jared h


 

 


Dad's first car by Harold024 | Make Your Own At www.toondoo.com
 

 

 

Family Story:  Goal...to tell stories from a loved one (3 biographies /1 autobiography)

 

Story #1 (Biography) How my mom met my dad for the first time and their first date.

  

Story # 2 (Biography) My mom's first job and what she did with her money.

  

Story # 3 (Biography) What my mom is most proud of.  Her kids and what they've done.

  

Story # 4 (Autobiography)

 

Research: Goal is to research and present information that supports a thesis statement.

 

Thesis Statement:

  

Specific Research found:

  

Questions:

  

Problems: 

 

Assignment #11 Exploring Themes

Topic:Racism

Key Questions: What is racism?  Is racism something that is taught?  What are some of the traits that racist people have?  What type of people are usually the target of racism?  Can racism be overcome?  Is racism limited to a certain group of people? Ex: race or color?

Possible Resources for Research:

Book: Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism by James W. Loewen

Movie: A Time To Kill (Joel Schumacher, 1996)

Book: Buried in the Bitter Waters; the Hidden History of Racial Cleansing in America by Elliot Jaspin.

The Objectivist Newsletter (September, 1963), Racism, by Ayn Rand

Trying to understand Racism: An interview with Ronald Lewis (March 26, 2007 written by Jason Ford) http://jasonford.newsvine.com/_news/2007/03/26/632194-trying-to-understand-racism-an-interview-with-ronald-lewis

Encyclopedia/Racism

RAW magazine, 1977

Spiegelman depicts the Jews as mice (Maus is German for mouse). He uses animals to represent different nationalities and races.  By using animals he shows how stupid it is to classify humans based on thier nationality or ethnic background.

 

Assignment #10 Glogster project

 

-The picture with the dog proves that love is not just a human feeling and we can be foolish by loving even a pet. 

-I chose pictures that show love is everywhere and has no boundaries. 

-The quotes I chose show that it's important to know that love is a very important part of our lives. 

 

 Assignment #9

Thesis-There is no boundaries where love is concerned.

To-Do List

-Start working on glogster page.

-Comment on my photos.

-Support thesis and subtopics

To-Get List

-Find a music clip.

-Get a few hyperlinks.

-Get pictures/graphics to cover it.

-More photos.

 

Assignment #8 Essay 

(Did not do)

 

Assignment #7 Bubbl.us 

 

Assignment #6 Foolish Boys

The line "Lord, what fools these mortals be" means that Lysander and Demetrius are foolish.  Lysander can be foolish in many ways.  He was in love with Hermia alot, then Puck comes along and put that flower juice on his eyes, so Lysander fell in love with Helena.  Before that he didn't love Helena at all.  Helena thought he was playing a joke on her.  So now that he is in love with Helena it makes him and her look foolish.  Demetrius looks foolish because he was going to marry Hermia and that isn't too smart to do if that person doesnt love you at all.  So both Lysnader and Demetrius looks foolish for fighting over the same girl. 

 

Assignment #5 Dear Abbey Style Letters

(Did not do) 

 

Assignment #4 Reaction to video Clip

Seeing the clip from a Midsummer Nights Dream really helped me understand the book a lot better than i did before because the book is hard to understand at times and confusing.  The book seemed boring but now I have a sense for who the characters are.  Also seeing the clip helped me understand how Bottom really acted because it is confusing in the book.  It also showed Hermia and Lysander have a pretty strong relationship.

 

Assignment #3 Character I connect with from MSND

 Wordle: bottom

 

Assignment #2 What's funny about Act 1, Scene 2

The person I thought was funny is Bottom.  Because he kept asking what different parts he could play.  But it got annoying which was kind of funny.  He said he would playthe girl Thisbe in a high pitched voice.  Bottom and Flute fought over the part of Thisbe and they tried to be serious about it but it ended up funny.  It is funny that he wants to play every part in the play but he still gets stuck with Pyramus.

 

Assignment #1 Egeus/Hermia father-Daughter Relationship

I think Egeus and Hermia have a pretty bad relationship.  Egeus wants his daughter Hermia to marry Demetrious and she doesn't want to marry him.  Hermia wants to marry Lysander.  Egeus told Lysander, Hermia is his daughter and he can pretty make her do want he wants but Hermia doesn't want to listen to her father.  Hermia is forced to die, run away, become a nun, or marry Demetrious.  Hermia plans on running away and cut all ties with anyone who lives in Athens. 

 

Independent Reading________________________________________

 

Indie Reading #33 P. 231-245 05-03-09 Sun.

The Steelers had three regular season games left, but in reality everything was a one-and-done situation for them  Coach Cowher was right: their playoffs had started with the Bears win.  They beat the Vikings, 18-3, and that time they were prepared for playing in a dome.  The Metrodome wasn't half as loud as the RCA Dome, but the Steelers had spent the practice week working on a silent count.  They ended up using silent count system during the whole game.  One of the reasons they did it: just in case they played Indy again.  Six days later the Steelers punished the Browns, 41-0.  It was their most complete game of the year.  And Jerome couldn't have been prouder of Willie Parker, who became the first Steelers running back, other than Jerome or Barry Foster, to rush for 1,000 yards since 1992.

 

Indie Reading #32 P. 221-230 05-02-09 Sat.

At this point in the story Jerome said he had a friend named Cleveland Gary who said he would have to teach the younger players one day.  I don't remember Cleveland Gary but I remember when Willy Parker was a rookie and Jerome had to teach him things about the NFL and other things about it.  After Jerome retired, Willy turned out to be a really good running back like Jerome.  During the practices Jerome said he could tell Willy was studying him.  I think for Willy to come to the Steelers with Jerome still there was good for Willy because Bettis could teach him a lot of things about being a running back in the NFL.  I remember when Jerome would get tired during a game Parker would go in the game and run the ball just a few yards at a time and a couple times he would break a long run really quick and he earned the name Fast Willy. 

Indie Reading #26 P. 206-220 04-26-09 Sun.

It was cool seeing how Jerome wrote about every detail about the game before the Super Bowl the Steelers almost lost because of the run he had that the ball hit off a Colts players helmet and another Colt picked it up and started running but Ben Roethlisberger tackled by his shoe and save them from losing.  He also talked about the good things and bad things about the Super Bowl in Detroit.  Like how Jerome was going home before he retired from football.  I thought it was good that Jerome won his last game ever in his hometown. 

Indie Reading #25 P. 190-205 04-11-09 Sat.

I like how Jerome Bettis wrote this book.  I liked being able to learn first-hand from Bettis all the things he went through in his life.  He is able to take us through growing up as a chubby child, to his high school career, to college life at Notre Dame, to winning the Super Bowl.   He is able to put into his own words all the different things he went through.  He shares a lot of his personal thoughts with us.  It was fun to read it from his perspective.  Jerome made it very interesting.  I would really like to read another book that Jerome writes.

Indie Reading #24 P. 174-189 04-05-09 Sun.

The Steelers lost that game and the next four to finish the season 7-9.  Jerome ran for 1,185 yards that year, but all anyone remembers from that season is the coin flip game in Detroit.  Everything Thanksgiving Day he became the butt of the football jokes.  The ghost of Thanksgiving past, and all that.  Guys would drop quaters on the ground and ask Jerome, "Hey, Bussie, is that heads or tails?"  Even Coach Cowher banned him from doing anymore coin tosses.  His own coach banned him.  About a week later, at a United Way charity dinner, Jerome saw NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue.  Tagliabue didn't mention the controversy, but someone else started flipping a coin in front of him.  It wasn't funny.  The only good thing about the entire incident was that the NFL instituted what was known as the Bettis Rule. Now the coin flip preference is made before the game, so there isn't any confusion on the field.  What they ought to call it is the Luckett Rule.  He was the only one confused out there.  That was an ugly season.  They had gone from the AFC Championship to bogus coin flips to their first losing season since 1991.  Jerome knew it was going to be a rebuilding year, but he didn't think they were going to crash and burn like that.

Indie Reading #23 P. 161-173 03-29-09 Sun.

That was a big trip to Detroit for Jerome because it was the first time Jerome ever played as a pro in Detroit.  He bought ninety-one tickets for the game and rented a bus to take everyone to the satdium.  He wanted it to bed a special day for everybody.  It was special, all right, but for the wrong reasons.  Even though the Lions had Sanders- and he was always a threat.  He didn't think they were going to lose the game.  Even when they were tied at the end of regulation, he thought they'd take care of business.  Coach Cowher sent Carnell Lake and Jerome out to midfield for the coin toss.  The winner of the toss got the first pick in sudden death overtime.  Of course, the Steelers wanted the ball.  Phil Luckett was the referee.  He started to explain the coin toss procedure, but he was going so fast Jerome didn't think he realized what he was saying.  He said "On this side of the coin is tails, on this side of the coin is heads.  Call it in the air..."  And then he flipped the coin in the air.  Jerome called tails.  The coin hit the ground and there it was, tails.  He started yelling, "Whoo-hoo, whoo-hoo, whoo-hoo."  The Steelers were going to get the ball first, and the odds always favored the team who got the ball first in sudden death.  But then Luckett said, "The call is heads."  His brain did a somersault.  What?  No! The call wasn't heads.  Jerome said "I said tails."  Tails!  But Luckett said he called heads.  He was in shock. 

Indie Reading #22 P. 154-160 03-28-09 Sat.

Jerome had a 41 yards in the season opener against Baltimore, but then 131 yards the next week against Chicago.  Then 48 against Miami.  Then 138 against Seattle.  Tennessee, a team that always sold out against the run, held him to 26 and 29 yards in their two meetings.  So it was tough.  And none of their recent seasons would have been complete without a quaterback controversy.  This time it came late in the year when Kordell got pulled from the game against Tampa Bay. He got so upset that he actually cried, and then he started pointing at Coach Cowher and yelling at him. You can't excuse Kordell's actions, but it was frustration, pure and simple. The season didn't offically begin to collapse until our Thanksgiving Day game to Detroit. What should have been personal high points for him- I was going home to play in front of his family and friends and turned into one of the low points of his career.  The Steelers were 7-4 when they arrived in Detroit.  The Lions had their usual awful record, 4-7 at the time.  Since it was the holiday season in his hometown, Coach Cowher was nice enough to let Jerome invite the entire team to his mother's house Wednesday night for Thanksgiving dinner.  His mother cooked four turkeys, a dozen Cornish hens, two or three hams, and lots of dessers.  It was a feast. 

Indie Reading #21 P. 140-153 03-22-09 Sun.

Jerome respectfully made it clear to coach Cowher that he hoped in 1998 they'd run the ball more when they got into the red zone.  That was something about Gailey's philosophy that drove him crazy.  Under Gailey, they'd get inside the 20-, 10- or even 5 yard line and suddenly forget that they had one of the better running games in the NFL.  So Jerome made his feelings known to Coach Cowher.  When in doubt, run the ball.  They certainly had enough big running backs to pound the ball.  Then there was Jerome, Richard Huntley, and a rookie from Utah, sixth-round pick Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala.  Speaking of the rookies, 1998 was the year the Steelers drafted an LSU lineman Alan Faneca with the twenty-sixth pick of the first round.  And in the third round they got a kid from Georgia- Hines Ward.  They won three of their first four games and six of their first nine, but it didn't take long to realize they weren't really as talented as the Steelers of 1997.  They had those W's but if you looked below surface, they were in a fragile state. 

Indie Reading #20 P. 128-139 03-21-09 Sat.

Jerome didn't know what happened during the game before the Super Bowl.  One minute The Steelers were a single play away from being in the Super Bowl.  The next minute they were 7-9, missing the playoffs, and beginnins a three-year Steelers nightmare scenario.  It all began in 1998.  As usual, they lost some players to free agency, but still thought they had a decent chance to make some postseason noise.  What  scared Jerome was their offensive line, which was undergoing a pretty substantial rebuilding job.  They also had a new offensive coordinator, Ray Sherman (Gailey had left to become head coach of the Cowboys).  And Jerome's blocking security, Tim Lester, was put on the Physically Unable to Perform list in August because of his shoulder surgery rehab.  Tim and Jerome had been through a lot together.

Indie Reading #19 03-15-09 Sun.

 

Indie Reading #18 03-14-09 Sat.

 Wordle: the bus

Indie Reading #17 P. 116-127 03-08-09 Sun.

A fullback and a tailback is like a mini-team within a team, like Jerome Bettis and Tim Lester were.  Tim was always part of Jerome's pregame ritual, that Jerome followed throughout his NFL career.  They would listen to Tupac before a game.  Jerome played, "Me Against the World."  Because Jerome felt that it was his philosophy when he stepped on the field: It was him against the world.  He had to listen to that song before they played a game.  It was almost like a superstition.  He got to the stadium and realized he didn't have the CD.  So he had to get somebody to find it for him or buy a new one because Jerome was that serious about Tupac.  Tim always led Jerome out to the field before a game and would say "Ride or die."  That was their motto from another Tupac song, "As the World Turns."  Jerome hit it where it hurts, he rides or dies for his turf.  He would follow Tim out to warm-ups, just like he'd follow him through the hole during a game.  That's a pregame tradition he had with all his fullbacks during his career. 

Indie Reading #16 P. 102-115 03-07-09 Sat.

Jerome thinks that Hines Ward is not the most elegant wide receiver in the NFL but he is the toughest.  No receiver is more physical or blocks better than the Super Bowl XL MVP.  Hines' football hero is Jerome Bettis.  Hines' rookie year he just sat back in awe because of Jerome Bettis and Kordell Stewart.  He remembered watching Jerome in college, in the Sugar Bowl.  He just had an aura about him said Ward.  He also said that you don't want to let Jerome down.  All of the other people they played said they called him fat and slow but by the fourth quarter they didn't want to tackle him.  they were just bouncing off him.  He has seen defensive backs want to get out of his way.  The guys who would try to tackle him would get up and say "man I just hit the Bus , and he didn't budge."  Jerome was so physical, every play he just rolled down the hill and dusted himself off.  It was so amazing. 

Indie Reading #15 P. 82-101 03-01-09 Sun.

Deep down Bettis was hoping he could stay in Pittsburgh.  The Steelers offered about $2 million dollars a year.  There was a big supply of 1,400-yard running backs out there.  He said when they offered him a four-year $14.4 million contract  with a $4 million bonus, he couldn't say no.  Since the Steelers have a history of not re-signing their free agents, this was a big deal.  He thinks he could have had more money somewhere else but he only wanted to play for the Steelers.  The QB at the time was Kordell Stewart, otherwise known as slash because they used him in a bunch of different ways.  Cowher told him that the offense was going to revolve around him, this would take some of the pressure off of the young QB.  We played in the AFC Championship game that year against Denver.  We ended up losing that game and the Broncos went on to win Super Bowl XXXII.  Our lose in that game probably helped John Elway get into the Hall of Fame. 

Indie Reading #14 P. 62-81 02-28-09 Sat.

The Steelers were all about tradition, championships, and passionate fans.  They were like Notre Dame of the NFL.  The Steelers had those great uniforms, and those championships, and, of course, Myron Cope, who was part of the team's radio broadcast team for thirty-five years before retiring in June 2005.  He is the guy who created the Terrible Towel in 1975.  Myron, talking about Jerome, said "You know, he kind of looks like a bus."  He called Bettis, The Bus during the Packers-Steelers broadcast and the rest of the nickname is story.  Pittsburgh appreciated players who weren't afraid to get some blood on their jerseys, who didn't care how cold it got on game day, who gave fans an honest effort, win or lose.  Jerome believes he is one of those kinds of players.  Pittsburgh was his kind of place.

Indie Reading #13 P. 49-61 02-27-09 Fri.

The Pro Football Writers of America named Jerome The Comeback Player of the Year and they named Eddie George the Rookie of the Year.  So the Steelers and Oilers had to be happy with their draft day picks.  Jerome mentioned that Coach Cowher's favorite phrase was "Keep it in perspective."  The Steelers management learned that they should have paid Jerome more than $200,000, instead he just rushed for 1,431 yards.  He never wanted to leave Pittsburgh because it is a blue-collar football town and how he ran the football was a blue-collar style so it was a perfect fit.  Jerome considers himself as a football history bluff so it didnt take him long to learn about the Steelers.

Indie Reading #12 P. 35-48 02-22-09 Sun.

Jerome was traded from the Los Angeles Rams to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1996.  He played the first season for 4620,000 and $710,000 in his second year.  The Steelers offered him a $200,000 if he ran for more than 1,200 yds in a season.  I think this was really a bargain for the Steelers.  They should have paid him a lot more than that.  But that was more than 10 years ago.  The Steelers aren't a team that likes to pay alot for their players.  They really got their money out of Jerome.  They did have to cough up some big bucks for him.  They offered him $2 million and he turned it down.  They ended up offering him a four-year deal for $16 million.  Wow! 

Indie Reading #11 P. 27-34 02-21-09 Sat.

Jerome attended the NFL Combine, where he did physicals, had pictures take of his body, interviews with teams and media and completed personality tests. He said he had never had so many X-rays taken, never answered so many stupid questions, and never felt more like and item at an auction than he did at the NFL Combine.  The NFL Draft was held in New York at the Marriot Marquis in Times Square. Jerome spent $700 on a suit and some serious money on a pair of brown shoes.  His Notre Dame teammate went number 2 to Seattle.  The 10th pick of the NFL Draft Jerome Bettis was selected by the Los Angeles Rams.  Jerome said it was an honor to get the chance to play for Coach Chuck Knox.

Indie Reading #10 02-20-09 Fri.

Indie Reading #9 P. 12-26 02-19-09 Thur.

Jerome got a letter from Oklahoma, he was all excited but his father wouldnt let him go because Oklahoma had been put on NCAA probation or was headed there. Because they had all sorts of problems like players accused of rape and guns in the dorms. His father would not reconsider. They would be off probabtion his sophmore year in college so that was out of the question. He would not be a Sooner. Oklahoma was Jerome's first recruiting letter but not his last. He said the best part was looking at all the letterheads. The letterheads were sweet but confusing. The next school in thought was University of Michigan. Michigan was close to Detroit but he wasnt much of a fan of them. They're next choice is Notre Dame, at first he didnt even know what Notre Dame was. He thought it was in Europe somewhere, he knew about the Hunchback of Notre Dame, but thats about it. Eventually Notre Dame offered Bettis a scholarship. They recruited Jerome as a fullback.  

Indie Reading #8 P. 3-11 02-18-09 Wed.

Jerome talks about growing up in the ghetto. They moved out of the ghetto when his parents bought a house for $24,000. He shares stories of how he became a businessman. His first business was selling gum for 10 cents a piece. His profit was 100% because he stole all the gum. He never told his mom about this until he wrote the book. Then he talks about his second business which was selling transformers. He stole them too. This time he got caught by his mom and he got the "Blue Thunder." Blue Thunder was a name that him and his brother made up for his dad big leather belt. He said he got whacked all the time. I thought this part of the book was pretty funny. He talks about never playing football until he was like 13 or so. His favorite sport back then was bowling. He carried a 170 or 180 average. I can't believe he never even thought of playing football.

 

Copyright ©2009. Jared H. All rights reserved.

Date last revised: May 3rd, 2009