“12 Years a Slave” by Solomon Northup

This movie is about a real man living freely in the 1800’s who is suddenly enslaved by two white men that deceived him into accepting a job as a violinist in their circus. Solomon Northup was a man of culture, he enjoyed reading books, he was a hard worker and above all he was a free black man (an unusual situation at that time).

After he was captured, he was tortured, his name changed to Platt so that people wouldn’t recognize him and he was sold, alongside with another slave he had met when he was captured, named Eliza, to a somewhat kind man named Ford, who became their owner.

While he was at Ford’s plantation, Solomon showed his intellectual side and his work abilities by building a “boat” out of tree stemps. He also had some troubles with Tibeats and Chapin who were known to treat slaves poorly. After a while, Solomon was sold to Mr.Edwin Epps, the cruelest man in Bayou Boeuf.

For ten years, he worked for this man. There he met other slaves and got close to Patsey, a woman who, despite having a terrible life, always smiled and laughed. She was a beautiful and  hard working woman. They mostly worked on picking the cotton off of the field and if they didn’t pick enough of it they would get whipped.

By Christmas time, Solomon thought about writing a letter to a friend who could free him from slavery. The problem was he had no way of getting that letter to the post office, until a white man called Armsby came to work as an overseer. But this man betrayed Solomon and told Epps he had written a letter.

In the summer of 1852, Master Epps decided to build a new house. He employed some white builders and he took Solomon out of the fields to help them. Solomon became close with one of the builders, Bass, and later convinced him to deliver his letter.

The letter was received by Mr. Henry, Solomon’s close friend of many years, who came to Epp’s plantation with a sheriff. Solomon was finally free and returned to his family after 12 long years. 

Iara   Fernandes,  12º CT3

Globalization

Globalization, by definition, is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology.  The most talked about topic of globalisation is how it affects the people, but globalisation affects also other aspects, for example the environment.

Unfortunately, most of the impact of globalisation on the environment is bad. For example, globalization has led to an increase in the consumption of products, which increases the production of goods, which in turn puts stress on the environment. Also with globalisation the transportation of raw materials and food from one place to another has increased, which increases the pollution levels in the environment by the amount of fuel that is consumed during the transportation of the goods. It can has led to several other environmental concerns such as noise pollution and landscape intrusion. 

Due to globalization and industrialization, various chemicals have been thrown into the soil changing its composition and causing the growth of many noxious weeds and plants. Another concern is the overexploitation of natural resources because with the increase of exportations the countries have pushed their resources to the limit to maximize production and without sustainable practices for harvesting, resources can be exploited to the point of no return. The most common examples of overexploitation of resources are deforestation and overfishing.

We can be conclude that globalization has a bad impact on the environment and this need to be fixed up so that the next generations have the same opportunities as we do.

Rita Regueira, 12º CT3

a palavras... abro páginas de mim

"Desafiar a palavras é acordar a alma, é desassossegar o espírito, é alimentar a vida a escrever... a voar em páginas de dizer, de Ser e de sonhos infinitos..."

Leonor Campos de Melo

A importância atribuída ao domínio da escrita, na disciplina de Português, pretende um gradual desenvolvimento da capacidade de lidar com a informação recebida, de a compreender e, consequentemente, de a saber utilizar em novos contextos, direta ou indiretamente relacionados com os conteúdos programáticos.

O projeto de produção de textos escritos complexos, que implicam o treino de um trabalho de pensamento assente na observação, na análise, no recurso à criatividade e na continuidade do raciocínio, visou o objetivo de “escrever para aprender e escrever para pensar, na sua articulação com o ler para escrever” (Programa de Português, 2014, p.9). E revelou, também, a sensibilidade na interiorização de princípios e de valores transmitidos a partir dos diversos conteúdos programáticos lecionados, nos 10.º e 11.º anos.

Leonor Melo

Era o ponto final

Os sinais de pontuação e os diacríticos, cansados da monotonia do papel, organizaram uma patuscada. Enquanto combinavam, o Ponto de Interrogação começou a questionar: quando? onde? quem faz o quê?

Logo as Reticências colocaram reticências por recearem que as Vírgulas e os Pontos e Vírgulas separassem toda a gente e que o Travessão ocupasse o lugar dos Parêntesis, das Vírgulas ou dos Dois Pontos.

Estes últimos referiam dois pontos importantes: todos contribuiriam com dinheiro e trabalho e deveriam pensar no que se faria se chovesse ou se estivesse frio.

Ao falar-se de frio, o Trema começou a tremer. O Til também tremia, receando constipar-se, o que o obrigaria a ficar de serviço em todas as palavras.

Entretanto, dois acentos desentenderam-se: um achava que as relações do grupo estavam numa crise aguda; outro considerava a situação grave.

As Aspas procuraram uma citação que pudesse acalmar as coisas. Elevaram a voz e disseram:

- Calma, pessoal! “A união faz a força!”

Fez-se silêncio.

Tranquilizando-os, os Parêntesis ofereceram-se para encerrar o frio e o Acento Circunflexo disponibilizou-se para os abrigar, esticando-se ao máximo.

O Ponto de Exclamação, admirado, disse:

- Ufa! Que alívio!

E ouviu-se:

- Vamos ao trabalho.

Era o Ponto Final.

Carolina Lopes e Guilherme Madaleno, 10.º CT2