Journal #43

It is a good thing the standardized tests for mental health do not exist, because most people probably would fail. For the test it would probably entail lots of questions about each person's personality, and then whoever graded the test would decide if that person is stable or not. Personally I think that I would pass the test and be declared sane, but I know that several members of my extended family would definitely not pass. The test would have questions where you would choose between two or more outcomes of a situations, or have questions where you have to compare people, or media. I think that it would be hard to actually have a test decide if you were insane because everyone has their own different personality quirks, and those would make it hard to have a fair and equal test across the board. Some of my friends would fail miserably in some areas of the insanity test, and pass with flying colors in the other. If our society based their jobs and positions in government on the outcomes of a test I would be really worried. You cannot get an accurate result on these tests because not everyone is able to take tests the same. Some people are super quick like me, and others take a really long time. If a test existed that fairly and equally decided your sanity level, I would probably take it because I would be quite curious to see where I fell in comparison to others. Hopefully I would pass, but I am not sure by how highly. I fell like I am quite a sane person, but I also do not know what the test would consider to be insane. I would also not want my family to be taken away if they did not pass the test, that would be an awful situation. I hope that in the future someone never invents this, because it would just cause suffering for everything.

Journal #42

One day, a boy named Sam was walking down the hallway, minding his own business. He rounded the corner to his next class when a bright yellow colored poster caught his eye. He stopped walking and paused to read it. The poster stated that a one hundred dollar prize would be awarded to the student who brought in the most canned goods for the local homeless center. Sam got really excited, he had been wanting to purchase a brand new video game but he did not have any money for it. He thought that if he won this competition, he could buy the new game. That night after school, Sam raided his house for extra canned good, he walked to his grandma's and asked her for her extra canned goods. He did not tell either his grandma or his mom that he was only collecting the cans to be able to buy a new video game because he knew that they would not approve of his intentions. Sam ended up with quite a few cans but still was not first in the school competition. The girl in first place always volunteers her time helping the homeless and serving soup at the local food center. Sam was mad because he knew that the girl would just "throw away" the prize money and give it back to the homeless. This gave Sam a new drive to find cans and went around to his neighbors houses and other family members to find more cans. The next day at school, was also the last day for the competition. Sam ended up winning! The girl shook his hand and told him congratulations, you earned it for wanting to help the hungry so much! Sam felt very guilty after this and could not bring himself to buy his video game after this. Sam went down to the homeless shelter and gave them his prize money as a donation. Sam ended up being a better person and giving the money to a better cause!

Journal #41

In light of recent events, namely the events of yesterday in Boston, some of the most unlikely people can become heroes in the face of traumatic events and danger. Yesterday at a little before 3 o'clock, two explosions were heard at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Several people are dead and countless are injured. Most injured are losing feet or even whole limbs because of their close proximity to the explosion when it went off. I saw on the news that some runners crossed the finish line and kept running all the way to the hospital to give blood for the injured. I think that this act is incredible. These people just ran over twenty six miles and still went in to and summoned the energy to give blood for those who greatly needed it. Heroes can be anyone. You can be a hero if you step up and do what is right in the face of a threat or danger. A great description of a hero I think is in the Foo Fighter's song, My Hero. "There goes my hero, he's ordinary" Another group of people that most people do not consider as heroes but I do is journalists. I saw a exhibit in the Newseum in Washington D.C. about September, 11 through the eyes of the journalists. These men and women trued to put their lives as close to the action as the could to document it so the people at home could see what horror is going in. Some of these journalists ran to help wherever people were needed and the photographers put themselves in danger trying to capture images of the events that we will forever remember in history. Firefighters, policemen, other civil workers are also heroes for rushing in the face of danger every day for their jobs. Their job is to put their own self at risk to save their community. It is really incredible how much good you see in people when they are faced with an impossible situation.

Journal #40

There are about seven more AP Chemistry classes until our AP test. It is some pretty stressful stuff. BUT, after that I get a week and a half to study for my AP United States History exam and then summer is basically here!! I cannot wait! I will be working a lot, and when I am not working I will be swimming or spending time with my friends! It will be wonderful. But before that I get to look forward to prom with my friends, and as finals approach, less homework. This year has flown by so incredibly fast. Soon Elizabeth will graduate and that will be really strange, because she has always been around at school. Next year will be so weird without mist of my friends because they are all seniors. It will be pretty sad, but I will still get to see quite a few of them because they are going to school close by. I believe the furthest away someone is going is Kentucky, which still is not terrible. I am excited to start working again, because it is nice to not have to depend on my parents for money when I go out to eat or to the movies. I miss Colony West. I cannot wait to basically live there over the summer. Between work as a lifeguard and swim practice, the majority of my week is spent there. My friend Becca and I are trying to convince our boss to let us help coach the younger kids at swim practice. fingers crossed he lets us! We will not find out till the beginning of June though. The one sad thing about summer coming is the fact that youth group ends. Although I have been informed that we do even more stuff, just whenever over the summer. I have become super close to most of my friends there and I really want to spend time with them over the summer also!

Journal #39

I had a really fun spring break this year! My mom, my Aunt Chris, and myself drove to Washington D.C. on Good Friday to visit my Uncle Chris and his wife Marissa. We saw all of the sights, like the monuments, and went to several of the museums. I had been to DC before several years ago, so we only went to the museums that we have not seen or that we wanted to see again. We went to the Museum of Natural History, the Museum of American History, the Native American Museum, the Newseum, and the Holocaust Museum. My uncle took us to several cool restaurants while we were there also. We saw the Lincoln, Washington, and Jefferson monuments. We also saw the Korean, WWII, and Vietnam memorials. I really enjoyed walking around seeing the monuments; it is really pretty in DC wit all the cherry blossoms trees blooming. We stayed there until Thursday, when we drove home. I wrote my entire The Jungle essay in the car on the way to DC so after I drove my shift on the way home I slept for several hours. On Friday I went out to lunch with Katie and then helped Jenni babysit her cousins the rest of the afternoon. Then I went to Kathleen's and saw her after dinner. On Saturday I worked on a huge amount of my AP Chemistry homework with Andrew. After I went to my friends, Will and John's house where a whole bunch us of got together and watched Doctor Who. Sunday, I went to church and then out to lunch at Sonic with my friends. Then we met some more friends and went to Washington park for the afternoon. Sunday night I went to my youth group and we had our Great Trade Up, which my team won! We got a Starbucks gift card! I had a great Spring Break! I learned a lot and saw a lot of my friends in the three days I was home!

Journal #38

I job shadowed at Hansen Professional Services, a engineering company. Going into this job shadowing experience I really was not to happy or exited. I put down chemical engineering as my number one pick, and I did not think that Hansen had chemical engineering (They did not). But I was pleasantly surprised about how much information I received about engineering and careers in the sciences in general. I was paired up with Deb Ramsey, the only chemical engineer at Hansen. She talked to me about where shes worked in her career and the kinds of projects she has worked on or have been in charge of. She oversees several concrete companies and went to Ukraine to oversee the water treatment back when the Soviet union broke up.

After we were done talking Deb took me around her floor to talk to several other engineers. I talked to several civil engineers and a technician. I talked to a few college grads from 2012. It was really interesting to hear about Hansen, and engineering from young workers. They gave me good advice about college and looking for a job in engineering. After we went out to lunch, Deb gave me a tour of the company  The have an entire library, with inter-library loans and everything! I got to see the Geology lab, and talked to the guy in charge of that. After that I talked to several more people on the floor, and I even talked to one engineer who ended up being my neighbor! I received a lot of valuable information, and I will definetly take it under consideration when I decided my career path. I am not sure If I can see myself completely in a company like Hansen. I don't know if I could sit in an office everyday, I'm more suited towards working in a lab sometimes. I like a lot of the projects the company is working on, I could see myself working on projects like those.

Journal #37

We are currently listening to a jazz quartet, "Blue Monk," with Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. The song sounds very upbeat and pleasant. Being friends with several saxophone players, I have come to appreciate jazz music more. I an tell that this song is very hard to play, but it sounds really cool. I know virtually nothing about how to play music, but I still can tell that this must have been very popular when it first came out.. I am sure that music like this was played at jazz clubs and "speak easys  when it first appeared in the 1920's. Flappers and young men would go to these and drink and relax to the jazz and have a good time. I like listening to the jazz because it is not the same the whole way through the song. With the several different instruments, saxophone, trumpet, and what ever else, they can be several different sounds that appear. There is also a piano, and maybe a cello or a base something that provides the base beat that really makes the song go together. At this point in the song I think of a part in A Very Goofy Movie, when the kid, Max goes with his hipster friend to a club and they read poetry to try and impress a pretty girl. They snap and talk in that "cool jazz way" that is very stereotypical of us in the present day thinking back to the 1920's. I am not sure if I would choose to listen solely to jazz or even jazz a lot of the time, but every once and a while it is a nice change from the music I normally listen to. The only other jazz person I have really heard of besides Miles Davis, is Louis Armstrong, I believe he is a saxophonist also. My dad listens to jazz sometimes  so I hear it in the car when I ride with him too everyone and a while.

Journal #36

It is very important for you to be yourself. Individualism is one thing that a lot of people do not care about very much in their lives. They just want to be like everyone else and fit in; wear the same clothes, talk the same way, and not stick out. When I look into the lunch room it is sad to see how so many tables of friends look the same. Girls all wear their tight, short skirts, or sweatpants and Uggs. I see the boys all wearing their Nike or Adidas shorts with the tall socks and tennis shoes. Teenagers these days could care less about being their own person, they just want to fit in and be liked. I try and pride myself on the face that I am my own person. I can do things for myself, I dress the way I want to dress, and I talk the way I want to talk. I do not need someone to go to the bathroom with me, like most girls my age think they have to. I do my own school work and homework, and I do not just copy others. I also do not try and hide when I know information. Too many people think that it is "uncool" to be smart, and that failing is more fun to do. I get good grades and I am very proud of this fact. Having your own personality and different friends is also very important. When you ask someone to describe you, you would hope that the words they use to describe you and different than the words they use to describe other people. If the whole world was the same it would be very boring, and no one would be very interesting. I hope that in the future kids will know or figure out how important it is to be an individual in their lives. Because it is one of the most important concepts to understand when growing up.

Journal #35

We wrote a blog way back in September about the Declaration of Independence, and the faulty logic that was included in the document. And today, we just turned in a discussion post about Walt Whitman's search for Self. If I compared both of my writing styles from the beginning of the year to now, I believe that I have definetly improved. Although my Declaration of Independence blog post was rather good, I remember spending a lot of time one it (It is five whole paragraphs! basically an essay!), and my Search for Self one was not as good as my previous one about Emily Dickinson's poems, I can still see a lot of improvement. I noticed that I have gotten a lot better with using quotes as an additive to proving my point, not just slapping a quote in the middle of a paragraph and hoping it makes sense with the rest of the paragraph. I can now weave a quote into my paragraph without it sticking up like a sore thumb. I also think that I have gotten better in using the formal writing style in each of my writings. My writing seems more professional now than it did in September, this is probably because we have written so much more this year than I did in all of last year, and practice makes any writing better, and sound more formal. I fell like I have gotten better at interpreting what I am writing about, I am now able to write more in depth on each topic we are assigned. I do not just skim the surface of a topic, but I can now actually make arguments about poems, and essays that I was not previously able to do. My analyzing while reading skills have also gotten better too. I am more confident in understanding what I am reading now, then I was in the beginning of the year. All in all, I believe that I am a better writer, and that my skills will continue to improve.

Journal #34

Walt Whitman's concept of Self encompassed three separate smaller versions of self: the soul, the way you see yourself and the way others around you perceive you. When applying this concept to your own life, it really makes you think about who you really are. So, who am I? When thinking about just my soul, or my spiritual self, I have changed a great deal in just a few short months. I have recently become immersed in the culture of Christianity, and it is wonderful. I now attend church weekly, and actually listen to the pastor and get a meaning out of each sermon and try and apply it to my life to become a better person. I am trying to become a better person through Christianity, but it is hard. I will be continuing to work on bettering myself probably for the rest of my life, and I am really thankful for my friends to have brought me into the church. When thinking about the way I perceive myself, I think I am a good person. I think that I am fairly smart, both in books and on the street. I believe that I am way funnier then I probably actually am, but that is okay: confidence is a good thing to have in some areas. I have quite a few friends that I really care about, and would tell them anything or do anything for them. I look at myself as working through some issues in my life, and those will get better with time and trust. When looking at my life and self through others eyes, I hope they like what they see. I get along with almost everyone I meet, and I am able to make friends easily and quickly. I hope other people think I do not come across as mean or annoying, and I do not believe that I do. I know my parents raised my to be very polite and respectful to everyone, and I know that adults and other people notice this and appreciate it. Thinking back to my Self in its entirely  I believe that I am a good person. I have my flaws in each area of Whitman's self, but I am trying to solve thees and make myself a better person.

Journal #33

Bring a Junior in high school, I am in many advanced and/or AP classes. These types of classes can cause me quite a bit of stress. I have homework all the time, and there is always the constant fear of the AP test come the beginning of May. To try and reduce this stress I do a number of things. I try and be very efficient with my time. I like to plan when I will be completing each assignment so I will not be swamped and have everything to finish in one night. Except for tonight. I made the unfortunate decision to put off all of my homework from the four day weekend until tonight. Oops. I normally try and do not do that though. Another thing I try and do to avoid and or reduce stress is step away from school. On Sundays I try and not do any homework  or maybe just a little. I have church in the mornings, and then I go out to lunch with my friends afterwards. I go to FCA later in the afternoon  and then my youth group at my church after that. It is nice to have a day to be completely focused on something other than school. It helps me refocus my attention on what is really important in my life. Another stress reliever is that I reward my self after finishing my homework or studying for my tests by watching an episode or two of my current favorite TV show, Dexter. I am trying to watch the whole series, so by finishing my homework early I am able to fit in an episode every night, or at least part of one (they are all over fifty minutes long). I have quite a bit of stress in my life, and I try to do these things and more in order to manage this stress, and make my life a much easier and happier life.

Journal #32

Personally, I have never revolutionized anything. Then again, I am only sixteen years old, and have to rest of my life to do extraordinary things in the world. But many people in the past have done this, and it has made our world better time and time again. We have had many great thinkers in the world going back to Socrates and Issac Newton, and even more recent with Thoreau and Emerson or influential authors of the 21th century. These thinkers have some up with many ideas that have shaped the way society runs today. If we did not have thinkers like this is is very plausible that we would not be living in a free independent America. Great thinkers of the time decided that we were better than just being ruled by another nation, like England and the various kings of the era,  and decided to be their own nation. Whether it be social rules, or educational idea and theorems these thinkers have changed the world for the better. Other people who have revolutionized the world are inventors. Could you imagine a world if Alexander Graham Bell had not invented the telephone? I definitely could not. Or if Benjamin Franklin never voiced his ideas we would not have things like libraries, or glasses, or fire houses. These inventions and more have changed the way we live and have paved the way for even more inventions to change our lives for the better. Besides inventions and ideas, purely just people have changed the way we live. People like Martin Luther King Jr., fighting for the African Americans, or John F. Kennedy, deciding that we could put a man on the moon in ten years, changed American's views on what life is like. Many people have revolutionized the world and will continue to do so well into the future. Everyone wants to have their ideas remembered for changing the world, these people have accomplished this feat.

Journal #31

We are high school students; therefore gossip is a huge parts of our lives- even if we do not want it to be. Personally, I try and not include myself in any unnecessary drama and the gossip that goes along with it. But of course, this is quite hard to do. Being a teenage girl, we talk a lot. A lot of that time we talk about other people, and that is all considered gossip, not harmful gossip- but still gossip the same. This is harmless. There is no spreading of vicious  rumors or saying things about people's personal lives. This discussions are more like, "Hey, did you know so and so got a A on their test?" or, "I bet that person over there knows what happened in class yesterday!" Harmful gossip is anything that can hurt someone else's feelings. Talking about peoples families or their relationships are examples of things that people should just not talk about. Stuff like this should be private, and kept to themselves. Basically everything that we discussed in Spoon River is stuff that you should not share with other people because it is not your business. I try not to gossip because its not something I want to spread around the school, but its hard because almost everything is gossip in some form. Good gossip, like I said earlier, is beneficial and helps spread good messages where you go. Talking about who good someones performance in the talent show was, or how much you admire someone are just two of the many examples how gossip can be good. Bad gossip, on the other hand, are lies, or something you say with the intention of hurting another person or a group of people. This is what everyone needs to avoid. If we lived in a good world where there was no gossip, and everything people said had a positive impact, life would be good. Hopefully we can reach this goal, if everyone tries.

Journal #30

Civil rights is a very important subject for people to learn about. To understand how our society works today we have to look back and study how America evolved from a nation with no equal rights at all, to one with almost every person equal. Before 1928, women were not equal to men, and it took even longer than that to have African Americans equal to everyone else. Now everyone is equal according to race and gender. Right now, our society is focusing on gay rights, gay marriage specifically. Once this issue is settled and gay people can get married, America as a whole will be equal. Looking back to history to see where the civil rights movement started, Abraham Lincoln is a figure who stands out. Lincoln started the war that would eventually end slavery. If he had not been shot, and was able to oversee  the Reconstruction of the South, African American's might have had equal rights earlier than they did. Johnson did not handle Reconstruction as well as Lincoln would have. He treated everyone harsh, instead of treating everyone peacefully and the same like Lincoln had planned on doing. Racial civil rights are important, but they are not the only civil rights that have been addressed in America in the past. Women's rights were a big deal in the early 1900s. Before then women were not treated even close to equal to men. After the addition of the amendment for women's rights, genders were considered equal in the eyes of the law. Even with the law saying women were equal to men, it was not actually the case. Women were still looked down upon and not given equal opportunities. This is still slightly true to this day. It is not nearly as bad as it used to be, but there are still instances in today's society were women and men are not equal; most of the times this occurs in the workplace.

Journal #29

Nature is control of most situations in our lives.Whether it be a natural disaster like a tornado, or a hurricane, or just the changing of the weather, like rain, snow, or sleet, nature dictates how we live our everyday lives. When we wake up in the morning the first thing we do is check the weather to see how we should be dressed. Before making plans, or going outside, we look outside to see if we can brave the weather. My own job in the summers is dependent on the weather. I work as a lifeguard at an outdoor pool, and we have to be very aware at what nature is going to throw at us for the pool patron's safety.  Nature is a funny thing really, it can never make up it's mind. Like today, I live in the middle of Illinois, where its almost sixty degrees outside! It should be closer to thirty or twenty! Nature is in charge of all natural disasters. We have had several tornadoes here in central Illinois, and most of them do quite a bit of damage. We also have bad ice storms ever few years which cause many power outages and days of school for us. A very big instance where nature was in charge was hurricane Katrina, which caused thousands of lives to be lost, and thousands more to have there houses destroyed and become separated from their families. The earthquakes in Haiti several years ago is also a good example of when nature was in charge. they came out of nowhere, completely destroying the country basically. Clean up and aid is still being administered to the people of Haiti today. Nature is in charge whenever a natural disaster occurs, which happens more often than we would think. Every time is snows or rains we have to change our whole day on account of what nature throws at us that day. I enjoy nature, but only when its very pretty and mild temperature outside.

Journal #28

I have never really left the country (its debatable if we drove through Canada on my family's trip to New York when I was four years old) so I have not been in a place with a very different culture or status then what we have where we live. I have been to New Orleans and Las Vegas, both places are quite different than little Pleasant Plains and Springfield. We went to New Orleans when I had just turned ten, and some of the people who live in the South really surprised me. For one, it took me a long time to figure out what they were saying because their accents are so thick. They also eat food that is very very different from here, alligator, gumbo, and other very strange dishes are served all the time in New Orleans. They say words differently and use completely different words sometimes then I am used to. In New Orleans in just a few minutes you can walk from the very pretty French Quarter, with nice buildings (Cafe Du-Monte!), to a very scary neighborhood where you do not want your car to break down (Our car had a flat there, very scary situation). This same layout of the city is also prevalent in Las Vegas. It is not everyday when you are walking down the street, and creepy people try and hand you cards of naked women. Also Vegas is called the city that never sleeps, and that is definitely true, something is always happening! There is such a mix of people who visit Vegas at any given time, so you never really know what culture you are around. Rich people, and poor people all come to Vegas to try and win money or just to have a good time. When you are under twenty-one, like myself, there are still quite a few shows, shops, and other things too see. Both New Orleans and Las Vegas are very different place from Illinois, but I enjoyed going to each place.

Journal #27

I think having to go really far away from home to defend our country would be hard. In the first place, that takes a tremendous amount of strength and courage to be able to put your life on the line every minute of the day in a war, and it does not help that you have to be stationed away from home for long periods at a time. Personally, I do not think I could do it. I do not think that I would be able to handle the stress that you have to deal with in this situation. I would miss my parents the rest of my family and friends. Letters, emails, and Skype calls just do not cut having a real life conversation in person. I have never moved before, so I've lived in the same house my entire life, so I'm sure how I would cope with being away for such a long time with no familiarity with anyone or anything. I have to get used to being away from home with college though. I plan on going far away to school in Nevada. Also, my parents are going to be retiring in a year or two and moving to Nevada too, so that helps with not being to homesick because they will only be a seven hour drive away. I think that having control of a gun and being in the situation where you might have to hurt someone would be really hard. I really respect everyone in the service for being able to get though that and protect our country because I know that I would not be able too. I have a cousin in the military, but she is currently only stationed in North Carolina because she and her boyfriend just had a baby. She had to go to Afghanistan two years ago, and that was really scary cause I did not want anything bad to happen to her, or anyone really.

Journal #26

A time when something did not turn out the way I thought it would was our vacation to Las Vegas when I was fourteen years old. My parents were planning on, and still are, retiring to Summerland, Nevada. Summerland is located fairly near Las Vegas, so we like to go there and check out the area. Plus, Las Vegas is awesome, and there is so much to do for everyone! Some other members of my family like my grandpa, aunt and uncle from Washington D.C., and my aunt and uncle and brand new baby from California also flew/drove to meet us there. It was a big old family reunion for a lot of us! Our plan for the week was to go see all the sights, and go shopping, and go out to eat, really just hang around our family. Our plans were changed when the weather changed. We went to Las Vegas in December, and there it is still fairly warm (jacket weather with long pants). It very very rarely rains, and even more rare than the rain was snow. Its probably only snowed in Las Vegas a few times ever! So about three days into our trip, we wake up and look out the window, and what do you know, there are snow flurries! This changed the next few days of our trip because a lot of people were freaked out about the snow/rain mix, slush. We could not do any of the outdoor activities any more because they were all closed! I was not able to go on the New York, New York roller coaster, or see the Treasure Island show that I really wanted to see. (We ended up going to that show when my family went back to Las Vegas in 2012, but were not able to see the show. But that's another story entirely!) This snow changed our trip, but we were still able to have a fun time with my entire family indoors!

Journal #25

Giving is a very important concept for everyone to learn especially around the holiday season. Most people only think of getting presents around Christmas or Hanukkah instead of the act of giving. The holidays are not just about getting presents, the act of giving is very important too.  When you know what someone wants, and you are able to purchase or make that item for them you feel really good. The look on their face when they open that present that they wanted is priceless. That feeling alone should make everyone want to give. But Giving is not just a concept to practice during the holidays, you should want to give year round. If you are walking past something and you think to yourself  "Wow, I bet (insert name of friend or family member here) would love to have this!" Do not just continue to walk by and pretend that you did not even see it, you should get it and surprise that person with it! They will really appreciate it. Giving does not entail just presents wither. You should want to help the needy, and less fortunate than you too. Going on a mission trip, helping a service organization, or just giving any extra money or items you have to charity are all prime examples of giving. When you give to someone who really needs it, you feel proud. You were able to give someone something that they could not have gotten themselves, but they really needed. Giving is also an important in school. Even just lending someone a pencil, or sharing a fry at lunch would be considered giving. Anything that makes someones day better or a little brighter is giving. I personally like to give as much as I can. I participate in several service organizations  and I love to get my friends and family presents around their birthdays and Christmas time. Giving is something important  that everyone should do all the time.