helllooo

i dont know if anyone actually gets on the blog now that the school year is over but i thought i'd post a picture of my baby bro for ms.james. :)))

his name is andew micheal west.

born on tuesday june 5th, at 2:18 pm.

he weighed 7lbs 1oz. and is 21 inches long. lol.

he's a cutie.

so far for my summer vacation i've worked. :(( but its gonna be funn!!!

hope you guys have a greatt summer.

peeeacin' out!

Our freshman year is finally over! I hope you all cherished it like you were told because this was supposed to be the best year of our lives at Kickapoo and it's for real over. We'lll be sophomores in like 30 minutes! One step closer to graduating and actually becoming something! 2 more years for me and I'm outta here!

Ahh I can't wait for the bell to ring:) I'm gonna cry:( YOU ALL HAVE AN AMAZING SuMMER! I'll seee you all around:) Laattter!

very very last post

I'm going to miss all of you guys over the summer:)

I still can't believe it's over:/

EVERYONE HAVE A FANTASTIC SUMMER FOR ME!!

PEACE OUTTTTTTT:)!

SUMMER!

wow, i can't belive summer's alraedy here. this year went by SO fast. anyone else think so?!

i don't have a lot of plans. just camp with some friends (i hope) and TONS of cheerleading; practices and camps.

what are your plans? (:

microsoft surface =]

this is the new Microsoft Surface. it is the future computer. if you watch THIS VIDEO it will tell you more about it. i cant wait for it to come out! accept its going to be around $5,000- $10,000 so it will be very expensive

BOUGANVILLIA! READ this. Its good

I would like to share this with you all :D
A year or two ago, me and steffany went to Florida. And in the car when we got there, my mom was singing this really obnoxious annoying song at like 3 in the morning. And she kept talking about Bouganvillia, which is a flower.
It just became this hialrious joke to me and steffany. So, over spring break, i went back to Florida. Steff was gonna go, but she pierced me ear and ended up getting in trouble.
It was pretty funny. ANYWAYS!
Me and Charlie were walking the street and i saw street sign. And i was like OMG! Its bouganvillia. so i took a picture, and it has been a constant laugh everytime i have seen it.


OKay
Yepp.
BYe :D

Awwwwe :)

Wellp.

Today is the lasssst dayyyy offff schooool!

haha wohooo
So,
I found the funniest blogs to be the ones where people would choose their own Romeo and Juliet. Especially with Matthew Mcconahaugh (sp?)
Those were great. Then i thought the most informative was the ones that talked about real life problems and the best, i couldn't pick.
See, their wasn't one particular one with each catagory. Every single blog was amazing!

So anyways, that is that.

This SUMMMMMMMMMMMER!
It will be amazing. For me, it consists of dance, and lifeguarding!
Im a few weeks im going to Hawaii for a competition! I am soooo EXCITED!
YAYUH!
What about everyone else?


bye for now :].

SHIPWRECK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WORLD

This is my final blog post. This probably won't be my last blog post, but this is my finals blog. I decided to do mine on the Antartic survival story of the 29 men on board the Endurance. I read a book called Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World by Jennifer Armstrong. The book is really good, I'd recommend it to anyone who likes survival stories. Their ship, the Endurance, was crushed in the ice pack around Antartica, and they spent a year and a half floating around on the ice trying to get to safety. Amazingly, all of them survived.

Ernest Shackleton was the leader of the expedition. Their mission was to be the first people to cross Antartica. A few years earlier the South Pole was reached, but no one had gone across the continent. So in 1914, Shackleton set out on the expedition stopping on the island of South Georgia first.

That year the ice pack was really bad. The Endurance inched its way closer to the continent, but on January 19, 1915, the ship became stuck in the ice. They were forced to wait out the winter on the ice. But during the winter, (which is during our summer) storms came and on October 27, 1915, the Endurance was crushed by the ice. The men were forced to abandon the ship with their lifeboats and necessary equipment. On November 21, 1915, they watched from a few miles a way, they watched their ship sink into the water. They were now alone on the ice, and the only way of surviving would be to launch their lifeboats and try to find a nearby island and await rescue. For about the next six months, they man-hauled their boats across the ice. They lived off seals that they shot. On April 9, they launched their boats from the edge of the ice pack and reached the uninhabited Elephant Island a few days later. No one had ever landed on the island before.

Shackleton made a decision. He decided that he and five other men would make the dangerous 800 mile voyage in one of the lifeboats back to South Georgia while the rest of the men waited on the island for rescue. The voyage was extremely dangerous, if it failed, they would never be found. After surviving fierce storms and a monster wave, they reached South Georgia on May 1oth, 1916. They landed on the opposite end of the harbor, and had to trek across the mountains that were named "the Southern Alps." The mountains on the island had never been explored before.

A few months later the rest of them were picked up on the island. Most people had given them up for dead. Against tremendous odds, they all made it back. Shackleton was an incredible leader, and without him, it might have ended disastrously.

Their ship, the Endurance, when it was stuck in the ice pack.

Ernest Henry Shackleton

This is a link to a story of the voyage, with pictures from the photographer, Frank Hurley, who used a Kodak camera to document the voyage.

Genetic Engineering

One of the books I read this semester was Double Helix. This book was about genetic diseases and genetic engineering. It was a very good book and I would suggest it to anyone even if they aren’t interested in genetics.

Genetic engineering (GE) or genetic modification (GM) is essentially these three things. Adding traits from another organism to produce a certain trait or protein, rearrange or take out DNA to eliminate genetic diseases, or turn on DNA that is already present but inactive.

The definition given by Merriam-Webster's Medical Desk Dictionary for genetic engineering is: Function: noun: the group of applied techniques of genetics and biotechnology used to cut up and join together genetic material and especially DNA from one or more species of organism and to introduce the result into an organism in order to change one or more of its characteristics —genetically engineered adjective —genetic engineer noun

Some organizations such as Green Peace and Union of Concerned Scientists oppose genetic engineering. The reasons for this is that corn that might be genetically engineered to produce some kind of medical ingredient night pollinate corn of the main food supply and contaminate it. This however would not hurt the corn pollinated just the corn planted from the seeds.

Then there are people who don’t know what they are talking about and are idiots for lack of a better word. These people are un educated on the subject and think they know what they are talking about. To the educated world we all see them for what they are (clueless), but when they start preaching to uneducated people we get into trouble. Look at this web site. Here is a preview of it. "Genetic engineering is the altering of a plant (or organism) by sewing part of another plant onto it----thus changing the first plant’s DNA, or gene blueprint" , "What are you gonna do when you’ve been eating the same brand of carrots for five weeks and your right ear overnight swells twice the size of your other ear" , "if I cross a redwood tree with a sunflower, I might get a reddish, wooden, five-hundred-foot-tall sunflower.", "Think of the potential if we crossed DNA from Michael Jackson to that of a trout. You’d get a small, weird, lighter-skinned opportunistic fish that jumps around a lot"These people give the others that are against it a bad name and it ends up making both of them look stupid. One sewing plants together in hope of combining DNA doesn’t work. Two I highly doubt you right ear will become larger than the other from eating GE carrots. The carrot is exactly the same as any other carrot except a gene might be turned on that makes it store more nutrients. Third the redwood sunflower thing just wouldn’t work, and even if it was possible, which it is not, why would you want to make a Michael Jackson fish.

Ok, now that I got that out of my system I think im better.

We also have the people for GE. This has done many good things for us. Some examples are that we inserted the human insulin gene into bacteria, this allows us to harvest pure human insulin for diabetics. It has also improved the food production industry. Now we can GE corn to make it sweeter, produce more kernels, and grow in a shorter time.

Before you make up your mind on how you feel about stuff like this please educate your self. I also think we should have better trust in our scientists. They studied this stuff and do it for a living. How would you like some guy or bum of the street telling you to do your job and what the consequence of your work might be. Just think about it.

If you actualy took time to read this thank you, I would like to hear what you have to say.

♥Twins♥

These are a my twin sisters Samantha and Savannah. My mom is also a twin. Twins are basically two children being born at the same time. Twins have a kind of relationship like no other. There is always someone that will understand you. They have a very good bond because they were both in the womb together.

Sometimes twins have a special connection between the two. When my mom was pregnant she did not have morning sickness but my Aunt Jan did and she wasn't even pregnant weird! There are a lot more weird connections between twins.

Identical twins are twins derived from a single egg and at the end when they are born look exactly alike. Fraternal twins are derived from two separate fertilized ova these are twins that do not look alike for example my sisters. Conjoined twins are twins that are joined together by the body. Most of the time when this happens you can resolve this problem by surgery and sometimes it is to complicated to do because it could cause fatal results.

Sometimes I really want to be a twin because im the only one who is not a twin in the little house family. Also because it feels like they always have that one person that is like them. But that is ok because I have my best friend Brianna me and her have know each other for a little over three years and never once fighted for any reason at all.

Readers this is my blog for the final but hopefully during the summer I will blog to keep you updated and you can do it to. Please comment me and tell me if you know any twins or weird sibling stories? Have a great summer and keep in contact♥

angels and demons

have you ever thought about your religion? Ever really looked deep into it? some of you may have, some of you may not of yet. the book i am currently reading is about Christianity and science. many people might not agree with my beliefs, but they are mine so please respect them. I'm not posting this blog to start a major controversy in our class. so, with that said if you offended by what you are about to read please don't take it out on me. thank you.




my book is Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, it is the prequel of the Da Vinci code. The reason i started reading this book is because of my beliefs, I am agnostic. i don't consider it a religion because i don't follow one god, one book, or one belief.


to me it is very confusing, so i am sure it will be hard for you to understand, but I'll do my best to explain. I have many different beliefs, and i think I'm going to share them with you. I believe in god, but i also believe in Evolution. I believe that you can be reincarnated, and that you can go to heaven. yes, i know i am contradicting myself, but i can't help it. part of me just thinks it is impossible to know if there is anyone or anything else out there. (if you are wondering what an agnostic is this website can explain it a little.) Angels and Demons really helps me understand why i feel this way.


Some people do not know how to accept the beliefs of others, but i always have. that is another reason why it has been so hard for me to live here, because in California everyone is fine with hearing other opinions, but here in the bible belt of America...its much different. i never tell someone that their beliefs are wrong, or that they need to follow another religion. Angels and Demons is about how scientists are trying to reveal to the world about afterlife, and the catholic/christian religion, but the church will not allow it.


i don't want you guys to think i am an atheist, because there is a GREAT difference between atheist and agnostics. to me an atheist believes that god does not exist, and they don't want to believe in one. My beliefs as an agnostic is that there might be a god, but there might not be. i also believe in more than one religion. i don't want to get to far into this subject, since it is a very sensitive one, but i just can't get it off my mind. most people inherit their beliefs and opinions, but as a have grown up i decided for myself what i believe in. i like it that way, and i also find it perfectly fine if you choose to follow in your parents foot steps. i wish it could all just be explained to me, but the world as we know it is still a mystery.



if for some reason you are upset with my post I'm sorry, but this is who i am and i can not change for anyone.




p.s here are some more websites if you would like to check them out, they are about agnostics and such... one, two(this site is my FAVORITE it tells you how every person is agnostic),and three.
note that these websites are peoples opinion not facts about agnostics.




=)

ASSISTED SUICIDE

This is Dr. Jack Kevorkian, nicknamed "Dr. Death", for the practice of Euthanasia.

Euthanasia is also called 'mercy killing' and it's the act of putting to death painlessly or allowing to die, as by withholding extreme medical measures, a person or animal suffering from an incurable disease. Right now, it's illegal to practice Assisted Suicide, and Kevorkian was put in jail for 10-25 year sentence, only serving 8. This site here tells about what he promised to do/not do now that he's out of prison.

The book that I just got done reading is called Impulse, by Ellen Hopkins. It's about three kids who all try to commit suicide, and fail, and end up getting sent to a place, kind of like a rehabilitation center. It helps them cope with the reasons that they were trying to kill themselves. They also all meet each other, and bond in many different ways. Reading that book really made my perspective of suicide change.

The other night, I saw Kevorkian on the news for when he was released, and I made some of my own opinions on the topic of mercy killing.

(I don't know if this will be counted as another kind of final blog post, because this is a lot of opinion, but I have some strong opinions about this topic that I'd like to share)

I think that there should be certain terms to decide who can and cannot be euthanized. If you're diagnosed with a terminal illness, such as cancer, or is in an un-wakeable state, such a being in a coma, I think that whoever is the one who is ill, should have the choice of being euthanized because it is their own life. A lot of people think that it should be the family's decision, but if the person who is ill is an adult, they have the right to make their own decisions. So I personally think that if the person with the terminal illness is 18 or older, then they have the right to make up their own life about ending their life, or living with the terminal illness that they've been diagnosed with.

Another thing with this topic that comes up is the fact that animals are euthanized to make room in humane societies to make room for more incoming animals. How is that fair at all compared to euthanizing humans? Animals don't get to decide if they want to be killed or not, so what gives the veterinarians the right to kill them themselves? At least with euthanizing humans, they can decide for themselves about wanting to be killed or not. Giving them that choice it can generally make their lives easier because they don't have to live with the terminal illness anymore. I think that's a good thing to look forward to.

Here's an article talking about an interview with Dr. Death himself, and some of his views on euthanasia. What are yours?

Okay, I think I'm done now (:

And Mrs. James: If at all possible, can this be counted for my final blog, and not my other one? Haha, thank you (:

Music on your blog!

Go to the Deadliest Catch blog and you can get music on youre blog.

Suicide

Ok guys, so first I was going to do my blog post on addiction, but then I thought maybe I should do it on suicide. My conclusion came to do suicide..

Although I’m doing my blog on suicide I’ve read a lot of books about addiction and it’s very interesting to me because no matter how serious of an addiction it is…from drugs to biting to your nails, its everywhere and almost everyone experiences the feeling of addiction. Addiction is relapsing condition characterized by abusing something compulsively and long lasting chemical changes in the brain. Almost all of the books I’ve read this year have to do with addiction. For example, A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. Also Impulse had to do with addiction but I didn’t get to finish that one. I still think addiction is very interesting so if you want to take a look at some cool facts about addiction here are some sites to take a look at.
http://www.revolutionhealth.com/conditions/addiction/?msc=A00563
http://www.highlandridgehospital.com/display_article.asp?article=5053
http://www.highlandridgehospital.com/display_article.asp?article=3143

The reason that I decided to do suicide is because almost out of all controversial topics…this would be the one I’m most interested in. I’m definitely against it and wanted to learn and talk to you guys about why people do such a horrible thing.

Suicide is the act of causing ones death. This will definitely be a hard topic for me to talk about but I want to talk about it because I think that everyone should know how awful of an act it is. Now, about a month ago my very own cousin decided to take his life. The thing about suicide is that there are so many questions. You have to wonder why they would do that, how long they’ve been thinking about it, if they regret it. I’ve been thinking about all of this because usually when you think about suicidal people you think about people who don’t have a job, don’t have any family and are pretty much in a clinical depression. But the thing is, that’s not always the case. With my cousin, he had a job, he had a beautiful 3 year old daughter, and more family than one can ever imagine. Not only did he have all of that, he seemed so happy. You can ask anyone who knew him and they will all say that he was always the one to cheer you up with some jokes. Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death, and last year there were 29,199. There are a lot of interesting facts about suicide at this SITE. Although it can be difficult you can find symptoms of a suicidal person such as history of mental disorders, family history of abuse, family violence, previous attempts of suicide and the most important one is depression. But for those people who don’t really show their feeling look out for things like if they mention things about suicide often, giving away possessions, and pulls away from people. To look at some signs and symptoms look at this website. All in all, don’t ever think that your life is worth taking away because there is always another solution. Don’t even think of suicide as an option because its not. I know you think that your just doing everyone a favor but the truth is that suicide is one of the most selfish things people can do. Ever think about the impact on the persons’ family? How hurt and confused they’ll be, and thinking they did something wrong. It’s not fair to anyone and is way more trouble than anyone could possibly ever be in.

BABY BRO

So tomorrow my mom is going to be induced to have her baby. i'm gonna be a big sis. lol. it's a boy. :)) When my mom was first pregnant i dont know why but i wasnt that excited. its not the usual thing where im all jealous and stuff because its not like that...i just didnt get very excited about it but now im like EXTREMELY excited. :))

i dont know if ill be here tomorrow because i might leave early to go to the hospital.

i hope everyone has a great summer. :)

Sweet Song!

Autophobia

AUTOPHOBIA

By definition, autophobia is a phobia (persistent and irrational fear) of being alone. The word is derived from the Greek words autos ("self") and phobos ("fear").
Many people who fear being alone also fear being unloved, unwanted, or unrecognized. This fear often leads sufferers to enter into and remain in destructive social relationships. It can also lead them to engage in codependency and self-destructive behavior, as well as continued and prolonged isolation from others.

I first became interested in autophobia because of a book I was reading by Dean Koontz called False Memory. It was about a woman who became afraid of herself and didn't know why. She was having all these symptoms and as it turns out, it was her psychiatrist who had implanted this fear in her. I am really interested in the human behavior in general, and it just happens that I read this book that had a phobia in it.

I find human behavior and psychology (specifically phobias), as well as the psychology and behavior of other species, really intriguing. There are many different psychological theories out there, but no one knows for sure what really goes on in the human brain. People develop phobias for different reasons, especially during childhood. These childhood fears usually disappear before adulthood, and if not, rarely go away without treatment. Treatment varies from phobia to phobia, such as hypnosis, medications to subdue reactions, confrontation, etc. Some phobias take a very long time to overcome because there is a step-by-step systematic desensitation that must take place.

In False Memory, the main character, Martie (autophobic), overcomes her fear of herself by realizing what her "trigger" word and haiku are that activate her fear that Dr. Ahriman has implanted in her subconscious. This book is so amazing, and if you haven't read it, please DO!!!

Dean Koontz is an awesome author, as Beefy Manwich has already discovered.

Peace out and have an AWESOME summer

The Final Countdown!.........Errr, I mean Post.

For my final post I will talk to you about many things that have to do with my favorite book that I have read this year, Velocity. You guys have probably heard me rant and rave about this book, but annoyed or not, many read it because of my referrals. As we all know it is about a guy who has to follow along with some serial killer’s game and make decisions on whose lives to spare and whose lives not to. In this final post, I will talk to you first about serial killers and why they do what they do.

Serial Killer- a person who kills three or more people in three or more separate events, over a period of time, including an "emotional cooling-off" period in between the homicides. Their cooling off periods may last months, years, but sometimes they only last days. They often kill people of the same race or sex, and have a certain signature way of killing people. Most of these serial killers would be hard to notice in normal situations. They normally come off as charming or very witty and fun, but this is just a manipulation they use to gain the trust of their companions to remove any suspicions.
Many serial killers are psychopaths, and have a personality disorder, which causes them to come off as nice.


Some early warning signs that somebody you know might be a serial killer:

1.Burn things for the thrill of destroying things, or to gain attention of others.
2.Cruelty to animals, such as pulling legs off of insects, or even killing pets such as dogs and cats.
3.Bed wetting past the normal age when kids wet the bed.


Famous Serial Killers: All of the names are links to Bio's of them!

Jack The Ripper

The Zodiac Killer

David Berkowitz

Ted Bundy

BTK-Dennis Rader

So now we know that serial killers are bad dudes. They are often psychopaths and are really creepy. Their targets are often people of similar race, sex, or occupation. Overall they are really bad people.

So some words of advice if you thinks somebody might be a serial killer:
tell your parents
Be nice to them so that you’re not their next target
if you have to, report them to the police or have them go to a counselor or something.

I guess That's all. I hope you all have a groovy summer and I look forward to seeing you all next year..........NOT!!!!!!!!!!!

sorry, just had to through that in there.

See Ya'll

Beefy Manwich aka

Aileen Carol Wuornos

That is Aileen Carol Wuornos. She was born February 29th, 1956 in Rochester, Michigain. Her father, Leo Dale Pittman, was a sociopathic, psychopathic, child molestor and her mother, Diane Wuornos, was a teen mother who really couldn't handle being a mother. Being the daughter and product of a totally dysfunctional marriage may have been what led her to be the world's first female serial killer.

Aileen's mother up and left her and her older brother, Keith, when she was almost 4 years old. They were adopted by the mother's parents soon after. Thinking they'd been saved from their crazy parents, the children were very happy. They soon found out that their adopted parents were in reality their biological grandparents and that Lauri (the father/grandfather) was sexually and physically abusive and that Britta (the mother/grandmother) was an alcoholic. When Aileen was only 14 she got pregnant. She claimed her brother Keith was the father because he as well had molested her on more than one account, but no one believed her. Instead she was sent away to a home for single mothers and her baby boy was given up for adoption immedietly after he was born on March 23, 1971. After her baby was born she returned home to the death of her alcoholic grandmother and her grandfather insisting that she and Keith leave his house as soon as possible. She was arrested once for drunk driving, another time for 'disturbing the peace' when she attacked a bartender, and then led her life of hitch hiking as a prostitution and murder. She married a rich man named Lewis Fell in 1976 but was soon divorced when she returned to her ways of bar fights and assault charges. After all of this her brother died of throat cancer, she spent the entire $10,000 that she got from the divorce on a nice car that she wrecked soon after purchasing it, and continued on a downward spiral of prostitution, forgery, theft, armed robbery, and assault.

This was only the beginning for Wuornos, though. Long story short, she met: Richard Mallory, David Spears, Charles Carskaddon, Peter Siems, Eugene Burress, Dick Humphrey, and Walter Antonio. All picked her up on random highways looking for a good time, and ended up naked and shot dead on the side of the road. Whenever police started to notice similarities in these murders they got a couple leads and everything pointed straight to Wuornos.

She was tried and found guilty and sentenced to to death on all 7 cases. She declined the traditional last meal that most people on death row get right before they are 'killed' and instead got a cup of cofee. Her last words were, "I'd just like to say I'm sailing with the rock, and I'll be back like Independence Day, with Jesus June 6. Like the movie, big mother ship and all, I'll be back." All in all, she got very famous for these murders. Many books were written about her and you can find the movie about "The World's First Female Serial Killer" called "Monster" at pretty much every movie rental around the world. On October 9th, 2002 she chose death by lethal injection and it was carried out at 9:47 am. Her body was cremated and buried in her hometown.


So my question is was Aileen Wuornos a cold-blooded murder or just a victim of an abusive childhood? Was she prone to turn out the way she did because of what she was and what her childhood turned out? Is anyone with that type of childhood prone to turn out the way Wuornos did? And why did her 7 murders not make everyone frown upon her but instead leading Charlize Theron, the actress that played Wuornos in Monster, to win her first grammys?


GOOD BYE BLOGGERS!! I WILL MISS YOU ALL!

Illegal Immigration; Final Blog

It is estimated that there are widely from 7 million to 20 million illegal aliens that are living in the United States today. Over 700,000 illegal immigrants cross the border illegaly compared to the 600,000 that come to America legally. What should we do about this rising problem?


The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 was passed that originally admitted only a certain number of immigrants of each nationallity. Congress has passed different laws since that for instance only immigrants with skills needed in America or with relatives were allowed. Whatever the case is the population change in Amereica has changed our lives. Around 10 million skilled jobs have been taken by illegal immigrants. Also almost 400 billion dollars have gone to the social services for illegal immigrants since 1996. The change of immigrant kids in public schools has also had a significent change. The cultural change of especially Mexicans, changes many peoples lives.

Each year houndreds of thousands of Mexicans risk there lives trying to cross the border between Mexico and the Untied States. They have to endure crossing hot deserts with no more than a back pack on there backs. To avoid border control they usually travel at night while hidde during the day. And on top of that they have to cross the nasty, dirty Rio Grande River. All of this just to hopefully make it to America in search of a better life. Many of these people are found in the desert dead. It is kind of sad to think of what these people would do for a chance to live better.

Growing up only an hour away from the border i know the affect of illegal immigrants in the community. I was born in Las Cruces, New Mexico and lived there until i was about 2. I dont remember much from when i lived there but everytime i go back to visit i realize that it wasnt a great place to raise kids. The poverty and homelessness is high along with the high crime and drug rate. The population of Mexicans was incredible. Im not saying they were illegal but im guessing at least half of them were.

The United States border control catch hundreds of illegal aliens daily. The fact is that there are millions more that are already here. In my opinion the government is more concerned about the immigrants crossing than the ones that are here. There needs to be more investigations on the Mexicans that live in communitys all over are country. I dont blame them for wanting to be here but i think that they should come legally. Also many of them are involved with crime such as drug smuggling. Almost 300 billion dollars has been wired to Mexico in the last few years. It just shows how many illegal immigrants are hear. I think that the illegal immigrant problem needs to be stopped soon?

A Few Years of Horror, A Lifetime of Memories

Hi guys. I'm doing my final blog on a topic that is something I know a lot about. I've provided a glossary on the topic, just so you can keep track of what I'm speaking about. It's talked about so much and is on the television in my house so much, that I know as much as my Dad (which is incredible). This topic is about the Holocaust, and the horror and destruction it caused to so many lives. The one in charge of it all, was the brilliant, yet twisted, Adolf Hitler .

After setting off World War II, Hitler had invaded Poland in September 1939 and set off a series of events that forever altered the Jewish community of Lodz, Poland, one of the largest in Europe. On January 30th, 1939, Hitler gave a speech before the Nazi Reichstag (Parliament) on the sixth anniversary of his coming to power. In it, he made notice of that date, publically threatened Jews in his speech. Translated, what he said is here. But before that, Hitler had become the Chancellor of Germany, making laws to burn books, remove Jewish people of their insurance, lives, and essentials, and send homeless, alcoholics, beggars, and unemployed people to Concentration camps.

Concentration Camps (such as Mauthausen on the left) were, in my opinion, one of the worst things that any human can possibly do to another. Strip people of their dignity, rights, freedoms, personal items, and decide when they should die, then kill them like animals in a slaughterhouse. It's just not right.

To be more specific as to what happened, people were either sent to extermination (death) camps or work camps. You had to be in the correct age range, health range, and strength range in order to be in the work camps. If you failed any of the tests they gave you there, you were sent to a death camp such as Auschwitz or Mauthausen and killed. When they came up with the "Final Solution", it helped the Nazis greatly with "impure removal", but it was a horrible nightmare for the millions imprisoned. Isn't it sad when most of them went from this to this to this? It makes me want to cry. Here's a map of the Camps.

I thought that these were rather good links to accounts and personal stories of survivors, and people who weren't arrested until after they wrote them. The first link here goes to a website with personal stories of the crematorias and the gas chambers. This link here takes you to a webpage with abundant information on the "Final Solution". Another website takes you to the informational and easy-to-use page of Anne Frank's tale. Remember to click on Launch the Exhibition to get it to start. Tons more stories were found in the basement of a museum, and that information is here. However, for a simple link to the main stream of video, this is the one you want to click.

Overall, the total damage caused by Hitler, the Nazi party, the concentration camps, and the "Final Solution" was over 6 million lives of Women, Men, and Children. For a full page of the aftermath, simply click on this link.

I hope that this had made some impact on you, because having to do all of the research and listen to the stories has definately on me.

Wake me up before it gets bad.

S
L
E
E
P




My Chemical Romance wrote a song called Sleep.





The lyrics of the chorus are:





Sleep


Just sleep


The hardest part is letting go of


Your dreams


It is hard to dream, yet it is hard to let go. Especially for those with nightmares, but worse, for those with recurring nightmares.

Have you got a recurring nightmare? Want it to go away? Too bad. It’ll keep coming back. The more you forget about it, the worse off you are in life. You see, I have this recurring nightmare about all of my fears, but it tells me something. It tells me what I need to improve on in life. It tells me what I’m afraid of. It tells me my values. You see, you are actually lucky to be having such nightmares. I researched dream meanings and stuff and it is actually quite something to think about. What if our dreams really are trying to tell us something that we are too blind to see? In my dream, my husband is murdered in a burning house. This basically told me that I have some anger somewhere in my love life that I need to work on. I was dumbfounded. I am having some interesting relationship problems with a person I like, and another guy who doesn’t even know I like him. The guy that doesn’t know I like him shows up in the dream as the fireman to kill me in the end. There is so much that goes on in between them that you don’t even want to know half of it. Recurring dreams are like puzzles, except for the person trying to solve it. The dream itself, is trying to solve itself and make sense of itself.

As DreamMoods© said it:

Recurring dreams are quite common and are often triggered by a certain life situation or a problems that keeps coming back again and again. These dreams may recur daily, once a week, or once a month, but whatever the frequency, there is little variation in the dream content itself. It usually points to a personal weakness, fear, or your inability to cope with something in your life - past or present.

I find this to be quite true. Every dream means something, you just have to be interested in it. I don’t know about you, but I would definitely like to know what each of my dreams mean due to my life. And most of it, I find to be true. I have problems displayed in my dream and it is very common to experience that.

“Why does the eye see a thing more clearly in dreams than the imagination when awake?" Leonardo da Vinci

Evanescence's Amy Lee sings a song called Bring Me To Life.

The chorus is as follows:

(Wake me up)

Wake me up inside.

(I can'y wake up)

Wake me up inside.

(Save me)

Call my name and save me from the dark.

(Wake me up)

Bid my blood to run.

(I can't wake up)

Before I come undone.

(Save me)

Save me from the nothing I've become.

Recurring dreams are great. Recurring nightmares are better. Things can make sense if you would take a few minutes of your own to be still and not think about everythign else, but only the dream. Put yourself in a nice surrounding. Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth. Close your eyes. Repeat until you figure your dream out and have fun.

Maybe you'll find things about yourself that you didn't even know.

maybe...

SLEEP TIGHT!

Courage is: Having a kick-butt sword

"One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest." -Maya Angelou

I guess one of the oldest questions is: What is courage? Mrs. James even blogged about it once. You can read that here if you'd like. In our classroom readings, courage had come up many times. In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet had to have courage to drink the friar's potion. Both young lovers had to have courage to even get married and Mercutio had courage to fight Tybalt, even though he knew that Tybalt was the better swordsman.

In this blog, I'm going to connect courage with a very controversial story. The story of King Arthur. Now, no one knows for sure whether the legendary British King is just that, a legend. There's even a school of thought that claims him to be a Celtic god of some sort. For a complete archive of information on the subject, you can click here. The website that this link goes to is very detailed in it's information, providing an objective view that allows you to decide for yourself what you think.

Whether or not King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table were actual characters or merely legends, they portray all the goodness and light there is to humanity. Constantly, they are faced with dangers, temptations, or death and come out in every story as the courageous and victorious knights. From Galahad, who must remain pure and is the only one who can retrieve the Holy Grail; to Gawain, who outsmarted the Green Knight; to Lancelot who was second only to Arthur in courage, but was defeated by his love for Guinivere; to Arthur himself who is holy and righteous in his every action. The characters aren't totally believable, but they could possibly be real and have had their personalities exaggerated with time.

Personally, I think it would be a lot easier to be courageous if I had the skill and weapons of Lancelot. That's his picture at the top of this post, depicted in the 2004 Antoine Fuqua film King Arthur. I haven't seen the movie, but I'm going to soon. But that's beside the point. (Sorry, I always seem to come back to movies somehow ^-^)

I don't think anyone will ever be able to prove that this legend is fact or fiction, but they are amazing stories. Countless people have changed and expounded on the original legends. If you haven't read the original stories, I suggest it. And no, Monty Python's version of the story of the Holy Grail story does not count. It is a really great movie though. If you like British humor, that is...

LIving with Drugs

<--LeAlan and his best friend Lloyd Newman.

So as you know, on Friday we could listen to the radio diaries from people around the world that were given tape players for a certain amount of time to record their everyday lives. The radio story that caught my eye th most, or should I say ear, was Ghetto Life 101. The main boy who was telling his story, LeAlan Jones, was thirteen at the time. When I was listening to him talk, I was really impressed at how well he spoke, and smart he was in general. Later on during the recording, he and his mom talked about the drugs around where they lived. I imagine there were very many drugs in their neighborhood, living in the Ghetto and what not. When I was listening to this, it reminded me of a book I read a couple of months ago, Beauty Queen.

I'm sure you all remember me blogging about the book. It was about the girl who was addicted to Heroin and shot it up about every other minute. I'm sure where LeAlan lived there was Heroin, and about one thousand other drugs. In the radio story when he was talking about drugs, and how there were alot in his community, I was thinking about how addicted Sam was in the book. She was so addicted that she gave her life to the drug. I'm strongly against substance abuse as it is, but when I read this book, it made me even more angry about the subject. I feel sorry that LeAlan Jones had to live in environments where it was common for people to use drugs, and to sometimes result in dieing from use. I'm really glad that in most areas of Springfield it's pretty safe, and drugs aren't everywhere you look. If I was LeAlan, I personally wouldn't feel safe one bit. I would be scared to even walk out of my front door, and to go to school, and just any place in general. In Beauty Queen, Sam also lives in an environment where drugs are easy access, SO she takes advantage of this, and starts dealing and using substances to her own advantage. Sam and LeAlan obviously had their own likes and differences. Sam used, and LeAlan didn't, but both of them lived in the same surroundings as each other.

In conclusion, comparing these two subjects really opened my eyes. When I was reading Sam's story, I started to realize all of the dangers of using drugs, and how addicting one little bag of "smack" can spin your world completely around. When I was listening to LeAlan's story I realized that living in those conditions, is almost just as bad as using. LeAlan still had to be around people that used at a very young age. His mom was mentally insane, so he didn't have the best example at home, Sam's mom was a drunk, and she rarely ever even talked to Sam. Just looking at both of these stories, you probably don't realize how alike they are, but that's the main point of my post. I'm thankful for where I live, and for the decisions that I make so that I don't have to go through what Sam and LeAlan did.

I hope everyone as a GREAT summer, and I'll see you next year hopefully!!

Easter Island

I have been reading this book called Collapse. It is by Jared Diamond. Here is a link to a lengthy description about the book http://www.compassionatespirit.com/Collapse.htm. It is about how and why civilizations "Collapse". It probably sounds boring which is what I said to my brother when he told me to read it. But it is actually pretty interesting. It talks about why Easter Island, Norse settlements in Greenland, and the Mayan civilization collapsed.

I'm not anywhere near finishing the book but I have already read a lot about Easter Island in the book. I also found a website that tells a lot about Easter Island. The website is separated into three websites so here are all three hyperlinks: http://www.pacificislandtravel.com/easter_island/about_destin/culture1.asp, http://www.pacificislandtravel.com/easter_island/about_destin/culture2.asp, http://www.pacificislandtravel.com/easter_island/about_destin/history.asp.

There has been a lot of controversy over Easter Island. When the civilization living on Easter Island (the Rapa Nui) was first discovered, people were mystified by how they had managed to survive because there weren't any trees on the island. It is widely debated how the Rapa Nui managed to create the thousands of stone statues (Moai) that are spread throughout the island. It is also debated how the Rapa Nui came to live on the island. The website pretty much answers all of those questions.

When the Rapa Nui first inhabited the island it was covered in a "lush" forest. The Rapa Nui started cutting down the trees like crazy to build houses, boats, and the trees were most importantly used to move the Moai. They moved the Moai from where they carved them (the volcano craters) to where they planned to put them by rolling the statues over logs. This destroyed a ton of trees and eventually every tree was destroyed. Since the trees were no longer there to hold down the top soil it blew away and was replaced by sand. Scientists believe that this is a really good simulation of what will happen to the rest of the world if the rest of the world continues to destroy forests.

The picture below is of the Moai that the Rapa Nui constructed.

The picture below is of a volcanic crater found on Easter Island. The Rapa Nui did most of their rituals on the edge of the crater and they carved the Moai out of the side of it.

That is pretty much it. Visit the links if you want to learn more about Easter Island. Also download google earth and put Easter Island in the search bar.

Teen Death Causes; Final Blog Post

We hear kids talking about killing themselves all the time. Sometimes they might not even realize what they are doing to themselves. Homicide, suicide (along with depression), or accidental substance abuse causes many deaths all around America. They may not always do it, but some do. The leading causes are tring to get away from an extremely hard situation, to get relief from bad thoughts or sadness, a death of a close friend or family member or just thinking that there is no way out, felling of anger, being guilty, victimized, depressed, rejection, feeling ashamed, unwanted of uninvolved. Usually, the thought of death is just a moment idea. Not something that they truly wanted to carry out with.
Everyone has moments were they are hurt, unwanted and rejected. What makes other people want to end their own life because of these things, while others just brush it off? I think the answer is depression. Some people have it, others don't.
:Depression:
This makes people see the harder more drastic and bad part of their lives. Kind of like seeing the glass half empty instead of half full. Because of depression, people usually think that a happy ending is never possible and everything will always turn out bad, or not as they had planned it to be. Depressiopn distorts thinking, and puts a filter on people's minds stopping them from being practicle. This is why the decide death is the only permanent answer to just a temporary problem.
:Substance Abuse:
These kids are more at risk of death then suicide attempted kids because of their "dangerous" behavior. These drugs can not only cause poor judgement, but also cause depression as well. Most suicide attempts actually occur during that person being under the influence. Here, you can read all about drugs. These all have dangerous effects on the brain that cause depression and a few trips to the hospital and rehab center.
:Homocide:
Homicide is the killing of one person by another. The national rate of homicide is 5.6. Just in Missouri, it is 6.9 followed by other states such as Louisiana with a 9.9 rate in just one year. Missouri is eleventh on the chart for having the highest murder rates. Reason for homicides are, arguments, robberies, felonies, narcotics and other unstated reasons.

We all have a choice with only one chance to live. I would suggest for us all to make the right choice and keep that once chance we have. We can all prevent ourselves from suicide and substance abuse. And it is always wise to get help when dealing with problems like depression. Although we can do nothing about homicide, we can always try to make a good path for ourselves in the end. Don't be stupid in life, after all we only have one chance before it can all be taken away from us. :(

What's Your Perspective?

What is your perspective of Rich and Poor? I didn't really know what to say when my mom asked me that, I didn't think that there was a difference. I thought that the difference between rich and poor was just money and that rich people had nicer stuff and that there lives were generally better because they have more money. I was wrong. This is an E-mail that my mom showed me and I feel that it is perfect to use for my best blog.

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live.
They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.
On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"
"It was great, Dad."
"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.
"Oh yeah," said the son.
"So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.
The son answered:
"I saw that we have one dog and they had four.
We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end.
We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.
Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.
We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.
We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.
We buy our food, but they grow theirs.
We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them."
The boy's father was speechless.
Then his son added, "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are."

Now what is your perspective, did it change? Mine sure did, I had never thought of it that way. I almost felt bad because I have always taken things for granted. I thought about all the stuff I have and don't need, but don't know what I would do without it.

I was listening to a radio diary about a teenager named Juan and he lived on the Rio Grande river in a very bad neighborhood. The neighborhood was considered poor and he was an having hard time living. He was always hungry and went to the refrigerator and there was no food in the fridge and he had to fight to live. I didn't matter if he was poor he was determined and he got his high school diploma unlike a lot of poor children in rough neighborhoods.

So that's my question," What is your perspective of rich and poor?"

Bioterrorism

Recently this year I read a book called Code Orange. It was about a kid who thinks he accidently contracted the small pox infection. He goes on to a messege board site, and posts questions saying that he has small pox and he has small pox scabs. The next day he is abducted by terrorists who intend to use him as a "weapon" to contaminate other people.

This is an example of bioterrorism. Bioterrorism is where terrorists use viruses, bacteria, or other germs to cause illness or death in people, animals, or plants. Here is a link to the Center for Disease Control for more information on bioterrorism. There are many forms of terrorist attacks, but in my opinion biterrorism is particulary dangerous because all it takes is one microscopic germ to start the attack. And also the germs spread rapidly through a variety of ways from one person to another so a large group of people could be infected and not know about before it's too late.

Another example of bioterrorism is right after the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. had an anthrax scare. Anthrax was spread through the postal system of the U.S. using letters containing powder with the anthrax virus. Just recently as in the last few days if you have heard, a man named Andrew Speaker was told that he had got tuberculosis while on his honeymoon over seas. He was highly encouraged not to travel for risk of a spread of the disease, but he did anyway. He was finally caught, not knowing the danger he could of caused. Here is a link to more information about this if you have not heard about it.

As you can tell bioterrorism is very bad and dangerous. The germs used can be highly contagious and lethal. Just to give you a hint of the damage they can cause and how bad they are, I have provided a link to pictures of the smallpox infection on real human bodies. (Warning: pictures are a little disturbing.) Here is the link.

So this is my final blog post. My hope was that you learned more about bioterrorism and biological warfare in general. I know this is a little unnerving, but it is real, and terrorists have been proven to use it.

I hope everyone has a great last week of school, and a great summer!!!!

Matt