Our final summative for our Civics class was to pick a potical or social issue, pick a side, and do something to spread awareness. They issue that I choose was animal abuse. This is very close to my heart, because in November my family and I got a dog that had been abused before. Her name is Kira, she is a 5 year old sheppard cross and one of the sweets dogs I have ever met. We don't know about her past, but  we can tell that she wasn't treated right. She has now warmed up to us, but she still has her moments where she gets scared. 

Here is a quick video that I made about animal abuse, I hope that you like it and are know now just a little but more about animal abuse.

"Thirteen Reasons" Why by Jay Asher is a book about a a suicide note from Hannah Baker, a teenage girl who took her life. There's more then just 1 note, there's 13. All about different people doing different things making her want to end her life.

This book seems like a interesting book, and it seems like it will have a unique plot. I'm looking forward to reading about what each person did and how it impacted her. Also I'm interested in seeing how the people react when they find out that they played a roll in her death, and if they try to correct their actions before anything else happens. Also I'm interested in seeing if everyone on the list follows the instructions.

Overall I'm looking forward to reading the book!

Families torn apart, children scared for their lives and cities torn apart, all of these are the result of wars, wars that are happening right now that most of use don't know about. After watching the documentary, War Photographer by Christian Frei, we learn that the world isn't as peaceful as it seems. 

In the film we follow photographer James Nachtwey, as he travels to countries that have been torn apart and destroyed by wars that are fought in them streets.  James puts himself in dangerous situations to get photos that really capture what is really happening. 

Looking at the pictures that he takes in only the beginning of what is happening, but watching the film and seeing families being torn apart and the conditions that they have to live in make our houses seem like five star resorts. Seeing children scare for our lives make our worst fear seem like nothing at all. Seeing what those people have to wake up to in the morning makes waking up for school or work seem like the easiest thing in the world. Seeing the nightmare that those people live in makes our life seem like a dream.

So the next time you think your having a rough day, stop and think for a minute. Would you rather be living in a nightmare,  or a dream?

These pictures were all taken by/ of James Nachtwey.

Personally, I agree with Dr. Neil Degrasse Tyson. I believe that the most astounding fact about life is that life does exist. That everything has an start and an end. There is really no way to tell when something is going to start and when it will end, which is part of the mystery of the universe. There are 3 reasons why i agree with Dr. Neil Degrasse Tyson, the first reason is because we don't know how exactly the earth start, the second reason is we have some idea how the earth works but there are still things that puzzle use, and finally the third reason is how we as a planet has lasted so long. 

Everyone has a theory of how  earth started, and we have technology that can help use figure out how it start but there's just one thing that stands in the way, the size of the universe. No matter how much research and testing we do to try to figure out how earth started, there is no way to go back in time to tell us how the earth really came to be. So we are left with the one question that will never really have a answer, how did our planet come to be earth?

We know a lot about how the earth works, but at the same time there are still so many things that have use asking ourselves, how does the earth work? The earth is one planet with many different creatures and plants. But how did the plants and animals get to where they are now. Why can some animals  survive is harsh climates and others can live underwater. We know how we can survive in different climates, but we don't know why we were put where we were put. We know that the earth is a big mass of different habitats that somehow all link together.

Another thing that people always seem to be talking about is the end of the world, the world was "suppose" to end in 2012, but it didn't, so now we all wonder, when will the world end, or is the end even predictable. But I think the real question is how have we survived so long? Is is because we used to live off the land, and we kept things simple. That because of that the earth was able to survive, and continue to grow food for use. Now that we have cars and concrete jungles, are we killing ourselves in order to live a way of life that we think is "easier". What do you think life would be like if we never changed the way we used to live, what if we still lived off the land, would life be easier? 

In the movie "The Blind Side" by Michael Lewis, Michael Oher grew up a tough life. He was taken by the Touhy's, a rich family that has children attending the same school that Michael just started attending.

Michael is a great person to use when you are trying to find someone with the high five principles. The high five principles are follow you hears, change is constant, learning is ongoing, focus on the journey and access you allies.  

Follow Your Heart
Michael is being questioned way he choose to go the university that he choose to go to, people were assuming that the Touhy's were pushing him to go to the University of  Mississippi because they both went their and they gave money to the university, but Michael told them that he choose that school because his family had gone their. Michael didn't let people push him around, he made his choice and stuck with it, no matter what people said about him.

Change is Constant
Michael wants to live a better life but it's hard for him, when one of his friends dad's signs him up in a school where their aren't a lot of coloured people, he has to learn to deal with people constantly staring at him while he is trying to get a education. When he joined to football team people
started to accept him. Michael learned to deal with the people staring at him and just focused on getting a education with the help of the teachers.

Learning is Ongoing
Michael grew up not really understanding what they were doing in school, but when he started attending a new school, one of his teachers saw that he had potential and started to help him in school. Michael's grades started to improve and he started to understand what they were
learning in school.

Focus on the Journey
Before Michael was taken in by the Touhy's he just went along with life, never really trying to achieve
anything, but when he was taken in the Touhy's they started to help him get his life on track, and Michael started to enjoy life, he found interest in football and started to focus on that, he improved his grade and got a university scholarship, he then went to play in the NFL.

Access Your Allies
Michael never really had any one to help him in life, until Leigh Anne Touhy took him in to live with her and her family. Leigh Anne learned to Michael never really had any one in his life and she started to help him. Once Michael started playing football and universities started to take interest in him, Leigh Anne hired a tutor to help Michael get his grades up so that he would have a better chance at getting a university scholarship. If it wasn't for Leigh Anne taking Michael in and helping him Michael would still be living the life that he grew up living.

Those are just a few of the ways that Michael respre

 In the film V for Vendetta by David Lloyd and Allan Moore, the government has complete control, they can do what they want when they want, and no one can do anything about it. The people of London have very little freedom. V was part of a experiment that was done on many humans being in the act to try to create biological warfare. V was not happy with this so he set the lab, were the experiment was being done, on fire. He was able to escape but he was badly burned all over. He lives his life behind a mask, and is able to pull off acts to prove that the government doesn't have as much power ask they think. He start off with blowing up the Old Bailey. After this he broadcasts a message say that in one year, Novermber 5th, he will blow up the Parliment building. A team of decetives spends a year trying to figure out who V is and catch him before Novermber 5th. Throught out  the movie tells Evey, a women who she saved from being thrown in jail for being out after curfew, about why he's doing what he is doing. He tells her that he is speaking for the people, he's showing the people that the government doesn't have as much control as they think and that as people, everyone has freedom. As the movie goes on people start to join his side, and on the 5th of Novermber everyone in London dresses up as V and storms the military surronding the Parliment building.  The military is given orders not to shoot anyone, and everyone dressed as V just walks trought the military that lines the streets. This shows in many ways that sometimes things aren't what they seem. The Government through that they had full control of everyone in the city, but it turns out they were wrong. It also shows that 1 person can start a movement. V to everyone his point and said that no matter what, he was going to prove that people can't be run by government, more and more people started to join his team, to prove that the government doesn't have full control.  V for Vendette proves that the will to be able to live freely as a person runs deeper and stronger then any control that a government has.

    On October 3rd, 2013 I went on a class trip to Communitech and Google in downtown Kitchener.  We started off in with a tour of  communitech. We saw how some local businesses are using technology to improve their service. We also saw some new technology thats is being researched and developed and we learned about some of the ways that it could be used in everyday life. 

    After we finished at communitech we went to the Goole offices for a tour. The Google offices have a lot of things to make the workspace more enjoyable. A few of the things that they have are.. chefs that will make you breakfast and lunch, a slide from the top floor to the bottom floor. They have a games room beside the cafe. They also have multiple rooms around the office where you can just go and take a brea or have a little bit of fun to get your mind off  work for a little bit. There are many other things in and around Google that make it look like a enjoyable place to work. 
  
   If you ever get the chance to visit either Communitech or Google, I would say take the chance, you'd be sure to enjoy it.