Protesters Against Day of Silence

According to this article, Mount Si High School who participated in the Day of Silence had anti-gay protesters in front of their school who were called to be "prayer warriors." The Day of Silence, has been held at high schools and colleges around the country for the past 13 years and it symbolizes the silence that the LGBT community has to go through. The controversy at Mount Si began with the school's invitation to Hutcherson to speak at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day assembly. However, he also talked of his prominence as an activist against gay rights. Randy Taylor, the principal of Mount Si High School, said Hutcherson's planned protest is continuation of that controversy. As said by a GSA advisor, "It's enough of a tragedy that there are 1,000 grown-ups protesting kids who are asking for acceptance. We don't need to say a thing."

Perks of Being a Wallflower

Title: Perks of Being a Wallflower
Author: Chbosky, Stephen
Publication: Pocket Books, NY 1999

Reason, Type, & Setting: Many of my friends have read this book last year and after scanning through the book it seemed like it would be interesting to read. This story is uniquely told through letters by a boy who wants to remain anonymous. However, in his letters he refers to himself as Charlie. Throughout the novel, we do not know who these letters are being sent to or where the setting takes place, but these letters are sent during the span of 1991 - 1992. I would classify this book under teen-fiction and teen personal development, somewhat a coming of ages story.

Plot: The story starts off with a boy who identifies himself as Charlie, since he wants to remain unknown. The first page gives insight as to what kind of story it is, in my opinion. The beginning is narrated by Charlie through a compilation of letters sent to an anonymous person, or in this case, the reader. At the start of freshman year Charlie was known as the wallflower, hence the name of the book, and even his teacher noticed his lack of participation in social events and in class. Thus, the teacher gains interest in Charlie and sees something in him that other people may have not seen and starts to give Charlie extra reading material and asks for an analysis type book report of what he reads. An important event that shapes Charlie is meeting Sam and Patrick. The plot is hard to describe in this case since it is basically the life of Charlie. But the main point of this story is Charlie's personal growth through a span of one year and how your teenage years can shape you.

Character: I really like stories like this since you get a really good insight as to what the character's personality and emotions are as well as there personal development/growth. Charlie feels like he doesn't know what path to take in life and just decides to go with the flow.

Evaluation: Overall, I'd say that this book seemed more of something I would read maybe when I was about his age, 14. I thought the author's style of writing made it very enjoyable to read since it was in the form of letters but I'm not entirely sure if I really really liked this book. But the author is excellent at portraying character development. It reminded me of Catcher in the Rye in a way but not at that level. However, I think I'd recommend this book to others.

Author/Trivia/Context: Stephen Chbosky was in fact heavily influenced by J.D Salinger who is the writer of The Catcher in the Rye. This is Chbosky's first novel and is a director.

Mother Denied Daughter's Organs

In this article, taken place in the UK, Rachel Leak describes the organ transplant regulations as ridiculous after being denied organ transplant from her own daughter, Laura Ashworth who died after an asthma attack. Though it was Laura's personal interest that her kidney be donated to her mother, her kidneys and liver were donated to 3 other people who were higher up on the waiting list. The Human Tissue Authority, who regulates the donation of organs and who they are allocated to stated that organs must be transplanted to those who need it most. Unlike in America, a person can't choose who to give their organ to, family or not. I feel that I agree with Rachel Leak as to why she thinks that the regulations should be changed since she has been experiencing liver failure for 7 years due to diabetes and it was her daughter's personal wish.

Vocabulary #8

After having been left alone at home by it's owner, the dog felt forlorn by itself in the house.

[e/c please!!!]

Because of our misdirection, Candace and I wandered around the surrounding area of this shrine, lost for two hours.


Nowadays, it seems as if our generation loves to squander away our money regardless if we have the money or not.


If you gazed at this optical illusion for too long, I hope you don't experience a case of vertigo.

Salvador Dali, an epitome of surrealist art, is famous and well-known for his painting The Persistence of Memory which is also known as Melting Clocks.

Definitions:
epitome - a person or thing that is typical of or possesses to a high degree the features of a whole class
revere - to regard with respect tinged with awe
vertigo - The sensation of dizziness
punitive - inflicting punishment
slander - defamation
squander - to spend or use (money, time, etc.) extravagantly
panache - a grand or flamboyant manner
forlorn - lonely and sad
quell - put an end to
concision - concise quality
libel - to misrepresent damagingly
defamation - slander or libel
misdirection - Incorrect instructions or directions

Last Words

After watching Randy Pausch's last lecture in our class, our teacher decided to have us write what our last piece of advice would be either in a lecture or poetry format and make up a scenario as to why we are writing this. These last words of ours would then be presented aloud to the class.

Prompt: You have only a limited time left to live. You are somehow able to leave a message behind, to pass on some final thoughts. What is your message?

Last Words:
I don't think it is my place to give pieces of advice on life
Seeing that I've only been alive for just 6 years past a decade
Have I really experienced all the things that life has to offer?
I know I have not but I will try to give what I can give
All I know is to cherish the happy moments you have in life and laugh
because death does not know any age, whether you're 5 or 100.

Global Temperatures to Decrease

According to this article, due to the powerful La Nina going on around the Pacific, meteorologists have stated that the global temperature of this current year will be fewer than that of last year. Unlike an El Nino, that warms the planet, a La Nina cools it and are both powerful currents.

Childhood Dreams

When I was younger I didn't have that many goals as a young child. But when I was about 4 - 5 years old I wanted to be many things such as: tap dancer/ballerina, teacher, doctor, and princess. My mom enrolled me in a ton of classes to help me choose what things I like and dislike such as tap dance class, art class, piano, & swimming. I also hoped to own a parrot and a monkey, however at 4 years old I ended up having 2 zebra birds and a brother. When I saw Randy Pausch's last lecture it made me motivated to achieve the dreams that I have now, which are more realistic than the ones I had back then. My favorite piece of advice of his was that there are brick walls put up for a reason.