Tornado

Author's Note: This piece is about the time I was stuck at school for a tornado and all the events that took place during it. Also explains the dumb realities we live in.

            It was early May and the sky was covered with clouds of purple to black. You could hear the heavy rain and wind blow against the side of the school. In the late afternoon, before school lets out, Mrs.Carter's voice came over the loud speakers.She announced that there has been a tornado touch down close to the school and that we were to report to the designated safety spots all around the school. The student body had already fled to get their things to leave, but of course we couldn't leave now. Teachers calmly directed us to the right area, hiding their own fear of getting swallowed by the tornado. Since I was little a tornado never touched down around here so I thought that this was a little over dramatic for everyone to be panicking. As I got to my safety spot near the office I sat down against the wall and tuned in to the conversations around me. Across the hall were a group of sixth grade girls worrying about their little puppies being all alone at home. The thought of that made their mascara bleed down their faces. I stared at them in astonishment. Really? You are really worrying about that? I bet their hasn't even been a time when you have seen a tornado here in Pewaukee and you're crying about it. About fifteen minutes of sitting in a pool of black tears, Mrs. Carter announced that we were aloud to leave because there was a tornado that touched down miles from here and was there for barely enough time to put anyone in danger. The ridiculous moral to this story is do not panic when you are in mythical danger.   

Lotteries and Women's Rights

             Author's Note: This piece acknowledges conceptions of women's rights early in the nineteenth century secretly placed in world renown short stories by famous authors. It explains what it was like to be a woman then and what it was like and what it should have been like.        
             If you were to speak, wouldn’t you want somebody to listen to you? Or even do something for yourself, on your own? Everybody wants to be able to say what they want to say without criticism or being laughed at. Maybe, even have someone to at least listen to what you have to say. Women have always had a hard time speaking their mind or doing things for themselves because of the way they we taught and later treated like so. “The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson, expresses the difficulty of doing what every woman should be able to do: live her life.

            Once a year, a lottery takes place in a small little town and some other surrounding towns. When the lottery comes around you would think that everyone would be excited and cheerful to win money. However, this is not like any other lottery you have ever heard of before. People gather in the town anxious and nervous waiting for the rest of the people to pick their paper. Instead of just anyone from the family to go and pick their slip, it has to be the man of the family. One example is when Mr. Dunbar is unable to attend since is leg is broken, and so Mrs. Dunbar is to pick the slip for their family. Mr. Summers, the leader of the town, along with a couple of other men argue whether or not she should do it. They would volunteer her son, but since he is not of age, he cannot. What is wrong with a woman picking? Nothing bad is going to happen when she picks the paper; it isn’t going to burn down the town, so get over it.

            Though Mrs. Dunbar ends up picking it for her family, the way Mrs. Hutchinson is treated far exceeds that. One of the most striking is when the Hutchinson family picks from the box and they win, Mrs. Hutchinson cries out that it is not fair that they got picked, but no one will listen to her, telling her to shut up. No matter if you are a woman or a man, you should never tell someone to shut up. What if it is important or life saving, as it is in this story? Similar to that situation, Mrs. Hutchinson is picked from her family. As I said earlier, this is not your typical lottery, she is to go into the center of town and get stoned to death. She screams for someone to help her, someone to stand up and say this is not right. Stoning someone to death? That goes against all the civilized rights we have as a human being. This shades the fact that they are not doing this to just anyone, they are doing this to a woman.

            Not being heard is one thing, but when you are being almost brainwashed to say and believe something that isn’t true is even more appalling. “Yellow Wallpaper, written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, eerily plays on the mind of a woman with no standard mind of her own. It relates to “The Lottery” because of the verbal abuse that can manipulate a woman though they may think it to be normal. Since her husband is a man and a doctor, he creates an illusion in her mind that she supposedly has a case similar to depression. He tells her she needs to be locked away in the barred-in attic, and to be taking medicine that makes her see people made of the wallpaper in her room. Doesn’t that just seem the least bit suspicious? She thinks it is normal to be locked away from her baby which is what housewives are thought to do. He is molding her into someone that is not that he can train to be loyal; almost like a dog.  Dogs are easy to manipulate, but women are not dogs and should not be treated like one.

While manipulating is an illusion that is hidden, abuse can be following right behind it. One instance is when Mr. Hutchinson grabs the paper out of his wife's hands. He didn’t ask for it. He didn’t lightly take it from her hands. Mr. Hutchinson snatched it from her like it was a weapon she was going to use to kill him. A woman should be able do to things for herself and be treated as if she was one of the guys. So, if you want us to care for your children and clean the house, then give us some sort of gracious respect. If we wanted you to take it, we would have offered. I bet Mr. Hutchinson thought it was the right thing to treat a woman that way, but that is naive if he thought that way. Women deserve respect and I wish other women in this story would speak up and realize that the whole situation is horrific.

Whereas Mrs. Hutchinson is only mistreated ever so slightly, Minny, a character in “The Help” is physically beaten weekly by her drunken husband. “The Help” is based on the lives of black maids in the 1960’s. It doesn’t mean only the way white people acted towards them, but also what their home lives were like too. Minny works as a maid full time during the day, cleaning up houses for women that can do it themselves. Then she goes home to five children and cleans her own house. That isn’t even the worst of it, her husband, after work comes home drunk and mad, and Minny ends up with bruises and blood all over her from him hitting her. She can’t do anything to leave him because of the kids and she can’t support all five on her own. The abuse towards Mrs. Hutchinson may be minor compared to the way Minny is abused by her husband, but it still does not make it okay.

In order for there not to be any women’s rights in the “The Lottery”, or for any of the other stories, there must have been some sort of point in the author’s life for her to put this in her story. Throughout Shirley Jackson’s life, she suffered from off and on depression and couldn’t focus enough to stay in college the full time (Shirley Jackson Biography ). Many of her stories included this sort of tragic mood between psychological and family issues. Since Jackson lived in a time where women did not have rights, my theory is that she turned it into something dark to meet her level of depression.  

Women have rights that should have been in place centuries ago keeping men from treating them with disregard. Mrs. Hutchinson, Minny, and the other lady all have had their lives taken from them in one way or another. None of them ever deserved to be treated the way they did and neither should you ever be. Women’s rights were put in place to help women be who they wanted to be without any significant direction, so let’s keep it that way. "I declare to you that woman must not depend upon the protection of a man, but must be taught to protect herself and there I take my stand." –By Susan B. Anthony

Lottery Rights

          Author's Note: This piece is on the theme that I think works best for the short story "The Lottery".

          "The Lottery" is based of the the life of Shirley Jackson, the  author of this short story. It can be viewed in many different ways including the way women were treated more like pets than actual people in the 1940's . Many events in "The Lottery" show how disrespectfully women were treated in that time. One of the most important is when Mr. Hutchinson grabs the paper out of his wife's hand to show the town leader. Since when can a woman not hold up a piece of paper? This helps us understand the the women do not have a choice, even when they need to hold up a piece of paper. Another is when the Hutchinson family is picked to choose again, Mrs. Hutchinson says that it is not fair that her family is picked and many of the town's men tell her to shut up. To be able to speak up for what you believe in is important for anyone, not just men. So, when she is chosen to be the winner of the this doubtingly memorable lottery, she again tries to speak up but no one will listen to her, even though she will be dead within minutes. It's your life and you should be able to speak you mind and do the things you're capable to do whether you're a man or woman. 

Life with Cancer

            Cancer affects everyone in one way or another, even if you have it or if you know someone that has it. You might not think of cancer having to do with cells, but all of life has to do with cells. When you know someone that has it you know roughly what happens. The one thing they don’t think of is cells and how they attack to body to the point of death unless stopped by treatment or is caught before it spreads further. Life when you have cancer, life itself will never be the same and cells are the only factor to blame once someone is diagnosed with cancer.

            When you have any type of cancer, it starts by irregular cells that reproduce extremely fast and attack the regular cells in the body (What is cancer?). The reproduction of cells depends on the amount of cells a body will need. So, when cells are damaged and then reproduced, it is making mutations that will keep on reproducing until the body is filled with the bad cells (Defining Cancer). The reproduction of cells is by the process of Mitosis, which is when one cell produces two cells and those two cells create another two cells until the body is completely full of cells (V. Cancer cells escape from the controls on cell division).

            While the cells are multiplying very quickly, it can only pass through certain parts of body. The blood and lymph systems are the ways in which cancer cells can spread through the body. The lymph system, or the lymphatic system, is the system of production of white blood cells that attack diseases (Lymph System). When you have cancer there are usually a low amount of white blood cells, which means the body has a hard time of fighting of the cancer cells once they have spread that far. Many other sicknesses like a cold or an influenza are easier to catch since your immune system is down; people that you see wearing masks, are trying not to inhale the influenza germs in the air. The area where the lymph system is more prominent is the neck, chest, abdomen, and armpit. A gathering of additional cells may form together around a mass of tissue and create a tumor (Defining Cancer). 

            Though the lymph system is one way cancer can travel by, there are also theories based around lymph system and other guesses to the causes of cancer. There are many theories throughout history but the closest theory to match what cancer is today is the Blastema Theory which was created in 1838 by Johannes Muller, a German Pathologist who thought that cancer was created by normal cells that come across normal and Blastema tissue, becoming abnormal  (Cancer Causes: Throughout History). Most theories take were created in the 1800’s as the Trauma Theory was, and lasted to about the mid 1920’s. Many people thought that cancer was caused by some sort of trauma, which is irrational (Cancer Causes: Throughout History).

            Seeing that there are no theories that are the exact reason for the cause of cancer, meaning that there is no cure yet, there are many treatments to help get rid of cancer. Including Chemo, Radiation, surgery, Transplants, and other tested biological treatments to treat the growing cancer (Treatment & Side Effects). Radiation treatments attack cancer cells by trying to eliminate the DNA in a cell. The DNA in a cell is held in the nucleus, so without a nucleus the cell cannot work because the nucleus controls the cell like a brain would a human. The downside to Radiation or other treatments is that it can also eliminate normal cells too. In my mom’s case, as in many other cases, Radiations therapy is used along with Chemotherapy to kill the cancer cells. Chemotherapy uses strong drugs that kill cancer cells within the body (Types of Cancer Treatments). There are various side effects to having Chemo or Radiation since both these therapies can remove normal cells too: hair loss, change in appetite, easily gained infection, and nerve changes (Treatment & Side Effects). If you get tumors during the time you have cancer, surgery is one way to dispose of the tumor itself. My mom had all three treatments, along with transplants to regain the tissue she had lost during the surgery. It effects your whole life, so the only way to defeat cancer, is to get treatments before the cells spread too far.

            Rather than getting cancer, there are many ways to detect cancer early so that it doesn’t extend into the body further and cause more damage. There have been 1,638,910 new cases of cancer, and 577,190 deaths since the beginning of 2012. Screening is to check for signs and symptoms of cancer, many can be found before they cause problems or death (Screening and Testing to Detect Cancer). Since breast cancer affects a lot of women all over the world, it is a good idea to get tested every six months. For other cancers, if anything abnormal, like an ongoing sore, rash, or a lump anywhere on your body it should be checked by doctor immediately. Also you should see the doctor regularly to stay as healthy as possible.

            Cancer is life changing and life will never be the same after it is gone. Cells contribute to the cancer because it spreads and spreads until there is nowhere else to go. Prevention of cancer is almost impossible without knowing the exact cause of cancer, but there are many ways to screen and get treatment for it. Make sure to watch and be aware of what could be cancer and the options you have to defeat it.  You are the only who can realize and understand what happening. You are the one with the power to overcome it. And you are the one that will fight the cancer until it is gone.

Losing Flowers

 Author's Note: This is a creative piece on the life of a flower which is finding out the way of life and developing sympathy for the flower across the way.

            The view from the flower bed had always been exhilarating for the many flowers planted here. Every day the sun warmed our leaves and we were cooled down by a nice shower, clearing the dirt from our petals. I always thought it was nice being planted with other flowers. Since I am tulip, I rise a little beyond everyone, seeing small humans playing and large trees swaying.

            One day the heat from the sun was overwhelming, and my fellow flowers began to wilt. By night time they had mending with wood chips: dead. There was another flower just like me across the yard.  Like me it was along in the middle of dead flowers. We looked like two lonely stars in the night sky. The next day, was just as hot as the last and I began to think to myself if I would ever be surrounded more lovely flowers as I had been before. Dead flowers being ripped from the ground and thrown into large bags by humans was terrifying. It was the same for the flower in the next bed, it too was seeing what horrors the humans were doing to our kind and maybe we would be next.

            Just after the last flower was plucked from the bed, I knew something was going to happen. I knew it was something I had never seen before. I knew it would change my life along with the life of the other flower in the next bed. A human, mush taller than I’ve seen before, came out with little bags of seeds. It took a shovel and made a large hole and dropped a seed in it. This must be it, I thought, its’ planting new flowers!

            After weeks of anticipation, the seeds sprouted from the ground, growing tall and green. Buds blossomed from the tips of the stem and turn marvelous colors. When I was watching this miracle, I glanced across the way to notice that the other flower in the next bed was still alone. No flowers bloomed around it. Sadness grew through me, that flower was going to be alone for the rest of its life. My feeling in my heart for the flower grew as tall as the seeds next to me were.

            As the flowers next to me grew more beautiful, the flower across the way grew more alone. I stared for days on end until it became colder and windier. With the force of what seemed a never ending blow, the flower in the next bed, ripped out of the ground and swirled through the sky. My eyes followed the lost flower until I could see it moved behind the overgrown trees and disappeared. I wish I could have done something to help the flower be happy, but I could not. I knew I had more flowers around me, but nothing would fill the hole in my heart of where the other lost flower had lived before.      

Dauntlessness Tested

            When half your people are dead from a deranged disease that makes you bleed through every one of your pores, what would you do? Take a thousand of your closest friends from the knights and dames of your court and keep them from the Red Death, or help your people by finding a cure? If you picked the first you are just as selfish and as dense as Prince Prospero. As a prince you are to be as loyal to your people as they are to you, even during times of tragic and unthinkable events leading to the downfall of your country. When you have a prince of dauntlessness, you would think all will be well and everyone will saved by the prince. “The Masque of the Red Death”, by Edgar Allen Poe, shows how untrustworthy and dauntless one prince can be by using concealed symbolism leading to his own tragic ending.

            Prince Prospero’s guests need some entertainment to heighten their spirits while in the castle protected from the widening of the Red Death. Prince Prospero had known exactly what to do: throw a masquerade party. Everything was going fine at the party when the great Grandfather Clock struck for the next hour; the music and dancing stopped immediately. The clock symbolizes the hours counting down to the end of their lives because of self foolery by omitting the hard working town’s people now enduring the Red Death. In some way, the clock paralyzed them until the dings stopped; they knew something dreadful was going to happen to them soon.

           

Though the guests know something horrible is going to happen soon, it’s sooner than they expected. Having designed his castle, there were many rooms, one of which happened to be the Prince’s quarters. It contained seven rooms; the first five colors of blue, purple, then green, orange, and white all symbolize cheerfulness and purity. The other two rooms are deep violet and the last black with red draperies which symbolizes something of tragedy. These rooms help predict what is to happen next with the chase of the masked man, because when he is chasing him, he goes through his rooms from the happiest to creepiest of rooms within sprints. Telling the reader that something terrible is going to occur with the masked man and halfhearted Prince Prospero, once ending in the bloody and shadowy room.  

            Since the black room symbolizes tragedy, the guests are just about to figure out what it means after they realize Prince Prospero is not having fun with them at the party. They hunt for the prince throughout the castle and come to find him lying in a pool of blood within the black room of his quarters with the masked man. On instinct, for the death of their beloved Prince, they attack the masked man and pull off his mask to reveal that nothing is beneath it. It is supposed to show that everything is not what it seems and your life choices depend on that, and so the guests must pay for suffering and painstaking work of the people for the kingdom. 

            Tragic endings are caused by the everyday choices we make, no matter the excuse. The symbolism shows why being selfish and foolish can affect you in all areas of your life. The choices you make, in the end, represent who you are. The choices you make determine where you are headed for. The choices Prince Prospero made by having guests at his castle die for their choices, even when they don’t know whether they were awful or foolish, you must pay for it one way or another. This quote by William Shakespeare sums up how death can deceive people, “Cowards die many times before their deaths. The valiant never taste of death but once.”

How free were free blacks in the North?

            In 1863, Abraham Lincoln supported the idea to abolish slavery in the Confederate United States during the Civil War. As the war went on more and more slaves were released, but what no one realized was how many people in the north treated blacks the same as they were in the south: animals trying to live. Political, economic, and social freedoms were greatly limited to the blacks of the United States, leaving the blacks with no white person’s freedom as Abraham Lincoln would have wanted. So, how free were free blacks in the north?

            The first state to abolish slavery was in Vermont in 1777 and the last was in 7 states on the southern side in 1865. It took almost a century to realize that letting the slaves go was a priority. One freedom that was limited to the freed black slaves in the north was the many political freedoms. They paid taxes and could vote but did not have the right to be a part of the government, except for any women in the U.S. Which meant no black could run for President or be in the Supreme Court, which every white person could do. It wasn’t fair that they could pay the government taxes and vote for a white person but couldn’t be in the government.

            Though the political freedoms were limited, so were the economic freedoms for the blacks. Is living in your own house called freedom? I wouldn’t think so, but back in the 1800’s, after slavery was abolished, many blacks were isolated to their race. Jobs were limited because the whites did not want to associate with the blacks. Everything was separated, even bathrooms. This meant that owning their own property was limited; it was part of their rights, but blacks still couldn’t be within 100 feet of a white person without being shunned upon. Which means that blacks couldn’t have any sort of a job at hospitals; they couldn’t tend to the white people at the hospital because of their skin color.     

            Supposing that the races were separate most of the time, what happened when love got in the way? “How Free were the Free Blacks in the North” it says that the blacks could not marry the white peoples’ daughters or attend the same church as them. The black churches was where they could not be judged, but listened to. Forming their own band of togetherness was the only way they could get through the day feeling like themselves, though treated like trash. The church was a safe haven for fugitive slaves and many others, where they could marry and be of their faith without being put down by others.

            Abraham Lincoln stood in his place to make sure every person in the U.S. was treated evenly and honorably. Many people denied the fact that we’re all humans and none of us are slaves no matter what the race. Though Lincoln could not carry out his word, many brave African Americans stood for what they believed in and would fight no matter what it would take. African Americans were treated unfairly though they were free to vote or own land. No blacks were free in North or the South just because of their skin color. This saying by Martin Luther King expresses how much he would do to be free and have others be free in every way possible, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.”

Gummi Bears

Author's Note: This is random poem for my Language Arts class. Hope you think it's delicious! 
Gummi Bears
Gummi Bears
squishy
chewy
green
red
yellow
blue
so fruity
and gooey
a kid's
favorite
candy
oh so
dandy
are
Gummi Bears
Gummi Bears 
 

Mother to Son

Author's Note: This piece describes the meaning to the poem "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes. It is for Word Choice and Context on the Reading Rubric and so if you have any corrections please leave a comment.

            

          Reaching your goals in life takes tenacity and perseverance. The hardest thing to do in life is to tell your child that life is not as easy as it seems. “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes, wrote this story to show that we have to work hard to get through life.  One metaphor that stands out in the poem is “Life for me ain’t no crystal stair” expresses that you won’t be rich enough to have a mansion with a crystal staircase if you don’t work hard in life. Another common saying that is expressed the same way is “Life won’t be handed to you on a silver platter.”  

          Another metaphor that makes this poem more understandable is “It's had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor --Bare.”  This Mother is trying to say that life can be harder than you make it out to be, and can put you down at any point in your life. You can be torn up like boards and get splinters which means life will always be rough no matter the situation. There are going to be days where you have made mistakes, but you have to move past it because life is only so long.

          Langston Hughes grew up with an absent father so his mother was to take care of him and teach him the important rules of life. The mother says this poem to her son with a demanding but intuitive tone to make him listen and think about decisions he could make in his future and that it is not that easy. Many of the stanzas in this poem translate to how life is really going to be like. It transmits to “Life ain’t no crystal stair” because you’re going to have to walk non-carpeted floors some point in life before you can ever walk on a crystal stair.

Recognizing Susie

          Author's Note: This piece is a character description of Susie from the book Lovely Bones . It is using different types of figurative  language. Can you spot them out?        

          Characters come in all different shapes and sizes. Susie, which is the main character of Lovely Bones is not one of those characters that pops out to you until the first fifty pages or so. She is just a regular, everyday teenager that doesn't use her head in the right situations. For Susie it's that she doesn't recognize that when a creepy neighbor brings you into a small underground room, nothing good is going to come out of it.

           Through her different situations in heaven, Susie becomes aware that her killer may never be found, like when a dog buried his bone and is never going to find it again.  Ruth who had Susie slowly passing through her body to heaven. Ruth who saw her ghost. And Ruth who will unbury who the murderer is sooner or later.  Susie knows that Ruth is so much closer than the police to finding who the killer is, it will just take more time than she wants for her family.

 

Symbolism that can Speak

Author's Note: This piece is an essay based on the symbolism on the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. The symbolism shows the different sides of Melinda and what the symbolism helps to form Melinda and the whole book. 
             To be able to face your biggest fears takes courage and being able to talk to someone you trust about it. When you cover up you fears with silence and ignorance nothing good can ever come out of it. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson uses symbolism to show the two extremely different sides of Melinda. 

“Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” this saying from the 1937 movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is the one saying in the movie that tests the stature of a person. Melinda always tries to push herself to go forward, but after what happened at the party during the summer, everything and everyone gets in the way. On page 17 in Speak Melinda came home from school looked in the mirror and asked herself the same question, but she denied and put her mirror in the closet so she would never have to see herself again. Nothing anyone could say to Melinda would change her mind on the way she viewed herself and therefore the mirror couldn’t either.

Although mirrors were the last thing Melinda wanted to see, closets helped her keep the outside world out, including mirrors. Closets are the only place she feels safe from what happened and so it would not happen again. Some place where no one could point at her, laugh at her, or have her parents tell her “You can do better than this,” or “Stop ignoring us Melinda, it’s not cute.” Melinda wants her freedom and that’s the only place she can get.

It’s where she found freedom and alone time that would really surprise you. During the first couple of weeks of school, she found an old abandoned janitor’s closet that smelled like feet and puke that took place on page 25 of Speak. Fixing it up took time and effort, but was worth it; the closet became her closet away from her home closet. The closet was somewhere where no one could touch or talk to Melinda and she could have time to think to herself or just sleep. It’s not like she got much sleep at home with her parents arguing all the time. When Melinda needed somewhere to cry, that was her home closet; another place no one could see her and wonder or be concerned about her. She only wanted to be alone in silence.

    There is one piece in Speak that is covered up more than the closets or mirrors: the living room couch cushions. In Melinda’s house sits what looks to be a perfectly neat white couch, just like Melinda looks like just a nervous looking teenager.  There are two sides to the couch and two sides of Melinda. This takes place on page 15. When Melinda is at home alone eating on the couch, the cushions are flipped to the dirty side where she eats and where she is herself. Once her parents arrive home she flips the cushions over, and wa-la no more stains and a fake, shy, and nervous Melinda comes out.

Both at school and at home Melinda hides from what used to be her normal self before the horrific life of high school. On her first day of high school Melinda was introduced the very emotional artistic art teacher, Mr. Freeman. That day he gave out Melinda’s entire assignment for the year: trees. The trees represented the all the struggles and fears of her life until she reached the point where she could be free again. Something she has been wanting for a long time after the appalling thing that happened at the summer party.

The two tremendously different sides of Melinda hide in closets and don’t look in mirrors, but growing through her tragic incident was like a growing tree. When you are going through something difficult it isn’t the time to hide, but to talk to someone you trust, even if it is a teacher. “Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.” - John F. Kennedy.

Dear Melinda

Dear Melinda,

            I wish you would have had a better life; living up to expectations of everyone but yourself. Trying to take one day at time but not being able to speak. You never have been one to speak your voice, though I know you have a lot to say about the world around you. Especially about what happened during the summer.

            Have you ever wished you would speak your voice more? I wish I could. When we have to speak in class my face gets red and hot, including my ears. I look like and elf on fire. You and David came up with the plan to not have you speak in class, making the poster saying that you have the right not to. You have some guts to do that, I wish that I could make myself do that. I’m so particular of my grades and not getting in detention; haven’t ever had one.

            You probably would have spoken up if you knew what he was going to do to you at that party. It’s disgusting that men think that they can force into things you don’t want to do; not even letting you make up your mind. Nothing is ever planned in life to the fullest extent, especially that.

            One thing I wish I could do over is to know exactly what I want to say before I say it, because when it comes out, there is no way of pushing those words back in. I have a lot to say, many of it has anger behind it from my home life, so when it comes out it can be offensive.

When you stereotype the kids at your school I know that must be one way you take out your anger, but you don’t know those people and what there like. I understand if you don’t like peppy cheerleaders, because I don’t either, but you got to focus on the positives.

             

Sincerely,

Melanie

Hunger Games Premiere

            Imagine the one thing that you care most in your life. What is it? If it is the Hunger Games movie or the Hunger Games book, you have amazing taste in entertainment. On March 23^rd, the Hunger Games movie will be premiering at midnight, the only movie in the world that actually makes me feel tingly when I watch the trailer. Attending this midnight premiere is a dream for any fan of the book.

            There are many things to do before actually seeing the movie. I will be up all night on the February 21st waiting as the clock ticks away a minute at a time, waiting until the tickets go on sale for the Hunger Games premiere. Once March 23^rd comes along, I won’t have to stand in line for hours on end with a bunch hysterical screaming fans waiting unnervingly for the miraculous movie to show.

            Although waiting for the movie is a battle, watching the movie surrounded by other people who love and understand the Hunger Games is just as exciting as seeing it. I’m reading the series over again now and plan on reading the first book one more time before it premieres, just as all those other fans have too. Knowing when the emotional or cheerful moment comes along you won’t be the only one laughing or crying. For example, when Rue dies or when Cato falls out of the tree, you won’t be alone.

The “Hunger Games” series is hanging on the edge of life and death, taking what could be, and making it possible. I have never read a book quite like this one, with action, puzzlement, and sensitivity all in one amazing book and now on a big screen. Waiting anxiously for the premiere and finally having it just within reach is the one thing any Hunger Game’s reader could ever ask for.