My book, Gangsterland a novel ends in Las Vegas at the synagogue. The main character David Cohen, formerly known as Sal Cupertine, a hit man for the Chicago mafia is now a rabbi in Las Vegas. At this point in the book, the FBI agent named Jeff Hopper, who has been trying to track him down is visiting all locations that Kochel farms delivers shipments of meat to (See previous blog post for more info). On his list is the Temple Beth Israel. He heads in and meets with David, and is immediately suspicious when David answers none of his questions. As David takes him on a tour of the campus, Jeff starts accusing him of not answering any questions, and as soon as David offers him a handshake, Jeff says "You didn't tell me what happened to your face" with David responding "All is Vanity." Jeff then says "Then I'd think you'd want a better plastic surgeon." (Goldberg Pg. 369) At this point David takes a knife from his pocket and stabs Hopper 3 times. The ending scene in my book takes place back in Chicago with Jennifer Cupertine, Sal's wife. As she leaves her desk at a museum to grab lunch a strange package is delivered for her. As she opens it she realizes that there are 7 stacks of hundred dollar bills followed by a note from her husband reading "I will send more when I can. I love you and William. I always have and I always will." (Goldberg Pg. 382) This is how my book ends. This ending really shows that your mistake will catch up to you. This is a valuable lesson in life, and the main takeaway from my book. This lesson can also relate to my current connections blog post, in which my connection is modern day gangs. Those gangs end up getting caught most of the time, once again showing how important the lesson from my book is.
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In my book, Gangsterland the main character Sal Cupertine a hitman for the Chicago mafia, kills 3 FBI agents and a CI. He then goes to his cousin, Ronnie Cupertine, a higher up in the Mafia is able to put him on a meat shipping truck were he is sent to Las Vegas. More than 6 months later he emerges as a new man, with a new face. He is now David Cohen, a Jewish rabbi at the nearby temple. The temple is the front for a money and body laundering scheme. He becomes good friends with Bennie Savone, the mafia man who brought him to Vegas. Together along with the head Rabbi, Savones father in law, the two have made millions in the past years. Bennie and Davids alliance is furthered as he is ordered to kill a lower member with whom he has been living with. In the meantime back in Chicago a FBI agent named Jeff Hopper who was responsible for the 3 agents Sal killed has been put on leave, following a run in with Sal's wife. Him along with Matthew Drew a FBI intern who was also fired, aim to track down Sal. The two of them approach Fat Monte one of Ronnie Cupertines enforcers, and while talking to him, Matthew punches him in the face. Later that night Fat Monte calls Hopper and gives him one piece of information before he shoots his wife in the head, leaving her paralyzed, and killing himself. Kochel Farms. Hopper then goes back to the FBI and in return for the information they make him a deal for his future. Back in Vegas, Bennie is being extra cautious as two of his employees at one of his ventures have been arrested. Back in Chicago, the FBI along with Jeff and the U.S. marshals raided Kochel Farms. The farm had no connections at all to the mafia, so Jeff was confused. The FBI decides to allow him to visit all the places that Kochel farms ships stuff to, cause that is how they assume he got out. Back in Las Vegas now Bennie has been arrested on Federal charges, meaning bail can be denied for a while. David now has a talk with Rabbi Kales, letting him know that the two options he has is to easily go out and leave control of the synagogue to him and Bennie, or when Bennie decides he knows too much, can go out the hard way. He chooses option number 1 and makes plans to change his will. David then lured the doctor who re did his face into a trap, and killed him. He calls Gray Beard, one of Bennie's friends who he has recently become acquainted with and tells him all the medical supplies at the doctors office are his also long as he cleans up the body and delivers it to the synagogue cemetery. David then calls another acquaintance of his, who has been paying him to harvest tissue from people in the cemetery. David offers him the organs in return for a paycheck. In the meantime Jeff Hopper, the FBI agent has made him way to Vegas and begins looking at places Kochel farms delivers too. He eventually makes it to the cemetery where he meets with Rabbi Cohen, who he immediately is mistrustful of. As Cohen is taking him on a walk of the property's, he slips up and Hopper goes on the offensive, forcing Cohen to stab him multiple times and kill him, but not before he can say he found Sal Cupertine. In the coming weeks David has Grey Beard go to Chicago and deliver 70 thousand dollars to his wife. This is how the book ends.
The point of this blog post is to link the mafia of my book, to a present day conflict, in which i chose the gangs that the U.S. and other countries have problems with. Modern day gangs, whether they be drug related or have to do with something else. instill fear into there community's and use threats and violence to get there way. Often times they have officials and police in there pocket just like the mafia did. They do all this because its a way of life, that they are often times born into, just like many people in the mafia. These two events/groups are very similar, and you could even consider the mafia a gang. In this blog post I will be talking about about the connection between the mafia and the book I am reading, Gangsterland. During the main time period, that the mafia had a grip on the U.S. there were many big events happening, some of which the Mafia used to their advantage. Stuff like Prohibition, which the mafia used to make a profit happened, but there was other stuff going on which likely indirectly led to the Mafia gaining power. An assassination of a president, rampant crime, and fear led to more relaxed investigations into the mafia, meaning they could have free reign over cities like New York, Chicago, and Las Vegas. In the book that i'm reading, the main character kills 3 FBI agents when he loses his restraint. "Normally he was cool and collected, but he just lost it." This totally changes his life as he is forced to move to Las Vegas and start a new life. In a similar fashion, a gangster named Lester Gills shot and killed 3 FBI agents also in Chicago, back in 1934. While they weren't exactly similar, the author of my book could've used this as a basis for his plot line. Americans, and American-Italians, back when the mafia was in its prime, usually either were scared of the mafia, or looked up at them in awe. They definitely scared some people, which threats and extortion and other methods. A big part of my book is the special task force looking into the mafia. Back when the Mafia was prevalent, the FBI used a lot of man power, to track them down and eventually make arrests. I feel like these connect very well, and show some of the historical aspects of my book.
In today’s society, school is a major part of a child’s life. However, some students don't take their education seriously and this can lead to lower grades. This could be for a number of different reasons, for example, a poor student to teacher ratio or poor learning circumstances. While the amount of students on grade level in Wake County is up from last year, the overall trend has been down in the past five years (ncpublicschools 2012-17). Students are not performing on tests and there were over 10,000 dropouts in North Carolina in 2015-16 (ncpublicschools 2017). Of the 110 elementary schools in Wake County that we have statistics for, 37.3 percent did not meet growth expectations for the 16-17 school year (ncpublicschools 2017). So after graduating high school, or not, these students are dispersed into our community, where they don't have the experience or skills to add anything too it. This is a really big issue because we want to make our community better, adding more jobs and a better economy to the region. Frankly, I would love a community full of smart educated citizens who make good choices, that help benefit our community. I know my group members and I had a good elementary school education, and I know that has really helped shape who I am. I remember receiving help from tutors, talking to kids older than me, and just plain asking for help. This led me to understand more of the topics we would study. Plus, there's an easy fix, with just a little help from our community, giving a little bit of time to help these elementary schools whose performances are lacking, doing something so simple as reading to students or helping them with math, we can turn this issue around, making our community better along the way. North Carolina Schools The issue we are focusing on, is that grades in some Wake County elementary schools are very low and a lot of schools are not meeting their yearly goals. Last year, forty one elementary schools in Wake County didn’t meet their growth standards (ncpublicschools 2017). This issue has a huge impact on our community. Some school performance grades are really low and it poorly affects the school’s appearance. These students who either need help or are just not trying, are really a big part of the issue. For example, Bugg Elementary School got a thirty four percent on their overall school performance grade (ncpublicschools 2017). The students who go to these schools, will forever be affected by this issue and growth standards. They aren’t getting the proper education that they need and from that, they will always be behind. It is important that we help them grow so they are able to share their knowledge with the world. Specifically, this has always been an issue in our community though it has become more of a struggle in the past few years. When kids are younger, they are not taught to take school seriously. Kids need to have a role model early on in their lives to teach them the importance of having knowledge. The lack of these role models is a big cause of this issue. In the future this leads to poor grades and a high number of student dropouts. Also, after graduating these kids will become a part of our community but they won’t have the knowledge or experience to give. These students not having a proper education affects us all because they are the future. Everyone’s future relies on these kids and what they are able to accomplish, which is why this is a large issue that needs to be solved immediately. However, this issue cannot be solved immediately. Though there are several organizations that are available to mentoring children, the problem is most of them are out of school rather than in school with the students. Of the several organizations in North Carolina, they all offer help in one area or another to give students chances at better lives. Some organizations for example, the Boys and Girls Club of America, help students by organizing programs out of school focused on certain topics. These programs allow students to understand the importance of certain topics such as career development, education, and health (Boys and Girls Club of America 2017). They allow students to develop skills needed to have a positive impact on our community. Other organizations such as the Triangle Literacy Council, work one on one with students to try and see where they are struggling and help in the areas that help is needed. Organizations like those are more focused on giving students the information needed to graduate high school and go on to college which from there they can acquire jobs. Mentors inc. for example, works with older students in high school on academic subjects such as STEM to develop skills for 21st century jobs. One of their goals through their program is to give every student “... the support or guidance needed to graduate high school, prepared to be successful and productive citizens.” (Mentors inc. 2016). In other words, they are preparing their students for a brighter future. Overall, through the work of organizations offering these programs, we can make our community a better place through the educations of the younger generations. Action Plan There are many steps that need to be done and requirements that need to be met before we start mentoring. The most glaring requirement is a school to mentor at, this however has already been solved, and it has been decided that we will be mentoring at Bugg Elementary. This is because they have been falling behind in all subjects, and may need additional support (ncpublicschools 2017). The second most important requirement is volunteers, which is more difficult. The current plan for getting enough people to help is to advertise around the school for a month or two before they are required, (perhaps even ask for a shoutout on the morning announcements) the goal is to have at least 40 volunteers and at least 1 adult chaperone for every 10 students. After volunteers, there aren't many other requirements that need to be met that can’t be easily acquired out of pocket. Our goal is to show struggling students the value of school before they get that annoying “I hate school attitude” that some kids tend to develop. A study by The University Of Nebraska, developing strong reading habits can increase academic performance (Acheaw 2014). The catch is that these habits must be formed while the children are impressionable and before they develop the idea that reading isn't fun. Because of this, our focus on the mentoring may be more on reading primarily and focus on subjects such as math and history as secondary focuses. If possible, we hope to get into contact with the school administrators at bug elementary to determine what subjects the students may need additional help with. By the end of this project we hope to have inspired at least 1 student to take school seriously and focus on their education. Works Cited Sonneman, Curtis.”2016-17 State, District, and School Level End-of-Course and End-of Grade Achievement Level Report.” Public Schools of North Carolina. 29 Nov. 2017. 24 Jan. 2018 <http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/accountability/reporting/2017/reports /1617testresults.xlsx> Sonneman, Curtis. “2016-17 School Performance Grade Score and Growth Status.” Public Schools of North Carolina. 29 Nov. 2017. 24 Jan. 2018 <http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/accountability/reporting/2017/reports/spg1617.xlsx> Public schools of North Carolina.”Report to the North Carolina General Assembly.” Public schools of North Carolina. 15 Mar. 2017. 23 Jan. 2018 <http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/research /discipline/reports/consolidated/2015-16/consolidated-report.pdf> Boys and Girls Club of America. “Club Impact.” Boys and Girls Club of America. 24 Jan. 2018 <https://www.bgca.org/about-us/club-impact> The News and Observer. “2015-16 NC school performance” The News and Observer. 1 Sep. 2016. 22 Jan. 2018 <http://www.newsobserver.com/news/databases/article98569482.html> Nguyen, Arly. “The value in mentoring youth” Social Work License Map. 30 Jan. 2015. 22 Jan. 2018 <https://socialworklicensemap.com/the-value-in-mentoring-our-youth-> Triangle Literacy Council. “Programs.” Triangle Literacy Council” 23 Jan. 2018 <http://www.triangleliteracy.org/learn/programs/> Mentors Inc. “Mentoring with career and STEM exploration” Mentors Inc. 23 Jan. 2018 <http://www.mentorsinc.org/about-us/our-program/mentoring-with-career- and-STEM-exploration> Public schools of North Carolina. “State/ LEA and school test performance” Public schools of North Carolina. 2012-17. 23 Jan 2018 <http://www.ncpublicschools.org/accountability /reporting/leaperformancearchive/> Archeaw, Michael.”Reading Habits Among Students and its E ect on Academic Performance: A Study of Students of Koforidua Polytechnic.”digitalcommons. June 4th, 2014. January 29th 2018.<https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2908&context =libphilprac> Wake County, where we live is a big county. And inside it there are a bunch of different areas with their own governments and concerns. Recently, West Cary a relatively new part of Wake have felt that the Cary town has not give them enough attention. The citizens there think that not enough money is being spent to make their community better. Cameron Pond park, was recently donated to them, but when the Cary budget came out for last year, no money was given to run it. This is really disappointing the citizens there. Stuff like this happens all the time in every city, town, and county. But if a little more money was put into these areas it could make them that much better. I know I would be really mad, if a nice park I went to to kick a soccer ball or throw a football around with my friends was all of a sudden forgotten. It makes the whole area a lot less bright and shiny and makes is appear as if no one cares. This park and other parks in this situation, are fun places for citizens to gather, and have a great time. While the citizens there are already working to fix these injustices, other stuff that we could do would be things like raise money through bake sales and other similar ways of raising money, or we could take it a step higher and go to the government, not just locally but on a large scale. If these officials were showed how much this parks and others similar mean, they might be more inclined to help. Overall places like these make our community, whole and we need to do everything we can to make sure there not forgotten.
I believe that anything can bring people together. Take for example the game called Madden Mobile, a mobile football game, played by millions around the world. In the game you make a team out of cards collected from packs. There is an whole economy side of the game with the auction house where you can buy and sell players. Recently some of my friends and I have been really getting into this game. We call it the grind. In the game you can make leagues which are groups of people that can compete against each other and against other leagues. Because of all this playing we have been talking more, and actually interacting with each other. These experiences with my friends have made us closer. Let's take a look my experiences.
We start off our story in a bad league, one I randomly joined so i could starting getting rewards and work my way through the game. I noticed right away that the members were not active, we were losing tournaments, and we were getting nowhere on the rewards. This upset me as I actually wanted to get better at the game, and at this rate I was going nowhere. So I set out to make us as a league better, playing more and upgrading my team. Still the league was terrible. We won one out of every five tournaments which was not good at all. I then knew I would have to do something drastic to even entertain the idea of being in a better league. The story continues at school the next week. I had started talking to my friends who played the game, and asking them if they would want to make a new league, a hopefully good league. About a day later 4 or 5 of my friends had agreed to join a league if I made one, so I did. And they joined. And then others joined. Less than 3 days after we had created the league, we were full, full of the great people who play this game. We started off brilliantly winning our first 5 tournaments and progressing very quickly on the rewards. I was ecstatic at this point, and me and multiple of my friends were talking every day about this game, continuing to grow our coins and make our teams better. For hours a day we could just get lost on this game talking for what seemed like forever. Before school, during school, after school, on the weekend, we would talk whenever. As you can see me and my friends have definitely grown closer because of this game. Madden mobile has been a huge part of our friendship in the past 2 months. As you can see anything can bring people together. It might not always be Madden mobile or some other game, but anything can bring people together. You can use just about anything to become a better friend with someone which makes your, and their lives a whole lot better. |
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