Bibliography

Argument essay- Managing Contact Sports

Brain Expert: Kids Shouldn't Play Contact Sports." WCVB. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2015.

Brody, Jane E. "For Children in Sports, a Breaking Point." The New York Times. The New York Times, 24 May 2010. Web. 30 Jan. 2015.

"Competitive Sports: Helping Kids Play It Cool." KidsHealth - the Web's Most Visited Site about Children's Health. Ed. Michelle New. The Nemours Foundation, 01 Mar. 2011. Web. 02 Feb. 2015.

Argument Essay- Managing Contact Sports

Jackson Hill – 711

In the past year, more and more kids have been getting injured or even dying from playing contact sports. “More then 3.5 million children under 15 require medical treatment for sports and injuries, and nearly half of which are the result of simple overuse.” I think that children should be able to play contact sports only if there are greater checks and balances for their health. Parents and coaches pushing their kids or team too hard is many times the case with kids playing too hard in contact sports. Kids often think that winning is the only option to gain the approval of their parent or coach. When this happens, it results in kids taking unnecessary risks and end up pushing them selves to the breaking point or the emergency room.

                  Doctors know best. Kids should be able to play contact sports only if they capable of doing so. Forcing an injured child to play will only make the injury worse. In New York Times, “For Children in Sports, a Braking Point” by Jane E. Brody, Mark Hyman says, “With each passing season youth sports seem to stray further and further from its core mission of providing healthy, safe and character-building recreation for children.”  This shows that people think that sports are more about winning and competition, and less about exercise and fun. In the same article, Brody wrote, “Mr. Hyman realized his foolish shortsightedness in putting winning ahead of his son’s well-being.” If a doctor says that a child needs rest instead of playing sports, than parent should listen instead of putting their child into the championships.

                  Diversity is key. In the hope of becoming professional one day, kids are playing one sport all year long and they are putting extreme stress on their body by doing so. “A major factor in the rising injury rate is the current emphasis in playing one sport all year long which leaves no time for muscles and joints to recover from the inevitable micro trauma that occurs during practice and play,” says Brody in the New York Times article. If kids play one sport all year long, they will have less chance of becoming professional when they grow up. For example, if a child wants to be a pitcher when he grows up and he keeps putting stress on his arm, his chances of injury are high and chances of professionalism are low. There are many ways of preventing this stress too, like playing a variety of sports, or training correctly. The Archives of Disease in Childhood says, “At least 60% of all injuries sustained were in direct relation to training and could have been avoided by appropriate changes in training programs.” It is not only the parents who are putting stress on the kids but also sports programs in general.

                  Some people think that kids should never play contact sports because they think it is too dangerous for kids. In the article, Brain Expert: Kids Shouldn’t Play Contact Sports,” Dr. Robert Cantu, chairman of the Department of Surgery at Emerson Hospital says, ”We are going to be recommending that nobody under the age of 14 be involved in collision sports.” People think that the statistics of children getting hurt in contact sports are too high for them to be playing. I disagree because it is not their fault that they are getting hurt. If we change the way we train the kids, then it will be much safer for kids to play, and have fun. Brody writes, “The goal of youth participation in sports, the [American Academy of Pediatrics] council said, ‘should be to promote physical activity, recreation skills of healthy competition’.” If parents, coaches and kids will change to be healthier and more responsible, than youth sports will meet it’s goal of giving a healthy competition to young kids.

                  Kids should only be able to play contact sports if they are healthy and responsible for doing so. If parents and coaches listen to doctors more often, then there will be less of a chance of a child getting hurt. Though we can’t stop all injuries from happening, we can prevent most of them. Putting less stress on kids will help them follow their dreams. Some training programs are trying to prevent injuries by developing kids skills for a year before putting them on the field. This is a good example of how people are trying to improve youth sports.  Kids should be playing it safe, not sorry.

Building Bridges Published Essay

It’s hard to fight for your dreams. Bebe is trying to follow her passion but her grandmother won’t let her.  Building Bridges, by Andrea Davis Pinkney is a short story about a girl named Bebe and her relationship with her Grandmother, Mama Lil. Bebe’s parents died when she was young and so she grew up with her grandmother for most of her life. Throughout the story, Bebe and Mama Lil's relationship changed. This story takes place in a time period where racism was still very prevalent. Bebe wants to be an engineer but Mama Lil says “Ain’t no black woman gonna do a white mans work.” This story has many symbols and they are what drive this story until the end.

Mama Lil and Bebe are separated in many ways throughout the story. One way is the smoking, which symbolizes the uncommunicative relationship between Mama Lil and Bebe. Whenever Mama Lil is watching TV, she is always smoking and it seems like she is in another world, to Bebe. On page 30, Bebe says “Mama Lil sat as still as a statue… ‘if you don’t sign this- if you won’t sign it-  I’ll sign it myself.’” I feel like this shows the separation of Mama Lil and Bebe and also what a lot of kids are experiencing in the world, therefore it is an important symbol in the story. Mama Lil turning her back on Bebe is another symbol of their lack of communication. Mama Lil always turned her back on Bebe because she wanted to avoid the truth. On page 22, Mama Lil says “‘You get cranky every time we talk about that nasty job you wanna get.’ Mama Lil turned her back to me and began to fill the sink with soapy water.” Also, the fact that Bebe notices strong back muscles means that Mam Lil turns her back to Bebe a lot.

Throughout the story, Bebe wants to work as an engineer on the bridge project but Mama Lil doesn’t think a ‘black woman’ should be an engineer.  The symbol of the bridge is one of the most important because it is what drives the story. At the end of the story, Mama Lil and Bebe have a much better relationship and the bridge symbolizes the connection between them. On page 34, Pinkney writes “’Bebe, that bridge is lucky to have you,’ she [Mama Lil] said. I [Bebe] hugged Mama Lil good and hard, then I got up to go. Just before I left the kitchen, I turned and smiled big, right at her. ‘Yeah, it is,’ I [Bebe] said.”  The bridge also symbolizes the state of their relationship. The bridge needs fixing and so does their bond. On page 25, Pinkney writes “She [The Brooklyn Bridge] needed repair. She was some 40 years older than Mama Lil. As lovely as she was, she had some serious rough spots”.  This concludes, at the end of the story, Bebe and Mama Lil’s fixed friendship.

“With each scrub, she hunched further over the sink, giving that pan every bit of strength she had. ‘This damn grease is stubborn,’ she said, her back muscles tense with effort. This quote, on page 23, shows the pan as a symbol because Mama Lil thinks that Bebe is stubborn and she wants to scrub that stubbornness off her.  A final symbol, the cigarette pack, represents Mama Lil at the end of her fight. She smoked throughout the whole story and at that moment, she wants a cigarette and the pack is empty. On page 30, Pinkney states “Mama Lil reaches for her pack of Carlton’s, which were resting on the arm of her sofa. She felt for a cigarette, but the pack was empty.”  This is a powerful symbol because it shows emptiness.

Pinkney shows lots of symbolism through the story. Even the title, Building Bridges, shows what the story is about, building a better relationship. This story shows how people can get through hard parts of life. Stubbornness, avoidance and giving in are all aspects of life that we have experienced. Many teenagers in the world go through the same stuff that Bebe and her grandmother went through in the story.  It's hard to fight for your dreams, but it is worth it when you try.

My Name- Jackson Demott Hill

My Name

      I have three names. My names are Jackson, Demott and Hill. They are special to me because I feel like no one else has this special set of names, like am the only "me" in the world. 

   Jackson was chosen because my mom and dad thought it was powerful but had a soft side to it too. This really explains my personality. Jackson was the best name that went with Demott and Hill. Other first names that were considered were Basil and Benjamin. Basil is a Syrian name which comes from my moms side. 

Florence and Max Demott

   Demott is special because it was my great grandfathers first name. Demott is a Flemish name and came from a part of Belgium. It was originally the last name of my grandfathers family who originally settled in Michigan. My grandmother has a drawing of the original Demott family house. It is cool that it started as a last name, went to a first name and is now a middle name. I never met my great grandfather, but he seemed like a very interesting guy. He was my dads grandfather. He designed boxes, if you can believe that!

   My last name, Hill is my dads last name. I was always jealous of my sister because she has both my dads side and my moms side in her name. My mom decided when she got married that she did not want to change her name and stuck with Megan Mardiney. My sisters name is Mariah Mardiney Hill so I guess she gets the best of both worlds. 

   I still love my name, non the less and will never change it. Jackson expresses who I am, Demott expresses my heritage, and Hill represents me.

~Diary of a Wimpy Kid Cabin Fever~

Essay by jackson hill

class 711

9/17/14

   Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a great coming of age series. I love to read them because I can really relate to the stuff Jeff Kinney talks about in his books. Greg Heffly, the main character, goes through a lot of the same stuff I go through.

   Greg is in middle school in the book Cabin Fever. I am in middle school too and I go through a lot of the 'middle school drama' that Greg goes through. For instance, Greg gets embarrassed by his mom a lot, and so do I. On page 120, Greg is having secret santa day in class, but his mom didn't get the whole secret thing. So when Greg forgot to make the card, his mom wrote it and she said it was from 'Greg Heffly',which ruined the whole thing. This is the kind of humor that is in this series.

   I highly recommend this series for any middle school kid. the writing is super funny and the graphics are too! They make me laugh every time! I find the series very entertaining to read, and I can't wait to read more of his wimpy kid graphic novels!