Desasters in the 1980s By: Susna Aguilar

The Terrifying Parade in June 12,1980 a so called Parade is marching aginst Nuclear weaponds, police have tried to stop this madness but they just cant seem to make it happen .More then 550,00 protesters from as far as Hiroshima rallied in central Park in New York city on to demang a nuclear weapons freeze in the biggest political demonstrarion in U.S history. But secretury of defense caspers Weinberg,indicated that large turout was likely to have direct impact on administratin policy

Murder over a pair of Tennis Shoes-In January 1988, In a shoe store a kid nemed Erick went to buy some tennis shose but eventually they were the las pair in the store so Allen wanted them to because they have been commercial with a famous athlete. the kids argued over who was going to have the last pair. and the 14 year old boy took out a knife n killed Eric just for a pair of shoes .

Stealth Technology By ilissa

In the 80's there was a new technology in the making, which was stealth technology. Stealth technology is a miltary tactic, that can cover a range of techniques with aircrafts, ships, submarines, missiles. Basically they are invisible to radars, infrared, sonar and other detection devices. Also the stealth bombers are designed not to be seen and are usually painted light gray for daytime and black for night time. Another thing is that these aircrafts are designed to be very quiet.

At first this technology was made because of the cold war and for espionage. Also all stealth technology was kept completey classifed. Till August 22,1980 the Carter Administration talked about the expansion of the Stealth program had given rise to numerous rumors and leaks. Then the U.S government officially admitted the existence of steath aircraft. Then the production started.

One of the stealth bombers built was the F-117A Nighthawk in 1981, but wasn't acknowledged till 1988. Then afterwards the B-2 spirit was made during the 80's. The B-2 was made in the Northrop Corporation and the Northrop Grumman in the United States. The Congress has ordered that 75 aircrafts to be made but went down to 21 in because the end of the cold war. As for the B-2 it had it's first public fight on July 17,1989 in Palmdale, California. This technology was a huge breakthough because it was a new way of espionage and was a remarable discovery for the uses of the United States Air Force.

ART iN THE 1980'S

ART IN THE 80's

During the 1980's art was very popular and important. There was many new styles of art during this decade. Many included pop art, other art works that were forms or influenced by graffitti Neo-Geo, Neo-Expressionism, Graffiti, and Appropriation . There were many artists during this era like Jasper Johns, Willem De Kooning, Keith Haring, Roy Lichtenstein, Marisol, Robert Rauschenberg, and Frank Stella, Andy Warhol and PatrickNagel.

Graffiti, Was a big and popular for of art during the 80's. Many artists were in fluenced by graffiti and graffiti artists. Many graffiti artists came from a interesting background, and would usually start their career on the "down low". Many Graffiti artists started painting in the ghetto or poor areas of their cities. A lot of the graffiti art originated a lot in New York Suburbs. At first as still today, was not good, and there was a lot of restriction about this form of art.

During the years between 1985 and 1989 became known as the "die hard" era. Alot of the type of art that was associated with graffiti was thought to be related to gangs and violence and crimes. One famous graffiti artis was named Jean-Michel Basquiat, who started out by tagging locations with his signature SAMO (Same Old Shit). Another well known artist, who although did not exactly do graffitti work, did do a form of graffiti work which was influenced strongly by graffiti.

Alot of the graffiti was not what today's modern graffitti is known as. A lot of the graffiti, was pictures of stuff that represented someone or something aluable to people. in the 1980's alot of the graffiti was known as "... an effective tool of social emancipation or in the achievement of a political goal". Many of this art that was created, spread throughout the country. A lot of this form of art would be found all over, in major citieas like, San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and cities like this.

This Form of art was and is very important because, graffiti throughout the years it has gotten better and better. Many people who practice and master this art, get many of their ideas from the past, and especially from the 80's. the art during the 80's was really significant, and will continue to.

Literature piece: A LIGHT IN THE ATTIC

A LIGHT IN THE ATTIC

By: Shel Silverstein

Published: 1981

Published by : HarperCollins

Among Many of the books Shel Silverstein wrote throughout his career, A light in The Attic, was one of his best-selling books in the 1980's. This book is a collection collection of humorous poems and drawings, that was dedicated to Shel Siverstein's daughter "Shanna", who died at the age of 11 due to cerebral aneurysm on April 24, 1982. in this book all the drawings and poems are done by Shel Silverstein. This book had many things that many parents and adults complained and did not like for example the most known, one of the poems in the book, How Not To Have To Dry The Dishes was a contreversy among many people, and many complainde because it encouraged messiness and disobedience. Another poem, Little Abigail and the Beautiful Pony led to more criticism for describing the death of a girl after her parents refuse to buy her a pony. many people thought bad of this book.

After a while of this book being published that the complaints were so much that this book was banned from some libraries because supposedly it promoted horror, violence, suicide, drug use, and cannibalism, to young children, and was not appropiate for young children. The light in the attic, is number 51 on the American Library Association's list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000

AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS:

-American Association: Best Graphic Illustrations
-Notable Children's Books of 1981 (ALA)
-Best Books of 1981 (SLJ)
-Children's Books of 1981 (Library of Congress)
-1981 Children's Books (New York Public Library)
-1981 USA Children's Books of International Interest
-Winner, 1983–84 William Allen White Award (Kansas)
-Winner, 1983 Garden State Children's Book Award (New Jersey Library Association)
-1984 Garden State Children's Book Award Center for Children's Books (Claremont, CA) -"Recognition of Merit" Award

Scientist Carl,Sagan By: Susana,Aguilar

Carl Sagan was born in Brooklyn New York .His Father Sam Sargan was a Russian immigrant garment worker his mother Rachel Molly Grubler a house wife. Carl was named in honor of Rachels biological mother .Chaiya. Clara in Saguas word The mother she never knew. Sagab graduated from High school in Rahway in New Jersey in 1957. He attended the university of chicago where he participated in Ryerson Astronomical society recived a bachelor of arts with general and special honors in 1954 he also recived a bachelor of science in 1955 and a masters in Astronomy.

Carl did much to populanze science,especially the wonders of space science, and helped develop critical thinking on the other hand during his early part of his career he made discoveries concerning the planets Mars and Venus. Sagan was one of the first to think that Titan,a moon of Saturn might have lakes and oceans and therefore it could support life. Sagn was a out of the box thinker. During his life time carl made big diffrences in the lifes of others he was the one who had great ideas of space.

In 1994, Carl was the first winner of the Isaac Asimov. Award, awarded for general contibutions to science and humanity.He also helped the committe for the scientific Investigation of claims of the Paranovimal with in other terms its the (CSISOP). It was a way for him to help other scientis he also by numerous TV appearances and writting books , Carl was able to explain this to general public science and space explorations were all about.

Carl was a great scientist in the 1980s he became known as the space wonderer he was all into science and he had awsome expectaions . he was happy with his career and with his knowledge . Carl was a diffrences and n insperation to other great scientists.

1980's CRACK EPIDEMIC

1980'S CRACK EPIDEMIC!

During the 1980's, there was a time where a lot of crack was being used. This time was known as the "Crack Epidemic". In the early 1980's, the area that was used to land their "Cocaine" was in Miami. Many drug dealers started facing issues that their business would go down, but then the drug dealers came up with what they thought was a solution. They converted the powder into "crack", which consisted of a solid smokeable form of cocaine, that could be sold in smaller quantities, to more people. for these drugdealers this was a very good profit because they could sell it for cheap and it was easy to find, ready to use when bought. This drug became well known in the areas of Los Angeles, San Diego, Miami, and Houston. In some major cities, such as New York,Philadelphia, Houston, Los Angeles, Detroit, one dosage unit of crack could be obtained for $2.50. This drug was also very effective to many drugdealers because it was very addictive in a short period of time.

Crack first began to be used in Los Angeles in 1984. The distribution and use of the drug exploded that same year and by the end of 1986, and was available in 28 states from the United States. According to the 1985–1986 National Narcotics Intelligence Consumers Committee Report, crack could be found in New Orleans, Philadelphia, New York City, Houston, San Diego, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, St. Louis, Atlanta, Oakland, Kansas City, Miami, Newark, San Francisco, Buffalo, and Dallas.

During the time that that Crack was being used a lot, there were many reports on people having to be in the hospital due to crack related cases. the number of patients having to be tranported to emergency room increased by 12 percent, from 23,500 to 26,300. In 1986, they increased 110 percent, from 26,300 to 55,200. Between 1984 and 1987, cocaine incidents increased to 220,800. Many people were using crack alot, even pregnant women. In Many Cases, starting in 1984 there was an increase in fetal death rates and low birth-weight babies to mothers who were using crack cocaine, especially in the Los Angeles Area. What's known as The first "crack babies" were born between September and December 1984. It was after many years that this popular drug was being used so much.

Although today many people still use this drug, and it's still dangerous, The Crack Epidemic is still remembered as something big that happened during th 1980's. this time was an impact to our society back then and even today because, many people saw how life was being wastedaway because of this drug, and many people were even born during this time,and actually survived.

"Noble house" by: ilissa

James Clavell is the author of the "Noble House" a popular book in the early 80's. This book is also part of Clavell's Asian Saga. The book was published in 1981 by the Delacorted Press and has over 1,000 pages long. There are also many characters, about a dozen in the story. Another thing about this book is that it has numerous plot lines. One more intersting fact is since the book was such a great hit it was made into a mini series in the late 80's.

In the story there are a lot of characters. The main characters are Ian Dunross, Quillan Gornt, Lincoln Barrlett, Casey Tcholok, Robert Armstrong, Phillip Chen, Roger Crosse, Brain Kuok, Four finger Wu, Paul "Proftiable" Choy and Orlanda Ramos. The setting of the story takes place in Hong Kong in 1963. The plot is about Ian Dunross who is trying to help trading company, Struan from financial trouble and trying to get help by having a partnership with an american investor. Also at the same time he is trying to deal with his arch-ememy Quillan Gornt, who has his own trading company as well and he is trying to ruin and put Dunross's company out of business. Also Dunross has to deal with Communists, Nationalsits, Soviet Spies in Hong Kong.

Along with that he has to face water shortages landslides, bank runs, and stock market crashes. If that wasn't enough Dunross also had KGB and MI6 on him because he had important documents that they wanted. But even with all that Dunross had to go through he still focused on his main goal to save the Noble House (The Strun).This book was the number one top selling book of 1981. The reason why was because this book had everything. For example in the story there was adventure, kidnapping, murder, finanical doublle dealing, natural catastrophes, mystery, and romance, it had it all which made the novel a huge hit in the 80's.

Toys and Pop Culture from the 1980s By Susana Aguilar

The 80s had a very distinct personalitu to its pop culture phenomena,It was in the 80s that we saw the first mass explosion of hysteria for new toys,with the 1983 winter shortage of Cabbage Patch Dolls. One of the biggest pop culture crazes of its times,the individual named and crafted cabbage patch dolls join the ranks of the dolls of each decade, reflecting the eternal power of the doll.

Trivial Pursuit,a response to few decades of mass information and the development of world wide pop culture, also appered in 1983 and remainds today as an after dinner favorite to show off all that jeopardy worthy information you keep locked away.

Flash foward a few years ,and the electronic toy age kicks into gear with the introduction of hundreds of new toys that could talk n move, about and imitate favorite cartoon characters.


The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hit it big at the end of the decade, unleashing a blitzkierg of marketing on the nation, and other 80s favorites followed with shows like Transformeres or He-Man. The action figure craze started by GLJones in the 60s exploded.

LitERAtURE

TOM ROBBINS

BIRTH DATE: July 22, 1936

BIRTHPLACE: Blowing Rock, North Carolina

He was born to George Thomas Robbins and Katherine Ann Robinson. They later on moved to Warsaw, Virgina to settle in with his three younger sisters. He studied journalism at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Washington. He later on was kicked out for discipline problems. Tom did many things before he became a author. For example, he enlisted in the Air Force and was a meteorologist in Korea for two years. He later on spent his time with local painters and entered art school at Richmond Professional Institute. He there was the editor of the campus newspaper and a copy editor for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. He moved to Seattle and earned a master's degree at the School of Far Eastern Studies of the University of Washington. The jobs he had were a sports reporter and later arts reviewer for Seattle-Post Intelligencer. In 1967 he decided to write his first book and continued from there.

FUN FACTS

• He was inspired to write by the rock band "The Doors"
• He's been an extra in several movies
• Has three sons and has been married 5 times
• He's an advisory board of the Marijuana Policy Project

WORKS

• "Still Life with Woodpecker"(1980)


• "Jitterbug Perfume"(1984)

PASSAGE FROM "STILL LIFE WITH WOODPECKER"

"Consider a certain night in August. Princess Leigh-Cheri was gazing out of her attic window. The moon was full. The moon was so bloated it was about to tip over. Imagine awakening to find the moon flat on its face on the bathroom floor, like the late Elvis Presley, poisoned by banana splits. It was a moon that could stir wild passions in a moo cow. A moon that could bring out the devil in a bunny rabbit. A moon that could turn lug nuts into moonstones, turn Little Red Riding Hood into the big bad wolf. For more than an hour, Leigh-Cheri stared into the mandala of the sky. "Does the moon have a purpose?" she inquired of Prince Charming."

WHY SIGNIFICANT?

He was one of the authors in the 1980's that used humor in his books. A lot of his novels are "abstract, often wild stories with strong social undercurrents, a satirical bent and obscure details." He is a good detailed writer, I wanted to read his novel and I only read the first page.

Music and Dance by ilissa

Music and Dancing in 1980's

In the 198o's there was a lot of things going on in the music world, new materials and new artists as well. There was a bunch of new artists as well. There was a bunch of music styles as well, like New Wave, Glam rock, Indie Rock, and Thrash Metal. Along with the new music there was new musical artists like Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Cher, Van Halen, Poison, Guns and Roses, The Smiths, Sonic Youth, and Grandmaster Flash. They all had a different style, it was etheir rebillous, or peaceful or just something you can dance to . Also music was very big in the 1980's because there was a lot of charity concerts during this decade. For example the most memorable ccharity concert USA for Africa that had the famous song "We are the World", which made millions to help hunger in Ethopia.

But along with music, there wouldn't be any if there was no dancing, which was a major part in the 1980's. One of the biggest dance craves was the "moonwalk"by Michael Jackson. Some other popular dances were the Hammer dance, Lambada, Michael Jackson circles, the Roger Rabbit, The running man, the worm, the toe stand, and many more. all these dances were very popular in the 80's. They were being dance everywhere through out the nation. Some of these dances were made by famous musicans and their dance moves inspired fans to do them as well.

The most popular dances of the 80's was the "moonwalk" because of Michael Jackson. Then there was the hammer dance inspired by the artist M.C Hammer.Some other popular dances were the cabbage patch, slam dancing and break dancing as well. Another popular dance was "Lambada", which was inspired by the hit movie "dirty Dancing"(1987 ). As for music the top ten songs were "Billie Jean", "Every breath you take", "like a prayer","Sweet child of mine", "Like a Virgen", "We are the World", "Beat it", "Call me" and "With or without you".

Historical Figure: SALLY KRISTEN RIDE

SALLY KRISTEN RIDE

MAY 26 1951- PRESENT

"FIRST AMERICAN WOMAN IN SPACE"

Ride was born in Encino California on May 26th 1951. At the age of ten she was an excellent tennis and earned a scholarship to Westlake school for girls in Los Angeles, California. When she graduated in 1968 from high school she enrolled in Swarthmore college, but ended up dropping out that college to pursue her career as a tennis player. After a couple of months she thought she was not as good as she thought of a tennis player so instead she enrolled at Stanford University.

Being enrolled There she obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree, Bachelor of Science, and Masters Degree. while seeking for a postdoctoral job in astrophysics, shse read about NASA's call for astronauts. Sally's interest for this was a lot that she applied for this. A lot od men and women had applied for this job/opportunity, in fact more than 8,000, but only 35 people were accepted and among these people Sally Ride was one of them. Sally Ride Joined the NASA in 1977.

Sally Ride served as communications officer for the second and third flights of the Space Shuttle Columbia which was on November 1981 and March 1982, she was also assigned to the team that designed the remote mechanical arm, used by shuttle crews to deploy and retrieve satellites. In 1983, Ride became the first American woman in space, She flew on the Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-7). She flew again in 1984, aboard Challenger (STS-41G). During those two flights, in total, Sally spent more than 343 hours in space. After the Shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986, and killed every one aboard, Sally was assigned to the Presidential Commission charged with investigating the accident. She afterwards moved to NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., where she became assistant to the NASA administrator for long-range planning. During this time, she created NASA's Office of Exploration and produced a report on the future of the space program which wascalled, Leadership and America's Future in Space.

In 1987, Sally Retired From working with NASA. She then worked at Center for International Security and Arms Control at Stanford University. Later in 1989, she became Director of the California Space Institute and Professor of Physics at the University of California at San Diego.

SAlly Ride was an important figure in the 80's because, she was the first wonam, american that is , in space. She made our country proud. With her going into space, proved that anyone can go far in their life, if they are determined to do so.

AWARDS:

- The Jefferson Award for Public Service,

-The Women's Research and Education Institute's American Woman Award

- National Spaceflight Medal (twice).

FACTS:

-She was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame at Kennedy Space Center on June 21, 2003.

- Wrote and collaborated in the following books:

-To Space and BackVoyager: An Adventure to the Edge of the Solar System, The Third Planet: Exploring the Earth from Space,The Mystery of Mars,Exploring Our Solar System

ivelise theater

THE CATS




The musical first openned in the west end in 1981 and then on broadway in 1982. Cata have performed around the world many times and has been into more than 20 languages in 1998 it was alsomade in to a television video. Cats performed in the west end at the new london theater on may 11, 1981. The show made its debut on bradway on october 7 1982. The cats musical is composed by andrew loyd webber he won awards for best musical.


It playd a total of 8,949 performances in london its final performence londons west bound was on its 21'st birthday 11 may 2002 on a large screen. It held the record as the londons longest running musical until october 2006.

THE AWARDS THAT THIS PLAY WON WERE:
-Tony Award
-1983 award wins
-Best Musical
-Best book of a musical
-Best origional score
-Best featured actress = Betty buckels
-Best costume design
-Best lighting design
-Best direction

FOOD OF THE 80'S :)

FOOD

What would someone do without food in there life? Of course die of hunger right.In the 1980's many foods were invented and restaurants were open. There was Italian,Mexican and many other cultures that people from different diversities got to taste. Children got the pleasure of tasting new desserts and candies. Thanks to the people.

A Italian-American restaurant was first open in December 13, 1982. It served many cuisines like pasta and salad. They also served from pizza and wines. It was owned by Darden Restaurants. The restaurant eventually became one of the largest chain of Italian-themed full service restaurants in the United States.

Mexican restaurants were also popular and opened. There was taquerias, which are booths where they sell tacos, burritos, gorditas, tortas, tamales, tostadas, enchiladas and much more. These foods contain from meat to seafood but of course with a lot of salsa. After 1980 it began to make its upscale in the United States. A lot liked that they didn't have to go to Mexico no more to find tamales.

In the 1980's the children also had an advantage to food. A lot of candies came out on stock. For example the first gummy bears and skittles were out. Junk food that was popular back then were candy necklaces, tootsie pops, fruit roll up, MC Donald's, Carl's JR, Wendy's, and many other chocolate bars. Drinks that also were drinked was Orange pop, Cherry Pop and New Coke.

HISTORICAL EVENT OF THE 80'S

WRECK OF THE TITANIC FOUND

PEOPLE INVOLVED: French And America

DATE: September 1985

WHERE: southeast of Newfoundland, Canada

The Titanic was built in March 1909 by director J. Bruce Ismay and Lord James Pirrie. It took a year to be designed. They wanted the boat to be comfortable, elegant and safe. The launch took place in May 1911. Everyone anticipated to ride on it and the tickets were sold to benefit a local Children's Hospital.

LENGTH:882.5 FEET

GROSS TONNAGE: 46,329 TONS

BEAM: 92.5 FEET

NET TONNAGE: 24,900 TONS

DEPTH: 59.5 FEET

COST: $7.5 MILLION

On April 10, 1912 it was on a voyage to South Hampton, England and to New York. The boat had 2,227 passengers including the crew. Four days later she struck an iceberg and sinked about 13.5 miles east-southeast to the bottom. Out of the 2,227 passengers only 705 survived and the others are still lost.

The day they discovered the Titanic was in September 1, 1985 by a French and American team. It was 12,500 feet of water. They discovered that the ship is still very damaged and can collapse at any time. In the National Maritime Museum, located in Greenwich, England, they have approximately 6,000 artifacts from the wreck.

Vivian Richards by Susana Aguilar

Vivian Richards was born in St.Johns Antigua as King Viv he was also known as the Master Blaster was known for his dynamic batting skills and was also a very hardly bowler as well.This strong and fourceful personality rose to fame in the 80s.Vivian became the captain of over 50 test matches in the 80s. He also saw success when his team won the Nat West trophy in the year 1983. Vivian Richards aslo holds the reputation of being the single West Indies caption to have never lost any test series .

Vivian Richards is the most prolific run-scorer for the West Indies at Test level with 8,540 from the 121 matches he played. He made 24 Test centuries during his career at a very impressive avarage of 50.23 and he also became the first West Indian cricketer to make 100 first-class hundreds-a feat he achived during 1988-89 season.

Richard was aslso known as King Viv for much of his career, will mainly be rememberd for the explosive manner an style of his batting rather than for its end result. As a batsman, he always looked to dominate the bowling and his aggressive approach with willow in hand often appeared arrogant to the onlooker. His lightning- fast reflexes and brute force made up for his unconventinal technique and he still holds for the most sixes-84-hit at Test Level.

Richards took over as captian of the West Indies from Clive Lloyd in 1980 and he proceed to lead a strong side through their most successful era at Test Level . He captained them 27 wins in 50 Test between 1974. He Gillette Cuo and the John Player Sunday League title- bothe in 1979. he then finished his country career with a spell at Glam organ between 1990 and 1993, ending in style as the Eelsh side won the 1993 Sunday League campaing.Richards took over as coach to The West Indies side 1. Vvian Richards was known for being successul in his career during his life time.

HISTORICAL EVENT

EVENT: MOUNT ST. HELENS ERUPTION

PEOPLE INVOLVED: Residents of Washington

DATE: May 18,1980

WHERE: Skamania County, Washington

Mount St. Helens was formed about 40,000 years ago and is quite younger than the other cascade mountains. The elevation is 8,365 ft. with the prominence of 4,605 feet. It was also known as "Fuji-San of America" for its high peaks, symmetry and extensive snow. It has three main streams that originated on the mountain and were Toulte River, Kalama River and the Lewis River. Before the eruption happened, Mt. St. Helens is the fifth-highest peak in Washington.

On May 18 at 8:32 am started to erupt. It caused 57 people to be killed, 250 houses, 47 bridges, 15 miles of railways, and 185 miles of of highway were destroyed. A avalanche also happened which reduced the elevation of it. After the eruption happened President Ronald Reagan decided to establish the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument so it could be scientifically studied. In 1987, it reopened so tourists could climb it once again.

This event was significant because it was known as the most catastrophic eruption in U.S. History. It was also the most deadliest and economically volcanic event.

HISTORICAL FIGURE OF THE 80'S

Samantha Smith

Birth Date: June 19, 1972-August 25, 1985

Birthplace: Houlton, Maine

Samantha Smith,born to Jane Reed and Arthur Smith, attended Manchester Elementary School in Manchester, Maine. Her father taught literature and writing in University of Maine in Augusta and her mom worked as a social worker. She died at age 13 in the Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808 plane crash.

TRIBUTES

• A monument was built of her in Moscow



• The Soviet Union issued a stamp with her likeness



• Diamond named after Samantha



• A mountain in former Soviet Union named after her



• Some Culver tulips and dahlias named in her honor



• An ocean vessel named in her honor



• In Maine, the first Monday in June of each year is officially designated as Samantha Smith Day by state law.



• Her mother found The Samantha Smith Foundation

FUN FACTS

• She hosted a children's special for the Disney Channel entitled Samantha Smith Goes to Washington...Campaign '84


• Co starred with Robert Wagner in a television show called "Lime Street"

ACCOMPLISHMENT

• 
  
  Samantha Smith's accomplishment was being known as "America's Youngest Ambassador". She wrote a letter to the Soviet Leader Yuri Andropov to understand why the Soviet Union and the United States relationship was so tense. She wrote:

Dear Mr.Andropov,

My name is Samantha Smith. I am ten years old. Congratulations on your new job. I have been worrying about Russia and the United states getting into a nuclear war. Are you going to vote to have a war or not? If you aren't please tell me how you are going to help not to have war. This question you don't have to answer but I would like to know why you want to conquer the world or at least our country. God made the world for us to live together in peace and not to fight.

Sincerely,

Samantha Smith

Later on her letter was published in the newspaper "Pravda". After awhile Andropov replied back to her on April 26,1983. She went to Russia to be Andropov guest for two weeks. But didn't get to meet him because he was very ill. Samantha began to be very well known to many people in the United States and Russia. She also wrote a book about herself.

WHY SIGNIFICANT?

Samantha Smith is significant because she took the courage to write about something most 11 year old aren't concerned about. She also did things that most children didn't do like visit important figures. She was a smart, cute , good writer.

Martina Navratilova by Susana Aguilar

Martina Navratilova was Born in Pargue, Czechoslovakia in 1956, Navratilova first visited the United States in 1973. Two years later, she defected the U.S., requesting political asylum . She became an American citizen in 1981.

She was also a determined Tennis player sure rocked the wrold with her brilliant preformances. With many trophies to her credit, Martina was almost like the perfect Tennis icon for many in the 80s. She won her French Open in 1948 and this left-handed tennis star won four Grand Slam Women's Doubles title the same year. The 1980s also witnessed Martina being ranked as the world no. 1 doubles player. Despite the appearance of Steffi Grag on the tennis scenario, Martina may have suffered a little setback, but she bounced back in the 1987 by beating Steffi in the Wimbledon and U.S. Open finals.

As a plyer, Navratilova was bold and smart, and she dared to do things those others befor and since only imagine. She single-handedly reinvented women's tennis, taking the boundaries and limitations of women's tennis shoving them higher and wider. Martina ended her singles career in 1994. As she entered New York's Madison Square Garden for the last match, more than 17,000 fans gave her a two-minute standing ovation while nearly 100 photograph spotrs history. Navratilova continues to play doubles. A red and gold banner bearing her name was raised in her honer,the first woman ever to be so honored in Madison Suare Garden. Women still have a lond way to go in achieving athletic equaliyy as evidenced by the fact that Navratilova's banner hung in the Garden only a week,and only to be raised again for tennis matches.

In 1978, she began a relationship with Rita Mae Brown,an American activist and writer,but the publicity made her resign as head of the Women's Tennis Association.She later had an affair with Judy Nelson and gained admiration by routinely climbing into the crowed at tennis matches to snog her love after winninig so many games. Martina Navratilova was successfulin her life time as a tennis player.