Ode to David Ortiz.

Ode to David Ortiz

Here he comes up to the plate,
Hitting home runs is his fate.
He reads his coaches signs as if it were a book,
He stares at the pitcher with an intimidating look.

With the number 34 stitched on his jersey,
Are there any pitchers who are worthy?
He gets into his stance with his bat held back,
Ready to give the ball a whack!

At the plate he is ready to deliver,
But at the mound, the pitcher starts to quiver.
The pitcher throws with all of his might,
And he crushes the ball out of sight.

Another home run to his stat,
He gives the Fenway crowd a tip from his hat.
Ortiz is without argue the best baseball player to live,
Praise and glorification to him they must give.

Eric Pouliot
30 Hollywood st. South Hadley MA.
jakke@comcast.net
South Hadley High School
Grade 9
Mr. B-G.

The Complicated Decisions of an Old Man at Sea.

In life people make decisions everyday and they have to life with the consequences that follow them. These consequences to the decisions that people make can either affect them in the long run or they can not really have an affect on a person's life at all. In the novella, The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago makes decisions throughout the whole story, and some of the consequences are huge and Santiago would probably regret doing a couple of things. However, some of these decisions might of helped him.

Throughout the story it talks about how Santiago went through 84 pain staking days without catching a single fish. Santiago decides to go fishing everyday, but he just can't catch a fish. This shows how Santiago is a very patient person, and that he is waiting to catch the right fish. Santiago also talks about how he would rather catch a fish the right way with skill than not catch a fish at all. A quote that signifies how Santiago is a very skillful person is. "To hell with luck, I will bring the luck with me (125)." This quote shows how Santiago is a person that takes a lot of pride in what he does and doing it the right way. I believe that Santiago would rather go another 84 days of not catching a fish by fishing his way, the right way, than just throwing out nets and catching fish like the other fishermen do. It seems to me that Santiago enjoys fishing his way so much because it is peaceful and serene for him. I also think that Santiago feels that the only way to take honor in catching fish is by using a fishing pole, and that he also feels that other fisherman should fish like that. This shows that Santiago is very compassionate about fishing, and that he is respectful towards fish.

Santiago makes another huge decision by letting the mother of all marlins drag him out deep into the eerie and lonely waters of the Gulf of Mexico. I believe that Santiago decided to go out far with the marlin and to keep on fighting it because Santiago is extremely determined, optimistic, and confident that he is going to catch this fish. I also think that this marlin is very symbolic. It symbolizes Santiago's future and a chance for him to get money which he desperately needs. A quote that signifies this is, "...I'll stay with you until I am dead (52)." I believe that there are two consequences for this action. The first is that Santiago is able to catch the marlin that he has been fighting for several days now. The other consequence is that Santiago has to paddle all of the way back to shore with a marlin that is bigger than his skiff. This attracts the blood thirsty galanos, or sharks. I believe that Santiago wanted this marlin so bad that he did not thin about the bad things that could happen when he brings it home, he was only thinking about catching it and to finally get some respect from the other fishermen and to make Manolin proud of him.

According to Ernest Hemingway, Santiago struggles against fighting the marlin for days which makes him very tired physically and mentally. Santiago knows that he is tired, that he is going crazy, and that he is delirious, but he also knows that there is a huge marlin on the other end of the line that is more important than getting some shut eye. Santiago expresses his feelings by saying, "Now let me get through the eating of this dolphin and get some rest and a little sleep (79)." I believe that Santiago wants the marlin to stop fighting against him so he can get some deserved rest. Santiago decides to take a nap because he is so tired. The consequence for Santiago doing this is that he ia able to be fully recharged and is ready to keep on fighting the marlin. This results in Santiago catching the marlin.

In the book, Ernest Hemingway does a great job at allowing Santiago to make decisions and making the book very descriptive and precise for the readers enjoyment.These decisions are very important to the story and the consequences are also crucial. I think that the book would have been very different if Santiago did not fight the marlin because then he wouldn't of caught it and the rest of the book would be pointless. However, the consequences of decisions made by Santiago were huge and affected his life, consequences can also affect what happen in your life. Decisions and consequences happen every day, if you decide to not do your homework the consequence will be that you get a bad grade on your report card. That is why decisions are important whether it be in The Old Man and the Sea, or in your life.

Third Quarter Book Review

Eric Pouliot
3/4/09
Mr. B-G
Third Quarter Book Review
Eleven Seconds
Eleven Seconds by Travis Roy with E.M. Swift. Warner Books, 2005. Genre: Fiction.
Eleven Seconds is a story about the life of Travis Roy after his life changing accident. In this story the protagonist is Travis Roy. This story is about a hockey player named Travis Roy who plays college hockey for the Boston University Terriers. In one game Travis gets to play, this is his first time playing in a game this year, eleven seconds into the game Travis gets smashed into the boards. Travis' neck absorbs most of the hit and results in him smashing his fourth cervix vertebra. This accident leaves Travis as a quadriplegic and paralyzed from the neck down. The tragic story talks about how Travis had to overcome obstacles and going through physical therapy. It also talks about the pain and the hardships that Travis encounters and the rough times during his treatment. This accident changes Travis' life, but shows how string willed and how determined he really is. The setting in the story is the Boston City Hospital where Travis spent some of his time getting help from his injury. Other settings include Travis' house in Maine, Massachusetts, and the Boston University ice hockey rink. The conflict in the story is that Travis has to life the rest of his life without being able to walk and has to learn new things in order to make his life as easy as possible, like trying to learn how to maneuver a sip and puff wheelchair.
"This book is simply amazing and Travis is an amazing young man. This book really touches you to the core. Travis' courage and perseverance make him a hero for everyone to look up to." The book jacket. This quote talks about how Travis Roy is a hero and that he has a lot of courage and is brave for what happened to him. I think that this quote is trying tell everybody that Travis Roy is a great example of a strong person who will fight through anything, and it is also trying to say that people should be like Travis Roy. That is what I think the quote is trying to say about Travis Roy.
The book, Eleven Seconds, reminds me of the book The Lost Boy. Eleven Seconds reminds me of The Lost Boy because Travis Roy and Dave Pelzer both go through hard times in their lives and struggle. Travis Roy deals with being paralyzed when Dave Pelzer has to deal with his horrible mother that abuses him. Even though they both go through hard times Travis still believes that he will be able to walk one day when Dave believes that he will be with a family that loves him. Both of these protagonist think optimistic, but also doubts themselves at times and think that their lives will be worthless and horrible for the rest of their life. However, Travis improves by getting better with his injury and being able to move a little bit more week after week. Dave also improves his life by escaping his horrible life with his mom and living in a foster home that he loves a lot more than his other home. I thought that the writing style of the book as very good because the author told me exactly how Travis felt at all times.
"I haven't given any of it away-not the bike, not my golf clubs, not my new tennis racket, not my skates-because I know I'll use them again. It's not something I dwell on, but I know it. There's no question in my mind. There'll be a medical breakthrough. It'll be a little while, but I will use those things again. My faith in that helps keep me going", pg 153. This quote from the book shows that the author tells the reader what Travis was thinking and feeling at the time. You can tell that Travis felt confident that he would be able to use his objects again. This great writing style allows me to visualize what was happening and made me feel like I was there, as if I was interviewing Travis. The author always tell the reader whether Travis felt optimistic or if he was depressed from the accident, either way it allows me to understand what is going on in the story.
I really liked this story because it allowed me as a reader to experience what it is like to be a quadriplegic and not being able walk or do things on your own. This book really made me think about how lucky I am just to be able to dress myself every morning without anybody helping me or being able to play sports, which is my favorite thing to do. I really liked how the author made the story feel like Travis was actually talking to me. This made the story seem as real as possible and me understand what Travis was probably feeling at that time in real life when it was happening to him. This allowed me to be engaged in the story and made me want to keep on reading it. This book has affected me because it gives me a better understanding on what the daily life is like for somebody who is paralyzed from the neck down and cant move their body. This story has also affected me because being paralyzed can happen in the matter of seconds, but lasts almost for ever unless you experience a miracle because there is no cure for this horrible problem. I really enjoy how the author makes the story seem so real and makes me feel like I am there. I would recommend this story to people who like to read about people who overcome the odds and fight their way through life even when their life has turned upside down.

Overcoming the Odds

Eric P.
English
Mr.B-G.
1/27/09
It was a warm Monday morning in Birmingham, Alabama; Dwayne lazily rolled out of bed and put on his ugly school uniform. Dwayne walked into the kitchen and encountered the sound of bacon sizzling on the frying pan. He sat down and ate his breakfast which consisted of two eggs, three strips of bacon, a glass of milk, and some toast. After his fulfilling breakfast, Dwayne went into the bathroom to brush his teeth, and then he started his journey to school.

Along the way he met up with one of his best friends, Jamal.

" Hey what's up?", Jamal asked." Not much, did you do the math homework?", Dwayne asked." Ya did you?" “No, it thwarted me." “Do you think that Ohio State will accept you for basketball?” Jamal asked." I hope so, I have always wanted to play for Ohio State since I first played basketball my freshman year of high school", Dwayne replied.

Dwayne is an extremely talented basketball player; he ranks first in Alabama for high school scoring. He holds the record for 2,654 points. Dwayne had a lot of prowess in basketball.
At the end of the school day, Dwayne and Jamal walked home, Dwayne was expecting his response from Ohio State in the mail today. When they both arrived at Dwayne's mailbox they opened it up and saw a letter directed to Dwayne Johnson from Ohio State.

" This is it", Dwayne said in an anxious voice.

He opened it up and pulled out the letter slowly as if it was a hundred dollar bill.

" What does it say, what does it say?", Jamal asked desperately." Hold on", Dwayne said.

Dwayne read the letter and then his heart sank like a thousand pound anvil in the ocean. Dwayne did not get accepted into Ohio State University.

"That's ok, there are plenty of other colleges out there that want you to play for their basketball team", Jamal said." I hope your right about this", Dwayne replied in a depressing tone.

After weeks passed Dwayne found out a very disturbing piece of information about why he did not get accepted into the college of his dreams. The real reason why Dwayne was rejected from Ohio State was because he was African- American. The coach of the team was very racist and did not want a black person to play on his all white superstar basketball team. Dwayne was now furious and did not even want to think about playing basketball for Ohio State, instead he wanted to get back at the coach some how.

Time passed and no other teams were interested in having Dwayne being on their basketball team. One night Dwayne gets a call from somebody that he does not know.

"Hello", Dwayne answered." Hi is this Dwayne Johnson?", the mysterious man said." Uh, yes it is who this is?” Dwayne asked." This is the head coach of the basketball program at Texas Tech", the man replied." I was wondering if you would like to play for our basketball team, I would like to offer you a full scholarship and a starting position at shooting guard for my basketball team, are you interested."

Dwayne knew that Texas Tech was not the college he was planning on attending to, but he knew that going to play basketball and getting an education for free would be nice too.

"I would be honored to play for your team sir", Dwayne said." Great be here by Friday for the first practice of the season", the coach said." Yes sir", Dwayne replied with excitement.

Dwayne arrived to his first practice on time and got ready in the locker room. After practicing for a while Dwayne knew that he was the best on his team because the rest did not have as much experience and talent as he did. The practice was difficult, but nothing that Dwayne couldn't handle. After the practice the coach told them that their first game of the season was going to be against Ohio State. Dwayne suddenly felt rage flow through his body like water coming out of a fountain. Dwayne really wanted to beat this team but he knew that is was not going to be easy, Ohio State was ranked number one in the nation and Texas Tech was far from that.

The team went through some more grueling practices to get prepared for this intense game. The coach of Texas Tech would inculcate his players. The game was tomorrow, the coach told Dwayne and the other team members the different strategies and came up with a covert play that they were going to use for this game. Beating Ohio State is going to be a quagmire. After that they went back to their dorms in the college campus and went to sleep early for their big game tomorrow.

Dwayne and the rest of his teammates arrived at the gym and warmed up before the game. There was only a minute left before the game and everybody was getting pumped up. A bevy of people started to fill up the stands. The notorious Ohio State basketball team showed up, walking with a swagger. The Ohio State players were abasing the Texas Tech players and Dwayne. The whistle blew and the game was under way. Ohio State took some early shots were already up ten to three. Dwayne got a pass from Tim, a player on his team, and made a three. Then Dwayne stole the ball and made an easy lay-up. By the end of the first quarter, Ohio State was leading 20 to 15.

In the beginning of the second quarter Dwayne hit a wide open three pointer. Gregg, a player on Ohio dribbled through Texas Tech with ease and slammed the ball in the hoop. Gregg and Dwayne are analogous in skill. Now there was only two minutes left in the second quarter and Dwayne gets the ball and makes a jumper, then Tim stole the ball from Gregg and passed it to Dwayne and he made a three. Gregg made a buzzer beater at the end of the half though.

Dwayne pumps up his team and they start to get better. Dwayne pass the ball to Tim for a lay-up, then Dwayne stole the ball and dunked over Gregg. Texas Tech stats to go on a little run in the third quarter and at the end of the quarter Ohio State was only winning by two. 77 to 75.
The final quarter started with a bang. Gregg makes a three with a hand in his face, but Dwayne answers with a lay-up but also gets fouled. Dwayne went to the line and made his foul shot. The game was very even. The intensity was building up between the two teams. There was only a minute left in the game now. Texas Tech was down by one. Dwayne makes a fade away three pointer to put his team on top for the first time in the game. Gregg made a jumper and then stole the ball and made a lay-up. Dwayne gets the ball in bounded to him; Dwayne dribbles the ball up court with only ten seconds left. As time was ticking down, Dwayne shoots a three pointer at the buzzer, swish. The was a loud clamor coming from the crowd. There was a huge jubilee after the fantastic shot made by Dwayne. Dwayne makes the shot and wins the game for his team. Dwayne gets his revenge by defeating the number one seed and the racist coach of Ohio State. They did not anull Ohio State, but they still won. The coach of the losing team was going to recite a diatribe in the team locker room after the game.It is a good thing that Dwayne is indefatigable or else he would not be able to lay the entire game.

Dwayne’s hard work had paid off and he was rewarded by beating the best college basketball team in the country. Even though Dwayne was not accepted into a great college, he greatly appreciated Texas Tech and his teammates. Dwayne later on was announced player of the year and took his team to the playoffs, but suffered a overtime loss to the Duke Blue Devils. Dwayne is a hard working student and an extremely talented basketball player.

Second Quarter Book Review

Eric Pouliot
12/12/08
Mr. B-G
Second Quarter Book Review
The Lost Boy.
The Lost Boy by Dave Pelzer. Harper Collins Publishers, 2007.Genre: Fiction.
The Lost Boy is the sequel to A Child Called It. The protagonist in this excellent story is Dave Pelzer, the author. This book is about Dave growing up and living with his alcoholic and brutal mother. Dave has to put up with harsh and cruel beatings that are delivered from his mom. He experiences a stab in the gut and horrific gas chamber punishments in the first book. In The Lost Boy Dave Pelzer eventually gets sick and tired of his mother and walks out on her and the rest of his family. Throughout the book, Dave experiences foster homes, around thirteen of them. Dave moves from one foster home to the next because he gets in trouble too many times. Dave sometimes will steal food from convenience stores, and occasionally gets into fist fights with kids from school. Since no foster parents will deal with this, they decide to give him away to another home. This book is about the hardships he endures from moving, and mostly about him trying to find a family to love him as he is. The setting is all of the foster homes, and the conflict is him trying to find a foster home that suets him.
"The Lost Boy stands shining as the premier book on the unique love and dedication that social services and foster families provide for our children in peril. Dave Pelzer is certainly a living testament of resilience, personal responsibility and the triumph of the human spirit-" John Bradshaw, the book jacket. I believe that this quote means that this book shows how good social services and foster families can be for kids like Dave. It also talks about how Dave Pelzer is like a hero for surviving and going through these hard obstacles in his life.
The Lost Boy reminds me of the other book from Dave Pelzer, A Child Called It. I think that they are similar because they both talk about Dave's horrible life. I also think that The Lost Boy is similar to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone because in the beginning of the Harry Potter book, the author, J.K. Rowling, talks about how Harry;s life is horrible and he hates his aunt and uncle. This is similar because Dave hates his mom and he talks about how he wishes to have a better life someday. They are also similar because Harry's life gets better because he goes to Hogwarts, a school for wizards and witches. Dave's life gets better because he ends up in a foster home with a family that loves him instead of living with his abusive mother. They are different though because Harry is a wizard and Dave is a normal kid living in a foster home.
"Weekends are worse. No school means no food and more time at "The House". All I can do is try to imagine myself away-somewhere, anywhere-from "The House". For years I have been the outcast of "The Family", pg. 4 I think from this excerpt from the story, you can see that Dave Pelzer likes to emphasize that he is really not part of the family. That is why he uses phrases like "The Family" and ""The House". Dave also writes in a depressing way and a optimistic way too. He says that his weekends are bad and he gets no food, but he also says that he dreams of going somewhere nice and relaxing.
I really liked this book because it shows how Dave was able to overcome horrible things in his life and live to tell his story. I also like how Dave wrote the book. I liked how he wrote it because he tells everything as real as he possibly can. He talks about how his life sucked, but also how he never gave up and thought of one day that he would be loved. He allowed me to live his life for a little and really put me in his shoes. Even though I will never experience how bad it must have been for Dave I can say that I was able to catch a glimpse of his life. This book affected my life because now I know a little bit about how horrible it is to be a child that is not loved by his parents and how hard and difficult it is to be a foster child. I would recommend this book to people that like to read about heart-warming stories and things that happened to people in real life.

The Musical Enjoyment of a Grand Slam

Eric Pouliot
Mr. B-G
9/30/08
Value Essay
Most people value their expensive cars, big screen televisions, and their expensive Rolex watches, diamond necklaces, and other fine jewelry. People in America range from billionaires to people who are happy when they have food to eat that day. This means that different people value different things depending on what they have and what they can afford. What is it that is considered valuable? Is it something that cost a lot of money, or is it something that they truly cherish?
I grab my thin slender ipod and press the button in the center. I hit the button again to go to my fascinating songs. I move my finger in a clockwise formation to scroll down to one of my favorite songs. I press the button one more time to listen to it. Listening to my ipod is one of the things that I like to do most.
At the end of the day, I enjoy relaxing by lying down and listening to my music. All of my music is stored in my black ipod nano. It holds hundreds of the songs that I like to listen to when ever I please. I mostly use my ipod when I get home from school because it wipes away all of the stress I get between homework, tests, and anything else that happened that day. It allows me to block out the rest of the world and lets me not think about anything else that is going on for about half an hour.
Bases are loaded, I walk up to home plate with my baseball bat over my shoulder. I know that this a clutch situation, I can either win the game for my team or possibly lose it in a matter of minutes. The rain beats down on me as I take my first step into the batter's box. I look at the pitcher and grip the bat as I wait for the pitch. He gets the sign and coils up like a snake, then the ball comes spitting out of his hand at a high velocity. The ball is venturing down the middle of the plate, and I decide to take a swing at it. I see the ball leave my bat and journey off out of sight. I drop the bat and start running as fast as I humanely can.
Getting a grand slam was one of the most exciting days of my life, not to mention that it ended up winning the game for my team. I was extremely nervous when I found out that I was up with bases loaded and my team was down by three. After I hit the ball, I knew that I had to run as fast as I can. At first I thought that maybe the ball has a chance of going over the fence, but as I rounded first base, I knew that it was going to stay in the park. I was pretty disappointed, but I thought that I could maybe still have a chance of scoring.
As I almost reached second base, I saw the right fielder pick up the filthy baseball covered in mud from the horrible rain. I hear my couches telling me to head for third base, so I start running faster. At this point I did not want to stop running, I wanted to go home and score. I am relived as my third base couch is swinging his arm around as fast as a propellor on a airplane, telling me to go home. I took a glance to see where the ball was at. The last person in the relay has it in their drenched baseball glove and is ready to rocket the ball to the catcher at home plate. I was very worried and thought that my chances of scoring after all were being diminished rapidly.
It felt like forever for me to run home, but I made it. I was safe. I could not believe what had just happened, I got my first grand slam in a baseball game. I was ecstatic. My whole team came out of the dugout and surrounded me. It felt like a dream to me, I never expected to get a grand slam. My team and I were up by one now, the other had their at bats . Luckily they did not score a single run that inning. At the end of the fifth inning, the umpire called the came because it was lightening out. An official game has to go five full innings. My team and I ended up winning the game. The grand slam that I had hit ended up winning the game for my team.
I value my ipod and my game winning grand slam for different and actually similar reasons. My ipod allows me to relax and listen to my favorite songs. My ipod cost about 150 dollars but is not the most expensive thing that I own. My P.S.P. is about 170 dollars, not including games. I do try to get care of my ipod but after years of having it, time takes a toll on it. Having an ipod is very important to me even though it is not a necessity to life. Without it I would not be able to relax and release my stress at the end of the day.
My grand slam made me feel great and I felt like playing baseball all day long. A game winning grand slam is something that does not happen often in your life time. It gave me a feeling that made think that I could do whatever I wanted to do. Playing baseball is what I do in my spare time; it is my favorite sport to play.
Both my ipod and my grand slam allow me to do the two things that I like to do the most than any other thing in the world. I like listening to music because it relaxes me and I like hearing my favorite songs too. I love to play baseball on teams or with my friends at each other's houses. Hitting a grand slam is one of the greatest feelings to me because it is a great accomplishment. I love hitting grand slams wether it is in a game or playing waffle ball in my front yard with my friends. Relaxing and playing baseball both make my happy in different ways. Listening to music makes me happy because I am by myself and get to unwind. Playing baseball makes my happy because I get to play with my friends and I love the game.

First Quarter Book Review

Eric Pouliot
10/13/08
F Block
"The End book review."
The End by Lemony Snicket, Harper Collins Publishers, 2006. Genre: Fiction.
The End is Lemony Snicket's thirteenth and final book of the series, The Series of Unfortunate Events. The protagonists of this story are Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire. Three of them are washed up on an island from a brutal storm that is inhabited by other castaways. A person named Count Olaf is also stuck on the island with the Baudelaires. Count Olaf is an evil villain who is after the large amount of money that the Baudelaire's parents left behind. Throughout the book, the three kids learn how to live on the island that is hundreds of miles away from civilization. They have to adapt to the customs of the island's facilitator, Ishmael too. They have to learn new and different things with an evil person trying to kill them on the same island.
" Like a covert mission to turn their readers into slightly dark-hued sophisticates, New York Times-Henry Alford.." I think that the quote from Henry Alford means that the people who read the book The End or other books by Lemony Snicket, learn more about the dark sides of life and other bad things.
This book reminds me of the other books that Lemony Snicket wrote. All of the other twelve books that he has written in the series have the same writing style and talk about the horrible lives that the Baudelaires live in. This book also reminds of the book, The Pearl. I think that The End and The Pearl are very similar books because Count Olaf is try to get the fortune that Violet, Klaus, and Sunny's parents left behind when they died, and the doctor and other people are also trying to get the huge pearl that Kino has found that is worth tons of money. The End and The Pearl are also very different because The End is a novel while The Pearl is a novella.
I think that the writing style of the book makes it seam redundant, depressing, and confusing. At other times is sounds pretty good because of the big words that he always uses. A part of the story that is redundant and confusing is, "The end of The End contains all these ends, and that does not depend on how you look at it, so it might be best for you to stop looking at The End before the end of The End arrives, and to stop reading The End before you read the end, as the stories that end in The End that began in The Bad Beginning are beginning to end now." (289,290) This shows that Lemony Snicket does write things that are repetitive, like end, and things that are confusing. When the writer writes things like this it makes you stop and think for a little to see what is going on or what just happened. Sometimes I like it when he does this though.
I like how the author gives each character different personalities and characteristics throughout the book. Violet, the oldest of the three, always ties her hair up with a purple ribbon so that she can think better when she makes inventions. Klaus, the chid that is in the middle, writes down notes in his commonplace notebook so he can remember things better. Klaus always carries this notebook around. Sunny, the baby of the three, likes to cook and bite on objects. Sunny bites on items when she is bored or curious. She caries around a whisk with her to cook things. She is very smart about cooking too, she can