Who is Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov or famously known as Vladimir Lenin was born 22 April 1870Simbirsk, former Russian Empire. However, who was he and why does he matter?

Lenin grew up in the small city formerly known as Simbirsk now Ulyanovsk. He had three brothers and three sisters, his parents Ilya Ulyanov, and Maria Blank. Following his brother, Alexanders execution in 1887 due to a bomb they found that was supposed to kill Tsar Nicholas Romanov ll. Lenin took the news well are proceeded in his life, but since his brother was a terrorist, he would get kicked out of college. Later he moved to St Petersburg and started reading the writings of Karal Marx. Later in 1893, he became the head of a Marxist study group. Then in 1897, Lenin was arrested for sedition and exiled to Siberia for three years, where he married Nadezhda Krupskaya. After his exile, Lenin moved to Munich, where he became a prominent theorist in the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). Moreover, he kept on writing his revolutionary theories, later to be known as Leninism. His writing would be transported to Russia by smugglers one of which Josef Stalin, later dictator of the USSR. In 1903, Lenin took a vital role in an RSDLP ideological divide, leading the Bolshevik (the majority in English) faction against Julius Martov's Mensheviks (The minority in English). In 1904, he moved to Switzerland with his wife to write about his ideas in peace. Later in 1905, there was a peaceful protest outside of the Russian palace where workers were protesting for equal rights. When Nicholas commanded to police to shoot the protesters, over 1 thousand people died. This just outraged people more. After this Lenin moved from Switzerland to Russia again, Lenin was almost caught again in Russia writing about how to start a revolution, so he fled to Switzerland. In 1914 Russia was pulled into WW1 hullting everyone revolutionary plans. In 1917 the tsar was overthrown and replaced by a Provisional Government. However, after this, they just went back to war which was the whole reason they overthrew the Tsar. People were outraged and still wanted a revolution. In 1917 the Germans sent Lenin on a train to Russia to stir up political unrest. After Lenin arrived in Russia he made a speech in public saying the revolution was not over and they had done a lousy job, but no one was listening. Later that year he fled to Finland due to people calling him a German spy. In October of 1917, he snuck back into St. Petersburg and met up with his comrades. Then they broke into the winter palace and captured the government members at gunpoint. In one night Lenin became the leader of the USSR with none being harmed. He continued to lead his country promising what they wanted, “Peace, bread, and land.” His first act as leader was to end the war with Germany. In 1920 Lenin was shot twice in the chest, but later recovering. Later after a famon swept over Russia Lenin stopped communism and let the people sell their crops. This worked and later Lenin continued. In 1924 Lenin died of a stroke. Even though his reign was short, he changed the course of history is to the best leader of the Soviets and a brilliant mind.

sources:

https://youtu.be/BX1g-l7mrOY

https://youtu.be/wSWT8oPb1mM

Interplanetary Travel

The photo above is where I want to someday go. Yup, that red, lifeless ball of rust, 54.6 million kilometers away. It is not isolation I seek, but the feeling of knowing that I have expanded the horizons of humanity, and the possibilities of Mars colonies. Just to imagine being able to see the earth from afar already boggles my mind, but to me 54 million kilometers away takes it to the extreme. Theoretically, the hardest part of the trip there would be the trip in space, because you are in deep space for 300 days without dying. Once you are on the Mars surface, you wouldn't be there for very long, because you have to bring all of your supplies, which is limited by the size of the ship.

Previously, we have sent many other things to Mars, including rovers, landers, and satellites. Above is the Opportunity Rover (above, left), whose mission was supposed to last 30 days, but when on for 15 years. It lost connection and shut down after a planet-wide dust storm cut off the light to its solar panels, so it couldn't get power, and died. It's last message to Earth was "My batteries are low and it's getting dark", as tweeted by science reporter, Jacob Margolis. Opportunity's companion rover, Spirit, died much earlier. Another rover is on mars with the two dead other ones, called Curiosity (above, right). Loss of solar power will not kill Curiosity though, because instead of solar panels, Curiosity is powered by an MMRTP (Multi-Missions Radioscope Thermoelectric Generator), which relies on the heat generated by the decay of a large chunk of plutonium dioxide, a very radioactive substance. So because of the MMRTP, the Curiosity rover could never die due to loss of sunlight, but it can lose radio connections to Earth.

Why Homework Shouldn’t Exist

Homework is terrible. It doesn’t teach us anything that we couldn’t of learned in school! Also, the amount of stress it puts on students is not acceptable. Every weekday, I have around 2 hours of homework on average.

Too much homework can lead to sleep deprivation and anxiety. A survey of High School students in California showed that nearly half of students stayed up late doing their homework, causing them to get less sleep and be tired at school the next day. Many kids participate in after school activities that take up hours of their time. These activities along with the time it takes to eat dinner leave barely enough time for students to do their homework and get to bed on time, as well as have free time to spend with their families or take a break.

Teenagers need around 9-10 hours of sleep each night in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I personally need to wake up at 6:20 every morning in order to get to school at 8:00, and drop my siblings off on the way. This means I need to be asleep by 9:20 at the latest. Unfortunately, I´ve had many homework sessions 2 hours or more that set off my sleep schedule. Studies have also shown that it can take a middle schooler up to 20 minutes to reach a resting heart rate. Not to mention all the hygienic things people do in preparation for bed such as brushing your teeth and changing. Even more time will get used up if you have a pet you need to take care of.

A survey of 38 7th grade students says 95% of those students dislike homework. More than 40% of them have 90 minutes or more a night, which is more than the maximum of 70 minutes recommended by the National Education Association. 90% say that homework often stresses them out, and more than half say that homework isn't at all beneficial. Students spend around 950 hours in school each year, why must we have school time at home also? Whatever our homework is focused on, we can learn during those school hours.

Some might say that homework improves student achievement and raises grades. But, homework disadvantages low income students who don't have access to resources like pencils, paper, a computer, a quiet space to work, or a parent to help them. Also, homework has shown to do more damage than good. Though homework may guide children into developing research skills and other good habits, it can also lead to bad ones. 90% of Middle School students admitted to copying someone else's homework in a survey taken in California. Even parents will take shortcuts to cut homework; 43% of parents surveyed admitted to completing a child´s assignment for them.

All in all, homework seems to poorly affect many students around the country. But the question still remains: What will we do about it?

Sources:

https://health.usnews.com/wellness/for-parents/articles/2018-03-20/how-much-homework-is-too-much-for-our-teens

https://www.procon.org/headline.php?headlineID=005411
Images:
https://neapolitanlabs.education/assets/chariton/news/20182019_school_supply_list_20180706_061051.jpg
https://neapolitanlabs.education/assets/chariton/news/20182019_school_supply_list_20180706_061051.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/575315099994316800/CUMrnlmQ.png

The Great Puddles

Puddles is a rabbit that has been with me for about 3 years. He is kind, sweet, and full of love. I wanted to write on how I got him and what I did to do so, the pros and cons, and the experience in general. When I was in fourth grade there was a pet rabbit named Serious Ash Black. At the time I had always wanted a dog, but I had not been against the idea of a bunny. I knew from the experience of not getting a dog, that this mission of mine was not going to be easy. Mind you that my first pet was a fish and my parents did not let me get one, so for my birthday a fish (jerry) was given to me by my aunt. Then I am sure you know about the "viking ceremony". Back to the story, Serious the bunny was a ball of joy and was hopping around the classroom while fourth graders were off to work. My plan to get a bunny was to interview my teacher about what I should know about rabbits beforegetting one. She always had a rabbit in the classroom, she was in love with these furry friends. That interview was very helpful, I did that about three or four times that year. I may have seemed a bit odd but I was a very dedicated 9 year old. It did not stop there, I was cleaning the rabbit's cage every time it had to be cleaned to "practice" for when I have my own. Then by the time I was 10, after meaningful talks with my mom, lots of hard work, and many interviews later. I was allowed to start searching for my furry friend. I went on craigslist and searched for a month or two. When I got really excited I used to run downstairs and go on the family computer and go on my search. I stumbled upon this person with many cute baby bunnies for sale, but they wanted to meet at their home and for my mom that was a bit too risky, I understood and for myself I also did not want to be put in that position. We kept searching and found the glorious Jessica. She wanted to meet at a park and had two baby bunnies a father and a mom. Puddles' mom was a bit lazy, she had a little bunny hammock so the babies could not bother her. But the dad was the care taker. We meet Puddles, his brother, and their dad. A very cute family. The second I saw Puddles, I knew he was mine (he was also the only one in his family that was for sale, but that is not the point). I saw him, I learned a ton about bunnies when meeting him and I knew he was the one. Here is me meeting Puddles for the first time.
As great as this was, we had to wait for him to be a bit bigger. Around two weeks later I came home from school and I saw that little goof ball in the kitchen. He was very shy at first but a few weeks later he was moved up to my room and then we got very close. I can get very anxious sometimes as many people do, and Puddles was always a big help when it came to when I was worried. 
Me and Puddles are very close now and he is very special to me. I love having him around and he is a great companion. Now. Now he is three, and everyday he is more special, more loved, and a better companion then the day before.

It has always been more of a pleasure to have Puddles. Thank you for letting me share my story of Puddles.

Muggles and Magic

I am a student at Catlin Gabel, an amazing school with amazing teachers. But what would it be like if the Ministry of Magic sent Hogwarts teachers and students undercover to Catlin to learn more about Muggles? If Cultures was taught by Professor Bins, how many people would stay awake? If Science were taught by Professor Snape, who would he pick on? If PE was taught by Madam Hooch, would we play Quidditch? What if the Ministry sent students too? Would Luna Lovegood be thought crazy if she was not allowed to talk about wrackspurts? Would Draco Malfoy be as mean without his family’s reputation to back him up? How long would it be before someone gave the game away and performed magic in the presence of a muggle classmate? Or on a muggle? What would it be like if Hogwarts came to Catlin? I can imagine to scene:

Ministry of Magic, summer of Harry Potter’s third year at Hogwarts

After a long day of meetings, Cornelius Fudge was about to step into the fire that would bring him to Dumbledore’s office when Fudge’s secretary hurried up.

“Sir,” he said, “I have a request from Charity Burbage, Muggle Studies teacher at Hogwarts sch-”

“Well, get on with it.” Fudge interrupted impatiently. The secretary replied immediately,

“She would like to send a small team of Hogwarts students and teachers to some muggle school called Catlin Gabel.”

“To do what?”

“Learn more about muggles of course.”

“And you are bothering me about this why?”

“Under stanza one of-”

“Get to the point.”

“The law says that she needs your permission.” The secretary replied hurriedly.

“Permission granted.”  said Fudge,

McGonagall's office, first day of school, Hermione is getting her time turner

Professor McGonagall told Hermione that,

“Unfortunately, you signed up for more classes then there are periods, so I am going to give you a time-turner. This will allow you to be in two places at once, but you must not be seen. Horrible things have happened to to wizards who meddle with time. Do you agree to this?”

“Of course” Hermione said brightly.

“Good.” Professor McGonagall replied “One more thing: Charity Burbage is organizing a group of Hogwarts teachers and students to infiltrate a muggle school called Catlin Gabel so that we can learn more about muggles. We would like you to join this group. You will use your time-turner to attend class there each day.”

“O.K.” Hermione replied slowly. “But why me?”

“You are muggle born so you know what muggles expect, also you are an extremely bright student who can be trusted to keep this secret. One last thing, you may not tell any of your friends, not even Weasley and Potter. You are excused miss Granger.”

Catlin Gabel,Science class

“Potions, I mean science” Snape started.

“Did you just say ‘potions’?” half the class interrupted.

“As I was saying-” Snape tried again.

“It is weird to have a science teacher who believes in potions” Someone finished for him. Snape glared around the room, “If I find out who said that I will make sure that they get detention for a week.”

“We don’t have detention here.” Bristol said.

“In that case”, Snape sneered, “I will just have to ‘accidentally’ let class out 20 minutes late today.”

Everyone except Neville, a new student, groaned. Neville did not groan because he was too afraid of what Snape would do to him if he did; however, this proved to be a mistake.

“Nevil didn’t groan.” Snape said. “Maybe it is because he thinks he deserves it. Neville you will spend lunch with me as punishment for your cheek in making that nasty comment.”

“But…” Neville started

“No ‘buts’ Neville” said Snape

“Um” said John “You have wasted, like, have the class.”

“As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, science is the art of mixing things to create reactions.” Said Snape.

“No,” said Hermione “Science is about trying things and watching what happens and then explaining why it happens. Science is also about explaining how things work and using that knowledge to improve our world.”

“Knowledge” said Luna, “Knowledge is the most important tool of all, however incorrect knowledge holds us back.”

“It is now time for recess” Snape said, “Malfoy can go because he is an exceptional student, everyone else must stay for 20 minutes because I don’t like you.”

“But Malfoy didn’t contribute at all.” Said Ginny.

“Since when did that matter?” Asked Nevil glumly.

Catlin Gabel, Cultures class

“Today we will be learning about imperial China” Professor Bins started “The Han dynasty of China came to an end in a.d. 220. For the next 300 years, China had no central government. The country collapsed into separate kingdoms, and the Chinese people suffered many hardships. Warlords—military leaders who rule local territories—fought each other. Meanwhile*,...” By this time Hermione was the only one taking notes. Half the class was asleep and the other half was chatting.

“Pay attention” said Professor Bins.

“Why should we pay attention to you?” Asked Neville who was delighted that he could do whatever he wanted without having points subtracted from Gryffindor.

“Because I am the teacher” Said Professor Bins.

“A super boring teacher.” Said Owen.

“How did you get this job anyway?” Asked Scooch.

“I applied just like everyone else. Now, as I was saying Warlords—military leaders who rule local territories—fought each other. Meanwhile…” the students, who had temporarily perked up and payed attention while Professor Bins was being insulated, went back to sleep and class continued as normal.

Catlin Gabel, The Barn, Lunchtime

“Hey Luna, do you want to sit with us?”

“Luna, I like your earrings, are they radishes?”

“Luna, your name is really pretty.”

“Look Luna is popular here.” Ginny said to Hermione.

“Maybe” said Hermione, “it’s because now that she isn’t talking about wrackspurts or anything people can see how awesome she it.”

“I’m glad.” Said Ginny.

“Me too.” Said Hermione.

Catlin Gabel, PE

Madam Hooch walked into the gym and blew her whistle.

“Today we will be playing quidditch” she said “One person will put on this yellow penni. They will be the ‘snitch’. On each team there will be 2 ‘seekers’. It is their job to tag the ‘snitch’. Whichever team’s ‘seeker’ tags the ‘snitch’ gains 150 points. When the snitch is tagged the game ends.” Madam Hooch held up two balls.

“These two balls are the ‘bludgers’. On each team there are two ‘beaters’. Their job is to catch bludgers being thrown at other players and to throw ‘bludgers’ at the other team. If you get hit by a bludger you’re out.” Madam Hooch held up another ball. She said,

“This ball is called the ‘quaffle’. If you are not a ‘snitch’, ‘keeper’, ‘beater’, or ‘seeker’ then you are a ‘chaser’. It is the ‘chasers’ job to get the ‘quaffle’ into one of your opponent’s three goal posts. Every time your team scores you gain 10 points. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.”

“That's not how you play quidditch, you need broomsticks.” Said Malfoy.

Hermione hissed, “Magic does not exist.”

Malfoy scoffed, “Of course  it doesn’t to you, you’re a mudblood.”

“Remember,” Hermione threatened, “your family's reputation doesn’t protect you here.” Hermione raised her wand, “Eat slugs!” She shouted. As Malfoy vomited slugs his classmates starred. Then they, looking very impressed, turned to Hermione and asked, “You can use magic?”

Hermione answered “Yes.”

“Will you teach us?”

From then on Malfoy was much less mean.

I think that if some Hogwarts teachers and students came to Catlin it would not work very well because many of the teachers at Hogwarts are not very good teachers. Also, students at Hogwarts don’t learn things like math and science, so they would be very behind at Catlin. Teachers would need to teach about things that they did not know. Eventually someone would notice that they could do magic or, a muggle would see some sort of magical artifact. On the other hand “Muggles” are past the point of witch-hunts (hopefully). If magic was revealed to muggles it might not turn out to badly. Over all, however I think that magical learning should stay at Hogwarts.

*Spielvogel, Jackson J. Discovering Our Past: A History of the World. Columbus,

    McGraw-Hill Education, 2018.

image of Ministry of Magic: https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/harrypotter/images/e/e5/Ministry.JPG/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/2000?cb=20101122224927

image of Luna Lovegood: https://images.pottermore.com/bxd3o8b291gf/Mam68Vfou2OO6kqEcyW8W/a9abc28e1e15bdd7d57f6257f3fed897/LunaLovegood_WB_F6_LunaLovegoodInQuibblerSpecsOnHogwartsExpress_Still_080615_Port.jpg?w=1200

image of Hermione and Malfoy: http://screeninvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/A23.jpg

A Graded Life

When I go to school every day I worry about an upcoming assignment or test, it doesn't matter if I have completed the project or if I know all of the material on the test, I just stress and stress. Even when I am prepared for school and playing ping pong, pool, or foosball with my brother I still can’t focus on anything except for school. Now you might be thinking “concentrating on school is super important and if you can focus on academics what’s the problem?” Well the problem is that I feel like I have to worry about my grades all of the time, no matter what because Middle school grades help prepare for high school and those grades affect where you can go to college and that influences you job and the rest of your life. I know that at thirteen people tell us “You're in 7th grade make mistakes and learn from them.” or “Don’t be afraid to mess up.” As well intended as those words may be, if you want to be successful there are a very short and limited list of mistakes that you can make, or at least from the perspective of someone who is thirteen.

I am lucky to have extremely committed and supportive teachers at Catlin Gabel, because if I didn’t school would feel impossible on top of the fact that I am constantly worrying about grades. Yes, I do believe that grades are very important and working hard is also important because that can open new doors and create amazing and unique opportunities that may alter your life, but do you need to stress about that when you are in middle school? On average about 83% of teen stress comes from school, so that leaves only 17% for the rest of you life that you live outside of school.312726-the-growing-teen-epidemic-stress Additionally, on a 10 point scale the average stress of an adult is about 5.1 and the average stress of a teen is 5.8. American Psychological Association Survey Shows Teen Stress ...https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2014/02/teen-stress.aspx If you would like to read more here are two great articles that might interest you. I also value the fact that I am lucky enough to go to school and learn, so that I can one day become an active participant in our vastly developing society. I realize that “doing well in school” is a concept to help us learn and to help us to strive to do well so that when we are pushed out of the nest into the real world we can take off and have the ability to support ourselves or our family. I also know that I and many other teens like me need to focus on what we are doing right now and what is going on the world around us at this age. Once we are older we never get to have this time back and we will never learn to take our first steps, read our first book, get our first A, or be thirteen ever again. The average human lives for about 80 years, and I don’t want to spend 10 of those years that I have worrying about grades only to have to worry about college and work after I am no longer young and full of energy. That’s not to say that I don’t love school, I do, but I don’t love to worry about school when I am trying to win nationals or relaxing with my friends during summer vacation. Every day I strive to do better that the day before and to learn more that the day before, but if I am too scared of the consequences of making a mistake, how am I supposed to be the best me that I can possibly be?

Ski Blog

I lock into my skis with my helmet firmly on tight. I take a deep breath the smell of fresh air. I sink my poles deep into the snow and push off down the hill. I ski towards the lift. I wait and line until I’m at the front of the line. I walk up feeling the chair at my legs, the soft cold touch of the cushion. I put the bar down, wind whipping at my face as we go up to the top of the mountain. I can feel the cold air whipping at my face. I tighten my boots and push myself forward. I look down the slope and push off. I carve my turns with the snow rushing next me. I feel the wonderful feel of the wind whipping at my face. I love the feeling of my skis cutting through the snow. My first run is a blue, me and my friend soaring down the mountain together. My hands are cold to the touch and my legs are stiff from the effort of controlling my skis. But I feel the adrenaline rushing through my body. I love skiing with my friends.

New Beginnings

As you walk into the school, cue all the stares. People whisper and point. Okay, I'm making that up, but, have you ever been the new kid at a school? Not knowing where to go, who anyone is, or what is expected of you. When you finally figure out where your first class is, you sit in your seat very quietly, waiting for some familiar faces. Well, maybe that's not what other people do, but I know that's what I've done. 

"New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings." Yup, I can agree with that. The first time my mom decided to move; mind you this was across the country, I was in 2nd grade. And just let me say, I was not expecting to move another four times in the next three years. Anyway when I first heard that I was going to move I thought I was the coolest 2nd grader EVER!!! I also never thought that other kids move whatsoever, especially not from Boston , to Portland. Then before I knew it I was in a whole new place, looking for a house.  I had no idea who anyone was, and where to go. And yet there is something special about being in a place that is brand new, with only my mom. When this happened it made my mom and I rely on each other, which brought us together.

Fast forward five years of moving to different houses, meeting new people, going to new schools, and my mom becoming a record box packer. Fast forward all the way to my first day at Catlin Gabel. I know it may seem a little cliche to be writing about being new to a school. The thing is being new to this school was very different then being new to any other school. Everyone is so kind, and you end up having friends on the first day of school, which helps since it is sorta awkward to be in a class with no idea who anyone is.
Another unique thing about Catlin is the campus. Our campus has many trees/greenery. The amount of trees on our campus could put the Congo tropical forest to shame.  Whenever I see the dimpled light underneath a tree, I can't help but smile. Something about broken up light shinning on leaves has a bewitching, and magical look.
 

Overall, being new may have hard parts, but it always will become better. You must survive the darkest part, to get to the light.

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Soccer

I love soccer. I've been playing it since I was about 4 years old. I started out when my Dad and I would play in the yard on the fence. Then when I was six I got these little Pug goals that we would score on. We would play all the time, and I got really good with my left foot(I'm right footed). Later we figured out what it really was when my Dad asked me which foot was my right, and I said that my right foot was on the left side. I was six, so I didn't know my right from left, and the reason I got really good with my left was because I thought that my left foot was my right. From then on, I wouldn't really use my left foot anymore. Then I joined my first ever soccer team, the NEU Hornets. We were a wreck soccer team, so it wasn't really competitive. Also, we were six. I was on that team with my friend Eamonn, who I still play soccer with and am friends with to this day. We were both a whole lot better than the other kids, so they would never let us play together because it wouldn't be fair for the other teams. We had too many players so they would split us into two teams. One with me on it, and the other with Eamonn. We even did that during practice. So we would always play every weekend, and I and Eamonn would score lots of goals, and we had a whole lot of fun. We would win every year, and everything was good. We would all get our little trophy's at the end of the season for participation.

Eventually, I and Eamonn got too good for the league, and we moved on to our first club team, PCU, at age seven. Later, I think when our team was about 10 years old, we had this crazy run in state cup. We played for the top team in the club for our age. In the group stage of the tournament, we played our first three games and won two and tide won. Even with that record, we barely made it to the next round. In the quarterfinals, I was not at the game, but I remember the story. Apparently, we tide them in the regular time, and it ended up going to penalty kicks. We won the penalty's when one of our star players, Milo, scored the winning kick. We moved on to the next round, the semi-finals, and that was a tight game too. We played for the first sixty minutes and nobody scores. It goes to extra time of 20 minutes. We end up scoring two minutes before the game end's and won 1-0. And do you know who scored? Milo. Now we are in the finals. The big game. We get to the game an hour early to warm up. It's very tense, even before the game starts. We finally start and we get off to an early lead and you guessed it, Milo scores again. But soon they get a long shot from outside the box. They score again later. We end up losing and come in second.

We are all sad, but also amazed that we got that far. I think in the end we were all happy with the final result, and we go home knowing we left everything on the field. To this day, I still play for PCU. Unfortunately, we have not made a glorious run like that to the final ever since, but still, we all play and have fun every game.

My Trip To Disneyland

Last summer, I went to Disneyland with my friends, Miles, and Naveen. I had a lot of fun and I was amazed by how much of an immersive experience it was.

We went to the California Adventure park on the first day

and the Disneyland park on the second day.

In California Adventure, we rode our favorite ride, the Incredicoaster. It was an Incredibles themed roller coaster.

I was really looking forward to going on the new Guardians of the Galaxy ride, but I chickened out right as we were about to go on it.

At Disneyland, we went on almost all the rides.

We really liked Splash Mountain and Space Mountain. Space Mountain is this roller coaster that is in the pitch black darkness so you can’t see anything. When I went on it, I sat next to this weird creepy guy. During the ride, he started laughing really loudly and started petting me on the shoulder. I was really scared of this guy and by the time the photo came I was looking really spooked of him.

I became really amazed at how well Disneyland was at creating an immersive experience. I got a book about Disneyland for my birthday and I read it for English class. I soon found out that they dye the water different colors and even blow smells into the park to seem like you are actually in whatever place you are in the park. The people who work at the park are really good at staying in character to make the guests feel like they are really there. Even though it was a really short trip, I really hope to go there again because I had a lot of fun.

Loyalty

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Today I will be talking about loyalty and how it affects my life. Loyalty is very important to be because to me it is why friendships are a thing. According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary is a faithful to a cause or ideal. This is a valid definition but I think it means much much more because it makes or breaks friendships. If I were to make a definition I would say that loyalty is the best policy. Loyalty was the first thing to grace the earth and has been carried forever. This was very important in the medieval times because they had to trust each other they spent every hour together. Loyalty also means honesty and that is also very important because it just makes you a better person people will also like you more if you are honest and loyal.

This may not be the most interesting and I am not the best writer in the world but I just want to push out the message that having people that you trust and people who you are close too. I know this is very short and not well written but I hope you get the point.

My Immigrant Family Experience

Having nine siblings has always been a big conversation starter for me my whole entire life. However, it’s slightly different from your average large family. You may also have many siblings but are the majority of your siblings not from the same country as you? Well, for me the majority of my whole family is African while I am from America. Now you may be wondering what it must be like to have family from another part of the world. Let me tell you about my experience with being a part of an immigrant family.

Like I mentioned previously, I have a pretty large family. Four older sisters and five older brothers to be exact. Out of the nine, one of them is from America as well. First, let me tell you about what my experience is with having siblings from another country. You might think that it would be weird but, it’s not at all. When my family moved here my siblings were still young so it didn’t really have much effect. However, not all of my family moved. The eldest child stayed as well as three of my other siblings who were around the age of 18 at the time. Two of them eventually moved to the U.S. but that happened later. To this day I have never met my two oldest siblings in person. The family members I grew up around have all forgotten our native tongue which they spoke with ease. On the other hand, two of them still partially have an accent.


I will also tell you about what it is like to have a taste of two different cultures. You may think that because we are no longer in Africa, we don’t participate in that culture anymore. For me, that is a false statement. In fact, we have our own African community that we are part of. We have the celebrations that we hold, as well as different activities. I like to call them African parties because it’s not your average party. Most of the events that happen are weddings so I will use that as an example. These weddings aren’t exactly your “typical” weddings. During the ceremony, when the bride’s maids and groom’s men are walking down the aisle there is dance choreography and a lot of cheering. The same thing happens when the bride and groom walk. At the reception, you show up at least an hour late if your running on, what I like to call, “African time”. There are many performances by kids in the community as well as the bride and the groom’s party. It’s an event that is filled with joy, laughter, and lots and lots of food prepared by the women in the community. These events tend to end at any time from 12 am to 3 am. Keep in mind that most of them start around 7 pm. There are also other series of events such as mourning a loved one which lasts for several days.

Lastly, I will share with you what we call the adults/parents in our community. When talking to older women you would say “mama” and then their first name. When talking to older men you would say “papa” and then their first name. For example, if someone were to call my parents they would say “mama Annie” or “ papa Jean” (pronounced like John). In the African community, if you are from the same tribe you are automatically related. So it’s of saying, aunty or uncle. However, if you’re a parent speaking to a peer you would say it as if you were talking to a brother or sister.

Many of the things that I have mentioned above are positive things. I have the tendency to neglect the negatives when I am talking about the subjects because I like to be optimistic. For me, there has always been a language barrier. Since I was born and raised in the U.S., I grew up mainly around English. My parents didn’t really speak to me in French or Swahili so I never really picked up on it. I currently take a French class in hopes of being able to communicate with family that doesn’t speak English. Although I may not be able to speak the same language as them, it’s still my culture and I will continue to love and embrace it throughout the many journeys that life will take me on. The reason why is because my culture is my culture.

Hobbies

Hobbies - How They Affect Your Life

Hobbies, you might not have one, but I bet you have looked into a few. Whether it is sports, art, DIY, Technology, or gaming hobbies are the thing you are passionate about and do in your free time. If you are lucky, or if you have the right hobby, it could be your profession. One of my hobbies is Soccer, I have loved Soccer since the first time I played it in first grade. I have gone through many stages of learning in Soccer from at school recesses to rec and now club Soccer. All of these stages are beneficial in multiple ways, not just making me better at soccer or a better teammate. Lessons you can learn from things you are passionate about are the best lessons. This is because you learn the most when you are having fun with what you are doing. Many studies by top neurology websites such as Psychology Today have done research on the help of fun while learning. It bypasses a certain part of the brain called the amygdala which decides if the thing they are doing is effective. In a stress-free and fun environment students are able to learn a lot better. This same logic can also be applied to doing what you love. If you are doing your favorite thing in the world you are unlikely to be stressed and likely to have fun, therefore you learn better while doing your hobby. If people spent as much time on their hobbies as other more important things in their life they would likely get very good at it and learn a ton from what they are doing, for instance, if I loved DIY tech I would, in the process, learn a ton about all the tech that I am working with while still having a ton of fun. This has happened to me in my real life, I was looking into building a PC, and while I was doing research on parts I learned a ton about how PCs actually work and about electronics in general. The best part about that was that I still had a ton of fun doing it. Hobbies can also be beneficial to your life in other ways than just learning about your craft. They are a good way of dealing with stress, as mentioned earlier if you are doing something you love you are unlikely to be stressed out about it. Hobbies can also help your patience because you are usually spending a lot of time focusing on one project that you want to get done. Some hobbies such as team sports can help with teamwork (obviously) and communication, both of which are very useful skills that you can use in the rest of your life. In general, hobbies are a great thing that everyone should have, there are no drawbacks (besides cost) and they can equip you with very important skills for the rest of your life.