The Rhinos and the Blue birds

The picture that speaks out to me the most is the rhino one. In the picture, there's a large rhino covered in bright shinning armor. It's enclosed in a small room with only a small blue bird and an orange ball to keep it company. When sorting through all the pictures my group decided it belonged in fear because although there's nothing around the rhino to hurt it, it has it's armor on as if it's about to face an almighty battle.

This picture really stood out to me because I can really relate to it at times in my life. I have my days where I feel like I'm trapped and alone. I have my armor on and I'm helpless to the point where I can't do the simplest tasks (such as play with the orange ball). The blue bird and orange ball are very significant. They represent hope and tranquility as do the people in my life that lift me up and make me stronger. We all have our trials where we may feel worn down to the position of the rhino; but we should also strive to be the blue bird that lights the way for the fellow "Rhinos " of today.

The Change of Our Lives By Janelle Leppink

Our lives used to be so easy, smooth and soft. We used to have no worries or a care in the world. I was fee and fun. We were ready to take on the world. But something happened to our confidence. It floated away like it never existed.

Confidence in Fear

As I sit on my pew at church, I think. I reminisce on what happened. Why did it happen to me? What did I do to deserve this? I know for sure that Fluffy (my cat) will always be with me. He will help me through this like he does with everything else. He is always so nice to me. The year is 1942 and I live in Germany. I thought my life was hard until it happened. Our house was bombed and I was scared and remain scared.
"As long as you keep faith." That is what the pastor told me. He could see the fear in my eyes as he passed by. Keep faith, that is what I have to do. If I keep faith, then I will make it through this. I know this to be true because that is what my mother told me all my life. Those were even her last words before the bomb hit. I know I can make it through this because I have confidence. Confidence is the key to success.

Blake Brockbank

A Picture Perfect Memory

My family used to go places like this all the time. I remember sitting there and admiring the beautiful artistry the forest offered us. The river curved in the soft ground, laughing and bubbly with its spontaneous energy. Trees stretched their branches tall, lifting them up in the baby blue sky. The sea of emerald grass shone with luminous color, only interrupted by the tiny jewels of flowers shining in the soft golden light streaming through the trees.
We would ahve picnics there, we would play and be free. Just listening to the birds and watching the squirrels play. Times were easy then, and I miss those days. When I get the chance, I would love to go back and visit. But it is hard, because I am older now.

Tarynn Green

An Abstract Life

The picture that i choose was the abstract picture that was shown in class. Abstract pictures can be pretty and misleading. When you first look at the picture you see beautiful colors and cool shapes. You can never make out what the picture is trying to tell us. You never really know what the artist is trying to say. So you have to guress for yourself and find out what it means to you. Mckenzie Stauffer

Rhino

The rhino in a small dark room he feels he will never get our. He makes due with the life he has. He does nothing all day, time justs ticks away, tick, tick, tick. Hour after Hour he lives. His only friend is a less lonely bird that show him how to be happy.
-Victour Bue

This isn't Me

As I hold my pencil in trembling hands, I'm plagued by silent thoughts. Who will read this? What should I write, and who will read what I put down in words? What had seemed so simple became nightmarish. I was writing to put down my thoughts, to prove that I had indeed walked on Earth; to leave a document for future generations of my family to read and see that I had not been all that different than they are. This was for them to read, but I was starting to wonder about others who might enter into these private thoughts of mine.

My thoughts turn to Anne Frank, and if my pencil had ever been steady, it began to lower itself. She had never known that her most private thoughts would be shared with many people world wide, and yet they had. Perhaps she had known that her journal of captivity would be let loose in the minds of millions, but if mine will be shared I do not know. I want to write about so many things, to sort them out on my own time, and keep them to return to when the same problems arise; but now, I have the urge to destroy every last word that I have already written. Why did I even want to write? What was the purpose if I was just going to worry about who would read this? If I edit my words, it becomes someone else. If I don’t, my worries will haunt me forever.

Marisa B.

Buffalo Smoke

The strolling buffalo surveys its scene. He is not afraid; searching for food along the large stretch of plain, grazing noncahlantly. The thick horns on the side of his head are strong and pointed. His snout releases large puffs of steamed breath. His hoofs are soundless on the grass-covered land.

Walking along a yellow plain, I see tipis and pipe smoke. These are not regular pipes, they are long and stuffed with sage. Buffalo skulls lay in piles, some lining tipis. People sit, surveying others. I follow my father closely and observe through dancing smoke that billows up in curls. The bright light is blocked by tipis, averting it from eyes. Though filled with wonder, I must not lose track of my father or I will become lost in the haze of sage smoke, buffalo skulls, tall tipis, and watchful people.

By Melissa Tatazi Brummett

A mysterious stranger that steps lightly on the sun-kissed pavement pops his collar as if to hide his face even further. His movements are made to be masked so no one suspects him and his biddings. His eyes, mind, and heart are dedicated to his destination. He has no sense of his golden surroundings. It only matters that nobody sees him.
The town is acting as the stranger prefers. Indifferent, unnoticing. Perfectly as aplanned. The town behaves as an oil canvas behind our mischevious character. But little do they understand that this man, this stranger, has secrets to be hidden and he most likely will keep them that way. What can be so important , though, to keep a life under such surveilance as this stranger does? why not share with the world? Whay could be lost? Maybe nobody will ever know.

Here...we...go! (BOOM)

Well hello to all you fresh meat. I hope you have fun. Or not. My undead army will devour you, no matter how hard you try. And i will prove this by how none of you will every post agian, therefore, you must have been devoured by the undead. (Or blown up, as you might have guessed by the title)

>:D
p.s. comment if you know what movie the title is from.

Pushing Past Obstacles by Dallas Anderson

Look at the face of the boy--depressed; blank; uninterested. He has no worries, yet there is no look of hope or joy in his face. The people in Fahrenheit 451 are like this little boy. Their minds don't function properly; their actions are robotic and repetitive. They are obsessed with watching their "walls" that they don't have any idea of what is going on around them. In our lives, we also face the "walls" of distraction. If this boy pushed hard enough, he could get around the temptation of the television. If we can relate ourselves to this boy, we can push ourselves past any obstacle.

Peter Rosen's paragraphs

Useless Title
Writing to an audience is an essential, if overlooked, component of writing.* In every bit of writing ever done, it is important to write to someone. It doesn’t always matter who, but sometimes it makes all the difference. The other thing about writing to an audience is that sometimes, despite your best attempts, it falls flat. (That sentence was weird, wasn’t it? Oh well, I’m not interested enough in revision to change it.) There isn’t always a reason why. I have a story that goes well with this idea of writing to an audience.
My group was supposed to present a theme to the class. This seemed easy enough (To be honest, it didn’t just seem easy enough, it was easy enough.); we had been able to find an acceptable amount of depth, and, after all, who can’t relate to food? Don’t answer that; it was rhetorical. We were targeting an audience of hungry ninth graders right before lunch, but for some reason, it didn’t work. It just fell flat. No audience participation, no reaction to our script, no nothing. (Yes, that was a fragment. Thank you grammar freak on the back row.) It is a simple story, but it tells us a lot. An audience is a difficult to predict, and very real, force in writing.

*At this point, all of you who are not forced to read this have stopped reading. Thank you for your effort.

Battlefield Report

We must join together to defend the sanctity of our borders. They come. They come! Form the shield wall. Prepare for the assault. Prepare yourselves.

Tone Tidal Wave By Jasmine Crespo

The time I had to speak to an audience that I didn’t quite know how to approach was last Friday. I was asked to explain tone to Ms.Lafortune’s seventh period. I had an interesting time trying to wrap the exact definition of tone in my mind. In my opinion, tone can be shown, then told about. Also worded as the infamous phrase- “Show me, do not tell me”. I also had to realize that my audience was a room full of my peers. Peers equals I have to act more natural and not business like in my rant/lesson. (If you look on 26 Ways to Fail you will see I like ranting) I love teaching and helping people but for this one I was drawing a blank. To fill in that blank I decided to take one of the best authors I know and compare it to one of the worst authors I know. (After all I am entitled to my opinion)
I finally decided to teach my doing examples. (Of course this decision came five seconds before I entered the classroom. I decided to do two extremes, (two writers) Stephanie Meyer and Lewis Carroll. The problem was, not that many students have read the work of both authors so I had to keep quoting: “The Jabberwocky”. (Thank you Ms. Loveless for having that as an option to memorize.) I had a blast and I think they listened to me. (Notice the verb “think” obviously I cannot read minds, but I can sort of read faces, some looked like they were dying a slow and painful death and some looked as though they were actually paying attention.)

26 Ways to Fail (Part I)

Welcome those of you who do not visit the blog often. To bring you up to date please read all articles that have titles that are or are similar to :
Lucky 13
26 Ways to Fail
You have a problem
The Daily Brief


Later on today I will Post the latest segment of my article 26 Ways to Fail.
Today has something to do with H or Harry Potter!

-Jasmine Crespo

Picture This by Allie Neff

Well, here goes. I gave it my best shot!

Picture This

This picture shows a woman, a black woman at that. Her face is screaming with fear, yet depression is leaking out. Times are hard for women, both black and white. People, especially men, don’t understand a woman’s feelings. Women are physically and emotionally strong, perhaps more than men. This woman doesn’t only represent the feelings of all the women around the world, but also the world itself. She is an inspiration to all mankind.

The viewers can see this woman’s appearance, but what could she possibly be thinking? You can never guess by looking at her appearance; you just need to ponder on what her thoughts are. Maybe her face is actually filled with courage or determination. This picture is drawn ‘black and white’, but what does that represent? Is it the representation of the black and white people of the world, or fear itself? Yes, personal opinions are great, but be aware of how you use them. Without deep thought and depth, you are doing nothing but judging a book by its cover.

New Bloom by Taylor Tomlinson

Art can express every emotion that you can think of. Sadness, happiness, loneliness, all can be found in some work of art, even if the artist did not intend it to be that way. The picture I chose to interpret is called New Bloom, by Thomas Southey. Thomas Southey said that he found the picture to express the cycle of life, and death was just another part of the cycle. I particularly liked this picture before I knew much about it because, well, it is kind of hard to explain. There was something about it that tugged at my memory, or maybe reminded me of something that I couldn’t fully comprehend. It may just have to do with the simplicity of the whole picture. It is merely an old lady, sitting, staring at something that we can not see, a picture of a rose next to her. Simplicity is real beauty to me, not the complicated ways of life now days. Maybe that is what made me like the picture, the pure simplicity of it all.

Our group decided to put it into the censorship page because the initial feel that we got was fear. Fear, like she was hiding something, waiting to see if she was going to be caught. It was like Fahrenheit 451 and the people who are so desperate to keep their books. They try to live normal lives, but maybe when they go home they feel scared they are going to be caught, but after I looked at the picture again, I got a slightly different feel. It was almost like resignation of the things to come. Of course, as mentioned above, it had nothing to do with my first reaction, but more of the second feel. I can see from the author’s viewpoint how it could be about the cycle of life, but this picture can be interpreted in so many ways, so it is impossible to say what viewpoint is the correct viewpoint. I guess there never is a correct viewpoint with art, just opinions.

Alex Crowell's Creative Paragraph

The picture I chose to elaborate on was the armored rhino picture. The picture is fairly simple, but in my mind, in says a lot. The rhino is in a minisule room, but his skin is hard, silver armor. It's like he's preparing himself and sees danger in a world that has none. In the room, the walls are painted with a night scene, a dark sky full of stars. The walls look like a paradise when it's really not. His whole world is a lie. The rhino has no movement, motivation and nothing to do. The picture looks wonderful with all its rich colors and texture, but like in most novels, what you see is not what you get. Its what your mind decides the picture is really trying to say that makes it wonderful. Your thoughts and the branches you create from yourself and the picture is what the artist actually wants you to see. Then its not about the painting anymore, but its about you, and your life and your mind.

Lucky 13

I am sick of begging you to go visit this site and enter my competition.

http://honors9th.blogspot.com/2010/11/lucky-13.html

Just do it...please.

As promised I am writing an article at the request of one of my readers. (I would give you this link to this, but given the fact that you haven't clicked on my link above, why would you go to this one?) For once I know exactly what to talk about, and that is...drum roll please (and obviously this isn't actually a drum roll; it's just a whole bunch of people hitting their knees to make a weak imitation of a real drum roll)...Elementary school!

Elementary school is obviously amazing. (Wow! Obviously, the only word that I can use to add effect today is obviously. I'm sorry, I guess I'm just not very creative. After all, I can't even come up with a subject for half my articles. Well, back to the article.) Elementary school has recess, it has longer lunch, it has a playground, it even has drinking fountains that now only go up to your knees! (If that sentence didn't make sense, sorry! My jokes aren't that great today.) At elementary school, you learn how to read (if you didn't know how before), you learn how to add (same thing applies), and you are also encouraged to be creative- if your teacher isn't named Ms. Caroline (another bad joke).

At this point (if I wasn't so late for something) I would continue on making lame jokes, wasting your time (and mine), and contributing superficial content to a blog that is already so full of superficial content, that just looking at it will make you confused (sorry again if this didn't make sense), but I won't

Peter Rosen

You Have a Problem

Hello again, and we are back. In this column, we have been following the nefarious plots of the SSS, Secret Society of Students. In an earlier post, we talked about how polar bears might rebel and how the butter and margarine companies would be hurt, but now we are moving on to a little warmer spot. The Amazing Australia! Australia is the second leading toast producer, next to Antarctica. If the SSS's (thats a lot of s's) plan succeeds, Australia will be the next target. Some of my spies there have seen the kangaroos being very active. We have seen that they are creating a rocket and are attaching a magnet to it that has a label on it as being "a toaster attracting magnet". We expect that they will strap the magnet to it, and send it to the sun, but before it reaches that, it will of attracted all of the toasters on Australia to it, and then they would be no toasters left on Australia. Oh the horror! We plan to send in people to sabotage the rockets fuel tank, but there are kangaroo guards everywhere. They are deadly with their boomerangs. They can throw them and always hit somebody, but it always comes back and hits them too. They are deadly to enemies and themselves. We hope that our plan will work and I will get back when I know more information.

Aninimous