Sunny Youth Journal

The person in the ted talk I watched today says that solitary confinement is bad because it is torture. I however have a different opinion on this. I think that solitary confinement is useful for people like terrorist or mass shooters.

The reason I think that solitary confinement is useful is because if you give them a regular punishment like a month in jail then once they get out they will just make more trouble knowing that they won’t get any serious punishment. This is backed up by a person who also made a ted talk and he was a gang member. He went to jail many times but still committed crimes . But if the crimes were really bad then they could just execute them.

If the the crime wasn’t so bad then they could put them in solitary confinement but send a guard to talk to them once a day so they still have to suffer some pain but still get to be in touch with the outside world. Another thing they could do is just send them to regular prison.

This is why I think solitary confinement is useful and why people should use it.

There are many forms of torture, but have you ever thought of solitude confinement as one? In the ted talk “What happens to people in solitude confinement” with guest speaker Laura Rovner, she talks about the suppressed downside of solitude confinement.

It’s not often you hear that solitude confinement is pernicious to the brain and body. Being stuck in a prison cell the size of a bathroom for years on end is gruesome. It can damage your five scenes, often causing felons’ vocal cords to lack practice, resulting in only being able to talk for an hour before wearing out. Another result is losing eyesight, not being able to see faraway things because looking out the window only leads to cement and nothing farther than a few feet away. And to add on, imagine not seeing another human for years. You lose all social skills, and could even get a serious mental illness from being stuck alone for years. Many inmates attempt suicide, and some succeed.

However, you and I may wonder the same thing. How has this been hidden from us these whole years? That’s because the government has been belittling it, and making sure that no one knows about it. They have been gagging the officials, family members, and anyone who knows about it. Yes, you probably have heard the government talk about other countries are providing made prisons for their prisoners, but it seems like they are contradicting themselves. Why are they doing the exact same thing? I personally think that solitude confinement should be banned and the government should enlighten its citizens on things happening right under our noses.

Solitude confinement is not only hurtful to the inmates, but the government is tolerating it. Solitude confinement makes people forget who they even are! Solitude confinement is a form of torture through and through and should not be allowed in prisons. Prisons are created using our tax money, so we should know the output of our money. Let me put you on one more thought, could you be able to bear? To be stuck in solitude confinement for years, even decades?

There are almost eight billion different people on planet Earth, each with their own characteristics and features. During one’s life, they might tend to go off track and follow in the footsteps of someone else’s life. Although exactly copying the life of a successful person seems positive, it comes with many consequences. The short story The Moustache by Robert Cormier is about a boy named Mike who wants to look grown-up. When he visits his mentally ill grandma with his mustache on, his grandma mistakes her grandson as her husband. Mike ended up having to experience a very uncomfortable conversation. One should not try to be someone else because it is not why they were put into the world, and it can lead up to consequences.

Each and every human was born for a purpose, and that was to make a change. The life of someone should not be to hide in the shadow of another person but to live life fully as oneself. A TedTalk spoken by Caroline McHugh highlighted the importance of being oneself and not comparing oneself to others. She stated how being oneself is the thing many people fail to achieve in life. Successful people are those who realized who they truly are, not those who followed in the footsteps of other successors. As for Mike, he wanted to look mature, hence him wearing the mustache. His mustache hid who he truly was, which in turn made him “someone else”. His faulty choice to not be himself lead him into a pit of trouble. Everyone on planet Earth was born different and unique, but some turn the wrong way in order to become someone else.

Not only does being someone else limit one’s potential of life, but it also comes with a handful of consequences. When Mike visited his grandma’s nursing home, she mistakens him as her husband. This was because Mike’s grandpa also had a mustache and was named Mike. Since the grandma was mentally ill and her time was coming, Mike’s only choice was to go along faking to be someone else. This is just one of many dangers of being someone else. As previously stated, being someone else can also erase the success from oneself. Being someone else is like losing confidence. When one thinks they do not have the ability to succeed, they often tend to copy another person. This is the mistake millions make, which in return robs their lives.

The greatest achievement of life is to truly be oneself. Being oneself is the sole reason one was born into Earth and can bring one success. The many who hide in the shadows of others end up living lives far worse than they could have if they were themselves. Alfred Hitchcock, an influential film maker once asked himself, “If I won’t be myself, who will?”

There is a prison out in Florence with beautiful mountains and generally pleasing place, but this prison is not like what we think it is. This prison is for the worst of the worst. This is the ADX prison and this prison should be shut down.

The ADX prison cells have only about 10 feet of space where the prisoners stay and sleep which about the size of a bathroom. The bed and toilet is there within arm’s reach which made their vision very small and could not see long distance. The prison cells are very far apart because the prison does not want the inmates socializing and talking to each other. They are fed in their cells and they are in there for twenty-three hours. This is solitary confinement.

Solitary confinement is a type of torture that mentally breaks the will to do anything in the soul and body. The mental strength is the torture and physical strength is the side effect. The will to live is the part that this prison destroys.

People in the prison cannot see very well and their vocal cords are terrible due to how long they do not talk and socialize. People began to go crazy. Some people were able to commit suicide and some people couldn’t. One person befriended a mosquito and many others tried to shout very loudly to be able to talk to others in the confinement, but did not succeed.

I believe that this should be shut down and the prisoners sent to normal jails and the will to live be brought back. I do not think that this should be a thing in the human life and it is all thanks to a lawyer, Laura Rovner. This woman allowed us to know what we didn’t before and we control the jails. We control the prisons so I think we should fight back and humans should have a purpose in life instead of rotting in mental torture.

The Moustache by Robert Cormier is a short story. It is about a 17 year old boy named Mike, who is going to visit his grandmother, who lives in a nursing home . Before he leaves, he has an argument with his mother about his mustache. He claims that it is just an experiment, but actually he likes it because it makes him feel like an adult. When he arrives, he is pleased to see that his grandmother seems to be in one of her better days. She remembers his name, Mike.. She begins to say about how she is so glad he had come to visit her, that she had thought he was gone forever. She talks about how she is sorry, and asks if he can forgive her. With a start, Mike realizes that she believes that he is his grandfather, whom he is named after. He ponders why, because he and his grandfather didn’t look very alike, until he remembers his grandfather had a mustache. His grandmother talks about how she and his grandfather had a fight when she assumed he was cheating on her when he wasn’t. Feeling extremely uncomfortable,Mike says that he forgives her, then leaves. When he arrives back at home, he shaves off his mustache.

This story is quite compelling, and it makes you think about people’s lives not on the surface. I did not exactly enjoy it, but it was very enlightening. At the end, the reason why Mike shaves off his mustache is because he does not want to relive the experience and because he realized he is not ready to be and adult yet.

There are several themes that could apply to this story. The one that seems most apparent to me is : don’t judge a book by its cover. When you see other people, you only see the outside. In the story, Mike thought that his grandparents had a happy relationship, but he realized that there were many things that he didn’t know. This made him see the world in a new way and understand that people are multi-faceted, not one-dimensional. He wanted to ask his mother about her relationship with his father after, because he knew that things may have not always bee how they seem.

I would recommend this story for other people to read, because of its deep meaning. Also, the way it is written is very descriptive and often times humorous. Realistic fiction is my favorite genre besides fantasy, so this story is good for people like me.

As the last story in this Sunny Youth camp, I believe it is great because it gives you something to think about far beyond the near future. I will keep this story in mind whenever I meet someone new, and will be thinking about its lesson for a while.

”The Moustache” by Robert Cormier is a short story about a teenage boy by the name of Mike who is visiting his grandmother, Nana, in a nursing home. Because of his moustache, Mike’s grandmother mistakes him for her dead husband. As a result, Mike learns that Nana has guilted herself with her final argument with her husband before his death.

Mike has a girlfriend, Cindy, and he was bringing her to the movies in the Downtown Cinema. Mike’s mom was checking up on Mike so he could be formal for the movie, and then she said: “And that moustache. I still say a seventeen-year-old has no business wearing a moustache.”

Mike told her mother: “It’s an experiment,” but his mother wasn’t convinced and told him that the moustache is costing him money.

It is a Friday night and the Downtown Cinema has a half price for high school couples, seventeen and younger. Sadly, the woman in the box office took one look at Mike’s moustache and charged full price, even Cindy’s ticket. He couldn’t buy a burger for Cindy or himself since the clerk charged full price. Also, Mike has to study hard for a scholarship, so he didn’t own a car, and Cindy is really frustrated over that.

In order to cheer his girlfriend up, he told her that he would shave it off, although he wasn’t planning to. He has to visit his grandmother and her mother told him that his grandmother won’t even recognize him.

Soon enough, he reached the nursing home and there he was greeted by his grandmother who said: “Mike, Mike, I didn’t think you’d come,” and continued with: “I’ve been waiting all this time. See the birds? I’ve been watching them at the feeder. I love to see them come. Even the blue jays. The blue jays are like hawks — they take the food that the small birds should
have. But the small birds, the chickadees, watch the blue jays and at least learn where the feeder is.”

Mike looked around and didn’t see a feeder nor a bird. She complimented about a new coat, and Mike was dumbfounded, and then the attendant came in for juice time, and she conspiratorial winked at Mike and asked Mike’s grandmother for cranberry or orange juice. She noted that cranberyr was good for the bones.

She continued and realized that before his grandpa died, he had a big fight with his grandma, and also, she thought that Mike was the grandpa due to the moustache. She forced Mike to say: “I forgive you, Meg.” With this information in his head, he rushed home, hoping this didn’t happen between his parents.

Then, he shaved off the moustache with the electric razor that Cindy gave him for Christmas. He did this since he didn’t want any relation to the things he just interpreted.

Every year, Greenland’s ice sheet loses 200 gigatons and Antarctica lost 118 gigatons. One gigaton can fill up 400,000 Olympic sized swimming pools. All of the melted ice made the sea level rise 0.55 inches. That places earth in one of the worst climate change scenes. It puts the costal communities of losing their houses.

From aw new study in 2018, the researchers can see how much ice melted from Greenland and Antarctica. Ice shelves are big pieces of ice, but when they melt the sea level is still the same. It is like the base of a tower, but if someone takes it out the whole thing will start to melt. As Alex Gardner, a glaciologist said, “revealing clues as to why about how the ice sheets are reacting the way they are.”

Global warming or climate change is a term for increasing levels of Co2 and other greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. This is very harmful and it is much more prevalent than one may think. After the Industrial Revolution Co2 spiked, reaching new highs that were never broken within the last million, if not more years. We are constantly breaking new records for most Co2 or hottest day, and we need this to stop. Global warming is very dangerous and society needs to stop it as soon as possible.

Global warming will cause many disasters to happen. Many species will go extinct as they live on ice, which will melt over time. With no home, most if not all will die. The melting ice is also a problem as rising sea levels will cause many problems. There will be increased flooding which will damage homes and kill many people. Also, the world in general will be hotter, making life harder and more difficult. Not stopping global warming is a dangerous decision that could cost many lives in the long-run.

Stopping global warming is really simple, but it needs a lot of commitment and community support. As the government, switching from fossil fuels to solar, wind, or water would decrease the carbon footprint (the amount of Co2 one emits) by a lot. As an average human, try to refrain from using a car, take a bike, or even using public transport would help. Take quicker showers and turn off the lights, all of these are simple, but if everyone does them, it will make a huge difference. Everyone should try to decrease their carbon footprint because it is easy, simple, and makes a large difference.

In conclusion, we should stop global warming. It is very simple and easy, and it makes a big difference. There are major consequences if we don’t. We need to think about the future, not just about little political battles or personal trips. We need to take action now, before it is too late.

In the story Uncle Willy by William Faulkner, Uncle Willy is a man in the town of Jefferson. People gossip about him behind his back and they think he is crazy. He has a drug addiction that everybody knows about. Uncle Willy gets sick and disappears with Job, another subject of the town’s gossip. When he comes back, he dies.

Do I blame him for this? Maybe not because it can’t be comfortable to be made fun of and be spoken about behind their backs. But I think that he should have at least tried to reach out to people, show them another side of him, and maybe they would start to accept that. There are already people that care about Uncle Willy so if they can, then others can too.

Uncle Willy is trying to escape the society of Jefferson by disappearing and later dying. What he probably doesn’t realize is that there are still people that care about him. In the end, Uncle Willy dies after quite an adventure with the people of Jefferson.

Have you ever wanted some ice to go with your drink but don’t have it because they all melted? The same thing is currently happening with Greenland’s ice sheets. Greenland has lost over 200 gigatons of ice per year on average. This has also caused the surrounding oceans to rise 14 mm. So, what can this mean to humanity? What can happen? Will things get worse?

First off, it seems small, but 14mm of water over a huge area can mean harsher raining, more powerful hurricanes, and devastating tsunamis. Also, if this continues to get worse, worse flooding will happen. This will have a major effect on both the east coast of Canada and the United States. This also is destroying land that polar bears roam on, and making some types of fish to overpopulate.

Furthermore, the melting of ice sheets that are away from the main island actually have an impact on the ground ice further inside the mainland according to researchers. This is destructive to more of the ice. The melting of the outer ice sheets will also affect inner ice sheets, as they prevent the inner ones from flowing out.

Lastly, this will get way worse if we do not protect the Earth from global warming. We can all prevent a lot of this by being more eco-friendly and not use as much greenhouse gases. Try to reuse bags and not waste paper. Also, we can plant more trees, so that we can have more oxygen.

To conclude, we need to protect ice sheets or else bad things will happen. Worse hurricanes, tsunamis, and flooding will all happen. Also, if more ice sheets melt, it will create a domino effect for even more ice to melt. So, we will have to try to prevent this by taking more measures.