Corrupted South Africa

Corrupted South Africa

According to Dictionary.com prominent means “standing out as so to be seen easily”. Alan Paton’s Cry, The Beloved Country is full of themes however the most prominent theme is how inequality and injustice brings about an even bigger problem.

            Stephen Kumalo is a priest that lives in Ndotsheni of South Africa. One day Kumalo recieves letter from someone named Msimangu. The letter says Kumalo’s sister is sick. Right away Kumalo prepares to leave Ndotsheni and travel to Johannesburg where his sister currently lives. While there, kumalo also seeks to find out why his John Kumalo, his brother, does not send letters to him anymore and the where his son, Absolam Kumal, is. Kumalo finds that his sister has become a prostitute and his son has murdered a white man. Kumalo’s brother has also lost faith in the church. In Cry, The Beloved Country, John supports his claim by saying, “A man must be faithful and meek and obedient, and he must obey the laws, whatever the laws may be”…But this they have been doing for fifty years, and things get worst, not better.”

In Cry, The Beloved Country John argues, “Go to our hospital, he said, and see our people lying on the floors…But it is they who dig the gold. For three shillings a day.” John also describes, “‘when new gold is found, it is not we who will get more for our labour.’” This addresses inequality and injustice since the land in South Africa is mostly own by whites and the gold found in the mines is given to the whites, the blacks are forced to steal and terrorize natives to survive. This destroys any sympathy that the whites may have felt and adds more to the reason to why the government should not end the apartheid.

Stephen Kumalo’s own brother also becomes corrupt when he tries to hire a lawyer to prove the other two men were not with Absolam when he fired the shot at the white man. John deviously says, “‘You see, my brother, there is no proof that my son or this other young man was there at all…Who will believe your son?’” John clearly knows that his son and the other young man were with Absolam. For that reason Stephen Kumalo also hires a lawyer. He does not feel like he can trust John anymore.

In conclusion, the most prominent theme in Cry, The Beloved Country is native crimes. The whites want more separation from the blacks after native crimes erupts like an active volcano. The whites and the blacks have to settle their differences to bring about equality and equal prosperity.

The Power of Intelligence and Imagination

 

            I believe imagination plus intelligence will equal success. With that being said, success is any feeling of satisfaction that one feels. Success is not always a concrete object. Success can seem as small as spec for one person and as big as it gets for another person. If I had to define success in two words the words would be “favorable outcome”.

            Joseph Joubert once said, “He who has imagination without learning has wings but no feet”. That means having a great imagination is wonderful, but a great imagination without the actions that make your imagination a reality makes your imagination useless.  I can recall many times in life when I had imagination but did not know how to turn it into reality.  

I was in the 4^th grade when our teacher gave us a project about the earth’s crust. We had to make a model of the earth that shows all the layers of the earth. She challenged my class by telling us she would give us bonus points if we did not use any Styrofoam or clay figures to depict our model. My competitive nature provoked me to accept my teacher’s challenge. I went home and brainstormed for an entire hour. Ding, my imaginary light bulb lit up like a Christmas tree. “I am going to use food for the model,” I said. I could not use just any food; I needed a substitute for clay or Styrofoam. “I will use…cookie dough!” With the help of my mom, we formed a huge ball of chocolate chip cookie dough and cut it down the middle to show the layers of the earth. I got 115 out of 100 points because I was the only one in my class that did not use clay or Styrofoam. I achieved such a high score because I was not afraid to accept the challenge.

When you believe in something it’s like a strong gut feeling.  It’s like taking a jump shot in basketball and you have the feeling that it was going in the goal no matter what. Imagination and intelligence are the reasons people like Bill Gates are successful to this day. Bill Gates took what he knew about technology and added it to his imagination and as a result expanded technology.

In conclusion, belief is when you trust something or someone. I believe imagination with the help of intelligence will equal success of some form or fashion but keep in mind that success can seem as small as a spec for one person and as big as it gets for another.

Cereal Treats

Ingredients:

• 1 stick of butter
• 4 cups of Kraft Jet-Puffed Miniature Marshmallows
• 1 box of cereal (for best results use puffed cereal like Froot Loops or Fruity Pebbles)

Preparation:

Heat the stove on medium heat. Put the saucepan to the medium heat on the heated burner. Begin removing the paper covering from the stick of butter and add it into the saucepan. It takes about four minutes for the butter to melt completely but, be careful not to let the butter turn brown because it can cause the treats to be dry as a block of dry ice.


While the butter was melting, my mom entertained me with some of her favorite songs by singers like Bobby Womack, Bobby Brown, or B.B. King. Some songs were old and catchy. Others were amusing and funny. While she danced and sang, I sat back and laughed uncontrollably.

 I asked her, "Why don't you listen to more modern music?" She never answered me. She just kept on dancing. She had some moves that I had never seen before. Her dance moves looked foreign to me.


After the butter melts completely, prepare four cups of freshly bought Kraft Jet-Puffed Miniature Marshmallows into the melted butter and stir frequently until the gooey sauce is as evenly as a solution. It should make a rich yellowish sauce. For a gooier and creamier treat, add two and one-half teaspoon of milk when the marshmallows are almost done melting. I will never forget the time I challenged her to a marshmallow toss. It was to see who could catch the most marshmallows in their mouth. On her first try, I tossed a marshmallow to her and she slid across the kitchen floor trying to catch it. It's safe to say I won that challenge by default.


The very first time I helped my mom make the treats I was so eager that I did everything with a 'pep in my step'. I anticipated the Cereal  Treats so badly that I could literally taste them. She had been saying we were going to make them for three weeks. When she walked into the kitchen I had all the ingredients ready.

I said, "Your assistant chef is ready." She laughed until she was completely out of breath. She said, "Okay" and I added, "There, all you needed is a little push." Watching her closely, I noticed something I never paid attention to. She moved so eloquently. You would think she was a ballerina.


Use a measuring cup to fill a large bowl with eight cups of cereal for the eight serving. Pour the gooey sauce on the cereal. Use wax paper to serve immediately or use saran wrap to store for later. To press the cereal treats into place, wet your hands or rub a little butter on your hands to keep the treats from sticking to your fingers. Allow the treats to cool before serving. I was ready to dig into the treats as soon as the first drop of marshmallow sauce hit the cereal but to no surprise she made me wait.


Cereal treats are a quick treat you can prepare in less than twenty minutes. It is popular to children and adults. It is also great to eat during all seasons. Every time I make the treats I think about the very first time I helped her make them. It began as a treat for me but now it is a treat for her because I make them.

A picture's worth a thousand words

Reader

Education + me = a very successful person

Writer

 I am focused, prepared, and articulate

Person 

Long legs, long arms basketball player

Esteban

Esteban

            “The Handsomest Drowned Man In The World” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez was a very interesting story. The story is about a drowned man named Esteban whose body is found by some children. The women and the men have very different perspectives about the drowned in the beginning.

            The women envied him. After the women cleaned him off in paragraph 4, the women grew breathless when they saw the kind of man he was. The women in the village noticed all of his good features. Paragraph 4 addressed that he was the tallest strongest, most masculine man they have ever seen. The women thought if Esteban lived in their village his house must had the widest doors and his wife must been the happiest woman.

The men of the village viewed the situation as a drowned stranger. In paragraph 7, the men started feeling mistrusted and started murmuring about why the stranger had so many decorations. The men saw the man as just another dead body. In paragraph 7, the men said, “No matter how many nails and holy-water jars he had on him, the sharks would chew him all the same.” The men also thought of the dead body as “A piece of cold Wednesday meat.”

            In conclusion, the women and the men of the small village had different perspectives about the drowned man. In the end of the story the men and the women benefitted from the situation. They wanted to keep the memories of Esteban eternal, so they painted their house fronts gay colors. They also built higher ceilings, wider doors, and stronger floors.          Esteban’s drowned body symbolized beauty that the villagers had not experienced before.

Christmas Numbers

Christmas Numbers

Christmas is one of the most highly anticipated holidays. People start shopping as early as stores can put out Christmas inventory because the early bird always gets the worm. Every parent wants to buy the best gift for Christmas. People always spend more money than they intend to. It is like going to the grocery store. Believe it or not you probably will spend less money than you did the year before. Some shoppers are not prepared for the holiday season while others even make a budget.

Most people are not prepared to spend large amounts of money on the holiday season. According to “Holiday Spending by the Numbers” by Brad Tuttle, merely thirteen percent of customers save money throughout the year for the holiday season. That means eighty-seven percent are not prepared to spend large amounts of money on the holiday season. Of the customers who made budgets for the holiday season, thirty-nine percent went over the budget.

Discounts play a big role in the holiday season. “Holiday Spending by the Numbers” claims only thirteen percent of customers are willing to pay full price for specific gifts. Eighty-seven percent of shoppers are not willing to buy gifts unless there is a discount of twenty percent or more. It is harder to turn down a gift that has a discounted price than a gift that does not have a discounted price.

To sum it all up, majority of people are not prepared to spend a lot of money on the holiday season. People want to buy gifts that are sold for a discounted price. The reason some people spend so much money on Christmas gifts is because cheap gifts are hard to pass up.

http://business.time.com/2010/11/03/holiday-spending-by-the-numbers/