Editorial Commentary - The Bombing of Dresden in WW2

During the Second World War, in 1945, the Allies were advancing on Germany from four sides. The Red Army was closing in from the East, conquering everything in its path. The Red Army was a few days from the city of Dresden, a medieval city in the south of Germany, when the Americans and British suddenly decided that the USSR was getting too powerful, so they decided to show their power. To show it, they decided to create a firestorm in Dresden, even though they knew perfectly well that many innocent people would die. Between February 13th and February 15, 1945, 12,000 planes from both the English RAF (Royal Air Force) and the USAAF (United States Army Air Force), continously bombed a part of the city of Dresden with both inciendiary and explosive bombs. This created a firestorm, a terrific fire which uses all the oxygen in the air, so people can't breathe. Recent researches show that about 35,000 people died but some German sources say as many as 100,000 people died (more than from the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki). The bombing of the city of Dresden was one of the most horrific actions made by humanity, and there is absolutely no excuse that such a thing happened, not even in a war situation like the Second World War was.

What I Like About Trieste

I like Trieste very much, because it is my home city and it is a wonderful city, with an ancient and mysterious history, and it is placed in a magnificent position, between hills and on the tip of the Adriatic Sea. The thing I like most of Trieste is the view that I can see from my house. In fact, when the weather is nice, there are always tons of people just above my house, at the Obelisco (which was built in 1830 to commemorate the inauguration of a new road) to see the view. The second best thing of Trieste is the sea. I love the sea and the sea smell that is everywhere, especially when one is on the Rive or at the port, in the part where there are all the ships. I especially like going on a boat, usually my uncle's boat, Blue, because my uncle always lets me keep the rudder, and I especially like steering, even though I'm not really good at going in boats, because I've never done sailing lessons. In any case, I like almost everything in and around Trieste, and I am very happy I live in this wonderful region.

Geographical Entry - Grotta Gigante

The Grotta Gigante is the biggest touristic cavity in the whole world. It is 280 meters long, 65 meters wide, and 107 meters high. The cave is part of the underground system of the Timavo, a very, very big underground river that starts in Slovenia. It is in the Comune of Sgonico, in the part called Borgo Grotta Gigante. The Grotta Gigante was inserted in the Guiness World Records in 1995, because it is the biggest touristic cavity of the world. Also, inside the Grotta Gigante there is the longest seismic pendulum of the world, that is used for measuring the movingof the Earth beause of the moon's influence. There are three entrances for the Grotta Gigante, but only two are used: one to enter and one to get out. The Grotta Gigante is a wonderful place, and its quite known for its beautiful palm stalagmites. It is also rich in stalagtites, and both stalagmites and stalagtites are very nice because there colours range from red to white. In the Grotta Gigante there are two charateristic festivities: “La Festa della Befana” on the 6th January and “ La Festa dei Turisti” on the 15th of August.

Wolf - Novel 9 Synopsis

By Gillian Crass
Cassy lives with her grandmother. She almost never sees her mother, and her grandmother does not like her niece, and since Cassy is influenced by her grandmother, she also thinks that her mother is a bit crazy and never does anything useful. One day, in the middle of the night, Cassy hears someone knock on the back door, and her grandmother lets him in. In the morning, her grandmother helps her pack her things and sends her to her mother's house, and Casy realizes that her sudden visits to her mother are related to the knocking on the back door in the middle of the night. When Cassy finally finds her mother's house, she discovers that her mother is now living with a man and a kid a few years older than her. They live by making money with shows for kids, and the next one will be on wolves. So, Cassy learns a lot on wolves, about their habits and their lives, and she begins to like them very much. A very stange thing that happens to her when she is in that house with her mother and her friends is that every night she dreams, a thing she has never done before. Also, a misterious figure is stalking Cassy and her friends, and she is quite afraid. The trouble really begins when Cassy discovers that her grandmother packed some explosive in her bag, and it culminates when she discovers her father is the Cray Hill bomber and is about to kill her and her grandmother, but her mother saves their lives.

Teatro Romano - Historical Entry

In the middle of the city of Trieste, between the Capitoline hill and Piazza dell'Unità d'Italia (Trieste's major square) and right in front of the police headquarters, there is a Roman theatre, that was erected by a certain Quinto Petronio Modesto, during the second half of the first century AD. Quinto PetronioModesto was the governor of Trieste under the emperor Trajan. The Roman theatre was uncovered between 1937 and 1939, during building works in that district of the city, and with it, modern and medieval housing was uncovered too. The Roman theatre is not really looked after really well, but it is worth a visit. It is mostly made of stone, although it is thought that the topmost portion of the amphiteatre steps and the stage were made of wood. The semicircle was once adorned by statues, that are now in the care of the city's History and Art Museum. Also, people think that the theatre was once situated just outside the city walls and it faced the sea.

Troy - Historical Fiction (Novel 10)

By Adele Geras
This novel tells about the story of the war of Troy from the Trojans' point of view. The two protagonists are Xanthe and Marpessa and they are orphan sisters. Xanthe is the nanny of Hector and Andromache's son, Astyanax, and in her spare time she helps cure the wounded soldiers. Marpessa instead is Helen's helper, and she lives with her and Paris. She is very special because she sees the gods, and she doesn't forget about them like the other people, but the only person who knows of this is Xanthe. Xanthe has two best friends, Polyxena and Iason, but she doesn't realise that Polyxena is in love with Iason, even though he loves Xanthe. One day, when Xanthe is curing the wounded, she comes upon a young man, Alastor, and Cupid makes her fall in love with him. She tells her sister, and Marpessa is sad for her because Alastor's mother would never permit the marriage, even if he loved her back. Then Aphrodite, the goddess of love, makes Marpessa and Alastor fall in love with e ach other, and Marpessa doesn't dare tell her sister. In the meantime, the war is moving on, and first Hector, then Achilles and last Paris are killed. Andromache and Helen are full of grief, and Marpessa and Xanthe are doing all they can to comfort them. Then the city of Troy is destroyed, but all the friends survive, and Marpessa, Xanthe and Alastor (who is disguised as a woman to not get killed) go to Greece under Helen's protection, and Xanthe is not in love with Alastor anymore, so everyone is happy.

What I Did

1. I did all 6 entries.
2. I did all 6 rough drafts.
3. I think I got an A- in my LA class because I did all the work that was assigned except some comments because those people hadn't posted their entries.

History - Hitler and his Henchmen

This year in history we are studying the rise and fall of Hitler and the Second World War. We learned that some of the causes leading to the Second World War were the unfairness of the Treaty of Versailles and Hitler's nationalist ideology. Hitler bacame Germany's Fuhrer (leader) in 1933, but he was quite lazy, so he left ordinary work to his subordinates, even because he couldn't have done everything on his own. His three most loyal and obedient followers (henchmen) were: Hermann Goring (1893-1946), Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945), and Josef Goebbels (1897-1945). Hermann Goring took control of the economy and, most important, of the German airforce. He was very popular in Germany but his popularity declined after his airforce failed to win the Battle of Britain. Heinrich Himmler had control of the SS and the Gestapo (the Prussian Secret State Police), and he was also the one who organized the Night of Long Knives, when Ernst Rohm, another one of Hitler's henchmen, was killed. Josef Goebbels had control of the media and was in charge of propaganda.

Romanticism

In our Italian class, we are studying the Italian Romantic Age. Romanticism started in Germany with the "Sturm und Drang" (Impeto e Assalto) movement, and it spread in Europe with the magazine called "Atheneaum". In Italy it was introduced by the writer Giovanni Berchet, which complained against the "poems of the dead", that he said were surpassed and still referred to the old Roman style. He encouraged people to inspire themselves to the contemporary German and English poets, that used "poetry of the living". In 1818, Italian romantics founded a magazine, "Il Conciliatore", that explained the difference between these two types of poetry. The two major Italian exponents of this cultural movement are Giacomo Leopardi and Alessandro Manzoni. Giacomo Leopardi is the major exponent of poetry, while Alessandro Manzoni is the major exponent of novels and stories. The most famous of Alessandro Manzoni's creations is "I Promessi Sposi", a novel that tells the story of two peasants, Lucia Mondella e Renzo Tramaglino, that can't marry because a rich noble has fallen in love with Lucia.

Hippolyta (Drama)

In our drama class, we are preparing a representation of a play written by William Shakespeare that is called "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Mr S., our drama and science teacher, gave us the part that he thought fitted us best, and my part is now Hippolyta. Hippolyta is an Amazon and she is in love with Theseus (Patrizio), Athens's king, and they are about to marry. Hippolyta isn't happy about Theseus' decision to not let Hermia (Sophia) marry Lysander (Giulio), her love. At the end of the play, when Theseus finally lets Hermia marry Lysander because Demetrius (Matteo) now loves Helena (Claudia), Hippolyta is very happy. I am also a very important person in the play because Patrizio and I are the narrators, that explain the story in Italian to the poor parents that don't understand English. Before knowing which parts we will get in the play, I had wanted to be Hippolyta and I am really happy that I got that part.

Science

This quarter we have been doing computer group projects for Science at home. My group is: Sofia A., Stefania and me, and our topic is magnets. Magnetism is the attraction of a magnet for another magnet or ferromagnetic material, for example iron, nickel or cobalt. Each magnet has a magnetic pole, its end, where the magnetic force is stronger. Also, every magnet has a magnetic field, the region around it where the magnetic force is exerted. In poor words, the area in which a magnet attracts or repels another object. The magnetic field is mapped by magnetic field lines, that spread out out from the north pole, curve aroumd the magnet and return to the other pole. Did you know that Earth has an immense magnetic field sorrounding it? The problem is, Earth's magnetic North Pole is not the same as the geographic North, so you have to know the magnetic declination (angle between geographic and magnetic North) of where you are to know exactly where North is.

Feud - The Lady Grace Mysteries

By Jan Burchett and Sara Vogler

The novel "Feud" is the sixth book in the Lady Grace Mysteries, that is a series of novels that tell about Lady Grace's investigations on crimes that have happened at Court. Lady Grace is the youngest Maid of Honour of Queen Elizabeth I, and she is also the Queen's Lady Pursuivant (even though almost no one knows about this), which means the Queen lets her solve mysteries for her. In this novel, Lady Grace is trying to figure out why her friend Carmina is sick. She discovers that she has eaten orpiment, which is also contained in yellow paint and in rat baits, so she is trying to discover who is poisoning Carmina. At the end, she discovers that Lady Horsley, a friend of the Queen, is trying to renew a feud with Carmina's family because her son was accidentally killed by Carmina's father in a joust, and when she is discovered, she commits suicide.

Gold!-The Lady Grace Mysteries

By Jan Burchett and Sara Vogler
In the year 1570, in England, at Queen Elizabeth's I court, Lady Grace Cavendish begins to write her adventures in a new diary that Penelope gave to her as a gift. Lady Grace is the youngest Maid of Honour (she is fourteen) of the Queen, and she is also the Queen's Lady Pursuivant, that solves mysteries for the Queen, and the only ones to know this are: the Queen, Ellie the laundry maid, and Masou the tubbler. This time Grace wants to write only about Penelope's wedding, but she doesn't. Penelope was a Maid of Honour, and the Queen is said that she will be going away. To worsen the situation, the Queen's gold is stolen, and Grace tries to find it. After many adventures, Grace discovers that the thief was very clever and gave everyone wrong indications, but Grace with Ellie's and Masou's help demonstrates that the culprit is her friend Lord Ruxbury.

Daughter of Venice

By Donna Jo Napoli
Donata is the daughter of a wealthy nobleman of Venice. She has a twin sister, Laura, and they are always the same, in jewelry and dressing. Donata is a rebel, she wanders the city even though she is not allowed, and her father lets her study with her brothers. One day, her father announces that she will marry, and Laura will enter in a convent, but he doesn't know that Laura has done all the work for Donata in the past month, so Donata could go out and afterwards tell everyone stories of her adventures. Because of this, Donata feels guilty, and she tells her mother that she can't marry. Her mother doesn't believe her, so Donata comes up with a plan in which she will be disgraced and Laura will have to marry in her place. It doesn't really work, but things come out for the best and Laura marries and Donata goes to the university.

Romeo & Juliet

By William Shakespeare
Romeo and Mercutio are two very close friends. They are both about fourteen, but Romeo is a Montague, and Mercutio is of the Prince's family. Still, even though they come from two different families, they both hate the Capulets fiercely. Mercutio is a fierce street-fighter, and loves to joke about people; but he is also a dreamer, and he always tells his friends about his dreams. Romeo, instead, doesn't like to fight as much as Mercutio, and he loves to be in love and suffer for love. In fact, before Juliet, he loved Rosaline, a nun. Romeo and Mercutio are good friends, but Mercutio feels betrayed when Romeo tells Tybalt to make peace, because Mercutio doesn't know that Romeo and Tybalt are related, since Romeo married Juliet. Also, Mercutio gets killed by Tybalt under Romeo's arm, because Romeo was trying to separate them. So, their friendship is broken when Mercutio, right before dying, curses the Montagues (Romeo's family) and the Capulets (Juliet's family) saying: "A plague o'both your houses."

The Sirens of Surrentum

By Caroline Lawrence
The eleventh book in the Roman Mysteries series is "The Sirens of Surrentum". Flavia, Jonathan, Nubia and Lupus are invited to Villa Limona by Pulchra, who is preoccupied because someone is trying to poison her mother. When they get there, they find out that Pulchra has invited the boy that Flavia will be betrothed to, and also three young men and three young women, to try to discover if they were the ones who tried to poison Pulchra's mother. After many adventures, the kids discover that Pulchra's mother was trying to commit suicide because her husband, Pollus Felix, was unfaithful, but she had built up a resistance to the poison. Pulchra's mother had taken poison when those people were in the house because her husband had been flirting with the women and the men had reminded her of her previous husband, which had died many years before.

Stormbreaker

By Anthony Horowitz
The protagonist of this novel is named Alex Rider. He is fourteen, and lives in London with an American woman, that takes care of the house in exchange for a place where to live, and he has an uncle that is a banker and always travels. One day the bank calls Alex and tells him that his uncle, Ian, died. The funeral takes place a week later, and many people come. At a certain point, as a man is opening the door for the bank manager, Alex notices that he has a gun. So, he decides to investigate, even because the things that were in Ian's studio have all disappeared, and Alex has seen the truck that brought them away, and the writing on it. So he goes to the corresponding junkyard and finds his uncle's car, and sees that someone has shot Ian. If you want to know how the story ends, read the book!

The Secrets of Vesuvius

By Caroline Lawrence
The protagonists of this novel are: Flavia Gemina, Nubia, Lupus, and Jonathan. It takes place in ancient Rome, in AD 79.Flavia and her friends are staying nearby Naples, in a villa that belongs to Flavia's uncle. One day, when they are on the beach, they see a boat in the sea, and a man calling for help. The kids' tutor Aristo and Lupus swim to him, and save him. They discover he is Admiral Pliny, a very important person in the Roman Empire, especially the fleet. He thanks them and gives Flavia a riddle to solve, that leads to a treasure. He tells her the smith Vulcan has answers. Flavia solves the riddle and for a lucky coincidence Vulcan stays for a few days in their house. If you want to know how the story ends, you better read the book!

The Fugitive of Corinth

By Caroline Lawrence
"The Fugitive of Corinth" is the tenth book in the Roman Mysteries series. It takes place in Corinth, Athens and Delphi, which are all in Greece. Flavia Gemina and her friends are staying in an hostel in Corinth, when, one night, they hear some yells from Aristo's and Captain Geminus's rooms. When they arrive there they see that Captain Geminus has been stabbed and their tutor Aristo has a bloody knife in his hands. Flavia, seeing her father lying in a pool of blood, faints, so she doesn't see that her father is still alive. Helen, the landlady, realizes and after making two of her slaves bring Aristo to the authorities, she calls the doctor Mordecai. The next morning they discover that Aristo has escaped, so the four friends and a sailor begin pursuing him. They will need all their skill to catch Aristo and understand his reason for stabbing Captain Geminus: if you want to know how this book ends, read it!

Be Yourself

By Michelle Magorian
This book has many different stories. The nicest one is "No Sweat". Mark is at the swimming pool, because he has to do a contest, in which he will swim one hundred laps, and his two friends fifty each. Mark looks at his opponents: four youths with a coach and an old woman. Mark dives in the pool and begins swimming. He sees that the four youths are doing only fifty laps each, and he feels very superior. When he is at ninety laps, and still doesn't see his friends coming, he begins to preoccupy. When he finishes his hundred, his lap-counter and Joan, the old woman, spur him on, telling him to go on until is friends come, or his laps will be annulled, and he squalified. Only after fifty more laps he realises that his friends will not come, and had never ment coming. So, he is spurred on by his anger and by Joan's support. He finishes and goes to spur Joan, that is still swimming, alone.