What I've Learned

A major change in my writing this year involved building of a thesis statement. I have learned to write a better persuasive paper by building off my thesis and developing more ideas. In the first persuasive paper I wrote I didn’t have a strong thesis statement or a topic sentence. Through many revisions and hard work I have really developed when it come to the structure of a persuasive papers. Suh as my one from my letter I wrote to the U.N. from Paul’s prospective, “As one who is witnessing all the killings…, I plead you to please the Interhamwi. I am still not a pro but I have really in proved. I technique I learned to help the structure of my paper be stronger was to plan out what I was going to write before I put anything down. I would plan out my thesis my topic sentence and my support then bled it all together in my writing. Doing this lead to a more organized and thought out paper.

In my reading I have learned a lot. I have been able to dissect a piece of writing and figure out the true meaning. The first time we read The American Scholar by Emerson I was lost. I had no idea what he was addressing or how this related to Global Ed. It took three days to really brake down the article word for word and make sense of each sentence. By the end of the week I had developed the idea Emerson was talking about how people are changing to more of a me culture which is hurting our society. For this experience I’ve learned how to take on big and confusing pieces of writing and brake them down.

For me the Rwandan genocide debate was one of the most interesting and fun things we have done. I have learned when going into a debate you can’t just prepare your selves to attack others opinions but you must ready yourself to be attacked. We came up with a couple of questions we knew we were going to face. By answering these ahead of time we were able to look ready and focus on questioning our foes and back our allies. We were representing France, and we knew that the question of us getting involved with the war just to keep the French name alive would come up. Of course if did we were able to deflect the bullet and then help back our good friend, Juvenal Habyarimana.

Another section I have learned a lot in is how to find a good article or information on a topic. I have given up Google and graduated to Infotrack and Mel. These sites lead me right to a creditable source so I don’t have to spend my time looking at each site that is brought up. Learning how to find reiable sources has also helped me when it comes to finding information. Now I don’t have to go to Wikipedia to learn about South African history and worry about what is true and what is just made up.

I have learned so much about Rwanda I don’t know where is start. I loved learning about it cause I knew so little and it scared yet fascinated me that 800,000 people could be killed and I not know about it until 9th grade. I learned that the tension between Hutus and Tutsis started way before the killings. The spark that started the fire was the plane crash of Juvenal. The fact that the power had just been turned back over to the Hutus before Belgium left. Their were Hutu extremists that lead the attacks from a radio station. These are only some of the 100's of facts I learned while studying Rwanda.

A Stromberg Tradition

Christmas is a time of gathering with family and sharing memorable times. Every year my family attends the 11 o’clock Christmas Eve candle light service. It was December 24th 2001 and little did we know that this year’s Candle light service was going to be one of the most memorable nights ever.
For those of you who don’t know at the end of the candle light service you grab a candle, light it and stand by while you sing Silent Night, this is the story of the most exciting 3 verses of my life.

Verse 1- Silent Night, Holy Night, All is calm all is bright.

We grow quite as the candles begin to light and the first verse begins. We walk down the aisle collect our candle light it and file back into our pews. I was only 8 at the time and being super responsible it was my first year with my own candle, but the flam only lasted a few minutes and went out.

Verse 2-Silent Night, Holy Night, Sheppard Quake at the sight.

My mom takes priority and decides to light a itinerary and then transfer the flam to mine. She leans over and lights the itinerary from my dad’s candle. Unexpectedly the paper goes up in flames faster then she can react. Protecting herself she drops the fire ball on my sister’s fake fur coat.

Verse 3- Silent night, Holy night, Son of God, Love’s Pure Light
The coat immediately catches fire and my whole family reacts by stomping on the coat over and over again. At this point we forgot about being discrete and had caught the attention of the people around us. The fire finally went out and the lights came on. As we surveyed the damage we had mixed emotions, we were sad yet couldn’t help to chuckle. There was a pretty significant black spot on the rug and my sister’s coat looked like road kill touched will gas then lit on fire.

We never attended another candle light service at the same place. Actually we left that church about 2 months later. Now every Christmas Eve we have to retell the story of our own Christmas miracle.

Frances role in Rwandan Genocide

During the Rwandan debate in Mr. Fielder’s 6th hour class I had the chance of defending France. Few people know the details about the Rwandan genocide and at first some my think France was just an innocent by stander of situation. In the past week I have studied and learned how attached France was to Rwanda and also how big of role they played in the genocide.

Frances connection to Rwanda dates back to 1975 (way before the genocide even started) when France signed a military agreement with the president Juvenal Hayarimana. In just a few years President Hayarimana developed a personal bond with France. He made many trips to France to see Francois Mitterrand, a Socialist leader of France. Due to the military agreement France started to help teach and strengthen the Rwandan army. They claimed they were just their in order to support and stabilize Rwanda, others accuse them of using this engagement with Rwanda as a way of keeping there name and language a world power.

When President Hayarimana’s plane was shot down, by the way the plane was bought by France and given to Hayarimana as a gift, France took action. They immediately sent in private investigators to find out who shot down the plane. At this time though the killings had started and the Hutus were killing all Tutsis in their sight. Even some Rwanda soldier’s were blamed in the killing of innocent Tutsis. When France found out about the mass killings they stopped all support to the Rwandan Armed Forces.

Many would think they would switched sides and defended the innocent Tutsis, but that was not the case. They helped for only a couple weeks but after witnessing the death of 10 UN soldier and once they got all there men and French natives out they left. They thought that then 10 lives was worth the 800,000 Tutsis killed. This is only one nation intertwined in the Rwandan genocide there are many other nations and political parties that refused to help.

The worse part about the genocide is that it went unnoticed. America refused to even recognize is horrible occurrence and the UN didn’t call it a genocide because if they did they would have to encounter into the war. 800,000 innocent people died and it went unnoticed even to this day you can ask your parents or grand parents about it and they wont know what your talking about. In this past month searching and learning about the Rwandan genocide has really opened my eyes.


P.S.-If anyone would like to learn more about the genocide I would highly recommend the movie Hotel Rwanda.

"The American Scholar"

Emerson’s argument in “The American Scholar” about the American society still holds true today. One reason Emerson’s argument still holds true today is the idea that American’s are still taught to specialize in one section of research or one type of career. Just last week my counselor came into my class and talked about the 6 career pathways. He went on to talk about how we need to choose a pathway quickly so we could schedule the classes that fit into that pathway. From an early age we are told to pick a career and stay with it. This is the exact idea that Emerson argues in his book “The American Scholar.”

People play their roll in life like a football player plays his roll on the field. Yes this works but when a quarterback can only throw and the lineman can only block your teams going to be half way decent. If you want to be a great team you need to have Tim Tebow as your quarter back, in other words someone who is strong fast and can run well too. People need to break the habits of zeroing in on one topic or specialty. We need to open up and look out for others just as much as we look out for ourselves.

The Perfect Milkshake

Scoop it in
Using an ice cream scooper scoop the wanted amount of ice cream into pitcher. Remember that the pitcher is still in the motor or main base. If you want to make small milkshakes then you add 3 scoops of ice cream for every person that wants one. For a large milkshake scoop in 4 scoops of ice cream for every person that wants one.

Add some Flav’
Like the milk measure the amount of chocolate syrup before you put it in, measure in tablespoons. For a small milkshake add 2 tablespoons of chocolate for every person that wants one. For a large add around 3 1/2 tablespoons for every person that wants one.

Poor it in
Always measure the milk before pouring it in, a measuring cup would probably is the best. For a small milkshake pour in just 1/4 of a cup for everyone that wants one. For a large milkshake pour in 2/3 cups of milk for everyone that wants one.

Mix it All Together
Blending is tricky you have to do it perfect, because it’s different every time I can’t tell how long to blend. When blending always keep one hand on top of the blender and the other on the switch. Begin by just turning on the blender for just 2 or 3 seconds, once done tack off the top and push the ice cream done near the blades with a spoon. When doing this part of the step make sure the blender is off. Next put the top back on and blend for 5 to 6 seconds this time rock the blender back and forth. Turn the blender off, take of the top off again and take a spoonful of the milkshake and taste it if you like it you can move on. If it is too watery the milkshake is rowan. If it is to thick still keep blending in intervals of 2 to 3 seconds until you like the texture, then you can proceed.

Out it comes
Pouring seems simple but if you do it wrong you can spill the milkshake everywhere. Take the pitcher of the motor or main base; tilt the pitcher a little bit more the 45 degrees above a cup. Using a large spoon genially guide the milkshake out into the cup. Do not rush.

Fix it up
If you have any milkshake on the outside of the cup wipe if off using a dishtowel. You don’t have to do this step but I always do. Shake that whipped cream bottle before using turn at a 90 degree angle and push very top add as much as you like. Twirl it up so it looks an up-side-down cone. Drizzle a little chocolate syrup over the whipped cream and enjoy.

Clean it up
Cleaning may seem hard but it is easy. You put back the main base where you found it. Pour water into the pitcher a couple of times to get most of the extra milkshake out. Then take it apart, turn the pitcher upside down and start with black base. The pitcher, the black base, the blade and plastic washer, the large spoon, and the cup or cups you used can all go in the washer. Then all you have to do is wipe down the area you use with a wet rag.


More Chocolate
Adding chocolate chips doesn’t have to be precise like adding milk or chocolate syrup. I usually put in half a hand full for every small milk shake I am making and a handful for every large milkshake I am making.

Breast Cancer Walk- Bell Isle

When I realized senate would be doing a breast cancer walk in Detroit I pictured myself walking with just a few hundred other people around abandoned buildings and looking over my shoulder every few minutes. I had never been to Bell Isle but with the reputation Detroit has I didn’t expect much.

On October 10th, bright’n early at 7 o’clock, we met at Stevenson to go over what the plan was. With in a half an hour the game plan was set and we were on our way. The drive to Detroit was pretty normal, the abandoned buildings to look at and the occasional hobo, it felt like going to any other tigers games or lions game. Hyped up with energy and proudly wearing the title “Spartans For Rozman” on our backs we were ready.

The first time I realized this wasn’t going to be any ordinary trip to Detroit was when I saw the dozens and dozens of school buses with pink ribbons transporting people to and from Bell Isle. At the bus stop was when we met the first lady who like us was full of energy. Armed with a megaphone she was pumping everyone up and in some cases waking some people up.

When we arrived on Bell Isle it was truly amazing. The atmosphere made it seem like you were in a different planet, not to mention all the pink. We were immediately noticed thanks to our enthusiasm and matching shirts. Next thing I knew we were being interviewed on channel 2, and my mom calling me to tell me (even though it was pretty obvious the camera was right in front of my face).

We stayed at the start for a while and prepared our self for the 5-mile walk a head of us. After a brief bathroom break and more then enough head counts we were on our way. Walking around bell Isle you would of never guess you were in Detroit. The atmosphere was great nd this was made even better with the help of the beautiful scenery.

I would love to say we successfully walked the entire 5-miles, but throughout most of it we caught ourselves speed walking, skipping, jogging, singing, and even at one point running. To some we were probable annoying but to others we represented all the kids who care about the community and are willing to show it. This experience exceeded all expectations and I am planning to go next year.

Invisible Children

Just about every American has herd the name Taliban or Al Quida but what about the Lords Resistance Army? The Lord’s Resistance Army, better known as the LRA, is a terrorist group in the northern part of Uganda. Though they have not committed any serious crime against the United States they still need to be recognized and stopped.

The LRA is known for their use of abducting children at night then turning them into child soldiers, because of this, the country of Uganda has had to displace 100,000’s of people and many have lost their lives. The worse part is this has been going unnoticed for 23-years.

Leading the rebel group is a man by the name of Joseph Cony. He is arguable the most feared man in Uganda. He is responsible for thousands of deaths and over 25,000 child abductions. In the past few years the Invisible Children organization has worked hard to get other nations to recognize this problem and stop Joseph Kony.

Invisible Children was started by three young man who decided to take a trip to Uganda, what they didn’t know is that they would discover a 23-year old war. All three loved to make movies, so to them the best way to get this problem noticed is to make a film about what’s going on. After making one video they couldn’t stop they made more and influenced even more. Be for they knew it they had uncovered one of the longest running wars.

In just the past 5 year’s Invisible Children were able to stop the night commutes, get the attention of the United States government along with other influential countries, and also start peace talk between the Ugandan government and the LRA. During night commutes children would get up and walk miles and miles to the nearest hospital or bus park just to sleep in safety, only to get up the next morning and start to walk again. The worse part is they do it every night.

Unfortunalty Joseph Kony turned down the last two peace agreements and is still kid napping children. Invisible Children organization need all the help they can get. From donating a couple of dollars to going to Uganda and just talking to the kids. If you want to know how to get involved go to the Invisible Children web site and see what else you can do to help bring the invisible children home.