I just finished reading a book called Nine, Ten: A September 11 Story, by Nora Raleigh Baskin. This book has four main characters of different races and religions around the US. It shows how they are each affected by 9/11. This book matters because it shows how normal people were affected by this, even if they didn't know anyone who was close to the attacks. The most valuable idea from this book is that no matter what race or religion you are, if you live in America, you are American, and that unites everyone.
My book ends with the four main characters around the nation coming together at the 9/11 memorial one year after the event. One of the main characters, Naheed, is Muslim. When she and her family are at the memorial, a white man asks her, "What are you people doing here?" The three other main characters hear this, and they know that "it wasn't right, and it wasn't fair" to discriminate against people because of their religion or race. This ending is the most valuable idea from the book because it shows how discrimination against Muslims is not right, because they are Americans as well. This is still valuable today because there is still a lot of discrimination, not just against Muslims. If people realize that everyone here are Americans, then there wouldn’t be any mistreating other kinds of people.
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There are many current day connections to the book that I am reading, called Nine, Ten: A September 11 Story. The book is about people of different races around the US, and how they're affected by the September 11 attacks. Today, there is still a connection to those attacks. First of all, after 9/11, airport security was enforced (IBT). This is when people first were required to take off their shoes at security, and were not allowed to bring liquids into the airport. Immigration also became harder, as it was harder to get a Visa.
In my book so far, I haven't gotten to the event of the attacks. One of the main characters, Naheed, is Muslim. She is annoyed by everyone asking her about her hijab. This relates to today's society because after 9/11, Osama bin Laden claimed responsibility for the attacks. This caused many Americans to mistrust Muslims. Today, there are many Muslims who are American citizens, but not allowed to enter America after vacation. Many people believe they should have to leave the country, because "we can't identify what their attitude is," according to Charlie Marzka of CNN. In conclusion, there are many different views about Muslims after 9/11. Many are suspicious of Muslims years after the attacks. Last week I started reading a book based on 9/11, called Nine, Ten: A September 11 Story, by Nora Raleigh Baskin. This book takes place in America. Before 9/11, America had been in World War II. The book focuses on four different middle-schoolers around the country who are affected by the attacks on September 11, regardless of whether or not they witnessed them. Nine, Ten: A September 11 Story is a fictional story, but it is based off of real-life historical events that happened on 9/11. The facts on the attacks are true, but the characters are fictional. In America, people were very surprised and scared after hearing about the attacks. In the book, the characters are also frightened from the attack. They have family members or friends who are affected or involved in the incident, just as people were the day the attacks took place. There are a lot of connections between the book and the historical events of 9/11 because the book is historical/realistic fiction. This book does not focus too much on the details of the attacks, but more on how the four main characters were affected by it. If you want to know more about this book, click here. By Jasmine, Sawyer, and Abby Introduction Hunger is a pressing problem in North Carolina. It’s a larger issue than most people realize. North Carolina rates as one of the top ten states with the highest percentage of citizens with food shortages, according to NC Food Banks. In schools, three out of four teachers say they have students that regularly come to school huxngry (Table NC). Being hungry in school makes it hard to concentrate, causing poor academic performance. Some ways that schools try to minimize this problem is by having food drives. In 2014, a food drive involving 121 schools in Wake County donated a total of 94,136 pounds (WCPSS). That’s about 778 pounds per school. To help, we want to have a food drive at Martin. The entire school will participate. Our goal is to have 400 pounds of canned food by the end of two weeks. The donated foods will be taken to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. The class that donates the largest amount of canned food will get Duck Donuts. We want to help with this problem because we think that it is a very important issue. We care about this issue because it affects many people around us at school. Hunger is a big problem in North Carolina. However, not a lot of people realize how many are affected by it. At Martin, there are many people around us that face hunger, but most of the students don't know this. This situation would be better if more people were aware of the issue around them because a lot of us have enough food for ourselves and others. Others should care about this issue because it’s not only a local problem, but a worldwide problem. The community can help people they know, such as their neighbors, classmates, colleagues, etc. If we all try to help this issue, there is so much we can do. Even though many may not know it, there are so many people that cannot buy their own food. If we help spread awareness or help by volunteering, we can help this issue. The Issue Hunger is a very big problem not only in our community, but all around the world. In NC, it affects one in four children, according to NC Food Banks. Hunger is also associated with many other problems. Most families that are served by food banks have to choose between buying food or other needs. Some of these needs include housing, heating, and medical care. This has been a problem in NC for a very long time. North Carolina is a growing state with a growing population, which means more room for hunger. Some organizations, like the Backpack Buddies Program (BBP), are already doing things to help to solve this issue. The BBP is partnered with schools where students are in need of food. They help by delivering book bags filled with food and dry goods to students to bring home to their families (Hui, 2015). They also have a summer food service program to make sure students have enough to eat during the summer. Hunger is a problem in our community because there are so many hungry people who are not able to afford their own food. When people are hungry, they are unable to work and are not getting enough nutrients in their body. Problems at work aren’t good, and this can lead to people not having money to support their family. This is an issue for low income families. Without money or a job, people could start doing other things, like stealing food to get by. This could lead to trouble with the law. Hunger puts lives in a downward spiral of trouble. If this issue is not taken care of, our community’s economy would go down and people would keep making bad decisions. The Solution Many people have already started to work in our community to fight hunger. People are doing food drives and are volunteering at food pantries. There are a lot of organizations that are helping out. Some groups like the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina (FBCENC) provide food for people who can't afford their own food. According to the FBCENC, they are trying to get 63-64 million pounds of food in a year. Other groups also work with homeless shelters. With so many hungry people in North Carolina, there is usually a need for food to make meals. Food drives often help support meals by giving food to people who need it. From 2015 to 2016, North Carolina’s food banks distributed nearly 182 million pounds of food products, which is more than 150 million meals, according to the North Carolina Association of Feeding America Food Banks. (Iszler 2017). There is still a lot more that could be done. Doing food drives can help, but someone is needed to distribute the food and to make hot meals. However, sometimes food perishes before the food is received by those in need. There is also a demand of regularly scheduled volunteers to help out with putting food in pantries and serving hot meals. There is also the costs of buying food for banks. The summer before last, Second Harvest, which serves 300,000 poor residents in 18 counties, ran out of food (Nichol 2013). If people kept donating, things like that won’t happen. Ways to help: There are many things that you can do to help. Donating food to your nearest food bank is a great way to start. We would like to help by hosting a food drive at our school. Our goal is to raise 400 pounds of canned food in two weeks. We will donate the food to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. Below is our plan to take action: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hKO2ht8f8EMS1bpkZCog0nrygVfesSgF4Id0OosQS1Y/edit?usp=sharing Our goal is to donate 400lbs of canned food to The Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. We will provide donuts to the home room that brings in the most food. We hope to make a difference! In reaching this goal we will help feed people all throughout North Carolina. We will allow them to eat a healthy meal that they can count on. We are helping to minimize the problem of going to school or work hungry. Many families will receive food that they don't have to pay for so that they can put their money towards other important necessities, like heating and cooling. These are just a few of the benefits that will result from our food drive. If you want to make a difference, you can host a food drive or accept donations at your school or work. Today, March 8th, is International Women’s Day. The organizers of this event say: "A Day Without a Woman (recognizes) the enormous value that women of all backgrounds add to our socio-economic system--while receiving lower wages and experiencing greater inequities, vulnerability to discrimination, sexual harassment, and job insecurity.” So, women everywhere are taking today off to show how they impact American society. There were some protests in North Carolina. In fact, Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools had to close. I am interested in this issue because I feel like it’s an important problem in our society. Women are a big part in our country, but they’re still not treated equal in many ways, like receiving lower wages. Others are also affected by this issue. They take a big part in jobs, and without them, it might be hard to get anything done. Others should care about why women are going on a labor strike because it’s a problem that has been going on for a very long time. Women are constantly not being treated equally, and it’s time we do something about it. One way we can help solve this problem is by spreading awareness and participating in events like these that are peacefully protesting women’s rights. We can also demonstrate to students the importance of women in our society. If these actions are taken, hopefully women will no longer be discrimination in our society. On Thursday, February 16th, 2017, many students stayed home from school for “Day Without Immigrants.” There were over 32,000 students in the Triangle that did not go to school. This was about three times the absent rate for an average day. The reason these immigrants did not go to school was to make the nation realize what it would be like without them. I am interested in this topic because my parents are immigrants. I went to school on the “Day Without Immigrants,” but I did not notice that a lot of people were missing. I did not feel affected by this issue, and neither did others at my school and community. However, there were a few other schools that had as many as two-thirds of their students missing, and there are many news articles discussing the event. The topic of immigrants and immigration is an important issue. Others should care because even though we might not notice at first, there are immigrants all around us and without them, our lives would be very different. Right now, immigration is a continuing topic in our government. To help with these issues, you can help spread awareness about these problems, or you could mail the government about your views on this. |
Jasmine
I am Jasmine. |