Book Report:Sold

The book I read this week is called Sold and it's written by Patricia McCormick. The life of a young girl living poor but happy with her family in Nepal. The family is full and complete with the little they have, until mother nature decides to betray them. Young girl named Lakshmi wants to get a job as a maid to help out the family, her step dad gets her a job. It's not anything like Lakshmi expected, she had been sold into prostitution. Now in order to survive with hopes of making it back home Lakshmi has to struggle with being locked up, beaten, starved, drugged, raped, "torn and bleeding". Lakshmi can only hope and that's all you got left to do if you were stuck in this situation.

I always heard stories that people from Nepal, or Africa especially woman would always get abducted or were sold into prostitution and things like this. But I never quite put much attention to it, since it was so far away and I am so young to do anything about it. After I read this story I had a different point of view in things, because stuff like this is even happening today. Not long ago I made an account at a website called change.org and I've recently received some e-mails, about stuff like this story that I read that's been happening around the world. By signing a petition online, I discovered that I made a slight difference in one of those girls lives, and hopefully sooner or later will help stop situations like this to keep from happening.

Lakshmi discovers a whole new chapter of hope in her life, when a little boy that sells Tea to them, comes secretly and teaches her to read. From all the bad things that happened in her life, she makes the best out of it and learns new things. I really admire this about her, it's so hard to look at the glass half full when so many bad things are going on at once. I learned that even though you might be in the worst situation imaginable, you can scoop up some good thing about it or even learn something too.

Book Report: Skinny

This book starts off with Giselle, a 22-year old med. school under grad. that after having Hospital Treatment for Anorexia decides to move in with her Hungarian mother and eighth-grade sister, Holly. This is much more than a typical book about a young girl suffering from Anorexia. It starts off with Giselle's story but it quickly emerged into a rich and powerful tapestry involving the whole family. When their parents immigrate from Hungary Giselle's mother was already pregnant, but Giselle's dad had doubts about whether or not the child was his. After they settle in their new home, they have another child and they name her Holly. Now that she is born, their dad obviously has favoritism over Holly, and this affected Giselle a lot. Throughout the story both characters Giselle and Holly speak in different voices, so we understand both their point of views in the story.

From this book I learned that small things that happen to you as a child affectt you for the rest of your lives, and might even cause a psychological disorder throughout your lifetime. The love of a family is very important. If you get neglected as a child by one of your parents, you will forever hold that anger inside. It might just be the only cause of all your problems. I have a friend who was married and was expecting a child. But she seemed to be having very bad nightmares, when she slept; And the couple was afraid of scaring the baby. So they decided to go to a therapist and they found out that the reason the girl was having nightmares was because when she was little her father used to molest her friend; But she couldn't remember very well because her dad repeatedly carved in her brain to keep it a secret never to tell. That's why it affected her in her dreams when she got older. She got therapy and got over it, and had a beautiful healthy child. 

My conclusion is that Therapy is good for us. I believe that at some point in our lives, as people we all need some kind of therapy treatment. Now in days teenagers, even children go through so much in life and it can be very traumatizing. I highly recommend this book, to all readers because it holds a little bit of everything in it; And we can learn very important lessons from it.

Assignment #19--> "My very short story" =))

One evening as he sat there drinking a wine glass of Vodka, sitting by the windowsill, looking at his wife sleep, he looked back on all the things he has done in his short 32 years of life. Remembering back everything, he decided that so far his life is pretty good, but yet there was one person that made a drastic change in his life.

It started in the summer of his senior year in High School. He met a girl, from the minute that she turned around and looked at him, he instantly fell in love. Though it was rather hard to convince her, they finally ended up dating.

Three weeks and it ended, two months later and they were back. It seemed that it was for good, but oh did life get in the way. Almost ending the school year they broke up, which was to say "this time for good". Throughout all that time he couldn't get her off his mind, finally eight months later they decided to try it out one last time, from there marriage was the plan.

They got engaged right after he finished college, but they were living together in the meantime. While they were making dinner, he received a phone call that had made a change to all their plans. The phone call told him that he will be sent out to war in the next days. They were both devastated, they were going to get married that same week just to make it official, but never got to it. There was always something in the way. Finally he left to war, and she didn't hear from him in months.

One day while she was making dinner, and watching the news she saw a report on the War. On how everybody should be home now, and only a few were lost. She was in utter shock and confusion. She knew she would have heard from him, if they were released already. That same evening a friend of her fiance from War came to visit and told her everything about the War. She didn't have any answers about why he hadn't come home already.

A whole year had passed and still nothing of him. She decided to move on with her life no more waiting for him. His friend gave her lots of company throughout the difficult year, and they ended up falling in love. Three years later and they got engaged, she moved out of the house and moved in with him. A few days before her wedding, she went back to the house to collect some stuff she needed for the wedding. She came home to a big surprise.

Her love since High School that abandoned her was waiting for her at the front doorstep, arms wide welcoming her back. She had a whole book of emotions showing through her face. He explained her why he suddenly abandoned her. He said that right after the War he got a call saying he got recruited to go to England and play Soccer. All this time he has done nothing but play Soccer, but he wasn't happy, and he knew he had to come back for her.

Even though she thought it was cruel and horrible what he did she still had a lot of feelings stirring up from years and years of love they had. She now had to chose between her fiance or her first love. It was a tough decision, but she went for her first love, no one in the world can make her feel like he did, and she can't care enough about anyone else in the world besides him.

Her fiance was heartbroken, and moved away to another state he moved from her life, and started a new one. Later he became a big Soccer star in Mexico and was recognized all over the world. He had many loves now and then, but never found the one, like the one he had. He knew she wasn't meant for him, but either way he loved her.

So as this 32 year old man sat there looking at his love. His first love since High School. He couldn't believe how lucky he was, he got everything. The Soccer dream, and the love of his life, that gave him four kids, all together like a family living in England he couldn't ask for more.

Assignment #18 My Poem=))

I can't help but feel all those eyes upon me

as I lie here in my bed.

Four blue walls that have kept my secret,

a secret so big that 

I feel like an overfilled water balloon about to erupt.

The guilt is eating all my insides up

Forever or not faithful you always were

while me, I just step on you like I step on the edge of the shore

I don't mean to no, that's not my intention at all

but what would you do

if your heart gets all tied up like a hairball?

My heart is split I can't deny it no,

but when I say I Love you, I mean it

even though I may sound loco.

From the very beginning to today

my heart beats for you, and when you touch

me it might even skip a beat

or accelerate as fast as the fastest running athlete.

From the very first day to now

we have been through so much that a snow truck

could not possibly plow.

Still as I look at the stars at night and think

I wonder why this all happened to me,

every moment, every kiss, even every drink.

Funny to relive the moments that I met you,

spent with you, and got to know you

but I wonder why is the reason that

God put you in my life;

Oh yes I remember, you taught me to

put down that knife.

So I must beg your forgiveness to me

for that's the only way I'll marry thee

No matter how far away you may be

It's you I want you know it

It's us together again

I'm gana Love you

forever and ever

forever and ever

amen.  

Book Report:I'm Late=))

The book I finished reading this week is called I'm Late by Mari Evans. This book contains lots of themes which teens are mostly affected by. For example like teen pregnancy, popularity, loneliness, child abuse, and making choices as we grow up. LaNeese who is just a 14 year old high school freshmen gets knocked up by a 15 year old star athlete named Moonlight. Moonlight denies that he is the fathers child since the beginning, which leaves LaNeese all by herself to care for the child. Therefore, LaNeese just makes bad choices because she is a harsh discipliner and uses physical punishment for her child, which leads her to being the cause of her 18 month child's death. Her friend Alisha who is an overweight, depressed, and unloved girl also gets pregnant. She decided she wanted the baby so she can have someone to love. But her plans didn't go accordingly, her premature baby didn't make it and dies from lack of prenatal care and low birth weight.

Some people are just not meant to be parents and it's okay. LaNeese from the very beginning didn't want her child, but her mother made her have him and it didn't result good, not good at all. This book makes you think twice about abortion, and you see for yourself why sometimes aborting a child or giving it up for adoption might just be okay. I personally think it's cruel to abort a child or give it up for adoption, but if your just that kind of person you have the right to do it, only if you can live with yourself after that. I am not here to judge somebody, and if it's their decision to abort their child, then it's okay.

Also, this book teaches you about the importance of love from a family and love for yourself. If you have the proper care of love from a family and yourself you will be okay with the fact that you might be overweight. "Before you want others to love you, you got to love yourself", is a quote I picked up from reading Alisha's story point of view. She was so desperate and hungry for the attention of guys wanting her and loving her that she let them do whatever they wanted with her, and resulted in her pregnancy. That's not right many teens, including adults are doing this. They don't love themselves enough to respect their body, that they have to have someone else wanting them. Resulting from bad parenting skills, or other things like an STD that you will later regret.

I personally think that most high school teens are just not ready for sex. Sex can be a wonderful thing but also it can be a bad thing. In high school, most teens just do it, for the knowledge of experiencing new things. Not many people do it for love, and that can have lots of consequences coming after you. This story tells you the life of these young adults and the bad choices they made. It also has them making better choices around 15 years later. But each one of them always holds their past that will haunt them for the rest of their lives.  



Book Report:Fat Kid Rules the World=))

Fat kid rules the world by K. L. Going was the book I read this week. Imagine living a normal happy childhood life, when suddenly you lose one of your most prized possessions, your mother. After that things just get worse from there and now your 17 years old, almost 300 pounds living a sweaty, unhappy insecure life. But what if when you're about to throw out your entire life on a subway track comes along a simple nobody person, who turns out to be the best thing that can ever happen to you, and make you realize there's more to life than it already seems.

This book turns out to be very realistic, because there are many people out in the world and in high schools that are overweight and get picked at, on a daily basis. Laughing at someone because they are overweight or just breath a little deeper than you is not something to ridicule about. In fact it's a form of bullying, and if it continues the bullied kid, might end up committing suicide, like Troy almost did in the story. Most bullied kids, won't have someone to save you either.

"What goes around comes around", is one of the wisdom teachings I picked up from reading this book, because all the people that ever made fun of, laughed at, or picked at Troy will get a punishment sent right back at them. It's just the circle of life. From my short 17 years in this world, I have learned that what you put out in the world comes right back at you. I never realized that before until my teacher mentioned it and it's true. As I finished reading my book I thought about all the mean things I have done in life, and it did all came back to me one way or another. I realized I didn't want to be that kind of person, so every time someones gets picked at or I want to do something mean to someone I think twice about it and put myself in their shoes.

Assignment #16--> The Journey=)

As I open my eyes I get the beautiful light view that awakened me this glorious morning. No alarm clocks, t.v., or radios, just the beauty of nature that lays within us is what woke me. Away from the city madness and all my problems, as if I turned off the light from my other life and went into my own little bubble. I feel more comfortable then home in my own cozy cabin that I built from scratch and designed perfectly for my fitting.

As I lie in bed awake I look up at my ceiling and admire it. It's not just any ordinary ceiling like the typical ones you see in houses, it's a glass windowpane ceiling. I chose to add this as my ceiling because then every morning I get to enjoy the beautiful view of tress and the sky and sometimes even birds standing outside my window roof. As I get out of bed I slip on my fuzzy Tweety slippers because since all my floors are made of natural wood they get rather chilly in the mornings. I get out of bed and head to the bathroom to get ready, I brush my teeth and wash my face and as I am drying it I take the time to really look at my bathroom and really admire it. It's big, I've created it that way so I can fit a closet in it. I like bathrooms to be rather big, with lots of room. It has a bathtub, and a shower set. My mirror is huge, it covers the whole top half wall, and just beneath it are all my cabinets to put my accessories and toiletries. As I finish getting ready I head downstairs, which is only about eight steps and the steps are quite wide. As I am heading downstairs I pass one more room that is at the moment not in use, but I have it nice and cozily furnished for when I have guests they feel right at home. At the bottom of my stairs the first thing I see is an arched row of windows. Right underneath the windows are built in soft cuddly sofas that make a warm and welcoming scene. To the left of those sofas are several cases of books. I really enjoy reading so I decided to add myself a small library just for me, full of all my favorite books. Right upfront of my windows with several feet in distance, you see the living room. You have to take a step down to officially be in the living room. I have two sets of couches that form a sideways L. At the corner of the couches there is a very comfortable lay-z-boy couch that is so comfortable when you lay back on it you almost fall asleep instantaneously. I have glass coffee tables in between all my couches. Finally comes my kitchen, simple yet very original. It has the basic design that matches it with the beauty of nature outside that surrounds it. It has enough room so I can make all my favorite dishes without feeling all hot and claustrophobic.

Since my kitchen is way across the other side of my cabin, to the right of it I put a door to get into the backyard. Half of the door has a glass window and the other half is just wood. As I settle myself for the day, the first thing I decide to do is go out in my backyard and feed my animals. It has always been my dream to have a place where I can store farm animals in my home, it just makes me feel more cultural and really special deep inside to have farm animals. I have just one big fence where all my animals are together because they all get along very well. On one side of my fence I have three pigs, two pink and one black, kinda close by the pigs I store two cows that provide milk for me and my guests that come over if we'd ever have the craving. Finally on the other side of my fence I have two horses, one adult and one pony.

To begin my day I take my horse, and we go for a walk across a beautiful meadow. This meadow I have walked through so many times, but every time I do it feels like the first time! You just have no idea how beautiful nature can be, it blows you away to even think that anything more beautiful can exist! Me and my horse ride along a brick road that goes right through the center of the meadow. It was created this way so whoever walks through this path can breath in every single detail of the meadow. The grass is just perfect. It's the kind of grass that won't give you an allergic reaction. Good trim cut, not too short, yet not too long, but at the same time extra bushy. There are trees from every size, to the biggest and fatest ones you can possibly imagine to the babiest skinny ones that have just been planted. I love trees and I hate that people cut them down. They don't realize how much trees help us, and the amount of oxygen they provide us! The trees are surrounded by flowers. Tulips, Daisys, Sunflowers, Lilies, Roses, Daffodils, Violets, and Jasmins. My absolute favorite ones! So I made sure, they were planted in my meadow. I noticed that my horse starts kicking, I turn around to see what is bothering his tail and noticed that butterflies are just messing with him. Butterflies are my most favorite thing! From hair accessories, to pictures, to seeing them out in the nature. I love butterflies, to me they symbolize beauty and freedom. I think it's amazing how a simple Caterpillar can be turned into something so fascinating and colorful as a butterfly, but yet still be as light as a feather. Other animals such as squirrels, rabbits, birds, frogs, ducks, and even a bear every now and then live happily in my meadow. They all found a way to settle into my meadow and make it their home. 

I look up to take a deep breath of all the beautiful smells that nature provides us that not even the best perfumes can compare too! As I finished inhaling and exhaling I open my eyes and see the sky. There is only one other place on earth where you would have skies like these and that is Albuquerque. Albuquerque is famous for many things, but when I am a 90 year old lady sitting in my rocking chair remembering my life I think Albuquerque's skies are what I will remember the most. If you really take the time to sit back and look at it, you will know what I am talking about. When I look back down at my path I realize that me and my horse are standing at the bottom of a mountain. I feel like an ant compared to this mountain it's huge! But as athletic as I am I know that I cannot back down a challenge, I strive to climb it. So I leave my horse there and start climbing that mountain.

As I climb I hear howls from wolves, I sniff the air and realize it's fresh water. Soon, I hear water running down and realize there are many waterfalls in this mountain. Because of the water there are many mosquito's so I start getting a little itchy, good thing I brought some OFF! spray in my bag. I continue hiking my way until I reach the very top. As I am in the top, I turn around and take a good look at the world that is beneath me. As I stand there I watch I find it hard to believe that such a beautiful planet can be filled in with so much hate, anger, violence, and horror. The saddest part is that this is all created by human beings. I quickly get over that and remember my whole purpose of being here. It didn't take long to search, I instantly saw it, finally I am standing in front of what I have been seeing in my dreams many times. A temple. Not just any ordinary temple, a Mayan Temple. Based on every history book we read and every lesson that we've been taught we've known that the Mayans mysteriously disappeared, but no one knew that they left behind this stone temple that will only open to people that have Mayan Ancestry in them. The doors to this temple are stone, but they are circular and have a Mayan symbol right in the middle of it. 

As I step in and close the door I look around the small warm stone room and in the far end in front of me, I just see a statue of a Mayan God, and the Virgin Mary surrounded by a single white Rose with a stepper that you would see at church to get on your knees and pray. There are candles on every corner to give the room light. I step down on the stepper and start to pray and give thanks for every single detail and everything I've been through in my life so far.

You may ask yourself, why in the world would I travel so far up through a meadow and up a mountain just to pray, if I can do that whenever I want in a simple ordinary Church? Well that's not the point in my journey, the point was that you have to work to get things, give back for everything you have in life. Going through this whole journey and taking the time to see all my surroundings and experiences made it worth way more than going to church all my life and never missing a day. When I finally arrived at this temple I was not only exhausted but I felt a warm nice special feeling, like if I've met all my family down to the very first generation. I felt connected to earth in a way no one can ever explain, I've found the roots of life by doing this.

Assignment #15:-->Multiple Intelligence Essay

Sometimes Your Intuition is right all along

Jackie's parents said "We will be home pretty late at night, so see you later take care and behave!" With that said the front door closed and Jackie had the whole day by herself, including the house. She was watching t.v. but started to get a little bored, so she decided to get ready. While she was getting ready, Jackie was thinking of her boyfriend Jason. Like a typical teenager he was all she thought about. She pulled out her phone and started texting him. He answered rather quickly, since Jackie was going to be alone all day today she decided that she was going to invite him over to her house so they can spend the day together. Without giving it a second thought she did, he said he will be there in 30 minutes.

Jackie was pretty eager and was starting to get a little bit of an adrenaline rush, because she had never invited her boyfriend over without her parents knowing. Her boyfriend Jason got there when he said he was and everything was working out great. Soon Jackie was starting to get a weird gut feeling and down deep a voice in the back of her mind was telling her to get her boyfriend out of the house that it looked wrong and it wasn't a good idea. Jackie ignored that voice thinking it was just the rush of adrenaline talking. She kept on with the fun and pleasure with her boyfriend.

After a few more minutes Jackie and Jason heard the front door open and then Jackie new there was a meaning why she was having that gut feeling she ignored earlier. At that precise moment Jackie thought "I wish I can go back in time." 

Book Report:-->It's not you It's me

This week I read a book titled It's not you it's me, by Kerry Cohen Hoffman. It's a book about a typical teenage breakup between Zoe and Henry. In the story Zoe of course needs to prove to Henry that he made a mistake. Zoe tends to revolve her world around Henry and that causes her to loose her friends, reputation, and grades. 

This book throws out a very valuable lesson that if you dig just a little to look for, it's not hard at all to find it out. "Never make someone your everything, because when they're gone you're left with nothing." This quote pretty much explains itself. But to put more detail into it, by this quote I mean that it is very common in high school that when girls have boyfriends they tend to forget everything else that surrounds them, and just focus themselves and their whole worlds on their boyfriends. In most cases the boys eventually get bored of their girls and just end up tearing their heart apart and stomping all over it. These girls' life's end up being crushed, because they end up with nothing but just thinking obsessively how to get their boyfriends back. It's pretty sad, but in reality it's a pretty common story in high school. With time most girls get over it and move on with their lives, knowing that they will always have a love story to tell their children someday.

From my own experience I have been through some pretty big bumps in my road, regarding my boyfriend and my friends. "Everyone makes mistakes, were only human, but it's better to learn from your mistakes then to live life with the -what could have been?-." During my sophomore year I had all a girl my age can ever ask for: the perfect boyfriend,friends and family who love me, but never would I have thought that I would have to put myself in the position of choosing either my "perfect" boyfriend or my suppose "best" friends. I was really falling hard for this guy, the problem was I only saw him on the weekends. My friends, well I saw them at school pretty much everyday. Time passed and all I wanted to do was see my boyfriend on the weekends, it's not that I didn't want to spend time with my friends, but I was growing up and my relationship with this guy wasn't so typical. Every week they seemed to grow more angry at me, so a very good friend of mine told me that it was getting at a point were I should make a decision of either choosing my friends or my boyfriend. Without giving it a second thought I said I was going to break up with my boyfriend because I didn't want to lose my friends, they meant everything to me. Then that girl made me realize something else she said not to be dumb, to think about it, because those two girls were just friends, that would most likely only last through high school; And that I would never find another guy like my boyfriend, because there was something special about us.

It took me some time but I made the decision in choosing my boyfriend over my friends, and I can honestly say it has been worth every single second of it. There is not a day I regret this decision, because without those two girls, I am so much happier. I do have much of a grudge and hate towards them, but I honestly don't wish them bad in their lives. I also have several true friends in my life, that won't dare ever to leave me like they did. Sometimes in life, your mistakes can be the best thing that has ever happened to you!

Assignment #14--> Uniforms

Mrs. Griego scheduled a meeting with specific students for Friday including me because she wanted to know what we think of changing our dress code to uniforms. It's informed that she received an e-mail from the school board that they are highly considering changing all the high school's dress code, to uniforms only, but they want to analyze an experiment and test out our school first; Since it is the newest high school.

The school board believes that if doing this drastic change in all high schools, our testing scores would shoot up and it will stop a lot of insecurity and discomfort that lots of students experience at their high school years. Even though their points are clear, they are not stated as clear facts. Therefore, you cannot be sure that this "experiment" will work. When we're in Elementary school and Middle school it is required for us to were uniforms for a variety of purposes. Some which include, helping prevent Gangs from forming on Campus, it encourages discipline for the children, it helps students resist peer pressure to buy trendy clothes, it helps identify intruders in the school so we know that the child is safe, it diminishes economic and social barriers between students, it increases a strength of belonging and school pride and over-all it improves the child's school attendance.

All of these reasons are very helpful in the child's learning development to grow into young adulthood, but once your out of middle school and going into high school it's a whole new cycle of life for the child. High school is an open door to determine the rest of your life. You learn to be more mature, and make decisions on your own to start determining your future. Since Atrisco Heritage Academy is such a college-prep school, and they want us to behave more like young adults, making us wear uniforms would be totally irrelevant. Wearing school uniforms can't make our test scores go up, because it's not like our uniforms are going to have brains in them, or give us answers. The only way to improve our test scores is by us the students because the teachers can only do so much. Students make the decisions of either spending the night studying and eating a good breakfast to prepare themselves for testing, or ditching it all to go hang out with their friends or boyfriends and girlfriends. Students know that if they need help in a subject for example math, they should go during lunch or after school to their teachers or ENLACE to tutor them. We as students have all the materials to help us succeed with testing, it is only up to us to use those materials wisely, no uniform can determine that.

Uniforms have other strong opponents. They are not going to stop student violence, in fact it's just like putting a band-aid on the issue of school violence. Uniforms are an easy target for bullies from other schools to track you down. Also, they are not just a financial burden for poor families that cannot afford school uniforms they also impact on additional expense for parents who pay taxes for a free public education. Some kid's families are just not as fortunate as others and for them it's like selling an arm to be buying uniforms for their children, not including the families that have up to three kids or more going to high school at the same time. They can't just buy one, they have to, but a few pair of uniforms for each child, and with the economy today it will just add another white hair to their heads.

Finally I believe that uniforms in high school violate completely the student's right to freedom of expression. How can you show your own unique style out in the world, if everyone has to look exactly like everyone? If the purpose is to be young adults I think we are grown up enough to know what is right to wear. Since this will be brand new, it would be very difficult to enforce in Public High Schools, because everyone is so used to wearing what they please, and when a high school student is against something they will make some noise about it!

To wrap it all up, what I am trying to say is that this is simply a bad idea. The school board really needs to review all the kids point of view and listen to their voice. It would cost more and just be more trouble to get everyone settled into the uniform policy then to just leave stuff as they are. So just let it be, it's a dress code so people don't just come literally however they want, but they do get to put some of their style into it.

Assignment #13:Halloween Haiku

All Hollows eve night. Finally it's time to rise. From tombs, coffins, land.

Spirits, Souls, Ghosts haunt. Just as for this night. Anything is possible.

Listen good and well, don't wander alone out there, Happy Halloween!

Assignment #12:The Black Cat

We read the story The Black Cat during class. In this story, the narrator portrays a man who is fond of animals, had a tender heart, and is happily married. Within several years of his marriage, his general temperament and character make a radical alteration for the worse. He grows moodier, more irritable, and more inconsiderate of the feelings of others. This change for the worse caused by alcohol, ends in the narrator’s waiting on death row for the murder of his wife.

It's a simple story with so many human wisdom lessons that are a little hard to catch. The main human wisdom of this story is that "We hurt the ones we love." Without realizing we as human beings do this act all the time, is it a matter of fear of getting hurt ourselves, we don't know, but we always do this, and sometimes we take it too far and we can't erase our mistakes. The man clearly loved his Cat and his wife, but throughout time and because of the over-consumption of alcohol he turned into a monster that didn't have trust for anybody so he ended up killing the ones he loved the most.

The first Cat had unconditional love towards it's owner and trusted him completely. Animals are the most loyal friends you will have because they will always stick with you no matter what. When the owner mistreated the cats they always came back to him and loved him no matter what. The cats only saw how alcohol was ruining the man's life, but they couldn't do anything, but still love him and forgive him, and that's exactly what they did. In other words, they became the owner's conscience and the owner became so violent that he couldn't stand it. The owner took way too much advantage and lost them both. Unconditional love is the kind of love our parents have towards us because no matter what we say they will still love us because we are a part of them. Unconditional love comes in other circumstances too, no matter how much you hurt a person or a person hurts you, you still love them with all your heart and want to be with them. We as human beings mistreat this love, in fact it may be the worse kind of love, and might cause a lot of pain.

A wise man told me that "What you put out in the world is exactly what comes back." As in Karma. Now that I'm a little older and getting at an age were I am more mature I realize that this is true. What you do always comes back to you. Especially when you try to hide something your conscience will expose you and that's exactly what happened with the man. He thought it was all good his plan of hiding the corpse of his wife in the wall, but when the investigators appeared and as questions he became way too nervous, and of course he was busted. He will not only pay by rotting in jail, but he has to live with the image of his dead Cat and wife. That image will be haunting his dreams for the rest of his life.

You only live a life once, you really got to take advantage of it. Do not let alcohol or drugs take over your life, and turn you into something you are not. Don't hurt the ones you love, if you don't love them the right way you lose them and until then you will know how horrible you feel without them. The first step is admitting you are wrong and that you have a problem, then get help; Because if you don't you might have a story to tell just like this man did.

Assignment 11:The Concrete Rose

When you read this poem a lot of things come to your head, depending from which angle point you look at it. Tupac Shakur was a confessional poet to some, and others a modern menace, and thug. People believe he deserved to die and that the person who shot him should get an award, others believe that he didn't and that he still lives in their souls up to this day. There has always been a bright, and dark side to him, Tupac said himself, "For every dark night, there's a brighter day". WHY are we always in search of bad in someone on a constant can-pane to discredit an individual. Just because a person looks or dresses a certain way doesn't mean that person will steal your car, break in your house and rape your daughter, no. I personally think that Tupac Shakur hanged out with the wrong people, did some bad things, but never really was a bad person. Even though he is dead, I give him my respect because I appreciate him and his music, he wrote some really great songs.

In the poem above, he says, "Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams, it learned to breathe fresh air." People will fall, but you will rise again by seeing there is a light at the end and if you keep on walking you will reach it. "During your life, never stop dreaming. No one can take away your dreams." We all at one time or another have been the Rose that grew from the concrete, but we have to keep our dreams in order to grow. Tupac also talks about how when no one cares, when your dreams seem inaccessible and unachievable, if you perceive, you can be the rose. It alludes to him being the rose, and how he defied nature by breaking free of his environment his words were the feet he needed to walk out of there. In other words, he learned to achieve a step further from himself and was successful by his music and poetry.

Tupac Shakur had a pretty short life. Only at 25 years old Tupac Shakur (Lesane Parish Crooks), was shot and killed before full filling his dream and successful career. He was born in New York City, but spent much of his time in Harlem, then Baltimore, Maryland. In 1988 his family moved to Oakland, California, where he first gained noticed as an MC in 1991 with the group Digital Underground. His music, which was filled with violently lyrics that promoted cop killing and misogyny became some trouble with the law. Tupac later then got himself into more trouble with the law being convicted of sexual assault with one of his female fans. Throughout time he released more albums and was in films including one co-starring it with Janet Jackson. Unfortunately, he was shot and killed in a drive-by a few months before the release of his latest film Gridlock'd which was to be released in 1997. He was hit by four bullets while riding in a car driven by Death Row Records chief executive Marion 'Suge' Knight. His right lung was removed in emergency surgery and, after six days in a medical coma, he died.

To my Conclusion, Tupac Shakur was undoubtedly one of the most successful MCs of all time. Even after his death, he has sold a total of 67 million records worldwide making him the highest selling rap/hip-hop artist of all time! Tupac is widely regarded as the greatest rapper of all time. However, 2Pac was much more than that. His strong lyrical content grew a huge array of followers, making him a hero among millions. He was a great poet and his theory on life influenced his fans to a huge extent. He was indeed the Rose That Grew from Concrete, whose ever-successful work couldn't have been more admired and loved.

Book Report:Shrink to Fit

Leah Lynette Mandelir was a basketball star, she had it all to go to college and play basketball for UCLA. But the pressures of her mother who was a model and wanted her to follow her footsteps, the cheerleaders who were tiny little twigs and still not satisfied with themselves, and her love for her best friend who loves her brain and mind, but drools over the tiny China doll girls, got to her and almost killed her. She was tall beautiful and 200lbs. of muscle and ended up tiny fragile with 140lbs. and no body fat in less than a month and a half.

Sometimes just not having your high school sweetheart notice you might be enough to break your heart, and make you want to be like the tiny little cheerleader he does notice. You get so caught up in looking like the ideal model type you forget who you are are inside. It's not about looks and how people show their beauty on the outside because beauty and hair is just borrowed, sometimes it's not even yours you can now buy such things as extensions, it's just something to remind you how good you can feel and throughout time it is taken away from you. What really matters now is what you got on the inside, what you bring out to people and what you show through your soul by giving out so much and not expecting nothing else in return. That's the kind of person that someone should be interested in because at the end of the day it's what really matters.

The pressures of being a teenager is hard especially if your family is falling apart and you got no one to support you. You might think that if you get skinny enough more people will like you and accept you and all your problems will be solved, but that is just not how the cookie crumbles. If you need to look a certain way in order to fit in a group or to have a person to like you then you are just wasting your time. God took his time to create everyone a special different way, and its silly to think that you have to look like someone else without realizing you're supposed to look the way you are. I am not saying that I have a problem with people losing weight I think it's fine if you do it the healthy right way. But when you over obsess over it then you have a problem.

These are one of the two most valuable human wisdom's I learned from reading this book. Even though I read it quite fast, I payed very close attention to it, and didn't just read the story, I put myself into it. When you put yourself as one of the characters in the story, its like you make the same decisions and learn the same lessons as the book teaches you. When you do that in a story you know the book is good and the author did a very good job with it.

Assignment #10 Bullying

Bullying, it has been a very big issue in America today. You may look at bullying and think that it's not such a big deal, kids will be kids, its part of growing up and you need to toughen up. Yea bullying starts off as a little game, but it ends up with someone ending their life because of it. It makes you feel scared, angry, stressed, unwanted, helpless, like if you did something to deserve the way you are being treated. It ends up with you losing all your self-esteem and making you feel so worthless that you want to end your life. Bullying has gotten so serious that many number of cases have been brought up, and our dear President Obama has spoken to the public to inform teachers and parents that this issue needs to stop and that it's just not right.

I don't think that bullying people is right. My question is why do you have to care so much about someone else's life to be dealing with every day? I can't believe how young boys and girls are treating each other at such an early age and how the parents of these bullies accept this kind of behavior. I have a very mild case of bullying that I fortunately learned to grow out of. When I was in Elementary School, there was a girl that I met in third grade and she became my best friend. It was an odd friendship because when it was just the two of us she would be so nice to me, yet when other people were around she would be so different and mean and say rude things about other people. Throughout the years I became distant from her because I realized that I didn't want that kind of person in my life, but in my fifth grade year she started to attack me. Not literally attack, but she would gossip about me with her other friends, and she would make fun of my acne that was pretty bad back then, but I eventually grew out of. I would just ignore her, we went on to sixth grade together. It was my first month of sixth grade that a good friend of mine told me that she heard her talk in class with her clique that they wanted to beat me up after school. I was pretty shocked, that's when that good friend of mine took me to the office and helped me tell the counselors what was going on. The office took care of it, it took lots of courage, but I did it, and I avoided a lot more problems. Throughout the rest of the year I just ignored her and went on with my life. The last time I remembered seeing her was about midway through seventh grade, and I haven't heard or seen her since. I am glad that she is out of my life, with this I learned a lesson about my better friend choices. Never make them your everything because they will back stab you at the second they can. . well some of them.

What hurts me the most in this situation, was that she was my best friend. I would never think that one day my best friend can end up hating me so bad for no reason at all. I think that people start bullying because of the fact of being popular and the cliques you have at school. Sometimes it can even be a simple dare, or your friends joking around thinking it's so funny making fun of someone without realizing you are hurting their feelings. In my school there is this boy that is from the country we've dealt with terrorists. People pick at him on a regular basis, even his friends. They are all just joking around and messing with each other, but sometimes they take it too far, and you can see in the eyes of the kid that his feelings are hurt. One day I asked the kid if does it bother him that they're always joking around about him, and he simply said that he's used to it and that there is nothing he can do. The guy sure knows how to defend himself and makes up his own jokes too, I guess that's just how he chooses his friends and he's okay with it.

Bullies don't see how bad they make another person feel, and how serious what they're doing really is. I really appreciate that schools are opening up and getting serious about this bullying situation because if bullying causes someone to end their own life, and you hear that same story again over and over again you know that this is serious and there must be a stop to it! Everyone can get help, from either the counselor, teacher, parent, or any other close adult that can help you because when you speak your voice you will be heard.

Assignment #9 Alien Contact

It was our senior year finally, and we were making history for the first time at our school. The Atrisco Girls Varsity Soccer Team had an outstanding record of 17-0-2! Finally, after so many years of hard work we were the ones making history, we were the ones winning and we were the ones automatically getting into the State Tournament. Since this year we were a 5-AAAAA school we were playing with the toughest teams in the state so we already new what we were dealing with when we played our Tournament match. The tournament was beginning the very first Saturday of November. Today it was Saturday October 23, realizing we only had a little time to get ready our coach scheduled practice for us the very next day.

It was 9:00am the weather was freezing, but we were outside getting ready to do what we love to do. Before we began our running for two whole hours, our Coach Eric quickly introduced us to a new transfer student that was going to start for the varsity team and play with us in State. We were very surprised that Coach Eric would just accept her like that without even trying out and let her play for state, but according to her records this girl was an outstanding soccer player. She has been playing since she was only four years old! So it was to our benefit, the girl came to introduce herself to the team. It was quite awkward and some of the girls started to giggle because her entire face and hair except for the eyes was wrapped and covered in a soft scarf-like cloth. You see this girl was from a small town called Arabi-Babilo or so she says, so it was a common custom to have your face wrapped like this. It was strange, but we quickly became used to it.

We introduced ourselves and the girl just kept staring at us with wide eyes, so very wide I never saw any eyes like this before. They were so beautiful though, it was a brownish-hazel color that made them look almost orange-green. We each said our names and welcomed her to the team, she just kept staring at us as if mesmerized. To cut off the awkwardness some bit, we began to get in line for our 10 minute warm-up. After that we began to play a game our coaches called, penny-tag. Were we put pennies in our shorts and chase each other around to tag them and pull it off. The new girl quickly got into the game and started giggling and having fun with us. She was hard to get because she was super fast. One of the fastest sprinters I have ever met. Not even our coaches were able to get her. Finally, Cinthia sneaked up on her and ended up tackling her over before she had a chance to get away. When she did that she accidentally pulled her scarf-like cloth off and revealed the girls face and hair.

We all got quiet as we were watching the girls reaction. She didn't let us see her face and she covered it, crying very loudly. A few minutes passed and we were finally able to calm her down, her she still covered her face with her hands though, but not her hair anymore. Her hair was so beautiful it was chocolate-brown and it fell in long-layered waves all the way down her back. We couldn't figure out why she would cover her face if her hair was that gorgeous. We finally begged her to please show us her face, and still with a little doubt she decided she had nothing to lose if she did show us her face. All of us, including our coaches let out a little gasp as the girl removed her hands from her face and showed it to us. Her skin was a strange greenish color, and we didn't even realize how long and slender her hands were. We all new what this meant, but no one was able to admit it out loud.

The girl looked so scared as if she made a wrong decision and she was about to get up and run away when I stopped her and asked her that what was her purpose of coming to this planet and joining the soccer team, especially our soccer team. She calmly told us that she is not here to harm us, she is here because in her planet there was no such thing as soccer, it was only on TV for professionals. She had watched the World Cup the summer of last year and she said she always dreamed of playing the sport she loves, and having a crowd watch her. So she came to us because she could see that we all had 100% of our hearts in Soccer and that we wouldn't judge anybody to play with us.

She said that she was glad that she made the right choice in coming that when she plays soccer with a group of girls she doesn't even know, she feels like family and that she can be accepted anywhere and right on fit in. She said we would make her dream come true if we let her play with us in State and after that she would go to her planet home back where she belongs as if she never appeared, and that she will be watching us from way out into space. We more than gladly let her join us. Finally, that Saturday we so eagerly waited for came up and we knew we were ready for it. Surprisingly Rio made it to State too and they were our opponents. The game ended with us beating them 5-2, and our little Alien Soccer star made two goals. It was late and the game ended, everyone left except the team and the coaches. Our Alien friend did as she promised, but before she left she hugged us and thanked us so much, she gave each of us a necklace, it was a soccer ball with our number engraved on it. On the back of the necklace was a little quote it said: "you can achieve anything you want, as long as you set your mind on it, love Stella" That was her name Stella, and we never knew until that last minute, and we knew exactly what she was referring too with that quote. We remained playing in state and we won the Championship it was the greatest year for us, but the biggest memory we all remembered was meeting Stella and the impact she brought to us.

Book Report:What my girlfriend doesn't know

What my Girlfriend doesn't know was about a young man who finally got the girl of his dreams, but they are both constantly being taunted and made fun of because the guy is not good enough for the girl, the girl and the guy decide to stick together no matter what and won't let anything pull their love apart. . . but as always guys are not very smart human beings. Funny how the mind of a male teenager works. It's quite different from the mind of a female teenager. What my girlfriend doesn't know, turned out to be a very hilarious, tempting book about young love and the beauty of art.

I've learned that even though in High School you might be the outcast that everyone picks on when you get to college it's a whole new chapter to your life, and no one picks on you for your differentials, they are all grown up and just focus on their education. Usually in College you won't see the annoying little clicks or the jocks and people that are judgemental, usually those people don't end up being half as successful as you might become, and you are welcomed everywhere in College. I've also learned that if you really love a person your love will last, not mattering if it's your high school sweetheart or you 30 year marriage life partner. You shouldn't let your school reputation bring you down from your happiness, and if your friends really are your friends they will stick to you no matter what your decision is and they will support it.

I really enjoyed this book it was written in journal form, sort of and it was very funny. I learn how you can communicate by the beauty of art, and by drawing pictures instead of talking, one day I will try it. It did have actual facts about what goes on in high school, and the pressures of growing up, but it added its own twist to it and turned out to be very romantic and hilarious.

Book Report:Twins=)

This week I read the novel Twins by Marcy Dermansky. Imagine all your life having someone by your side knowing you are stuck with them until college dues you apart . . . or not. It starts on the eve of their thirteenth birthday Sue makes Chloe get tattoos to prove that no matter what they will be together forever Chloe didn't really want this but she guiltily accepts. That's when Sue decides to become an obsessive twin, thinking she can get whatever she wants and have Chloe with her no matter what that way. Over the course of five years these two girls struggle with heartbreak, unhappy vacations, eating disorders, pill abuse, getting neglected by their parents, living on their own, and the first painful explorations of love and sex. Sue and Chloe have to support each other through all this.

With a little kick of humor to it, when I read this book I learned more about myself and how hard it is being a teenager. There are just so many things you can handle, being perfect, getting good grades, keeping up with sports and having a life may not always be the best to your abilities and every now and then you do need a break. You do have the temptations of course but drugs and eating disorders are not a way to comfort you, at the moment it may feel good but later on you just end up more miserable then you already started. I am not saying I am perfect but I know better and can control myself.

However, Love and caring was what these girls really needed in their lifes, it's what everyone needs in their lifes actually. Without the proper love and care of family, it is pretty hard to support yourself throughout the rest of your life's. Therefore, you start making bad decisions about all your surroundings. I know that some people are just not meant to be parents and that's okay but you just can't ignore them forever, I would rather be with someone else who will be a parent for me and provide me with all the love and caring I need. Instead of being neglected and abandoned in your own house.

I give this book two big thumbs up and very highly recommend it. This book really inspired me to be a better person in life, and to  make better decisions about myself and my body. There are just things you have to let go of, and when you do, the best thing in your life may just occur only then.

Assignment #8 The Necklace=)

Throughout your lifetime you learn from your mistakes, you either learn simple things your mother taught you or you learn things the hard way. When you read the story "The Necklace," you quickly learn lots of lessons taught in the story, and these aren't typical everyday lessons they are lessons that we as people often take for granted in life. That is exactly what the main character did in this story, she got too caught up in herself and thought she deserved better than everyone else just because she was beautiful. Instead of just coming out with the truth since the beginning she decided to lie, and her lies caught up to her for about ten years, finally after those ten years, she found out that if she had just been truthful since the beginning, she wouldn't have to work her payback so hard all these years and boy did she have to get a payback! She lost what she had the most, her beauty.

In every story there are morals that come with them. Some are very obvious, but others are hard to seek, but will eventually come out. "The Necklace" had quite several of them that taught me many things. Lying doesn't get you anywhere in life, I know we as humans all lie, but if your lies get too deep than they are after you, it will turn around on you and bite you right back, where it hurts the most. You can lose so much just for lying. Like Mathilde did, all those years of being jealous of everyone else, and wanting to have money, riches, clothes and jewels didn't help her at all in the end.

With time people get old, ugly, and wither away. You will not be remembered for how beautiful you are on the outside and how much money and stuff you had. You will be remembered by the type of person you were in the inside, and the things you did with your life, to make you the best person you can be. Once you get at a certain age it won't matter to you about looks, and stuff and from that moment then you will find the true meaning of life. You just got to enjoy everything god gave you, and count your blessings. If you were born poor with a very bad family, there are ways to overcome that. For example, get an education a good spouse and make a beautiful well educated family and teach them all you can about life. Give them everything you can, but also make them understand that in life you can't always get what you want and that there are just things that matter more.

[Extra Credit] Our story continues. . .

April through September

Slowly I was fading away

I didn't care about that feeling, just wanted to play with the same emotions that caused my heart to be ripped apart

All those endless nights of dreaming, crying thinking what could have been?

Those other nights of just giving up, thinking what's the point?

Then suddenly like a newborn baby, my reason came back. . .

I have a new opportunity and I am not going to let my fear bring me down again

Like a  flower blooming in a wilthered garden I am fresh again and have a whole new beginning

I need to water my flower and give it sunlight, a sunlight of hope

Don't let it wilther, nothing is impossible

If the flower bloomed so will you, and your trust with me will re-main

We will make it. . .that's a fact 

Since June 30th, 2009

It's another beginning including you, it's our story

I am in love with you<3 =)

Book Report: Scribbler of Dreams=)

What would you do if the love of your life, is the one you're doomed to hate forever? That's the moral of the story on the book Scribbler of Dreams by: Mary E. Pearson. It all started with Kaitlin Malone and her sister when they are forced to go into a new high school which is the land of the enemy . . . The Crutchfields. Past down from generation to generation The Malones and The Crutchfields were doomed to hate eachother but then Kaitlin and Bram Crutchfield fall deeply in love, and soon Kaitlin learns that there is a whole different story about the Crutchfields and it's up to her to leave the "before" in the past and bring out a new future, besides since Bram loves her, he will forgive her and her family right?

This book is everything I love to find in books. It has romance, suspense, and true love. When I read this book it makes me wonder what if I was the one in the position of Kaitlin? I would be devastated to be tied up in the whole Romeo and Juliet idea, but then true love does conquer all. I myself, was never in the position of dating the enemy but I do have my own love story, and wow has it been a love story! Each day I grow more profound of my loved one, but at the same time I know it's a long start and it has only been the beginning.

In this story Kaitlin and Bram show their true love, and how that love, can break a history of hate, lies, and murder between two families. Even though it wasn't easy, and Kaitlin lies a lot, at the end it's all worth it, because no matter what her love is secure. I absolutely loved it, I highly recommend this book to young readers who like books in the form Romeo and Juliet idea. I don't think its going to happen but I kind of hope this book turns into a movie, it would be really nice. What I learned from reading this book is that never give up on someone you love, and lying sometimes has its good things, if you don't lie sometimes you get stuck with the "What could have been" idea, but remember that for every lie there is always a consequence.

Assignment #7 The Human Flaw

Jealousy-definition: Jealous feelings or behavior; an instance of being jealous or envy of others. Pretty simple explanation right, but yet this simple word can create a tornado of disasters. Even at the tiniest bit of jealousy, it can consume your entire body and create a monster out of you. You become such an envious evil person and do horrible things like lie, still, or even kill because of this emotion. It's not something you should be proud of, absolutely not.

Jealousy can start anywhere from early childhood too late adulthood. From silly little things like you want the teacher to give you a sticker for being the sharpest light bulb in class or from you will do anything to steal your best friends fiance because he is rich and you want the money. Jealousy is one of those emotions that can overpower you, and make you feel so insecure and frightened over things that are meaningless or doesn't matter to other people. If not controlled it can destroy your life, and make you wonder what could have been.

I think jealousy comes from a deep root, and that root is that we don't love ourselves enough that we have to compare ourselves with somebody else, always wanting to be like them or have the same things they have. We as humans don't like to accept this, but it's the reality. There will always be that little voice in your head saying "Oh, I wish I had that," or "Oh, I want my body to be like that," but it's up to you if you can shake it off and accept and love yourself and your body for whom you are and how god created you. We shouldn't let emotions take over our lives, we should be thankful for what we have. And instead of being jealous we should admire someone and help support them in life because that's how karma is what goes around comes around and one day we will have what we always wished for. Of course we can't have everything in the world because there will always be someone that will have something better, we have to be grateful for what we do have and thank our parents for all the hard work they do to give us what we have. We need to love, cherish, and create ourselves and be different in this world because god went through a lot of trouble to create you, why in the world would you want to be like somebody else?