Have you ever heard of the Molasses Flood Of 1919? St. Peter's 6th grade class recently researched this little-known event in Massachusetts history. The molasses flood happened on January 15, 1919. This happened on a commercial street in the North End (Boston, MA). A 50-foot-tall metal tank of sugary sweet molasses rushed down the streets of the North End. The company responsible for this mess was the property of United States Industrial Alcohol.

  Instead of a bomb, the USIA’s poor planning and lack of oversight had led to the tank’s structural failure. Also, 2 days before the rupture, molasses was delivered from Puerto Rico. If you don’t know what molasses is, it is a very sticky syrup. The researchers at Harvard believe that the humongous amount of molasses did not have time to cool down from its trip from Puerto Rico thoroughly and was likely 7 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than cold Boston air. If it had busted in the summer, then the molasses would have flowed farther and would have been much thinner. Thinner Molasses would change things because it wouldn’t have been destroyed as harshly as it did, and it probably would be less fatal. The temperature change could cause an explosion because when water gets cold, it freezes and expands, which is what happens to the Molasses. The tank was already in bad shape, so when it was cold, the molasses expanded and eventually burst.

      USIA offered a very different answer for the blowout: sabotage. There was recent tourist activity from an Italian anarchist group that had previously been blamed for bombings across the country. After the molasses flood, many researchers looked into the causes of the rupture. For example, An engineer who researched the building of the holding tank concluded that it was 50 percent too thin to hold 2.3 million gallons of molasses.  Purity Distilling was found liable for the accident after a 3-year- trial, and the poor building was also to blame. Purity Distilling was a company based in Boston, Massachusetts, specializing in ethanol production through the distillation process; the company bought USIA in 1917 before the flood happened. The company actually changed the color of the molasses tank from blue to brown-red to cover/hide its leaks.    

February is African American appreciation month. It is so important to appreciate African Americans because they have contributed so much to American society over the years. Lonnie Bunch, founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, writes,” You can tell a great deal about a country and a people by what they deem important enough to remember, to create moments for… African American History Month, with a bit of tweaking, is still a beacon of change and hope that is still surely needed in this world. The chains of slavery are gone, but we are all not yet free. The great diversity within the black community needs the glue of the African American past to remind us  of not just how far we’ve traveled but lo, how far there is to go.” 

In January, we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday. king was a very important civil rights leader and a devout Christian minister.

Our  theology textbook, Sophia Press,  provides  a wonderful  lesson on Martin

Luther King Jr. (MLK). It highlights how, in the Beatitudes, Christ teaches us that the  humble, loving, and just are blessed: “Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

From ancient people to regular citizens today, people  usually have to fight to resolve what is wrong and unjust and what is allowed. The Greeks called what is just, the virtue of justice; the first Christians, the Catholic Church called the act of being just, the virtue of “justice.”In Christianity,  justice is the  cardinal virtue of trying to be fair and  giving each his "just" due.

In the U.S, the evil of slavery was abolished in the thirteenth amendment. Jim Crow laws in the south, however, did not allow fairness for African Americans. Even after the Supreme Court decided to abolish segregation in public schools some states still segregated public places. Martin Luther King Junior from Alabama stepped up against  segregation as a civil rights leader. He protested silently, with no violence. He awakened the notice of the people  who make or support unjust laws. King and the others fighting for justice faced cruel police and imprisonment, but King explained  that non-violent resistance to injustice paved the road to love and reconciliation.Through all of his trials during  his fight for justice  Martin Luther King Jr resisted without violence. This technique is non - aggressive physically, but firmly aggressive spiritually. He did not resist violence to beat the rival, but  instead they wanted  to befriend and win over their understanding. The outcome of non-violence fighting is reconciliation and the making of a beautiful community. A boycott is a way to awaken shame in the dictator. The end of a boycott is reconciliation and redemption. 

When we are being nice to someone who envies us, someone wants to destroy us, it is agape. The catholic church views agape love as higher love. The definition of Agape love is a full-hearted, satisfied, and self-giving love. It is love willing the good of the other without thinking there would be a reward.  Agape love must be intended, and people must put effort into it…  According to Stanford University’s King Institut, “For Martin Luther King, the concept of agape stood at the center of his spiritual belief in a knowledgeable god and his assertion that love and nonviolence were essential to remedying America’s race problems. He defined agape as “Purely spontaneous, unmotivated, groundless, and creative. It is the love god operating in the human heart.” (Papers 6:325)

Martin Luther King Jr. was categorized as radical or extremist. This label disappointed him at first, but he continued to think about it, and eventually, he found the label pleased him because he realized Jesus was an extremist for love. He famously said, ”Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use and persecute you.”

You may ask, “How can you advocate breaking laws and obeying others?” The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. Unjust must not be accepted. If you break an unjust law, you should do it out of wanting righteousness and justice for the mistreated. However, when you stand up for justice, you should be prepared for people to be unfair to you, but through agape love, you should want to do it anyway.

In our class, we’re learning about Ancient Greece. We’re learning about famous people like Socrates and Plato. We learn about what the Greeks did and how they thought about the world. 

We get all of our information from our class literature book, “A Little History of the World,” which devotes three chapters to the Greeks. On our class website, which our teacher, Ms. Carmony, put together for us, there are additional resources on Greek history, science, philosophy, and culture. We have done 12 research sections on Ancient Greece, and we’ve learned about everything from famous Greek scientists, to famous landmarks that date all the way back to Ancient Greece. We’ve also learned about how they did plays and drama, and how they decorated columns in different styles for their buildings. 

The Greek Legacy

Ancient Greece influenced a lot of the things we do today, like our plays, architecture, sports, math, science, politics, and even some of our language! There are things that you do everyday that date back to Ancient Greece that you may not even know about!

The Greek city-state of Athens first introduced democracy. Citizens were able to vote for their leaders and laws. But not everybody had the right to vote. Only free men were able to vote, so slaves and women played no role in government. To this day, governments still vote for leaders in their area. But today, more people have the freedom to vote.

The Greek Alphabet

Did you know that we can trace our English alphabet back to the Greek alphabet? The Greek alphabet is where we got some of our letters in the English alphabet. We get the word “alphabet” from the first word of the Greek alphabet called “alpha” and the second letter “beta”. 

The Greeks got much of their alphabet from the Phoenicians. But they added some letters and syllables, and most importantly, they added vowels. 

These letters evolved over time to the alphabet we use today. But people in Greece still use their ancient alphabet that they used thousands of years ago. Our class has memorized the Greek alphabet, so if you have questions, you can always ask one of us!

Famous People 

The next topic is famous people of Ancient Greece. You may have heard of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. But do you know why they're so famous or why they're so important? Well, you’re about to find out. 

The Greeks are famous for founding a school of philosophy. In Greek, Philosophy means “lover of wisdom”. The Greeks were famous for asking about the “why” and “how” of things, of looking at life deeply. 

The first of the great Greek philosophers, often called the “father” of philosophy, was Socrates. According to Boston College philosophy scholar Peter Kreeft, “No mere philosopher in history has ever made more of a difference than Socrates… [he] turned the attention of philosophy to ethics… [and] was the first person in history who clearly knew what a logical argument was. If anyone can be said to have invented logic, it was Socrates.” 

The Socratic method was a way of studying issues and problems through a question-answer technique. Socrates was also the first one to introduce political philosophy to the Greeks. Then they started thinking hard about good and evil, and how their society should work. He didn’t write a lot, but his student, Plato did.

Plato wrote much of his philosophy in a type of writing called dialogues. His dialogues feature Socrates as one of the speakers. Plato’s most famous work is called The Republic. He talks about the meaning of justice and how cities should be ruled.

Aristotle was Plato’s student, but he didn’t agree on all that he was taught. Aristotle liked to focus on more practical areas of philosophy like science. He founded his own school called the Lyceum. He also thought that reason was the highest good and that it was important to have self-control. Aristotle was the tutor of Alexander the Great.

Thank you for reading this article! I hope you learned something about Ancient Greece and what life was like back then. 

In fourth grade social studies, we have been studying the structure of the U.S. government. Did you know that the three branches of government are executive, legislative, and judicial? 

The executive branch is made up of the president, vice president , and cabinet. The executive branch also consists of the governor. The governor is the chief executive officer or head of the commonwealth. The governor has a four-year term. The governor’s cabinet has eight executive offices. They are the Executive Office for Administration and Finance, the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, the Executive Office of Transportation and Public Works, the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, the Executive Office of Education and the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. 

The Executive branch’s main building is the White House. As you might have heard there is also a secret service to protect the president. Did you know that the president does not have all the power? Here are some fun facts about the Executive branch:

• The president’s car ‘s nickname is “The Beast”

• The President of the United States serves as both the head of state and the head of government

• The Executive Branch is responsible for carrying out and enforcing laws

• The Executive Branch includes over 4 million employees!

• The Executive Branch includes over 4 million employees

• The president can only be elected two times, but president Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected four times and served for more than twelve years. The twenty-second amendment states no president can be elected more than twice 

• The president can only be removed from office if he does something very bad or against the Constitution

• When the president gets removed from office it is called an impeachment

• The President has the power to veto legislation passed by Congress

•  An impeachment is very serious, only nineteen presidents have been impeached

•  An impeachment is removal from office

The Legislative  Branch

The Legislative branch has Congress. Congress is divided into two parts, the Senate and the House Of Representatives. The Senate has one-hundred members (two per state), while the House Of  Representatives has four-hundred-thirty- five members (based on state population). The senate has a four year term and the House or House of representatives has a two year term. The legislative branch can make laws, declare war, approve treaties and presidential appointments, oversee public money, and conduct investigations and oversight within government. 

Did you know that the members of Congress are directly elected by voters in each state? The main building of the Legislative branch is the U.S Capitol. 

1. The legislative branch is responsible for making laws, approving the federal budget, and overseeing the activities of the executive branch

2. The legislative branch is responsible for creating and passing bills

3. The legislative branch also has the power to override a Presidential veto an the governor’s veto.

4. The legislative branch also has the power to impeach federal officials

5. The legislative branch is also responsible for approving treaties [a formally concluded and ratified agreement between countries.]

The Judicial branch

The Judicial branch is composed of the Supreme Court, the Appeals Court, the Trial court, and other federal courts. The federal courts have judges but the Supreme Court has justices. There are nine justices in the Supreme Court. They are nominated by the president and then confirmed by Senate majority vote. Once they are nominated and confirmed, they can serve for life. 

The judicial branch can: examine laws, overturn rulings of lower courts, and makes decisions but relies on executive & legislative branches to carry them out. The judicial branch can say that the law that was passed by the legislative branch, and signed by the president is unfair. For example, if the new law that was passed said that every Friday all shops should stay open till 10:00pm., but if all the justices agree that this law is unfair because shops can choose when to close, then, it would not become a new law, because the judicial branch is responsible for interpreting the law.

Interesting Facts About the Judicial Branch:

1. The Supreme Court was established in 1789

2. The lower federal courts include the district courts, the courts of appeals, and the specialized courts like the Court of International Trade

3.  State courts include trial courts, intermediate appellate courts, and state supreme courts

4.   The judicial branch is tasked with upholding the Constitution

5. The judicial branch is funded by Congress

6. The decisions of the Supreme Court and other courts can have a significant impact on American society

7. The judicial branch plays a crucial role in protecting individual rights and freedoms

           Checks and balances

Checks and balances make sure that all three branches share the power equally. For example, the Judicial Branch can declare the executive’s actions unconstitutional. Or, the Executive Branch can nominate judges and Supreme Court justices, and the Legislative branch can approve Supreme Court Justices ( the Legislative branch can also impeach them). 

If a person in office does something very bad, the check and balances and  the U.S Constitution states that he/she can be impeached, or removed from office. But they need a reason to impeach him/her.

Checks and balances were made by the Founding Fathers of America. 

Who Were the Founding Fathers?

 The founding fathers are the people who created the U.S Constitution and made the Declaration Of Independence. They risked their lives by signing the Declaration of Independence, because there was a war going on between Britain and America, and if they lost the war they would be killed, but if they won the war, they would become heroes. 

Some of the Founding Fathers were: Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay. 

The Bill of Rights

What is the purpose of The Bill Of Rights?

The Bill Of Rights is a bill that protects the rights of the people and of the government. For example it says that you can have any religion, and most of all, it has a very big impact on our lives. It even says that we even have the right to own a gun! This is because there always  has to be a group of people ready to protect the country. The Bill Of Rights has ten amendments. But, the state had to adopt it. they did not though. So James Madison went to work and wrote other amendments. Nine of the thirteen states had to approve it. Only then did the states agree to adopt the Bill Of Rights. the states did not think that the Bill  Of rights protected enough rights. So, it said that they could add some amendments. Here is the Bill Of Rights

• First Amendment: freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly

• Second Amendment: the right of the people to keep and bear arms

• Third Amendment: restricts housing soldiers in private homes

• Fourth Amendment: protects against unreasonable search and seizure

• Fifth Amendment: protects against self-testimony, being tried twice for the same crime, and the seizure of property under eminent domain

• Sixth Amendment: the rights to a speedy trial, trial by jury, and to the services of a lawyer

• Seventh Amendment: guarantees trial by jury in cases involving a certain dollar amount

• Eighth Amendment: prohibits excessive bail or fines and cruel and unusual punishment for crimes

• Ninth Amendment: listing of rights (in the Bill of Rights) does not mean that other rights are not in effect

• Tenth Amendment: power not granted to the Federal Government is reserved for states or individual people

On January 4th we celebrated International Spaghetti Day. Did you know that spaghetti gets its name from its shape? It's true! Spaghetti is the plural form for spaghetto. And that comes from the word spago which means a string or cord. The name “spaghetti” was first heard of in 1874. The idea was invented in the 1st century BC. People think that spaghetti was either transferred from China to Italy or originated in Italy.

It was most commonly covered in a meat-based bolognese sauce and is the international preference. People believe that spaghetti was originally a pasta and people got the idea to roll it into a long thin cylindrical string turning into spaghetti. Near the end of the 19th century spaghetti was popularized in restaurants across america.

Today spaghetti is made by boiling dry spaghetti and draining the water and covering the spaghetti with sauce and cheese. But how was it made before this? Well today we use spaghetti extruders to form the shape. But what about back in the day? Well, they cut the future spaghetti into a rectangle then, they used a wire to cut the spaghetti into long strings then, they had spaghetti.

Spaghetti today is made in factories, the traditional roller and knife, and a spaghetti machine. People usually have spaghetti with cheese, basil, cloves, bay leaves, garlic, and oregano. The modern term “spaghetti” came in 1888. A single spaghetti stick is considered a spaghetti-O. People today still continue to eat the pasta rolled into a cylinder known as spaghetti.