this theme when Fa Mu Lan finds all of the women in the Baron's house. The women were locked in a room without any light and their feet were bound. Also when we go back into Maxine's point of view this theme is still obvious in many places. One of these places is when her parents are ashamed that they have two daughters in a row before they had any boys. Also when Maxine's brother returns from Vietnam without being hurt, her family hosts a feast and celebration for him. However, when she returned from college and from marching to change the world, her parents did nothing to recognize her accomplishments.

Racism: We can see this theme when Maxine is working for the art supply house that sold paint. Her boss made a remark about the color "Nigger Yellow". This comment was referring to her. She told him that she didn't like that word, but he didn't care at all. Also this chapter mentions that her family was denied food and work just because they were Chinese.

Women's Hidden Strength: This theme is major because Fa Mu Lan is the most famous Chinese woman that used her hidden strength to help many people and to fight as a general. Also the chapter talks about a legend that the women that were held captive in the Baron's house became a mercenary army of swords-women. This means that all of the time that they were captive they were hiding there strengths that they later released when they became a mercenary army.

Lexicographer - White Tigers Part 1

For the first part of "White Tigers" I decided to do the job of lexicographer. I decided to do this job because this book holds many difficult words. A lot of the words that I chose from this section of the book were because I didn't know the definition of them.

Alighted (page 19) - to come down from something, to descend
I chose this word because I didn't understand the meaning of it.

Teased (page 19) - to disentangle, to disturb or annoy
I thought that it was interesting how they used this word in the test. I usually associate the word teased with someone making fun of another person. However, in this book it is used as saying something was messy or disentangled.

Brambles (page 20) - any plant that is a genus of the rose family
I chose this word because I didn't understand the meaning of it.

Mussed (page 21) - disarrange, to make untidy
This is another word that was new to me and I didn't know what it meant.

Ideograph (page 23) - a picture or a symbol used in writing
This word was used a lot in the chaptered because they kept talking about the Chinese writing.

White Tigers (page 24) - a certain breed of tigers, white coloring
I chose this phrase because it is the name of the chapter. I don't understand why this is the name of the chapter because so far white tigers haven't played a significant part. They were only mentioned as being in the forest that she was stranded in without food.

Smug (page 25) - highly self satisfying
I didn't know the meaning of this word.

Hindrance (page 25) - impediment, the state of being hindered
Another new word to me, that I didn't know the meaning to.

Self-immolation (page 28) - a willing and self sacrifice of oneself, usually dealing with fire
I chose this word because it was from a strange part of the story. It was from the part when the rabbit jumped into her fire. I thought this was strange because it was like the rabbit was sacrificing its self so that she wouldn't starve any longer. Maybe he ancestors forced the rabbit to do this so that she wouldn't be in pain any longer, they were trying to save her from starvation.

Strata (page 29) - a bed or layer that is artificially made
A word that I didn't know the meaning to.

First Draft of My 1001 Flat World Writing Project

My paternal great grandfather, John Von Pabst, was born in the US to German parents and then raised as young boy in Germany. At the age of twelve he and his mother returned to the US, but their life was far from easy. My great grandfather used to tell my father that as a young boy, some Christmases the only gift they would get was a fresh orange.

Later, as a young man, he served in the US Navy as a sailor during the WWI. Throughout his life he was an extremely loyal and patriotic citizen, which are often traits associated with people of German ancestry. He also possessed the typical Germanic temper. As a young sailor in WWI he was almost court martialed when he punched out his commanding petty officer for calling him a profane name that he felt insulted his mother.

After WWI my great grandfather Pabst (he dropped the Von) settled in the Chicago area, obtained an education as an engineer and become a successful insurance executive. Always a tough pugnacious German, he was nonetheless a very loving and doting father to his three daughters. My grandmother tells a story when she was about 12 years old, of going to get an ice cream cone at Peacocks Ice Cream Parlor in Evanston with her father. As they are sitting on a bench eating their cones, my great grandfather sees a fist fight break out nearby. The next thing my grandmother knows, he takes of his (tailor made) suit coat and tie and hands his ice cream cone to her and joins in the fight.

My great grandfather’s sense of duty and patriotism remained strong and, two years prior the US entering WWII he resigned from his high paying job and enlisted in US Navy as an intelligence officer, using his fluent German language skills to infiltrate the German American Bunds (fraternal organizations) prevalent in the Chicago area at that time. In early December of 1941 he quietly told my grandfather, a young Naval ROTC officer at Northwestern, that we would at war with Japan with a week. It has never been determined within our family whether this prediction was conjecture based on his intelligence work or actual knowledge.

(As an interesting footnote to this incident, my other great grandfather was a life long friend of Admiral Husband Kimmel, the admiral in charge of Pearl Harbor at the time of the attack who was subsequently blamed for not being prepared for the attack and relived of his command. Admiral Kimmel and his supporters, along with Colonel McCormick, the owner of the Chicago Tribune, always contended that President Roosevelt knew in advance of the attack and allowed it to occur to get us into to WWII. In 1999 the United States Senate passed a resolution exonerating Kimmel stating that he was “denied vital intelligence that was available in Washington.")

When the US entered the war in 1941, the Navy, in its infinite wisdom, sent this German speaking intelligence officer to the Pacific war theater as a beach commander to fight in the invasions of Japanese held islands. My grandfather, who also served in the Pacific during the war, today still has the pistol that my great grandfather carried when making beach landings along with two Japanese ceremonial swords that he “liberated” from dead Japanese soldiers he came across during these battles.

Before the US dropped the atomic bombs on Japan, the US was planning on invading the island and, because of its extensive fortifications, the US command was estimating large numbers of US casualties. My great grandfather was scheduled to go in with one of the early assaults and had already written my grandmother to say good bye and to instruct her to take care of her mother and sisters.

After the war he returned to the Chicago area and lived a comfortable life active in the community and his church…..with his daughters and their families nearby. My dad remembers him coming over and babysitting on Saturday nights and building great creations with building blocks and erector sets. He would always leave some money in the cookie jar for my grandparents who were young and on a tight budget.

In the late ‘50’s he moved to West Palm Beach Florida to work with transplanted Chicago insurance legend John D Macarthur (and uncle to James Macarthur of Hawaii 5-0 fame.) Unfortunately, my great grandfather’s temper and principled nature caused a falling out with Macarthur which resulted in him leaving the insurance business. Calling in his early engineering training, in his late 60’s he became the manager of retirement homes, a job he continued with until he died at 84 years of age.

My great grandfather Pabst is buried at the Golden Gate National Veterans Cemetery in San Bruno California near his hero Admiral Chester Nimitz.

My Hero

In class today Mr. Watson told us to write about our hero tonight because tomorrow we are going to read the second chapter of Woman Warrior, in which Maxine talks about Mulan being her hero. My hero is probably Alisa. She's not a crime fighting super hero, but she's one of the strongest people I know. Alisa is a ballerina that used to dance with Ballet Hawaii, but now dances with Inland Pacific Ballet as a company apprentice.

The story all begins when Alisa was 14 years old. She was getting ready to go to the prestigious American Ballet Theatre summer intensive, when she got a cold. She thought it was no big deal until she began coughing up blood. Her mother rushed her to the hospital. There they ran blood test and saw something was seriously wrong. It seemed that her body wasn't functioning properly and she appeared to be very anemic. Doctors had to take action quickly. They put Alisa into a four week coma so that she wouldn't feel any pain.

While she was in the coma, her condition worsened and her organs were starting to fail. She was put into the intensive care unit at Kapiolani Medical Center. She was also hooked up to many machines that pumped her organs for her. No doctors could tell what exactly was wrong with Alisa and they told her parents that she might die.

After spending seven weeks in the hospital, Alisa regained consciousness and her parents hired caregivers so she could finally go home. The first thing her father did when she got home was he installed a ballet barre in her room. He knew that even though she couldn't move yet, the barre would motivate her to become strong again. Alisa slowly learned how to walk again with help from her physical therapist. Alisa started to become healthier and healthier, but she still had some medical complications.

Her kidneys were still not functioning. She was forced to go on dialysis three times a week for three years while preparing for a kidney transplant. During those three years, she regained a lot of strength and even started to go to beginning ballet classes. When she was finally ready, she joined her old ballet class again. On the first day back Alisa was discouraged at first because she realized that while she was gone everyone had improved and she could barely do what she could before.

When it came close to the time of Alisa's transplant, her and her family moved to San Fransisco (where the procedure would take place). Alisa wasn't the only one that had to prep for this surgery, her dad had to also because he was giving one of his kidneys to her. On December 14, 2001 the surgery took place without a flaw. Alisa and her family stayed in San Fransisco at the Ronald McDonald House for a year while she recovered.

Once Alisa returned to Hawaii, she began to dance. She took as many ballet classes as she could and she spent more time in the studio than anyone else. This perseverance is why she is my hero. Some days she would be in pain, but she kept dancing because she loved it. All of Alisa's hard work payed off, during the summer of 2004 she attended the San Fransisco Ballet's six week summer intensive. At the end of the intensive she was one of the few people that were invited to study for the whole year with the company and on top of that she was offered a full scholarship for the year.

Alisa attended San Fransisco Ballet that whole year and came home in the summer of 2005. When she got home she took part in Ballet Hawaii's three week summer intensive. At that summer intensive there was a teacher that had connections with the Inland Pacific Ballet. This teacher was very impressed with Alisa's technique and attitude while she danced that she invited Alisa to study with Inland Pacific Ballet as an apprentice dancer (the level before becoming a professional). Alisa has trained since 2005 with the Inland Pacific Ballet and she has also made many appearances in the professional productions put on by the company.

Alisa is the bravest and most hard-working person I know. My goal is to be more like her. She missed out on her entire high school experience because she was always sick. She also missed out on the prime training years for a professional dancer, but that didn't stop Alisa at all. She still is pursuing her dream of being a dancer. Also she is not bitter at all about missing out on many things, instead she is the sweetest person I know and is always smiling. She says its because she now realizes how lucky she is to be healthy and to be able to dance everyday.

Methods of Characterization

Since at the moment I'm kind of favoring my family story about my great grandfather I will do my characterization analysis on him.

Name: John Von Pabst

Appearance: In his forties, a bit worn out from his many years of surviving in the Navy

Inner Thoughts: His inner thoughts were about how he knew the Japanese were going to attack Pearl Harbor before it even happened, he was also probably wondering what he should do because he wasn't sure if it was really going to happen and he didn't want to get in trouble by worrying everyone over a false alarm

Environment: Chicago, 1941 working for the US Navy as an intelligence officer because he could speak and translate German for them

What They Say: He said that the Japanese were going to attack Pearl Harbor a week before it actually happened, we don't know that if this was merely a prediction or if he actually heard something while we was working as an intelligence officer

What Others Say About Them: His son thought he was crazy when John Von Pabst told him that the Japanese were going to bomb Pearl Harbor, later after the attack however his son was quite amazed that the prediction came true

Actions: He told his son that he thinks the attack was going to happen, but he didn't tell anyone else