Chester IL.

Chester Illinois. Home to Popeye The Sailer Man. There is a six-foot, 900 lb. bronze statue of popeye, that stands in the Elzie C. Memorial Park, which also honors Popeye's creator, Elzie Segar.

The population of Chester Illinois is 8,400 at the 2000 census. It is county seat of Randolph county and is located 63 miles south of st. Louis, Missouri. Chester is a city located on the bluffs of the Mississippi River Valley in Randolph County, Illinois. The Longetude is 89.822, and the latitube is 37.914.

Chester's big event is it's annual Popeye picnic and parade held the weekend after Labor Day. Popeye fans travel from all over the U.S. to parade in the weekend activities.

Cotton Plantation

"It was work hard, get beatins, and half fed..... The times i hated most, was pickin' cotton when the frost was on the bolls. My hands get sore and crack and bleed." A quot from Mary Reynolds.

First thing that comes to mind when you here of cotton plantations, is slaves stooped over, picking cotton, and hauling huge cotton stuffed bags behind them. For the most part this was true. Cotton become the dominate cash crop of the south in the height of the system (1850). 1.8 million out of 2.5 million slaves in the U.S. (nearly 75 percent) were involved in cotton plantations.

Between the arrival of the first slaves in Jamestown in august 1619, and the ratification of the thirteenth amendment prohibiting slavery (December 6, 1865), cotton only became a significant factor after the invention of the cotton gin in 1793. Nonetheless, during that 72-year period, an estimated of one million individuals were enslaved in the service of "King cotton," either by transfer, or by domestic slave traders.

The industry of Cotton was given a boost invention of Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin in 1793. With the aid of a horse to turn the gin, a man could clean fifty times as much cotton as before. This increased the demand for slaves. For example, in 1803 alone, over 20,000 slaves were being brought into Georgia and south Carolina to work in the cotton fields. By 1850, America was producing 3,000,000 bales of cotton and the industry had become a vital element of the south's economy. The need for slaves, and the price of slaves, was much higher in states in the lower south, such as Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, than in states of the upper south, including Virginia and Maryland. The result was a thriving domestic slave trade that devastated many slaves households.

Teenage boys and young adult men were especially desirable laborers for the new areas, and slave families in the upper south lost sons, brothers, and young fathers to the cotton plantations of the lower south. at the time of revolution, most slaves were held along the southeastern seaboard, but by 1860, the greatest concentrations of slaves were in the lower south.

Friday in Langley

I sit down on the cold, black bench with a sigh, breathing in the sent of the bay and tree's blowing in the wind. I watch the birds play and sing, landing on and off the power line. A car passes now and then, filling the air with the smell of exost and rubber. I look toward the bay, and notice a girl crossing the street. A cool brease blows, and sends shivers down my back. The sound of a roaring diesel makes me jump after all the silence. i look up to see a Dryers Ice Cream truck passing by. Great. Now I want Ice Cream. That thought is banished as another cold brease sends me shivering again. I look toward the bay again, just out of boredom, and see Hannah pocking her head out of where she's writing. I snicker quietly to myself. The bus stop bench is getting very uncomfortable. the top is digging into my back. The bus pulls up then. The driver sits there, waiting for passengers, looking at me expectantly. He looks away quickly when i glance at the bus. A few people walk over to where the bus is stoped. Why the don't get on confuses me. The must not be going to Skatget Head, as the bus has typed across the top. The people waiting looked like they were headed to a job. All of them were dressed in very nice clothes, business looking clothes. A few of them shot sceptical glances toward me. I wonder if they think I'm ditching. I smirk as i think of that. Because i still can't believe Snelling would put someone at the bus stop. i glance toward the bay again, and see a group of my class mates walking this way with Snelling. I get up quickly and walk quickly to meet up with them; to quickly, i almost face plant as I trip over something (most likely my feet). I get my balance back and walk forward to endure the rest of my day.

Three Stories

I think that the main way the books and the movie are similar, is that they are both rebelling against something.
In Across The Universe, they are rebelling against the war that is going on. In Johnny Tremain they are rebelling against the British, as they were in Ishi.
I think that watching the movie Across The Universe was a good idea. It gave a good picture of what it was like during that time period, how far people were willing to go in order to get what they wanted, and it was nice to just be watching a movie during WASL.

Reading the two books also helped. Because it shows how things worked back during that time period from different points of view. There were some pretty brutal things going on back then. I think that watching the movie was better though.

spring break

I climbed the bluff on Thursday and Friday of the spring break. I was climbing with my cousin Zack on Thursday, and i climbed with both Zack and Elli on Friday.
I've climbed the bluff many, many times, but i had only ever climbed up the first bluff. on Thursday, i only climbed that high because we didn't have enough time. And on the way down I almost smacked my head in to a log that lays over the trail. the trail is pretty steep - you have to crawl in some places - and it's covered in clay, and the clay was wet on top of that.
On Friday, we climbed to the top of the second; all the way up to the tree's and where the rope is. it was really fun climbing up. Zack brought a box to use as a sled to slide down the bluff. Elli and I wern't stupid enough to try going down the bluff in it, but Zack was, well not stupid enough, but daring enough i guess you could say. he didn't get very far in it; he slid about a foot - not going very fast - and then it just stopped. So that didn't go as we had planned. the view from the very top is amazing.
That was really the most exciting thing I did all break. I went to the beach a lot, but not much els.

Ishi

Ishi was a part of the Yahi tribe. He was the last of his tribe in Northern California. He was believed to have been the last Native American in Northern California to have lived most of his life outside of the European America culture. He traveled to Oroville in 1911. He died on March 25th, 1916. He lived 56 years.

Japanese man survived bombing.

I think that its sad and happy about the man who survived. It's sad because he was only one of very few that survived. It's happy because, obviously, he survived. After this bombing, it was very devastating. There so many man, women, and children killed from this bombing. Over 140,000 people were killed. The ones that survived were very lucky.

Day Books: Hiroshima

I learned that this time for these people was very difficult. The weren't getting much sleep from having to go back and forth from there shelters almost every night, and on top of that they were also scared to death. With all of the warnings they got, telling them to go to their shelters, and then nothing happening - which is good of course - you'd think that the people would stop listening. I guess they wouldn't want to take a chance with everything going on.

The Play "Light in th Window"

I think that this play was a good idea. It was a more fun way to learn this, and it keeps every one more tentative. I think that it was sad that they had the slaves in the first place, but even worse is that they were very mean to them; if they ran away and were cot, it was pretty much a death sentence. Mr. Hawkins was a good example of that kinda of slave owner. I'm glad that they still had those back then who would help the slaves escape. I think that this play showed this very well. It was kind of cool how you think that Captain Ben is one of the bad people in the begging, but he turns out to be the good guy who is helping the slaves escape.
It was a very brave thing to help the slaves escape back then. Because if they were cot helping them, they would most likely go to jail, if they were lucky, in some cases, they would get the same sentence and the slaves

WASL practice

I think that the story was very true. I agree entirely with it. Because, Children are like dogs when there real little; they follow you every step, they look up to you as if you were the coolest person on earth. The they turn in to teenagers, and that all changes. Their more like cats; there more independent, they don't spend as much time with their family, and it is so true that you only see them when there's food around. (haha) They still need love and affection though, and help along the way. If you don't push them to turn them back in to your little puppy-dog again, they'll slowly become your little dog again, but they'll be more grown up, and understand right from wrong.

Second Movie

The second movie that we watched was very interesting. I think that it gives more information then the first movie we watched. It tell's more about the Indians, and how they reacted to the war that was forming. The way they describe some of the Indians, they seemed to be very brutal. The most surprising thing that the Indians did, was that they were scalping people - even women and children.
I think the reason why the people who made this movie wanted to make it, is because i think that they wanted to make a better version of what was going on back during this time. And i think that they did a nice job of doing so.

creative writing

I opened my eye's to my dark room. I got up very slowly, looking at the clock as i went. It was 6:00am. I slowly got out of my bed and turned on my light. i got dresses mechanically, not really noticing what I was putting on. After i was done, i stumbled out my door and in to the kitchen. i grabbed a bowl and a box of cereal. I ate quickly, rinsed my bowl, and headed to my room. I made sure i had everything for school ready. I walked to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. when i was finished I went back to my room, tripping over the door trim on the way, and sat down by my heater; drifting in and out of sleep. My aunt Megan and Zack got there not long after; it was time to go. with a sigh, i got up, grabbed my stuff and said good bye to my parents. The car ride to school wasn't very long, but long enough to give me a chance to almost fall asleep. When we got to school, Korey and Elijah were standing on the side walk, waiting for Zack. I noticed that Elli and Eva weren't there waiting for me today. Most likely do to the fact that I was late. I hurried off to my 1st period class, arriving with a "Hi Taylor! Did you get my text?" from Hannah. I sighed.
"you can't text me in the morning, i most likely wont reply, it's to early for me." I said with a smile.
"I'm half awake when i text you," she offered.
"yeah maybe, but I'm not awake at all." i said with a giggle. she gave me a sarcastic glare and said,"well fine then," and carried on with her work.

1st period went by in a blur, we didn't do much, watching a power point on not doing power points. And i was to tierd to pay atention. we had a little break after words, and had to move to Mr. Burquist room. 2nd period stared slowly, and the rest is still to come....

The Movie.

The Movie that we watched recently is very interesting. It gives you a very good view on what it was like back when this happened. I like that they didn't just make it a long history lecture, they had people acting out the different parts to make it a little more fun to watch.
I think it's horrible, how back then, you could be arrested for worshiping the wrong religion. It's very wrong, and i think that the people who left were very brave.
I think it would be very hard for the women, because they had to stay on the boat while the men searched for land. And then of course the man had a hard job, they were the one's who had to go out there in the worst danger and find the land, and fight off what ever they came apon that wasn't safe.

The HPO movie

I Though that the movie was very interesting; because he proved that the British soldiers were Innocent even though doing so could make him a very hated man.
Its kind of ironic how it turns out though. because in the beginning, the British look like just horrible people, because they killed men and even boys, but later on you find out that it wasn't a call from there captain to shout, it was a person that was behind them that said,"fire! fire! why don't you fire?!".
The way that they work in court back then was very different' t then the way that it works now. like when they call a witness up to speak, they didn't get removed from the rest of the crowd, like they do now.

To Kill a Mockingbird

The movie "To Kill a Mockingbird" was an interesting movie. At first i didn't get the name of the movie. why would they chose to name it that out of any thing else? later on i was informed that it was a Bad thing to kill a mockingbird back then. But the confution was still there. What did mockingbirds have to do with the movie. But by the end of the movie, i learned that they are talking about Boo Radley; he is a rare type a person, so to kill him would be like killing a mockingbird.

It is kind of funny how in the beginning they are afraid of Boo Radley.They make Boo sound like just a horrible, scary man, but he's realy a nice guy. In the end, he ends up saving the two kids.

By, Taylor