Valerie+Lozano

By Valerie Lozano Imagine you had a great future ahead of you. You had the looks, the brains, and you were a gifted athlete. Then, all of a sudden something tragic happens, your parents die. Now, in order for your youngest brother to have a future, you must give up your own. Well, that’s what happened to Darry, he did this for his brother, Ponyboy, in the book __The Outsiders__. Although Darry and Ponyboy are brothers doesn’t mean that they don’t have their differences. For instance, Ponyboy has long, brownish red, greasy hair, while Darry has short, dark brown hair. However, those are only minor differences. The way the brothers think makes them difference too. Darry made some sacrifices for Ponyboy, such as giving up his future (which was going to college); in order to become Ponyboy’s Guardian and him to have a future of his own. Sometimes when Ponyboy does something wrong or makes a mistake Darry yells at him. For instance, in the book it said, “I didn’t mean to! Darry shouted. . . I didn’t think! That’s all I hear from you! Can’t you think of anything?” This situation shows that Darry does yell when Ponyboy makes a mistake because that was his response for him being outside too late. When Pony is getting yelled at he feels like Darry only cares for his other brother, Sodapop, and that he can’t wait for him to leave the house. This is obviously not the case because later on in the story, Ponyboy realized something he didn’t before. He said, “Darry did care about me, maybe as he cared about Soda, and because he cared he was trying to hard to make something out of me.” The brothers do have some similarities. For instance, they are both book smart. That’s why Darry was going to go to college. Just like Darry, Ponyboy gets good grades in school. Both of them must do well in school because they play sports too. When Darry was in high school Ponyboy said he was captain of the football team, while he who is currently in school, does track. On the whole, the characters Darry and Ponyboy, from __ The Outsiders, __ have their similarities and differences. Sometimes their differences can drive them to the point of disagreement. But in the end their brother, Sodapop, knows how to reunite them. Like he said in the book, “We’re all we’ve got left. We ought to be able to stick together against everything. If we don’t have each other, we don’t have anything. . .” And that’s how brothers should stand- as one whole, through whatever that life throws at them-which was exactly was what the Curtis boys did.
 * __ Compare and Contrast Essay __**

**__ Screen Time Essay __** By Valerie Lozano Picture you sitting in the waiting room, patiently sitting there until it’s your turn to see the eye doctor. Sitting there, you begin to think what caused you to come here. The thought finally hits you because of how many hours of the day you stare at the screen of your entertaining, electronic devices. The cause of spending too much screen time leads you to this. If parents in each household reduced screen time of their children we could increase physical activities, improve social skills, and protect our health. As we all know, health experts say that we should spend less time looking at the screen and doing more physical activities. By doing this it would set positive examples for families. In addition, it would decrease obesity across the nation. Throughout the years studies have shown that getting overweight is contagious because you are under the influence of many people such as your family and friends. If a family eats healthy and exercises, the children are going to do the same. On the other hand, if a family does not eat healthy and does not exercise, the child is going to follow those negative actions because they are under the influence. Another reason we should reduce screen time is because it would improve kids’ social skills. Instead of talking in the phone, kids are more likely to send their friends text messages or chat with them. If this continues kids’ will lack social skills because they would forget their manners. Also, their grammar will lack because in text messages many people use acronyms instead of the whole would. Last, but not least, our health. Spending too much time with electronics could lead us to health problems such as the eyes, ears etc. This is why parents should control how much time they use the device. It would help prevent any unnecessary problems to come. All in all, screen time should be reduced to get more positive results in return. Such as the increase physical activity will decrease obesity, improve social skills will help us use our manners, and stay healthy. Therefore for all these possible outcomes to turn into a reality, parents should enforce screen time rules. So you wouldn’t be sitting in the waiting room for an eye doctor to see you.