scene music for butterflies

Beethoven's 5th symphony

Blog Post 6

For my last and final blog post I decided to post about an article I read in my lacrosse magazine, titled                   .

Blog Post 5

For outside reading I started with reading The Carlyles by Cecily von Ziegesar from the series, Gossip Girl: The Carlyles. I read the Gossip Girl series last sumemr and loved it, so I decided to give these a try!  It was about the Carlyle tripelets who moved to New York City and about them getting used to life on the Upper East Side. This book reminded me of the original Gossip Girl books and the hit television show Gossip Girl. Not just because it is a part of the series, but I can see the similarities between the characters in this book, the other books, and the television show. Jack Laurent reminds me of Blair Waldorf because she is the alpha and she is with the "hottest" guy in the upper east side. J.P reminds be of Nate because all of the girls want to be with him. Baby Carlyle reminds me a Jenny Humphrey because she doesn't really quite get the ways of the upper east side yet.

Blog Post 4

I haven't had enough time to get to the library within the past week to check out "Tuesday's With Morrie", so for this post I am going to blog about an article I read titled " An Immigrant's Struggle To Get His American Dream", On WCCO 4 News Online.  The article is about Wael Muhammad, an immigrant trying to get his citizen application papers processed to become an American citizen. This article goes to show how much our country has changed since September 11th. The rules and regulations regarding immigrants and air control have become extremely strict since the terrorism attacks. Wael has been overcoming adversity during his life, being born in Egypt, trying to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming an American professor. People like Wael, face judgment and discrimination everyday based on their ethnic background that might affiliate them with terrorism, which make it very difficult to accomplish anything. This hasn't stopped Waell in his path to getting his green card although it took him five years. Overcoming this obstacle shows great determination and dedication, which inspires me, everyday and makes me appreciate that much more, the life I have been given. I deeply admire those qualities in a person and I strive to have those. This article was a great article that makes you reflect on your blessings and to be grateful for what you have and privileges you have as a citizen.

Blog Post 3

This week I finally finished the book.  I read from pages 146 to 196 all in one sitting because I just couldn't put it down!  The chapter I started on was titled, The Fourth Person Eddie Meets in Heaven, and it was about his desist wife Marguerite.  Marguerite was/is a very significant figure in Eddie's life, she was his wife until she suddenly died of a heart attack at around age 60 or so.  Eddie then spent the rest of his life alone, which was very difficult for him, especially because he loved Marguerite so much.  For him to see her again for the first time in many years was a very magical moment in the book.  Albom did a great job of allowing the reader to feel how Eddie felt when he saw her, embraced her, and talked to her.  She taught him many things while he was visiting with her in heaven but then she had to leave, she was not Eddie's last stop and it was time for him to move on.  The fifth person Eddie met in heaven was a five-year-old Asian girl.  This baffled him because he had never seen this girl before, or so he thought.  It turns out this young girl was the person he thought he saw in a house that he bombed while he was in the war.  Everyone else he was with convinced him that no one was there and he argued but eventually listened, this girl was actually there.  This really hit home with Eddie and I understand this feeling on a much smaller scale.  This relates to my life because I have thought or believed things and then let others get in the way of what I truly believe and it always ends up turning out for the bad.  I feel the message of this chapter is, listen to your heart.  Over all I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading "Tuesday's With Morrie" very soon.  

  

Blog Post 2

In the past week I have read up to page 146 which is right before the chapter "The Fourth Person Eddie Meets in Heaven".  Since my last blog post many things have happened within the story, it starts off with Eddie arriving in heaven.  Mitch Albom has a very unique and interesting way of describing heaven.  He says that everybody has five specific people that they will meet in heaven that will help them learn why their lives on earth happened the way they did.  Eddie met a circus performer from Ruby Pier, a general that he was under command of in the  Vietnam War, and his father.  Each person taught him something new about himself and about his life on earth.  This story relates to my life because I now have been thinking about all the people that I have met and how they may have played a significant role in my life that I am completely unaware of.  Also I once saw an episode on Opera that talked about a similar theory as Mitch Alboms, the scientist believed that in the afterlife/heaven place a person watches over everyone they have left on earth after their death.  Not only do they just watch but as their watching they hear conversations that are exchanged by the people still on earth.  The old saying everything happens for a reason is the perfect fit for this story so far.  

Blog Post 1

I am currently reading a novel titled, "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom.  He also wrote "Tuesdays with Morrie" which I have not read yet but will most likely read next.  I am only 26 pages in but so far the book is very well written and is hard to put down.  It begins by talking about an old, lonely man named Eddie who works at the seaside amusement park.  He is the 'go-to-guy' of the amusement park; he does just about anything there.  Then there is a tragic accident where one of the rides breaks down and Eddie can't get there fast enough with his bad leg to help save the people.  He ends up falling, hitting his head, and dying right there.  The next chapter is titled "The Arrival", so I assume the arrival into heaven.  

After reading those first 26 pages I immediately thought about my grandpa.  I thought of him because he is an old man, who knows how to do just about anything!  And when I was reading about Eddie and how Albom described him I instantly pictured my grandpa.  This also is a connection because our family once took a trip to Chicago with my grandparents when my sister and I were much younger.  While we were there we visited the Navy Pier, which has right on the river and has a huge Ferris wheel and lots of music and food.  Reading about Eddie and him working at the seaside amusement park made me reflect back onto that memory.  

Blog Post 15

I read an article called "Conceived to Save Her Sister, a Child Is Born" by Associated Press.  It was about how an 18 year old girl named Anissa Ayala was suffering from leukemia needed a bone marrow transplant to live.  She didn't have any direct siblings so her parents decided to have another baby hoping he/she would be a perfect match.  After many complications with the conceiving and birth of the baby, the couple had a baby girl named Marissa Eve.  Oddly enough she was a perfect match for Anissa!  The doctors told the parents that they would have to wait 6 months for Marissa to grow, and that there was a 70-80% chance that it would be successful.  In the end, Marissa gave her sister some of her bone marrow and she ended up curing her cancer and living.  This relates to my life because when my sister was first born and was no older then 5 months she came down with encephalitis, which is a disease that is similar to West Nile and consists of severe swelling of the brain.  She needed some blood to be donated to her and I oddly enough was a perfect match, so I gave some of my blood to her and she ended up living and is now 13, happy, and healthy!

Blog Post 14

When I first read the blog topic for tonight, I immediately thought of Taylor Swift's song Love Story on her Fearless album.  They lyrics are a perfect example of a stereotypical love story!  It follows the story line of Romeo and Juliet, which is also a well-known love story.  The lyrics that read,

Romeo save me, they try to tell me how to feel

This love is difficult, but it's real

Don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess

It's a love story baby just say yes

Oh oh

The lyrics above are powerful and really explain how love works today.  This relates to my life in two ways one is that I love the song!  The second is that I really do believe in love and that people can make it through problems if they do love each other.  The love that people share together most times is more powerful and meaningful then the fight itself.  

Blog Post 13

This weekend I was sitting out on my deck and read an article titled Last British survivor of WWI trenches is made an officer of the French Legion of Honor by RAPHAEL G. SATTER from the Star Tribune.  It is a story about how a man named Harry Patch was awarded a medal of honor from the French Ambassador Maurice Gourdalut-Montagne from his duties in World War I.  Harry Patch is 110 years old and lives in a nursing home in Wells, England. He served as a machine-gunner in the 1917 Battle of Passchendaele, and though it was many years ago he was one that the Ambassador thought deserved a medal of honor for all he did.  Also he didn't begin to talk about his war experiences until the 21st-century so no one even knew anymore about what he had done because all of his colleagues from the war have perished in the past century.  This relates to my life because we are learning about WWI in AP world history right now and I felt this was a very interesting article.  Also because WWI seems like so long ago but really there are people still alive from then!

Blog Post 12

This week I read an article titled A Survival Imperative for Space Colonization by John Tierney.  It discusses how scientists are beginning to believe that human existence will last at least 5,100 years longer if we extend it to life on Mars.  In order for this to happen though, we have to get life on Mars up and running within the next 46 years.  Dr. Gott was the professor that came up with this idea back in 1993 and over the past 16 years he has improved his theory and its become more creditable.  Though this theory and idea of living on Mars actually becoming a reality seems like a modern idea, humans have been studying/exploring space for thousands of years.  This connects to my life because ever since I was a little girl i have wondered about life on Mars and if it would ever happen and if there are aliens up there and many other things!  Now seeing that it may actually happen is very cool and interesting to me.

Blog Post 11

This afternoon I read an article in the New York Times website titled  World Bank Says Global Economy will Shrink in '09 by Edmund L. Andrews.  This was a very intriguing article which discussed multiple issues.  One being that the decreasing rates of exports of developing countries are hurting the countries general well being and its primary cause is the banks.  Robert B Zoellick, the president of the World Bank, wants wealthy governments to set aside a percentage of what they spend, called a "vulnerability fund".  This would be used to help lend a helping hand to countries in need.  Finally Eastern Asian countries are feeling this blow the hardest because of their high demand of their cheap goods has declined.  This has impacted them so heavily in both a direct and indirect way because this was a very important source of income.  In conclusion as most of us are realizing now more than ever, the world is going through a tough time because of the failing world economy. 

Blog Post 10

I recently read an article titled Zulu Krewe at 100: Still Marching to Its Own Beat by Wayne Curtis.  The Zulu parade begins in New Orleans in 1909. It is a stereotype festival that takes place during Mardi Gras. African Americans living in New Orleans march off at 8 am on fat tuesday and make fun of themselves and their roots for the entire day. The festival is not meant to be disrespectful, but hilarious for everyone who understands the content of the parade. Men will stand on floats and wear grass skirts as well as juggle and throw coconuts at objects. The average tourist doesn't know how to react to seeing a parade like this. African Americans make fun of tribal Afric and wear a mockery of tribal paint called "Blackface" which is a racial slur. Since this is the 100th anniversary, the parade was kicked up a notch and included over 50 floats with a few thousand marching in the parade. The Zulu king is a member of the community chosen to be "chieften" of the parade. The Zulu king may be anyone from a UPS man to Louis Armstrong who premiered in 1969. I believe it is goo for people to poke fun of where they came from, so that one may understand the weaknesses and strengths of one's background. The festival started as a skit and is now one of the largest parades in the world during the Karnival time of year.

Blog Post 9

I found this article on Bollywood on a funny website with a poem actually titled Bollywood by Kritika Dey.  The poem sums up the ideas and concepts of Bollywood and gives them a little twist and play on words.  It is very creative and realistic.  My favorite stanza is, 

Next follows an exhausting fight,
Where the bad gets defeated by the good.
The hero heroine live happily ever after,
" It happens only in Bollywood ".

This stanza is my favorite because it is so typical for movies, its what people want to see!  It compares to "Bride and Prejudice" in the way that Lalita was beautiful and Darsey is very handsome and they have their falling out period but end up together in the end which mimics the poem.  The only difference was there wasn't a designated 'bad guy' it was more bad things happened but not one person caused all of these things.  

Blog Post 8

After watching the Oscars on Sunday night and seeing just how successful Slumdog Millionaire was I was curious about what it was about and why it was so successful. The article Orphan’s Lifeline Out of Hell Could Be a Game Show in Mumbai by MANOHLA DARGIS really gave me a good explanation of the movie and how the culture of it is so different from ours. The article itself discusses how in the slums of India there are so many people but especially children who are just in such poverty they are rummaging through mounds and mounds of trash to hopefully find a mango peel. Or just something so small and worthless to us is like gold to them. Also that in Mumbai a lot of people are addicted to drugs and begin to go crazy after a while because of the starvation pains and such. Because of this the actors had to be trained to do play these types of roles. This relates to my life because I am now hopefully going to see Slumdog Millionaire and now i have a better understanding of the culture and of the story itself.

Blog Post 7

This afternoon I read an article titled Minnesota Orchestra: Real Time by Graydon Royce and it was about how the Minnesota Orchestra is traveling all over Europe and are playing performances in quite prominent theatres.  The change part of this article is how they are communicating all the way back to the states using video footage taken of their practices, performances, and interviews after by using web cams and uploading video clips to the Internet so fans and supporters can watch and keep up with how they're doing.  Also they said how it allows them to communicate to the younger generation (middle and high schoolers) because they are so connected to the Internet that it is an easy and fun way for them to stay in touch.  This relates to my life because I love the Minnesota Orchestra and have seen them preform a couple times and every time I'm blown away.

Blog Post 6

For today's blog about hope my immediate reaction was a familiar song by Jack Johnson called Hope.  The song lyrics are all about how hope is something a lot of people lack and how if one has hope anything is possible.  Specifically with love, is what Jack Johnson is explaining, with the lines "Before it takes away all that you learned to love / It will defeat you and then teach you to get back up / Cause you don't / Always / Have to hold your head / Higher than your heart" These lines to me are very significant and very inspiring because they tell you that to never give up and to always have hope.  This relates to my life because I tend to loose hope very easy and this song always reminds that it's good to keep hoping and to be open to new possibilities.  

Blog Post 5

This weekend I read an article titled Evolution Weekend: Churches nationwide to talk about whether creation, evolution can co-exist and it was about how there are churches who are now thinking that evolution indeed may have played a role in human development.  Though this goes completely against what the Bible says that god created the earth in 7 days, they are now starting to believe that the science part is also correct.  This to me seems a little maddening because for the past 200 years there was no middle ground on this issue, it was either darwinism or creationism.  The article also describes that "Participation through sermons, Sunday school lessons and even evolution dances has expanded into 974 congregations across the country, more than doubling since the weekend began in 2006, said founder Michael Zimmerman..." seeing that this is more than doubling to me is actually quite the accomplishment on Zimmerman's part, but in my opinion I think the issue has been pretty much settled and should be left alone.  

Blog Post 4

Today I read an article called A Breadwinner Rethinks Gender Roles, by  M.P.DUNLEAVEY. This article was primarily about a women's thoughts on the concept of gender roles in marriage. In this brief editorial, a woman expresses her first feelings of happiness followed by feelings of uncertainty when she discovers tat she is pregnant and that her husband will have to quit his job and remain at home with the baby, while she is out earning the real money to support the family. The author of this article first states that her views on marriage are based solely on the idea on equality, although later she confesses that she felt uncomfortable being the prime monetary support in the family. She states that men in today's society are brought up with a sense of esteem and responsibility that women are not.  Although men are traditionally thought to be the breadwinners of the family, a recent survey shows that about a third of wives in today's society earn more money than their husbands, and about 43% of overall household income was earned by women.

Blog Post 3

I am reading  the book Nectar in a Sieve, by Kamala Markandaya as you know, and i just read chapters 18-21 and during these chapters Ira gets pregnant and has a baby.  Though this baby is assumed to be albino by the reader, Ira still loves it and thinks of her new baby Sacrabani as a normal beautiful baby.  The part aspect of this culture that is different than my own is that on the tenth day after the baby is born, they have  a naming ceremony for it.  Where all the family friends and neighbors come and give the baby gifts and good wishes.  It seems to me like a baby shower just after the baby is born.   I think this is a very good tradition/custom and is a very fun way for family, friends, and neighbors to meet the new baby.

Blog Post 2

I read an article tonight on MSNBC's website titled "Skydiver describes in-air death of instructor" by the Associated Press.  This article talks all about how a man named Daniel Pharr, 25 years old was strapped while skydiving to his dying instructor.   A few thousand feet above the ground he realized he was heading directly for a trees and trying not to panic steered himself away and landed safely.  As soon as he landed he immediately gave his dying instructor CPR, though he gave it his all the instructor still died.  I feel that Daniel gave it his all and did everything eh possibly could have to keep himself and his instructor safe, and then try to keep his instructor alive.  Though his instructor did end up dying i still feel it takes a lot of courage and a lot of guts to do what he did.  Daniel didn't overcome any THING so to speak, but he overcame his fear and self doubt.  Which in some ways is more prominent! 

Blog Post 1

I read an article titled "Emotional Effects of Natural Disasters" by Nadine Brozan.  It was about how natural disasters effect people more then just physically speaking but also mentally and emotionally.  I have never experienced something like this before but the article spells it out fairly clearly with the way people deal with natural disasters mentally.  Brozan says, "The initial shock - a stunning sense of astonishment and terror -is followed by euphoria at having survived...Then the elation dissolves rapidly in the face of reality and depression, ranging from mild to extreme, sets in. Finally recuperation begins."  I feel like she hit the nail right on the head with that explanation because when i shattered my knee cap one summer at first i was just shocked at the situation, then i freaked out and got scared because of the pain, then after i got it all wrapped up and stuff i was super upset because i thought my whole summer was done for and then finally i started healing.  Though this may seem like a lame example, because of it i can somewhat understand how people in big natural disasters deal with things such as loss of people and/or things.  

Simulation activity

During the simulation activity today the last card that I was left with was the card that said "I a catholic" written on it.  I left this card until the very end because my faith is a highly prioritized and very important part of me.  It is not only my belief system but my way of life.  Through doing this activity I realized just how hard it is to give up things in your life you generally take for granted.  Throughout the world there are many different situations in which people have to give up different rights, though i haven't had to experience this to great degree I now partially understand just how hard it would be.