Show and Tell

The other comic we read was Show and Tell. It was basically an author introducing you to comics, and showing you how to read them. He was pretty helpful in his introduction. He showed how different pictures from different places in time can be put in sequence without anywords and still tell a story. This story was a little easier to read in my opinion, compared to 2 Questions. This was probably because his writing was trying to explain how to read comics, while hers was just free flowing ideas. Show and Tell also contained pictures like those in 2 Questions, but they were boxed off more clearly, and easier to read through in order.

2 Questions

The other day we read an animated type essay, called 2 Questions. It was pretty interesting. It was written in a unique style. It was way different than anything we had read in class yet.The comic book style of the essay got the message across very effectively without using many words. The drawings gave you a very clear idea of what was going on inside the authors head.

The whole essay was about the authors struggle with drawing. She drew pictures of her in her childhood drawing for fun, then pictures of her struggle to draw with no purpose once she was older. An octopus was drawn throughout it all, which represented her not caring about what people thought of her drawing

Summeritis

         The term "senioritis" doesn't appropriately diagnose what most students are going through at this time. "Summeritis" seems to be more accurate as it pertains to all grades. It doesn't have quite the strength in symptoms that senioritis may bring about. Us juniors aren't going anywhere next year, but we are leaving for several months during the summer. These months are able to divert the attention and focus of any unsuspecting student.

You have to be careful, however, not to get too careless. This spring trimester has the ability to bring down your overall gpa. I must admit, i'm often tempted with the question at home, "study, or take a nap/ eat/ watch youtube/ tv/ talk/ anything but school?". As Ayers warned us while jordan walked into class late with full breakfast in hand, be careful not to get lazy, we still have four weeks left.

I'm going to try to keep going, and keep the grades up. After all we're almost there.. Only half a trimester left. Which is actually quite a while so I better figure something out.

Optimism

I wrote a speech in 8th grade about being an optimist, and how optimism helps the country. We show our optimism through giving our time, talent, and money to charities. Americans have dedicated millions of hours volunteering in schools and programs throughout the nation. We believe that our time and money will benefit a cause. Americans often unite together behind causes in times of trouble. After 9-11 people united together to donate millions of dollars, goods and services. The people that donated this money believed that it would help victims and our nation recover. This was partly due to their belief in each other. Building plans are being made to rebuild the towers, and businesses are regrouping to become better and stronger. We stand united in the belief that optimism will help us through any crisis.
Helen Keller once said, “keep your face to the sunshine so that you cannot see the shadow” I keep my face to the sun when I think of my future. Because I have faith in God, and believe that our country will stay united because of our acceptance of all people, our giving to those in need, and our loyalty to America. America will always stand united in optimism. Just as Winston Churchill once said, “ For myself I am an optimist, it does not seem much use being anything else.”

Stiff

I read this book Stiff, by Mary Roach about uses of cadavers. it was some pretty gruesome stuff.
In the first chapter of the section, Mary Roach talks about of the history of head transplantations. Research in this field started with doctors and scientists trying to take heads of decapitated prisoners who had been through the guitine and reattach them to something that would supply oxygenated blood to see if they could survive. The next thing Mary talks about is about doctors trying to fully transplant the head of one dog onto the neck of another dog. The doctors hoped that they could get both the dogs to survive with a new head. Sometimes it actually worked. In one case, one of the dogs lives for 29 days with the head of another dog. Towards the end of the chapter she covers the benefits of being able to transplant a head from one human to another.
A major benefit is that someone who had severe internal organs to their previous body could have their head transplanted to a healthy body and continue to live. The major drawback, however, is that once the head received a new body, the person would become paraplegic, and have no movement from the neck down. She says that one doctor, Dr. White, was able to transplant the brain of one monkey into the abdominal region of another and keep it alive. The brain had no senses though, and could only think.
The next chapter she writes is called, “Eat Me”. She talks about cannibalism, and the medicinal purposes of cadavers. There were some really weird cures using bodily fluids and stuff. Like saliva for eye infections, and putting tooth tarter on wasp stings. She has an explanation for these bizarre cures though. Someone says that sugar pills, or placebos, will reduce pain 25-40% of the time, and if u take that into consideration u can see how some people could believe they were getting better from the wacky cures. If you believe something works your mind can trick your body into believing it. The worst part of the chapter is when it talks about a man who worked in a crematory and cut the off parts of the deceased people he received and gave them to his brother who worked in a restaurant.

On Cooking

I'd like to think of myself as quite the cook. Not just a mac n cheese cook, more like a grilled cheese cook. Today i even made two of my own meals. Not to brag. 

For breakfast i just had some eggs and toast. My dad made the eggs, but i had the idea of putting the eggs onto two pieces of toast, creating an egg sandwich. It was delicious. For lunch i had soup and a grilled cheese sandwich, two of them. Instead of just microwaving the soup like a normal person, i heated it over the stove for optimal taste. The grilled cheese sandwiches were not any regular sandwiches. They were turkey ham and cheese, and i grilled them on this panini machine so they had the little lines on them.

I haven't made dinner yet and i don't know what i'll be making. I am getting very hungry talking about it though. Its almost eight and i don't know what to do. I'll probably back away from stove for an hour and just order pizza.

El Sol y La Luna

We have to translate fables for spanish class. This is a story about how the sun and moon were created. Basically two gods walked themselves into a fire to give light to the world. One of them walked in first and got to become the sun while the other was sared and only became the moon. Enjoy, if you like spanish.

Antes de había luz en el mundo, los dioses estaban hablando. Ellos decían que dos dioses deben caminar por el fuego para dar luz al mundo. Ellos pedieron quienes van a hacerlo. Tecuc quería dar su vida, pero no había más voluntarios. Luego, el viejo nanojuatcin quería dar su vida tambien. Por una semana, todos los Dioses se preparon para el sacrificio. El día del sacrifiio llegó, y nanojuatcin entró en el fuego, pero tecuc tenía miedo y entró en el fuego despues de un rato. Luego, el sol apareció en el cielo, y despues, la luna. Los dioses sabían que nanojuatcin fue el sol y tecuc fue la luna. Ellos pensaban que la luna no debía ser tan brillante como el sol, y por eso ellos tiró un conejo a la luna.

Soccer

I, like almost every kid i know played soccer sometime in their childhood. I don't know how i got into it, but i played on a ymca team with many of my friends. Some of them kept playing through high school. I chose to stop before middle school, but i'll always remember the games i did play in YMCA and Five Seasons leagues. My team was called the stompers.

The routine was the same. My mom or dad would yell at me that i had a game and i would run to my room to pull out my uniform. Shoes, shin guards, purple sox, black shorts, and purple jerseys. Then they'd drive me out to the soccer field and bring folding chairs. During the game we would all just chase the ball around in a big herd but my team was pretty good. At halftime everyone would sit cross legged and listen to the coach while we ate orange slices. The best part came after the game. After we shook hands with the other team we would get treats and drinks. Each week a different parent would bring drinks, and one would bring treats. We'd always ask the other players,"what did your parents bring for treats?". The best was Capri Sun and Rice Krispies.

Which Came First The Chicken or the Egg

I think that the chicken came first. Because of the simple argument of, where did the egg come from, a chicken had to lay it right? Many people argue this with the counter point, "where did the chicken come from?" Touchet my friends, this also brings up a good question to which I answer, from a chicken. Then one might argue yet again, where did the chicken come from.. To which I answer the egg had to come from the chicken which came first.
The large whole in my theory lays within the question, "where did the first chicken come from?". I have made a theory and sent it to some leading researchers who are yet to respond. It's probably above their heads. The theory is that the first chicken hatched from a mammal. Such as a cow. This is referred to as the mystery mammal theory. This baby chicken later met up with a rooster and they produced the first egg. This egg of course came after the chicken, so I must be correct.
If you have any objections to this theory or comments of your own I would love to answer them. Drop me a line, 319-310-6658. Thank you for your time.

Michael Jordan

I was going through my fifth grade word documents on my old computer and found one i did about Michael Jordan.---

Hmmm, when you think of Michael Jordan, you think about a basketball star that keeps wowing the crowd with his skill. But he hasn’t always been a champ; he started out like any one of us. In fact he wasn’t a very fortunate boy. Michael Jordan was born on the 17 of February in 1963 in Wilmington, North Carolina. Ever since he was a boy he had been in love with the game of basketball. Being cut from his high school team didn’t stop his love for the game. His good attitude, work ethic, and work habits kept him in basketball’s path. 1985 he was playing college ball for the University of North Carolina. Under the number 23 he soared over all other players and made a name for himself. All of his practicing and hard work paid off. In 1984 he was a first round draft pick for the Chicago bulls. Unlike most players he kept his edge over players all the way into the pros. The second he hit the pros, he fit in like the icing on the cake. Michael became known for his air born moves and his magical three point shot. As a six time world champion, and five time M.V.P. people started to recognize him as more than M.J. but as a legend. His success wasn’t all on the court, in 1998 he stared in the movie Space Jam. Michael didn’t let all of the fame go to his head; he didn’t get tattoo’s encasing his body, or die his hair rainbow. He was more than a star but a good roll model for kids. Who says you have to make a flashy image to be a star, who ever did, M.J. proved wrong.
Michael was like a fairy tale basketball player, out of some book written by the basketball king.
“Oh wait, Michael Jordan is the king!”
But all fairy tales end, most “Happily ever after.”
After his sixth world championship, he retired, as the worlds best player, ever. But have you heard of a continued fairy tale? I hadn’t, not untill he came back to the game playing for the Washington Wizards. Some were skeptical, but he kept his flame and is leading the Wizards to what they hope is a world championship. He has had a magical life, from zero to hero. All of this because of his strong work ethic, practice habits, and good attitude.

Swimmin with Barbies

Before I had even been to preschool I'd hangout with my neighbor who was the same age as me. We'd just mess around all day. One day we were messing around in my older sisters room. We pulled out a box of her barbies and continued to make a mess of everything. I don't know how long it took us but we eventually noticed her aquarium full of goldfish.
I'm not sure how we decided the barbies on the bed wanted to take a swim in the fish tank, but we did. One by one we dropped the barbies into the tank. Of course they had to be with ken, so we threw the Kens into the tank also. And of course the both wouldn't be comfortable swimmming without their wardrobes, so we threw all the barbie clothes in. Finally the barbies were content. We watched them float around with the fish for a while but that must have got boring also.
The next thing we did was try to get the barbies out. We weren't that tall so i reached up to the top of the fish tank and tried to pull myself up to get my hand in. All this did was bring the tank down off the dresser. It shattered on the floor and fish/water/barbie flooded my sisters room. I'm not sure if i was actually grounded though. Sorry sis...

The Hill

This morning i was fortunate enough to participate in a favorite activity of kennedy football players. Running up Emerson Hill at 6 am. We only run the hill three or four times each day, but thats more than enough to make vomit appear on the street. If you haven't seen the hill you probably won't be able to understand the effect it has.
You usually pull up to the bottom of the hill around 550 where a few cars are already waiting. The players start to gather at the bottom in the sweats, half asleep. Once everyone is there and stretched out as much as you can be at 6 in the morning someone yells go and the herd of players head up the hill. Its not too hard at first around the first couple bends, but once you hit the straightaway at the end you're about dead. The worst part, suprisingly, is the jog back down the hill, your already tired, and do everything you can to keep from falling over.
By the last trip up the hill you can't feel your legs and once your done theres not really a big feeling of relief, you just try to keep your breakfast down. The drive back to kennedy can be pretty bad if you start cramping up, it hasn't happened to me but some of my friends have had to pull over before.