Have you ever wondered what happens to the garbage that is picked up every week on your curbside? Recently, I have learned that garbage has a “secret” life of its own.

Look around you. Almost everything surrounding you will become garbage one day. Every apple has a core; every ba-nana has a peel. Virtually every aspect of our daily lives generates wastes: working, playing, eating, living, dying.

Recently, my curiosity got the better of me, and I went to go investigate more on the “secret” life of garbage. On Friday, Oc-tober 1st, 2010, I went to the Waste Man-

agement Reuter Recycling Facility in Pem-broke Pines to interview Mr. Shiraz Kashar, the community outreach coordinator of the facility. The Reuter Recycling Facility was originally a composting facility that was built in the early 1990’s. However, after numerous complaints about the odor of the garbage, it was converted to a recycling fa-cility. The facility now processes 50 tons of recycled material per hour! The facility is in “tip-top” shape and keeps not only their facility clean, but also their employ-ees safe and satisfied with new equipment every year. As I entered a small, tan, of-fice overlooked by two gigantic buildings, I was met by Mr. Kashar. He graciously let my dad and me into his classroom and we

commenced the interview. This visit far exceeded my expectations. I never realized I could learn so much in such a small pe-riod of time. The interview went like this:

Ismail Ercan (for The Circle Gazette): Well, first of all, what happens to our daily household trash that’s picked up weekly and where does it go?

Mr. Shiraz Kashar (Waste Manage-ment): It depends on where you live. Each county, each municipality has its own con-tract, with Waste Management or another company. The contract decides which days

the garbage will be picked up and where it will be dropped off. (Recycling also has its own contract and rules.) In Broward County, there is a contract called the Inter Local Agreement (ILA). It was put place in the 1980’s and it rules where all the gar-bage and recycling will go. All of the cities in Broward, except for 5, have agreed on this contract. If your city has agreed to the ILA, your garbage does not go to a land-fill. Instead, your garbage goes to a “Waste to Energy” facility that is owned by Waste Management. There are two “Waste to En-ergy” facilities in Broward County. (One in Pompano Beach and one in Davie) The garbage is burned there in a process that generates energy. Ercan: As you probably know, America produces more waste than any other country in the world, with the average American throwing out about 4 ½ pounds of waste daily. How do you man-age to keep up with all this trash?

Mr. Kashar: Planning in advance; each landfill has been planned ahead by 50-60 years. Waste Management tries to make each landfill as efficient as possible. We also try to compact garbage as much as possible so we can maximize our space in the landfills.

Ercan: Can you please explain to me the process of burning garbage to produce electricity?

Mr. Kashar: After the garbage is taken to one of the “Waste to Energy” facili-ties, it is burned to make electricity. The garbage is used to fuel the fire at almost 2,500o Fahrenheit, and the fire boils water that turns into steam. The steam is directed to a generator where it makes the turbines of the generator turn and, therefore, creates electricity. In Broward County, if you use electricity at all, whether it’s your TV, your kitchen, your stove, your computer, your washer, or your dryer, about 20% of the electricity that you use for your daily needs comes from garbage! The Waste to Energy facility not only produces electricity, but it also reduces your garbage by 90%! So, let’s say you had 100 tons of garbage; you would be left with only 10 tons of ash! From the ash, Waste Management tries to

recycle everything possible, so they take out all useful metals, papers, plastics, and anything else that can be reused. (This is called the Delta Transfer Station). The ash that remains after that process is taken to the landfill to be buried underground.

Ercan: Are there any other garbage landfills in the area, besides Pompano Beach, that produce electricity from burn-ing garbage?

Mr. Kashar: Yes, in Broward County, in Davie, there is an ash monofill, where they place all the ash from the remains of the garbage underground (This is owned by WM). Also there is the Broward In-terim Contingency Landfill (BIC) which is owned and operated by Broward County.

Ercan: Where can people go to drop off their hazardous wastes? When you receive them, are there some types of garbage that

cannot be recycled or used in any way?Mr. Kashar: Broward County actually

has a program where you can drop off all of your hazardous wastes. It’s called the Household Hazardous Wastes Program (HHW). Here you can drop off your pes-ticides, all types of oils, chemicals, dy-namite, etc... Any type of substances that you cannot pour down your sink or in your backyard, you can drop your wastes off at their sites. The three closest ones are in Pompano, Davie, and Hallandale.

Ercan: Is burning waste more environ-mentally friendly than putting it in a land-fill?

Mr. Kashar: I think that the best thing that we can do is to reduce the amount of

THE CIRCLE GAZETTE Volume 2, Issue 02 NOVEMBER 2010

A Newspaper by Children for Children

A Clean, Green Future by Ismail Ercan, Age 13

Coral Springs, FL

Inside the Reuter Recycling Facility Photo: Jennifer Berry

continued on page 10

Inside the Reuter Recycling Facility

Kids & PoliticsKids & Politics

After many months of name calling, mud slinging and false accusations, these elections are finally over, and it has been a long and bitter road indeed. These elections have been very special ones because they have been based on more issues than in recent years. There are many important issues that the electorate is mostly concerned about, such as the economy, unemployment, housing, health care and education. The poverty level in this state has risen to over ten percent, and nearly one million Floridians are out of work. Many people need certain health care reforms and, with education level and the housing market at what they are, the elected authorities will have their hands full. I will further explain the needs for these issues, after I explain the divisions the issues have caused.

These mounting issues have led to several major divisions within the two parties. In the first instance, Republicans are divided into Conservative Tea Party and Liberal Centralist, while the Democrats are also divided into Lefties and Outsiders. Now, a lot of these divisions have to do with what is occurring in Washington, D.C right now, since we are still in an economic crisis and many people are quick to blame the present government

for these economic woes. Many of the so-called outsiders believe that the present politicians in the government are corrupt and only work for special interests. This is the principle behind the trend of outsiders like doctors, lawyers, businessmen, millionaires, billionaires and, basically, people who have absolutely no experience in politics to step up and challenge the alleged corrupt politician within the political setup. Incidentally, I don’t want to be the one to tell you, but these people in my view, are also clueless because they are not offering any tangible solutions. More or less, these rich people run for office to show off their wealth with the hope that they can buy an election. Examples of the prominent outsiders in this past election were millionaire former Medicare executive Rick Scott and Palm Beach billionaire businessman Jeff Greene. My observation towards these so-called outsiders is about their belief of running government like a business entity which is usually not the same. Business is to maximize profit and enrich individual’s pockets, while government is to serve the people.

The Tea Party, on the other hand, is not the cozy little gathering where people gather, sip tea and have short, but fancy, conversations. The Party is a movement that wants to accomplish things such as

by Bilal Amodu, Age 13

Deerfield Beach, FL

Good luck Florida!

continued on page 10

Reporter Ismail Ercan and Community Outreach Coordinator, Mr. Shiraz Kashar

Did You Know...

The typical American discards 4.5 pounds of waste each day?

PAGE 2 THE CIRCLE GAZETTE NOVEMBER 2010

I have a question for you.What comes to your mind

when somebody mentions the word “Technology?” Yes… I admit, it usually brings about something re-lated to computers, elec-tronic devices or weird and complicated electric tools. Most of the time we for-get that “technology” goes far beyond that single field known as information tech-nology (also called IT).

The word itself comes from the Greek : téchnē , an ‘art’, ‘skill’ or ‘craft’ - and -logía, the study of something, or the branch of knowledge of a disci-

pline. This gives us a clue that technology might no be only about fancy electronic devices, but also refers to a whole other set of things both material and inmate-rial.

Nowadays, we use the word “technology” to refer to machines and tools used to solve a particular real-world problem or situation. However, it can also be used to describe the knowledge, methods, skills, processes, techniques, tools and raw materials required to solve a problem.

Interesting... This means that if you sit at your table and think of a great way of doing something, then you write it down, define how

to do it and describe what other things you require to complete it, you are in fact creating a technology that someone else can use to solve a problem.

Repeat this process and you can become an inven-tor, which is someone spe-cialized in using known technologies to create new technologies.

Humankind has invented amazing technologies such as spaceships, TVs, phones, cars, business methods and software, among many others. But remember, the greatest ones are yet to be designed and created. At the end you can create the next breakthrough in technolo-gy… and that creation starts in your head.

So… keep on thinking and creating!

Going places can be a great way of nour-ishing your writing.

When we write (in any genre) we use the vocabulary that we know. We describe what we have seen and what we can imagine. But even our imagination is fueled by what our senses have picked up from the real world at some point or another. We can shape a whole scene in our heads: how was the weather? Was it cold? Rainy? Snowy? Or plain hot? How did things smell? Sweet? Pleasant? Spicy? How did everything look? Old? New? Broken? Dirty? Tidy? What are the colors that surround everything? Green? Gray? Blue?

We can also create images from unknown places and people when we read about them… and this is very powerful.

The raw images and information we’ll use to create and recreate situations in our writing comes from what we have seen (ex-perienced) in our neighborhood, school or town, in our TV programming and what is described in our books and told to us in sto-ries by our parents and relatives.

There is a magical way to discover new things, new smells, new looks, new people

and different ways of doing things: Travel-ing.

You don’t have to go too far to encoun-ter fresh, raw data. Some people have been born in Miami and lived there for most of their lives and have never gone to Orange County or the Everglades, for example. So all they truly know from their own experi-ence is how Miami looks, Miami life, Mi-ami traffic, Miami beaches, Miami ugliness and Miami beauty.

Sit down with your parents and plan your next visit to a new place (near or far), bring your book of notes and scribble away things that are different or new. Keep your eyes and ears open. Sharpen all your senses. What do you pick up? You are an investigator now, a journalist, an explorer.

Everything you’ll see in your travels will stay with you forever. Good or bad, it will enrich you. It is something you hadn’t expe-rience before. It’s new and now it’s yours.

Sometimes wandering a few streets away from your neighborhood brings a new world to your eyes. Next time you can, visit a dif-ferent place!

A word from the editor: Traveling

The Enrichment CircleA Non-Profit Organization for the Advancement of Education

Patty Gómez, Editor-In-Chief

by Francisco Gómez

Guest Editor

TECHNOLOGY

NOVEMBER 2010 THE CIRCLE GAZETTE PAGE 3

In an overwhelming cer-emony to celebrate the first anniversary of this indepen-dent newspaper, the North-west Regional Library host-ed, on Saturday September 25, the young authors, con-tributors and staff of The Circle Gazette (A monthly publication by children for children).

It was a wonderful festiv-ity full of food, drinks and awards. All of the regular contributors were honored and given special certificates and prizes for each of their

individual contribution that has brought the paper up to its present popular level.

It was a great opportu-nity which provided a plat-form for the authors, poets and artists to get together and exchange greetings and compliments. It was a place to discover “Who’s Who?” and we actually got to meet the people who are always and humbly working behind the scenes, like Ms. Chris-tie Voss and Ms. Serena Bruno. We got to hear from Ms. Patty Gómez (Editor in Chief) how much she ap-preciates us and some of us also got to express our love

and pride for the paper. Ms. Kathy Walzer of the

Youth Services Department at the Northwestern Region-al Library also commended Ms. Gómez on behalf of the library for the Free Creative Writing Workshops she con-ducts every month.

The Pizza Banquet and the cakes and cupcakes were a fantastic treat for the kids and the best part was the raffle drawing. You never know what Ms. Gómez has up her sleeves. This is what totally awes me about the team: surprises and creativ-ity interwoven together. Ev-erything turned out to be a

celebration to cherish. This is just the beginning!

“Way to go for The Circle Gazette!”

Northwest Regional Library Conducts a Writing Workshop with Author Sherry North

Northwest Regional Library HostedThe Circle Gazette Anniversary Celebrationby Bilal Amodu, Age 13

Deerfield Beach, FL

Bilal and Shadya Amodu with Ms. Patty Gómez, Editor in Chief of The Circle Gazette.

Although I have attended quite a few writing work-shops hosted by the librar-ies, this was my first time with an author. Sherry North is a children’s author, journalist and mother. She is the author of six books among which are “Because you are my Baby,” Because I am your Daddy” and “The School that Sank.”

I was so elated to meet an author. I could have blown up with happiness. There were so many things I want-ed to ask her like: What in-spired you to write? When did you start writing? Do you have any tips for me? … and many more! I took a breath and walked in the room. It was filled with oth-er kids of all ages and sizes.

Sherry North was so much fun! She reviewed with us how to construct a story that comprises of three basic materials: a plot, characters, and a setting. She helped us practice this by making us reach into a huge yellow bag and pick out a prop. There were all sorts of fun things in the bag, like: a shield, swim-ming goggles, a camera, a toy boat, a snow globe and a squeaking cow. Guess what I got? A plastic stethoscope! At one look, everything fell into place and there was my story with a plot, characters and of course a setting. My story was about a kid who

found a magic stethoscope and turned into a doctor.

Learning how to write and publish a book was a new

experience for most of us. Sherry North shared her ex-perience with us on writing books. According to her,

it took her almost a year to write her first book. She got inspiration for writing from various sources.

One important thing I learned about the author’s career: Writing books is not a full time job because an au-thor does not make enough money or have a regular income only from writing books. So if you want to be an author, think of some-thing else you would like to do when you are not too busy writing or waiting for your book to get published, or else you might not be making enough money!

by Shadya Amodu, Age 10

Deerfield Beach, FL

PAGE 4 THE CIRCLE GAZETTE NOVEMBER 2010

FOODThe poor could hardly afford

food. Their diet mainly consisted of potato parings, rotten vegetable scraps and gruel. Sometimes they had to go to the workhouse just to eat gruel and cheese for them to keep alive.

The Rich ate more wholesome food and could afford things like

bacon, meat and fish. People who were paid higher wages would mostly eat meat in midday, and then a lighter dinner of bread and vegetables

JOBSPoor people had to work in

workhouses, shoe shining, chim-ney sweeping, grabbing poo off the streets and much more. Chil-dren did jobs that little people could do like sweeping under the machines and working in coal

mines. The Rich did not have jobs

such as chimney sweepers or shoe shiners. They were rich, so they owned companies or shops and all those kind of things that people still do these days.

CLOTHINGThe poor could hardly afford

any clothes. If they wore clothes, they would wear ragged clothes or anything they could get. If you were poor and you had shoes you were lucky.

Rich women wore fancy clothes such as corsets, bell skirts and very tight dresses. Men mostly used suits, such as smoke jackets and tuxedos. Men wore tuxedos for sport and other casual activi-ties.

HOUSINGThe poor in the Victorian times

lived in crumpled houses, some-times up to 2 families in the same house. If they had a bath, they had a tin bath, which they put next to the kitchen for hot water. Streets had 2 toilets for all the people in the street to share. The water pumps were often polluted. Often up to 6 people had to sleep in the same room.

The rich lived in very big hous-es and had butlers, servants, cooks and much more. Their houses were very elegant and comfort-able in the inside.

Rich and Poor in Victorian TimesDanny Hernández, Age 10

Caracas, Venezuela

Did You Know...… that the Victorian era of the United Kingdom was the period of Queen Victoria’s reign from June 1837 until her death on the 22nd of January 1901? The reign was a long period of overall prosperity for the British people, as profits gained from the overseas British Empire, as well as from industrial improvements at home, allowed an educated middle class to develop. The era is often characterized as a long period of peace, known as the Pax Britannica, and economic, colonial, and industrial consolidation. The British Empire controlled most of the key naval trade routes. Queen Victoria reigned 63 years and 7 months, longer than that of any other British monarch, and is the longest of any female monarch in history.

MY OWN EXPERIENCE

In the winter of 2009, I went to Georgia and for the first time in a long time I saw snow. It was white and soft, and it was so much fun to play with. We threw snowballs and a lot of other stuff!

We rented a cabin to stay in and it was at the top of a huge mountain. The cabin had a basement, the mid-dle floor, and a second floor. My sisters and I slept on the second floor and my parents slept on the middle

floor, but nobody wanted to sleep in the basement because it was closest to the snow and so it was freezing down there. The second day we were in Georgia, we went to the Co-ca-Cola Factory. It was one of the biggest places I have ever been to. We went into a room that had soda from every state and country, and we got to taste them all. Some were sour and others were sweet. We had a magnificent day!

This has been my favorite trip out of all that I’ve been on. I will never forget it!

Georgiaby Noga Goldstein, Age 11

Coral Springs, FL

One year I went over to my friend’s house for Halloween and we were both ladybugs. We went trick-or-treating and the first house we went to was my friend Nicole’s grandmother’s house. She gave us a chocolate bar. Second we went to her neighbor and her friend’s dad gave us starburst. Yummy! Our third stop was at a house that we did

not know anyone who lived there. When we got to their driveway we saw ghosts, skeletons, spiders, rats, zombies, and much more. We were both very scared, especially when we heard howling and spooky mu-sic. We both looked everywhere and the source of the music was no-where to be found. We ran back to Nicole’s grandmother’s house!

The next year for Halloween the same thing happened again!

Halloweenby Mandy Feldman, Age 11

Coral Springs, FL

One day I went to the movies. My sisters and my mom came with me. I saw Alpha and Omega. It was funny and sad at the same time. Alpha and Omega both get

shots in their butt and they fainted, that was the part that was sad. But the funny part was that Alpha and Omega kept on breaking up but at the end they end up kissing. They were both wolves. That was the best movie ever!

The Moviesby Leeat Goldstein, Age 9

Coral Springs, FL

In Costa Rica, I went on an ad-venture to swim with dolphins. A lady showed us how to handle swimming with the dolphins. Fi-nally, we got to go into the Gulf of Mexico. They had built a dam to make a swimming area, and got some dolphins and trained them. The trainers named the dolphins and color-coded them. The colors were red, yellow, green, and blue. My team was swimming with the

blue color-coded dolphins. My team was my dad, my mom, my three brothers, and our friends. The water was cool. When I touched the bottom, it was tickling my feet. I got scared and jumped. I wore a life jacket with one of my broth-ers, and two other boys. The dol-phin was told to swim close to us. It felt as soft as a feather. When it was my turn, I was scared. For my mom’s friend, the dolphin went as fast as a jet. I had the experience of my life! That was my swim-ming with dolphin’s adventure.

My Swimming Adventureby Shai Har-Nov, Age 9

Coral Springs, FL

NOVEMBER 2010 THE CIRCLE GAZETTE PAGE 5

The Mystery Cleaner

Bleach (sodium hypochlorite) is a common household chemical. It is used to clean toilet bowls, floors, and whiten clothes. There are two different types of bleach; chlorine bleach and oxygen bleach. Sodium hypochlorite is the chlorine bleach and it is very harmful to the en-vironment. It is also the one most people buy because it is cheaper. Oxygen bleach is perfectly safe and is the one you should buy if you are going to buy bleach. Bleach is found in many other cleaners be-sides bleach itself. Automatic dish detergent often has chlorine bleach in it; and toilet bowl cleaners that advertise they are better than bleach are made with bleach.

Bleach is a dangerous chemical by itself, and it reacts with other cleaners and everyday substances. For example: sodium hypochlorite reacts with the chemical ammonia to release chlorine gas. The mili-tary uses chlorine gas in chemical warfare as an easy way to kill a lot of people at one time. Chlorine gas is also released when bleach is mixed with acidic substances.

Environmentally speaking, bleach is considered toxic waste. It reacts with organic matter to cre-ate carcinogenic organochlorines. Both humans and animals are af-fected by this substance. Thankful-ly, bleach does not react with water. It just will kill anything in it that is alive. Just two drops of bleach will kill all micro-organisms and plant life in a liter of contaminated wa-ter, and make it okay to drink. If fact, any more will make the water toxic. Think about it, if just two drops can purify that much water no matter how contaminated it is, should you really be pouring this stuff into your laundry machine? Or how about dumping it on the sidewalk and driveway? The bleach you pour will get washed into the waterways. When it does, it will kill all the plants and zooplankton that the water touches, which is an awful lot. These plankton are the foundation for the food web. Fish will try to swim away from the contaminating source. Animals that depend on the river for their water supply will not want to drink from it and can sometimes get ill from either dehydration or drinking the poisoned water because they do not have a choice.

When it comes to not using con-ventional bleach, oxygen bleach or hydrogen peroxide is your green-est alternative. Liquid oxygen bleach is basically just hydrogen peroxide in a very diluted form. The powdered stuff has other addi-tives that no longer make it as en-vironmentally friendly. Hydrogen peroxide is healthier for you and the environment because it breaks down into water and oxygen, so it therefore will not affect the envi-ronment at all. Microorganisms are not even affected by this sub-stance. Conventional bleach with kill anything in its path, plants, mi-cro-organisms, and all. If you want to purify water so it is drinkable, hydrogen peroxide will not satisfy that need. Instead use five drops of 2% iodine per liter of water. Iodine is a much more naturally occurring element than chlorine, and it does not kill any wildlife or plants ex-cept on a microscopic scale.

To see for yourself how bleach affects the environment, try this experiment. Collect some water from the nearest lake, pond, river, or stream. Be sure to get algae with your water. When you get home, pour some of both into a tray or petri dish. If you have access to a microscope, use it to look at the water. If you do not, just use a magnifying glass. See if you can spot any microorganisms. If you can, get some household bleach in a dropper. Carefully drip three drops of bleach into the tray and see how quickly everything dies. Dump out the dead water and rinse the tray thoroughly. Then refill the tray with your collected water and drip three drops of oxygen bleach or hydrogen peroxide into the tray and see what happens. You now have proof that bleach kills living things at a microscopic scale and hydrogen peroxide does not. If you like, you can also do the experi-ment with 2% iodine to see if that kills the microbes like I said.

Green Tip of the Monthby A.J. Cross, Age 13

Boca Raton, FL

Are you thinking of buying an aquatic pet? If you already have one, are you tired of seeing your aquatic tank looking like a sewer? Then a Black Mystery Snail can be a great addition to your aquatic tank!

“The Black Mystery Snail belongs to the genus Pomacea in the Ampullariidae family, which is also called the Apple Snail family and comprises around 120 different snail species. Like all the other mem-bers of the genus Pomacea, the Black Mystery Snail is equipped with a siphon.” A siphon is a breathing tube.

Black Mystery Snails have black shells, but some have black, gold and ivory patterns as well. When-ever you see Black Mystery Snails offered in pet stores, know that these freshwater mollusks can grow from ¾’’ to 1 ¼ ‘’ and in captivity will grow up to 2’’ long . The female is typically larger than the male.

Black Mystery Snails originate from rivers and lakes in Brazil, where they stay inactive during the day and in the middle of the night look for food. In captivity, these gobblers also look for food in the day! In the wild, snails eat algae, and other aquatic vegetation. If you get a snail “couple”, the female snail could lay 200-600 eggs! Watch out!

Why Black Mystery Snails Make Good PetsCaring for one of these cute movers is easy and

you can happily shelter one even if your aquatic tank is no larger than one gallon. These small but fast snails will make a great addition to your aquarium because the snail will eat all the dirt and scum off your tank, leaving nothing but a clean, sparkling habitat. Black Mystery Snails also do well in fresh-water ponds. They will eat algae anywhere.

Caring For A SnailBlack Mystery Snails eat algae wafers (I suggest

Tetra Veggie Brand as it is the healthiest), small pieces of fresh veggies and decaying plants. The Black Mystery Snail will happily eat leftover fish flakes and will suck up algae buildup on the tank glass and will sometimes even nibble on your fin-ger! (must wash hands after.) A constantly moving, pink hole on its head is his/her mouth. If you are thinking of buying a Black Mystery Snail (Petco has cheap prices) and you already own a fish or other aquatic pet, make sure they do not eat snails as part of their diet!

The Black Mystery Snail will make a good com-panion for Bettas, Tetras, and Goldfish.

Another good suggestion is to have a bubble rock which can help your snail breathe under water. Apple snails have both lungs and gills so if the oxy-gen level in the water is too low, it can breathe in air through its siphon. That is why you must leave a 2’’ gap of air above the water line so your snail can breathe and look for food outside the water. DO NOT leave the lid of your tank open or your snail will escape!

If algae grows on the snail’s shell don’t panic! Buy a new toothbrush (make sure it does not have germ fighting technology because the chemicals will kill the snail) and while the snail is inside its shell, brush it thoroughly until you see it stunningly shiny, gold, ivory and black.

I am an expert at taking care of my snail which I named “Bob-Omb” after a character in the Mario Bros video game. I also have a Bloodfin Tetra (a small tropical fish) called “Podoboo” also named after a character in the same video game. When I got Bob-Omb from the store about six months ago, I already owned Podoboo for about 2 ½ years. Bob-Omb did not move or come out of his shell for ex-actly one day. Podoboo curiously swam around him to see what he was up to! But by the next day, he was eating algae off the tank like a vacuum cleaner. He ate on the floor and “suckedy-sucked” everywhere!

All my friends liked the snail, and one of them even wanted a snail too!

Are you still thinking about buying a different pet? Read this review again! I hope you enjoy your new pet snail!

Facts Source: www.aquaticcommunity.com.

We were all upset. Not only because it was our science teacher’s last day, but because we also had a million tests that day. It was a Friday, October 8th to be specific. That morning, I ran off the bus, to find out I was later than the bell. I galloped to my safety patrol post. When I arrived, Angel, my best friend, was opening the door to go inside. I joined her, and after a few minutes Ms. Groth, our science teacher, saun-tered into our hall. “Come on girls!” she called. We followed her into first period: science. The whole class, and even Ms. McIntosh (the reading teach-

er), was waiting. When we hopped into the room, the kids looked up from their conversations and games. Ms. Groth instantly went in the cabinets and took out pie trays. She also took out bags full of balls wrapped in aluminum foil. She handed them out with tweezers and goggles. “Put on your goggles! Now who knows what owl pellets are? Well, when owls consume their prey it passes through both the owl’s stomachs. Then the owl spits out the parts it can’t digest like bones, fur, scales, teeth, and eyes.” Ms. Groth is nice, but she isn’t like nor-mal science teachers. Instead of teach-ing us and giving us tests she makes us research and gives us projects. I just hope Ms. Groth wasn’t thinking what I thought she was! “Today we are going to dissect owl pellets!” Oh no…she WAS thinking what I thought she was! She passed out the pellets and told us to open the foil. When I opened the foil I screamed! Inside was the pellet,

hair and all, and it looked like a ball of vomit, which it actually was. Ms. Groth gave us gloves, of course, but even through the gloves it felt icky and hairy. We all wanted to throw up. My pellet was full of rat pelvis bones. I even found a piece of rat with a bug on it! I really wanted to throw up. Af-ter we dissected the pellets, Ms. Groth gave us microscopes and told us to look at the bones through the microscope. The bones looked even grosser through the microscope! When first period was done we were all both sad and glad. This was the last time we would see Ms. Groth, but we were glad that the owl pellets would be thrown away!

We said our good-byes and Ms. Groth wished us luck on our tests. I hope that Park Ridge Elementary will be the same without our wacky science teacher, Ms. Groth.

by Felipe Peña, Age 11

Boca Raton, FL

Owl Pe l le tsA hands-on science experienceby Shadya Amodu, Age 10

Deerfield Beach, FL

I saw hummingbirds in my garden. They were so pretty. There were two of them. Their habitats are woods, fields and gar-dens. My favorite kind of hummingbird is the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird.

H U M M I N G B I R D Sby Emily Rodriguez, Age 7

Sunrise, FL

Illustration by author. Pencil and color pencils on paper.

Apple snails have both lungs and gills.

You can buy Owl Pellets for Sci-entific Observation and Experimen-tation in a set of 5 for about $9 on

amazon.com.

PAGE 6 THE CIRCLE GAZETTE NOVEMBER 2010

Once upon a time, there were two teenage girls, about 16, named Malana and Teresa. They were very poor, and re-ally struggling to put food in their stomachs. One day they were running along the side of the little lake right outside their cottage window.

“Come on Malana!” “Wait up Teresa!”They called to each other,

racing around the pond.“STOP!” Malana screamed.

“Look! It’s a pink pony!” There was a little pony

statue tangled up in a pile of vines.

“Should we keep it?” Te-resa asked her friend.

“I’d love to, but I don’t know if we can afford to. If we sell it we might not go to bed hungry tonight.” Malana answered sadly.

“You’re right.”Teresa took it to the near-

by merchant and sold it. She brought home a big pile of cash for the antique pink ivory statue. Malana went out and bought some tea for them. When she came home,

one of the dollars she did not use was glowing and chang-ing...

“Teresa! Look it’s a map!” The dollar had turned

into a map! To where? Who knows?!

The girls didn’t hesitate for one moment before they set off on an amazing adventure.

The girls went over to the mini waterfall at the end of the lake. As soon as they stopped in front of it, it dis-appeared. In its place stood a full size waterfall tower-ing over their heads. A girl stepped out from behind the waterfall onto a puff of wa-ter splashing up where the waterfall met the lake. “I am Anatwa, the guardian of the waterfall, recite the password and you may ascend.” Said the girl. “Ascend?” thought Malana “how can you as-cend a waterfall?” Despite their confusion, the girls re-cited the password at the top of the map in unison, “PINK PONY.” Anatwa waved her hand, showering sparkles ev-erywhere. A sea blue bumper boat flew out from the other side of the wall of water and scooped them up. The boat carried them over the fall and

landed on top. They floated up a river to a flower garden. Teresa bounded into the field and sniffed a flower. Imme-diately she fell into a deep sleep.

Malana stood there horri-fied at the sight. Eventually she realized she had to get to her, but how? If she ran into the field, she would probably fall asleep at Teresa’s side. She thought for a moment then she got an idea. She hopped back into the boat and drove it to where Teresa lay. Malana reached down and scooped her friend into the boat. She then needed to find somewhere safe. She drove until she reached the top of a cliff.

The cliff was like no other. All the rocks were carved into furniture. There were even stone pillows on the bed.

Malana lifted Teresa out of the boat and onto the couch. There was no one there at the moment, so she figured it was safe for now. She climbed out of the boat and crouched next to the couch to look at Teresa. All of a sudden the middle of the cliff broke open. Malana screamed and reached her arms around her friend’s life-

less body. A cylinder rose up from the hole. On top of the cylinder was a young man dressed in a brown cape, shirt, and pants. He had a stone crown on his short brown hair. He even had brown eyes on his solid brown face. He introduced himself as Bota-to, guardian of the cliff, and asked her why she came. She saw kindness in his eyes and calmed down.

“We have been following this map,” Malana said, now trying to wake up her friend.

“Well thank you for stop-ping by. Now, it seems you have a little problem there, don’t you? I might be able to help you” Botato said, tak-ing a glance at the sleeping Teresa. He grabbed a bronze ring from his bedside table and pressed down on the jade in the middle. The ring sprang open revealing a se-

cret compartment under the jade. Inside the compartment was a beautiful, sparkling gold powder, which he took a pinch of and sprinkled it into a moisturizing cream Malana found for him on his dresser. Botato then smeared the cream onto Teresa’s fore-head. In a matter of seconds, Teresa’s eyes opened, and Malana was explaining to her where she was, and who was the man who saved her life. Teresa gave him a heartfelt thanks and Malana gave him her bottle of orange scented body spritz, for when she looked around, she saw no shower on top of Botato’s cliff. Then the two girls left the boat with Botato and started their journey down the side of the cliff now by foot.

Do you like to write? Well the key to writing is reading. My favorite genre is: fiction. I love fairy tales, realistic fiction, and regular fiction! Do you love fiction? Well I might not be writing fiction now, but I like to stretch out and write nonfiction, po-etry, book reviews too. Also there are many types of fiction:

· Fantasy· Fairy Tales· Tall Tales · Myths · Legends · Fables · Wacky Poems· Realistic Fiction · Science Fiction· Historical Fiction

· Comedy Fiction · Dramatic Fiction · Realistic Comedy And many more! Fic-

tion is unlimited and you can stretch it to where ever you want! It is your story; you shape it, create it, and edit it. Unlike other types of writing, fiction comes from your heart, your imagination, and your brain. Well those are some tips, but you can al-ways make up your own.

Good luck on your story!

A Start on Fictionby Shadya Amodu, Age 10

Deerfield Beach, FL

Once upon a time long ago, there was an evil knight who hunted for a lovely princess to whom he would place a curse on, commanded by his evil master, who wanted her family’s gem stone.

The princess was in love with Henry, a prince she had met at a ball.

The knight stormed into the castle and the princess went to warn her family. As soon as he went in, there was a crash and out came a

new knight. “Who is this strange

knight?” - said Princess Ashley.

The new knight took the princess with him, and took her to the evil master’s hide-out. The evil master was pleased, until he found out that the knight was a new knight and that he was the prince, in disguise.

The evil master was sent to the dungeon but was planning his revenge. In the end the prince and princess were married and lived hap-pily ever after.

A KNIGHT’S TALEby Abigail Rodríguez, Age 9

Sunrise, FL

by Sara Cross, Age 9

Boca Raton, FL

One day I was walking down the streets of Morocco, when I tripped over a strange object that made a tinny sound. It was a genie lamp! The lamp looked all discombobulated, and I thought that whoever lived in that lamp must get really confused from banging around all the time. After much consideration, I took the lamp home and told my mother it was a genie lamp. She didn’t believe me one bit. Then, I went to my neighbor and told him. He didn’t believe me. I went to the government! They didn’t believe me. I got fed up with it so I went to the president and rubbed the lamp. The genie came out with a big SWOOSH! The president was so amused! I said, “Genie, give me my 3 wishes!” “I don’t give you wishes, I give you dishes.” He said. Now, he wasn’t the one confused, I was! Genies are supposed to give you wishes not dishes! Then, I took one of the dishes and threw

them at the genie’s head. He passed out. When the genie woke up, he remembered where my house was. I thought this was rather strange but I asked for my 3 wishes again and this time, he gave me 7 dishes! 7! Now, he was totally off track. I ran to the market and hid behind an open basket. Then, a snake slithered out and bit me! I was running out from behind the basket frantically. I was running in circles like a lunatic! The genie insisted on giving me dishes. He gave me not just the seven dishes but served me a dish as well. He proudly presented a beautiful bowl of Fettucini Alfredo. Before I had an opportunity to stop him, he shoved a spoonful of the warm, cheesy pasta into my mouth. Within seconds I puffed up like a balloon. I ran home looking and feeling like a total mess. The genie followed me all the way home. When we reached my front door, the genie was huffing and puffing and looked like he was having a heart

attack. This genie was not in good shape. After he gained control of his breathing, he told me he wasn’t really a genie after all. He was my father in his Halloween costume! Now this whole thing made sense to me because I realized the reason the “genie” kept mistaking wishes and dishes is because my father is hard of hearing. I went home and my mother knew what disaster I created. I think mothers have special mommy powers that allow them to know what their children have been up to. It turned out I was wrong about the mommy powers. The incidents had been on the 5:00 news. My mother apologized for not believing me and gave me an immense hug. I almost suffocated and died from that hug, but I was relieved that mother knew I told the truth. The next day, I was walking for no particular reason and tripped. When I looked behind me, I saw the exact same genie lamp! I got up and ran away.

by Carolyn Kean, Age 8

Coral Springs, FL

The Genie And His Three Dishes

NOVEMBER 2010 THE CIRCLE GAZETTE PAGE 7

few months back I went to The PlayGround Theatre in Miami Shores with my sisters, my mom and my dad to see the performance “The Love of Three Oranges.” It was Sunday and the play began at 2:00 pm.

The Love of Three Oranges is about a kingdom where the prince had been made ill by his own cousin and her boyfriend. The doctors said the only possible cure was to make the poor young man laugh! So his worried father, the king, called for the best comedian in the kingdom to perform that night! The prince’s cousin was very unhappy that her uncle had found a cure for his son and he ordered her boyfriend to kill him! But the man told his girlfriend not to kill the prince so quickly; they had to call on the help of an evil sorceress Fatta Morgana! To call the witch they had to do a chicken dance, flapping their arms and chanting “Fatta Morgana, Fatta Morgana” because to the witch chickens were ‘sacred.’

When the comedian came,

Fatta Morgana sat in the back in the guise of an old lady and took away his ability to be funny si-lently. “Once upon a time there was a man” he began “Who went to the market to buy some fruit and came back with a chicken!” Nobody laughed “It’s not funny!” the prince said. Ok… The come-dian tried again “Once upon a time there was a man who went to the market to get some fruit and came back with a chicken” the prince didn’t think this was funny either, the man was repeating! Fatta Morgana was pleased and made the comedian do a flip in the air for a special touch! Unfor-tunately for Miss Evil Witch (aka Fatta Morgana) that made the prince burst out LAUGHING!!! He was cured from his illness! But Fatta Morgana was not finished yet! She stood up in her costume and walked up to the comedian’s stage, once there, she ripped off the costume that hid her identity then she told the prince that he would meet his doom looking for three beautiful oranges, she talked about the three roundest, most or-angy oranges of the world and the prince was caught in a net of evil magic! He immediately set off to

look for these oranges, and with him, came the comedian.

On his way a kind wizard (Fatta Morgana’s archenemy) ad-vised them that once they found these juicy spheres to never open them until they were near water! He gave them magic help and sent them on they’re way. The or-anges were found at last and the comedian gets dragged away by robot-females that came out of the oranges when he opened them (he forgot about the water tip) but the prince walked to a stream and offered a drink to the third being and instantly she transformed into a beautiful woman (not a robot) and the prince fell in love! He promised to take her to his king-dom and marry her when he came back and then he left. Fatta Mor-gana planned an evil scheme and after a final adventure, the prince and his lovely girlfriend were married and his cousin and Fatta Morgana were defeated!

This show was a comedy, for sure, the script was well written and the actors were excellent. You could believe how desper-ately the prince wanted to see those oranges and marry that girl and that his cousin was full of determination. I believed it and I laughed a lot. This show will be

performed again this season from January 12 to January 29. I defi-nitely recommend this play. Go to (PlayGround Theatre’s website:

www.theplaygroundtheatre.com) for more information and to get your study guide! … and come with me as the lights go out!

Theatre WorldThe Love of Three Orangesby Daniela Gómez, Age 10

Margate, FL

Hello readers! It is now fall, but that does not mean that good books have fallen behind. The month of No-vember brings many things, such as Elections, Veterans Day and Thanksgiving. I am positive that you will enjoy the books I recommend for a quiet fall afternoon while the season is changing! Here are some books to dig in to while you think of the Thanksgiving dinner! Gob-ble….gobble….gobble!!!

The Kid who Ran for PresidentAuthor: Dan GutmanAge level: 3rd grade and upRating:

If you want a book that real-ly explains kids in politics, teaches the art of campaigns and provides historical knowledge of our past pres-idents, this book is perfect. Sadly there are many things that restrict our age group from largely participating in politics. That did not stop Judson Moon, an average person from Wisconsin from taking the Presidential Elec-tions by storm. The most shocking part is that Judson is only twelve years old!

See How they RunAuthor: Susan. E Goodman Age level: 3rd grade and upRating:

If you want a simple, picture filled book ex-plaining all of the smoke

and mirrors of campaign-ing, this book is ideal. With information on the political parties, restrictions about running, advice about what campaign strategies to use, primary elections, national conventions and examples from history, this book is nothing less than a Cam-paign 101 course.

The cageAuthor: Ruth Minsky Sender Age level: 5th grade and upRating:

In honor of Veterans Day, I am reviewing a true story that occurred dur-

ing World War II, one of the worst wars of the 20th century. This is the story

of the author’s family in Lodz, Poland, during the Second World War and

through the time of the ho-locaust. Sender (Rifkele at the time) describes all of the tragedies that had befallen her family dur-ing that time, and how she overcame all of them and is determined never to for-get them.

Be Thankful - Carve Into a Book!by Bilal Amodu, Age 13

Deerfield Beach, FL

Great Catches!

Alexander Graham Bell was born in 1847, in Edinburg, Scot-land and was famous for one of the most incredible inventions on earth, the telephone. Al-though Alexander had a strong talent and interest in music, art and poetry, inventing was his biggest talent. He was an in-ventor at an early age. His first invention, when he was only 12 years of age, was when he cre-ated a small machine that could cut the lawn in a very efficient

way. He did have sorrow in his life. When he was only twelve, Alexander’s mother started suf-fering a problem with her hear-ing, and later on, lost her hearing completely. Also, Alexander’s two brothers sadly died of a dis-ease called Tuberculosis. As an adult, along with the invention of the telephone, he contributed to the development of telecom-munications and the technology of planes. Alexander Graham Bell was also one of the found-ers of the National Geographic Society and later on, in 1898, assumed the presidency of the society.

by Andy Hernández, Age 10

Caracas, Venezuela

Alexander Graham was an eminent scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who

is credited with inventing the first practical telephone.

Kristen Dawn McCorkell plays Fatta Morgana in THE LOVE OF THREE ORANGES. Photo by Pavel Antonov, 2010.

PAGE 8 THE CIRCLE GAZETTE NOVEMBER 2010

Thanksgiving Messageby Shadya Amodu, Age 10

Deerfield Beach, FL

Pass the turkey, pass the ham,Pass them all to Uncle Sam!We have to give thanks today,And boy, do I have a lot to say!Be thankful for what you got,Whether cold or whether hot!And DON’T take things for granted,‘Cause even the small things can make you enchanted.This is my thanksgiving wish: I wish I’ll get my favorite dish! What is Thanksgiving all about?It’s not just stuffing your mouth, There’s a lot more to be thankful for Whether in peace or in warThanks for the good food we eatBe it fish, turkey or meat.And the clothes that keeps us warmFrom icy blasts, and wrathful storms. And the houses which give us shelterOr else we’ll be helter skelter! Above all, we should appreciateOur family, neighbors and our matesWho are always there for usWho have a lot to share with us!Be thankful for all you’re blessed withAnd all the happiness you are dressed with.Just be happy with what you gotBecause to others that can be a lot!

Illustration by author. Wax crayons on paper.

Thankfulby Sharon A. Hammer, Age 12

Weston, FL

The autumn wind whistles,

Houses lit with windows open wide,

A family playing in every house,

No one sad,

Kindness all over,

For dinner we will have turkey,

Up above an angel stares at the happiness,

Long distance friends come together on this night.

Run Turkey Run!by Shadya Amodu, Age 10

Deerfield Beach, FL

Run Turkey Run!Run, run, run,Get f r ied by the sun!Since I don’t know how to bake,The sun is baking turkey cake. Run turkey run,In the nice hot sun.So hot l ike a pot ,On the gr i l l ,While I l ie back and chi l l ! No, turkey don’t ,Oh no, he won’t!He ran so far. . .From the gr i l l to the bar.He is having a bal l ,From wall to wal l ! ! He is not in the oven, or on the dishHe is safe somewhere, not too far away I wish!

Ode to My Catby Shane Michaels, Age 6

Coral Springs, FL

The way you sit is so gracefulYour tush is so softYour fur is so blackAnd your tail floats so high up into the skyYour ears they stand so straight and tallYour nose is pink and shiny and your claws are so sharpand your eyes are so greenYou are the greatest cat in the Universe

NOVEMBER 2010 THE CIRCLE GAZETTE PAGE 9

“Clank! Clank! Clank!” went the huge processors as they melted and refined iron. Lark, sitting under a tree to protect him from the sweltering heat, was daydreaming about the legend of freedom. According to the legend, the Hash nation was once a powerful civiliza-tion until the Association of Universal Conquest (AUC) gathered and struck. Using an-droids in mass numbers, they quickly swept across the uni-verse - planet by planet (they skipped Earth because it was too contaminated), solar sys-tem by solar system, galaxy by galaxy. Before the conquest was complete, all the free gal-axies funded their own army, the Stop AUC Army (SAA). The SAA was comprised of clones. The clones were much smarter than androids and bet-ter armed with very high tech weapons. With these advan-

tages, they managed to slow down the AUC enough to let their support crews harvest enough resources to supply the war machine. After 100 millen-nia, they are still in a constant power struggle, but the AUC is gaining the upper hand.

Zaaaaap! “Ahhhhh!” bel-lowed Lark as the Taser slammed into his skin, waking him from his daydreaming. “You are five minutes late re-filling the gas tanks for the ov-ens” said an android, reloading his Taser . Lark winced as he pulled the Taser out of his skin and went over to fill the tanks. “Hey, Barky, what happened to the last shipment of gas? I can’t fill the tanks,” shouted Lark. “I don’t know. It was supposed to come two days ago,” Barky, an unloader of shipments, said, trotting over. They went over to the office to see what happened. “I don’t know what happened. It never came,” said Quat, the manager of shipments. “Let’s look at the tracking on it” said Lark. “Okay, let’s see. It was coming across the forest and then the signal flashed out,” said Quat.

That night, they were sitting around the fire eating dinner in their quarters. “There are some rumors going around about a resistance movement. They might have stopped the gas shipment,” said Quat in a hushed voice to avoid being overheard.

“Guys, I hate this hard labor. I am going to do something about it. I was not going to tell you this until later. Since you found out about the resistance movement, I will tell you now. I have contacted the resistance and I am going to join them. I need a way to sneak out,” said Barky, in barely a whisper.

“WHAT!” yelled Quat and Lark, simultaneously. Sud-denly, the door burst open, let-ting in the frigid cold air (the climate is unpredictable). An android walked in the door. “I don’t want any fighting or you get overtime in the work force,” said the android and walked out leaving the door open. Lark got up and closed the door. “Barky and I are go-ing to join you and I have an idea to get out of the work force,” said Lark.

by Ari Swift, Age 13

Boca Raton, FL

Stuck in the MiddlePart I

“Zaaaaap! “Ahhhhh!” bellowed Lark as the Taser slammed into his skin” Illustration by Matias Sosa Wheelock.

Color pencil on paper.

I was very lucky to be living 20 feet away from the beach. I was alone at the beach while my mom was inside making delicious roast beef. I was walking that day right next to the shore, when I saw a strange figure floating between a couple of heavy boulders. I went closer to take a good look but I didn’t know what it was, so I pulled hard to get it out; it looked something like a water car, but then I noticed its propellers and buttons and I realized that it was a shiny blue submarine with a sparkly glass window. I silently climbed on it, and with a small push, it was out into the shore, making the waves swivel left to right and then slowly sank to the bottom.

I had never seen how the coast of Australia looked underwater, and it was beautiful, with blue, yellow, green, and every other color you can think of. There were schools of mini fishes in groups of twenties, also a small group of crabs was huddled up at the bottom of the rock, and a beautiful stingray was flowing to the bottom of the sea hiding in the sand.

I went to a big rock right next to a mini plant. I turned the subma-rine off and I put on my favorite swimming suit and got out. I saw a little jellyfish swimming toward a big patch of seaweed, probably looking for food. There was a big cave that sort of looked like a volcano type of cave. It looked very interesting to go inside, so I quickly swam towards it.

Inside it was very dark. There was a group of mini starfishes

stuck to the side of the wall of the cave. The cave was very narrow and long and it probably reached up to be half a mile long. I saw something down at the end of the cave, it looked like some kind of chair and I kept swimming to-wards it, which took such a long time. As I got closer to the object I realized it was a princess throne. It glittered pink and treasure sea shells were on the top of it, which made it looked pretty cool. I still didn’t know whose cave this was until I saw someone swimming right next to me.

It was a mermaid. She was very pretty. Her long wavy hair reached to her back and her long tail was covered in many glittery scales. She was cleaning some-thing yellow. It was her golden crown, which shined and spar-kled through the cave.

I swam towards her. ”Hello” I said, quietly. She turned in sur-prise: “Hi, do I know you?” she had a confused expression on her face. “Well, I don’t think so, but you must be the queen of this cave” I replied. She frowned: “No, I am the princess, actually. My mother is the queen, but she left on a secret mission to anoth-er ocean!” Then she smiled. I smiled back at her. She seemed pretty nice. “So, my name is Ma-ria, what is yours?” I asked. She replied “Princess Pearl.” It was the most beautiful name I’ve ever heard.

After this presentation, she showed me around the cave. It looked like a real castle, then at the end of the tour, she turned around and asked me the most surprising question. “Do you want to be a mermaid, like me?” She was smiling creepily at me.

“Uhmm, I don’t know, will I ever get to go back home?” I asked, sadly. “Don’t worry, its only tem-porary” she said. She went to a big cabinet and she pulled out a jar with blue dust inside of it. “Ok, I want to be a mermaid!” I said. I was so excited!

She sprinkled some dust over me and I had to close my eyes. “Now open your eyes!” she said, and I did. Seconds later, what I saw at the end of my body was a long beautiful blue tail. It had many scales on it and it was won-derful. “Thanks, it looks amaz-ing!” I said. She smiled again. “No problem, it does look pretty on you.” She hugged me.

We went outside the cave and I was glad we did, I was des-perate and hot inside the cave. Three dolphins were swimming above the water and a school of fish were swimming happily by a red reef. “Ok, so you have heard of Clam Land, right?” She asked me, when we were climbing giant boulders. “Uhmm, I don’t know what you’re talking about?” I was very, very confused. “You never heard of Clam Land?” she continued. “It’s a small town here, where many animals and mermaids live, it is a wonderful place. Let’s go, and I will show you.”

We swam and swam and when we got to a giant coral reef, we swam above it. I looked and there was a beautiful shallow town. There was a shop, a market, a mall and many homes. It was cool, hundreds of mermaids were scattered throughout the city area. It was great! ”WOW this is cool” I said. My eyes were twinkling with excitement. “I know.” she said and then added “Ok, have

fun, I have errands to do.” Pearl swam away.

I swam down the hill and no-ticed that the city was a very busy place. I wanted to go to every store. “This is going to be fun!”

Later, that day, I was exhausted for swimming all day. I bought many mermaids’ outfits for Pearl and me. I swam ‘till I reached the cave. Pearl was cooking some-thing yummy, it was probably boiled fish or squid, and when I went in, she served the food. As we ate, I told her all about my day, and how I met a lot of crea-

tures, and she seemed to like my story.

When we finished, we swam all the way to the top of the wa-ter. We hugged each other and I said, “I am going to miss you a

lot!”, then she turned my tail into feet again.

Pearl and I swam to shore to-gether. I waved bye and I real-ized that as soon as I got out of the water I was all dry!

I came in to my house, my mom asked me “How was your day, honey?”, and I said, “You know, mommy, it was very fishy!”

My Adventures Underwaterby Maria Gallego, Age 11

Coral Springs, FL

“I find a submarine at a lonely beach, then I go underwater and I find many wonderful things, like pearls, shells, octopuses

and even a Mermaid” Illustration by Monica Gallego.

PAGE 10 THE CIRCLE GAZETTE NOVEMBER 2010

garbage that we create. Now, landfill solu-tions and Waste to Energy solutions, they both help out the community. What I mean by this is: we all create garbage on a daily basis. That’s a fact. It’s very hard for us to go by one day without producing it. Now, like I mentioned earlier, if you don’t man-age your garbage well, there are many po-tential health problems that can occur. For example, in third world countries, they just pour their garbage onto an open area on the ground. The problem with this is that when it rains, the water mixes with the garbage to produce “garbage juice”. (That’s a slang term). The leachate (the garbage juice) ends up in the drinking waters, the rivers, the canals, and can contaminate all the vil-lagers who live there. Now, in America, our landfills are much more technologi-cally better and much more efficient than those of third world countries because we monitor our garbage and control it. We are very fortunate, in America, that our gar-bage is closely monitored and taken care of properly. Now, to answer your question, burning garbage and putting garbage in a landfill isn’t an overall solution to help the environment; it is just to deal with our gar-bage that we produce daily.

Ercan: Who manages or owns the waste facilities? The government, or is it private-ly owned?

Mr. Kashar: Waste Management is a very big private company. We were on the Forbes Top 200 largest companies in America. David Steiner is the CEO of Waste Management.

Ercan: In the past, people were charged with a monthly bill for your garbage ser-vices. Currently, are taxes covering this expense?

Mr. Kashar: Currently, it is included in the tax expense. (In the past, people were charged with a monthly bill.) It works out for everyone too, because we do a good job

managing the garbage and almost all civil-ians are happy with our work.

Ercan: When and where did people come up with the idea of a landfill?

Mr. Kashar: Actually, I have not re-searched this subject that much. But what I can tell you is that ever since the begin-ning of people, we have buried and burned garbage.

Ercan: Are your facilities divided into two sections: one for garbage, and the oth-er one for recycling?

Mr. Kashar: The garbage industry is typically divided into three sections. There is the hauling side, the disposal side, and the processing side. The hauling side would be when they pick up your garbage at your curbside. The disposal side is where they dispose the garbage, which could be a land-fill. The processing side is the recycling part of it. At the Waste to Energy facility in Pompano Beach, they also do recycle as well. To answer your question, everything is separated-the garbage goes to one side, the recycling goes to the other.

Ercan: Over the years, how has technol-ogy impacted the processing of garbage?

Mr. Kashar: Okay, one of the things that WM tries to do is extract more value from the garbage. Can we use it for fuel/energy, can we recycle it? The answers to those are yes. We do burn the garbage, and recycle everything that we can. Also, as our trucks come into our facilities to dump their gar-bage, all the machines and technology defi-nitely speed up the process.

Ercan: Eventually, will you run out of space to place your garbage?

Mr. Kashar: Not if WM is around! (Laughter) Keep in mind that the Waste to Energy facility in Pompano reduces the initial volume of garbage by 90%. This definitely helps out with maximizing our landfill space. I will say that Waste to En-ergy is the future of garbage disposal. Ev-ery state, municipality, and county should like to have a few centers because not only does it reduce the amount of garbage that we put into a landfill, but it also produces electricity! In Broward County, which has a population of 1.7 million, Waste to En-ergy produces 20% of its electricity! Cur-rently, there are 16 Waste to Energy facili-ties around the U.S. We are going to be expanding Waste to Energy facilities into Europe and China soon in the future. This is the future of garbage disposal.

Ercan: What are your goals for the fu-ture?

Mr. Kashar: The only thing that I can tell you is that WM is really trying its best to extract all the value we can from gar-bage. Garbage is something that is always

going to be around. Definitely, the goal is to get to, or as close to as we can, zero waste. Also, I bet you didn’t know this--October is “National Renewable Energy Month”!

Ercan: From whom do you receive all the technology needed for your facilities?

Mr. Kashar: I do not know all of the companies’ names; we use technology from many different companies. A com-pany that I know we use technology from is G.E. We use G.E.’s turbines to produce electricity inside of the generator.

Ercan: What do you do with all the construction/demolition waste? When you receive them, are there some types of gar-bage that cannot be recycled or used in any way?

Mr. Kashar: There are some landfills that are, “C and D landfills” (C and D stand for construction and demolition). I don’t think WM has any construction and demo-lition landfills in the area, however, I think that Broward has one. Yes, I believe that it’s part of the BIC landfills. Now, let me explain more specifically what “C and D landfills” are. Whenever builders are con-structing a building, there is always tons of rubble, extra rocks, gravel, and metals that they can’t use, recycle, or burn. These materials are sent to a “C and D landfill”. They take out all the useful materials and then send them to the landfill to be bur-ied. Also, there are things called “White goods” that we cannot recycle. Some ex-

amples of “White goods” are your refrig-erators, your computers, your laundry ma-chines, etc… Typically, Broward County takes these items to the BIC. There they take out all the useful materials that can be reused and then they send it to another company where they safely dismember the machine.

Ercan: What area do you think Waste Management needs to improve on the most?

Mr. Kashar: Waste Management does try to improve in every single area that we can. There is always room for improve-ment when you are a large company. I think that WM is especially focused on Environmental Awareness, letting people know the “good” stuff that we are doing, the ways that we produce electricity from garbage. We are really trying to reach out to the public nowadays.

Ercan: Since recycling plastic bags is very difficult, how does Waste Manage-ment recycle them?

Mr. Kashar: In Broward, all the plas-tics bags are sent to a Waste to Energy fa-cility to be burned for energy.

Ercan: What materials are not burned?

Mr. Kashar: Everything that goes into the recycle bin gets recycled and is not

burned for energy in Broward. Ercan: Are there any new landfills be-

ing built in the area? Mr. Kashar: There are very few land-

fills that are being built nowadays. WM usually updates their old landfills. In the future, when we are building a new land-fill, it would have been planned 30-50 years in the past.

Ercan: Would you recommend your job to other people?

Mr. Kashar: I love the whole teach-ing aspect of my job, and I like to edu-cate people on the environmental side of things. So, the answer to your question is, yes, my job is very fulfilling. I get to edu-cate people that garbage has a “secret life” that not many people know about and that it’s actually part of our daily lives.

Now that I have had a glimpse at the “secret” life of garbage, I will never see garbage the same way again. I now re-spect it and appreciate our garbage ser-vice a whole lot more than I did a month ago. Initially, I wrote this article because of my curiosity to see what happened to our garbage every week. However, I ended up learning so much more than that. One of the things that I have learned is the many important ways that Waste Management produces energy. As you now know, Waste Management produces electricity from burning our everyday household garbage. We all are affected by this whether we know of it or not. In Broward County, 20% of our electricity comes from garbage! This not only af-fects us but also our future generations as well. Imagine, if Waste Management could build many more of these excel-lent facilities, we would be able to reduce our garbage by a great deal! Currently, in some of their landfills, such as the one in Pompano Beach, Waste Management ex-tracts methane for use as an alternative energy fuel. The methane is produced from organic waste when it decomposes. Vertical pipes are sunk deep into the land-fill, and vacuums suck the methane out of the ground. The methane is then used to produce electricity or is sold to indus-trial customers for use as alternative fuel. However, Waste Management is very careful with the methane that they extract from the landfill. If the methane were to leak, it could possibly explode and create a “mini” bomb. That is why Waste Man-agement constantly monitors the landfill twenty-four hours a day. They cannot af-ford to make any mistakes.

As I bring this article to an end, I would like to point out that we should all make great strides in taking care of our planet and its environment. We are all respon-sible to what happens to it, and we must take care of this land so future generations will be able to use it. Waste Management is doing their best to minimize the impact on the environment that garbage has and are always setting new goals to achieve every day. Hopefully, one day, we can re-duce our garbage to nothing!

Mr. Shiraz Kashar has been in this industry for 8 years. He started as an intern, teaching students how to recycle and doing presentations and organizing events at Broward County schools.

Acknowledgements I would like to thank Mr. Shiraz Kashar

for allowing me to interview him and for providing me with the opportunity to learn so much. In my opinion, most people take garbage for granted; I certainly did. Now I have learned to appreciate our gar-bage services, no matter how big or small. Also, I would like to thank my parents for helping me a great deal with all of the re-search needed to make this article and for accompanying me to the interview with Mr. Kashar.

by Ismail Ercan, Age 13

Continued from page 1

A Clean, Green Future

A worker extracts methane from the ground. Methane is made when bac-

teria decompose organic waste such as fruits or vegetables.

reducing the size of government, cutting taxes and lowering wasteful spending. Since this is thankfully not a registered political party, they toss their support to Republican candidates, such as for Speaker of the Florida state house, Marco Rubio. This movement seems to have issues with the way President Obama is running the country, wherein they oppose just about everything he does.

Another division is the age old difference between parties. These parties are as different as cats and dogs. Their fierce attack on each other encouraged Independent candidate, Governor Charlie Crist, to reap benefits in the Senate race. Since the Democrats are the party in the government, and the welfare of the people is not improving, they stand to rue the people’s cause which the Republicans take advantage of.

Now, that the votes have been cast and the decisions have been made, the election

is over. I cannot tell you the results due to issues with this article’s deadline, but you can still find out our new leaders by watching your local news.

However, things don’t end with the election, in fact, in most cases, elections have always initiated new directions, so that leaves me wondering about the new fate the people of Florida will be facing. Will the elected leaders be fair, impartial and make good use of their power? Will they actually try to improve our state? Will they actually represent us? Will they keep the promises they made that brought them to office? Will they remember the people who helped them in their campaign? Will they do something in office other than sitting around, twiddling their thumbs and taking money? All of these questions, and more, can only be answered by time, but, I will do my best to keep you updated about the state of things in the Sunshine state.

Through voting, people put full trust in the individuals elected to office and expect good results…well… good luck Florida!

by Bilal Amodu, Age 13

Continued from page 1

Good Luck Florida!

Did You Know...… that Waste Management is the largest gar-bage company, as well as recycling company,

in North America?

Did You Know...… that the Pompano Beach Landfill in Florida

has been operating since the 1960’s and is planning on closing in 17 years?

Did You Know...… that Americans discard enough aluminum

cans annually to rebuild the entire U.S. commercial airline fleet four times over?

NOVEMBER 2010 THE CIRCLE GAZETTE PAGE 11

Name: DoeAge: 82 Color: BrownSize: 2 ½ in.Hobbies: racing deer, playing with wildlife and baking.Least favorite thing to do: dress-ing up with makeup and fancy dressesFavorite Animal: Deer (not because of her name)Favorite bird: Mallard ducksFavorite Insect: MosquitoesFavorite season: AutumnAnimal Friend: Mrs. Amelia Lizzie Mallard (Mallard Duck)Home: Her animal friend’s nestFavorite Flower: Orange Blossom

(they can be a pretty brown in Fairy-Land)Favorite Accessory: Her Bees nest bracelet clasp and her Duck-in-a-pond leaf-woven belt.

“Morning, Mrs. Amelia” Doe rubbed sleep out of her wooden-brown eyes and stared outside her bedroom window “Good morning Doe” Mrs. Amelia Lizzie Mallard was Doe’s animal companion and the largest animal residing in Pixie Place, the fairy neigh-borhood in which she and all her friends: Magma (the Red Fairy), Tepuy (the Green Fairy), Wasp (the Black Fairy) and Dawn (the White Fairy) lived. That is, all except for Jay (the Blue Fairy), who lived in the outskirts of this town with her dragonfly friend. Doe was going deer racing with her friends in Oak Meadow Fairy Park and the animals were having

a play date. Doe slipped out from under

Mrs. Amelia’s wing. She slept with her, and her other rooms (kitchen, bathrooms, etc.) were under the bedding. Doe had used magic to build her house there. She walked to her wardrobe that hung in midair. Her wand and her Pixie Dust Pouch hung on a string at the bottom. Doe grabbed her wand and tapped each of her drooping transparent wings three times. As soon as she was done tapping, her wings over-flooded with maple-brown and fluttered to life. Fairy wings come to life when tapped like that, a proce-dure which is called giving Pixie Dust through the wand to a fairy’s wings. She flew up to find her rac-ing outfit: tight leggings, a long-sleeve, tight-fit shirt and a Sugar Maple leaf bandanna. She packed a few brown umbrellas just in case it rained. Then she went for breakfast.

Doe’s kitchen was right under the right-hand window and was a half a foot long and a quarter foot wide and it had a five inch tall refrigerator, a dishwasher, an old-fashioned baking oven and a stove; not to mention the cup-boards. Breakfast consisted of a hibiscus-and-pumpkin bread and water for a drink. She grabbed her pixie Dust Pouch and gripped her wand tightly and then she set off to make a lunch of pump-kin cream soup and for dessert a pumpkin pie! She grabbed her maple-brown backpack and stuffed the picnic lunch inside. She added a rose nectar flavored energy drink for the race. She flew up to the bedroom and floated in midair next to Mrs. Amelia’s face “Let’s go Mrs. Mallard!” and both hopped out into the morn-ing sun.

Doe met her friends at the en-trance of the park. They all had backpacks or baskets of provi-sions; everyone had been ex-pected to bring a small lunch and a small dessert of their choice. Magma had brought tuna salad sandwiches and a small red rose cake. She had taken the recipe for tuna salad sandwiches from a hu-man and had gone to one of those “Publix” stores and bought the in-gredients with a stack of valuable rubies, instead of those “dollars.” She had left her payment on the counter with a note! Dawn had made white sauce pasta and an

“Arctic Bread” that had all kinds of white and sweet surprises in-side. Jay’s food was lasagna with a special blue touch and she had brought a Hibiscuit pie. Tepuy, who was the only fairy in this group who came from out of the country - she came fromVenezu-ela - had prepared a Venezuelan style lunch: a soup (sopa) and a cake called ‘tres-leches.’ Finally, Wasp had brought the fruits and drinks (she didn’t cook much).

The deer emerged from the woods and the race began. Wasp won Tepuy by a hair, followed by Doe and Jay, Dawn and fi-nally Magma (who didn’t seem to care that she was last). They celebrated with the large picnic lunch. Doe sipped Tepuy’s soup and gasped. “How did you make that?” she questioned with an impressed look on her face. “It’s really easy” Tepuy said simply. “Try the cake” –she added. Doe didn’t hesitate. “Wow!” she ex-claimed “That’s delicious!”

Jay pulled a large box out of the air. “This is for the win-

ner!” she announced and drew a blue, green, black, white, red and brown trophy out of the bag and gave it to Wasp. “Thank you so much!” she said. “This is for Tepuy” Magma said and she pulled a glass globe with a Venezuelan landscape “Oh!” she gasped “How did you know I lived there?” “I didn’t” Magma said, obviously pleased. Wasp grabbed a box out of her bag and said to Doe “Here, this is for you, Deer-racer” and gave her a bee’s nest bracelet clasp. Doe wasn’t much about bracelets and jewelry, but this clasp was so simple and beautiful that she liked it, loved it! Doe gave Magma a rosebush sculpture and Tepuy gave Dawn a cloud and lightning dress. To end the celebration, Dawn gave Jay a Blue Jay painting.

At the end of the day Mrs. Amelia and Doe went home hap-pily and that was the end of that exciting day!

by Daniela Gómez, Age 10

Margate, FL

“Doe” The Brown Fairy!

“Doe.” Watercolor pencils on canvas by Daniela Gómez.

Hello there! My name is Larry the Lion. I just moved into a new for-est, and I don’t have any friends. But I wonder how do I make new friends?

Today, I was taking a walk. Suddenly, I got an excellent idea. I raced to the market. The monkey at the market told me his name was Marcus the Mon-key, and then he asked, “What do you want?” (He must have been annoyed because he didn’t sound friendly). Then I held out a

dollar and said “I WANT A FRIEND!”

Then Marcus stared at me as though I was crazy and he was going banan-as. Suddenly I realized I was being too cheap. I shuffled in my wallet for a while. Finally I found a fifty dollar bill. “Here you go.” I said. He opened his mouth, wide. I bet an ele-phant could have fit inside (no offense - Ella the El-ephant). He still gazed at me. I stared at him too. (I wonder how he felt being stared at. I felt nervous.) “Oh my friend, you are right again. That is too ex-

pensive. Just tell…” He rudely interrupt-

ed. “WE DON’T SELL FRIENDS!!!!!!”

I blinked, I gasped, I shouted, I screamed, I cried, I whimpered, I yelled, I frowned, I paced, I thought, then I fainted and got up. Finally I shouted “What kind of silly store is this? Not to sell friends! I WILL NEVER SHOP HERE AGAIN!” Then I ran as fast as I could and as far as I could.

BOOM!! I crashed into something. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAH-HHHHHHHHHHHH-

HHH!A tiger! A lion! A tiger-

lion or a liontiger!” We shouted. “Will you eat me?” it asked. I thought for a moment: I’ve never heard of a lion eating a ti-ger. Maybe I should ask it if it was going to eat me. I’m such a genius.

“No I’m not.” It said, when I asked. “I’m not ei-ther.” I proclaimed.

“I‘m Teresa the Tiger,” she said. “I want to be your friend. I can show you around. Oh, be care-ful with the monkeys, they are absolutely, positively CRAZY!”

As she said that I thought of Marcus, the rudest mon-key.

At least now I know how to make friends! Just bump into animals you don’t know.

But NEVER make friends with a crazy monkey.

Author’s noteThe true way to make a

friend is to socialize, you will bump into friends, be nice and the relationship will blossom into friend-ship. I love socializing (I think I got that from my mom). Remember you can always make a friend where ever you go.

by Shadya Amodu, Age 10

Deerfield Beach, FL

PAGE 12 THE CIRCLE GAZETTE NOVEMBER 2010

“Pile of Dump” by Gillian DeZinna, Age 11. Margate, FL. Pencil and color pencils on paper.

“Big Storm on Lake Superior” by ellie Gómez, Age 4. Margate, FL.

Watercolor pencils on paper. Inpired by the book “Paddle to the Sea”

by Holling Clancy Holling.

“Girl whale with back-pack going to school in her ocean” by Emily Greenfield,

Age 4. Coconut Creek, FL Wax crayons on paper.

“Rainbow Dragon” by ellie Gómez, Age 4. Margate, FL. Soft pastels on paper. Inspired on the story of St. George and the Dragon.

“Fine Lady” Portrait by emma Gómez, Age 7. Margate, FL. Pencil on paper.

“Angel: My mommy with wings” by emily Greenfield, Age 4. Coconut Creek, FL.

Wax crayons on paper.