Author: BowenD

In the article “Forced Social Isolation Causes Neural Craving Similar to Hunger”, they talked about how humans are social beings and we can’t survive without social interaction. It’s basically stuck in our behavior and needs just like water and food.

The scientists first experimented with mice, isolating mice so that they can’t talk or see other fellow mice. The result was that the mice was actually lonely and it turned out that even mice needs social interaction for a good healthy brain. Another experiment was on humans, some scientists isolated humans for 10 hours and showed pictures of them doing fun things like playing or chatting with friends. Out of all the pictures shown, playing with friends half the biggest impact, showing once again humans crave social interaction. There’s a chemical in the brain that plays a big part in this craving and its called dopamine. Dopamine is a chemical released when having fun or excitement. Dopamine is also in drugs.

In the situation we are in now (Covid-19), knowing these kinds of things are really important, especially in social isolation and quarantine where you lack social interaction. Human beings are social creatures and talking to people or playing with people are just the same as food and water, but for the brain. Since Covid-19 is not allowing us to talk to our friends the same way as before, it is really important to stay positive and have some form of communication.

Overall, social interaction is really important for the human brain and without it, us humans cannot survive. It helps us not go insane, and furthermore boosts our self-esteem and our focus. This is not to be ignored and I think everybody should realize a small thing like playing with friends could matter deeply in their own lives.

This story is about how a girl called Waverly grew up in San Francisco, Chinatown and how she suddenly became a chess prodigy.

One day, during a Christmas gift opening, Waverly’s family received a chess set and when Waverly started to play, she began to be really interested in chess. She started to practice and learn about the strategies and rules of chess, and soon she was able to beat her brothers. One day, when she challenged a guy from the park to a match of chess and the guy easily wins. However the guy offered to teach Waverly chess strategies and before you know it, she became really really good at chess. She became so good at chess that she didn’t really have to do chores, but to practice chess and also even attend tournaments for chess. She ended up becoming a national chess champion and her mother was really proud of her. However her luck changed when her mother started to brag how she was the mom of this amazing national chess champion. Waverly began to get mad and soon storms off. When she returns home, her mother was really mad at her and soon when in her bead she drifts off to sleep. Dreaming a chessboard, and how her mother’s pieces sweeps her pieces off the chessboard.

This story taught me that you shouldn’t boast about somebody else’s work like Waverly’s mother. She took credit for her daughters work and its basically like stealing Waverly’s chess skills and accomplishments, putting all the praise on HER daughter, but not Waverly alone.

This story mainly focuses on a family, more specifically the grandmother, Bailey (dad), and June Star (daughter). The family is about to go on a road trip, but the grandmother complains and also gets the family in trouble. Grandma wanted to go to somewhere else besides Florida because their family always goes to Florida. She also complains about how in the modern world a good person is hard to find and many people have bad or evil thoughts. Once they get to a diner to rest and eat, they heard about the Misfits, a group of criminals that escaped from prison. After they ate, grandma lied to the kids about how there was a secret room in their house and since the kids got really annoying (started to beg to go back home), the family drove back home. Unfortunately, grandma hid her cat, which Bailey hates and when the cat jumped on Bailey, the family accidentally got into an accident with another car. Once they got out of the car, they neighboring car came out to help them. Grandma was shocked and recognized the face of these people; the were the Misfits! Unfortunately Grandma had to say that aloud and one by one the Misfits killed them. Grandma’s last words were “You’re a good man right?”

This story taught me about how you shouldn’t say something that you might regret later on, for example, the grandma said that it was hard to find good men, but in the end, when her life was on the line, she started saying that he was a good man and said many people were “good men”.

This story is about 2 people, called Bill and Sam, who wants to ransom a kid from this wealthy family to fund for their real estate scandal. This story starts out with Bill and Sam driving up to the kid and asking him if he wants candy to bait the kid into their car. The kid was a rascal, so he threw a brick at Bill’s eye, which really enraged him. They ended up using force to get him in the car and drives to the nearby mountains. From there they start to plan what to do with the kid, but Bill has to make sure the kid doesn’t run and so he plays with him. The played a lot of games, most of which were a big burden for Bill and was really painful. Especially when the kid “rode” on him and hit him. After about 2 or so days, they write the letter to the kid’s dad, stating that his child was with them and if he doesn’t pay up then he will never see his child again. Obviously the dad responded but his response was really surprising. It stated an offer that the two will pay HIM so they get the kid off their hands. Now this was really dumb, but since Bill was so desperate, Sam agreed to the offer and returned the kid to his dad.

I thought this story was quite funny and ironic since Sam and Bill ended up with less money than they started out with and because the dad knew how annoying his son was. A moral from this story was don’t handle things that your not prepared for since Sam and Bill had no idea that the kid was so annoying.

This story is about a fictional ritual where in a town, they “sacrificed” one person for the ritual. The lottery was when the people from the town each chooses a piece of paper from a box, and the person that chooses the piece of paper with the black dot is sacrificed and essentially stoned to death. This was done so they “could have good fortune and crops”. The main people in this story is Bill, and Tessie.

When they were choosing the box, Tessie was complaining because she claimed Mr. Summer, the guy doing the hosting the lottery didn’t give Bill enough time to choose the paper. (Note that Bill was choosing a paper for Tessie) Once everybody started to open up the paper, many people got blank so they were fine. However when it got to Tessie, Tessie’s paper wasn’t blank. It had a black dot. Then they started to stone her, and Tessie’s last words were “IT WASN’T FAIR!!”.

The moral of this story is that we shouldn’t always follow according to a old tradition, especially since the tradition could be bad and we shouldn’t do it anymore like the one in the story.

There was once a dream, a wonderful dream

It was of peace, between different color

The dream was, a black and white school,

A black and white diner, a black and white work

A black and white society, nobody is different,

Nobody is under, nobody is better

But, we all are just one society, human beings

People disagreed, they didn’t want to work

They felt like they weren’t equal, so they strived to have a prequel

But the dream was too big, it was too true

It brought peace, and peace it will always be

“I have a dream…” that black and white could work together,

That black and white could dine together,

That black and white could learn together,

That black and white could play together,

That black and white could accept each other.

So did this dream bring peace?

Peace it gave, prosperity it sought,

And today…

America is great.

(Without all the crimes and corona that is)

(Just forget about the protests because I didn’t want to mention it)

Oh, a prisoner‘s punishment, which will it be?

Serving your time, being confined or crossing your line?

Serving your time, a common one indeed,

Go to prison for some years, and get too freedom for some cheers

Being confined, in a small space to be,

Nobody to talk to, nowhere to go,

You could only stare, dream and think about what will happen soon

But until then, just hope for some tune

Crossing you line, you will not feel anything,

You simply disappear as a killer or a thief

Now which is more cruel, time, confine, or die?

Time is regular, a standard punishment

Confine is torture, insanity it is

Dying is well…. not too swell

Confinement is the worst of course!

Nothing to do, only dreaming and thinking

Nobody to talk to, nobody to see

Your identity fades away, you don’t know who you are,

You Make friends with yourself, and other nasty critters

So confinement… insanity torturing you mentally

So confinement… is seeping someone’s life force

So confinement… is inhuman

So confinement… do you agree with it?

What good is a teacher if the teacher can not teach

What good is a student if a student does not learn

The teacher and a student, a bad educator and a bad education

But how will we change this educator and education?

Enter Miss. Awful, a grumpy old waffle

She gives too much homework and expects even more work

A witch, a villain, planning and stirring “chaos” and hatred for her dear students

The students start to realize, this teacher is for real,

She won’t let them lay down or let them play around

The students start to work, work really hard they did

They started learning how to spell and soon were pretty swell

And after Miss. Awful was about to leave, the students made her proud

Now look at that class, a swell education it is

It shows a example how spoil, will lead to turmoil

but with discipline and work, we could change a couple brats

To learn how to learn and let them get off well!

Now look at that class, what have they accomplished?

From laying down to working hard, they learned quite a lot

Now this is a good educator, and a better education.

He wanted to hunt a T. Rex, so he got In a machine

He thought he had a chance with a rifle but was greatly dumbfounded

He wanted to go back to the present, but it was too late now

He was so desperate, he ran off the metal track

The guide threatened to kill him if the present changed, but…

Like a ripple of time, a butterfly killed, the stone caused a disturbance in the pond,

A dictator was elected and soon the world will stink

All because this man wanted game

The guide’s hatred was too great, he got out his pistol

And the man’s last memory was a sound of thunder

Deaf he was, a musician he was

He wrote a lot of music, and earned lots of money

His music was great, but his hearing wasn’t so

He was embarrassed: a musician who can’t hear!

But he still wrote and played just as well

He went to kings and queens to perform his masterpiece

But he died shortly after, writing his 9th

He knew about the 9th, but his love for music was too great

So he wrote the 9th… And died.

Oh, a wonderful man, a wonderful musician.

He cared so greatly, but ignored the “curse”

His 9th was his finale, and a finale it quite is

Starting like A baby’s birth, A bird chirping

Ending like a heart stopping, a crow dying

He will always remain in our hearts,

As one of the greatest composers there is!