TIMELINE

OF MY LIFE

95: Million Man Mar

Million Man
March draws
hundreds of
thousands of
black men to
the capital..

96: Late Term Abortio

President
blocks ban
on late-term
abortions.
I was born
in 1996.

997: Jobless Ra
U.S. jobless
rate for May
reported 4.8%,
lowest since
1973.

98: Balanced Budg

President
outlines
firstbalanced
budgetin 30
years.

99: Columbine Shoot

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went on a
shooting spree at Columbine High
School on April 20th, 1999 in Littleton,
Colorado. Their original plan was to
bomb the school, killing hundreds, but
their bombs failed to go off resulting in
them going on their shooting spree.
They killed 13 people with 20 others
wounded before they turned their guns
on themselves, committing suicide.
People had said that Harris and Klebold
were particularly targeting athletes,
minorities and Christians to kill. There
was a lot of speculation that they had
gone on this spree because they were
(1) bullied (2) influenced by violent
video games and music (3) they were
fascinated by the Goth culture. None of
these were ever really proven. Manes,
the man who had sold Harris and
Klebold the guns and ammunition, was
sentenced to prison for six years along
with Philip Duran who introduced Harris

StudentsEric Harris, 18, andDylan

Klebold, 17, stormColumbineHigh
School in Littleton , CO, killing twelve
other students and a teacher, then
themselves.

000: George W. Bus

U.S.presidential
electionclosest in decades;
Bush's slim lead in Florida
leads to automatic recount in
that state (Nov. 7-8).
Republicans file federal suit to
block manual recount of
Florida presidential election
ballots sought by Democrats
(Nov. 11). Florida Supreme
Court rules election hand
count may continue (Nov. 21).
U.S. Supreme Court orders halt
to manual recount of Florida
votes (Dec. 9). Supreme Court
seals Bush victory by 5-4; rules
there can be no further
recounting (Dec. 12).

2001: 9/11
On September 11, 2001 in New York,
American Airlines Flight 11, Boeing 767 and
American Airlines flight 175 were both
hijacked and crashed into the twin towers.
Along with those was American Airlines
Boeing 757, Flight 77 which hit the western
part of the Pentagon. Borders with Canada
and Mexico were closed, theme parks were
being shut down, and even the Golden Gate
Bridge was being evacuated. The entire
nation had basically gone into a lockdown.
The only terrorists who could be familiar with
modern day jetliners and security were those
with Osama Bin Laden, who they believed
attacked the United States. All in all there
were 2,996 deaths. Those include the 19
hijackers, 246 people on the planes, 2,606
people in the twin towers, and 125 at the
Pentagon. Since then the procedures now to
board an airplane have become stricter. The
full body checks/ luggage checks have
become even more thorough then they
already were at that time, along with random
people searches.

Terrorists attack United States. Hijackers ram

jetliners into twin towers of New York City's World
Trade Center and the Pentagon. A fourth hijacked
plane crashes 80 mi outside of Pittsburgh (Sept.
11). Toll of dead and injured in thousands. Within
days, Islamic militantOsama bin Ladenand
theal-Qaeda terrorist networkare identified as
the parties behind the attacks.

02: An axis of ev
President
Bush'sfirst State of
the Union address
vows to expand the
fight on terrorism
and labels Iran, Iraq,
and North Korea "an
axis of evil.

In 2002, my family and I

flew to Europe and stayed
for 3 weeks to visit family.
We got the tickets for cheap
because of 9/11 the
previous year, but my dad
refused to fly out from NY
so we flew out from Chicago

03: War in Iraq Beg

War in Iraq Begins (March 19): U.S. launches
Operation Iraqi Freedom. Called a decapitation
attack, the predawn air strike targets Saddam
Hussein and other Iraqi leaders in Baghdad. Ground
troops enter the country, crossing into southern Iraq
from Kuwait. (March 20): Major phase of war begins
with heavy aerial attacks on Baghdad and other
cities. Campaign, dubbed shock and awe,
intended to promptly overwhelm Iraqi forces.
(March 23): Coalition troops encounter fierce
resistance near the southern city of Nasiriya. Iraqi
forces capture 12 members of the 507th Ordnance
Maintenance Company. (March 25): U.S. modifies its
ground strategy as Iraqi militias, called fedayeen,
attack coalition ground troops as they advance on
Baghdad. (March 26): About 1,000 paratroopers
land in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq to open a
northern front. (March 27): U.S. bombards Baghdad,
targeting government buildings. (March 28): With
Umm Qasr freed of mines, first shipment of
humanitarian aid arrives in Iraq. Iraqi suicide
bomber strikes near Najaf, killing four U.S. soldiers
from the Third Infantry Division. (March 30):
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld deflects
criticism that the U.S. has not deployed enough
Army ground troops in Iraq. (March 30): U.S.
Marines and Army troops launch first attack on
Iraq's Republican Guard, about 65 miles outside
Baghdad.

2004: American
Soldiers Abuse/
Sexually Humiliate
Iraqi Prisoners
U.S. media release
graphic photos of
American soldiers
abusing and sexually
humiliating Iraqi prisoners
atAbu Ghraibprison.
Images spark outrage
around the world.

05: Hurricane Katr

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit New
Orleans. More than 1,700 people were
killed with hundreds of others injured.
Katrina had 145mph winds and 29ft
tall waves of water that were pushed
ashore. Experts who studied the
disaster say the hurricane was more
like four storms Others are saying
that the flood protection system in
New Orleans is flawed. A lot of who
were hit were poor, African-Americans.
some civil rights leaders joined in
questioning whether race played a
part in the emphasis being places on
targeting those who have been
labeled as looters. Since then, FEMA
now responds in advance if there is a
major storm coming, rather then
waiting to send out federal aid AFTER
the disaster has already hit.

006: NASAs Stardu

After a seven-year,
three-billion-mile
expedition,
NASA'sStardustspacec
raft capsule lands in the
Arizona desert with
particles captured from
Comet Wild-2.
In 2006, I fell off a
zip line and broke
my right arm clean
through the bone.

2007: Minimum
Wage Increases
The minimum wage
increases to $5.85,
up from $5.15. It's
the first increase in
10 years. The wage
will increase 70 cents
each year through
2009, when it will be
$7.25 an hour.

008: Barack Obam

In 2008, the United States changed forever.
Barack Obama was elected the 44th president
as well as the first African-American president
too. Obama is a first-term Democratic senator
from Illinois who defeated Senator John
McCain, a Republican. It was one of the most
overwhelming victories ever. Mr. Obama
passed milestone after milestone, winning
Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Iowa and
New Mexico many Americans rolled into the
streets to celebrate what many described,
with perhaps overstated if understandable
exhilaration, a new era in a country where just
143 years ago, Mr. Obama, as a black man,
could have been owned as a slave. During
Obamas election, he laid out a number of
promises to the people such as, cut taxes for
most Americans, to get Americans out of Iraq
and to stop the war, and also to expand health
care. Since his winning he has passed
healthcare reform, ended the war in Iraq, took
down Osama Bin Laden and repealed the
Dont Ask, Dont Tell and many, many more.

09: Unemployment Ra
Unemploymentin
the U.S., which has
been steadily
growing for several
months, reaches
8.1% in February
2009. This is the
highest rate since
1983.

In 2009, my
grandpa and
great
grandmother both
died, six months

2010: BP Oil Spil

Aug. 2: U.S. scientists estimate
that the BP oil spill, which
occurred after the April 20
explosion on the Deepwater
Horizon rig, has leaked 5 million
barrels of oil into the Gulf Coast,
making it the world's largest oil
spill of its kind. It surpassed the
1979 disaster from the Mexican
oil rig, which leaked 3.3 million
barrels of oil. Only about 800,000
barrels of oil have been captured
and contained. Aug. 4: Only
about 26% of the oil that spilled
from the rig is still in the Gulf of
Mexico, according to a
government report, and poses
little risk of harm to people or
animal life. The rest has
evaporated, dispersed, or been

11: SAME-SEX MARRIA

New Yorkpasses a law
to allow same-sex
marriage, becoming the
largest state that allows
gay and lesbian couples
to marry. The vote
comes on the eve of the
city's annual Gay Pride
Parade and gives new
momentum to the
national gay-rights
movement.

2012: Sandy Hook

Elementary

On December 14, 2012 Adam Lanza barged

into Sandy Hook Elementary School with his
intentions to kill. Before coming to the
school he had shot and killed his mother,
Nancy Lanza, and also grabbed multiple
guns from the house including a semiautomatic AR-15 assualt rifle and pistols.
Sandy Hooks principal, Dawn Lafferty
Hochsprung, had put in a new security
system earlier that year that required
visitors to be visibly identified and buzzed
in. The doors are locked at all time, but it
didnt stop Adam from literally shooting his
way through the entrance. There were 700
students at the school at the time and Adam
had killed a total of 26 people twenty
students, ages 6 and 7, and six adults
before turning the gun on himself and
committing suicide. Ever since the Sandy
Hook shooting, people have been talking
about the need for stricter gun control laws.
A number of lawmakers, including
previously strong advocates for gun rights,
have also said it is time for the nation to
take a look at its gun control laws. Others
say that is it going against the rights of the
second amendment, but with childrens lives

2013: Boston
Marathon Bombing

Apr 15: Multiple bombs explode near the

finish line ofthe Boston Marathon. At least
three people are killed. One is an eight
year old boy. More than 170 people are
injured.Apr. 18: The FBI releases photos
and video of two suspects in the hope that
the public can help identify them. Just
hours after the FBI releases the images,
the two suspects rob a gas station in
Central Square then shoot and kill a MIT
police officer in his car. Afterwards, the
two men carjack a SUV and tell the driver
that they had set off the explosions at the
marathon. Police pursue the vehicle into
Watertown. During the shootout, a MBTA
officer is shot and one of the suspects,
identified as Tamerlan Tsarnaev, age 26, is
killed.Apr. 19: The other suspect,
Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, age 19, remains at
large for several hours, causing a massive
manhunt and lockdown for all ofBoston,
Cambridge, and many other surrounding
communities. The manhunt ends that
evening when he is found alive, but
seriously injured, hiding in a boat behind a

014: Michael Brow

2014 is the year I

came to Garza.

Aug. 9:Police Officer Darren

Wilson shoots and kills Michael
Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old
teenager in Ferguson, Mo.Details
of the shooting are
disputed.Aug. 10:After a
candlelight vigil for Brown,
protesters fill the streets near
the shooting. Police officers
arrived on the scene with riot
gear, including rifles and shields.
The protest turns violent and
images from cellphones go viral
on social media, including
several accounts of looting in
Ferguson.Aug. 11:The F.B.I.
begins a civil rights investigation
in the shooting of Brown while
protests continue in Ferguson.