Poetry Portraits

I Went to the Doctors
By Rachel Donka

I went to the doctors,
One beautiful day,
Then they pulled out a needle,
And said look away.

I was shaking in fright,
When they wiped the needles entrance spot,
I wanted to run,
But knew I could not.

Then one, two three,
And the shot was all done,
I hardly felt it go in,
As for pain I felt none.

I made all that anxiety,
And shed many a tear,
But I won’t be real happy,
When the next one is here.

The Punic Wars

The Punic Wars
By Rachel Donka
4/5/2010

The Punic wars were a series of bloody wars in which Rome and Carthage sought to conquer each other. They started with fighting over Sicily, and ended with the burning of Carthage. Although Carthage’s brave general Hannibal was strong and a tactical genius, he was no match for the bloody fighting Rome played them.
The first Punic war began in 264 BC when both Rome and Carthage wanted to control the barbaric Sicily. The two strong armies fought many battles on land, but neither country succeeded to conquer Sicily. So, Rome’s and Carthage’s naval forces began fighting. Rome’s ships were smaller, but much more maneuverable, and this gave them the advantage. However, Carthage believed that because their ships were larger and stronger, they had more power. The problem for Carthage was that the roman ships could swerve in and out of Cartage’s ships and light them on fire. In 241 BC, after 23 years of fighting, Rome conquered Sicily and drove Carthage’s army out. Rome then forced Carthage to pay a vast tribute to them.
The second Punic war commenced in 218 BC when a general from Carthage, Hannibal, crossed the Swiss Alps with hundreds of elephants in attempt to conquer Rome. Hannibal swept south winning every battle he fought, until he reached the outskirts of Rome. Their Hannibal found an angry army that was about to slaughter his men. Hannibal sent his elephants running toward the Romans, but the Romans made so much noise that the elephants stampeded backwards and crushed Hannibal’s own troops. Hannibal was forced to leave Italy in 201 BC after failing to do what he had been working towards during the 17 years of war, conquer Italy.
The third Punic war initiated in 149 BC when Rome decided to crush Carthage once and for all. Scipio, a Roman general who was the rival of Hannibal, set out with Rome’s vast army to conquer Carthage. Scipio sailed all of his men across the Mediterranean sea and laid siege to Carthage. No food or water could get in the city. Carthage would have fought back, but Hannibal had wasted Carthage’s army on a different campaign. Rome kept demanding that the nobles either surrender, or fight, and the nobles chose to fight. Although there were no real weapons in Carthage, the men made the most of what they had. Still, Carthage’s nobles hardly even impacted the sea of Roman soldiers, except for holding off Rome’s initial attack. In 146 BC, just three years after Rome set out to conquer Carthage, the city was burned to the ground and Rome sailed home triumphantly.
Rome was a very powerful empire, and it could not have anything stand in its way. Rome won all three Punic wars, and succeeded in crushing Carthage and its empire. Rome did not like competition for trading or anything else, and whoever stood in the Romans way was sure to be mashed into oblivion by the prevailing Roman supremacy.

Poetry Portraits

The Island of Hvar
By Rachel Donka

The crystal waters of the Adriatic,
Splash upon the shores,
The wind blows coolly over,
The island of Hvar.

The little town,
Is bustling with activity,
With many people talking,
The island of Hvar.

A castle atop the hills,
A tourist stop for sure,
A little begging cat,
The island of Hvar.

The Adriatic sea,
Just miles from Croatia,
With a beautiful little island,
The Island of Hvar.

This poem was written in free verse, the main style of poetry that was used by Walt Whitman.

Poetry Portraits

Walt Whitman
By Rachel Donka
3/25/10

Walt Whitman was born on Long Island on May 31, 1819. He went to school until he turned 11. Then, Walt was needed to help make money and support his family, so his early schooling was the only schooling he got. His first job was as an office boy. After Walt Whitman quit his job, he was apprenticed to the printers of the Patriot, a common newspaper. This is where Walt got his love for poetry.
Walt then went around from school to school teaching, but he soon tired of this and returned to his parents. Walt Whitman went back to working for newspapers, and he jumped from paper to paper for the rest of his life, writing poetry in his spare time. During the Civil he opening stressed his great love and respect for President Lincoln. Whitman firmly believed that slavery was wrong, and when Lincoln was assassinated, he wrote possibly his best poem, Oh Captain, My Captain.
Walt Whitman died on March 26, 1892, at the age of 73. Walt Whitman is one of the greatest poets of all time even though he had hardly any formal education.

Poetry Potraits

War
By Rachel

People are dying every day,
Swatted down like flies.
Machine guns sounding everywhere,
Silencing the cries.

Blood stains the yellow prairie,
As more people fall,
The killing goes on and on,
Until there is no one left at all.

Soldiers are covering the ground,
Calling out for water,
Children are crying out in distress,
Looking at the slaughter.

Babies are crying for their mothers,
Who lie bleeding on the floor,
Oh God answer me this question,
Why do countries go to war?

HUNGER ACTION WEEK!!!!

Hi! Yesterday, hunger action week ended for us. We only did about half a day yesterday because we celebrated the end of the week with grilled hamburgers. They were really good. I really enjoyed hunger action week. The food we ate was not much different than normal, but we didn't have any sugar, and, happily, I am off my sugar addiction (YEH!). The only problem with being off my sugar addiction is this: my mom does not want me to get back on it, so she is monitoring my sugar intake. I am not so happy about that, but at least i know i won't be re-addicted to sugar. Any way, I think that hunger action week was fun and I would totally do it again. This week gave me a small peek into how it would be to live on food stamps. But, for us it was nothing but a game. We can try as hard as possible to be on a food stamp like diet, but it is nothing more than a game of "can you do it?". All in all, I am very happy with hunger action week.

HUNGER ACTION WEEK!!!!

Hi! This week, my family and I are doing hunger action week. Hunger action week is where you try to eat on the amount of money you would get if you had food stamps only. My family has four people in it, so we are allotted $22.00 per day. Today is the first day of our week, and so far it doesn't seem very difficult. I think the part I will have the most trouble with is the fact that the only dessert we get is popcorn. I am used to being able to eat something sweet every day. I know I am addicted to sugar and that I need to do something to stop it, but I know it will be difficult for me. But, I am very glad we are doing hunger action week. So far, we have spent $128.00 and we get to spend about $30.00 more. I think we can do it. This morning, we ate oatmeal for breakfast. For lunch, I ate macaroni and cheese, and for dinner we are going to have roast chicken because then my mom can make a soup out of it and we will have two meals from one chicken. Here is a brief list of food items we bought:

Milk
Oatmeal
Whole Chicken
Oregano
Cheese popcorn
Tortilla chips
Popcorn kernels
Macaroni and Cheese
Beans
Rice
Bread
Tomatoes
Honey
Pasta
Turkey
Peanut butter
Jam
Olive oil
Tortillas
Cheese
ETC.

Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great of Macedonia
By Rachel
1/27/10

Alexander the Great was born in the year 356 BC. His father was King Phillip of Macedonia, and when Phillip was murdered, twenty year old Alexander became king. Alexander was a brilliant king. He began studying under Aristotle at the age of thirteen and Alexander kept up his studies until the age of eighteen, when he is proclaimed a general by his father. When Phillip dies, Alexander was proclaimed king, and he set off to conquer Persia, which was ruled by king Darius. Alexander never lost a single battle in combat in his life. He suffered along with his troops through everything they went through. After only three years of war with Persia, Darius is killed and Alexander is crowned king of all Persia. After winning Persia, Alexander traveled to Egypt, which used to belong to Persia, and was crowned Pharaoh by the Egyptians. While he was in Egypt, Alexander started believing that he was the son of Zeus, not Phillip. Alexander grew so haughty that his men almost rebelled against him. But, when he threatened to replace his Greek and Macedonian army with one of Persians, Alexander’s men immediately repented and begged his forgiveness. After Alexander’s crowning in Egypt, he set off to take Babylonia and India. Once he had taken control of Babylonia, he was going to go home, but when he glimpsed the forests of India, he forced his men to go with him to conquer it. After the first battle, Alexander’s men forced him to allow him to let them go home, because they had not seen their wives or their children in many years. So, Alexander turned his army around and they started journeying back to Macedonia. However, along the way, Alexander, the mighty warrior king and ruler of the known world, sickened and died. Alexander was the most skilled general in war that we know of, and his conquests will always be remembered.

Magnificent Music

The Story of Seikilos
By Rachel

Seikilos was an Ancient Greek musician. He composed the only song we still have today from Ancient Greece. It was called "Seikilos Song" and he composed it around 200 BC when his wife died. The song was written for the lyre. This song is about living your life and not being overwhelmed with grief when someone dies because in the end, everyone has to die to pay their debt to the gods. Here is a link to a video of this song: Song of Seikilos