November 30, 2004 Jeopardy! Contestant's Record Winning Streak Ends

On this day in 2004, after winning 74 consecutive games and more than $2.5 million, the record for any US game show, contestant Ken Jennings loses. Jennings extended winning streak gave the show a huge ratings boost and turned the software engineer from Utah into a reality TV star. But all of that ended on September 30, 2004 when he was stumped by the answer: "Most of this firm's 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only four months a year." The correct response was the tax preparation company H&R Block. After losing, Jennings went on to become a pitchman for various products and wrote several books.

Heyyyy Paige!

Paige "Paiglepuff" Spragens sits by my side everyday in English class. She is a very interesting person with a passion for Harry Potter and things like The Book of Mormon. She always brings the vocab lists to class which is very much appreciated and she works really hard in English. If Paige were a color I'm not sure it would be consistent. Her color is often changing in the sense that I've seen Paige in many different settings and she is often a calm blue, a vibrant green, or maybe even a different color entirely. We've known each other since Freshman year when we were seat partners in English Class, but we didn't know each other well then. Last year however we had the opportunity to spend more time around each other and I was able to get to know her better. In that time I realized that she also much like myself loved Star Wars and enjoyed the movie Zombieland. I really enjoy having Paige as my seat partner.

Alyssa Liew, Let's Talk about You!

Now, I could sit here and tell you about how Alyssa Liew is full of rainbows and has a smile that lights up any room (environmentally of course) and that she poops roses. But would I do you such a disservice??? OF COURSE NOT! But lemme tell you what, Alyssa Liew is an awesome gal, and you fellas are missin out. Plus, you know what they say: Once you go Asian, you'll always feel amazin.

I didn't know Alyssa Liew very well until this year actually. We had run into eachother a few times in the library (like true Academy students would), but I didn't get to know what she was like until I found her pleasent face smiling back at me on the first day in Mr. Logsdon's room.

Alyssa Liew.... Is amazing. Sure, she's very opinionated and super estudious and can argue to the point she'll fall down some stairs, but thats what makes her great! Alyssa Liew will do anything to help anyone out. Exhibit A: Freshman year when we would have a huge Citizenship test or final, Alyssa Liew came through in the clutch and made an 11 page study guide for the Academy. Exhibit B: When I am not prepared for an impromptu vocab quiz in English, Alyssa Liew is always there with a sheet to help me study and encourage me with positive remarks.

Alyssa Liew is going places. She's taking the toughest classes, plus is taking a college class in some other language that I have forgotten right now (I wanna say Arabic?). She has the drive to fight for what she wants, and if she wants to go to an Ivy League school, Alyssa Liew will go to an Ivy League school. Her drive and motivation to succeed will lead her to do great things. So when you see Alyssa Liew on TV giving her political analysis or winning the Nobel Prize for curing cancer, just remember that she is awesome and also that I wrote a great blog about her :)

Neighbor: Michael K.

Michael is the most clinical and polished student I know. You can call him a try-hard (aren't we all?), but academically he's always on his game. He rarely leaves anything to chance and mistakes are few and far between. It's a challenge to match his scores on vocab quizzes because I know he's going to nail each one, and if he misses something, chances are I missed like 2 or three. I'm really thankful to have him as my seat partner because he pushes me to be better and I think we both thrive off of that friendly accountability. It was a delight to work under him as VP of French Club last year. He made the transition to club president very easy for me and he and Anna Freed are now by far my most dependable staff members. Other than French and the Academy, we don't really have much else in common, but I think our friendship has definitely grown since freshman year.

Michael has a very bright future ahead of him. His personality leads me to believe that he will probably go to some prestigious liberal arts or Ivy League school (most likely in the northeast). I doubt he'll go to a D-1 school (except ivy) because I'm way much more into sports than he is and I don't think it's high on his priority list. He'll probably become a major figure in the literary field and I have a feeling my children and grandchildren will end up reading one of his award-winning books (please go easy on them haha). He'll likely live in the Northeast (my money is on Vermont) for most of his life because he really seems interested in that mostly rural liberal arts environment. It's definitely not what I'd choose, but I do think he's going to be successful on such a path.

Meet James "Junior" Greene

Honestly, the first time I'd ever heard of James was in my freshman homeroom class on the first day of school. I heard the teacher refer to him as "James Greene" and automatically, my snooty self thought, "um, if his last name starts with a G why is he in our homeroom class of people with last names of L." I never really figured out that his full name is James LEVELL-Greene until this year.

Now what do I know about James Greene other than his full last name, now? I know that he really really really like clothes, especially Polo, and did the Polo Challenge for 30 consecutive days in October. I also know that his parents have grounded him from buying clothes since he has a stash of garments in his sister's closet. Oxymoron, right?

I'm also aware that he used to be in the band, but quit that. And he also used to play football, and quit that too. He used to go by (and still might) "The Beast." I guess he gave that up to be called "Junior."

His personality is a great one, to be honest. I rarely see James being offensive or plain mean. He has a genuinely kind personality and he is also pleasantly intelligent. He's probably one of the more gregarious people i know and will give anyone a chance to be his friend. I think I like this the most about him. 

I would characterize James as orange; he's so full of energy and i couldn't ever represent him with a tranquil or more serious color. I also see James as a monkey because, just like James, they are intelligent, kind, and can usually make you laugh. 

Finally, I see James graduated from high school and on his way to pursuing his career of choice. Either that or doing something with Polo.

My English Neighbor

In English, I sit next to Mason Duke. I remember meeting Mason on the first day of our freshman year in my 3rd hour English class with Mr. Lentz. I had a couple classes with her but never really got to know her. The same goes for last year; we had some classes together, we knew who the other person was, but we didn't really talk or anything.
I've honestly learned a lot about Mason and gotten to know her better due to our English seating chart. I know that she's a dancer, that she rides horses, and that she has a "ghetto" car. She's a really nice and funny person and I'm glad I've finally gotten to know her a little more after all these years of being around each other. I don't know what she wants to do with her life, but I can tell she's going to be successful. She just has one of those bubbly, fun, positive attitudes that make others happier as well. I would characterize her as the color pink because she's girly and sweet. If she were an animal, she would be a horse because she's nice but also works hard and strives for success.

Our Thanksgiving

What can I really say about my Thanksgiving, or, Thanksgiving as it were because of my divorced parents. For the past seven years I have been present at a Thanksgiving dinner with my mother and step-father in Lexington, and a dinner with my father and step-mother outside Richmond. However, at both places there are two commonalities that have held true, the plethora of distant relatives that show up to accompany us, and the diverse, yet predictable variety of foods. As a whole, we live up to the romanticized Thanksgiving dinner for the most part. Maybe not all at one table, but in the same house, the same environment nonetheless. As for the food we gorge, it's everything you can think of when Thanksgiving comes to mind: Turkey, Ham (both city and country), Stuffing, Macaroni and Cheese, Chicken and Dumplings, Beans, Corns, Mashed Potatoes, and all the others.

A closely related tradition in my Lexington family is what occurs the day following Thanksgiving, Black Friday. Every year since they have been married, my mother and stepfather, usually with grandparents in tow, hit up the stores of Hamburg Pavillion in the hopes of finding the best deals, fast, and with the least amount of headache. I haven't been midnight shopping yet, but I would like to at least once, just to get the experience in mind.

Thanksgiving

Throughout my life I've had 3 different types of Thanksgivings, each of them changing in sync with the changes in my life. My first memories of Thanksgiving take place at my Gradmother's house in Joplin, Missouri with my large family on my dad's side. My three uncles, five aunts, 14 cousins, Grandmother, Grandfather, mother, father, brother, sister, cat, and me. This arrangement stays true for christmas as well, but that is for another blog post. We (mom, dad, brother, sister, me) would drive to Missouri the evening school lets out for thanksgiving break and get there the following day, then leave 2 days before school starts, and get back the day before school. The whole family sits around a long table crammed with seats and plates and enough food to feed a whole house full of homeless people. The dogs weave between our feet, occasionally poking their heads out to beg for food as dogs normally do. On the days preceding and following Thanksgiving day the kids spend their time outside playing in the snow, at the mall, or at the playground down the street. We would play games as a family and fight as family normally does.

When I was about 6 or 7 my grandparents died within 3 months from each other. So as a little kid with no emotional connection to them, this only meant no more big family gatherings at their house, not necessarily no more grandparents. But this didnt stop the Thanksgiving celebration. We had friends living in Oklahoma that built a cabin on a 32 acre forested plot of land. Their family, about the same size as ours, would gather here for celebration, so they invited us to stay there with them for a week out of the year. The time frame was the same as before, just different people, different surroundings, different things to do. We are no longer friends with this family, so now this thanksgiving is over.

A new type of Thanksgiving has recently begun. My mom has friends from work that we have eaten with at their house for the past three years. This type of thanksgiving is not exciting, mainly due to the extreme difference in the number of people there. But it is thanksgiving none the less. It is through all of these changes that i appreciate more of what i have than i did before these changes, and this also comes with getting older. But i remain thankful for everything i have and everything i had.

Brown Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving im brown. so i did not celebrate thanksgiving.
I studied, did homework, and cried myself to sleep like i always do.
All in all it was a good day. If its any consolation i ate a turkey sandwhich but it didnt taste like thanksgiving... it tasted like sadness. A sad, bland turkey sandwhich. This is actually the perfect metaphor for my life. My life is a bland turkey sandwich. I have a dream, that one day, when im a doctor and I have a family (if im not a bachelor fo lyfeee) I will unite all cultures through the worlds most multicultural thanksgiving and there will cultural renditions of turkey all around. When you think about it though.. were celebrating the time when we were showed hospitality by the native americans .. and then we enslaved them and gave them small pox sooo..... yeah. One day though, like the acuvue oasys commercials, one day i will celebrate thanksgiving.

Turkey day

Every Thanksgiving my family and I go to my great uncle's farm out. My grandmother always brings the bread. My mom normally brings some sort of fruit salad. Other members of the family bring the turkey, sweet potatoes, deviled eggs, desserts and more. This time my brother, sister and I drove a gator. A normally do something something country. We always go to see his cows and donkeys. Then we eat and eat and eat then we watch football and eat more and more.
Once we leave his house we take the Christmas trees out of the attic and start decorating. We have there trees. A huge on that we place in the sunroom, a blue UK and a medium height tree that my dad puts his train ornaments on. My dad claims that if we do not put the trees up on Thanksgiving they won't get put up at all. It's nice to have family time putting the trees.

Assignment 13: Do you know your neighbor?

You are juniors. You are in the Academy. You sit next to each other in Mr. Logsdon's class. There are only a few days until the end of the semester.

I think it is safe to say that you know at least a little about each other. Your understanding of each other may include extra curriculars, favorite TV shows, hobbies, but your level of familiarity may also extend into knowing each other's personality. Are they intimidating, carefree, honest?

This week, write about the person you sit next to in English class. What do they do? What are they like? What color would you characterize them as and why? Where do you see them in five years? What type of animal are they like?

I know you're in a seating chart, but you are writing about your peers. Getting to know for the past few months, I have seen you as genuinely nice people and so I expect genuinely nice things in your posts. It doesn't have to be all puppies and ice cream cones, but your entries shouldn't cut anyone down.

Minimum of 150 words - due Sunday, December 2 at 11:59 pm.

Thanksgiving

My thanksgiving changes every year. My parents are divorced so I go different places almost every year. Up until my parents got divorced,  I would go to my mom’s grandparents house. It was always fun, but it wasn’t always the best holiday gathering. It was often stressful because of cooking and we couldn’t always spend as much quality time as we ‘d like. I enjoy Christmas and Easter much more (plus there is more candy). This year I went to my stepgrandparent’s farm. In years past I have gone to my other stepgrandparent’s house in Washington DC, so it changes often. My favorite memory is when I went to my stepgrandparen’ts farm three years ago and my entire family on my dad’s side went. It was just a great, relaxing time. The farm is a great place to get away and the food as awesome. When I think about it, I get very relaxed and it takes me back to a time when everything was calm and all stress was obliterated. 

Blog #12

Thanksgiving for me probably seems pretty stereotypical as nothing out of the ordinary or crazy really happens. I celebrate Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family where we gather at my grandmother's house. My family always has Thanksgiving lunch so as to give us more time to bond, if you will. My grandma usually cooks most of the food but was unable to this year so my mom and aunt helped out. Normally, my mom and aunts are in charge of making the desserts. We eat around my grandma's huge dining room table but I usually get exiled to the kid's table with my older sister and younger cousins. After we eat we gather in the living room or sit in the empty dining room to talk about things. I don't have any specific memories of past Thanksgivings that really stand out to me since every year it's pretty much the same, redundant routine.
Overall, I do enjoy Thanksgiving. It's a rather chill holiday which is great because it doesn't cause me too much stress; although after it's over I have to deal with the fact that Black Friday is just around the corner which means Christmas is around the corner which means stress all over the place!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Thanksgiving: the prelude to Christmas. I've spent the previous few weeks trying to suppress my very strong urge to listen to Christmas music, and now I don't have to anymore!!! That pretty much sums up my feelings on the holiday.

I do quite enjoy the holiday itself, despite the overshadowing excitement for Christmas. We typically spend it here, at our house, and my grandparents on my mom's side and my aunt and cousins come and join us. My sister used to come, but I doubt that will be happening much anymore since she got married last year and will now have to go to Ohio with her husband for his family's Thanksgiving. This is unfortunate for me because I cling to her presence when everyone else in my family is just not fun enough. She's like my security blanket when we attend the Saturday Thanksgiving dinner in Lebanon, KY with my dad's side of the family, where there is an inordinately large amount of people that I would not have known are related to me. There's also an awkward age gap, leaving the younger cousins, the adults, and me, so I usually just stick with my mom or my sister.
Anyway, I usually get up earlier than I would on a day off in order to watch the parade. It's really lost it's appeal to me, but I enjoy watching it regardless, because it makes me a bit nostalgic from when I was little and used to enjoy it. Later in the day my family arrives and we eat our typical turkey dinner at about 3. They usually leave a few hours after that, usually from the pestering of my grandparents who greatly dislike being away from their house for any extended period of time, which I suppose is understandable since my grandfather is 94 years old. This is usually my favorite part of the day, when I can just relax with my parents and brother and watch some football. And best of all, I whip out the Christmas music! It's sort of become a tradition for the four of us to watch A White Christmas on Thanksgiving night to kick off the beginning of the season. Too much football to enjoy this year, though, so no movie.
I am immeasurably excited now, as you can probably deduce, about our next major holiday. I've already busied myself with Christmas decorating my room as much as possible. I'm a happy camper.
 

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my second favorite holiday (my first being Christmas) because of the wonderful food. Thanksgiving is a very hectic time for my family. At lunchtime my mom, dad, brother, and I go to my grandparent’s house on my Dad’s side and share a very disgusting dinner (my grandmother is very lazy and also a very bad cook so nothing tastes too good) with my aunt, uncle, 2 cousins, and grandparents. We hang around and watch football few a few hours afterwards and then head to my other grandparents about 10 minutes away and eat dinner with all of my extended family on my Mom’s side. This is my favorite dinner because there are around thirty of us and each family brings a dish so there is always an assortment of delicious food. After dinner the kids usually go outside and mess around. This year we went to my Uncle’s farm and played with their newborn puppies. My favorite memory would have to be from when I was nine or ten and we had decided to play hide and seek outside in the dark after dinner. I love hide and seek because I have to be very secretive and being secretive makes me feel like a spy, and it was dark outside so that made me feel so much more like a spy because it had a kind of scary feeling from the dark.

Thanksgiving

Every year my family which includes my mom dad and brother all go down to or tiny condo in florida and spend thanksgiving there. Usually our grandparents go down and we spend this weekend with them, but that wasn't the case this year. It is an incredibly fun and relaxing experience because our condo is right on the beach which provides sunshine, a fantastic view, and lots of leisure time. Thanksgiving is fun for my mom as well because me and my brother always help her shop and make the same foods every year. Its also the only time I ever attempt cooking which should be a matter of concern for the upcoming years. All in all its one of the most relaxing and meaningful weeks of the year.

I do enjoy this holiday because this and christmas make us reflect on how blessed our lives really are and all of the great things that happen to us daily. I love the Christmas spirit which I think pertains to this holiday (that and the fact that my mom has been playing christmas music since the election ended). Its the season of giving and the season to be grateful and who could complain about that?

FAMILY TIME!

     Well, Thanksgiving has always been a little bit of an odd and not so normal holiday for my family. But then again, my family's never been really normal. On my dad's side of the family, he has a sister and a niece (but they have some issues). And his dad died when I was little and his mom died a few years ago, so his side of the family isn't really the one we associate with (even though that sounds horrible, I don't mean it like that).
      Anyways, all my family lives in Lexington for the most part. My mom's parents live pretty close and my aunt and uncle live in Versailles with their three sons. But for Thanksgiving, my aunt and uncle didn't want to come over to my grandparents' house, so all six of the Scroggins went to the Smiths' house for Thanksgiving dinner. No one in my family is really a huge 'traditional food' fan (crazy but whatever), so on Thursday night, we ended up having make your own pizzas and a salad bar. A lot of my friends thought it was ridiculous that we were missing out on 'a big turkey and some good mashed potatoes', but I was actually pretty happy with what we had. My mom and grandmother are all the biggest fans of 'Southern cooking', but they were really just tired of having what we always have, so I enjoyed my barbecue pizza and chips and queso Thursday night.
       I actually do enjoy Thanksgiving a lot, but mostly because I don't get that excited for it and it's pretty relaxing. We don't have any huge traditions that I look forward to, but I still have a great time on Thanksgiving. We don't travel anywhere or pack or have to deal with crazy family members, so it's pretty low stress. For some people, Thanksgiving is one of their favorite holidays, but for me, it's one of the most low-key holidays (but I still appreciate it!). I guess part of it is that I don't have that big of a family to celebrate with, but that's cool, too. I'm the oldest grandchild, but I get excited thinking about Thanksgiving when I'm a mom. I hope that all my siblings will get married and have lots of children so my children will have lots of cousins (something I missed out on) and we'll all go back to Lexington and just have a wonderful traditional Thanksgiving! Maybe that's kinda cheesy, but at this point, I don't really care.

Thanksgiving

Celebrating Thanksgiving in the Chinese community is probably a little different from how other Americans celebrate it. The main reason being that it's a bit more inconvenient to gather an entire family together. If my parents, sister, and I were to actually fly to China for Thanksgiving one year and see the rest of our family, it would still be different from the traditional Thanksgiving because they don't celebrate the holiday in China... Anyways, back on topic. Instead, what we do for Thanksgiving is gather a bunch of Chinese families and throw a party (that usually takes place at Alyssa's house, lucky her!). The definition of an "Asian" party is a potluck. My parents spend about half the day preparing a couple presentable dishes and by about 6 o'clock we're out the door. At the actual party, everyone spends a couple hours being obnoxiously loud and eventually we drift off into our respective activities. The kids watch a movie or talk, the parents continue laughing really loudly, and the grandparents continue being adorable. This is pretty much the entire night. My favorite memory of Thanksgiving has to be from last year. Last year, for the first time in my entire life, I had turkey on Thanksgiving. It was quite a shock to walk through the door and see a TURKEY on the counter instead of fish, or duck, or shrimp. It was a nice surprise. We had turkey again this year, thanks to Alyssa's mom, and I hope this becomes some sort of a tradition. I really do enjoy the holiday and it doesn't bother me that I don't get to see the rest of my family because I see my parents having a great time with all their old friends and it's like a giant friend family. It's nice, I like it.

Thanksgiving

For me, the holiday is just something for me to overcome. I enjoy the time off of school, but the actual gatherings on the day are much less enjoyable. I often eat with the extended family that lives in Kentucky, and while they are all nice people for the most part, I don't really know them, and they aren't much like me at all. The only person to make the long hours sitting around bearable is my brother who is much more like me but can only make it to the gatherings about half the time - this year was unfortunately not one of those times. Things really get their worst when everyone feels the need to rant about their various opinions (on politics etc.) which each of them already agreed with - except me. So I have to listen to the most unreasonable indictments of my own beliefs without uttering a word. I don't completely hate my family, but it is certainly hard for me to bear them for long.

Thanksgiving

For the most part, my family follows the tradition and confirms the stereotype. We have a big turkey, my whole family comes over and everyone brings a dish. There's usually some excellent desserts and a lot of football involved. I love Thanksgiving because it sort of kicks off the holiday season. Getting together with my family is something I really cherish, and after that we start talking about Christmas and the spirit of giving and it all signals the start of closeness through the holidays. Thanksgiving is wonderful, if it were a person I would put it in my Fave 5. But once its over, we all go home and try to hold down the delicious dishes we over-consumed in the hours before and start to prepare for the holiday season.

Some of my favorite Thanksgiving memories have come from my grandparents' house. My grandmother was a witty and creative person who loved to paint and do artsy things, so most years she would gussy up the table with name cards and flowers and other such crafty things. She loved to be around family, as do I, and her enhancements of Thanksgiving will always stick out to me as some of the best memories because it made the holiday more than just an extravagant meal.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is not really a huge deal in my family to be quite honest. My mom's parents passed away a while ago and her siblings and her never really had a good relationship. My dad's side of the family is fairly close knit but most of us live in Lexington or very close by so we see each other a lot. We get together and have great food and enjoy our time together but we see each other a lot anyways so the only real difference is that we have more food! So I like the holiday but  my family doesn't do anything "special".

Blog Post #12--Thanksg-actually, Nana

Ever since I was little, my family has always come up (or down, depending on the year) to Paducah, Kentucky for Thanksgiving--even before we were living here in Kentucky.  My aunt and uncle have a house there, and a few years ago, my grandparents moved there, too.  It's pretty much been the same type of Thanksgiving every year:  lots of people, mountains of food, chocolate chip cookies, and shopping.  I've always been the only kid around, though, right up until my older cousin had kids of his own (who I'm now in charge of watching).  That was probably the only thing wrong with Thanksgiving when I was younger, but looking back it never really bothered me too much because I had my nana to look forward to.
Nana. That's probably who/what I think of most when I think about this holiday.  I mean, I know, there's my aunt, my uncle, their cats (who actually all passed away before Thanksgiving this year, which was kind of sad... They got another cat a couple weeks ago, though. Which was nice. :)), my older cousins, the extremely awesome food (This side of my family is Jewish; I think it's in our blood to make the best food around), my Grandpa... The list goes on. But my Nana's at the top.  She's always been around for Thanksgiving, even the one time we had to stay home for Thanksgiving--she and my Grandpa came to us.  I'm probably closer to Nana than a lot of other people in my family.  She's one of the main reasons I have a love for books; she's always reading, and I think that when I was little I wanted to be like her, so I started reading what she read (including Harry Potter).  Nana taught me how to find good deals while shopping, which sounds kind of weird and unimportant, but I think all you girls will understand me when I say that good deals are extremely important.  She's always taken a big interest in my life, and she makes sure to keep up with things that are happening to me.
I'm going to share a funny story (or really, a funny quote) with you.  So, last year there were some people who were kind of making my life harder than it really needed to be.  Anyway, I visited my nana in the middle of it all and told her about it.  This Thanksgiving, she asked, "So, Anna, last semester you were dealing with a couple of bitches.  How'd that turned out?"  Needless to say, I laughed quite a bit at this.  She exaggerates a lot, and she's from New Jersey; cursing is one of her specialties.
Anyway, I know this was supposed to be more of a blog post about Thanksgiving.  But if I'm being quite honest, there would be no Thanksgiving without Nana.  For the past couple years, she's gotten more... disabled than she used to be.  It's harder for her to walk now.  This Thanksgiving, she talked a lot about what my grandpa would need next year... It was really hard saying goodbye to her this year.  I just don't know what Thanksgiving would be like if...

turkey turkey turkey rockin everywhere

Thanksgiving is probably one of my favorite holidays, along with Christmas and Halloween. I love fall and winter so much and Thanksgiving is like a nice little mix of both. For our Thanksgiving, we have a huge lunch around one o'clock. My mom WHOLE family comes, this is usually about 25 people. Its fun, especially when we were kids because my cousins would stay after and play with us. We would always play Mario Party on the Gamecube for hours. This year was a little different, we are all older now and two of my cousins have babies. Also, two of my cousins enlisted in the military and weren't here. I could tell it made Thanksgiving a little less enjoyable for everyone but we still all enjoyed the company of each other. It is a tradition in my house to set up the tree after everyone leaves and the mess is cleaned up. My all time favorite memory would have to be playing barbies with my cousin when we were about 10, we made my parents room a barbie resort and it was every girls dream, but every parents nightmare to clean up. CHRISTMAS TIME!!!!

Thanksgiving.

A typical thanksgiving at my house looks like a 6 family members, three brunettes, two redheads, and one white haired man all dressed up around a wooden dining room table that had to be dusted from not having been used since last Christmas. All sitting around on over bearing, always hungry, whiny dog. Everyone going around saying what their thankful for,discussion of jobs, school, and the future. I love he holiday because it’s a time that all of my family (although spread out) can come together and enjoy a bit of time together. I that we are able to draw out the board games and reconnect with each other. I don’t think I have a strangest Thanksgiving memory, but I think my fondest is when a few of our family friends and cousins came into town and we were able to spend halloween together as a big happy family. And that’s a peak into my Thanksgiving.

Big Turkey

Thanksgiving is a time where families all over America get together to eat turkey and talk to beloved relatives without a hint of altercation. While most people would say that this paradigm of a Thanksgiving dinner is not at all true, I am surprised to say that this is exactly the type Thanksgiving feast I have been attending for sixteen years. Our Thanksgiving involves passing the food all around the table, happy thoughtful conversation, and everybody doing dishes together after supper. The table included 13 relatives this year, and like every year nothing eventful or different happened. Nothing spilled, we didn't eat anything out of the ordinary for the dinner, and nobody got in any verbal arguments. I would say that I enjoy this holiday, but for the sole reason that the food is better than on a normal night. Although family is nice and all, I'm not at that age where I appreciate them enough, and the food in my eyes is the reason for the holiday.    

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, and I enjoy it with my family every year. When we wake up, my family will watch the end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (we sleep very late) before being interrupted by the annual National Dog Show that follows it. We eat breakfast at my house then my parents and sometimes myself, my brothers, and my cousins will join in before showering and dressing up to go to my grandparents house. We dress nicely because my very proper great aunt and uncle are usually in attendance. Our group of around 20 eats a huge, wonderful meal that my grandmother always manages to prepare by herself. We eat turkey (sometimes 2), stuffing, corn pudding, mashed potatoes, green beans, gravy, homemade rolls, and a dessert of pies and ice cream. Then we talk in the living room, play games, and do the same thing again in a few hours until all or the majority of the food is gone. I tend to develop huge "food babies" after stuffing myself and often take naps in between the 2 meals and after the second one. My most wonderful memory of the holiday seems to occur every year, my family on my mom's side sit and play games for hours every Thanksgiving and entertain ourselves. It is always fun and interesting with our activities ranging from intense political debates to playing a huge game of hide-n-go seek or more popular in my family "sardines" where one person hides and everyone looks for them until you find the hider and hide with them. We also watch big football games every year and spend the whole day together; it's always a great day.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time of family, but considering most of my family lives a nice 12 hour flight and hours of layovers away, we have a slight spin on Thanksgiving. My family annually throws a Thanksgiving Asian Party for a few family friends. Asian parties are really just potlucks where the kids run off and do their own thing, the parent’s gossip about their children, and the grandparent’s fake gamble the night away. Last year, we graduated from the traditional duck of China to a nice, succulent, store bought turkey, which became a precedent for this year. But, with sushi and porridge making on her mind, my mother completely forgot about the stuffing and mashed potatoes and the gravy was only subpar. The lack of these two items, though substituted with sushi, brought a great cry from two of my nameless friends whom were both devastated by this loss despite the other Asian yummies that were available. Plus, we bought a pie, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

After stuffing ourselves with the lack of stuffing, my friends and I moseyed down stairs to chat and watch a movie. The movie did not meet our extremely high expectations (subpar plot and acting), so we gave up and reverted to our 5 year old hiding spot in my basement: the guest room closet. There, we talked. And talked and talked and talked, like any teenage girls would until it was 11ish when we went upstairs to beg and plead with our parents to let us go Black Friday shopping.

Yesterday morning was my first midnight Black Friday shopping spree. Usually I can convince my momma to take me during the day, but because I had a ride there and back at midnight she let me go. Personally, I don’t think anything good was on sale that interested me, so staying up until 3 in the morning to buy a sweater and some cheap gifts (that were still on sale later in the day) was not worth it. Maybe I should jump on the bandwagon and buy some electronic related things next year? 

A common experience

Our family generally has a pretty normal thanksgiving. We all head up to Ohio to spend the day at Grandma's we eat turkey even though I'm not a huge fan and that's accompanied with a pretty usual thanksgiving spread. We even have that annoyingly rude uncle who no one really likes. After we eat at Grandma's and watch a little football and catch a few minutes of the parade we head off to my great aunt and uncle's to meet with family and enjoy some much desired dessert my favorite of which being Oreo pie, but I always save room for the classic pumpkin. This time for sweets is also filled with passing time with cousins who hardly remember my name and listening to stories of the days of old when the turkey was eaten up hill both ways through the snow. I may sound like a cynic, but I really do enjoy Thanksgiving from the bountiful feast to the boundless relatives.

The Smith's Thanksgiving

My Thanksgiving. Lets just say it's a relaxed one. I wake up about 9:30 in the morning to watch the Thanksgiving day Parade - for the best part, the marching bands of course. After that my family and I starts cooking the turkey. While the turkey is cooking, we sit down to watch the Purina National Dog Show picking our favorites in each different category. Then the cooking really begins. We prepare the usual thanksgiving meal for my family with turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing, gravy, sister-hubert's rolls, and pumpkin pie! Last night, we also sat down for a longgggg family movie- the second Lord of the Ring movie (extended version). I quite enjoy this holiday because it lets my family and I calm down our busy lives and for me to catch up on homework. My favorite memory of thanksgiving is just being able to have my grandfather eating dinner with us. I miss him very much and the Thanksgiving table just doesn't seem the same without him. He was the life of the party (whether awake or sleeping in the lazy boy chair with his snoring). I will never forget the laughs shared nor the smiling faces during those thanksgivings. 

Thanksgiving at the Kennedy House

Surprisingly, the main event of Thanksgiving day at my house is not the food or the parade. Instead, it happens down the street at the local park. Every year, at the same time, on the same field, with the same rules. It's a football pick up game to 21 between my brother and I (with my dad as All-time QB). It's a game that's been going on for several years. The all time record is 1-1-4 with 4 ties, mostly because no one ever fails to score. Two on one isn't necessarily easy to defend. Two years ago, it took 5 Overtimes before we gave up and went home. Last year, the game got stopped at 14-14 because of the mud. This year, I was down 14-21 getting ready to receive for the final drive to tie it up, when my brother tried to onside kick it. It was a perfect kick but I got there slightly quicker. I tried to fall on it, but my brother wasn't going to have any of it. He didn't slow down and when I got up to try and get a few extra yards, our knees hit and mine got under his, causing him to hit the semi frozen tundra hard. He took the brunt of the collision. I went on to score, once again surviving total humiliation. I got to keep my pride and my brother got to keep a new bruise.

Thanksgiving with the Bradfords

In reality, Thanksgiving at the Bradford household is actually pretty cliched. We usually get together with my dad's side of the family--his two sisters and their families, his parents, and his aunt--which is a ridiculous amount of fun. We crowd an unreasonable number of people around the table, eat way too much food, drink sparkling apple juice and, for a little while, try to ignore the huge stack of dishes waiting for us. Whether we're in Loganville, Georgia, or here in Lexington, the house is always loud and everyone has a great time together.
This year, unfortunately, we weren't able to get together with all the extended family; instead, we're going to a family friend's house and eating together. This really is the only anomaly in my Thanksgiving memories, but being the classic Thanksgiving family isn't bad, right?
Essentially, we like sleeping in, eating, and spending time together. Trying to imagine Thanksgiving any other way is just rather odd for me.

Turkey Day with the Lee's

I wouldn't say that my family doesn't believe in Thanksgiving, but I also wouldn't say that we do. We definitely don't abide by the conventional image of a hungry family feasting over a perfect, oven-roasted turkey browned just right, creamy mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and delectable pumpkin pie. Instead, we rush over to Kroger ten minutes before meal time, snag a "quality" turkey, and then eat it. Sometimes, we just plain forget; those years, we end up eating ramen noodles. Basically, my family certainly doesn't represent the classic Thanksgiving we all picture when we hear about the holiday. However, we do give thanks before our meal every day. So that counts, right?

Also, I enjoy the holiday.I enjoy getting to spend quality time with...my bed. For me, I sleep ALOT on the holidays and catch up on my z's. So that's one of my main reasons for absolutely loving holidays and breaks. Kind of pathetic, but I'm sure every other high school student can relate. 

Honestly, I have no strange or wonderful memory from Thanksgiving. Nothing really eventful occurs on this day, unfortunately. Boring, I know.

Assignment 11: Changes!

**This is late because my laptop (the only computer in my house) has been in New York since the saturday before last and I just got it today... I tried to blog on my phone but it wouldn't let me (I emailed you and you said it was OK)**

Obama sucks. He’s a freakin’ idiot. He doesn’t know nothing. I hate Obama. I swear I hope Obama gets assassinated. The country is going to go to absolute crap these next four years. All I know is I’m gonna start hoarding guns before Obama takes ‘em all away!! I’m moving to Canada. Everything is better in Canada. Them Canadians really know how to run a country, let me tell ya. Or maybe I’ll move to Australia… I bet their president knows what he’s talkin’ about and is a family man just like my boy Mitt Romney! Mitt Romney woulda been a great president. He cares. He cares about every single person. He wants everyone to have a fair chance… and believes in equality for all. It’s a shame this country didn’t believe that. He would have been just what this country needed, me especially. This election made me a very mad woman!

Assignment 10: What is it good for?

**This is late because my laptop (the only computer in my house) has been in New York since the saturday before last and I just got it today... I tried to blog on my phone but it wouldn't let me (I emailed you and you said it was OK)**

Is there a time for war?

   Certainly. When more lives are at risk than those that will be put on the line, then war is okay. To put it more simply, if it saves more lives than it takes, then yes. War over politics though is not okay.

If there is a time, is it morally right and just or is is it the lesser of two evils?

   It is the lesser of the two evils. It is not morally right and I would more likely be a peace advocate than the opposite, but I also know that sometimes it cannot be avoided. The only time is, like I said before, if going to war saves more lives than the actual war takes.

If there isn't a time, why not?

   See previous answer.

Are there certain times when countries have a responsibility to go to war?

   This is tricky. If it is necessary in order to save lives, then it is okay to go to war. But you cannot always predict the unpredictable, so sometimes you cannot tell if it will save lives or not-but you have to take the chance. It is a country's responsibility to go to war if 1. the majority of the country advocates it and 2. if they predict it will save lives.

Are there any alternatives? Could they be more effective or less effective?

    In a perfect world, the alternative would be talking it out. But this doesn't always work. I feel like if there were any better alternatives, we would know of them. But everything else has failed, and even war fails most of the time.

Thanksgiving x 3

Awkward phase commence.
My family is the weirdest. We love each other through meanness and insults. My grandmother has a favoritism pendulum that swings from one child to the next.
Each visit, it's as if we just get more and more divided in order to become more and more drawn together.
In my opinion, my mother was never meant to be a mother, as she is still a child. She's currently going through puberty once again, and has a high school relationship at the same time. My grandmother, who was only able to have my mother, suddenly has four children now, including my mom's boyfriend.
My mother and Terry (boyfriend) go out every weekend, leaving her already latchkey children by themselves for even more time. This is where my grandmother has learned to come in and take care of us.
Having said that, my Thanksgiving is the absolute shit. My parents being divorced, I get three Thanksgivings. My grandmother's is first, and she makes the most extravagant dinner. Each year, it gets better, with different foods from different cultures. It's not just your every year Thanksgiving foods with stuffing and turkey. She frequently makes German and Cajun food as well.
Following that dinner, I have dinner with my father and step sisters. My father, although he only makes the traditional food, is an amazing cook. He kinda had to be, been as my mother doesn't cook.
The third dinner we have is with my stepmom's parents. All of her family comes to her mother's house, and somehow we all manage to squeeze into her tiny but loving home.
The same thing happens for Christmas each year, and although it's really stressful at times because of all the frustration between us, I still don't think I would change it.
Awkward phase complete.

Flying Turkeys

Thanksgiving is absolutely my least favorite holiday for two reasons: first, it encourages people to gorge themselves until they feel sick and second, it has evolved from a celebration of thanks to a day of preparation before the day of mass consumerism, also known as Black Friday. Aside from my complete of disgust with what Thanksgiving has become, I still do have some fond memories of this cursed day in late November. Typically, my family goes to my dad's family in Louisville or my mom's family in Richmond, VA. However, my dad is one of eight siblings and the days of family getting together has finally disappeared, much to my relief because I do not like being around large groups of people for prolonged periods of time. On the other hand, it is an eight hour drive to Virginia and my parents are usually stressed out to get there on time, sounds like a fun ride right? This year is going to possibly change my opinion of Thanksgiving because I am cooking for my family and a small grouping of relatives from Louisville, this is awesome for me because I love to cook and I can cook anything that I want to cook without interference from my family. Awesome, I know, but the pressure is starting to get to me and it is only Tuesday, yet I will still probably be the happiest that I have been in years on my least favorite holiday.

That's so gay.

Oh my God, did you hear that Mr. Logsdon gave us another AP practice test? That's so gay. I can't believe it. We have so much homework. The Academy is so stressful. I don't know why we have to do so much stuff. It's so gay.
And Ms. Haley is making us write 200 words about a comparison of two stories IN SPANISH for my Spanish class.
I know right? Spanish is terrible.
It's so gay.
I can't even deal with this right now.
My math teacher is having us color turkeys to have fun with trig hands. What the hell even is a trig hand? God that's so gay. It's not cat, it's not stupid, it's not silly, it's gay. It's so totally gay.
It definitely reminds me of two homosexual women having relations. Oh my God, you know what? It isn't even JUST two women. It's two MEN. IT'S TOTALLY TWO HOMOSEXUAL MEN. Or maybe even all the homos! Oh my god it's all so GAY. The world is so GAY.
NO HOMO!

Thanksgiving

My family’s Thanksgiving definitely isn’t a lot of people around a large table. Mine consists of my grandma, my brother, my dad, my mom and me going out to Thanksgiving lunch at the Hyatt downtown next to Rupp Arena. Thanksgiving’s alright; I just like it because we get out of school. I don’t eat much on a normal basis, and Thanksgiving is no exception, so it’s just a regular day for me. I don’t pig out like most people. Plus, my family is very small, so I don’t have a lot of people to go visit and be with. However, this was different when I was younger. When I think of Thanksgiving, I think of when my grandad was still alive, and we would have a home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner at his house. Much more of my family would go to those Thanksgiving dinners; my aunt, uncle, and cousins were there, too.

People who smack their lips.

Don’t you just love when you can hear that smacking of the lips when someone has put a fresh piece of gum in their mouth? I know that I absolutly do! I love when you can tell that people around you are chewing gum, I mean if they don’t chew loud enough how am I supposed to know they’re chewing it? It’s probably the best when they’re all the way across the room and you can hear them. Oh it just brings me joy just thinking about it. But, it’s almost even better when people do it with food because then you not only get to smell their food, hear their food, but also see it! Oh I just love to see people’s food as it’s being digested and swallowed. Hard food it normally the best since it’s the loudest but sometimes chewy food can be good too. 

Assignment 12 :Flying Turkeys

The stock image Thanksgiving involves a lot of people around a nicely decorated table with a large turkey and a ridiculous amount of extra food. This image doesn't always depict the reality of the holiday though.

What does your Thanksgiving look like? Do you enjoy the holiday? What is your strangest or most wonderful memory of the holiday?

Minimum of 150 words - due Sunday, November 25 at 11:59 pm

People who complain

People have so much to complain about these days. With our advances in technology our lives are made more strenuous by the day. Intact the more humane progress and develop technology one could make the argument that it adds more stress onto our lives. Take cars for example. These things are great advances in technology of course but the traffic jams that occur on the highways an during rush hour traffic make car travel a huge pain. Sure we can traverse hundreds of miles in mere hours a. Trip that would've taken days not a hundred years earlier but it makes it almost not worth going at all if you have to sit in a standstill for an hour.

Another thing which is largely annoying is having to wait at the doctors office for a half hour and sometimes even longer. Sometimes it feels like an entire hour before the doctor gets in the door. Couldn't these places be a tad more timely. I mean sure we don't die from as many diseases are living longer and more healthy lives than we ever have but those thirty minutes of wasted time are just so infuriating. People who complain about this have a legitimate point. Seriously

First World Probs

No one should face the issues I deal with on a daily basis. From walking up the stairs to third story bedroom to borrowing my friends' phones when, heaven forbid, my phone dies, the struggles I cope with are innumerable. The other day, I ran out of bottles water and I ended up having to drink out of the school water fountain...unimaginably disgusting. I know what's in that water. I could probably catch some horrendous disease if I keep drinking. Later in the exact same day, I spotted a spider while zoning out during English. What has this world come to? These living conditions are unacceptable! They're supposed to condemn buildings in shambles, aren't they? Where are immigrant workers when you need them to clean out your building? I should move to some exotic country like Colombia, so I can get a tan and just relax. I'm sure they would be appalled to here about the problems I have.

Guns

I don't understand why in our modern society of high tech criminal justice systems and with our efficient police force why anyone would need to own a weapon at all let alone a firearm. Guns just promote murder and crime. The police are perfectly capable of preventing any and all criminal activities. Firearms provide an unnecessary danger in the home and not
people would be incapable of self-defense anyway. The right to bear arms is irrelevant in our modern era. There is no reason for the private possession of firearms since we are already so well protected and any activity criminal or predatory is morally reprehensible and unnecessary. I just can't understand any legitimate reason to own a gun and quite frankly I feel much safer when I know that there aren't any guns around me. Whenever I see a gun I feel threatened and on edge. It just seems like anyone who has a gun could go crazy and attack everyone around. There are just too many mentally unstable people out there for people to be running around waving guns.

A Bill to Reduce the Number of Statutory Rape

In America there has been a 350% increase in the amount of cases of statutory rape. This number has been increasing exponentially since 9/11 because of the well known fact that fear leads to rape. As a result we as a nation and individual states are placed highest among the world in such cases and the overall value of our nation is diminished  Consequentially i propose a bill to lower the age of consent from 16 to 8. In america women and men are hitting puberty at a lower and lower rate and it is illogical not to match laws to meet those changes. We changed our laws to match the constantly changing safety regulations on cars by adding seat belts, the same applies to statutory rape.  Here enlies a better America, a safer america, and an America viewed as being safe.

Secession: Not Enough

America, the time for real change has come.
Several of our states have suggested secession so that they no longer have to live in association with this nation. I simply can't hold in my thoughts on this topic any longer.
Secession is not enough. To break away from America, we must break away fully.
I encourage those states interested in seceding to consider banding together and leaving together through the only logical conclusion: we must leave not only politically, not only emotionally, but physically.
the only way to ensure that seceded states are truly and utterly cut off from the rest of the nation is to literally cut them off of the continent and let them drift into the sea. We, the unsatisfied citizens of the nation, must cut off from all of the disgraces in the United States of America.
We will no longer be the United States. We will be the Separated and Unsatisfied States.

Everything Except Country and Rap

Country: "Ring of Fire" - Johnny Cash (Columbia Records - 1963)
Rap: "Vomitspit" - MF Doom - MM..Food (Rhymesayers Entertainment - 2004)

On Tuesday, November 13, researchers were surprised at their discovery of local teen Tyler Kelly, age 15, who actively listens to all of the approximately 60,000 artists in the iTunes store who are not labeled as either Hip Hop/Rap or Country.

"I really never thought we'd find him," says Dr. James Byron, head of the Institute for Facebook Interests. "Early in 2008, we became aware that people were increasingly asserting their love for 'everything except rap and country' in the music section of their profiles." Upon investigation, Byron and his associates kept discovering that these claims were less than accurate. "We were beginning to believe that no human being could possibly like all music except Hip-Hop and Country; the utter amount of music that one would have to like to substantiate that claim is absurd."

"I never really thought much of it," states Kelly, simultaneously listening to 200 albums of various genres. "I always liked to absorb all music because I thought it was all fantastic, but when I heard Hip-Hop and Country, I knew that no artist from those genres had anything to offer." Kelly claims that these genres inherently attract musicians without the lyrical intellectualism of his favorite Pop artists and the indelible melodies of the classic No Wave artists.

Byron wonders if Kelly is representative of an emerging trend of listeners who simply won't stand for the outrageous intrinsic lack of any value in these two genres alone. "I think he [Kelly] is truly an artistic pioneer in his aggressive demands of the artist to not be Hip-Hop or Country."

Kelly concludes, "I'm only fifteen, but I know what real music is." When questioned of his experience with Hip-Hop and Country, Kelly admits that he has only heard a few songs on the radio.

Nothing Good Ever Happens In This Town

Lexington, Kentucky. The WORST city with the worst luck. I watch the news every night to find out the true events that happened while I was doing my own thing. When I arrive home and run into the living room, drop my backpack, hurl myself onto the couch, and slam my thumb on the ON power to turn on the news, I prepare myself for the worst. First, the big story investigates a robbery in three counties away! Oh no! I need to go out right now and buy security cameras for my house so those same burglars won't rob me! Okay okay. Calm down. It can only get better right? Nope! The next story happens to be one on a scandal that happened like two weeks ago and the court case is the next week! Goodness this town has absolutely no good leaders at all. We need change now. And next on, a kid brought a gun to school! This is threatening to the entire area of 10 surrounding counties too, where they broadcast to. Is there any good people in the city??????? From whats on the news (the only thing that shows everything that happens around the city) Nope! Never! What does Good mean anyways? Well I have to go now and buy a security camera, posters for my protest, and a bullet proof vest for my child for school! See Ya!

- Melanie Luxford, 36

Satire

Hi I am Susan and I don't know about you but I love when my weekends are spent going to support the arts! Every weekend August-October I just love to go support all the bands in the state at their competitions and I love to go to gallery hops on all my weekends following the conclusion of that. They are just so inspirational and they have such value! I don't know why anyone would waste their time any other way doing the stupid things, like watching football or going to work. I just like to immerse myself in this wonderful beauty- in all art forms- 24/7.

The 5 o'clock news

Hello, I’m Tristy Trival here with your five o’ clock news. We have many exciting stories here for you today.

First off, police arrested a man today who rammed into the side of a Budweiser truck causing a massive fire that has New Circle blocked. Not only was the car driver drunk, but he also had Marijuana and Cocaine in his system. He must have had the Cocaine in his car because when the police arrived at the scene bags of Cocaine covered the street. There were several weapons in his car as well. The truck driver was angered saying that “the police should be better at catching the *#)^@##%$ before it is too *$&#) late. We now have a huge amount of (%#)* Budweiser wasted. Don’t forget the truck. Oh, the *#(%*#) truck is ruined and burned. For the love of God, I am going to #%(#(_^ sue his sorry @%^ until he has nothing else to live for.” That fire should be cleaned up within the next five hours.

Next, the chief of the local police force had an affair with his secretary. It had been going on for five years before his wife caught them last night. She could not  believe what was happening but, she does plan to stay with her beloved husband.

Peace has been declared in the conflict between Israel and Gaza. After 200 people died in explosions Israel…

Wait say that again. Yes. Yes. No way… Breaking News: Molly Circus’ dog was just killed on 5^th street in New York City. She was driving around the city with her fiancé when Sparky jumped out the window. Sadly, the Ferrari who hit the poor creature had no to time to stop and plowed right through him. Poor Molly.

That is all for the 5 o’clock news. Make sure you return for the 8 o’clock news where we will announce  our results from the recent murder of La-a Longbute. I'm Tristy Trival, have a nice day.

Blog #11

What's the point of news if it's not in the least bit about pop culture? No one I know actually wants to hear about politics or the economy. The presidential election was terrible--actually having to hear people's opinions on politics? It's so uncalled for. Hello! I'm sixteen, politics means nothing to me until someone I know expresses something contradicting my parent's political views. Everyone knows this is America where opinions are never welcome. And here in America, we aren't getting proper news. News is nothing if it's not telling me which celebrity is in the midst of the newest scandal or what reality show's reunion had the massive fight. I'd much rather hear about the breakup between Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez than the Israel-Gaza conflict. The Jelena break up is much more relevant to my life and affects my life in so many more ways than the conflict. Is being a well-informed citizen really that much better than having all the hot gossip? I don't think so!

Blog Post #11--Satire

Heyyyyy there people, my, like, name's Barbra!  My life is, like, soooo awesome.
Basically, I'm, like, the best person I know.  I have so many friends, and they all love me.  We have parties, like, everyyyy weekend and we get sooo drunk.  Sometimes I can't even remember what I've done! Isn't that great?!  I mean, it's just sooo much fun to go to all of those parties and not remember half of what I've done.  Though, I do remember this one time when I threw up on Jessica's shoes!  I haaaaaaaaatte Jessica, so it was, like, soooo funny.  (Wanna know a secret?  My friends only invite Jessica so we can all make fun of her.  We pick on her and talk about her alllllll the time, and it's hilarious!  I just love to pick on all of those stupid nerds who think they're soooooo smart or whatever, when really, they're just stupid little geeks.)
Anyway, so, like, yesterday at lunch, Becky was telling me about how her teacher was saying that, like, students need to get better grades on their tests or something.  Becky even said that her teacher thought that the class actually cared about their grades!  HA!  As if!  This semester, I got straight Fs (again! Hehehe!), and do you think I care?  No way!  I mean, why bother with grades and advanced classes or whatever when I could spend my free time at, like, parties drinking and getting high?  It's not like you need a brain to succeed in life!  My parents have been drinking for as long as I can remember, and they raised me good!
Well, anyway, I have to get back to my super totally fantabulous life of parties and alcohol and terrible grades and picking on nerds! Hehe byyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Satire

Global warming got you down? All these environmental problems stressing you out? Fear no longer! Our dearest planet Earth is no longer a matter of our worries. Starting in just a few months, shuttles will launch to move humans to Mars. Special energy conserving stations have been built on the planet for human colonization. We’re ditching this garbage bag of a planet! And since we’re leaving so soon, we needn’t care anymore about what we do. Drive yourselves everywhere! Litter! Throw everything away! Dump things into the ocean! What does it matter anymore? Nothing! Waste what you can while you can!

Want to hear another benefit? This colonization plan means that now, planet Earth can be our own landfill planet! Separate from where we live, we will ship all of our wastes and byproducts to rot on Earth. There won’t be any landfills or anything of the sort on our new planet of Mars. No one needs to worry about the Earth anymore!

Gotta Be a Real Man!

Ya, see the problem with this country nowadays is that we are raising our boys to be ignorant pansies. Back in my day I worked out five times and week and mowed lawns in middle school, today, all these brats do is complain and mooch off of their parents. And what's with these young guys anyway, those Vans or Converses, or whatever, and all these skinny jeans (not baggy) , and long hair (on ears) are for queers, ya gotta be a real man! Back in my day, we wore baggy jorts and Nike's erry' day! And what's with all these frickin' "bronies" nowadays? That show came out in my day and is for no one except little girls! I swear these pedophiles need to get a life and a girlfriend. Watch The Expendebles, or Cops, gotta be a real man!* YEAAH! Teenage boys need to get a life, be dating a girl at all times, if ya wanta be a real man, and if someone starts a problem witcha, punch them right in the face, show em' who's the real man! In short, people today need to take action and stop trying to be all frilly and such wimps. If today's generation would just stick to the gender system that's worked for 200 years, this country would be fine, and welfare wouldn't even exist!

NOTE: This is basically a satire of my step-father who grew up in a rural area, and pretty much believes the things I said above, which is really hilarious if you don't have to deal with it lol.

*On a related note, my step-father loves the Twilight series and Vampire Diaries.

Always trashy, never classy

        I'm a happy teenage girl. I have fairly good grades, a good family, good friends, and things are pretty great. But the one thing I don't have in life is a man. Having a boyfriend is the only thing that would ever make me feel normal. As a 17 year old female, it would be ridiculous for me to not have some guy to drool over and obsess about, and I feel for the other girls out there that are in the same situation. I have a plan for me and the rest of us.
       Clearly, guys only have an interest in all those girls that wear the super cute mini skirts and totally adorable v-necks. My favorite look is the one where half of their upper parts are hanging out of the pretty, sparkly, thin cut 'shirts'. What better way to show a guy how much you like him than to hoist up what God gave you for the world to see! If I'm a girl and want a guy to like me, all I should do is feature my favorite aspects around glitter and sparkles. EVERY ONE and their mother knows that if girls don't dress like this, they don't have boyfriends and will inevitably die alone with all their cats.
       The only stupid thing a girl could do is act like she's actually somewhat intelligent. Boys only have somewhat of an interest if they are aware that they're the smartest in the room. So a girl should never, ever, ever act like she has a brain or like she's passionate about anything. If you show that you're interested in absolutely nothing and have no plans for your future, you are guaranteed that guys will find you and fall in love with you. So in all cases, act as dumb as possible.
      To help all the poor girls out there like me (the ones with parents that raised them wrong and told them to wear granny clothes), I'm going to start a store (but not tell anyone because that would show a girl's independence). This store would sell boring clothes like sweaters and jeans as to make mothers and fathers happy everywhere. But the catch is that underneath the clothes is built in 'boyfriend' wear: the only clothes a girl can wear to get a boyfriend. So when we go to parties to get drunk and show guys how much we respect ourselves, we can rip off our layers and show the world what we can really offer!

To all the girls that want a boyfriend, just remember: Always trashy, never classy.
      

lol

Say you get a really funny text or see a really funny facebook post, is your first instinct to type the three letters L-O-L? MINE TOO! I mean, why take the time to write haha when you could simply just put lol? "Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side" "lol." Its like all your emotions expressed into a single word. Lets even take it a step farther and when someone says something absolutely hysterical, instead of throwing your head back laughing you simply say "lol." Because expressing that you are laughing out loud by saying lol rather than actually taking the time to actually laugh out loud is so much more convenient, right? Like seriously whoever thought of this clever text language is seriously the best and seriously would probably make me lol. I just really enjoy loling. Not actually loling though, way to much effort. Am I right?

Stanley Ford

To those smart enough to read this:

Good day fellow aristocrats, my name is Stanley Ford, but my peers call me Stan. I am a Junior at Henry Clay High School, and am obviously in the Liberal Arts Academy. I was going to choose the Math and Science program at Dunbar, but I felt the Henry Clay environment and the overall academic nature better fit my promising future plus I didn't get in.

Junior year is tough but exciting as I am taking a hefty course load of 9 and half AP classes to prepare myself for the rigor of college courses. Plus this semester I'm putting together my GSP (Governor's Scholar Program for you simpletons) application, and I'm sure I'll be at the top of their list even though I haven't started on the application and don't feel close enough to any of my teachers to ask for a recommendation.

I can't wait to be done with the boring high school life and move on to the real work of college. I plan on getting a full academic scholarship into Harvard and entering into their med school, where I will soon after cure cancer. I was going to go to Yale, but I decided that I wanted a real education.

Common people often ask me if I'm involved in anything outside of school. Of course I am! I'm actively involved in Beta Club and 42 other academic-based clubs inside of Henry Clay. We do TONS of community service for people and communities that I rarely have a heart for.

Well I have squandered enough of my valuable time by writing this, I have to take a practice ACT, SAT, and FART (False Academic Rating Test). Remember, if you want to succeed in life, you must start now by dropping everything and focusing on your grades. Like my college planner/mom says all the time, "Its better to have all A's in your sight then to go out on Saturday night."

Stay thirsty for knowledge my friends,

Stan Ford

Satire

Do you see all those poor/homeless waiting outside on the street? What are we going to do with them? We see them everyday on our way home from work/school and we seem to ignore them without a second glance, and our governments say that they have plans to keep these people employed and to take care of them, but is that really the case?
Here is a much better idea: we could use them as our own personal servants! Just go pick one off the street and make it do whatever you like. It could be your cook, maid, or yard man. It is truly your choice. They can even do community service if you don't need them during the day. We could have safer communities because the homeless are off the streets and they are now helping others while we go about our daily lives. Plus, the government no longer has to take personal responsibility for these people. It seems to be a win-win situation for everyone!
I think that I would want a yard homeless person because I hate bagging all those leaves and mowing the lawn and I don't see why they wouldn't want to do it either, they get a clean bed and hot meal. Go out and get your homeless person today!

Satire

(perspective of presidential candidate)
The problem with Americans is their laziness to work and unhealthy behavior. Our country is facing serious problems and changes need to be made. I propose a simple two step plan to fix our country.

1) American adults as well as children with a body mass index of 30 or higher are a huge problem in America causing huge health bills and an unattractive image is shown to the rest of the world. These obese people will be allowed to attend a mandatory camp where they will do physical and eat healthy food. These activities will range from mowing grass to carrying boxes all for the benefit of the government and to the wonderful American people. These lucky individuals can change their lives while helping to improve the country they love. Once they have reached a healthy weight and lifestyle (this will be determined by the officials at the camps), these laborers/citizens will be sent home.
2) A whopping 12.5 million Americans are unemployed, the overall quality of life of these people is suffering. To fix this problem, citizens seeking unemployment benefits will be whisked away to one of our many production sites and help lay gravel on roads being constructed. This will be a great experience for these individuals and they will learn many lifelong skills to help them succeed in the real world. A hard working attitude will be instilled until they reach the satisfaction of their supervisor and are sent home. Although they will not paid during this time, it WILL be a worthwhile experience that they will never regret.

*I meant this to come of as a socialist plan, not really sure if that worked though

Satire: The Irrational Sports Fan

I, like almost everyone in the world, have an imaginary (or not so imaginary) friend named Joe. Joe is the classic Notre Dame (or any other team) fan. He's a total supporter of the Irish. He been rooting for them for six whole months after winning a fluke bet with one of his buddies. He continues his tradition of never actually going to a live game and insists on staying in his house alone wearing his beloved Notre Dame jersey, the one he found ripped and stained and bought for 99 cents at Gabriel Brothers. At the water cooler on Monday, you won't find Joe. He's busy trying to avoid his coworkers because the Irish lost the weekend by 40. But when the Irish win, he's positioned there stalking his prey as he prepares to talk some serious smack. Whenever Notre Dame plays someone they're not supposed to beat, Joe may be calling and upset on Friday, but by Monday he resorts to the always effective "I told you they would bet Notre Dame!". When someone invites him to watch the game at his or her house, Joe will only go if the main game of interest involves Notre Dame. He's so dedicated, he will go into shock if the host switches the channel during the commercial break. His favorite movie is Rudy, although he's never actually seen the whole thing. He's so emotionally committed that he cried for hours when the Irish didn't sign a top recruit, even though Joe didn't know his name. It is our job as sports fans to live up to the unspoken fan code, but still always knowing that we will never stoop to the levels of "Joes" everywhere.

YOLO

YOLO. You only live once and life is short. So why not enjoy it to the fullest? Live loud, live happy, and most importantly, live with no regrets. Fill every moment with excitement and never spare a second for anything you don't like! Take pleasure in the little things in life. For example, chocolate! Now wouldn't it be great if chocolate and sweets were the only things we ever ate? Well why can't they be? I, for one, would much rather be eating chips, chocolate, and ice cream for dinner than broccoli. Now, some people say that only eating junk food leads to heart diseases that could possibly kill you. But to heck with that! What these so-called "doctors" and "scientists" fail to address is the fact that you're going to die anyways. Why not sooner and happier than later and regretful? And to further my argument, there's no guarantee that Person A, who eats veggies all day and goes to the gym, will outlive Person B, who enjoys the day consuming whatever he/she may please. What if Person A was driving home from a long workout at the gym and got in a crash and died? Well then I say that was a waste of a life! So take advantage of the uncertainties of life. Don't live worrying about tomorrow because for you all know, you might not have a tomorrow! Enjoy what you have and let life come at you! After all, you only live once.

The Beauty of Technology

Child care has become a source of tension in every family, with costs being at least $2000 per month. Why waste so much money children who will ultimately leave for college and come back on designated holidays where food is guaranteed? There is no need for childcare to be this expensive in the 21^st century with all that is available to us. With televisions and childproof iPads, daycare can soon be a thing of the past. Pop in a few DVDs that can be programmed to play after the other, and you’ve got yourself a quality education. There’s Veggie Tales for the morally concerned and Dora is fantastic for Spanish learning. And better yet, why waste that money on electricity when iPads do the job just as well? Need a coloring book? There’s an app for that and no need to worry about coloring on the walls. 10 seasons of Dora? No problemo! Sit them on a potty, have some food at hands reach, and there’s eight hours gone in no time and $2000 saved. Of course, you may need to purchase some new movies or apps, but those can be rerun on your television and played on for a long time. Keeping your kids at home with this also keeps them extremely healthy with no germs ever being a concern. Many parents run into the concern that their children may not develop adequate people skills, but let’s face it. Actually speaking to people and good manners were a thing of the 20^th century. 21^st century kids needn’t worry about a thing with such wonderful developments in technology were Siri can sensor things for you. 

My attempt at Satire

Thomas Malthus once cringed at the idea of overpopulation, stating that we would eventually exhaust our resources and lead ourselves into turmoil, chaos, despair, and all those other bad things. But must we worry about that anymore? Of course not!- That is, once our government adopts the highly justifiable and humane way to stall overpopulation: adopting the spartan way!
If your child isn't healthy, best say bye-bye! He or she wouldn't contribute to society anyway, it'd just prove to be a hindrance. So what better of a way to solve your problems than by killing them?
Choose any way you like, throwing them out of a tall building, placing them in the washing machine, get creative! Who wants to deal with the costs of diapers, food, and lack of sleep due to pesky babies that wake you up at 3 am anyway?
Thus, this is a win-win situation for EVERYONE.

Assignment 11: Changes!

Think of all of the things and ideas that exist in the world.

Which one bothers you the most?

CORRECTION:

Write a satire on this bothering issue.

Sorry for those who have already posted!

Minimum of 150 words - due Sunday, November 18th at 11:59 pm

Zambies!

Since no true zombie survivalist would ever disclose his means for survival you get to listen to me discuss generalities about the zombie Apocalypse so that when it comes you won't be the loser who dies first. When the undead rise there is no getting ready. You're either prepared for what is to come or you are unequipped and untrained. When the swarms of the undead are breaking through your windows it's too late to stockpile food, water and weapons. The best time to be ready is a week ago, but since that is an impossibility right now will suffice. When the dead rise again there will be no grocery store or milk man. You'll have to live off what you have which is hopefully more than that can of spam that was in the cupboard when you moved in that you've been afraid to touch for the last three years. Prepare your food supplies or you'll die of starvation long before the dead breach your poorly barricaded windows. I recommend storing 1 to 2 months worth of canned goods and correctly packaged grains. Rotate your stockpiles into your meal so that your cans are always fresh and up to date to provide the longest shelf life possible. Keeping seeds and gardening/farming equipment is also a good call considering if it goes from a stage 2 to stage 4 outbreak you've got to be ready for the long haul. Store enough water so that everyone that will be with you when the world ends has 3 gallons of water per day for 1 to 2 months. This seems like a lot until you consider everything water is used for. I also recommend purchasing rain barrels and means with which to purify your water so that you can survive long term. Food and water are important, but unless you can repel the dead and fend off the living you're stockpiled assurance does you no good. Go for quality not quantity. I recommend 2 fire arms per person both a main weapon and a side arm. Rifles and shotguns make for great primary weapons. Steer clear of anything automatic because it is overkill when considering only a blow to the brain will end a zombie. Focus on accuracy. Use your brain and take out theirs. For your sidearm avoid anything too heavy. I'm a fan of a 9mm or even a .22. Both are light and effective against zombies, plus ammo is easier to carry and cheaper to come by. Guns are great, but as my zombie fearing idol Max Brooks once said, "Blades don't need reloading." Carry a knife and a blunt or blade hand to hand combat weapon. When the bullets run out it's nice to have a bat, sword, or machete with which to beat/slash back the hordes of zombies. Avoid anything too heavy because you will be swinging your weapon for a long time and you don't want to tire. Keep your wits and blades sharp. Prepare yourself physically now for what is to come. Build strength and don't forget cardio the number 1 rule in Zombie land. While training your body don't forget to train with the weapons that will keep the undeads' teeth off it. Be accurate enough and skilled enough to efficiently slay the undead. Wasting bullets is an atrocity when ammunition factories no longer are in operation. If you aren't ready to face the undead face to face, when you finally square off with them it's too late.

War

Soundtrack: "War Pigs" - Black Sabbath - Paranoid (Vertigo - 1970)

War, when examined at its most rudimentary level, is simply conflict, often violent, between two large groups. These groups may be nations or ethnic groups as they often tend to be, or they may be factions within these divisions such as in civil wars. When viewed as such, it becomes increasingly apparent that war may not be avoided. Conflict is truly the essence of social interaction and the discovery of inconsistency in perspective. Though it may not be favorable, we shall never relinquish conflict; it is a product of the natural order. Conflict among large groups is not nearly as frequent as general conflict, but it is no less inevitable. Is there a time for war, you ask? This is perhaps the wrong question because war does not mean anything per se. It must be examined through the lens of one involved party or even an interested observer. These will each potentially present a different response, illuminating the truth that it is truly a matter of perspective. I have, on many occasions, raved ad nauseum about the incoherence of the universal application of a principle. It cannot so easily be said whether war is morally right because this is a question for the actors in the conflict. One cannot determine the rightness of war because it transcends cultural boundaries and affects those with a wide range of personal beliefs and moral codes. I can say from my perspective in contemporary American society that I despise war and our country's recklessness in this field. I despise the fact that politicians can make the decisions to send the young and the able to die and to kill not in the name of our country or "liberty" but in the name of these very politicians. These facts make me sick, but I cannot speak to true place of war in global history because of my lack of understanding and experience with the countless possible perspectives. I can wish away for the arrival of an endless global peace, but it seems that the war machines keep turning.

Absolutely Nothing?

World peace: a common notion amongst Miss America's of every kind. And yes, it might be nice if everyone could just get along and have a picnic, but that is impractical. 

When you think about 9/11, the most common emotion that one would feel is sorrow. But I'd be willing to bet that the feeling immediately following that one would be rage. Rage at the terrorists who dared to threaten this country and think we wouldn't fight back. What do these people who oppose war expect us to do, invite the enemy to a tea party while they continue to threaten us? And doesn't revenge just feel sweet? How can we deny this country it's revenge on the cowardly terrorists who tried to put us down eleven years ago? Who would ignore that? 

In some cases, like Al Qaeda and the Taliban, war is the only way to get through to these people. We've tried to negotiate with these countries in the Middle East about terrorists, but that never turns out quite the way we had hoped or expected. And so we inevitably turn to war, which seems to be the most effective tactic in getting the point across. And this fighting isn't just something useless that we do to put up a facade of progress. Let's take a look at all the accomplishments war has achieved: America's liberation from the oppressive British crown, the defeat of Hitler, Mussolini, the abolition of slavery in America, the defeat of Voldemort. I'd say that's a pretty good list in favor of war.

These acts of violence are human kind reverting back to their base instincts of fighting to solve their problems. It's what humans have done since the beginning of time, and look where we are now. Still managing to survive. Thriving even. Maybe the more we evolve, the farther we will move away from this instinct, and the closer we will head towards a more diplomatic way of solving our problems, but as of now, human instinct just won't allow for that. But I think we'll be alright until then.

So, what is it good for? A lot.

War post

I do not believe that war is something that has to happen, but I do believe it is something that inevitably will when you take two countries that are equally strong and either do not like each other or are battling for power. I don't think that war is ever the only option. Obviously there are other options, otherwise there wouldn't be pacifists and Ghandi would have no leg to stand on. However sometime the alternatives, like trying to discuss the issues through conversation, are not as effective or don't give the country what they want. War is also, it seems starting to not only have an effect on the countries involved but it becomes a global issue. Not only because the world is becoming further intertwined but also because of the destruction our weapons can now cause, such as the atomic bomb. So although there are always alternatives I think sometime war is a necessary evil