My Dream English Class

• Moderated time to discuss book-related subjects, so the discussion is kept civil
• Teacher guided, but students take the lead on some parts. 
• Sometimes having a homework list with options. 
• Multi-genre homework at times. Drawing a comic book of a chapter that was homework, writing and presenting a song about a character, etc. Just a chance for everyone to use their own talents.
• A teacher that is responsive and open to questions-- as well as not being condescending if it has to be explained again. In my opinion, nothing makes a student want to stop learning as much as being put down.
• A class that is challenging, pushes me to go above and beyond, and lets me see topics from different views. However, the homework, shouldn't be demanding enough to make me cry from stress, as well as lack of sleep. 
• The ability to email papers.

March For Our Lives

Standing together
Signs held high,
Morals held straight
Morales ever growing
Everyone there for one reason,
And one reason only
While their motivations
May be varied
The mother standing over there
Lost her only child
To the dark force
That young boy behind you?
His father is forever taken
All because
Of the horror
That plagues our people
Look around
Everyone cares.
And so we are here,
chanting, marching.
The people's voices swell
Uniting under one cause
The children must be saved.
Our country
Must
Be
Saved.

For The First Time

   In 2018, there are many things that I'll be doing for the first time. The one that will be happening the soonest, however, is performing as a main character in Musical Theatre. Not only is Cinderella-- which is happening in two weeks-- my first leading role, but it's my first role as a whole. This is my first time participating in theater in general, and I am so excited.

    Tomorrow will be my first tech rehearsal, and next week will be my first theater dress rehearsal. The first weekend of April, I will step on stage for the first time. 

     Another first that will be happening soon is my first official audition. While I did have to audition for my current show, it was mostly singing; for the upcoming show I hope to participate in, I'll need to sing, act and dance. It's also a lot larger of a program. While our school's class only has sixteen participants, the program I'm looking at auditions two hundred! While it's not until May, I'm still extremely nervous. But, I'm also looking forward to it. Hopefully this represents a step forward in the pursuit of my dreams. 

Summer

I breathe in the warm, sweet summer air

Freshly mowed grass, mixed with humidity
The smell of summer

Many days are spent outdoors

Playing in the hose

Or taking long bike rides

To the park with friends

On these trips

We lay,

Sprawled out on 

The warm grass,

Heated by the sun

We speak about the present,

And what is yet to come. 

A Story

  Broadway musicals are a passion-- or, you could even say obsession-- of mine. At the time when this story starts, however, I had never seen a single show, touring or not. But, I had recently been infatuated with the musical Dear Evan Hansen, which was running only on Broadway.

  I already loved New York City itself, so when I realized that I could fulfill two dreams at once, I was determined to find a way. I had to go see this show.

   It took a lot of work. I spent countless hours online, figuring out the cheapest sites to buy tickets, what day would be the least expensive, and how it would fit into our schedule. I also worked hard that entire summer, raising money to afford said ticket. I walked dogs, pet-sat for a week, and mowed the lawn in the summer heat, among other things. 

  Finally, I came up with a solid enough plan that my mom finalized the idea. We decided that a few weeks into September, when many people were in school, would be a perfect time. I still remember the smile that spread across my face when I clicked the button that would confirm what I had been working so hard on. 

I was going to see my first show on Broadway.

A Year From Now

  Hopefully in January 2019, I’ll have a few notable things to congratulate myself on.
Ones that I’ve already accomplished are getting the lead in Musical Theatre, my first solo role in ballet,
and winning the first round of Poetry Out Loud. These are all very big in my eyes, because just two years
ago I was one of the most shy and introverted people you would meet. I had next to no friends because I
wouldn’t reach out to anyone, and I was absolutely horrible at any public speaking.

But now, most of the major things that I’ve accomplished are related to presenting myself, vulnerable
and open, to so many people, in a multitude of places. I’ve opened myself up at school in Musical Theatre,
which includes performing in front of both complete strangers as well as my peers that I see everyday;
in Kinderballet, I show my dancing to a multitude of random librarian patrons. Just last week, I even signed
up for the school talent show. In my opinion, the fact that I chose to participate in all of these events
willingly is more impressive than however well I do in them.

     I also want to be able to congratulate myself on things I do this coming year-- the ones that haven’t yet
happened. I hope that I can be proud of how I do in both theatre and ballet, and the performances that
come with them. Even if they aren’t perfect, it would be enough if I did the absolute best that I personally
could manage.

    I want to be able to appreciate the effort that I put into Poetry Out Loud. I hope to continue onto the
next level after the competition at the end of February, though I have no clue how it’ll turn out. But, once
again, as long as I have tried my hardest and put my best foot forward, I think that’s worth congratulations
in itself.

    I hope my grades remain good, and I continue to turn in my homework on time. I haven’t missed any
assignments yet, and I don’t plan on it. But I do need to stop procrastinating, not just for my grade’s sake,
but for my mental health as well. I always stress myself out by waiting until the last minute to complete
things. It’s not because I don’t care; in reality, I probably care way too much. This only adds to the
aforementioned stress, because when I try to do all of this work at once, I also do more than the
assignment calls for. I pride myself on quality, but this vicious cycle probably isn’t very good for my
well-being, both physically or emotionally.

   So I hope that a year from now, I will be able to say that my stress levels have gone down, and that
I stop procrastinating as much. Neither wish will probably come to fruition, seeing as how it’ll be my
Sophomore year and I’ll be as busy as ever; but, a student can dream.

Places I Want To Visit

• 
  

  • New York City, NY
  • Savannah, GA
  • Bangkok, Thailand
  • Pattaya, Thailand
  • San Francisco, CA
  • Rio Nido, CA
  • El Ateno Grand Splendid, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • Disneyland, Anaheim, CA
  • Big Sur, CA
  • Santa Cruz, CA
  • Yosemite National Park, CA
  • Phuket, Thailand
  • Holland, Michigan’s Tulip Time Festival
  • London, England
  • Cherry Blossom Tunnel, Bonn, Germany
  • Tunnel Of Love, Klevan, Ukraine
  • Wisteria Tunnel, Kitakyushu, Japan
  • El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico
  • Strand Bookstore, New York City, NY
  • Central Library of Vancouver, Canada
  • New York Public Library, New York, NY
  • The Dog Cafe, Los Angeles, CA
  • Lake McDonald, Glacier National Park, MT
  • The Giant’s Causeway, Norway
  • Glass Beach, CA
  • Aoshima (Cat Island), Japan
  • Iligan, Northern Mindanao, Philippines
  • Rakotzbrucke (Devil’s Bridge), Germany
  • Blue Lake, Nelson Lakes National Park, New Zealand
  • Zhangye National Geopark, Gansue, China

High School Goals

• Get good grades
• In addition, maintain a high GPA
• Continue to strive for extra credit
• Travel to a new state every year
• Travel outside of the country again (preferably multiple times)
• Go back to New York City at least once
• See another show on broadway
• Follow my passions
• Discover what I want to do as a career
• Get a high score on the SATs/ACT
• Get into a good college
• Earn enough scholarships so I won’t need loans
• Take another road trip
• Get my driver’s license
• Visit a new continent
• Perform in a theatre outside of school
• Learn how to play a fourth instrument
• Advance in ballet
• Take voice lessons
• Have a Quinceanera
• Have the aforementioned Quinceanera the way I want to
• Stop worrying so much about pleasing others
• Stop apologizing for my feelings so much
• Continue to volunteer
• Earn my Girl Scout Gold Award
• Meet new friends
• Maintain my already great friendships
• Try new things
• Learn more about myself

School Shootings

   Today in class we discussed what would happen if there were a shooting at our school.
I find it sad and frighting that it's come to this-- especially at our school. It's such a small and close-knit community, that one would never imagine the horrors of the real world could break into our bubble of safety.
   I'm very glad that our teachers and administrators have taken the time to develop a plan, something to ensure the safety of their students. It would be worse if they decided to stay in denial, to go on like nothing is wrong.

But something is wrong. Horribly wrong.

   Our country is broken. We're not even halfway into February, and there have already been "18 incidents in which a gun has been discharged on a school campus in the US this year" (The Sun 1). When I hear these statistics, my eyes well up.
    People who are pro-guns try to say, "Well, it's not a big deal-- only five of those were on purpose. The rest were accidents where the gun wasn't meant to go off." A student shouldn't be in possession of a gun anyways, let alone at school.

My heart bleeds for the ones who have been lost to these tragedies.

To Kill A Mockingbird: Book vs. Movie

   Today in class, we finished up watching To Kill A Mockingbird. In this blogpost, I will be comparing and contrasting the differences between the two.
   One similarity that I'm glad they included was specific lines from the book. It always makes me happy when the movie adaption of a novel I love includes many of the original lines or dialogue, and TKAM did not disappoint. There are some iconic pieces of dialogue that had to be included for this movie to even call itself an adaption.
   One minor difference that I did not like, however, was the omission of the line "Boo's children needed him." I reacted very emotionally to this, and I feel that even this slight change would've contributted a lot.
   Another thing that I missed from the novel was the crushing of Scout's ham costume, as well as the knife mark found puncturing it. Scout coming home in the costume that was "crushed to a pulp" helped portray how much harm Bob Ewell had tried to cause; and the fact that Heck Tate found the cut in it showed how close Ewell was to actually killing her. I believe this detail made the situation a lot more serious and frighting, and I was sad to see that it did not make the cut.
   One change that I did like was that the setting was different when Ewell spat in Atticus' face. Originally, Scout said that she heard about Ewell disrespecting Atticus in this way, but wasn't there.