What Do I Want From High School?

I want what I suppose every teenager wants out of high school; an education and a good time. Most teenagers simply sail through school, partying their way until graduation. As long as you can keep up a decent grade average, who cares? Senior year is when most kids worry their brains off. Then there are those kids who actually care about what happens with their grades before senior year. That would be me…..kind of.

I want to be able to get into an amazing college and have a successful career. But I also don’t want to be worrying away my high school experience with what’s going to happen after I graduate. College is a huge thing for me, but really, it’s not even college that I’m worried about. It’s whether or not the college I get into can fully prepare me for the future I want. My life practically revolves around my love of music and my passion for writing. I can fully understand that both careers are difficult to make a future in, but I also know that you are most likely going to be a successful writer than a famous musician. So that’s what I hope to achieve through high school. I want it to teach me as much as it possibly can about writing and how I can be an amazing writer.

Also, I find it ridiculous when people are too uptight and worrisome to actually get out and have some fun. High school is a time to get out and party. It’s a time to try new experiences and find out who you are so that when you finally mature enough to get out of your parents house, you know who you are and what/ where you need to be. I know that you shouldn’t do drugs or drink or be a complete slut, but you don’t need to sit in the house all day, studying over some huge textbook. That doesn’t make you relax more because you think you know the information, it worries you that you aren’t studying hard enough or working enough. It’s actually okay to go out and have fun.

Lastly, I hope to show the world that I am who I am, to find myself so that when I move out I never have to question it. I know most people hope to find themselves one day or even say that they’ll just be who they think themselves to be, but I’m not them. I don’t feel like I fully know exactly who I am. I get who I want to be, things that I enjoy, but there’s a difference between knowing who you are and doing what you know. I want to be who I am, accomplish what I want, and make sure everyone around me knows that I’m not about to change the way I am or who I am for anyone.

So, what do I want from High School? I want to find myself, get an education, and have the experience of a lifetime.

The Little old Lady Who Live in a Shoe: Remake

Why would a little old lady live in a shoe? You have a dozen kids and yet you manage to be a widow who lives in a smelly old shoe. Let’s say that your husband left you after the first two kids, and then you met one man after another and had a bunch of other kids. But the sad thing is only a couple of them have the same father. Because why? Because after you had kids with one guy he would leave you and whatever kids you had together or before you met him.

By kid number ten you’re probably feeling a little bit….unwanted. You only have a very small paying job as a waitress in the local pub and can only afford the shoe house that some high architect built thinking it was ingenious…until it wasn’t. But by the time he realized it wasn’t it was too late. But hey, it was lucky for you because you found a house that can fit you and your dozens of children and fit into your budget. Yeah! Now you have a ton of kids, a low paying job, and a stinky shoe of a house…literally.

            So now you are well aged and guys no longer find you appealing. You lost your youth and beauty to years of child birth and the raising of children. You are to the point where you are wondering why on earth you thought having kids with all those guys, who didn’t even stay around, was a good idea. Not to mention the fact that it doesn’t matter how many people know your story, not one of them know your name. Instead they whisper behind your back about how unfortunate your situation is and how they find you to be a very unholy woman to have so many children and only have a couple that have the same father. You aren’t just a piece of the town gossip, you are the town gossip.

               

            You are mean and nasty due to the years of misfortune in your life. You can barely feed your kids and only give them some broth. That’s it. Not even a measly piece of bread, you save all the bread for you plus all the scraps you get from the pub. But you don’t want to give your children what you think you disserve after so many hard years of raising your ungrateful children.

Not once have they thanked or shown appreciation to you for giving them some broth and keeping them around when you could just as easily put them into an orphanage.

            To make up for their error, you whip them soundly before sending them to bed. Well, bed might be an over exaggeration. Some of them have beds, all of them share a bed, and some even have to sleep in cupboards or on the cold, hard floor.

            You spend the rest of your life complaining about what you don’t have or how hard your life is instead of actually enjoying what you do have or the children that you have. So, when you die, your kids bury you in the backyard, next to the heel of the old shoe, have a simple funeral and move on. Occasionally they’ll have nightmares of the mother they had, but they still manage to find more fortune and happiness in their lives than you ever managed to.

The Young Death of Pripyat

     Pripyat was a young city with barely even a chance to begin. Relatively new the city was modernized and had a small population of people. But, after a fatal nuclear disaster the city was cleaned out. Now all that remains of this new city is remains. Cars rusting on the streets where they were last used, children’s toys and books lying around in classrooms that would most likely never be used again, and infant sized gas masks scattered among the debris. Animals occasionally will roam through here, or people will take safe guarded tours to this burial ground, but other than this, Pripyat is now a ghost town with no soul in sight.          

      This poor city was only around 16 years old when it died. How could something so awful happen to a place as innocent as this? There were children, elderly, and young couples just finding a beginning here, but then it was taken away from them.  One nuclear disaster later and everything is gone and wiped out. I don’t know if someone can ever recover from this, or if they ever will. I can’t believe that this could happen to them, and when I read that children had been hurt as well, or even infants? It’s almost too much to bear. I really hope that the people can figure out a way to clean up this mess, or to fix what has been done. I think this just goes to show that you can never be too careful with things like this. But I wish that I could be there to help these people or do something for the families of these people, because it is such a hard loss to bear. This world is full of changes that occur through the hardest of circumstances, but I know that if they can pull through it something great can rise from its ashes.

Hiroshima- False Credit

                Charles Pellegrino wrote a book about the atomic destruction of Hiroshima, but it was later found that one of his main sources for the book, Joseph Fuoco, was actually a fake and lied about being there. The actual pilot that was on that plane was in fact flown by a James R. Corliss. Apparently Mr. Fuoco was an alternate pilot who did NOT fly that night. Mr. Pellegrino’s book was based off of his story and upset Corliss’s family and others who read it and saw that it was not the true information of what actually occurred that day. People are saying that Pellegrino should go back and rewrite those accounts in the book to the True information. He has said that he will go back and fix the book to be republished with the real information.

                The amazing story of how they flew over that explosion, it just astonishes me. I would be scared to death, but those brave people in that plane flew over it and survived. It was indeed a very dangerous experience and they were very lucky to make it. Fuocco should be ashamed that he tried to take credit for flying that plane when the real credit for flying it goes to James R. Corliss. If I were Corliss or even his family I would be extremely upset. Credit should go where credit is earned. Pellegrino obviously did not do a whole lot of research or background checks to make sure that his information was correct; otherwise he would’ve realized that Fuocco had given him False information. It just goes to show that you have to be careful with the information you’re given. Also, I’m glad there are honest people still in this world that stood up to open the eyes of people to tell them the truth of what happened that terrifying day.

   

Yitta Schwartz dies leaving around 2,000 descendants! Claims it to be her duty to God

        Yitta Schwartz died leaving around 2,000 descendants to carry down the family line. She had 15 children, more than 200 grandchildren, and so many great- and great great grandchildren that the number is not known for sure. She was born in 1916 and lived throughout the Holocaust and even had children during that time period. She claims that the reason she had so many children was that it was something that God wanted her to do. That the more kids or descendants that she had, the more she fulfilled what she was meant to. She was a very kind old woman and faithfully attended first haircuts, bar mitzvahs, engagements and weddings of her descendants. She was loved and cherished by her family very much. Even after her husband died she never seemed like a widow and even said, “When there are so many problems in life, I should put myself on the scale?” She always saw the upside to life and helped those that needed to see that as well.

        I can’t believe there was someone like this amazing woman in the world. She helped so many and did so much for people that she didn’t even know. She even buried a woman who had died when she was in a camp. She also took in strangers just because they needed her help. But with how large her family was and how little they actually had, it just goes to show that she did so much more than what she had to. Everyone has a duty to fulfill, to their people, and to their family. But what Yitta did was above and beyond the call of duty. She really was an amazing person.

       I don’t know if I would ever have that many kids…. because, ummm…. that’s a lot. One child sounds like plenty to me. But I think that now I will try a lot harder to go above and beyond. I want to be like Yitta and help people that need it, whether or not I have a lot of resources for myself. She just shows us all, that even if you have a little, you can really make it stretch to a lot of what matters.

Uzbekistan photographer convicted of publishing an "unflattering" picture

            Photographer, Umida Akhemdova, was convicted of publishing a picture that was said to intentionally show village life, in Uzbekistan, in an “unflattering light.” She was found guilty of “slandering and insulting” the Uzbek people, but was granted amnesty in honor of the anniversary of Uzbek independence.

            People, artists really, are scared to state their opinion or show their work with the possibility that it could be seen as offensive or “against the government.” They can’t freely state what they feel or see. It’s almost like they are caged away from their true potential or their inner artistic reality. Akhemdova now doesn’t think that she would ever be able to sell or publish her work because of this incident and hopefully can have it repealed. She is a talented photographer and doesn’t deserve to have her work so cruelly judged for showing what she saw. It is understandable that they could see her picture as offensive, but artists show what they see. The world doesn’t have to share it, but they shouldn’t shut down what they don’t fully understand.

            If this had ever happened to me I probably wouldn’t take it well. I think that people should state their opinions. Show who they are and what they stand for. Fake isn’t real, and this isn’t a fake world. The world is real, why shouldn’t the people be as well?

(This is the picture that started it all)

Alexa Loo, a Canadian snowboarder's story

    Alexa Loo is a snowboarder from Canada. She grew up next to the mountains and took her first ride on a board at the age of 15, not racing until 6 years later. In the Olympics of 2006 she was going down her second run when she took a nasty fall and came in 20th place. Then, in early 2007 she tore a knee ligament. She then partnered up with two humble business men, the Kin brothers, and made herself into a hero and idol to young people everywhere. The Kin brothers became wealthy business owners and Loo's story was published and she went from school to school telling her story. She also won a World Cup silver medal in Australia, and will once again represent Canada at the Winter Olympics.
    This article shows how people like the Kin brothers or Alexa Loo can start off from something small or difficult and reach and strive for their goals. The Kin brothers came from China, didn't know any English, and yet still managed to start a small business which later grew off into several stores. Loo started as a kid just messing around, went to the Olympics, got injured, and still managed to push past that and reach her ultimate goal of competing in races (and another Olympics), on top of all that she teamed up with the Kin brothers and got a book published about her story which she now goes around and tells to other people. If something as hard as an injury like hers had happened to me, or even moving to a completely different country, I would have found great strength in this article. I find strength in it regardless. It just goes to show you that giving up is never the answer. No matter how hard life gets for you, you need to push past the pain and hardships to make something great out of them. I don't think that you should ever let something like this limit you or what you do in life, your goals can always be accomplished. You just have to try and work for them, and that's exactly what the Kin brothers and Loo did. 
   If I felt the need to see more into this article I would definitely look up her book, or even just look up Alexa Loo online. I'm sure you could easily find information about her and her life, her hardships, and her successes. We set goals to achieve them, she set goals to strive for them.