Evaluation of Walk Two Moons

In the end, I really enjoyed this book! Walk Two Moons is a contemporary book written about a girl named Salamanca, often called Sal, who is having a hard time accepting the fact that her mom is gone, and isn’t returning. Throughout the book she meets a friend, Phoebe, who is an interesting yet determined girl. And most of the time, they get a long really well. Later in the book these two friends find that they have a lot in common after all, and it helps them cope with each other’s issues when they come up. I would say that young adults, teens, would probably enjoy this book better than an elementary student would, even though it is written in a way that a child could read it. This book contains a good amount of life lessons that a young child most likely wouldn’t catch or simply wouldn’t understand. That’s why I loved this book so much, I could relate to a lot of it, and it required me to do some thinking as I read on. Overall, this book was a wonderful piece of work. Starting the book was difficult for me but as I read on, I was sucked in.




At the very start of this book Salamanca is taking a road trip with her grandparents to all the places Sugar, Slamanaca’s mother, visited and where she now rests. During this road trip Sal tells that story of her best friend, Phoebe Winterbottom, whose mother, like Sal's, unexpectedly decides to leave home. Sal meets Phoebe when she and her father move from Bybanks, Kentucky, to Euclid, Ohio. Phoebe is a very interesting girl with a lot of surprises throughout the book. She is very high strung, and antsy. She believes that Mrs. Cadaver, a woman who Sal’s father befriended, has many links to odd situations such as the strange, crazy, lunatic who they once saw and the mysterious notes that keep appearing on her front door. Soon, Sal becomes caught up in Phoebe’s melodramatic life.



When one day Phoebe’s mother disappears and leaves and doesn’t give much of an explanation, Sal is reminded of her own mother and it gets her thinking. As a few days go by, Phoebe’s family is still convinced that she will return. When weeks go by the family begins to get upset and they start to worry. Things start to happen as questions become answered and these answers all come together to form one big solution and answer it all. Sal and her father end up going back to Bybanks, Kentucky to rebuild their life without her mother.



In evaluation, this book is a phenomenal story. It is written in such a way the keeps you reading without being able to stop. As you read you get little pieces of what happened to Sal’s mom but you never know where she went until you reach the end. I loved this book because it was intriguing and kept me wondering what would happen next. Each character was described in a way that I could vividly picture each character and I knew what they were like. I didn’t have to guess what kind of person they were. From the minute I met Phoebe I knew what she was like and what the book might have in store for me with her. As I read on, this book because easier for me to get through because towards the middle, I was finding myself relating simple principles to myself and my life in ways that I hadn’t thought of before.



I would definitely recommend this book to anyone. This isn’t one of the books where only a few people will enjoy it, I know for a fact that there everyone who decided to open this book and read it would find, in one way or another, a relationship to their own lives and that’s why I took so much pleasure in this simple, yet deep story.

Field Trip!

For my field trip for science, I went to the Farmington Bay Nature Center, which is a huge wetland full of wildlife such as birds, frogs, worms, and other animals that you find in the wetlands. This site covers a large portion of land that is used just for those particular animals and their habitat. It is the ancients of Lake Bonneville that once covered Utah. Some of its natural resources are The Great Salt Lake, which used to cover about fifteen thousand square miles. It is known to the world for its heavy salt content, illuminating sunsets, and beautiful mountain vistas. The lake makes a big difference, and is not understood as mightily as it should be, along the Wasatch Front area. The Lake keeps Wasatch populated with life and other fascinating creatures.


Seventy Five percent of the wetlands in Utah are located across the shores of the Great Salt Lake. These wetlands store seasonal floodwaters, purify polluted runoff water, stabilize shorelines, and nurture a multitude of plant and animal species. The Wetlands surrounding the lake are largely populated with a vast majority of birds and constitute the most significant migratory birds in the whole western hemisphere. Two million to three million birds make a stop at the Great Salt Lake in their journeys.

Life in Utah would be significantly different if it weren’t for the Great Salt Lake and its way of giving life. Yet, with every year, a unique resource becomes increasingly under threat. The whole point of the Farmington Bay Nature Center is to make people aware of the threats of the ecosystem, and let people take advantage of them while they are still here in this area. We all need to learn to appreciate the environment we live in and realize its importance.

History itself

Last night I spent the night up at my grandparents house in Park City and some really cool things came to me while I was there. When I got up there I noticed a brochure thing on their counter and I asked what it was for. It was a family History thing that they went to the night before and he briefly told me about it. It was just about people who have been taken away from their families or people who just simply don't know anything about their history or ancestors so they go out of their way to find something about where they came from and the people before them. And he spent like an hour just telling me about these amazing stories about people from halfway across the world finding their parents or siblings they didn't even know about. And then he talked about the last story that someone talked on, and it was about someone finding out that they were related to someone who was a big part of the civil war. And then that started a whole new conversation about history. Me and my grandparents are history freaks. I absolutely adore learning about history and the events and victories that have led up to my time. My grandpa said that as he's gotten older he's become so much more knowledgeable of world history. And that it's not just dates and events anymore, it's the things that have led up to those events and the real things that happened on those days and knowing these things has made him appreciate history so much more and look at our world in such a different perspective. My grandparents have traveled all aroudn Europe and they went down by the phillipeans and just about everywhere else. But they don't just go down there to enjoy being in a different country, they do it to look at the history behind that country and the monuments that aren't talked of but that are big parts in the role of that country and even the world.
This all got me thinking, being in junior high we take history and geography and Utah studies and classes like that, but no one really retains any of the stuff we learn. History is such a big deal because if you don't know your history, how're your kids going to know, and their kids etc.. There are people in our world who are denying history and if we don't continue to spread the word, how're we going to be able to go against those people who decide to deny the background of our world? History is so cool, and it's something we all need to have a good knowledge of because somewhere down the line, someone's paid the price.

History does not repeat itself. The historians repeat one another.

-Max Beerbohm

Ice Shaking News

Most people think that all glaciers move alike, creeping steadily toward sea or valley. News from Antarctica tell us differently. It has been a shocking discovery that undermines most theories to the way glaciers move and the speed they move at. The way the earth moves is fascinating and we find different things all the time that change the stand up the worlds theories and prove another theory.


Usually twice a day the massive Whillians Ice Stream, after sticking for hours on a plain of bedrock, slips forward up to two feet, triggering seismic waves equal to a magnitude 7 earthquake. Locating th source of the powerful quakes, researchers led by Douglas Weins of Washington university in St. Louis suggest the unusual behavior occurs because the half-mile-thick glacier gets caught on the bedrock until tides from the Ross Sea free it. Someone standing on the ice wouldn't feel or see a thing. The slip plays out slowly, taking 20 to 30 minutes.

I think that it's great this is being studied. From hundreds of years ago to the present, many things have changed and sped up. And without research, these kinds of things would've never been found and our world would be a huge mystery. In this particular case, earthquakes are happening more quickly which cause the rest of the ice and bedrock to move and change quicker. It's really good thing that science is being used to help us know of these small occurring things in the earth.

As the climate warms, scientists hasten the study of how glaciers move. In Antarctica they've learned how one stops and starts. Setting off ice quakes. Gravity tugs the ice stream toward the Ross Sea. Daily tides push the Ross Ice Shelf against the descending glacier. The glacier eventually grinds to a halt above a rough area of bedrock, building up stress within the ice. When the tide falls, the ice lunges forward with powerful motion. Seismic waves are detected 3,000 miles away in Australia.

The world is continually changing and it will always be that way. It's a really good thing that we have the people in this world that spend their precious time studying the earth and it's bazaar ways. Without them we would never have a clue about the earth and it's wonders. The earthquakes that hit under the ice are only the beginning of what the earth has to offer and what the earth will do in the future. I think that we should always keep checking up the earth and its news because in all that we know, the world gives us a lot more.

Is the internet making us stupid??

“But a recently published study of online research habits, conducted by scholars from University College London, suggests that we may well be in the midst of a sea change in the way we read and think.”


It is a simple fact that the world is evolving and there is absolutely nothing anyone can do about that. All of the little researches that are being done to try to get us to realize the world is changing are beyond pointless. The world is going to change, and that’s a fact. Those people would save a whole lot of time and effort if they would just simply look at how things changed from 1100 to 1200 to 1300 to 1400 etc. Minds are growing, people are becoming smarter, new things are being invented and that is the simple call for change! When it is said that google is making us stupid, they are very wrong. It has even been proved that Adult minds are like plastic, and it takes a lot for them to make a full on change. So, the fact that the internet came about when these “adults” were just becoming adults explains to us that it’s going to be a bit harder for them to get used to a whole new device. You don’t see young people coming out and telling us that the internet is making us stupid, because its not, it’s just the way we were taught from the moment we entered school. Because we were taught in a different way than these adults who are trying to tell us we’re all stupid, doesn’t make it right for them to come out and assume when they really have no idea. Their brains don’t work like ours and won’t ever work as ours do, so why then must they try to make us think we’re stupid because we’ve given our brains a different work out than they gave theirs.

“Reading, explains Wolf, is not an instinctive skill for human beings. It’s not etched into our genes the way speech is. We have to teach our minds how to translate the symbolic characters we see into the language we understand.”

That, my friends, is why we aren’t stupid because of the Internet. When we entered school the teacher taught us how to read, write, spell etc. and from that knowledge we then, were able to branch out on our own and use that knowledge in whatever ways we could possibly find. We read on the Internet, we spell on the Internet. Because we’re not studying books 24/7 like they used to have to do doesn’t mean we’re dumb, because we’re not. We have just grown up using our reading abilities and writing abilities in different ways than those “adults” did when they were young. We still do our projects, we just don’t have to go to every library in Utah to find the one item of research that we need. And because it’s easier for us to get our information, more is expected of us. And that is why we are not getting stupid. Schooling is getting harder and more is expected because resources are now easier to locate. Our brains may even be being pushed more than they used to be, so don’t tell me the internet is making me stupid.
They must think that, in generations to come, those youth are going to be dumbfounded if they think we’re the ones that are going to turn out stupid. They are going to learn in school everything that is expected and more. The internet is not putting any kind of change to that at all. Everything is going to stay the same, resources are just a million times easier to find.

“Then again, the Net isn’t the alphabet, and although it may replace the printing press, it produces something altogether different. The kind of deep reading that a sequence of printed pages promotes is valuable not just for the knowledge we acquire from the author’s words but for the intellectual vibrations those words set off within our own minds. In the quiet spaces opened up by the sustained, undistracted reading of a book, or by any other act of contemplation, for that matter, we make our own associations, draw our own inferences and analogies, foster our own ideas. Deep reading, as Maryanne Wolf argues, is indistinguishable from deep thinking.”

Small beneficial Saving!

We are already aware of the fastest ways to conserve energy, so what’s holding us back? It’s as simple as using less energy. With a little effort, and not much money, most of us could reduce our energy diets by 25 percent or more, doing the earth a favor while also helping our bank accounts. If we converted half of all light bulbs to compact fluorescents, we would reduce CO2 from lighting by 42.4 million tons a year, or 36 percent. That’s huge! But with all of this knowledge, what is keeping us from trying to help and save our earth?


Electricity is the biggest source of power for U.S. homes, and for every kilowatt-hour used, 2.2 are “lost” as that energy is generated and sent over transmission lines So, even small changes in our habits can scale up to big reductions in carbon production. There are so many minor things that we can do just in our homes that could make an immense change to our climate. For instance, cars and light trucks consume the lion’s share of petroleum used for transportation in the U.S. Little but decent changes in efficiency and driving habits could add up to significant fuel savings. Cars actually end up wasting up to 85 percent of the energy from the fuel in their tanks. But will the low carbon diet really work? From experiments, it was shown that we could mainly conserve CO2 by wasting less energy at home and on the highway. If every single home did this, I don’t even think we could imagine what a vast change it would make to our climate. What do we have to lose?

In my own opinion, I believe that this is a very serious subject that isn’t broadcasted or publicized enough and so it doesn’t seem like such a bid deal, but it is! Just reading about the massive difference it would make is breath taking. I don’t understand why anyone who learns or reads about the substantial affect it could make, wouldn’t just start trying to save energy right at that very moment. It is a serious thing that we all need to consider. And if just a community started saving, I think it would make somewhat a difference in our climate.

From the article I have learned a lot about how much it can affect our climate and simply our earth. It has been calculated on how the energy loss has increased greatly and the outcome has been far greater than was supposedly expected at this time. This happened on our behalf. If it truly was made clear about how important it is to conserve, I think there would be much more participation. About 40 percent of possible cuts could come from measures that save billions of dollars each year.

In conclusion, the point this article is trying to get made is that carbon dioxide cutting is so very important, and not many people truly realize it. I isn’t made clear to most people about why our climate is crashing and so most don’t really get it and so nothing is done about it. Reducing Carbon is a major key to keeping a healthy planet. Our daily doings do make a difference.

A Tale of Two Cities analysis

A Tale of Two Cities is a story of two cities that are in turmoil with one another. People from each city get involved with each other and trouble and miscommunication happens. But in the end one man resolves it all. Throughout the book I found that family was a very broad theme in the story, and the struggles to make and keep families together throughout the book. Just like normal families in the real world.




Passage: Book Two Chapter 10: Two Promises pages 133-140

‘I give the promise,’ said the Doctor, ‘without any condition. I believe your object to be, purely and truthfully, as you have stated it. I believe your intention is to perpetuate, and not to weaken, the ties between me and my other and far dearer self. If she should ever tell me that you are essential to her perfect happiness, I will give her to you. If there were – Charles Darnay, if there were any fancies, any reasons, any apprehensions, anything whatsoever, new or old, against the man she really loved – the direct responsibility thereof not lying on his head- they should all be obliterated for her sake. She is everything to me, more to me than suffering, more to me than wrong, more to me – Well! This is idle talk.’    Page 139



This passage I found very interesting. This is how I thought of the theme of family. You can really tell that Doctor Manette really loves his daughter and cares about her more than anything. This was brought to my attention as Mr. Darnay was asking for Lucie’s father’s approval and he sweetly explained to him how he felt about his daughter and what would happen if Mr. Darnay treated her wrong and what good would eventually come if he continued to treat her as he loved her. And once they get married, the rest of the book seems to fall into place and the story develops other concluding thoughts that have to do with Doctor Manette and Mr. Darnay’s relationship.

I can vividly remember imagining this chapter in my head like I was watching it being performed on a stage. I can visualize Mr. Darnay approaching Dr. Manette and being a nervous wreck in his head, but he portrays he’s very confident. And I can see Dr. Manette’s feelings in his face and what thoughts must be going through his head at this shock. Just as any other father’s feelings would be if someone asked to marry their daughter. And also distinguish what their interactions with each other look like throughout the rest of the book.

As Dr. Manette tells Mr. Darnay of his love for Lucie, it is easy to be able to hear the tone of his voice and the tone of Mr. Darnay’s voice throughout this passage as they exchange answers and discuss Dr. Manette’s daughter. When he speaks to Darnay about this particular subject you can straightforwardly realize that he is as serious as it gets and by the words Mr. Darnay says after, you find that he gets it, and understands because of the tones Dr. Manette uses to expose his feelings towards the subject.

In all, the themes and descriptions and voice of this chapter really helped me better understand this passage. That’s why this whole chapter was the one I chose to write about. On the theme of family, this is supported very well by the examples given from Dr. Manette and his thoughts on his daughter Lucie and her future family. And the ways that he lets the reader know how important she is to him. And also Mr. Darnay’s ways of presenting his beliefs on his future family to come, and how important that is to him. I found that family is very well supported throughout the book. Charles Dickens did an excellent job at giving the book the book a theme of family, along with many others.

Overall, A Tale of Two Cities was a hard book, but very educational. In the end, I found I did enjoy reading it after I realized what fully took place in the book. I loved the way the stories took place and how they came about through the book. It was a very clever idea to write about and I think that Charles Dickens did a profound job at making a great educational and understandable book.

A Lesson Learned!!.. AMEN

• Yesterday I spent most of my day after school with my best friend. We'll call her Lucie. So we walked home right after school ended yesterday. At her house no one is ever home. Ever. So we just sat around and tried to entertain ourselves. We had asked a few other people to hang out with us that night. Earlier in the week I had a friend (we'll call her Loo) come up to me and asked me if she could hang out with me and Lucie last night so I said she could. So she said that she wanted to come home with us so that's what we were planning all day. But as soon as school ended she came up to me and informed me that she didn't want to come home with us because of the people we were going to be with which is a bunch of *&^%!! Me and Lucie both new that she was just finding an excuse to not hang out with us so we just went about our day as normal. But then I got a text from her that said she decided she wanted to hang out with us. And at this time, me and Lucie had a friend coming to pick us up (Brono) to go somewhere. So we had to call Brono and tell him to wait because Loo magically decided that she wanted to hang out with us again. (but we all new her plans she had attempted to make didn't work out) And Brono wasn't very happy with that but he said he'd wait. So we sat around Lucie's house and watched the walls change colors for about an hour waiting for Loo to tell us when she was ready to hang out. After an hour we decided to call her and see what the heck was up. And she told me that she had taken a quick nap. HELLO!! She was wasting our time because she wanted to take a nap... I was very proud of myself for the words I said to her, because I could've it been a lot more mean that I was. So we just told her that we would wait twenty more minutes then Brono was coming to get us whether we liked it or not! And so after that twenty minutes passed we called her and told her we were leaving and she decided she wanted to act like a martyr and she was just like "you guys can do without me. I'll be fine.." And so this time I wasn't as nice when I heard her response. I said something along the lines of "Loo! We have waited for you for an hour and a half and you have wasted me Lucie's and time and Brono's! And you expect us to just say ok to that?!" I wasn't very happy. So I just hung up on her because I couldn't take anymore of her excuses for the day. So we call Brono and tell him that Loo isn't coming because she was being lame, then he informs us that one of his friends, Mastro, was really looking forward to being with Loo so now he wasn't coming. And if Mastro wasn't coming that meant Brono wasn't coming... See where I'm going with this? So our whole night was planned then quickly was ruined because one friend decided to be flaky and selfish! Last night I learned one of the greatest life lessons! Don't be a FLAKE!!

PS MR. T; I FINISHED A TALE OF TWO CITIES!!!

L. O. V. E.

With Valentines day just about a week ago, I've thought a lot about junior high and the love aroma that surrounds the school at this time. It seemed to me that as soon as I first stepped into the junior high walls of Fairfield, love was in the air. When my parents were growing up they said that their junior high experience was so much more different than mine is. Society, it seems, has made sure to portray that your growing up experience isn't worth living. Young people are wanting to grow up so much faster than they can help. The practical teenage questions are always “Who are you going out with?”, Who do you like?” and so on. It's always about who's hooking up with who, who cheated on who, etc. And then when it comes around Valentines Day everybody enjoys going extremely overboard on that one day for love.


Yes, the world changes, but I wouldn't think that after twenty years, people wouldn't have that much of a change too. When my parents were young going to junior high meant learning to them. Of course boys and girls were involved with each other, but that wasn't what going to school meant. Unlike right now, that's the only thing that occupy the teenage mind. Once you hit junior high all of the sudden hormones start running around like crazy turkey's on Thanksgiving. Us teenagers are trying to grow up way too quick. And when we all look back at these years, we'll laugh at the crazy thoughts we had thinking we were in love in ninth grade.

The week of February fourteenth, Valentines week, is the week of love. But when you're married or you've got a boyfriend, everyday you're supposed to show you love, right? But in junior high, Valentines Day isn't that important. Valentines, as we know, is for who you love. But if there isn't anyone special in your life at the time, it's the worst day of you life if you 're young. Which is why I think that the youngsters in this world need to lay off of growing up too quickly. It's not worth the stress.

As a junior high student, I wish that my fellow friends would quit trying to grow up at the speed of life. Junior high love is just a an extra worry for teens, along with all their school work and life itself. Lets live a little and quit trying to speed up life. Live life like you mean it and enjoy it!

Bite My Wallet

So earlier today I was walking around the mall with my mom. We went to the mall to simply get my mom some of her ridiculously expensive hairspray, and to find me a swim suit and a pair of shoes that I died for at first sight. This shopping trip would, on average, take around forty five minutes. But, of course, our shopping trip took around three and a half hours. Not only did we get my mothers hairspray and my shoes and swim suit, there was twenty nine other pieces of clothing that were bought(I counted). I knew what swim suit I wanted but it was in my moms favorite store, Buckle. As we approached the store, her eyes went straight to the jeans and that is were she stayed most of the time. I went to the back of the store, found the swim suit I wanted, tried it on, gave it to my mom to buy, and on our way to the cashier she saw a shelf of shirts that seemed to be screaming "Melanie! Come look at me and buy me and spend all your money on me!". Seriously, she immediately changed her direction, handed the clothes to me without even slightly turning her head, and kept walking. It was almost as if she was hypnotized by a piece of clothing! So there I stood in complete awe just watching her sift her way through every piece of clothing while gathering three fourths of the clothes she was sifting through. By the time she realized her arm looked like a Mt. St. Helens, an hour and a half had already passed. But at this point, she still has all the trying on to do. This is kind of how her trying on clothes act goes; she'll put on an outfit study herself in the mirror to decide if she likes it or not, and if she liked it or not she will still have to walk out of the room and ask whoever helped her pick out the outfit and me, if we like it. And she'll say something along the lines of "well there's this little dot that I'm not sure I like. Do you think this little microscopic dot looks alright on me? Or should I pass it?" And my response ever time is "DO WHAT YOU WANT!". She drives me nuts sometimes over the strangest things! And after all her trying on is over with, she will usually end up buying almost everything she tried on. I get a few things out of this but usually it's all her. She asks me if I want to get more but I find it the biggest waste of money and time. So we always end up walking out of Buckle having just spent somewhere around one billion dollars on clothes. My dad is picky about clothes like her, but they definately are very different when you shop with them both. And there will always be a "few" stores she'll want to "look" in and see what's there. This is how every mall experience is with her. I don't think she's figured out that you don't buy your way through life.
I feel like there are so many things this world does to get you to go broke! For instance; our world has come up with the strangest holiday's. And each holiday everyone feels like they need to spend a fortune. Christmas I can totally understand, but like Valentine's day or Easter or holidays like that. And stores make this big deal over the holidays and get stocked up with a trillion hearts and chocolates or eggs. Things that have to do with that holiday. I always wonder what our world would be like if money wasn't around. Would we be in as much competition with our neighbors for the nicest things or the nicest clothes? It really all seems pointless to me, and I could really care less. But unforunately money isn't going to disappear any time soon, so we've got to learn how to control ourselves and our emotions when we decide to go out and shop.

Live your dreams

Dance is one of the most important things in my life. Every time I step on the dance floor I feel like I let out every bad emotion I have. I've been doing dance since I was three. As soon as I started walking, I started dancing. I began in a ballet studio that my mom put me in to see if I would like it. And I ended up loving it! When I was five I was already on the same levels as the first graders and second graders. And I kept progressing from there. In the midst of this, I was also doing gymnastics to help along with dance. As I was growing up my life pretty much revolved around dance and gymnastics. By sixth grade I was a dancing and tumbling machine. But I also really had no life. I was missing out on the normal things that regular sixth graders were doing. In the summer of seventh grade I decided I needed to cut back on what I was getting myself into. I literally never had any time to do anything. Every once in a while when I did have time, I would be doing whatever homework I had. As school started back up I decided to keep doing ballet and just get a personal trainer for tumbling. I joined Ballet West's school of ballet and it was like I nothing changed. I still had every day of my life booked up with dance. But I thought it would be different. So Eighth grade I dropped out of ballet and went to a pointe school closer by and joined a competitive dance crew. This is still my weekly schedule. I tried so hard to give one of them up, but there was something about dance that I couldn't give up.
I always  hear about people whose parents make them go to dance or something, and I always feel so bad because I can't imagine any parent who would make their child do something they didn't want. It was like their child was living the parents dream, and to me, that's wrong. A dream is a dream, and nobody can live someone elses dream.
My thought for a blog post this week was dreams, and living something that you've wanted to do and yearned for your whole life. I've had a lot of crap come from people about me not having a life, but what's a life without a dream? I'm living the dream I've wanted since I could walk and I'm happy about it. I still have time weekly to do other things that I want, and doing something I want makes all the difference. No one can live you're dream, and a dream shouldn't be lived by someone else. I had a dream and now I'm living it.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

-Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream Speech-

A worldwide Landgrab!

As rising temperatures melt the polar ice cap, five countries race to map their claims to a new energy frontier. Nearly a quarter of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas may lie beneath the seabed around Greenland. The article I read is about some men who go out and discover something that could change the world. But, there also is a lot of opinion towards this particular subject.


In three decades the retreat of sea ice has freed more than a million square miles of ocean for research and commerce. The creation of oil and gas deposits requires the right mix of organic material, heat, rock, pressure, and passage of time. It may be hard to look at the Arctic today and imagine that it ever had enough organic life, enough heat. The floor of the Arctic appears to be rich in petroleum, home to nearly a quarter of the world’s undiscovered supply. Sea ice is melting drastically opening the sea to shipping and the seafloor to mineral exploration. The countries in the fight for triumph are Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia, and the U.S. And all of these are hoping to claim a piece of this discovery, if not all.

My opinion towards this specific article is very broad. I think that it is very cool and useful that this particular part of the Arctic is being studied. And it is even better to know that there might be something at the bottom of the Arctic that could solve the small amount of the world’s problems. But I also believe that first; we need to find a solution to our loss of oil problem. We can’t always rely on what we think might lie ahead. Researchers don’t know for sure that there is a third of the world’s oil lying beneath the waters of Greenland. The keyword in this is may. There may be a massive amount of oil around Greenland’s waters. But it is definitely not definite. I almost feel like we’re trying to rely on the fact that we could possibly not have to worry so much about oil. But it’s not a fact yet. I believe that we should be fixing the problem with oil first, and then start thinking about the future possibilities.

The race for the Arctic may be about oil, but it is about the oil, but it is about the oil that government’s hope is there, not the oil they know is there. So according to our own government, they are aware that they have no real clue if there really is that huge amount of oil at the bottom of the Arctic. They just infer that there might be. Studies may show it, but they have said that as far as their concerned it is not a for sure true fact.

In conclusion, this article is basically about five countries fighting to be able to have a part of this massive discovery, which they aren’t even sure is there. But in my own opinion I think that we all need to settle down and figure out the problems that are necessary, rather than the ones we don’t even really know exist.

A Fighting Game For Hunger

About 20 minutes ago I finished the best book in the history  of books! Hunger Games. With my busy life it took me a lot longer to finish than I would ever intend. But when I had the time, I was reading this book. I won't spoil it over my blog but I have to explain some of it in order for it to go along with what I want to post. So it basically tells you in the prologue that North America is now in ruins and is now the nation of Panem. And in Panem there are twelve districts. The Capitol runs Panem and all its districts. The Captiol is a harsh ruling and forces each district to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, which is a fight to the death and is watched by all of Panem. And in district twelve there's a sixteen year old girl named Katniss who just lives with her mom and sister. Her sister is chosen for the Hunger Games and Katniss steps in and goes into the arena for her sister. The book is full of twists and mysteries. Surviving is second nature for her and becomes harder as she fight to win. She has to choose between tough choices that rely on her or her family. I aboslutly loved it.
But as I thought more about this book I realized that there is a kind of lesson behind the book, but it's in a very unspecified way. The book is based on people going against each other in a fight to kill each other for survival. It varies from district to district how weathly people are. District twelve where Katniss is located, is more of a low producing district. Each district produces its own herbs and plants so food also varies. District twelve is surrounded by forrest filled with meat and other food. But it is illegal to hunt out side of the district. People get food by trading things with other people within their district. Each day is pretty much the same, a ritual of finding any way to get food for the night. So when going into the games some people are prepared to fight for their food and others have no idea because it has already been provided for them their whole lives.

I've found that there is some reality in this. Everyday someone, somewhere in the world, is fighting, dying, cyring for food. Right now, India is the country with the largest amount of people suffering from starvation.

This is a really tough subject for some people, me in particular. Our nation is  known as the fat nation. We have more obese people than any other country in the world. And in my opinion, it's because we're greedy. And I'm sure having a million fast food restaurants doesn't help either. But I think that so many people take for gratitd the fact that the amount of food we eat in two weeks, is more food than some people would ever eat in their lives. Adults and children in African countries are satisfied if they get just one simple thing to eat a day. And we have to stuff our faces until we're close to exploding. I hate watching people in the lunch room throw away precious food that they barely even touch! I can't but think of the people who starve because they can't find or afford food for themselves and keep themselves alive. When we're over here being picky about a simple piece of food that isn't going to make a difference. But if we were to give the simple little piece of food to someone who hasn't had a crumb for days, it would make that much of a difference. It's an ongoing fighting game for hunger that nobody has the guts to do anything about. And it's not fairly played.

Determination

For those that know me well enough, you know that the person I look up to is Albert Einstein. While growing up I was taught that education is important. And ever since I've had a serious determination to do well in school. School is one of the most important things to me. Everything I do in school is my best and my best only. To tell you the truth I've never had an actual 4.0 I've always had a 3.9 or 3.8 and that satisfies me just fine because I know I did my best. I absolutly loathe watching people as they open their report cards at the end of each term. As their grades process in their heads their fury or excitement rages in their little heads and then slowly follows straight out of their mouth. This is the part, right here, that is the wrost part of the whole grade openings. Shrieks, screams, cries, joyfulness gets let loose and fills the halls with outrageous noise. Everybody asks and questions every single human being around them about what kind of grades they recieved. I absolutly hate this question. Why does it even matter? And then as soon as I hop on the bus the level of outrageous noise has been brought down a few thousand notches, but it is still quite loud and annoying. I have one particular friend who I cannot stand when she talks about her grades. She got a 4.0 throughout all of seventh grade and then in eighth grade third term she got her first 3.9 and she acted like the roof was falling on her head while the rest of the earth was caving in. (not an exaggeration) remember, this is over a 3.9... The only reaction I had was a blank stare straight at her eyes and a simple comment; "get over it". And I just turned around and went back in my world. I don't know why people decide to over react to the something they know was their best. She, in fact, got all A's. Just one A-, and that A- was what she decided to blow up over. Shouldn't she just know that she tried her best. And she was rewarded.
In my own opinion I believe that it only matters that you try your best. When Thomas Edison finally invented the light bulb he quoted "I have not failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that won't work". To me, that is pure determination and positivity. And I wish we all thought that way because it would take the stress out of a lot of things and make living life so much easier.

Nearly every man who develops an idea works at it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then gets discouraged. That's not the place to become discouraged.

-Thomas Edison

For School Uniforms!

Surely you can imagine those snobby, cliquey, popular brats who think everyone should worship them, and they look like their billionaires? How about imagining school without that? Could it be possible? It's been tested and yes, this problem can be practically wiped of the school grounds. Putting a school uniform on students actually makes a huge difference on the surroundings of the school. I have found that there are three major advantages of school uniforms; no endless worry or competition on outward appearances, it also prepares students for future school or professional jobs that require a certain uniform or dress code, and it is easier to make sure the students maintain a good dress code and are always modest in their dress. With school uniforms the administrators have a lot less to worry about and the school gains more school spirit.


In a lot of cases school drama or issues revolve around some kind of jealousy one way or another. Being a girl teenager and having a good amount of friends, I know how drama happens. From what I've noticed, the biggest part of the dramatic world begins with someone being jealous of someone else. The most popular act of this is the jealousy of outward appearances. The most common form is clothes or how someone dresses. This happens daily in most girls brains but sometimes girls get blown out of their minds by the way someone else looks because it isn't how they look. And so the after effect of this is they decide to make up some wacko rumor about them that gets spread around the school like wildfire. Now with guys on the other hand, when they get jealous they just simply go out and punch your face out until you look like a messed up pancake. A simple way to resolve this would be to slap a uniform on every student and there, problem resolved. When everyone looks the same there's no reason to be jealous of the other persons outfit because has the exact same appearances. Therefore school uniforms are a great idea, and could resolve the dramatic problems that they have to deal with daily.

Wouldn't it be so sad if one day you walked past a professional office building and as you watched the hard workers flow out, you found something really unusual. Each individual that came out of this first class office building wore everyday normal clothing, no strict dress code just normal clothing, making it look not at all like a professional work place. And come to find out that it was the employees who just never committed to wearing decent work place clothing because they've never had the experience before. Now wouldn't that be so depressing to behold! Giving students to opportunity to experience what good uniform style clothing is, could benefit these students in so many ways and prepare them for what it's like to be in the working field.

One thing that I personally absolutely loath is when an administrator stops me in the hall and yells at me from across the hall, while everyone is watching, and then tells me to simply pull my shirt up or fix my sleeve. I cannot even express to you my feelings to those little acts. They drive me up the wall! And I always hear my friends and other girls complain daily about how one of the administrators embarrassed her or dragged her all the way to the office to tell her to keep her shirt pulled up. With school uniforms this will obviously not be a problem. The designers of the uniforms will most likely make the uniforms so they meet every dress code, making it so much easier on the administrators job to not have to stir in bed and worry about accidentally missing that one girl who has her sleeve slightly brushing the edge of her shoulder. These problems could all be eliminated by putting uniforms that cover all of the dress code rules on each student.

The subject of school uniforms is rarely supported by students. But when you address your debate with administrators, it is pretty easy to get them on your side when you start to mention all the great advantages a school uniform will bring. Simply putting a school uniform on school students adds so much more to the school and the students. Firstly, they don't need to worry about looking better than their peers, they will be prepared for life after their education, and the employees that work in the school won't need to worry nearly as much about informing the students about how they should wear their clothing because it will be already prepared for them. I personally think that school uniforms could definitely benefit schools all across the world in so many different ways.

Pretty Time vs. Rusties

Today is my birthday and I'm writing a blog post! Woo hoo! But I do have something interesting to write about.

I just finished the book called Extras and I really enjoyed it. It's the last book of the series Uglies and it sums up their world in this last book. If you haven't read any of the books in this series I suggest you do. But if you don't plan on reading them then I'll give you my own little overview to the books. They take place on this earth in a time called Pretty Time, and in reality, the only reason they live is to be famous. They don't have money, they just have a whole in their wall that gives you the outfit that you'll need for the day, and no one cares what you wear, it's not a fight to who has the best brand of jeans, because everyone has the same. Each Ugly gets kind of like an apartment of their own. And their walls talk to them and have wall monitors that tell you what's happening throughout out the town. They are regular humans that lived in a very technical and high advanced world. You go to school until you are sixteen. And then you pretty much get to choose the way you will live for the rest of your life. But at age fifteen, each teen lives in agony through the year dreadfully waiting to advance and be of age and be released into Prettyville and to then start making decisions for themselves. But the whole fifteenth year is said to be the worst and the longest year of anyone's whole life because they sit around for a whole year waiting for the minute they turn sixteen to finally be let out into a world where they can then make decisions for themselves. It's almost like our world having to endure that seventeenth year just waiting to be eighteen and be free. But their agony is ten times worse because a lot more happens when you turn sixteen. When you turn twelve you are then considered an Ugly, and then once you turn sixteen you have the choice to become a Pretty. You become a Pretty by getting a surgery that will fix your nose, give you more muscle, add surges (tatoos), add an eye screen, better body etc.. Pretty much anything that will make you more beautiful. The big thing in the Pretty world is your nose. For some reason they have a serious thing about noses and that's the first thing they want fixed. You can always catch an Ugly by their unsurged nose.
In Ugly school's (which is just like junior high) you learn everything you'll need to survive the world. There is no more school after you hit sixteen. But in every year of Ugly school, the biggest class that you have to take is history. In this class they learn about the Rusty generation which is the generation that you and me live in right now. So these books are kind of like the supposed future of our world. But they talk about how no one ever got along in the Rusty world and how the people who weren't famous didn't want to be famous, they wanted to have the image and body of the famous people. And they would talk about how girls would starve themselves to have the perfect body, or they would smoke weird substances to be cool. This, to them, was just plainly bazaar because in their world it's a fight to be famous and have a very simple surgery that makes you skinnier or more buff. So to them, us Rusties were pretty strage. They would also learn about how we had so many wars over things that weren't necessary, and we fought them with bullets and bombs. And they fight with electric objects, lasers, hoverboards, you name it! Pretty much anything thats high tech.
But the whole point of this blog is how true a lot of the analogies from this book are. We fight over the weirdest things! And we are in a competition to see who has the most money or the biggest house. And I just think how much easier if would be if each person had their own room and there was no such thing as a house. One less thing to compete against.
I just really enjoyed this book because it gave me a better outlook on life. Our lives do not revolve around whose prettier or who has the most surges, or who is more famous. Because in their world, that's all that matters. They may have cool things that would make life a lot easier, but their lives are so pointless, and I like living a life where I can make decision on my own and not have to worry what other people think about it, or what group I will end up falling into. And that's the way it's supposed to be!

My Deforestation Analysis

As I have been researching my topic of deforestation I have been amazed to see all that I’ve learned. I didn’t realize that I would end up receiving enormous amounts of information about this topic, as I did. Some of the things I learned were breath taking and I was astonished at how much of an impact deforestation makes on our world we live in. This researching assignment ended up making on my knowledge of how deforestation works.


At the beginning of this assignment I had questions in my head that I wanted answered as I researched this particular topic. First was: what are the basic causes of deforestation. I found that the main cause of deforestation is civilizations encroach on the forests and woodlands of the world. Cutting for timber is also a major issue. And because of this, vast miles of tropical forests are lost each year.

And the second question I had was why does deforestation happen. I inquired that deforestation happens when people clearcut a forest for the lumber or to grow crops. Sustainable tree harvesting reduces the impact from logging whereas deforestation causes erosion and loss of wildlife.

In all, deforestation is basically the clearing of naturally occurring forests by the process of people’s logging and burning of trees in a forested area. Deforestation affects many things. It is commonly believed that deforestation only has an effect on global warming, which is not true. Yes, it does have a great effect on global warming but not just global warming. Deforestation is cited as one of the major causes to the enhanced greenhouse effect. Tropical deforestation is responsible for twenty percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. the incineration and burning of forest plants in order to clear land releases tonnes of CO2, which contributes to global warming.

Deforestation also has an effect to the world hydrologically. The water cycle is also affected by deforestation. Trees extract groundwater through their roots and release it into the atmosphere. When part of a forest is removed, the trees no longer evaporate away this water, resulting in a much drier climate. Deforestation reduces the content of water in the soil and groundwater as well as atmospheric moisture. It reduces soil cohesion so that flooding and land slides result.

In many parts of the world, especially in East Asian countries, reforestation and afforestation are increasing the area of forested lands.[114] The amount of woodland has increased in 22 of the world's 50 most forested nations. Asia as a whole gained 1 million hectares of forest between 2000 and 2005. Tropical forest in El Salvador expanded more than 20% between 1992 and 2001. Based on these trends, one study projects that global forest will increase by 10% (an area the size of India) by 2050.

Researching this topic I was amazed at how important deforestation is and isn’t. In my own opinion I think that it is okay to use trees for what we need. Not what we want. Deforestation is an ongoing issue that is causing extinction, changes to climatic conditions, desertification, and displacement of indigenous people.