Rhiannon Pennell
April 28, 2010
A-Block
A Nuisance or Pleasure
Imagine a complete change of life. I have seen it happen second hand numerous times due to teen pregnancy. Right now I am a CNA at Geriatric Authority of Holyoke and I am extremely interested in pursuing a career on the OBGYN floor at Baystate Hospital. Pregnant women fascinate me and the birthing process itself has been a great interest to me for some time. Experiencing seeing pregnancy has only made my interest grow stronger. The interesting thing about these pregnancies that I had the opportunity to be such a great part of was that they were both teen pregnancies.
My cousin and my sister’s best friend both had babies between the ages of 17-19. Many people think that having a baby at such a young age is a nuisance, that is unhealthy, and that many people that young cannot handle it. I absolutely agree with the fact that it can be very difficult for young girls to encounter such a life changing occurrence and that their lives will never be the same. But both of the experiences I encountered were amazing, and personally I think my friends are even better off than they were before. They have matured and although they both have very different priorities then they had before they both have their heads on straight and are making the best out of the situation. This is what made me choose this topic. In this paper through an interview and extensive supporting research I have done, I will compare and contrast the benefits and hardships of teen pregnancy and how common teen pregnancies have become over the past forty years.
I interviewed my sister’s best friend who I have always been close with but through her experience of being pregnant I have become even closer to. The nine months of her pregnancy which I witnessed most of I would imagine were much better and easier than most. She had no morning sickness, did not gain a lot of weight, and it went pretty smoothly. The worst of it was constant heart burn and urination. Although her pregnancy seemed not so bad I realize the hardships many people go through especially mentally and financially at such a young age. I asked her questions that did not so much pertain to her personally but to teen pregnancy in general because of her experience. I asked her why she thought so many teens are getting pregnant today compared to 40 years ago, her response was She does not think that teen are uneducated like they were years ago but it’s just the desire to want to have sex and see what it’s like. She also said that some teens are too embarrassed to go buy condoms or ask their doctors about their Birth Control. We then went on to talk about the ways to prevent, she said abstinence or condoms. “I thought I was safe because I was on Birth Control and taking them as I should, never skip a pill or anything. After I got pregnant I asked the doctors if this happens a lot when people are taking Birth Control and my doctor told me that those pills are only 70%effective so yes it does happen often” The next question I asked her was if she thought it was a negative or positive thing for teens to experience. She told me that its harder than others but she does not regret getting pregnant and she could never see herself without her 2 month old daughter. I then asked her why she thought lower income areas have more teen pregnancies than other places, she said that they can’t afford Birth Control or maybe it is more accepted by the people around them so they don’t take it as seriously as other places would. The last question I asked was how many teen pregnancies are planned and how many are accidents, she said she doesn’t think any are necessarily planned.
I personally do not think teen pregnancy is a negative thing but as for most other people they think differently. I can understand why some people are so upset when they see this happen. As I was researching I came across a website that said Teen pregnancy costs the United States at least $7 billion annually. That’s a lot of money that is spent on something you don’t approve of. It is more likely that a teen mother will not graduate from high school and if she does, will not further her education. These girls are also more likely to end up on welfare. “The sons of teen mothers are 13 percent more likely to end up in prison while teen daughters are 22 percent more likely to become teen mothers themselves”
It’s hard to argue the good things about being a teen mother but I believe that its make you mature faster which can be a positive thing. I also think it’s nice to be able to grow with your children. After my cousin and my sisters’ best friend had their babies they could not be happier and wouldn’t take any of it back. They are both lucky to have supportive parents that will guide them on their way to becoming good parents.
Works Cited Page
www.theodora.com/teddy/newyork/teenage.html
Patty Steffaneli, April 25th at 4:00 p.m
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Reno Pennell
G block
2-26-10
Friendship
Friendship is something that everyone has in their life. People have different qualities they look for and expect, for me the one of the most important qualities to me are trust. Without trust you have no building block. To trust someone I feel that you have to have a special connection. The strongest friendship I have is with my sister, she is the only person I can truly trust. Besides my sister I have been let down by many of my friends. Long John silver and Jim Hawkins have a good friendship; even though their difference in age is big it doesn’t matter to them. Sometimes you don’t get that true friendship until you are forty years old but others find that friendship as young children. It works both ways in this novel. Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver share a friendship that is not common between two people because of their age difference but their interests are the same and I believe that that’s all that matters. Their friendship has many of the qualities I would look for in a friendship. They have trust in each other and loyalty. Long John Silver trusts Jim Hawkins so much because Jim Hawkins saves his life. Often Younger children look up to people that are older then them. I remember when I younger I looked up to my sister very much, she seemed like the coolest person I knew, therefore I wanted do everything she did, like Jim Hawkins looks up to Long John Silver. Long John Silver is an older man who is a pirate, he kills men and steals. Jim Hawkins is an innocent boy before he meets Long John Silver. Time passes as their friendship develops and before you know it Jim Hawkins kills a man!
Long john silver is one the most entertaining characters in the book treasure island; he can be caring and fierce at the same time. While reading the book you seem to get to know long john silver the most, they seem to give the most information about him.
Long John Silver seems like the type of character you see often in movies and books that seem cold-hearted and distant but there’s that one character that makes big heart come out and show. You would never think that an older man would have such a strong friendship with a young boy who is the complete opposite of himself. Jim Hawkins is a young boy who narrates the whole story. He is the son of a woman who owns an inn and does house work. He dreams to go and look for treasure for someday, when he meets Long John Silver I think he is excited of the opportunities that could be brought his way. Jim Hawkins shows courage throughout the novel. Jim Hawkins had to be courageous young boy when he was kidnapped by the other pirates and ties up. I can’t imagine how he felt when he heard the pirates say he wanted to kill him! He must have felt such a relief when Long John Silver said he wanted to keep him alive. "I’ve always liked you, I have, for a lad of spirit and the picter of my own self when i was a young and handsome" (180) I think Jim gains a high level of respect after long john silver saves his life. Later in the novel Jim Hawkins return the favor and saves Long John Silver. After the pirates find the treasure and have it secured on the boat they want to get rid of Long John Silver. They had planned on taking him home where he would go on trial and be hung for being a pirate but Jim Hawkins feels since Long John saved his life he should do the same. These two people have experienced things in their friendship that most people don’t. They have had to deal their lives being in jeopardy and had to trust each other and at times put their lives in their hands and just have to trust that they’d make the right choice.
Throughout our years in being in high school we have read many different books that have displayed a variety of friendships. I believe this friendship has been one of the strongest. It somewhat makes me think back to Of mice and Men and George and Lennies friendship. I feel they relate to each other in the way that they are uncommon. George is a man looking for work in hard times during the great depression and he becomes best friends with a mentally retarded man who causes him trouble and stress. It’s also unlikely for an older pirate to have a strong friendship with a teenage boy who is innocent. Friendship can come at unexpected times but very good things can come from it.
G block
2-26-10
Friendship
Friendship is something that everyone has in their life. People have different qualities they look for and expect, for me the one of the most important qualities to me are trust. Without trust you have no building block. To trust someone I feel that you have to have a special connection. The strongest friendship I have is with my sister, she is the only person I can truly trust. Besides my sister I have been let down by many of my friends. Long John silver and Jim Hawkins have a good friendship; even though their difference in age is big it doesn’t matter to them. Sometimes you don’t get that true friendship until you are forty years old but others find that friendship as young children. It works both ways in this novel. Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver share a friendship that is not common between two people because of their age difference but their interests are the same and I believe that that’s all that matters. Their friendship has many of the qualities I would look for in a friendship. They have trust in each other and loyalty. Long John Silver trusts Jim Hawkins so much because Jim Hawkins saves his life. Often Younger children look up to people that are older then them. I remember when I younger I looked up to my sister very much, she seemed like the coolest person I knew, therefore I wanted do everything she did, like Jim Hawkins looks up to Long John Silver. Long John Silver is an older man who is a pirate, he kills men and steals. Jim Hawkins is an innocent boy before he meets Long John Silver. Time passes as their friendship develops and before you know it Jim Hawkins kills a man!
Long john silver is one the most entertaining characters in the book treasure island; he can be caring and fierce at the same time. While reading the book you seem to get to know long john silver the most, they seem to give the most information about him.
Long John Silver seems like the type of character you see often in movies and books that seem cold-hearted and distant but there’s that one character that makes big heart come out and show. You would never think that an older man would have such a strong friendship with a young boy who is the complete opposite of himself. Jim Hawkins is a young boy who narrates the whole story. He is the son of a woman who owns an inn and does house work. He dreams to go and look for treasure for someday, when he meets Long John Silver I think he is excited of the opportunities that could be brought his way. Jim Hawkins shows courage throughout the novel. Jim Hawkins had to be courageous young boy when he was kidnapped by the other pirates and ties up. I can’t imagine how he felt when he heard the pirates say he wanted to kill him! He must have felt such a relief when Long John Silver said he wanted to keep him alive. "I’ve always liked you, I have, for a lad of spirit and the picter of my own self when i was a young and handsome" (180) I think Jim gains a high level of respect after long john silver saves his life. Later in the novel Jim Hawkins return the favor and saves Long John Silver. After the pirates find the treasure and have it secured on the boat they want to get rid of Long John Silver. They had planned on taking him home where he would go on trial and be hung for being a pirate but Jim Hawkins feels since Long John saved his life he should do the same. These two people have experienced things in their friendship that most people don’t. They have had to deal their lives being in jeopardy and had to trust each other and at times put their lives in their hands and just have to trust that they’d make the right choice.
Throughout our years in being in high school we have read many different books that have displayed a variety of friendships. I believe this friendship has been one of the strongest. It somewhat makes me think back to Of mice and Men and George and Lennies friendship. I feel they relate to each other in the way that they are uncommon. George is a man looking for work in hard times during the great depression and he becomes best friends with a mentally retarded man who causes him trouble and stress. It’s also unlikely for an older pirate to have a strong friendship with a teenage boy who is innocent. Friendship can come at unexpected times but very good things can come from it.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Siddhartha comes to america
The minutes are passing so slow as I wait for Siddhartha to pull up to my house. He doesn’t know it yet but I have two exciting places I want to take him. The first place I want to take him it very thrilling, I want to take him to six flags, after six flags I want to take him to a place to be calm and meditate. I want to take him to Ogunquit beach in
I take Siddhartha into my house so he can drop off his luggage. I was amazed at how little he had. I wanted to waste no time. I told him I was taking to him to six flags, he looked confused, and he told me he had never heard of that place before. I told him not to worry he will love it. Siddhartha wanted to eat before we left but I told him to wait because there is plenty of delicious food where we are going. I was relieved because I know at times Siddhartha would fast back at home. I was very anxious the whole ride there, the 20 minute car ride seemed like it was two hours. I turn to Siddhartha and say, “doesn’t it seem like we have been in this car forever.” He looks back at and says “no we have only been in the car for 20 minutes.” As we get closer I am dying to get out of the car I can barely sit in my seat. As we pull up to the parking lot I see Siddhartha’s eyes widen with amazement as he looks at all of the rollercoaster’s. He has never seen anything like this before back in
The next morning Siddhartha and I get up very early because it takes about 3 hours to get to our destination. I don’t tell him where we are going because I wanted to surprise him. As we get closer I begin to smell the salt water in the air, that’s my favorite smell. I packed us a sheet to sit on and a few sandwiches for lunch. As we are pulling into the parking lot I look at Siddhartha and tell him where we are. He looks happy, I told him today would be a calm day and good time for him to meditate. We unpack the car and begin to walk toward the beach, I look out and all you can see sand and water for miles, it’s beautiful. Siddhartha says this kind of reminds him of
I hope Siddhartha had a great time here in America with me, although he had a great time at the amusement park I think the beach was more his style of living. When he is home in
Monday, September 14, 2009
Lennie goes to Texas
Friday Night Lights, Booby Miles. Of Mice and Men, Lennie Smalls
Setting, Odessa TX
In the town of Odessa TX football is their number one sport and they take it very seriously. Football tryouts for the panthers had finally come; with months of training all the players are confident they will make it. The best player on the team, Booby Miles has automatically made the team because he won the winning touch down last season. When picking their players on the team they are very specific. A man named Lennie smalls stood out to the coaches, this was unusual because he is mentally retarded but they put that to the side because the size of him amazed the coaches. Lennie Smalls moved to Odessa TX from the Salinas valley of California, Lennie was influenced by his friend George to try out for the panthers. George thought this would be a good sport for Lennie because he put his strength to use for once.
Booby Miles was not happy about Lennie making the team; he thought this would jeopardize their season. Although he was not happy about Lennie making the team he was mature and held back making fun of Lennie. He didn’t say any hurtful things but in the locker room he was flaunting to Lennie about how good he was. “Lennie, when I get famous ill come visit you. You better get my autograph now so you can be the first one to have it” Booby Miles said. Lennie being more interested with George and their hopes to having a farm, replies, “Well when I get out of here I will invite you to my farm and you can meet my friend George” The team looking confused to his response put it to the side knowing his disability.
A few practices had gone by and things were going good. Lennie was confused about the plays they had to do but the coaches didn’t mind because he was like a boulder running through the people. Lennie would get handed the ball and when the coaches said run he ran, that was his way of playing football, although it didn’t make much sense to him he was good at it. Lennie began to make friends with his team mates, especially Booby Miles. Booby Miles would really enjoy spending time with Lennie. Booby Miles wanted to get to know Lennie. “Lennie tell me about yourself” Booby Miles said, Lennie replied well I live with my friend George and we work together, we hope to buy a farm together, what about you ?” Football is my life, I live for football it’s my future, and without football I would have no future. Having this sport gives me hope that
I will be O.K in life it gives me the opportunity to get into college.” Booby Miles said.
Games had been going by and they were having a good season, until one unfortunate night. The night of this game the crowd was going wild and coaches were screaming at the team mates. Lennie felt overwhelmed and more confused than usual. It was time to shine, they gave Lennie the ball and told him to run, and he ran fiercely, and went right into Booby Miles. The two players collided; Lennie appeared to be okay he got up and walked off the field. Booby Miles was hurt badly; screaming in pain, and could not walk off the field like Lennie could. He was pulled out of the game for the night. Booby Miles went to the doctor and found out that we tore his ACL; this was a very painful injury and takes a lot of time to heal. Even though his injury was painful we took a great lesson from it. The lesson is that there is more to life then football and he will succeed if he tries. Lennie also learned an important lesson, just because you are different from other people doesn’t make you a bad person is makes you unique. Those are too valuable lesson that people need to take out of life on a day to day basis.
Setting, Odessa TX
In the town of Odessa TX football is their number one sport and they take it very seriously. Football tryouts for the panthers had finally come; with months of training all the players are confident they will make it. The best player on the team, Booby Miles has automatically made the team because he won the winning touch down last season. When picking their players on the team they are very specific. A man named Lennie smalls stood out to the coaches, this was unusual because he is mentally retarded but they put that to the side because the size of him amazed the coaches. Lennie Smalls moved to Odessa TX from the Salinas valley of California, Lennie was influenced by his friend George to try out for the panthers. George thought this would be a good sport for Lennie because he put his strength to use for once.
Booby Miles was not happy about Lennie making the team; he thought this would jeopardize their season. Although he was not happy about Lennie making the team he was mature and held back making fun of Lennie. He didn’t say any hurtful things but in the locker room he was flaunting to Lennie about how good he was. “Lennie, when I get famous ill come visit you. You better get my autograph now so you can be the first one to have it” Booby Miles said. Lennie being more interested with George and their hopes to having a farm, replies, “Well when I get out of here I will invite you to my farm and you can meet my friend George” The team looking confused to his response put it to the side knowing his disability.
A few practices had gone by and things were going good. Lennie was confused about the plays they had to do but the coaches didn’t mind because he was like a boulder running through the people. Lennie would get handed the ball and when the coaches said run he ran, that was his way of playing football, although it didn’t make much sense to him he was good at it. Lennie began to make friends with his team mates, especially Booby Miles. Booby Miles would really enjoy spending time with Lennie. Booby Miles wanted to get to know Lennie. “Lennie tell me about yourself” Booby Miles said, Lennie replied well I live with my friend George and we work together, we hope to buy a farm together, what about you ?” Football is my life, I live for football it’s my future, and without football I would have no future. Having this sport gives me hope that
I will be O.K in life it gives me the opportunity to get into college.” Booby Miles said.
Games had been going by and they were having a good season, until one unfortunate night. The night of this game the crowd was going wild and coaches were screaming at the team mates. Lennie felt overwhelmed and more confused than usual. It was time to shine, they gave Lennie the ball and told him to run, and he ran fiercely, and went right into Booby Miles. The two players collided; Lennie appeared to be okay he got up and walked off the field. Booby Miles was hurt badly; screaming in pain, and could not walk off the field like Lennie could. He was pulled out of the game for the night. Booby Miles went to the doctor and found out that we tore his ACL; this was a very painful injury and takes a lot of time to heal. Even though his injury was painful we took a great lesson from it. The lesson is that there is more to life then football and he will succeed if he tries. Lennie also learned an important lesson, just because you are different from other people doesn’t make you a bad person is makes you unique. Those are too valuable lesson that people need to take out of life on a day to day basis.
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