mothers everywhere

Yesterday was Mothers day, the day to honor all the wonderful mothers in the world. They do so much; they cook, they clean, they do the laundry, they even hold jobs outside the home. They drive and drive around town, dropping off kids right and left at sports practices and music lessons. They help their children study and prepare their school lunches. They are superwomen, they do EVERYTHING. For mothers day, I usually wake up early to make my mom a nice breakfast in bed and make her a card and buy her flowers to plant. But yesterday's mothers day was a little lazy for me since I got home at 5am from prom. I was much too tired to do anything, and I feel bad about it now. :( My mom does so much for me, and I should have taken the time to atleast make her a card telling her how important she is to me. Her birthday is in 4 days though, I'll make it up to her then by getting her a good gift. I remember in 4th grade I bought this journal and on each page I had a letter of the alphabet with a picture (that i drew with crayons) of something about her. (For example, (A) My mom makes the best apple pies. and (S) She has a gorgeous white smile that lights the room.) Cheesy little stuff like that was what I said in the journal. It was probably the best gift I've ever gave her and It was called the "book of mom." She loved it and still has it to this day. I'm glad I spent so much time on it, along with any other gift I've ever gaven her, because she is very important to me and she deserves all the time and effort I put into any gift.

junioritis

This year has gone by incredibly fast. I can't believe we have less than 20 days left and seniors are leaving in like a week. Saturday was prom, which I went to, and I didn't think all the much about the fact that for seniors, this is like the last time to "live it up." Since I'm a junior, I wasn't all the worried about having the night be totally perfect, because there is always next year. I feel bad for seniors, even though they are the "topdogs" at Kennedy High School, they are going under A LOT of stress within the past few months. Graduation, graduation parties, trying not to slack off too much for their grades, living up the last month of their high school career, prom, etc. Everything is thrown at you at once. I know that when I'm a senior, I'm going to look back and think, "Wow it feels like yesterday when I was a freshmen." It truly does. Time goes by fast and you shouldn't waste it by doing things you're going to regret. Junioritis has hit me though, I am slacking off in a lot of my classes because the weather is getting warmer and I am doing the minimum requirement in all my classes since I know the year is almost over. I understand all the stress seniors are going through and I feel bad for them, although they do get out of school in a couple of days. I am insanely jealous :P

technology: toooo much

This morning, as I was eating breakfast, I read an article on a family who uses their laptops to communicate with eachother. Except the kids are not included in this discussion-- just mom and dad. They said they do this so their two little boys, who looked about 10-years-old, couldn't hear what they had to say. I thought this was just plain cruel. How are you supposed to have a decent relationship with your kids if your constantly secretly messaging your spouse? How are you supposed to have a decent relationship with your spouse even? Technology has taken over our lives. Us americans are using computers, cell phones, etc. to communicate RATHER than talk face to face every day. This article in The Gazette made me so mad. I feel terrible for those kids. Now, I don't know how often the parents are on their little laptops, but if I were the kids I would intirely left out from my parents lives. The kids are probably going to less sociable when they grow up because they are used to their parents using computers to communicate rather than speaking out loud. I hope society doesn't take after this family because techonology is getting over the top these days.

summer is here!

Today I was sitting outside enjoy the gorgeous spring weather. My ideal weather is sunny with temperatures in the 60s to 70s. Nothing colder, nothing warmer. I think I could live like that year-round. Well, maybe I'd miss a white Christmas. With the sun shining on my face and listening to the birds chirping, it was so peaceful. Spring has sprung in my soul. :) I even did my homework outside! (Wearing sunglasses of course, so I wouldnt have to squint from the sun.) This kind of weather makes me much happier, I think it brings out the happiness in everyone. Just seeing light and getting some sun and fresh air is good for you. Summer, to me, means: laying outside attempting to get a tan, swimming in my friends pools, biking, running cross country, working, sleeping in, vacations, being lazy, and doing whatever I want! It's hard to believe this year is almost all over, less than a month is left. And in less than a year i'll be graduating.. wow. Time is going by fast. I'm glad the winter is finally over though, it's nice to see flowers and green grass for a change.

running leads to traveling

My dad is a marathon (26.2 miles) runner, which means my family and I go on a lot of trips to different states because he likes to run in different races. It's really fun, I like visiting new places, but constant vacations kind-of gets old :/ especially because I get annoyed with my brothers and parents FAST. This weekend my family and I are traveling to North Dakota. I've never been there before, but my dad wants to run a marathon there. It should be fun but it's an 8 hour drive :(. Last year around this time, my family and I drove to Nashville, Tennessee so my dad could run in Nashville's "country music marathon." I love country music, so it was a fun time despite the 10 hour drive. A couple years from now, after a lot of training and hard work, I hope to join my dad in finishing a marathon. I don't think I'll be looking for a good race time though, my hopes are to just cross the finish line. Running a marathon is very hard. It's a mental mind game. You have to keep telling yourself that you can finish. If you don't have any hope, then you won't make it. You also have to have to physical endurance. You can't train for a marathon in a couple months, it takes much longer. To be a marathon runner you have to be very determined and persistant with your work effort and I respect my dad very much for that.

mexican-american students walkout

In my Spanish III class we just got done watching the movie "walkout." It was really good, so I'm gonna do a blog entry on it :) "Walkout" is about a bunch of students who attend Belmont High School in Los Angelos, California. The teachers, who are white, discriminate against the chicanos (mexican-americans) even though chicanos are not the minority at their high school. There's a paddle in the their classrooms that says, "If it's not worth saying in English, than it's not worth saying at all." This is predjudice against the chicanos because they speak Spanish as well, and they get beat (or spanked) if they even say one word or phrase in Spanish. This movie takes place in the 60's but it was made only a couple of years ago. The chicanos also can't use the restrooms during lunch, the faculty is mean to them, and they can't share any part of their mexican culture in the classrooms. Mexican Americans are still very unheard of today, such as in history textbooks. We hardly ever hear about them, even though I know they played a huge part in history and they are ignored. The students at Belmont High are sick of being discriminated against and they want their rights. The main character Paula (who is played by actress Alexa Vega) starts a group that hands out surverys about being discriminated against because of your race. They eventually start picketting signs outside of school that say, "Brown is Beautiful," "Chicano Power," and "We want our Rights." Then, the group of students, stage "walkouts" which is when the students show up for class until the bell rings at 9am and then the students walkout of their school and start protesting. They do this because the teachers need the students there for their salaries, because they get paid based on attendance of the students. The teachers eventually give in and decide to consider what the chicanos want. They get some of the things they want but not everything, chicanos are still fighting for equal treatment to this day. But that doesn't really surprise me, since I see discrimination everyday at Kennedy still.

looking at photo essays & comics

Today on Mr. Ayers blog we were instructed to look at the links he had for slate.com (a magazine.) He wants us to look at photo essays and comics combining words and pictures to tell a story. The photo essays were very interesting. I think it's interesting that pictures can tell a story just as well as words can. My favorite photo essay he had linked was the one about the middle east war. The pictures were really good and they show what war is all about. Some of the pictures were a bit much though, I didnt like seeing all the blood in some, but I guess thats what you get for looking at pictures from a war. It looks like a professional photographer took them. I also liked the photo essay on the childrens drawings and what the children say about what they drew. It was kind-of like a story, but the pictures were the main component of the story, because without them then we wouldnt know what the kids were trying to say. I am excited to make our very own graphic essays. The hard part will be coming up with a topic that easy enough for me to draw!