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.