PROFILE IN COURAGE

Quad rugby as played by the US team, between 2002 games in Sweden and the 2004 Paralympics in Athens. Young men, most with spinal injuries, play this rough and tumble sport in special chairs, seated gladiators. We get to know several and their families. They talk frankly about their injuries, feelings in public, sex lives, competitiveness, and love of the game. There's also an angry former team member gone north to coach the Canadian team, tough on everyone, including his viola-playing son. We meet a recently injured man, in rehab, at times close to despair, finding possible joy in quad rugby.

VOCAB #1 PERFORMANCE REVIEW

I did better than I thought I would. I scored a 7 out of 10 which to me is good considering that I blew off studying to watch Netflix. I made a good decision. I almost caught up to the series I am watching. Next time I will study.

VOCAB: SPRING 1

Adumbrate - v. To produce a faint image or resemblance of; to outline or sketch
Haze's paint scheme seems to annotate, articulate and adumbrate the car's shape.
Apotheosis - n. The elevation or exaltation of a person to the rank of god
He would be no ordinary king: he would be a savior king, the apotheosis of all kingly, godly qualities.
Ascetic - n. A person who dedicates his or her life to a pursuit of contemplative ideals and practices extreme self-denial or self-mortification for religious reasons
His policies had failed, but people admired his sincerity and his ascetic life.
Bauble - n. A showy, usually cheap, ornament; trinket; gewgaw
But even in these straitened times, the city-state has rolled out this latest bauble with its usual flair.
Beguile - v. To influence by trickery, flattery, etc.; mislead; delude
Her luscious palette, dynamic compositions and expertly shifting perspectives beguile the viewer.
Burgeon - v. To grow or develop quickly; flourish
The town burgeoned into a city after only a couple of years.
Complement - n. Something that completes or makes perfect
A good wine is a complement to a good meal.
Contumacious - adj. Stubbornly perverse or rebellious; willfully and obstinately disobedient
In addition, the wrongdoer can be separately indicted for his contumacious acts.
Curmudgeon - n. A bad-tempered, difficult, cantankerous person
He is apparently a curmudgeon who thinks everyone is intellectually beneath him.
Didactic - adj. Inclined to teach or lecture others too much
We had a boring, didactic speaker.

HACKING MY EDUCATION

I can write about topics that are interesting to me. I can also tweak the assignments to fit what I like for example science, math, history and the philosophy.

THE CHOICE

1. The choice that the author is referring to is whether or not his daughter takes her poison by herself or they have to force down.
2. This is a real choice because it gives the child some control over her life. Putting poison in your body is a big deal whether you're just a little kid or an elderly adult. The alternative to putting the poison in herself is to have her parents force it.
3. The author uses poison in the first line to grab the reader's attention and it worked. I was sucked in because at first I thought he was using poison as an analogy for something else so I wanted to know what. I was wrong and it was what I feared. He used the literal meaning for poison. The usage of that word in the first line impacts the reader. It tests their emotional side.
4. The daughter wants to play with a toy that is intended for children eight and up but her parents won't let her. She argues that she won't even live to be eight and that's why they should let her play with that toy. I agree with her because as the author says she is aware of she has to take to regulate the cancer cells. The author and his wife are scared for her. They don't say how long she has to live but by judging of the author and his wife's thoughts, she probably doesn't have that long to live.
5. If  I knew that I wouldn't live past 30 then I would continue my life and live it to the fullest. Achieve my dreams in the time I have let then make new goals and accomplish those. I would make it that I would be remembered for my achievements and personality. That's just what I can think of because I know I would do more if I was actually in that situation.
6. The knowledge of death makes sense to endure discomfort or to force it onto a loved one. For example the author's daughter. The author and his wife feel sad knowing that their daughter will die and all they can do is prolong her death. It is an uncomfortable situation know that you're helpless in saving your own daughter's life. That's when it is okay to endure discomfort and everything it comes with it.
7. Suffering is a necessity in life and love. Nothing lasts forever we all have to die someday and with that loved ones will be affected. They will suffer at the expense of our death or the death of someone close. We will all suffer from a death with someone because of love.
8. We feel an emotional response to his words because we can relate to it. Nothing is worse for a parent to know that they are helpless to save their child from a brain tumor. Not only that young adults can also relate because of the young age of the girl. We may seem them as a younger sibling but the most important is that we are human. We have a heart and have sympathy when it comes to dying children.

CONNECTING THE DOTS

My initial reaction was that how am I going to do this. I can do maybe a couple pages but not 10. That's when it hit me. I had to ask my friend for help since he is in AP. He helped me relate it to our culture since we have debates on controversial topics.

PAPER CUT

Well I didn't like the term paper because it was time consuming. All I wanted to do was play League of Legends and my PS3 but I couldn't because I had to do the paper. The paper taught me that this is what college is going to be like so I might as well get used to it. I hope to improve on doing my work to the fullest rather than to just get it out of the way. The paper was new to me because I never had to do one that long before. It taught me that college English is going to be a drag.