Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Space Race Essay

Author's Note: I am doing a project on space with two other people, and I researched the Space Race.   This is my essay. 

The Russians and Americans were in the middle of the cold war, constantly trying to make themselves look better than the other, but also trying to prove that they were going to be the first one to launch a ballistic missile. Then, in 1957 Russia took the battle to space by launching the first successful satellite into space. From then on Russians and Americans kept battling it out in space, and for a while, the Russians kept winning. They sent out the first satellite, the second satellite and the first man on the moon. Americans were worried that the Russians were going to launch a ballistic missile, and that the war was lost. But then, as JFK promised seven years earlier, the Americans sent the first man to the moon, on July 21 1969. Americans suddenly had hope. From there the Cold War started to unwind, finally ending in 1975 when Russia and the U.S. did a joint mission in space, making the International Space Station, which is still in space today. The Space Race was a very important time in history.

Without the Space Race, we wouldn't have satellites in space orbiting earth and we wouldn't have plans on exploring space further in the future. These things are very important because without satellites we couldn't have cell phone communication, television or radio, which are three main staples in America, which would practically keep us back in the Stone Age of technology.

Although, we are still in the Stone Age of space exploration. We've explored our solar system in minimal depth, so that we only know a few things about every part of it. As technology advances further, we could explore our own solar system in much more depth, as long as gaining more information about space outside our own solar system, and even galaxy.


Space is the great unknown, and with the current technology we have, we know more about space than what we've ever known. We've discovered nebulae and new galaxies. We know more about black holes and stars. Space has become less of a mystery to us. The Space Race was the platform for all of this to happen, which is why it is one of the important times in recent history.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Travel Essay

Author's Note: I wanted to write a persuasive essay, but make it interesting, so I gave myself a $25,000 budget to make the ultimate vacation for two people. I tried to center mine around football, because football is the ultimate American sport. First, you would go to the Texans-Bears game on Sunday night, then to the Steelers-Chiefs game on Monday night, then to the Toledo-Northern Illinois game on Wednesday night, then to the North Carolina-Virginia game on Thursday night, then the Kansas State-Baylor game on Saturday night. Then from there you would drive down to Galveston to go on a seven day cruise with two stops in the Bahamas and one stop in Florida, before returning to Galveston. With the remaining money one person would get a Hall of Fame signed football and the other person would get a Troy Aikman signed football. I would donate the last $4641 to charity.

A perfect beach, stretching out as far as the eye can see, with a vast ocean in front you, sun slowly sizzling into its vastness as night becomes day. This is the perfect vacation in the minds of many people, which is why vacations are important to most American families. It’s their time to get away from reality and drift into the world of nothing. Football is similar to vacations, yet so different. Although we are escaping reality, we are traveling to a world of everything, instead of nothing. Putting the two together is a match made in heaven.

Football Game

Football. Many Americans would go crazy after just hearing that one word. In fact, most of the world would go crazy, but for a very different reason. For America, football is the rough and tough sport where players crash in a frenzy of padded bodies, trying to move the ball across the field as fast as possible. To the rest of the world, football is the sport where only three people on the field touch the ball with their hands, the two goalkeepers and the referee. Using elusiveness instead of strength to move down the field and into the goal, which is soccer, as opposed to using strength to pound your way to the other end of the field across the goal line, which is football. Going to five games in six days would be any football, the American kind, fans dream come true.

Likewise, going on a seven day cruise would be almost any Americans dream come true. Cruises are where people go to relax and drift out of reality for a few days. Most cruises are family friendly because they offer activities for adults and children so that parents don't have to be dragged down with the stress of being parents. The worst thing about cruises is that they are so expensive, which makes it harder for less fortunate people to go.

Analogous to the fact that less fortunate people can't go on a cruise, with a good chunk of my travel budget, I would help those less fortunate by donating to charity. If you're wondering what charity I would donate it to, I would donate it to whatever charity the travelers choose. Charities can do many things, including helping people who are homeless, live in poverty, or recently lost homes or family members to natural disasters, such as tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes.

Vacations are a great way for people of all different types to get together and to relax, but also to have fun. Football is an American staple that everybody at least understands. Cruises are a great way to get away from the hassles and stress of everyday life. Football games and a luxurious cruise are the best way to spend a vacation hands down.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Ghana Essay

“Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice,” is something Nelson Mandela once said. If we are to overcome poverty, it won’t be by one good act, it will be a collection of actions all helping to rid the horrible thing that is poverty from this world. Even if it takes one country at a time I think we can do it.

Unfortunately, Ghana is one of those countries. In some places water is miles away, and kids old enough take several trips a day to get water. Some people only eat two meals a day, which consists mostly of rice, even though they sometimes add a green vegetable “mush” to add flavor.  Roads there have no signs and it’s practically a free for all on dirt roads. Ghana is a very poor country, there aren’t any big supermarkets, except in Accra, so you have to go to individual vendors to buy different things.

Poverty is a big problem in this world, and Ghana is one of the countries suffering from it. Helping out by donating money is a great way to chip away at the iceberg. People need to address poverty with as much concern as other things such as AIDS and cancer cures. Poverty is problem that needs more attention, and we are the people that can help start that.