The Lost Soldiers 


Body after Body, row after row

The young skin glow of soldiers turned grey and dull

Pink lips turned cold, and blue like an early winters morning

Brains filled with memories of loved ones; erased 

Their families at home, wishing for answers; why him; why

Sounds of nothing but destruction coming from every direction, surrounding those still standing

Sweaty hands gripping weapons so tight their knuckles turned white

Swollen feet longing to be off the ground, longing to feel fresh air

Early lives cut short for reasons that will never be solved

These are the harsh realities of the lost soldiers.

This poem I wrote is trying to show the realities of the soldiers that fight in war, and those who don't have a name. We always see it as such a great thing, which it is that they risk their lives for us, but is it really worth it for them? . In the poem "Dulce Et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen, he writes "Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots...(Owen7)." This is the reality to those in war. What do wars even do? They only cause lives lost, and families to be hurt. We often don't think about how the soldiers and their families feel, we're just grateful because it's not us. The ones fighting in war have names that we don't know, partners, mothers, children, brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles, and grandparents; so much family, as we all do. When those soldiers lose their lives, the families lose apart of themselves. They have memories with so many people, and been so many places, and have had impacted so many peoples lives, in so many different ways, and all of that is just..gone so quickly. Sometimes in war, soldiers who get killed aren't always found; they go "missing in action." So, this poem is for soldiers, the ones who die without a name, the ones who are never found, the ones who go MIA, and aren't able to officially be put to rest, and have their families say goodbye.

9/11

*Pick a world conflict that has happened in the last 20 years*


I don't think we'll ever really know why 9/11 happened, but what we do know is what happened, because it's burned in our memories as a country forever. Often, the United States wants everyone to think we are so strong, and powerful; and we are, but that day changed everything. Although it weakened us at first, in the end we became stronger than ever. On September 11th 2001 terrorists hijacked planes and flew them into the World Trade Center killing about 2,737 people in the Twin Towers alone, and 2,996 people all together, including firefighters, police, and many others, and about 6,000 more people injured that day. But in this case, those numbers don't do it justice. Those numbers had names, families, lives to live, and most importantly, were completely innocent. This was a huge loss for the United States. Those terrorists took innocent lives from us, what more of a reason would you need to go to war with someone? The poem "The Diameter of the Bomb" by Yehuda Amichai says, "with four dead and eleven wounded. And around these, in a larger circle of pain and time,(Amachia3-5)." It was completely unexpected, and there wasn't much we could do about it, but watch the horror unravel in front of our eyes that day. And although people think of the destruction, and the many losses that day, they often don't think of the positive side, which is sometimes a hard thing to do, given the circumstances. This day, although one the most painful in our history, it helped bring us together(brotherhood). Many people came together that day to help out, like the cops, firefighters, and even people who who just felt the need to help. On this day, and still today, we have come back even stronger than before, and have taken the right precautions to make sure it never is able to happen again.

Casualties info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_September_11_attacks

Venezuela Rising

The people in the Venezuela Rising video are clearly experiencing a huge amount of loss in a lot of aspects. Not only are a great amount of people losing their lives everyday, but people are losing the respect of their government as well. People are going against their government and protesting, and causing a huge amount of destruction, the government isn't really doing much about it. The streets are dangerous, so many people are losing their lives, and no one is really helping. It said about "14 people everyday are killed". That's a huge loss of life, and so many loved ones. Not only is there a huge amount of loss, but probably guilt as well. Guilt maybe from the government, and from the people who cause the destruction and are the reason for many lives being lost every single day. We can also see brotherhood in this. A protest is a group of people standing together, fighting for something that all mutually believe in, and in that, we see brotherhood. Overall, the situation that is going on there is just terrible, and we have to feel for those who are going through such a heart wrenching thing.

What if the Zodiac was a woman?

Technically we dont even know if the Zodiac Killer is male or female, but I think more things point towards male. Like many people know, the Zodiac hasn't even been caught. They have had many male suspects with supporting evidence, but it always fell through. But can you imagine if the Zodiac was a woman? What aspects of the story would change? In my opinion if the Zodiac was a woman, it would be very obvious. The notes that police have would be very different. One note goes "She was young and beautiful, but now she is battered and dead. She is not the first and she will not be the last...(Graysmith168)." Not that a woman couldn't say another woman is beautiful, and not that they couldn't be as brutal as that, but I feel the Zodiac was twisted and not only like to kill, but also liked to sexually torture his victims. I feel in serial killers, the men like the control of raping and torturing his victims, and a lot of things point to the Zodiac doing that. "...her breast felt very warm and firm under my hands,(Graysmith169)." I don't think a woman would necessarily think that way. I feel when woman are serial killers it's more because a man has hurt them in life, and they just despise men. That's not always the case, but I feel it's pretty common. So, if the Zodiac was a woman, not only would the notes be different, but the crimes and the evidence as well. I feel like a woman would have a better chance of getting caught. There's so many things that could give it away that the killer was a woman, like longer hair(although some men do have long hair), makeup smudges, and just overall, I don't think woman would be as good with getting away with it like the Zodiac has.. or is? Another thing that proves it's not a woman, and would surely be different if it were is the handwriting. Again, not that a woman can't have bad handwriting, but most people would look at this and say it's definitely a males handwriting. There are many things about the Zodiac that would change if the gender of the Zodiac was female.

Theme/Subject/Topic

What could be so interesting about a murderer who hasn't been caught, and why would someone write a book about it? I can definitely answer that for you. The book "Zodiac" by Robert Graysmith is about the unsolved cases that the Zodiac Killer has committed. The reason this book is so interesting and definitely worth a read, is because, not only has the killer still not been identified, but there's so many twists, you would hardly believe it's all true. The Zodiac Killer taunts and tortures the police with notes saying who he may kill next, who he's already killed, or just creepy nonsense that will send shivers down your spine. No evidence has ever been left behind to make further connections, besides the hand writing in the notes, but even those have police confused. "Police announced that 'a state expert has compared our main suspect's handwriting and ruled it not the same as the Zodiac's. But that does not mean that our local man did not kill the girl. It merely means that the Riverside man is not the Zodiac,' (Graysmith174)." There are so many frustrating things about the Zodiac cases, and it makes you just want to keep reading to see what happens. But I can assure you, and I hate to spoil this, but the Zodiac, to this day, has not been identified. Whoever he is, he makes for a great book, that's for sure.

The Zodiac Killer is just another archetype

Could there be archetypes in a real life murder mystery? Of course there can. You know that cliché story of the big scary man who comes with a gun to come kill you and the love of your life, while alone in the car, about to get it on? That's no fake story. For Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday, that's the sad reality. There are so many archetypes in the book. It's like that horribly, cheaply made Netflix movie you cant stop talking about. A young couple was going on a date one night. Their original plans were to go to a concert, and then to a party afterward, but plans changed and they ended up at "Lover's Lane," which later on would be known as one the places the mysterious "Zodiac Killer" would kill his first-known victims. The couple told their parents they would be home at 11:00 pm, but like the over-used story goes, they disobeyed their prior promises to their parents, and that's where things start to go wrong. Sitting in Lover's Lane, so no one could see them, they noticed a man pull up next to them. The man steps out of his car with a gun and well.. you know the rest. Had the cliché teens not disobeyed their plans, and promises, they may still be alive. This is only the start of the Zodiac's cliché works in his murder career. Isnt it sad when your life becomes a real life archetype?