Student Declaration of Independence

We the students of Grosse Pointe South High School find it necessary to band together in order to create a common stronghold, that united shall allow for the dissolution of silly rules and regulations imposed upon us by King Provenzano and the Grosse Pointe School District. It is with all due respect that we bring forth our opinions. It is in doing so that we hope to engage in a quicker absolution of the past and current administrations’ mistakes. Only then can we look to our future within this institution and see that it is bright and beautiful.

Let it be known that we are entitled to certain rights as high school students. Namely, we have the Right to Sanity, Happiness, Physical Well-Being, Expression and Proper Accommodations.  We have been held prisoners in this school for too long. It is as if we are hardened criminals that must do homework or blog until our hands are calloused or fall off.  We are chained to our rooms and not allowed to wander the halls, nor leave a social event for fear we may commit some crime.  Our happiness and physical well-being have been ignored. These administrators should realize that we, as teenagers require more sleep, adequate nutrition and longer lunch hours.  Let’s not forget about our much-needed happiness in order not to commit suicide or deal with depression.  Also, we suffer from inadequate facilities with no air conditioning, ventilation, and no free parking lot that is sufficient enough to accommodate all students. It is our right and duty to provide for all students the necessary elements in order to succeed at this institution of higher education. We must rid this place of old ideals usurped with pain, agony, and suffering which they have inflicted. Hence, we must abolish this fiefdom. We hereby submit as proof of our allegations the following testimony that we do solemnly swear to be the whole truth

<!--[if !supportLists]-->       I.           I.  <!--[endif]-->More Holiday Breaks

When someone who does not know the school walks it, they see hard work, but with that hard work, sleep deprived students and teachers. Sleep can fix many of the things the teachers have issues with the students. If the school introduces more regular holiday breaks, instead of longer holiday breaks. This would give the student body more time to understand the difficult concepts of life, say school has all of Friday Saturday Sunday off. More time to do homework would permit more time to actually understand those lessons. More breaks would permit a healthier school in general.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->    II.           II.  <!--[endif]-->Harmless Pranks Should be Allowed

During spirit week all staff is on the hunt for pranks. Such things as, writing 'senior' on underclassmen's arms. This does not inhibit their class performance in any way. The students are still able to get their books, get to class, and be able to pay attention. The same with Glitter-Bombing; it affects no actual school notion. All that does is make the underclassmen shine a little more. Those are just simple pranks to make the day a little more light hearted; everyone needs a little laughter.

<!--[if !supportLists]--> III.            III. <!--[endif]-->Less Strict Tardy Policies

The planner states that after seven unexcused tardies you fail the class. Instead of the concrete rule the rule should be circumstantial. There are situations that one cannot help, they were bound to happen anyway, there was just bad timing. The rules also permit teachers marking you down because you are tardy. That is not fair; the grade in any class should be based on homework, participation, and book smarts. The proof is in the pudding.
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<!--[if !supportLists]--> IV.  <!--[endif]-->S   IV. School Dance Restrictions

Dances are meant to be fun. However, even the simple task of buying a ticket for a dance is complicated by forms and ticket numbers and showing your school I.D. Although they are school run, dances should not be treated like a normal day at school. Those attending should not have to abide by the same strict dress code and above all else should not be forced to stay once they arrive. If you want to leave a dance you should be able to do so at any point during the night.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->    V.           V.  <!--[endif]-->Admission Fees

When attending school sporting events such as football games, students should not have to pay to get in. More students would attend games if admission were free. School teams need encouragement and this would get them a lot more support from the student body. Money would still be made from the cost of tickets for people who are not students or faculty. No admission fee would increase school spirit make games more enjoyable.

<!--[if !supportLists]--> VI.            VI. Attendance

Signing out in the attendance office before leaving school serves no purpose. If a parent must already call the student out there is no reason for that student to also have to go to the attendance office to sign out. This is an unnecessary step that does nothing but complicate a process that should be very simple. An absence should not be marked unexcused if the student did not sign out. Signing out is easy to forget and makes it easy for students to be punished unjustly.   

<!--[if !supportLists]-->VII.            VII. Respect From Teachers

If students must respect their teachers then teachers must also respect their students. Teachers should not be allowed to abuse their authority by mistreating their students. If a student were to disrespect a teacher it would not go unnoticed. However, it is commonly overlooked when a teacher is rude to a student or class. If respect is demanded of us, it should also be demanded of faculty.   

<!--[if !supportLists]-->VIII.          VIII.   <!--[endif]-->Dress Code  

We believe that the dress code is too Puritan at our school. Females should not be forced to wear clothes of a certain length to school. This is a hassle for the parents because they now have to take the student shopping. All this excess shopping can cause money problems for the family. Students should be allowed to wear what they wear outside of school to school.
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->IX.   Start and Dismissal Times                                                                                                                                         The time that school starts at Grosse Pointe South High School is too early. Also, the time school ends is too late. Most students attend extracurricular activities after school and must spend the remainder of their day completing their homework. This results in a late bedtime for students. Since school starts so early, the kids come to school sleep-deprived and they are not ready to learn. 
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->    X.            X.  <!--[endif]-->Parking

Parking spaces at this school are very limited. With such a large student body, we are in need of many more parking spots than we currently have. There are only two free lots at the school which can be far from classes and lockers and they can fill up very easily. The only convenient lot is only available for seniors and costs money. This is extremely inconvenient and causes students to be late for their classes.

Our complaints are very simple and clear.  They are what we require and what needs to change.  We need to be able to dress how we want and be able to leave a school dance when we want.  If we are always told to be independent and to embrace being different then it’s impossible when we have so many restrictions.  When we come home with hours of homework and have to do it all in one night then wake up and do it all over again with not enough time in the day to get our assignments done it get a little hard to do.  We spend hours and hours at our school, but when we go to see a two hour long sporting event we suddenly have to pay to see our peers play.  If you are a student, then you should not have to.  If you are sick and need to go home, but cannot get a hold of your parents you cannot leave.  The fact that you have to get called in is ridiculous; we are in high school, not kindergarten.  A day does not go by when we all feel disrespected by teachers.  If we are not supposed to be sassy to you, then you cannot be sassy to us.  Being yelled at and told what to do and when to do it if when we say one thing back we are simply again yelled at.  Going to school is like working with more pressure so when a holiday is present we should get it off.  This gives us more time to do homework and catch up on sleep that is lost because of school starting to soon.  When we do not turn in an assignment on time, our grade goes down.  When teachers do not grade a paper on time, we deal with it.  When we do not get to class on time, our grade goes down.  When teachers are late, we deal with it. The balance in this school is not fair for one class to be treated over the other.  During spirit week, we want to show our spirit and seniority.  But when we are told that doing this could cause suspension, it changes our harmless game.  If we want to feel like we are actually people and have real rights, then we should be able to do what we want.  We should not have other people bossing us around like salves and having these restrictions makes us become less than what we are.

Epilouge

Epilogue

The cool fall breeze swept in on an early Tuesday morning in eastern Connecticut. “Katherine,” asked Thomas, “Have you gotten the boys up yet?”

“Aye, they’re getting dressed.” Katherine replied. They each walked around each other with a certain edge; Katherine had something on her mind.

“Tom, you know that it’s not the bad crop of corn that’s been doing the town wrong.”

“Katherine, enough, it’s not witchcraft you’re talking about. Some people are just ill.”

The small town of, St. Mary, had many secrets but Thomas Young knew that witchcraft was not one of them. For Katherine to keep nagging him about witchcraft, it bothered him to point where he had to leave the house and start the day without more disagreement.

As Thomas started to get ready to harvest, Katherine could not get witchcraft out of her mind. It kept on coming back like she was just throwing up these thoughts. She got Jonny and Luke up for their breakfast, but soon went back to her mind wondering and went out to talk with Thomas.

“I really think you should start to consider it Tom. It’s not mad. There have been plenty of other towns who have had it, quick to start the trials, and then the witches are gone.”

“Stop it! I told you no more talking about it. It’s not witches, and that’s it!” They both stood there for a while thinking about what is being said.

“Morning Tom,” Joseph Buker, their neighbor, said.  “Can I have a word with you…Alone?”

“Aye.”

“Did you hear about the reverend?”

“Yes sick.  Food poisoning.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.  And if anyone wants to say different they are mad.”  Tom looked like he was going to burst.  “I have to get back to work. Good day.”

“But Tom—“

“I have to go!”

            The day went on and Katherine still couldn’t get out of her mind.  She knew she could not bring it back up so she decided to take matters into her own hands.  She went down to the town’s church, and talked to the reverend.

            “I hope you are doing alright.”

            “Yes, yes I am fine I just hope that I will feel better.  Would you like some tea?”

            Katherine nodded and pulled out a minuscule bottle of some clear liquid.  While he prepared the tea she slipped in the liquid to only his glass.  They then drank the tea, and she said she had to leave.

            The next day reverend was found dead, with a cause not found, but before Tom could find out about this, Katherine started talking him. 

            “I am sorry for all the talk Thomas.  I was just worried but now I know that talking about makes it worse.”

            “It’s alright.  I need to start early today, so I’ll go out now.”

            She wasn’t satisfied.  She wanted an apology, but clearly that was not  She was getting angrier, and she couldn’t control herself.  Once she got the boys up and out, she started making some stew, but she added something to the mixture, yet again.  She went in her room, and thought about Salem.  How she started the same thing, when she heard Thomas knocking on the door.

            “You need to come here, now.”  She followed him back to their shed.

            “Have you heard about reverend?”

            “No, what happened?”

            “Some one said you were the last to see him.”

            “Last you see him when?”

            “Before he died, were you?”

            “Thomas no!  I went to see him, but I surely was not the last to.”

            “If this has anything to do with witchcraft—“

            “I told you I was done with that!”

            “Abigail—“

            “What did you just call me?”

            “I didn’t, Katherine—“

            “You know I don’t like to be called that.”  She was shaking now.  “I came from a place where I had to leave.  I had to get rid of everything that reminded me of there so I changed my name and left.  You know this.  And you know I wasn’t the last to see him.”  Breathing heavily she started to go back inside.

            “I can’t, I can’t’ trust that.”  His voice was slow but scared.

            “Then you can’t trust me.” She turned and walked back into the house were she put the stew into dishes and set the table.

            When Tom came in, neither of them said a word.  She watched her two children eat the dinner she had made and then watched her husband eat their dinner.  She didn’t touch the food, but watched her family fall to the ground, dead.  She immediately ran into town.

            “It’s witchcraft!  I saw Goody Jones with the devil and now my families dead!” 

            Abigail Williams had done it again.

Crucible Essay

When the town of Salem started the witch trials, Abigail Williams was the honest starter of the whole thing. With Mary Warren on her side, all they needed was someone to tick someone off, and that was John Proctor.  With Proctor having so much power over the town it was him who helped a lot with them.  The Salem Witch Trials were a very unfair, biased, and based on these three characters controlling the whole outcome.

As much as John Proctor did not believe in witch’s and did not want to get involved with the trials, he had a part with deciding what would happen. The affair with Abigail really started it, but then when Proctor ended things, Abigail could not handle it and in her mind she had to somehow get Proctor back.   Proctor has planted the idea in Abigail’s head that he still loves her, and this makes Abigail think that she has to get rid of Elizabeth, even though she already tried to.  “You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife”(19)!  Proctor wants things to be over and for Abigail to know that they are forever done with, but he just cannot seem to do it.  “Abby I may think of you softly from time to time”(23).  He is setting himself up for disaster, by not really destroying any form of hope for there love to continue.  Now Abigail knows that she has to have Proctor, and thus the witch trials begin.

            When Mary Warren is first introduced, it is obvious she is a straight up push over.  “What’ll we do?  The village is out!  I just come from the farm; the whole country’s talkin’ witchcraft!  They’ll be callin’ us witches, Abby”(18)!  Mary wants to avoid trouble and just confess, and if someone would tell her to tell the truth, she would. Later on Abigail just tells her to shut up,(20), and of course Mary does it.  Soon after she is put onto Proctors “team”, and goes to court to tell the truth, but once again she can not handle it and actually stand up for what she believes in and cracks.  “My name, he want my name.  ‘I’ll murder you,’ he says, ‘if my wife hangs!  We must go and overthrow the court,’ he says”(119)!  Mary turns on him in a second as soon as she starts to get accused, just like everyone else in Salem.  Her character almost represents the whole town of Salem, because they believe anything they here, and will stab everyone in the back as long as they do not get charged.  Although there is some good in Salem, most of them are just Mary Warrens. 

            The most obvious and who really makes this whole story, is Abigail Williams.  She starts out with lying and ends with lying.  From the random outburst of cold, to sticking a pin in her side just so it would seem like Elizabeth Proctor is actually witch, Abigail would not stop at nothing.  “…I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you(20).  She starts off getting all the girls on her side to lie, by telling them if they tell, she will just kill them.  Then she starts accusing whoever she wants.  “I saw Sarah Good with the Devil!  I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil”(48)!  Then, after Mary Warren comes to court and tries to put an end to this, she throws her own friend under the bus.  “Oh, Heavenly Father, take away this shadow”(109)!  Abigail did not understand the importance of loyalty and truth, she just was trying to save herself and bring other people down.

            In the end of the story, all honesty is lost and no one can be trusted.  The witch trials were unfair and clearly not handled well, but John Proctor, Mary Warren, and Abigail Williams were the ones most responsible for them. 

Crucible Blog Post 2

In the Crucible, John Proctor is faced with the decision of standing up for his beliefs, or going along with the town to save himself.  The Crucible takes place in a time were everyone all had the same opinion because you did not want to be different.  Now it’s the same way, but if you actually didn’t believe in something and said it, you wouldn’t be on trial for witch craft and most likely be hanged.  There have been many cases when I knew that if I said I liked something that no one else did, people would have thought I was weird.  Then again, there have been times when I have been in the situation of people speaking there beliefs that I do not agree with, and I definitely said what I believed.  I think there is a difference between beliefs and trying to fit in.  But I was not in the position with my life on the line.

 In this scenario, I would honestly try to stand up for what I believe and say that everyone should stop with this nonsense, maybe some people would support me.  The main question of this is would you die for what you believe in and I think that I would.  I think that if you are a coward and a push over you will have a miserable life.  I would rather die for believing in something than live a long life of being told what to do.