Ignore this Title

How do you learn best? What are your expectations for your 9th grade English teacher?

After two years of learning language arts through technology, the transition to high school will probably be a lot different than what we have experienced this year. There will be a different environment, different classmates, different teachers. In high school, I want to learn through things that I enjoy. I want to learn how to make my writing and reading better. I want to be challenged, because I can handle it. In 9th grade, it won’t be very interesting to go over grammar and roots of different words.

The way I learn best is through technology. Textbooks don’t really hold as much value for me. When I have something that I am familiar with and can enjoy, I can understand it better. Last year, our teacher strove to teach us in a way that we could understand. Even though we were challenged, it made us better in Language Arts. We learned more in depth concepts and didn’t focus on things just like grammar and sentence structure. However, if it turns out that we are just reading and writing, that won’t be too bad.

This semester I read a lot of books. I enjoyed all of them, but one book really caught my eye. It was called Fast Food Nation. The subtitle was intriguing: The Dark Side of the All-American meal.

The whole book discusses what has happened to America as a result of the fast food’s beginning. I found it very interesting that many of the people that started places like McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and KFC were school dropouts. Yet today they have multibillion dollar companies that have shaped the U.S.

The book begins by talking about cars. As cars became a more common form of transportation, restaurants began to fit their mobile customer’s needs. Drive in windows soon began to spring up all over the country.

In modern day America, you’re probably satisfied to know that there are people who are happy to be serving you. In the kitchens of these restaurants, there are very strict rules that the employees must follow. Screens dictate orders to the workers, who try and trick you into paying just a few cents more for that jumbo sized order of fries. But some employees can’t handle it. There have been more fast food robberies (some by past employees) then there have been in other stores like 7-11’s.

While reading, I learned that what we eat isn’t always what it seems. Here are some fast fast food facts:

•Fries used to be boiled in beef fat.

•Many of the foods we get, even hamburgers, are artificially flavored.

•Chicken McNuggets used to be made out of chickens who could no longer lay eggs.

•Chicken McNuggets are more fatty than a Big Mac.

•This is kind of gross, but I think it should be included: About 100 years ago, one man fell into a lard making machine and got ground up. Conditions in meatpacking plants today aren’t much better.

•Another gross fact: In a McDonald’s in Colorado Springs, cockroaches got into the milkshake machine and mice urinated on raw burgers.

There were a few other outrageous things I found out. There’s actually a university for McDonald’s employees. Some of the employees only know how to say the names of items on the menu. McDonald’s even created a theme park called McDonaldland. Try and imagine Disneyland with McBurglar and Ronald McDonald. Burger King also made a theme park called the Burger King Kingdom.

After reading this book, my first thought was to NEVER eat fast food again. Reading about all the things they do to our food shocked me. Unfortunately, for some people the effects of fast food are permanent. Eating at many of these restaurants will give you food full of fat and lacking in nutrition. After McDonald’s went overseas, the amount of obese people began to rise.

I think it’s important that people know about this. If you know what’s in food, you know what to do to stay away.

I don’t understand why remixing isn’t allowed.

I agree, artists need their rights protected because it’s the only way they make money, but it’s not fair to limit others from using their work.  If you buy it, aren’t you entitled to do whatever you want with it?  If more people are allowed to use it, it creates more publicity for that band and record.

If you remix, it is your original idea.  You decided to mix one song with another.  If you mix songs, it should be personal but not for profit.  It should be shared but not sold.  That was you can create a new sound that you enjoy and share it with your friends.

This is a way to share your creativity.  You can make something new.  I don’t see why it is such a big deal.

They constantly follow you

And never lead your side

They are always there

To mirror you, to watch you

To mimic every action.

Sometimes they aren't with you

They are wandering somewhere else

Only to return when the light returns as well

To go back to being

A fragment of a person.

They are stuck to you

Every step you take

They are on your heels

Walking behind you

As a dark, vague shape

They are just blurry shapes

A fragment of a person.

Sometimes shadows find someone new

And cling to them

Instead of clinging to you

And you are left alone

Without someone to be there for you

Or stay by your side

You wish you can get it back

But your shadow is always there as

A fragment of a person.

It was autumn. Gold and crimson leaves quivered on the limbs of branches. Above them dark clouds rumbled; in the distance a flash of lightning zapped the ground and vanished. People in the park eyed the ominous looking clouds and hurried down the street toward their cars. One person remained.

He was small, about four or five years old. He was dressed in a luminous yellow rain coat and waddled around in small black boots. A drop of rain fell down on his head, but he sat on one of the numerous benches, swinging his feet back and forth. Soon other drops peppered the ground, but he waited.

The rusty iron gate at the entrance clanged shut. Apparently they thought everyone had left. The little boy ran up to the fence and stared out. His hair was now wet and matted, and raindrops clung to his jacket before rolling off.  He kicked the gate hard, only to jump around with a stubbed toe before slipping and falling on the ground.

Tires squealed and he could hear someone banging on the gate.  He stumbled towards it blindly and felt someone grab his little hand.  He was crying, but you couldn’t tell in the rain.  He  couldn’t see anything, but he heard someone desperately attacking the lock on the gate.   It opened, and his mother picked him up in her arms.

“Charlie, I thought you were coming,” she said.  “You were right behind me; where did you go?”  He responded, “I couldn’t see where you went.”

It was raining, but he didn’t open his umbrella.  He couldn’t tell where it was, or where anything else was.  He was blind.

Most of us have video on our iPods. Most of us see movies in the theater. Most of us are mature enough to comprehend the things we see in modern day America. We see a lot of images every day. Except now, they are censoring video sites at school. Isn’t it possible that a first grader, as well as an eighth grader, can go home and watch videos that are banned at school? Why did they block

Yes, language arts isn’t a time to surf the web, and some of the videos out there aren’t appropriate. But you have to put it into context. Not many students would try to play an inappropriate video with a teacher wandering around.

People may not use Google Video very much, but they don’t have to block it. Some of the things out there illustrate good points that help augment our learning, like the Dove video on beauty.  Google Video also benefits people who are visual as well as auditory learners.

I don’t know if there is a way to petition this, but now they have cut off all the video sites at school.  They added a lot to our blogs, and now they are gone.  There has to be a way to stop them from blocking Google Video.

Think about eating lunch at school. You probably have your own table, and your own group of friends that you sit and talk with. You have your own designated area. Most people do.

But have you ever tried to breach the boundaries?

A few years ago, some friends and I attempted this social experiment to see what would happen. Instead of taking our usually seats, we decided to sit with the popular people.* We positioned ourselves at the very end of the table and waited.

*This reference shouldn’t be stereotypical. Not all people exhibit the behavior that these girls did.

I couldn’t believe what I heard.  They greeted each other with some sort of profranity. It got worse when the other girls sat down. They tried to ignore our presence by SHOVING US OFF THE BENCH. They couldn’t fit in the rest of their posse, so they had to get rid of us. Eventually it got to the point where we had to call one of the lunch aides (the people that dismissed you) over. She pointed out that since we had arrived their first, we were allowed to sit there. They relocated.

The next time we came to lunch, they presided over a different table. I was surprised. My conclusion was this: People like the hierarchy they have. Try to mess with it, and things could get ugly.

We never went over there again. We didn’t need to, and personally, I didn’t really like being in their company. I wasn’t fond of competing in their popularity contest again.

How will you prove to your parents that you learned something?

It’s true; there’s nothing tangible to see, like a test or a piece of paper with 19/20 on it. But there is this blog.  I’m sure most classes don’t blog every Tuesday, or talk about “-isms”, or start class each day with a question that makes you have to really think.  Here I will try to explain how I will prove to my parents.

Even though they weren’t there during discussions, I will talk to my parents about the topics I am learning about, like Romanticism or Transcendentalism.  I think if I can explain the topics to them, they will know that I understand what they are.

I have also learned about different words, like loquacious or monolithic.  I will demonstrate my knowledge of sesquipedalian words, by going to pseudictionary and displaying what I created.

I will also show my parents my posts.  I am going to show them my most descriptive posts and also the ones that I had fun with.  I have learned how to write in different ways, varying from first person to dialogue.

Even though I don’t have any test scores to prove it, I hope they believe me.  Blogging is a weekly assignment, and it isn’t always easy to find an idea on a regular basis.  It’s also hard to analyze different 19th century concepts.  But it all pays off when you finally learn and understand.

[swf width=”400″ height=”180″]http://www.pimpampum.net/bubblr/bubblr_blog.swf?id=7376[/swf]

I did this post because it was the first thing that popped into my head.  I found pictures of the same roller coaster and decided to create a sort of virtual ride.  Since amusement parks aren’t operational during the winter, you can ride on a roller coaster without moving away from the computer.

I guess this post could also be interpreted as how life is, because there are lots of twists and turns along the way.  You don’t know what you’re faced with until you come to it.  You have to make the best if your experience.  After all, life is short.

Enjoy the ride!  Admission is free.  Come again!

The gravel crunched under Brett’s feet as he hurried down the road. All the shops were abandoned, except for one with a broken neon sign flashing the word “Di–er” at him. It was an ominous sign. Gingerly, he pressed the door open and walked inside.

Old tunes emanated from the jukebox in the corner. Four chairs were clustered around each vacant table. A few people sat on bar stools, swivelling around listlessly. A teenage girl stood behind the counter, flipping through a crossword puzzle book. She looked up at Brett. “Can I help you?”

“Yes,” he said, leaning against the counter desperately. “A blimp just crashed outside the city. A lot of people are hurt. We need as much help as we can get.” She looked up at him curiously.

“No one here cares, to be honest,” she replied, scribbling something in her puzzle book. “All of us ended up here, from planes crashes to skydiving. In this cloud city.” She gestured to the smog outside.

“But we need to get somewhere with doctors, like a hospital. Are there any places here?” Brett waited for an answer. She filled out another blank in the puzzle and answered, “Yes, but all the buildings have been abandoned for a long time. Even if you did find a clinic, there would be no one there.”

Brett turned back toward the door. “Maybe I can bring some of them here. They need help.” He ran back through the city and to the clearing where the blimp was.

It was gone.

The shock of the crash was now coupled with the loss of the blimp.  Where had everyone gone?  He returned to the diner, gasping for breath.  “It’s….gone,” he said, breathing heavily.  The girl at the counter looked up at him, thoroughly interested.  “Gone?” she repeated.  He nodded and slumped down in one of the chairs.

“Where was it?” she inquired, stepping out from behind the counter.  Brett sat up and peered out the window.  “That way,” he said, pointing to the left.  “But you can’t tell anyway.”

“Incredible,” the girl said.  “That might be our way out.”

A way out.