My Book Report: Hello It's Me

Hello It's Me


By: Wendy Markham

When I first started reading this book I knew that it was going to be all about love. I thought I had experienced this feeling once before but I have fallen out of love so I had forgotten how it feels. Once I started reading this book and got into it I realized that I still know what it feels like to love. The main character, Annie Harlowe, is a widowed mother. She has to face the fact that the man she did love and was faithful to is dead, but when she meets another man, Thom Brannock, she can't help but fall in love all over again. She has trouble though because she had promised her husband, Andre that she would always remain faithful to him no matter what happened, even if he died. Unfortunately this is what happened.

I liked the problem she was faced with because I have been faced with a problem much similar to this. I read this book not just for fun but also read it almost like it was advice. It helped to realize that I am definitely not the only person to face these problems and feelings. I knew that some of the problems and feelings of emotion that Annie was experiencing is some of the ones that I already have experienced or will experience.

The book was also written in the second person so I also got to see what Mr. Brannock thought about the feeling of love, and how a guy deals with the same problems that they do in real life. This helped me a lot to understand that I wouldn't be the only one to get hurt in a situation that involves love.

Overall I think that this books teaching was about love and what to do with it. You love different people in different ways so it’s really easy to get hurt in most cases. I know that when I was reading this book I could relate too many of the problems and I knew that some of these problems I know how to deal with now because of reading this book.

Assignment #19: My Very Short Story

I opened the door and there it was that place I had been waiting my whole life to see. That place that no one said existed. I knew it did, deep down in my heart and here it was just to prove everyone was wrong and that I was right. It was so colorful and it gave you a warm feeling kind of like being home with your family and enjoying the company. The feeling of love was in the air and it was like a place that you would never want to leave. I knew that once I set foot inside this door I probably wouldn't want to either. This is what I wanted though, so without further ado I took my first step inside.

Compared to inside it was ridiculously warmer. I began to take a tour around the building with my eye's I didn't dare walk around without assistance from one of the many workers. I knew I would either get lost or get kicked out and I knew this was a place that I never wanted to leave just like I had anticipated. I continued to look around and saw many interesting things. I saw these machines that were created to help these workers but they weren't just any machines they were very funny looking it was almost as if they were animated in a way it was a funny thing to watch when they were doing their job. The workers themselves were very full of energy as they danced around the room singing their songs. They were definitely excited about something. I couldn't help but get excited myself.

All of a sudden everyone just dropped what they were doing. It startled me and I froze too. Then when no one said anything it began to scare me. I ducked really fast behind one of the machines. I felt as if I wasn't supposed to be there any more like if this was supposed to be kept only hear, like a secret. I didn't want to leave still so I tried hiding myself behind this machine the best I could and I didn't make a sound. That's when I finally heard a loud sound. It was the sound of a squeaky door opening. It was louder than it should have been due to how quiet it was in the room. I couldn't see who had made the noise or who had opened that door. What I could see though was on really tiny worker standing in my view. Since I couldn't see past the machine and I couldn't hear anyone talking I just watched this workers eyes. I watched his eyes because I wanted to see if his eyes could tell me the story of what was going on past this machine.

I knew that what he saw must have been the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life because his eyes were lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. He was almost in a daze due to how happy he was. I wanted to see really bad now what was behind this machine but felt like I couldn't.

Then I watched as the worker said with awe, "Good evening, Mr. Clause."

Assignment #18: My Poem

When you tell me you're not lying,
I believe you but the truth hurts.
"I do kiss other girls."
These five simple words broke me down.
It's the first time you have ever cut me down with the truth.
I don't understand, tell me you're lying.

Three minutes later.
I'm crouched in the corner,
not uttering a sound.

"Are you ok?"
These words aren't from your mouth.
I look up, tears rolling down my face like a raindrop rolling down a window.
It's not your face I see.
The face I see is that of an ex-lover.
Once he spoke those words to me I knew.
I knew we were never meant to be lovers,
but best friends.
He was there for me when the tears from another boy were there too.

I love you.

Now this phrase means so much more.
Behind these words is trust, friendship, honesty, and forgiveness.
Now these words are sacred.
They are spoken between a girl and a boy and yet it means so much more.

Assignment #16: The Journey

When I awoke this morning I was in the cabin, which I had built. It's where I should have been after all where else would I have gone in my sleep? It was rather warm in the cabin because it had been cold out lately I decided to finally sleep with the heater on. I walked over to the windows in the living room and opened the long curtains that were blocking out the sun. I let the sunlight pour into my living room and this inspired me to go into the kitchen and cook my parents breakfast because it was so peaceful. My parents don't live with me so this means I would have to take it to them, which was alright with me, it gave me a chance to go outside and soak up some sun, if it wasn't that cold of course. I walked into the kitchen and looked around, it was so clean and the sink seemed to be sparkling it was really nice to see. I looked through the cabinets and found the ingredients to make them some banana nut muffins. I hoped they would turn out good. As I put them in the oven to cook I continued on to my room to get ready. I walked through the long hallway that I had filled with many memories caught in photos. I loved to have most pictures up and out where people could see. Then I finally reached my room which had one single window and it was big. I picked out and outfit that would keep me warm on my walk and picked up the muffins from the kitchen and proceeded to my parent's house.

The field that I have to cross to get to my parents house is pretty long, I'd say it's about a mile in length. I love walking through it though. It's really beautiful. Today it isn't as cold as I expected it to be because as I look across this massive field I see various animals moving about. I look out far ahead of me and I believe I see a deer but it's too far to tell if it really is. I think back to this field during the spring. Every year it grows my favorite flowers, sunflowers. It isn't spring right now so there are no sunflowers in sight, this brings my joy down just a little bit, but it's ok. I know that just the last bits and pieces of this green grass is enough color, for now. Soon there will only be brown and yellow grass throughout the whole field. I hear something scurrying around to my left and as I turn I see the back end of a rabbit dashing behind a large tree. I hope it doesn't get to cold for him tonight. I also hope that these muffins stay warm because I'm almost done crossing this field, and when I do I will still have to climb the great mountain before I reach my parents house. This might take a while.

As I stand at the base of this mountain I'm starting to wonder if I should have just driven to their house because the temperature is beginning to drop. I think I should turn back, no I already came this far why not just take their breakfast all the way. I start climbing and it’s very rocky so I’m going to have to watch my balance as I continue on, walking on a rocky mountain is no easy task, especially when you have a basket of muffins in one hand and the other hand is beginning to freeze. When I finally look up I see that I'm already half way there which surprises me. How long had I been here it didn't even seem that long. Now that I think about it did get really cold this is because of the higher altitude. I know that these poor muffins better not freeze along with me. Before I know it I reach the last few steps to the top of the mountain. That is when I finally see it, and this is not any ordinary building.

I saw how extraordinary this place looked. It was almost just made from the Earth itself. It was coming up out of the ground and it almost look like an animal’s home only it was much bigger. I think this place was made for humans but not made by humans. It was really interesting to look at. It was almost all green and I found this odd because it was so cold outside did not even have leaves the only green tree's left anywhere were the evergreens. So anyway, this tree was green and it had flowers scattered about the exterior. This was what looked to be a spiritual place. I walked around to the other side and see that it has a door. I hesitate for a moment and listen for any sort of sound either from behind me or from behind this door. I cannot hear a thing. It is so quiet and I began to wonder why I do not hear any animals moving about either. This is disturbing me and I want to go inside because it is getting really cold outside.

I knock on the door and there is no answer. I call out, "Hello?” still no answer. So I open the door. As I peer inside that this place is one of religion and faith. I wonder to myself, "Who in their right mind would make a place so random like this; I'm actually getting a bad feeling about all of it". The inside looks sort of like an old building you would see somewhere in Europe in one of those older countries that have been around for ages. I am admiring how beautifully this structure has been put together inside and out, and then I finally hear the first sound that I have heard in a long time. I follow where I heard it come from and to my surprise I find my parents.

Assignment #15: Multiple Intelligence Essay

"I love you too."

Those simple words had changed my life forever. Once they had escaped from my lips, everything changed. The good thing is it changed for the better. I think that my boyfriend really did love me when he said it. I could feel it in my heart and hear it in his voice. I knew that something special were to come of this relationship. This is the feeling I had when we went too far.

I ended up in the hospital to early and I was scared, he was scared. I was not supposed to be here but yet we were. The only question I kept asking to myself was, "Why me, why me, please help me through this, God, please help us all through it." Just by the look on the doctor's face, I knew that this wasn't going to be the happily ever after I had wished for and dreamt about practically my whole entire life. This was going to be one hard bump to overcome in my life. Still, I wondered how my boyfriend was taking all this as he stood there and waited for all the bad in the room just to go away, after all I wasn't in this alone. He would always be there for me but right now it wasn't about us.

This wasn't supposed to happen but I'm here, my boyfriend is here at my side. I still "love him too" but you know whose not here? My baby.

Assignment #14: Persuasive Essay: Uniforms

If I were to be called to the principal’s office to share my thoughts and opinions on whether we should have school uniforms at our high school I would tell her that I do not think that we should have school uniforms at our school. I think this because I haven't had to wear uniforms for three years now and I haven't had trouble with my peers or with the school. I think that having uniforms would be bad because high school is the short amount of time you have before you become a full grown adult living on your own in the world, and in that world you don't have to wear uniforms all the time. However, there are cases where you would have to which could be at a job. Other than that women would have to learn how to respect their bodies and dress right where ever they happen to be going and the men would have to learn how to dress too. This is not just about uniforms. There is a bigger picture here in the end. The people my age, my generation, we are going to be different we have many different things than the last generation already and were not even fully grown. Were the ones that are going to have to grow up and try to fix this world. Uniforms are just a small part of the responsibility that we are going to have to take on and if we are faced with the challenge of learning how to dress appropriately then that's just one more responsibility on our plate, it's only going to make us that much stronger. I think that it will make us stronger in the sense that we will be able to handle both the bigger and the smaller responsibilities that are put in front of us.


My main reason for argument against school uniforms is because, in most cases, many children had been wearing school uniforms their whole life so they know how it's done. In high school though we stop wearing our uniforms and move on to either more formal clothing or just the everyday attire. We do have to learn how to dress ourselves though because in the long run were the ones that are going out into the world once we graduate high school and sometimes were going to have to make choices and one of those choices may be what we wear. Most girls my age are interested in how they look right now than the boys my age. This just means that the boys my age still need time to mature and they can do this while were in high school. That is where we learn, that is the place where we make mistakes and it's ok.

I know that the school board or the principal might have their own argument that may sound something like this, "In the real world there are going to be situations where you are going to have to wear uniforms, and what are you going to do then? How are you going to handle that situation if you don't practice now while you’re still in high school?" This is what I would say to them, "There are going to be times when we’re going to have to wear uniforms at any various job, I know that. This is the fact though, we have worn uniforms before, it's not like we haven't. If that does happen we would be responsible enough to handle the situation because obviously we were responsible enough to even go out and look for that job. If we really wanted or maybe even needed that job, you’re going to wear the uniform, wouldn't you?"

I have researched on the internet that most high schools do not demand the uniform policy. It is mostly enforced by private schools or religious schools, which usually include all the grades kinder through the twelfth grade. These schools have very responsible kids attending them but so do the public schools that don't require the use of uniforms. Anyone can do something if they just put their minds to it. At my school I know that we don't have to wear uniforms and it is working out just fine and the kids look great "rocking" their new outfits. It is said at our school, mostly by administrators, that we can do anything we want in life and we WILL graduate highs school and we WILL graduate college. If everyone thinks this and believes this then why can't they trust us with the fact that we know how to dress appropriately and with dignity all the time? I just think that this is something that the people my age can handle and if one person messes up then only that person should be punished. They could be sent home or given clothes that the school has provided and there the problems solved it all just depends on the students because we have to be the responsible ones in the situation. I also know that there are solutions if this ever becomes a problem, which it shouldn't become.

In conclusion, if I were called down to the principal’s office or asked in front of the school board about my opinion and thoughts about school uniforms I would agree that high schools should not have to wear them. I think this for a number of reasons the main ones being, we have to learn how to be in the real world, we have to take responsibility for our actions when we abuse our privilege, and we have to show the people who do and don't believe in us that we do take responsibility for ourselves. If this ever became a problem the solution would be to make us wear uniforms. This is a privilege and not a right to not have to wear uniforms during school and if we break the rules then obviously there has to be consequences. I think that we can handle it though. I do think that we, as in us teenagers, can definitely handle this situation because we have been doing well for three years in a row now, the kids in my grade and school anyway.

Assignment #7: My Self-Value

I think this quote means that you have to be your own person. That you can't go through life expecting people to just do everything for you. When a person is truly experiencing self value is when they have followed this quote. For example, you can not have jealousy towards other people just like the very first line of the poem says. You also have to love yourself and not expect everyone around you to love you. In other words you can not revolve your life around what other people think of you. This is exactly what she meant when she had said this quote.

So the very first thing that James mentions is jealousy. She says that you only experience jealousy when you are not comfortable with your self. This often happens to people all over the world. She also goes on to say that those people who are jealous will not be rewarded in the end. I think this has to do with my self value because I sometimes feel jealous towards things and I didn't realize that I am not comfortable with myself in that situation. This is something that made sense to me the moment that I had read this quote.

James also mentions that you can't expect everyone to love you that walk's into your life. They don't even have to like you. The point she is trying to make is that you can not please every single person that you encounter in your life. When I thought of my self value this made me see that sometimes I will let someone down but it does not mean that I did that on purpose it just means that what ever it is that I did I was satisfied with it and I didn't care what the person next to me thought. I do include this technique of thinking this way in my life, most of the time. Sometimes I want to try and please everyone around me and that works too, James is not saying that it does not.

Last but not least James speaks about turning your eyes on yourself and doing what is best for you. Sometimes it's best to not notice other people, so jealousy won’t occur within you, and so that you can focus on yourself and even learn more about your own self. My self value is applied to this also because sometimes I have to sit down and just think. I think about what it is that I need to do to make my self successful in the best possible way without having to worry about what the people around me are going to say or maybe even think. I usually do this by day dreaming but sometimes without realizing it I find myself actually thinking about it.

In conclusion, just this one quick little quote that was said by Jennifer James is very true and it applies to my self value one hundred percent. This is one of the most powerful quotes I have heard because it is so true and it is said in words that are more advanced so I have to think about what she is saying and I like having to think just that much harder because that's when I understand it the best. I now know that I can not be jealous because that just means that I am not comfortable with myself and I know that I really am, I also found out that instead of trying to please everyone around me I just need to please myself and the rest should all fall into place.

Assignment 13: Halloween Haiku

I notice that these aren't people I’m used to seeing. They aren't the same.

How they move it's not normal, I need to run yet my feet do not obey.

This is the land of the dead on a Halloween night, the cemetery.

Assignment #12: The Black Cat

The narrator uses a lot of symbolism. There are so many examples of symbolism but I am only going to use the ones that had appealed to me first. He uses symbolism to show the capacity for human actions and feelings. The ones that appealed to me the most and are in order is the human conscience, that guilty feeling you get when you know you did something bad (as does the narrator many times in the course of the story, which causes him to have more guilt and more of a conscience than most people), and finally the feeling that people get sometimes, superstition. These are the three main human wisdoms that had been most used in the whole story. I thought that these ones were the main ones that a majority of people could relate too, especially people in my age group.

The human wisdom that Poe has put into this story can be any number of things. The first thing that is or can be human wisdom is that all humans have a conscience. I think this shows when the man thinks he should buy a new cat once he had murdered his first black cat, Pluto, this is just a mild example though. Another major example from the story is when the man kills his wife and the cops go to his house and search for her. When the cops are about to leave after they hadn't found anything he started to talk a lot sort of like he was getting anxious. This shows that he had a major conscience about what he had done to his wife. If I were him I would have never done that but if I had I would have acted like that around some cops too. This human wisdom was more appealing to me because I have done things that have caused my conscience to go into overdrive. This is just something that happens to everyone at some point in their lives. This is a good example of how Poe was trying to get human wisdom across. When he uses his conscience to actually think about what he is going to do next he doesn't do bad. It's once he ignores it and especially when he starts to drink the alcohol is when he starts to do bad. When he drank the alcohol he started to have a temper with everyone. He had a temper with his wife all his animals and most of all with his cats, both of them. When he killed Pluto this is when he started to get really bad and his conscience kicked in and he started to think about how bad that was. That's when he decided to get another cat only this one had a single white spot across his chest. Yet again he started to mistreat this cat too because of the alcohol and because this cat reminded him of Pluto.

Another human wisdom that can be gained from "The Black Cat" is the feeling of guilt. There are many examples in the story that can show when this man has the feeling of guilt, one of which is when he cuts out Pluto's eye and then feels guilty after the deed has been done. This is one feeling that most people can relate to no matter what their age. Guilt is the feeling you get when you do something bad and you know that it was bad and people won't approve of whatever it is that you have done. This is a feeling that the narrator has a lot throughout the whole story because he does many things that are worth being guilty over. One major thing that he does that I can think of is when he kills his wife. This is the climax of the story and also when he is struck with the most powerful feeling of guilt. This is also when his conscience starts to grow.

Another human wisdom gained from the story is superstition. Many people are superstitious when they cross a black cat's path. The man's wife was very superstitious about a black cat, Pluto, living in their house. I think superstition is the key or the main human wisdom of the story. I think this because the story is called "The Black Cat" and once he does one bad or cruel thing to Pluto things start to go downhill from there. For example, his house catches fire, etc. When the second black cat came into the picture there were also symbols showing that it wouldn't end well but he didn't pay attention to those signs either. The second black cat's spot on his chest, the white spot, is just a spot. Then one day the man starts to notice that it is turning into a noose just like the one that he had hung Pluto with. This is a sign that meant there was nothing good that would come from it. He should have thought twice once he noticed that it was starting to look like a noose. Alcohol also played a major role in the way that this man was treating his wife and the way that he was treating his animals especially Pluto. He needed to stop drinking the alcohol so he wouldn't have such bad guilt about what he was doing or better yet he shouldn't have done half of the things that he had done throughout the whole story because that’s the reason why he started to drink the alcohol. It did in fact play a major role in the story though; it ended in the killing of his wife.

The three main human wisdoms that I had gotten out of the story is the fact that humans have a conscience, the fact that humans can feel guilt after they commit an act particularly a bad act, and the main one would be that some or maybe even most humans feel superstition and that can lead to something really good or really bad. In this particular case, it leads to bad.

Assignment #11:The Concrete Rose

Tupac Shakur's poem is about a person rather than an actual rose. He uses the rose as a symbol to represent a person and it can be any person he is not talking about one person in particular. Another thing he uses as a symbol is concrete. That represents the other people in the "roses" life that are bringing it down and don't expect much out of its life. Also another thing he uses as symbolism in the poem is personification. An example of when he used personification is in this line, "Proving nature's law wrong it learned to walk without having feet." By it he means the rose. This is just a few of the poetic devices that he portrays in just this one small poem. You can also say that he starts off the poem with a question like he's trying to hook the reader. Then by the end he starts to state it like if it's a statement instead of a question.

The first form of symbolism that caught my attention is the way he was talking about the rose. When I read about it the first time I was thinking about an actual rose. It didn't sound right in my mind because of course roses can't walk so then I had to think harder. I then realized that he was actually referring to a person. He is actually saying that there is a person out in the world, it can be anyone, and that person grew up in a life where he/she was not expected much of. They might have been told that they won't do anything with their lives and might even have been told to just give up a few times. Then Shakur goes on to say that the person grew up and learned how to deal with the put downs and "breath fresh air" which means that they learned how to exceed other people's expectations. To prove all those people out there wrong and to show them that they can do better than what was expected. By using the rose he is using something incredibly beautiful to everyone who has seen one and is showing that everyone is beautiful either when they have had an easy life or if their growing up like the "rose" and having to go through stuff like "concrete" and learning to "walk" and learning to "breath". That is the most beautiful thing about the poem. When he said this it helped me to understand what he was trying to portray in the entire poem. It is hard to get a message through such a small short and sweet poem. He used very powerful words and symbols.

Another form of symbolism I happened to notice second is that Shakur was using the concrete as sort of a barrier that the rose had to get by. I thought of the concrete to symbolize people that were the ones who were bringing the "rose" down. The concrete is the obstacle that a person might have to overcome in their life. Like I said in the last paragraph, a person who is constantly brought down and never pushed to their potential has a lot of obstacles to overcome before they become successful. He helped me to understand this because the concrete was the main thing that the person would have to get past to break free, learn how to walk, and to breathe fresh air. Concrete is a good way to describe a person who might be holding you back because that's a hard thing to break past and get through. If there was a concrete wall in front of you, you can't just break through that wall on the first try to get to the other side. Sometimes you have to work at it and build yourself up to the point where you break past the wall and go further then what you and everyone (the wall) around you.

I also noticed a writing technique that is hardly used. Shakur used the form of personification just to push this poem to the limit. In the poem he says, "Proving nature's law is wrong it learned to walk without having feet." meaning that the rose was the one who had learned to walk without having feet. When you use this form what you do is you give an inanimate object human like qualities. He lets the rose walk and of course roses do not have feet and nor do they just get up and walk. I thought this was a clever way to put it. To have it work out in the poem and to add a literary device just to add a little something to the poem. I think that this also helped me to understand that roses walking are not very likely at all so that shows how hard the person has to work to get up and walk past all the people that bringing it down. A rose can't just get up and walk away but a person can and he's trying to show that. He's trying to say that you can and you should.

In conclusion, Tupac Shakur's poem is about a person that grew up in a life where no one believed that they would do anything special with their life and they made sure that he/she knew it. He used a beautiful object such as a rose to describe something beautiful happening, a person going against all odds and proving everything wrong and doing something great with their lives. Just by saying that a rose can get up and grow past concrete, walk without feet, and learn to breath fresh air is a miracle within itself and should be recognized. This is what he meant when he wrote this poem. Shakur meant for the world to see how hard it would be, especially for a child, to do this. Not necessarily grow past concrete, grow feet, and learn how to breathe fresh air but to grow past the people bringing them down to walk away and to do better for themselves. He wrote a great poem and helped me to realize that things like this happen all the time.

Assignment #10:Bullying

There isn't many times where I can recall being bullied right out front. In today's society people tend to be bullied behind their backs. There are so many ways to bully without actually even saying it to that persons face. There are social networking sites online. These would include myspace, twitter, facebook, etc. Another way to bully without telling a person to their face would be to use you cell phone. This could be done through text or you can even call and leaving threatening or suggestive voicemails. There is a term for this type of bullying and its called cyber bullying, the sad part of it is that it's very common in my generation.

There are no times in my life where I can remember being bullied as bad as Jamie Nabozny was bullied during his middle school and high school careers. In fact, I don't recall ever being bullied that bad to the point where I didn't even want to go to school. I have been bullied though. This is not a time in my life that I prefer to remember but it has happened. A girl who is the same age as me and is in the same grade was a huge bully. Even to this day only I don't just let her push me around anymore I learned how to deal with it. This girl will always be in my memories because not only was she bullying me but also my best friend. It had gotten so bad that my friend had to take to the principal with the problem. It did not get that bad with me, however, because my mom knew the girl that was the bully and the girl knew my mom.

I think she bullied both of us because that's the only way she would get attention. That's the only logical way that I can see it. I know that she had a single mom supporting her and she is an only child. Since her mom was raising her by herself that means that she had to have a few more jobs than most parents to stay on top of the struggles of financial problems. This meant that the girl would be alone most of the time. I think this was brought to school and school is where she got the majority of her attention from. I know that some kids gain their attention in a negative way and some do it in a positive way. She was being a bully and this is how she got her attention. This all occurred in middle school. Again, it never got that bad to the point where I didn't even want to go to school.

The way it made me feel inside is frustrated and sad. I felt frustrated because I was never anything but nice to this girl and neither was my best friend. Yet she harassed us and harassed us. I was starting to take it out on my little sisters at home just because I was frustrated. I was also frustrated because I didn't want to tell my mom or dad because I don't like unnecessary drama or stress so why would I want to bring these childish games into their lives. I thought it was better just to deal with it on my own. I also felt sad because she didn't have to be doing this to us and be a mean person. I felt bad for her. I just wanted us all to get along.

There also comes a point in our lives when we have to stop and think if we've done the same to another person. The sad part is that most of us have. I know that I have maybe bullied someone before but it wasn't just outright how this girl was with me and my best friend. I bully in a sort of sly way people have to think twice to actually notice if I just insulted them or if it was just a clever joke. I don't like how I can be too sarcastic sometimes because I don't know how it affects the other person. For all I know they could laugh about it on the outside and in front of everyone but who am I to know that I just didn't give them yet another insecurity to worry about on the inside?

I have also seen people bully other people right before my eyes. It's a hard thing to watch but it happens more often than not. Mostly at school is where I see this bullying. When I'm out in public, maybe with some friends at the mall, we can walk into a store and automatically since were teenagers were thieves. I find this to be a form of bullying in itself. I don't think people should judge a person like this. It's understandable that people will have their first opinions but you shouldn't let that affect the way you react with that person. So, I see this type of bullying all the time because of my age and the way that society perceives my friends and me. In these situations though I respond by sort of acting above my age. It takes the bully by surprise and they gain just that much more respect for me because I didn't go down to their level. I like the feeling of gaining respect too. I don't like when I prove people right when they assumed that I would do something bad and then I do it. I think that if this would happen to a friend that I was with I'd tell them the same thing. To either walk away and let it go or to be the bigger person and be more respectful and be the bigger person. I would never want a friend to prove a bully right.

All in all I think bullying is a problem in our society especially with all the changes that we as a Nation are going through. There are problems with cyber bullying, bullying against gay people, and so much more that it is a growing problem. We can do things to help stop or help prevent it. For example, we can show educational movies in the classroom like the one I was shown, Bullied: A Teaching Tolerance Documentary. This really helped me to see the effects of bullying in schools. I think that we need to think of more effective ways to stop bullying, however.

Assignment #9:Alien Contact

Wow, it's rather cold for Halloween night. I mean it's always cold but, this is intense, if that's the word I'm looking for. I still have a few more blocks to go. My little sisters just love this night, I think I recall one of them mentioning that this is their favorite holiday of the year. If it just wasn't so darn cold maybe I could enjoy it too. I should have checked the weather channel or something before I left because these light jackets I have chosen for the three of us just isn't doing it.

"Can we go to that house Joce?" my little sister Samara asks.

I look up at the house her frozen little finger is pointing to. It looks kind of scary and since its Halloween night I can't tell if it's meant to look like that or if it's genuinely haunted. I don't think twice about it, I make my sisters a deal.

"If we go to this house it's going to be the last one, after that we should start heading home. Then we can look at all the candy you guys got. Does that sound like a plan?" I say, hoping they won't start complaining at the thought of going home.

They look at each other and sometimes I swear they can hear each others thoughts. They're really close in age, only two years apart. When they've finished thinking things through to each other (silently I might add) they turn back to the house and reply to my bargain with a simple "Okay, sounds like a plan."

Thank God, is what I think this weather is not suitable for any person in their right mind. So we walk up to the house and strangely it gets kind of warm, it kind of feels like I'm standing next to a heater. It was freaking me out to say the truth. My sisters noticed it too, I could tell by their expressions and the way they were silently conversing with each other. This feeling made our approach up to the door seem to take hours instead of minutes.

We finally reached the front door. I extended my arm as far as I could- I didn't want to get any closer than I already was- to ring the doorbell but with a loud BANG the door flew open right before our eyes. It took the breath out of me because it scared me so bad. I looked down at my sisters but they didn't look scared at all in fact they looked sort of like they knew it was going to happen. All of a sudden I just see my youngest sister, Samara, run as fast as I've ever seen her run into the house. I was just terrified I stood motionless unable to comprehend what she had just done. I snapped out of it as quickly as I could and grabbed Mari's hand and ran in after her.

When I reached the flight of stairs the temperature seemed to drop. "This is not good" I thought to myself. Why does the temperature feel like it keeps changing? I was getting really worried right now, where had my youngest sister run off to?

"Samara?!" I called out hoping that this would solve everything, knowing that it wouldn't.

Out of nowhere I heard a loud thud and this sent a ring of alarm throughout my whole body. That couldn't have anything to do with Samara. I was freaking out. I grabbed Mari's hand tighter and went running looking through all the rooms as I went. My breathing was picking up and my imagination was running wild. I thought I was seeing shapes or various objects when in reality, nothing was there. Then I heard it. I heard my little sister's voice.

I stopped right where I was and picked up Mari knowing that that would not be an easy task being that she was already seven and in second grade but I had to move faster, I had to follow Samara's voice.

I heard it again, I followed. Mari began to cry silently on my shoulder and I knew that this was not right at all. We had to leave this house and NOW.

I finally followed my sister's voice to a door. This door was unusually older than the other ones, I noticed. I grabbed the doorknob and held my breath. What could I expect? Never mind that, my sister was behind the door I had to go in no matter what was there. I had to save her.

I opened the door and there she was safe and sound but she was just standing in the middle of the room talking to someone that I apparently could not see. This is weird I though but there was no sign of alarm or panic in her face. Right when I thought that no one was in immediate danger there was a giant flash of purple light! I couldn't see and was momentarily blinded. I grabbed the back of my Mari's head and held it to my shoulder I didn't want her to see this light. I shut my eyes and was yelling for Samara to come to me. Just when I thought nothing else could go wrong a high pitched buzzing sound went off and I could no longer even hear myself yelling my sister's name.

Then there was just darkness through my eyelids and silence in my ears.

I looked over to where my little sister was standing and she wasn't there but there was a black ring of burnt wood where she had been standing. I ran over to where that ring was and felt the temperature change yet again. I began crying because I didn't understand anything that was going on. I looked around then I saw it.

There was a large opening in the ceiling that was the cause of this temperature change in this room. Beyond this hole was what looked like a motorcycle or a jet ski of some kind, only this device was floating in midair! On top of this, thing, there was a great beast! It had really big eyes and had purple skin, a shade lighter than the bright light had been. The worst part of all, I see Samara sitting right behind him in some sort of cage. Only this cage is made of electric waves not the regular ones you would see normally. I called out her name through my tears and before I was even done with the last syllable of her name she was gone.

Assignment #8: The Necklace

In the story, "The Necklace", there is a moral implied. This moral is that you should tell the truth. If Mathilde would have told the truth ten years before, when she had lost the necklace, she wouldn't have to have spent most of her life the way she did. The moral also implies that if you tell the truth no matter what you think the consequences will be you will not have to worry or even have to pay for your actions. Mathilde should have just told the lady so that she wouldn't have had to get all the money back and it changed her life forever.

 

Mathildes' attitude is superficial. In other words she is a shallow person. If she had not been so envious of others and their material possessions she would not have had such a rough life, working to pay off a debt that was unnecessary in the first place. Being envious is just one of the many "wisdom teachings" that can be found throughout the story, "The Necklace". An example from the story of when Mathilde showed envy would be, "She looked at him out of furious eyes, and said impatiently: "And what do you suppose I am to wear at such an affair?" (Page 3, The Necklace). When she said this she said it out of envy and maybe even a bit of classless. Her husband had just offered her an exclusive invitation to a great party and she was just flat out rude about it. Envy would be the teaching that is that is noticed the easiest but there is also other ones that are hidden deeper into the story.

Another "wisdom teaching" that had to be looked for deeper in this story is about trust. When Mathilde had borrowed that special necklace from Madame Forestier she had made a promise to Forestier to return it safely and to take good care of it. Mathilde also made and internal promise to herself that she would return it, that's how she ended up going through all the trouble of ten years of hardships to pay off her own promise. So the key issue here would be trust and promises. It kept the story going and gave it a purpose. This particular "wisdom teaching" may not have been as obvious but it is definitely there. It "secretly" made the story into its final product.

There were so many teachings that one could grasp from the story "The Necklace". The ones that I happened to grasp and get out of it were the two main teachings. One was rather obvious and shown throughout most of the story, this was envy. Mathilde had no right to show this feeling but yet she did and myself as a reader has learned from it. There is still the matter that there are teachings that weren't so obvious like trust and promises and the relationship between them. This was a little bit harder to see but if you look hard enough it's the teaching that shaped top whole entire story. So the two teachings that I found were the felling and consequences of showing envy towards other people, and the relationship between trust and promises.

Race in America

I have researched about the current controversy which is surrounding the building of the Islamic mosque in New York City. I have an opinion about the whole situation, I didn't want the mosque to be built quite that close to ground zero, but it could be built. Then I watched a news video from ABC news online about the controversy and it has come to my attention that there are many ways to look at the situation. In this video it was said by a woman named Lisa Miller, "Politicians are using the controversy to their advantage. The main issues are that there is sacred ground, 9/11 families still mourning, the religion of Islam, terrorism. All of these things combined are the perfect way for a politician to further their agenda." I thought about this and my opinion changed. I think that she is right and this is just to gain publicity for some people. Here in America we have the right to freedom of religion.

Once the freedom of religion was brought up in the video another man was spoken to and he goes by the name of Rabbi Matthew D. Gewirtz. During the online news video he stated, "We need to have our basic right for religious beliefs. These beliefs cannot intertwine with violence or hatred though." Gewirtz also stated that he is concerned that hatred does exist and added that another mosque dispute is occurring further west. This controversy is starting for the same reason this one is, the mosque wants to expand but many people do not agree with this. This might be due to the fact that America might be "racist", in a sense, towards the religion of Islam. I think this because of the fact that if a Church wanted to be built two blocks away from ground zero there would be no problems. In fact there would be no protests or disputes over the matter. This doesn't just go for ground zero either. If a Church wanted to be expanded on the west coast there also wouldn't be any protests or words of hate being thrown around. This makes me question Americas' morality.

There are many issues that have surfaced in this national debate. Including the ones with the politicians using the publicity on the news, and the hatred leaving the ground zero site in New York City and occurring all the way in the Western United States. This has raised much dispute and it is wondered by many what will be done. If the people who want the mosque to be moved "win" then this might go against our ways of our belief in our freedom of religion. If they don't move the mosque then this will continue to grow, in my opinion, into a much bigger problem. So basically this is a no win situation.

This controversy has grown even bigger and continued to move throughout the nation. A man by the name of Pastor Terry Jones has sparked so much controversy because he wants 09/11/10 to be an international burn a Koran day. People who worship and read from the Koran have been outraged and I don't blame them. It is said that he is considered the enemy of Islam and Jones has even been sent numerous death threats but yet he is continuing with his plans. He is on the news almost everyday and is gaining global recognition. Maybe what Miller is saying is true. Some people can be said to be using the controversy for their own personal hidden agenda. Maybe Terry Jones has a hidden agenda and will be making big money down the road because of what he is doing now. He could be using this global publicity for personal reasons. We don't know if this is true or not and this is the problem. If it is then what do we do? Well one thing we can do is punish him. That would be first and foremost. After this is done we can take responsibility for what he has done to this country and apologize to the people it has offended and this would just be the start.

The outrage that Jones has caused has reached out all the way to the war that the United States is fighting over seas. General David Petraus had this to say, "This puts our soldiers at jeopardy." Now there have been reports of physical harm put upon the soldiers already because of Jones. There have already been attacks. Reports were given that stones were thrown at a military vehicle. If this is happening before the deed has even been followed through with then who is to say what people will do once just one Koran gets burned. Jones claims that Islam is of the devil but who is the real one? Jones also stated that is Jesus were here he would do the same thing that he is doing because once again he states that Islam is of the devil. How is just one man supposed to know what a whole people think together? I have never heard of Jesus being cruel to other people and especially of their differences whether they are religion or skin color. He thought of mankind as a whole and not as one man alone to face to world by himself.

Now that these two problems are occurring within religion there is the issue of immigration. It is thought of to be a major problem just with the Mexican/American border but what about when immigrants of the Islamic religion are trying to get into the country illegally? What would we do then? We would probably try to send them away and say that we consider them terrorists. Now there is a common thread tying all of these stories together and that is the thread of religion. Religion seems to tie everything together and it does. Almost every thing on Earth can be connected to religion. This thread that intertwines the mosque near ground zero, the burning of the Korans' by Pastor Terry Jones, and the immigration laws here will always remain. We as a whole people just have to figure out how to un-tangle it together.

Cultural Underpinnings of Literature

There are many religions throughout the world. The list goes on and on and will continue to grow, this goes for the whole world, not just here in America. Many people sometimes consider religion as a superstition, especially in most schools across the whole of the United States. When religion is brought up inside a public school in the United States it is either ignored entirely or asked to never be spoken of again. Besides this unfortunate fact, religion has shaped everything there is to shape in history. Religious beliefs across the world are growing stronger and larger. It is also turning into many controversies rather than a good thing like uniting mankind under many beliefs. Religion should unite the people not destroy them because of their differences. This is a fact that some people believe but not many follow.

The Judeo-Christian paradigm in Western Civilization is what happens when both of these religions were brought to the Western Civilization from the European area. When these religions were brought over this dramatically changed America forever, it was a new chapter in Her history. Over the many years that people had been coming to America and colonizing it it has changed into a world where there are many different religions everywhere you look. This is ok though because it proves that people are starting to think for themselves about what seems to be right or what is wrong. Human beings are the only living things that have the ability to self reflect, this shows that we have to learn what is right or wrong. If we do this that means we can think for ourselves what is right of wrong in our lives. We have the power to make decisions. We also have the power to make that decision and choose what religion we want to follow. This may be good or bad, there are examples of both throughout the course of history. For example, wars have been fought and peace has also crossed the minds of many people because of the fact that religion exists.

What has been changed the most in America because of religion is politics. There are people called democrats and republicans, which are two totally different things because of the fact that religion exists. Republicans tend to be old fashioned, an example of this would be that they do not like President Barack Obama just because he is black and from a Muslim background (note: he has never stated that he follows this religion personally but it was followed within his family). The democrats tend to be more on the "laid back" side. They go with the flow and support Obama because there is nothing wrong with growing up with a Muslim background. They also support him because he is not trying to take over our country and change it he is simply trying to do better and support our country every step of the way.

The cultural and religious beliefs that have shaped America over the past 200 hundred years are the Christian religion and its culture. They have changed America by shaping its politics and general way of living. Christianity is the biggest religion that is being followed here in the United States. Our politics are based off of it, according to the way that the democratic and republican parties work. Our culture is starting to tell us that this is the "best" religion out there and it is to be followed by everyone. This is the way that Christianity is being portrayed here in the United States. History is starting to repeat itself, like when the Europeans came here and started to change the natives’ people religion by force. The same thing is happening again now because this is how religion is being portrayed, just without the force.

The relationship between these beliefs and the culture, politics, religious tolerance and race relations in the United States in 2010 is hard to explain. Race relations in the United States in 2010 is thought of to be cacausion people follow Christian beliefs, people from the Asian area follow Buddhist, Muslim, or Hindu religion. All other people are supposed to pick and choose. The bigger and major religions are trying to get everyone they can to follow their religion. It is important to understand that every human being has the right to choose the way they will continue their life. Even now there are some parents that will let their teens explore the different religions that exist. The parent may want their child to choose the same way of worship as them but should understand that it is ok to choose different.

The cultural religious beliefs of one group have confronted and impacted the religious beliefs and cultures of another group. This seems to happen all the time. Throughout the entire world history there have been so many wars and battles fought that have been sparked by cultural religious beliefs. This usually happens because one will believe in Saints and another one won't, just as an example. Or another example will be that one believes in heaven or in God in general and the other won't. The key word here is believe. It's all in belief and the faith that people carry with them. It causes so many outbursts. There are so many examples that can be used for the confrontation started by religion. The question is, is there really a God? If so, what is he like? This is the question that people have been asking for eternity.

The clash of Western religious thought and culture impacted the Indigenous communities of New Mexico and the Southwest by changing the major religion that is followed here. Christianity is the religion that is being followed here in the Indigenous communities of New Mexico and in the Southwest. The clash of the Western religion doesn't exist but it has sparked the new fire that of passion and worship that is Christianity. The word clash isn't the appropriate word that should be used here; the word that should be used is passion or maybe even belief. The West has truly brought over the religion that has become America.

Intensely Alice By: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

When I read this book I thought to myself that the choice of words is some of the words that I would use to write with. When I got further into the book I started to notice that the words were getting more advanced. Anyway, after I read this book I sat down and analyzed the whole plot. I looked to see if I could find the rising and falling actions and if I could find the climax. I did find all of these things too.

There are many rising and falling actions,as in any book, that I was able to identify.Most of the rising actions were very noticable and they weren"t hidden in the story. As for the falling action, it was really short because the climax was so far into the book. The falling action was after Alices' friend Mark died and that was towards the end of the book so the falling action was all about Marks' death. The rising action that leads to climax was really long though.

Now this book is about an older teenager whose name is Alice, which would be found out in the title. The book just basically goes through her life experience over her last summer of her high school career. During the summer she gets to go be a bridesmaid for her cousins wedding all the way in Chicago and from there she goes to visit her boyfriend a town away. She has to have a long distance relationship with him because he goes to college out of state. She was actually planning on spending an intament night with him because that was the first night she would be spending alone with a guy, particulary her boyfriend. Her plans were ruined when she found out that he couldn't because he had a roomate and the next morning he had to be to class at nine a.m.

After this she spends the rest of the summer just gossiping with her friends, one of which was a boy named Mark. She wasn't the closest with him but she was still always around him so she started to become close to him, like best friend close. They had actually known eachother since the fourth grade actually most of their "crew" had know him that long. Well one day one of her friends calls her up crying. As you can guess she was calling to tell Alice that Mark had died. HE was killed in a car accident. There was an eighteen wheeler coming up behind him when he was waiting for a light to change to turn left. The eighteen wheeler plowed into his car and Mark slammed into the SUV that was in fron of him. No one died or had serios injuries in the accident, except for Mark.

So the remainder of the book is spent talking about how Alice and her friends greive over her friends death.

I Dream A World

When I read this poem by Langston Hughes I didn't quite understand what he was talking about because the word choice that he had used. There were two words in particular that I had to look up and these words are avarice and blights. I figured out, by using a thesaurus, the word avarice meant greedy and the word blights meant disfigurement. When I put these words back into the original poem I learned that what he was trying to say was this, "Nor avarice (greed) blights (will disfigure) our day." When I finally figured out what he said I reflected on that.

The meaning of the poem is related to my views tremendously. I know that racism still exists throughout the entire world but the country that I live in has a huge problem with it. I view all people as one and think that we all came from one background and that we are all perfect in our own way, why should the color of skin get in the way of that? It is rather quite childish to be going around and hurting people emotionally, physically, and mentally just because of the amount of pigment in their skin. I think Hughes hit it right on the mark when it comes to my views.

I also have a philosophy when it comes to this major controversial topic. I have been taught the history of my country and the majority of it was being spent murdering, raping, and torturing those of a darker skin tone. This was happening to the Natives of this land when the Europeans came here, and then to the African slaves who were being brought here against their will. I think that being racist means that you're just insecure of your own culture and heritage which is sad because everyone on Earth has a good and full background at some point in their history.

I can relate Hughes' poem easily to my life; it is all around me whether it's trying to be hidden from me like in some news stations or if it's being told to me flat-out face to face. I know that there is a big problem in the state that I live in with people being extremely racist towards Mexicans. This is astounding because of the fact that the place where I live was Mexican soil before it was even American soil. There is also racism going on around the country that affects me right here in my hometown. This racism is towards President Barack Obama (whom I support). It is especially geared toward him because he is part black and Muslim.

When I envision my world in the future I can still see racism in it. This is not good but this is just what I think. I think this because it has been like this for thousands of years and there have been brief moments in our history where an amazing person will step up to the plate and take on the challenge of racism. For example, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Even though this is what I think the future will be like this is not what I want it to be like. I want to change it. To do this I can do things like raise awareness in my school or even take things to the local news about how I feel and that may even go national. I can even go online and sign an online petition to help stop racism. There are so many possibilities.

Show and Tell (:

I can see it now, the faded navy blue with its knotted ends. I have a feeling that I am getting to old for this kind of thing but that's not going to stop me. I should just throw it out but how am I to do that when we have been through so many good times together. I have cried, laughed, and even laughed so hard that I cried with this keepsake. I sleep with it everynight, and even though they don't light up in reality they are my night light, these are the white stars that roam free across their canvas. Have you guessed what this precious gift is yet? This treasure of mine is no ordinary one beacuse of the simple fact that it is mine and only mine. I love it with all my heart and will always have a place for it in my memories. If you're into NFL then you might not like the words I am about to type but written all across it is the big proud and strong words, Dallas Cowboys. I know, I know boo! Well no, I do like them and this is my choice. Have I given you enough information yet? Well here it is the big "bang" my Blanket!

On This Night

I have felt love, I have felt truth, this I cannot deny, I have fears.

Show no love, hide the truth, and face my fears my new morning light will cease.

One night to say all. Should have spent my lifetime. I wanted to be me.

My Sophomore Year..

My sophomore year of high school was one that made me laugh so hard that I had tears of joy and also is the year where I have met so many new people that I can't keep up with all of them. I have enjoyed this school year but I am ready to move on to my junior year. I have learned many things this year which include responsibility (autonomy), friendships, and a lot of academic things as well.

I am ready to move on to my junior year because of the responsibility I have learned to have and use. I really need to have a lot of self control and autonomy packed into my lifestyle, especially in high school. I need responsibility in my life because I am growing up and the "grown-up world" isn't going to treat me like a little kid for long, it will eat me up and spit me out. I need autonomy too; autonomy means to do what you're supposed to do all by yourself without being told to do it. This year as a sophomore I took a Spanish II class and that's how my teacher ran the class, through autonomy. So in order to pass the class you had to do the work either in class or at home and if you didn't then you would fail her class. This really helped me to realize that I am not going to have a teacher or my mom on my back all the time telling me to get things done. I will definitely use these lessons through my whole life and they will help me to succeed.

I have also learned about friendships. Some of the people in my life at school have either been there forever or I just met them but either way they will be there for me no matter what. I think I learned that friendships are important at school because they help you get through everything ranging from the cafeteria rumors to the teacher "hating me". Friends are good people to have around and sometimes things go wrong but there will always be a way to fix it, and you should. Some friendships surpass sophomore year too, and I know that all of mine will.

This year, as a sophomore, I had a very hard academic schedule to follow. My schedule looked like this, Hon. Algebra II/Trigonometry, Gifted Course, AP World History, 10 Hon. English, Spanish II, AP Chemistry, and last but not least an Athletics class. My schedule was one that consisted of five AP or honors courses out of seven! This really helped me to stay on the ball with all of my work to get all A's and that wasn't easy. I also had to keep with two sports while getting all A's. What I learned from all of these advanced and honors classes is that I can do it again for my junior and senior year and this will help me a lot when I am trying to get into college. When I make it all the way to the college level it's going to be a good feeling that I made it all the way from high school all while taking the harder classes. Maybe even in college I can take more AP and honors classes again because I will already be experienced on how to handle passing so many.

My sophomore year has been a pleasure full of it's up's and down's. I want to move on to my junior year though because I am ready to grow up and get out of high school, with a diploma of course! All I know is that I have a great understanding of responsibility for the life I have ahead of me. I know how to keep friends and to be loyal to them too, and I have a good academic background already behind me while I am still going to go for the above and beyond for my academic career that I still have yet to accomplish after high school.

My Anything Essay

For my anything essay I wanted to write about growing up. I think that it's about time that I grew up because I'm not going to be living with my parents forever. I am going to go through a lot of changes like being able to pay for all my bills, including filling up my car on gas. I'm going to have many, many more bills to pay and rules to follow. I'm going to have a house bill, a car bill, a heating/cooling bill, a grocery bill, gas bill, an electric bill, and everything else in between.

This summer my mom is going to make me get a summer job even if it conflicts with my summer sports schedule. She says that I'm supposed to have a job already. I need to send in my application's myself and I have lots of inside people at many places that I can work at. My mom also said that since I have a car I should be doing all of these things myself and stop depending on her to get my stuff done.

That's another thing, I have a car. I have one and when I first got it I didn't have to pay for anything, especially gas. I did take good care of it though, I did stuff like wash it by hand and not by machine. So, my 16th birthday just passed and I got a ton of money. Now apparently I am supposed to use all that money to pay for everything for my car, including all the gas that I use for it. I had a lot of money from my birthday party so all of it, and I mean all of it, is going to that car. I am going to pay for my gas as long as I have that money and I have to buy a new stereo and speakers. To me, and this is just personal, I think paying for your gas money in this economy is a very adult thing to do. Especially when you're only sixteen.

I also have to learn how to do everything this summer. I'm going to try and get a job, go to all my volleyball camps and basketball camps this summer. That is a lot to do and I don't even want to think about doing all of that. It sounds crazy to me at this point in my life, but I want a lot of extra spending money for me to have and not have to spend on the car. I also want to go to my volleyball camps to improve and plus one is out of state and I want to go to that one. I also want to go to my basketball camps to improve on my game and to go to the camps were having out of town too.

Accomplishing all of this is going to be crazy though because the economy is really bad and I can barely afford anything. My family has a very tight budget right now and that's why my parents are making me pay for my gas and anything else I want to get for my car. I think I am growing up and I also think I'm ready for it because I have had many things happen to me in just this past year alone that haven't happened to most people in their whole lifetime. I am ready to grow up!

My Wisdom Quotation

"My life has been well spent, it was as normal as it can get, it was perfectly imperfect and I would do it all again if given the chance." (Gutierrez, Jocelyn)

I wrote this statement because I truly believe that nothing is perfect. I know that my life is one that is normal. I am a human being and that means that I make mistakes on a daily basis. I have learned to accept this fact and I have come to terms with it. I am living my life to the fullest and have no regrets. In my quote I said that I would do it all again if I was given the chance to do so, this means that I don't regret, I just forgive and forget. I have learned through my rather short lifetime that you just have to let some things go and move on, you can't live in the past forever because you will probably just go crazy.

If today was the last day of my life journey I would write or say this quote. I would say it because I strongly believe that it sums up my life simply and yet it is in full detail, I'm only human. I know that if my family was asked the same question but about my life they would probably say the same thing too. I think that this could sum up many lives, but I am the one who came up with it and the one who thinks it sums up their life perfectly. My life is so imperfect that this quote is perfect. I love how this is so easy for me to think of because I found out a lot of things when I was writing this quote, that I'm not perfect I do make mistakes and I am going to mess up sometimes but it's always going to be ok in the end.

If these were the last words that I would ever speak I would say them for this reason, and this reason only, they are true. That's it, they are perfect. I am not perfect I am normal and make mistakes and this life is going good so far despite some mistakes I have made in the past I would do it all again if I was  given the chance to. My quote is just one of the ways to describe many lives, so many perfectly imperfect lives. In my lifetime I have made some mistakes. This makes me human because that's what we do, we make mistakes. I think that many people have these same thoughts and would use this quote too.

My life is well lived and I am going to keep continuing doing what I'm doing because I think that I am on the right path and will stay on this path all through my life.  I hope that my quote inspires some kids in the future because it has inspired me, I have never written a quote before this and I really like it because it came from the heart and I thought of it right off the bat. My life is easily summed up by this small and straight to the point quote. My life is really good and I think that it is most definitely perfectly imperfect to the fullest. I wouldn't have it any other way and I would do it all again the exact same way with all the exact same mistakes.

Hmmm, If I Were Will Smith

If I could be anyone else for a day I would want to be Will Smith. There are a lot of reasons for wanting to do this. I will name just a few of them in this essay. The first main and obvious reason is that he is a male. I mean who wouldn't want to change your gender, especially if it was just for a day? The second reason is because I think, from my perspective, that he is a good guy. He has been my role model for quite some time. The third reason is that he an African-American. I've always wondered what it would be like to be of a different race.

The first reason is my main reason because ever since I was little I have just pondered that question as to what it would be like to be the opposite sex for the day. What makes me even more open to the subject of changing places for a day is that reason right there, it's just like that for a day. If I could be Will Smith that would be even better because outside closed doors he seems like a really nice guy. He has been faithful to his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith for all these years and he has his kids. I think that shows that he has family values.

The second reason is that in my eyes he seems like a role model. He loves his wife and children very much. Of course, has a steady job and most importantly he has never been in the news or media for negative attention. That really shows me something. I remember he once released an album that had absolutley had no profanity on it which was a really incredible thing because that's like the "in" thing. This role model thing he has going on makes me confident about being in his shoes for the day because I know that I won't be viewed negatively by anyone at all.

My third reason for wanting to be Will Smith for a day would be this; he is of a different race than me. He is African-American and I am Hispanic. I would definitely want to be of a different race for one day if I was given the opportunity to. I have always wondered what it would be like to see the world from a different colored skin. I know that it is different now though, a lot different. I mean, there's no slavery for one part and African-Americans are a very popular race in the rap and hip-hop music industry.

I think Will Smith is an overall amazing person. He is a husband, father, musician/artist, an actor, etc. He has my respect and for this I wouldn't mind taking his place just for a day because he is a respectable man and person. If I was him for a day I wouldn't have any drama in my life that was caused by me. Maybe I would have drama in my life but it would be caused by other people like the paparazzi for example. I think my decision for which person I would be for a day is a wise one and not just chosen out of entertainment.