The scariest thing that has ever happened to me

When I was 12 years old, I signed up and was accepted into a travel group for kids called People to People. My group was going to Great Britan to spend a few weeks in England, Ireland, and Scotland. The very first day, we visited many amazing ancient castles, Big Ben and other landmarks. We walked for such a long time that by the end of the day, we all got very tired. Once the group and I arrived at the hotel, we were then assigned to our rooms. This was done in alphabetical order by last name so since my last name is Williams, I was last pick for a room. Everyone was supposed to be paired in groups of two but somehow, I was paired with two others which made three of us. We were about to get settled into our rooms when we heard a knock at the door. It was the chaperone, who informed us that she ordered another room for one of us to go to since there were only two beds in this room. One of the two boys I was paired with reluctantly volunteered and he was escorted downstairs to this other room. I got ready to sleep and so did the other kid. We almost turned the lights out and went to sleep when another knock came from the door again. It was the kid who volunteered and the chaperone. The kid was crying and said that he was scared of the room and refused to go back to sleep there. I could tell that the other kid wanted to stay here so, I packed my stuff and followed the chaperone to the room. She told me the time I was supposed to get up and head to the lobby in order to get on the bus in time, then, she shut the door and left. I brushed my teeth, read a book for a chapter or two and then turned out the lights. I couldn't sleep, I tossed and turned because I was so excited about what I was going to do tomorrow. Eventually, I put my feet on the pillows at the top of the bed and my head at the foot of the bed. I looked over at the door. Something in the light reflection of the window behind me seemed to be moving. I quickly turned my head around to face the window and what I saw took my breath away. The silhouette of a person with their face and hands pressed hard against the glass as if they were staring at me. I could hear the hands squeaking on the frozen glass. I jumped out of my bed and crawled to the bathroom where I crawled in and locked the door. I slowly unlocked the door and opened it. The dark figure was literally crawling up the window. I watched as it's legs, ankles, and at last feet disappeared at the top of the window. I slept on the floor behind the bed for the rest of the night and didn't call anyone that night or tell anyone in the morning.

"Confessions" podcast

The interviewer that was interviewing Father Santa in the podcast titled Confessions, had some very good and professional sounding questions. He would always have a question that was opened to a short answer, then, he would ask a follow up question that would make the interviewee extrapolate on the topic that they are discussing. This could be useful in the interviews that the class is conducting for the exact same reason. The interviewer wouldn't ask things per say but he would say things that would start another topic or expand on the recent one. The interviewer would ask questions like, for example, "Somebody wrote your newsletter, I sometimes get frustrated with my dog. Is this a serious sin?" The last sentence " is this a sin?" Would ( to me) strike a conversation when you recite exact quotes from people in relation to the topic. This is possibly because when you say quotes such as this, it would give the person a visual and they might slowly start to remember more and more about the topic. All of this just in one interview and someone could unlock more and more information about these topics.

During the second part of the podcast, the questions were asked by a detective that was interrogating a suspect accused of murder. He would ask the accused about how the murder happened and he would ask questions that would lead to the answer that he wanted her to say. The tone of the interrogator's voice sounded harsh at times and impatient. The video stated that the interrogation lasted a few days which would be just enough time for people to get bored, tired, and annoyed. At this point, the accused just gave in and said what the detectives wanted to hear. This caused the accused to go to prison and be separated from their children. As the result of bad interrogation and questioning, they found out much later that the accused was not even at the scene of the crime when it was committed. This would give a decent example on what not to do in a interview.

From the third and final passage in the podcast, a man accused of the murder and rape of a little girl was false and all because of bad questioning. The man accused said near the beginning of the podcast that the police were rather aggressive and despite the macho attitude of the accused man, I think that that might have made him shy off because he was falsely convicted and thrown in jail for this horrible crime. I think that this would give a good lesson to anyone who is interviewing someone or even interrogating someone for a serious crime, the meaner you sound, the person you are questioning might get reclusive and give off the wrong information.

What is my "spine"

My "spine" or the thing that I strive to accomplish throughout my life  is to make everyone around me happy and form myself into a better person in the process. I have been trying to accomplish this since kindergarten up to today. I have been trying to make friends and be the true meaning of a friend to everyone that I meet and try to give a good impression to people that I will probably never see again like a person sitting on a plane or someone in a theatre. This is my spine and I will never give it up.

3 things I have learned from Debbie Harwell:

1. 1960- Chicano movement was a segregation movement against Hispanics. The white schools wanted to label the Hispanics as white and allow them into the white schools to make everyone believe that the white schools had integrated.

2. There is only one dome stadium in the entire world and that stands here in Houston.

3. The giant hill infront of the Miller outdoor theatre is all of the dirt dug from the ground to create the medical center.