New…

The third period of the school year is often a rush. It is short, so tests, exams and oral presentations are all concentrated in just a few weeks which means we just close ourselves in a square shaped room to study. Despite that, the sun starts shinning and we start to remember how much we miss the beach, the swimming pool and all the things that come with the summer.

However, for the twelfth grades it doesn’t mean that. It means that we are finishing our journey at High School. With this there is a huge amount of decisions that have to be taken. Do we want to keep studying and go to university, do we want to do a gap year or do we want to stop studying? If we want to go to university which degree are we taking? Which city do we want to go to? Does it have to be close to home or away from it? One of the most dreadful deadlines is approaching faster than expected. 

Going to university is something most people dream of and it is finally happening after all the work we have been trough to get in what they want. But for some it doesn’t happen as well as they expect and they have to try as hard as they can and get the highest grade possible in the exams so they can get in. But a new era is about to begin.

Despite this, going to university is an exciting experience that will lead to new and life changing experiences that will mark and help them grow into better and different people.  However, we will always miss High School and remember it  as a great time of life.

Maria Figueiró, 12º CT3

“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