The Random Chronicles
Page Editor- Summer Soliman
Staff writers:
J'wel
Sumayyah
Summer
What is Going on in MUA
Model UN:
By Summer Soliman and Sumayyah Lebron
Model UN is an important activity in many ways. Model UN is where kids get the chance to make and find resolutions to solve problems that nations all around the world suffer from. The topics can go from poverty to organized crime to climate change. This is a great way to open the minds of kids to a political view of the world and the problems we face. We as an Islamic school are lucky to have Model UN; and this year 15 students from 7th and 8th grade will go to the hotel where it will be held and come up with resolutions for the topics that they were given. Some topics that they have are combating organized crime, fighting the problem in Syria and Palestine, fighting substance abuse, climate change, and more! They will be going to the hotel sometime in March for four days; Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Wednesday is the introduction when the staff and members of the Model UN introduce themselves. Thursday is when you go to the rooms where your topic is being discussed and begin to talk about your topic, you will also be doing this on Friday. After you have finalized your resolution on Thursday and Friday, you will go to the UN building and vote on which resolutions are sent to the members of the UN. Model UN is something that people from all around the world come together to experience.
Science Fair:
By Summer Soliman and Sumayyah Lebron
Science Fair is coming up for 1st through 8th grade. It is going to be on January 29, 2016. Science fairs are given all around the world. This event helps students explore science and get them to do research and conduct experiments. Basically, the science fair is when students in every grade pick a topic that is their level, anything in their interest that is approved by the teacher. Then they begin. They first state the problem they want to solve, come up with a scientific question, and make a hypothesis. After you have created your hypothesis, you list the materials you will be using, and your procedure, and you are free to conduct your experiment. After you have conducted the experiment more than once, about three times, you analyze your data, come up with your conclusions, and see if your hypothesis was supported or not. On January 29, judges will come and all grades will compete against each other. The judges will pick three top winners from all the grades competing and these winners will advance to the Inter-Islamic science fair. It is truly an exciting activity that our school is giving the kids so that they have the chance to go through this experience.
Matters around the world
Terrorists:
By Sumayyah Lebron
Terrorist acts are increasing around the world and they are mostly blamed on Muslims. Society now looks at Muslims with fear in their eyes and people look at them with shame and disgrace. Muslims have been given that title, the title of terrorists, and it’s gotten to the point where people will call Muslims terrorists when they see us walking by. Although this is a terrible thing, what is most disappointing is people are dying because of the terrorist, and some of the terrorists call themselves Muslims. The act that happened in Paris killed many mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, etc. ISIS took responsibility for this act of terrorism. Many more attacks have happened and Muslims in general are being discriminated by society. The shootings in San Bernardino were supposedly committed by a married Muslim couple. They were said to be very kind people and no one would’ve expected something like this from them, especially since they had an infant. People say that they saw two men in army fatigue fleeing from the scene. What this means, we do not know. America has publicly and socially called out Muslims in the most disrespectful way possible. With Donald trump making a speech about how Muslims should not be able to enter America and immigrants should be kicked out, the people have had more hatred for Muslims than they ever did in the 9/11.
What Society Has Become
By J'wel Kudeh
Society has created an image according to what people are supposed to look like. Girls have to be a certain size and abide to a certain dress code. People will be looked at as different if traditional clothing from other countries is worn in public. Girls in hijabs are looked at as terrorists and would not fall under the category of normal.
Cyber bullying is at an all-time high. People are constantly posting things like hurtful comments and shaming of all sorts without even taking peoples feeling into consideration. Racial remarks are quite popular and crimes are only considered gang activities if people of color are involved. It is becoming a habit that when a Muslim is involved in crime it is easily considered a terrorist act.
Rapes and kills are increasing by the day yet are only aired on the news when the crime is extreme. Now a crime must be really bad in order for it to be recognized. A man would not be looked at as manly or masculine if he is not muscular and “cute”. Smoking is also very popular nowadays. You are only considered cool if you are smoking or have a cigar in your mouth. It is becoming ok to discriminate against those who look different.
Entertainment
Prison Break
By Summer Soliman
Michael Scofield, a genius, tries to break his brother out of prison. Lincoln Burrows, his brother, was falsely accused of murdering the vice president’s brother. Michael commits a crime in order to go to Fox River Prison where his brother is currently being held. He has this plan, it’s perfect, maybe too perfect, but it needs to be conducted before its too late……
Main Characters:
Michael Scofield: The younger brother of Lincoln Burrows. He is a genius, a complete mastermind; he is always two steps ahead of everybody. He is the main character.
Lincoln Burrows: The older brother of Michael Scofield. He loves Michael and puts his needs before his own. He took care of Michael when their mother died and their father abandoned them.
Fernando Sucre: He is Michael’s cellmate. He has a strong belief in Jesus and calls Michael papi. He later becomes one of Michael’s good friends.
Theodore Bagwell: He is a rapist and murderer. He does not like Michael but he always seems to be around him. He calls him pretty boy.
Sarah Tancredi: she is the doctor at Fox River Prison. She has a love interest with Michael. Her father is the governor and she is a survivor.
Brad Bullock: He is the head police guard in Fox River. He is rude, mean, and he sometimes works with the inmates. He thinks he is top boss but in reality he is nothing.
Sherlock
By Sumayyah Lebron
Sherlock is about the adventures of two friends in London. John Watson, a war veteran that just got back from the war in Afghanistan; and Sherlock Holmes, a "private" investigator a.k.a. sociopath. It’s a modern remake on Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective stories. Sherlock Holmes and John Watson are introduced through a friend that they both know. They become flat mates and are soon solving crimes. Many that are by the hand of Moriarty, Sherlock’s archenemy.
Main Characters
Sherlock Holmes: He calls himself the world's only consulting detective. His character definitely develops throughout the show. He is quite an enigma. He likes the idea of someone dying if it means that he has another case to start working on. He isn't really a people person, and the only people he actually enjoys to be around are John, Mary, Lestrade, and Molly.
John Watson: John is Sherlock's best friend. He is basically Sherlock's caretaker. He goes on many adventures with Sherlock and writes a blog about them. John gets seriously annoyed at the things that Sherlock does sometimes, but he gets over it in the end.
Jim Moriarty: Moriarty is Sherlock's archenemy. He is a genius, and a psychopath. He gives Sherlock clues to solve and doesn't like to get his hands dirty. Moriarty and Sherlock used to be classmates. They are very similar in the way where they are both not normal, and they think very alike.
Molly Hooper: Molly is a pathologist that works in the morgue at St.Bartholomew's Hospital , the morgue that Sherlock usually goes to solve and investigate crimes. She has a crush on Sherlock and does anything to help him. He uses her to be able to experiment on victim’s bodies.
Mary Morstan: She later becomes john’s wife. She wasn’t always Mary Morstan. She was a former assassin…..
Greg Lestrade: Greg works for Scotland Yard and calls on Sherlock whenever they have a crime that needs to be solved. Greg can be called Sherlock’s friend and Sherlock also calls Greg when he needs police for a certain mystery.
Lost
By J'wel Kudeh
Lost is about the people on flight 815. Everybody on the flight were headed to Los Angeles when the plane tragically crashed with only 72 survivors. Before the crash all the survivors met at one point in time. The plane crashed for no apparent reason and it was their destiny to meet again. The show itself has many plot twists. For instance the survivors were thought to be alone on the island. They weren’t aware of the so called others who had a whole society planned on the inside.
Main Characters
John Locke: He is one of the most important people on the show. He portrays the wisest of them all though he is not the leader. He is friend to all. John Locke Believes the island wants all the survivors to stay on the island in return for the miracle.
Boone Carlyle: He was the one to find the hatch on the island . Was the one to speak in John Locke’s dream and told him the island wanted something from him.
Jack Shepard: The caring leader and often helps those in need. The survivors sought his guidance during many crises and missions, and he united them until they cooperated and formed a society. His rationality kept him from believing the Island’s mystic properties.
Sawyer Ford: Sawyer’s acts of rebellion by hoarding materials made him the most hated person on the island, but he was still friends with some of the survivors. He is a bad boy type and not afraid to kill.
Kate Austen: She is a survivor . She sort of “top dog” among the women survivors. She is a love interest for Jack. She is also a fierce fighter and she is smart.
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
By Summer Soliman
Let’s talk about The Scorch Trails, it was a good movie honestly I loved it. The details in the action scenes and how they created the Scorch was amazing!!! I really liked how they remembered Chuck in the movie because it was really sad how he died and he deserved to be remembered. I thought The Scorch Trials contained more interesting scenes than the Maze Runner; the only thing that I thought it lacked was character development. Other than that it was AMAZING!!!! I loved how the cranks looked and they were able to make the wounds from the cranks look real. I loved Brenda's character she seems to be a strong headed young lady who definitely knows how to take care of herself. The movie was able to captivate Teresa's point of view about Ava Paige aka WCKD and you can understand why she has a change of heart which was really interesting. The ending was great. I loved how it ended in a cliffhanger with Minho being captured and Thomas saying his speech. Overall the movie was great I recommend watching it, I hope you enjoy it!!!!!!!
P.s. Death Cure is coming out February 2017!
Book Reviews
Lord of the Flies
By J'wel Kudeh
Lord of the Flies is about a group of boys who were sent away from England due to a war. The plane crash landed on an island in the middle of nowhere. It is believed the crash was because of a bomb. All of the adults on board, the flight attendants, the pilots, etc., have died during the crash leaving the only survivors from the boys alone. It is now the boys’ job to survive on their own. The book describes the island as a kind of paradise and begins with Ralph and Piggy. Piggy is the brains of the bunch and Ralph is the leader and it is his job to keep the boys in check, in which he fails.
The boys eventually descend into savagery and become the boys they never thought to become. Jack ,the chief of the savages, represents the corruption in society. He is constantly trying to overthrow Ralph as a leader by trying to manipulate the boys. Later on in the story many of the older people follow Jack because he promises things like protection and meat. By this point into the story the boys are practically animals. They are painted and even have a tribal dance. Ralph, Piggy, and Samneric are the very few trying to hang on to the last bit of civilization.
Overall I enjoyed the book, and it had a lot of character development. Jack, in the opening of the book was a person who was not aware of his capabilities. Towards the closing of the book Jack had an obsession with killing and had completely descended into savagery. Ralph, towards the beginning of the book was slacking on his duties and was failing to keep the boys civilized, mainly being one of the reasons the boys turned to savages. Piggy at one point in the story takes part in a tribal dance that totally goes against his civilized manner. Simon being the religious character, later on is one to notice that the beast really is the boys themselves.
Slated
By Sumayyah Lebron
Slated was a really interesting book, I enjoyed it. It was about a teenager girl named Kyla who was Slated. When you are Slated, you basically go through a process that wipes all of your memories. The people that are Slated are told that their memories were wiped because they were terrorists or that they worked with an anti-government organization. Kyla was “adopted” by two people who she is supposed to call mom and dad. She goes to a meeting for kids who have been Slated and she finds a friend in Ben, another Slated who goes to her school. Together they work to find out the truth behind why they were slated and Kyla suffers a tragic loss.
There was a good amount of action in the book. There was definitely character development. Kyla’s character developed throughout the book and her point of view changed when what was happening changed. I liked how there was just the right amount of description and dialogue, not too much and not too little. Overall it was a really good book and I would recommend it.
Taken at Dusk
By Summer Soliman
Taken at Dusk is a really good book. It’s is the third book in the Shadow Falls series. It’s about a teenage girl named Kylie that recently found out that she is not 100% human. She is in a camp for supernaturals that need a place to stay while they figure out their identities. She’s one of the most powerful supernatural which puts her in a precarious situation. She has shown powers of werewolves, vampires, fae, and witches which she can usually only use when a friend is in grave danger, she can’t use them to protect herself. She was hunted down by two “vampires”, Mario and Red. They are still after her and she found out that they can switch their supernatural readings to whatever seems fit. On top of her being in danger, she can see and speak to ghosts. She’s dealt with two of them so far and now she has to deal with Jane Doe. A confused, amnesiac ghost that can’t remember how she died. She keeps giving Kylie the same message from the angels: Someone lives and someone dies. But Kylie is not in this alone. She has her friends to support and help her; Miranda, Della, Holiday, Derek, Lucas, Helen, Burnett, Perry, her dead dad’s ghost, and now Ellie.
When reading this book you really get to know each character. Their point of views are very interesting and you can tell how everyone feels. You can see how much Kylie’s friends care for her and would do anything for her. There is just the right amount of dialogue and description so that you don’t get lost or you just don’t want to read the book anymore. It has just the right balance of action, mystery, and fantasy. When you pick up the book you don’t want to put it down. I really liked it and I would recommend it to everyone.