Old documents...

Been digging through Finder
And my old English folder is filled with treasure!  Black-and-white, readable treasure...and I wrote it!  :-).

DDT:  TNT to the Food chain

By Noelle E. Matherne

Recently, I have been studying a poison called DDT.  After a week of examination, I found that from the very bottom of the food chain, the poison goes all the way to the top.  What I also found was that for every 1,000 bugs effected by DDT, there is one very sick eagle.  How could a de-bugging poison effect eagles?  DDT travels up the food chain through animals.

First, you need to understand the food chain.  The smaller animals (insects) tend to be on the bottom.  However, as some people over look, plants are at the very bottom.  Above grass comes insects.  Who eats the insects?  Mice do, so they are the next level up.  However, foxes snack on mice.  Then from above, eagles swoop down and eat foxes.  That is a food chain.

Now, the poison DDT is meant for bugs, so it is sprayed on plants, because that is what insects eat.  Ten bugs eat the poison.  Because mice are bigger, they need more food.  Each mouse eats ten bugs.  Again, the fox eats ten mice, who have eaten ten DDT effected bugs.  The eagle eats ten foxes.  If each bug ate one serving of DDT, the eagle just ate 1,000 servings of this poison.  Naturally, the eagle gets effected.

Because an eagle is a bird, it lays eggs.  Shortly after the use of DDT became popular, eagles started to die out.  Why?  The DDT made their eggs’ shells go soft, like an amphibian’s.  It works with amphibians, who lay their eggs in the water, but for eagles, who lay their eggs in nests, it didn’t.  The chicks growing inside the eggs died.  With no more new eagles hatching, the eagle population was shrinking, not growing.  Eagles became an endangered species.

Eventually, bird watchers and scientists noticed the absence of eagle chicks and reported to the government.  The use of DDT and hunting eagles  became illegal.  It took years for the food chain to get back on its feet, and eagles in the US are still scarce, but they are on the rise.  Maybe one day, the food chain will be nontoxic to the hunters on the top and the hunted on the bottom.

Why I Should Stop Piano

Six Arguments Supporting the Banishment of the White Keys

I think that I should stop piano for many reasons.  One is that it is a lot of time and energy spent trying to make the dining room, main floor powder room, kitchen, living room, and stairs clean and uncluttered.  Our schedule is already very busy with choir, art, P.E., and homeschool events.  Also, Mom has to be home for over an hour, rather than getting the errands that need to be done done.  The piano is large and bulky too.  It will be expensive to ship from place to place.  Because it needs a plug to work, it limits the way our living room can be organized.  It frustrates me and the rest of the family.    When I get angry and frustrated because I can’t play the songs assigned to me, Mom and Dad get upset too.  It keeps my mind occupied on small black notes on a page and keys rather than on important things like how and when to clean my room and if I should do laundry today.   I am also doing voice in choir and it is hard to focus on two kinds of music at once.  I enjoy voice more than piano, because it is easier and does not result in sore fingers.  Plus, when I sing in the choir, more people can hear and enjoy the music.  In conclusion, I would like to suggest switching to voice full time.

I didn't really like piano.  In case you didn't you figure that out.