Reading Summary 6

Johnny and Kelly made it to Paradise, Colorado safely. Johnny was walking around trying to find something he remembered but he couldn't find anything. A couple who owned a barbecue place recognized Johnny and started getting excited. They told him where his mother lived and him and Kelly headed in that direction. Johnny found the house and knocked on the door and his mother opened it and gasped then threw her arms around him and wept. They went inside and talked for awhile before johnny started running through the house screaming where are you. After he went into his room, he stopped screaming and came to his mother and hugged her saying he remembered. Him and Kelly explained to his mother what was going on. Then David Abraham called and told Johnny to meet him in a hour.


They got to the mouth of the canyon and didn't see David. Johnny started to remember this place and started going further in the canyon. There he saw David. Then they talked while they headed towards a cabin further in the canyon. When they got there johnny asked him to tell him who he was and so David started to explain who he was and the story of project showdown. David had said that Johnny has some supernatural power and Johnny didn't believe it. It was getting dark and David had just begun with his story.



Dale was in Paradise sitting on a boulder waiting till they went to sleep so he could kill them. He went into the house and looked around but no one was in the house. Then Johnny came out of hiding and told him to drop his guns and told him that everyone was on their way to safety. Englishmen had a trick. He made a knife fly up to johnny's neck so now englishmen was in control. Then kelly came out and shot so he lost focus an johnny jumped out the window. Dale went after him but he was already gone so he went back inside and took kelly hostage then went after johnny.

Johnny was on the way back to New york so he could save kelly. When he arrived he got the stuff he needed and went to bellevue hospital. He told them cab driver to pull over then offered him fifteen thousand dollars to borrow the cab for two hours and he agreed. Johnny then took the cab to UN headquaters and waited.

Transcendentalism

In the writing Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson, he shows many signs that he is talking about transcendentalism. The way he looked at life is the same as the transcendentalists looked at life. They believed that the only way to connect with God was through solitude or nature. They also believed that everyones mind was connected and that God spoke to us through our intuition. In Nature he uses things such as solitude and a sense of peace.

In the first paragraph Emerson is talking about being alone but not feeling alone. He says that "I am not solitary while I read and write, though nobody is with me." By this i think he means that even tho he is alone he doesn't feel alone because God is with him .I think this is an example of transcendentalism because he is talking to God through solitude. Hes saying that when he is reading and writing alone he can connect with God.

In the writing Self-Reliance Emerson has examples of transcendentalism but not through solitude. Transcendentalists believed that God spoke through hard work. The hard work that people did was what God had them do. They also believed in individuality. They believed that everyone should be a individual because God spoke through individuals and not institutions like the government.

In the first paragraph of Self Reliance Emerson is saying "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion;" I believe Emerson is saying that you must be an individual and not imitate someone else because that would mean you aren't following what God wants you to. That you should accept yourself whether it's good or bad.

In Resistance to Civil Government by Henry David Thoreu, he says "That government is best which governs least." I thought this was a good example of transcendentalism because its saying that a government that is letting the people do what they want is a government that works the best. This is a good example because they didn't believe in a government. Transcendentalist thought that the world would be better off without a government. That the government was just a waste of time.

The Wilderness video is about a man in his fifties. This man decides to live alone in the wilderness for awhile. The man builds a house out of wood by himself. Eventually the man decides to leave the wilderness and live with people again. In this video there are several signs of Transcendentalism. For example he decides to live alone in nature. Transcendentalist believe that when your alone in nature you can connect with God. Another sign is when he builds his house by himself. This is a sign because they believed that when you do work by yourself and be independent then you are doing the work God intended and that you are the person he intended.

Reading Summary 5

Carl was in position to shoot the president. He had climbed through a manhole into a green garbage bin. He cut a hole for his gun with a torch and then plugged it back. When the time came to shoot he was lining up the shot when he saw a man behind the president and he knew this man. Then a voice started telling him not to shoot the father.



Kelly is a block and a half from the garbage bin that Carl was in. Her binoculars are on the president waiting to see him fall but hes not. Shes wondering what Carl is waiting for. Then She heard a muffled explosion and saw the president grab his chest then fall.



Carl had just shot the President and was now running in the sewer to the next manhole he would climb out of. He wasn't going straight to the hotel like he was supposed to he was going to find out who that old man behind the president was. He found the hospital that the president would be taken to and waited. When he saw the old man he just stood there and stared at him trying to figure out how he knew him. Then the old man noticed him and walked over to him and started asking him questions an told him his name was David Abraham. David told him he would send his son to talk to him if he would tell him where. Carl turned around and dropped a matchbook from his hotel.Carl walked into his hotel room and Kelly ran to him and hugged an kissed him saying he did a good job. Then he told her that he went to the hospital and talked to David and that he was sending his son to meet them. Kelly wasn't happy when he told her this she didn't understand why he did this or why he thought they needed the son. Carl didn't think the president was dead so he could use the son for that.


David was walking through the hospital trying to find someone who knew about the Presidents condition. He found the radiologist and asked him if there were any anomalies. The radiologist said no anomalies but it is very unusual. He told him the bullet entered between two ribs and missed the heart and lungs by a hair and exited between the 5th and 6th vertebrae. The radiologist called it a miracle but not an anomaly. then david left.

Carl and kelly were waiting for David's son to enter the hotel room while they heard on the news that the president had survived the attempt on his life. A couple mins later the son walked in and they hurried to the hotel he was at. When they got their he came in behind them. The boy looked like a little kid but he seemed older than he looked. The boy said his name was samuel and that they were friends when they were younger. Samuel told Carl his real name was Johnny Drake and that he was from Paradise, Colorado and that his mothers name is Sally. Kelly was trying to convice Carl that he was lying and that Kalman put him up to this but Carl wasnt sure who to believe.Before Samuel left he said go to Paradise and go find the truth.
Kelly tells Carl that his name really is Johnny Drake and that she has been lying to him since the start. Then they decide that they will go to Paradise but first they have to find a doctor to remove the implant from his brain so they left the hotel and went to a doctor outside the city.

Englishmen was on the way to take care of Carls mess but he was supposed to kill Carl first then kill the president. He knew they were on the way to the doctor so thats where he was going. When he got there he asked for the implant and the doctor tried to be sneaky and pull a gun but Englishmen was faster and shot the doctor and took the implant. He then headed toward Paradise, Colorado where Johnny was going.

The Origins of Street Racing

Ryan Burgess
12-1-08
Research Writing


The Origins of Street Racing


Street racing is defined as unsanctioned illegal auto racing on public roads. It is popular all over the world but it’s most popular in Japan and the U.S. Mostly the youth of the world participates in street racing. The older generation probably has a dislike towards it since they grew up around it and maybe even took part in racing and has seen the consequences. The youth that take place in the street racing scene are in their world. They listen to no one and only give respect to those who earn respect. People have thought of several reasons why people street race. One reason is street racing has no rules and no entry fees also it’s available for everyone where some places like bars and clubs are not. Another reason is some get excitement when cops provide a chase. But Street racing does have its down sides like accidents and increased theft and violence. Theft and violence increase because teens what faster cars so they resort to stealing nice cars.
There are three main types of street racing. The most popular is drag racing where two cars line up and race for usually a quarter mile and the car in front wins. Another type is touge racing or drifting. In drifting one or two cars line up one behind the other and race around curved roads. You win in drifting by getting to the bottom faster or getting ahead of the first car. The third type is cannonball runs which involve a handful of racers that race from one point to another and the car in front wins.
People have different thoughts of how street racing began and I think no one really knows how or who started it but one thing everyone seems to agree on is that it started when the first cars were made. Some theories of how street racing began are that it began around the 1930s because bootleggers would try to find ways to make their cars go faster and have better handling and to find out if they went faster they would race them which in turn would start drag racing. Another theory of how street racing began is that it was just a form of entertainment for teens to get away from the tragedy of the great depression. Young adults started working on Fords and Chevys to make them go faster then they would form groups and race. At first the police just let it slide because they thought it was just harmless fun but later when teens started wanting to race for money they cops had to put a stop to it because the teens wouldn’t care who got hurt in the process. In the end this would jump start the street racing scene that is today and if the police catch you street racing today they will impound your car and suspend your license.
From when street racing supposedly first started till now it has changed in some ways. For example technology has become more advanced since the 1930’s. Nowadays cars can be tuned with a computer and there are so many parts teens can put on their cars to increase the speed. The main types of cars used in street racing today are Fords, Honda, and Acuras. Car manufacturers are also always looking to increase the speed of their cars. With all the new technology for cars and computers street racing will only continue to happen around the world because as the cars get faster the racers get smarter.

American Romanticism

Rip Van Winkle was a interesting story. Some things that i thought were romantic in the story were that when he was down rip would talk to his dog and his dog would have the same mood as him. Rationalists wouldn't write things about people talking to dogs or dogs feeling the same as people because it wasn't rational thought. They might say sane people wouldn't talk to animals. Another thing i thought was romantic that stood out to me was that he slept for twenty years and still was alive. Rationalists wouldn't say this because it isn't scientifically possible to sleep that long and still be alive. I could tell this story was Romantic because it had a lot of details and imagination in it and that's what i think romanticism was about.

When i was reading Thanatopsis i didn't understand it much but after i watched the video it made more sense to me. i think the poem is saying that you shouldn't be afraid of death and if you are afraid then you should go to nature and listen to the voice of mother nature. i think its also saying that when you die you will become part of nature and will have more company than you did when you were alive and that everyone goes to the same place. Things that seemed romantic in this poem were that it was about nature and nature talking to someone that is afraid of death. Another romantic idea was that it was focused on imagination because without imagination you could believe nature talking to someone. also it talked about common people and how they would go to the same place as the kings and wise men.

i think the point of the poem The Ropewalk is that a man is getting sleepy working at a rope factory and he starts to day dream about some ways that rope can be used. For example two fair maidens in a swing or Then an old man in a tower, Ringing loud the noontide hour, While the rope coils round and round. The image that stands out the most to me is the lines Ships rejoicing in the breeze, Wrecks that float o'er unknown seas, Anchors dragged through faithless sand; The Ropewalk is a good example of romanticism because it includes a lot of imagery and imagination and that's what romantics mainly focused on.

A piece of art like that could be considered romanticism because it has the same ideas that most romantic writers use like for example the painting has nature in it and the clouds and water are red and you have to use your imagination to believe the water or sky could be red.

i believe that peice of art is considered romantic because i think the artist is depicting this painting to be a heavenly place with nature and imagination. you can tell the artist wanted people to use their imagination and emotions when they look at this painting.

Reading Summary 4

Carl passed his 2nd test an he had two days till his final test. During those two days he trained. when Kalman and Agotha told him his final was to kill Kelly he couldn't believe it. when he got back to where Kelly was they started to figure out a way around this test. Carl's idea was to go deep in his mind and then go back to kalman an say he couldn't do it then they would put him in the electric chair so he could have to hold off the electricity as long as he could. They had him in the chair for 15 seconds and he survived so he passed his final test which means he can go into the field and his first mission was to kill Assim Feroz(the Iranian defense leader).



The story then switches to David where he is watching the news at his home. He is flipping through the channels when he sees someone he knows and then calls the president to warn him.

Carl and Kelly are in New York setting up everything they need to for the assassination. they got three hotel rooms in three different hotels. they looked around the hotel where the target was to be at and Carl wanted to see the target(Assim Feroz). then they checked out his hotel before going back to get ready for tomorrow. Carl was sitting on the bed, thinking whether he could do this or not, while he was waiting for the right time so he could shoot Assim Feroz. Carl was into position when the shade was pulled an he could see the target and he was about to shoot when Kelly told him to abort the shot because there was a new target the President of the United States. So he got the president into his sites and then he saw the presidents son standing next to him. For some reason he couldn't take the shot an the shades were closed so Kelly told him to clean the room and come home. Carl wasn't happy that he failed the mission but he would have another chance tomorrow while the President was speaking.

Reading Summary 3

Carl is in his pit where its 150 degrees but he has control over his mind so it doesn't effect him. He is thinking back on a conversation him and Agotha had about zero-point field. she said that if he could ignore the heat maybe he could lower the heat with his mind. She wanted him to try so he has been trying but he cant tell if he has succeeded or not. the story switches to Kelly and Agotha watching Carl in his pit. Agotha notices that the temperature is down to 130 degrees an she asks Kelly if she lowered it but she said no so Agotha started to get excited because he must have lowered the temp with his mind. They let Carl out of the pit so he can recover for his test tom. they were out in the shooting range so they could practice for the test. Dale(Englishmen) and Janine were also training for the test. After they trained for a little bit Kelly explained the test. they would be in a crate and they had to shoot a target 5 times at twelve hundred yards while black hornets are in the crate. the first to hit the target would be set free an given a knife, the second would be set free and given a handgun and would have to hunt the first, the third would get to go to the infirmary.

the story then goes back to the president and his son. They are in the oval office waiting on one of the presidents meetings to start. when the man from the CIA(frank) gets there the presidents son leaves. the president asks him about the x-group and frank tells him that its a group of assassins that people can hire and there talk about a hit on Assim Feroz(defense minister of Iran).

The story switches to Carl laying in a crate waiting for the test to start. When he heard buzzing he knew it had begun so he searched for the target and shot 5 rounds in a matter of 3 mins and then he was let out the crate and given a knife. Carl started to run for his pit and he hid in a secret tunnel for a day so he could recover from the hornets poison. When he recovered he left the tunnel and waited for englishmen to come find him. Englishmen found him but he ad kelly hostage so carl dropped his knife then englishmen pushed kelly away and aimed the gun at carl but kelly shoots the gun out of his hand first and so carl passes the test.

Again the story changes to the president on Air Force One with David and the CIA director Ed Carter. they are talking about the assassination plan for Assim Feroz but the president said he will have no part in it and it better not happen or he will hold him responsible.

Reading Summary 2

The Book Saint begins in a room where a man and woman is tied to a bed. the mans name is Carl but he isn't sure about anything else in is life. the woman(Kelly) notices that he is awake an she starts telling him what happened cause he doesn't remember. she tells him that they have been kidnapped along with their son and a man wants him to do something or they are going to kill her and his son. they are trying to think of a way to escape when a man(named dale) walks in and walks over to his wife and shoots her in the leg. Dale then starts to tell Carl what they want him to do. they said he has sixty mins to kill a man and his wife in a hotel about 3 miles south and if he fails they will kill his wife an son and activate a device they implanted in his head then the man opens a window so Carl could leave an so he did. it took him about 15mins to get to the hotel. he then had to think of a plan to get into the room that the man and his wife are in. He decided that he would act like he just got out the shower an take the guards out by the door which he did then went into the room but the man and wife were expecting him. the man and wife(Joseph and Mary Fabin) started tellin him that his wife was safe and the people that were threatening him were lying. Carl knew he was running out of time so he shot Joseph and Mary in the chest and made his way back to the building with his wife. when he got back and climbed through the window the room was empty then the room started filling with a vapor and he passed out. He woke up to kelly saying his name. two other people were their named Laszlo Kalman and Agotha Balogh. They begin to tell him that he just completed a test and that no one was killed during the test. then kelly showed carl his quarters and told him who he was. From what she said he was Carl a trained assasin who works for the X-group. Then he entered his pit which is a place they control the tempature so that they can practice mind over matter.
The story then changes to the president of the United States. Robert Stenton is at Camp David with his spiritual advisor David Abraham and Secretary of State Calvin Bromley. They are meeting about a agreement that Iran wants to pass so that israel will have to lower its army size. david doesnt think its a good idea but bromley thinks it makes sense. The president asks to talk to David alone so the secretary leaves. after they talk more about the idea the presidents son Jamie asks to come in. jamie has downs syndrome slightly but he loves politics so his dad lets him sit in on some of his meetings. the president asked his son about irans idea and he said that he thinks iran is bad news and shouldnt be trusted.