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Cave Spring Middle School2016-2017 Creative Literary On line Magazine Reading Wisdom Response Essay by Walker Wright "Tis the good reader that makes the good book." - Ralph Waldo EmersonPoets and authors export their beliefs and ideas into the world of literature through writings, books, and quotes of themselves. One of these miraculous people was Ralph Waldo Emerson. He exerted many poems and essays to the movement of American literature.Ralph Emerson was born on May 25, 1803, in Boston, Massachusetts. After studying at Harvard, he attempted to join ministry and become a preacher. Later his wife died of tuberculosis, and his career in the church of God was over. A year later he set his sights on Europe to visit Thomas Carlyle, a famous Scottish writer. Carlyle had a persuasive way with his writings about materialism, and the driving force one individual has and can use to make the world a better place. The two intelligent men formed a friendship through their ideas and similar beliefs involving all the problems nations and people have in the ever changing world. Robert Carlyle’s concepts eventually set Ralph Emerson on his own path of poetic success. Once Ralph arrived back in America, his writings about the viewpoints on confronting the accustomed human thought spread throughout the New England area like a wild fire. Emerson finally plopped into the town of Concord and was embraced into theposition of chief spokesman in the large movement of American literature, also called Transcendentalism. As his life wore on, he continued to write books such as Nature which proposed the idea that every little thing is in a minuscule world of their own. Emerson’s poetry was bleak and out of tune because it didn’t seem to suit the ideal poem in people’s minds. In conclusion, Ralph Emerson wrote hundreds of books, poems, and essays to contribute to the changing world of reading and writing. His philosophies were based on challenging basic reality, but Emerson’s actions changed the human mind in a unique way. This quote by Ralph Emerson, “Tis the good reader that makes the good book,” has made my concept of reading a book drastically change. The quote appears to mean that a book is a bland stack of paper with inessential words flooding the pages with nonsense. Only a reader can digest the ink print and convert it into their imagination. Anything could happen in the mind of reader when they simply read the words laid out on the pages of paper.?This has made me cherish my ability to enjoy the pictures swirling around my mind when reading a book. I no longer take for granted the work and many hours of writing authors do to simply help a person relax and have a delightful time. Books and writers are like the cherry and whipped cream atop this grey area we call literature. They are enjoyed and savored with much gratitude. From this point forward, I will always have the thoughts of my special gift of imagination and the writer, poet, or whoever put it there for me to enjoy.? ?Future by Elliot KeslerAs I walk down the afternoon street I hear the regular noises of greetings and cheers from a house not too far from mine. The moon rises from its slumber and the sun gets ready for sleep after a long, hard day. The noises wear down and the atmosphere becomes still, I look as these simple changes occur like every night. My ears adjust from the loud sounds as I can finally walk around in peace. To think that I would get sick of these complex gadgets that someone could look at for hours, for I still remember the stories that my mother told me about the time with no electronics. I though “what a terrible time to live in” I guess at the time I was too young to understand, because now I think “how lucky they were”. Still some good has come out of the time we live in, there’s joy around and the streets are kind maybe it’s for the best. I look around one last time and notice the great changes from the long time ago. ?In the mornings there are no blue bells bound in a tower bouncing around as a man screams morning, instead there’s an alarm clock making the noise of a bird. After you awake the breakfast Tron something 300 and something bot makes a meal for the kings. Getting dressed is no problem for the clothes are already chosen by a bot and with the flick of the wrist and the press of a button there on. One by one the human race races to their hover cars, their flying bikes, their mini jets, their shoe wheelers, and their sling slackers. Everyone is on time to the big place, the party where everyone is. The dogs of the past, who needs those with time of effort their drooling and barking when you can get a robotic dog with no care and a dog that you can really adjust to your likings. With all this new gear there is no stress, no anger just happiness for miles to see. So if you look around maybe it is for the best that it happened this way, But if you look even closure you’ll notice there is no life no plants, no birds chirping, no wolves howling. This vision makes you realize that maybe this whole idea just isn’t the best. ?I remember the time at about 1 clock in the neighborhood there was no life in sight. The kids are inside on their high tech devices and the adults have left to buy more. Those kids haven’t noticed how much things could be better. They think the food is for kings, but soon their find out that it’s for the king’s dog. There are no normal bikes, no basket balls, no hopscotch, no movement, no laughter, and the poor street has had its joy taken away. The atmosphere is always still aside from the movement of the cars and the sling slackers. There is no one in sight everyone is still in their cocoon. Maybe it’s just me who sees the cons with our modern time.? ?I see how they could stay inside on their devices trying to lose the rest of their mind. “It’s too hot” they’d say and I agree with them half way. It’s dusty and dirty out and someone could get sick or maybe a worse fate. I am glad we have devices to keep our selves sane I am really am. But if we can do all these amazing things then why not use it to help the world. These they all grow up spoiled into brats and mischief makers and the adults are no better. I’m glad we can do all these amazing things with our gadgets and devices and most of all our important sling slackers. “It’s dirty” you say well come out side and clean it all up. Oh if only my voice could get to them. ?I hear a simple buzz fly past me and I see a hovering car. I see a man walk out of it and shout something undetermined. Not one not two need even four but six little ones come out from a door. I look deeply into their faces and I see joy all around and soon they quickly rush into to the house. Maybe there is hope after all for our future or maybe I’ve been doing monologue for too long. It take two steps before I hear a rattle. I look down at my feet and see a small bottle, another piece of garbage. I pick it up and look into it “maybe there is hope” I say as I put in a recycling bin and walk my way home. Arrive Alive by Max CassIf I’m in the car I’m trying to be safeSo if you’re in shotgun get your phone out of my faceAnd If I’m driving I don’t want to lose itSo don’t take the aux and pump all your musicI’m driving a car not trying to partySo when I break the radio I’m not going to say sorryAnd I’m not speeding to put a smile on your faceFor all I know this isn’t fast and furious 8 So stop telling me to go 90 in a 38And if you think I’m not fun or even a loserThen get out of my car and bother an uberI’m sorry if I’m mean but I’m trying to arriveAnd when I mean arrive I mean arrive aliveThe Chicago World’s Fair by Charles Sanders The Chicago World’s Fair was one of the biggest fairs in the United States. It was full to the brim of immense new technologies and ideas that had the potential of changing the world. People from all over the world would attend the fair, just to see the new technologies. In the year 2016 there is not a Chicago’s World Fair, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t new inventions, there are, and amongst them there is the Fusion Reactor. The Chicago World’s Fair, also known as the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 was hosted in Chicago Illinois, although there were many other cities that wanted to host the fair, Washington and New York are amongst them. Chicago was eventually declared the host of the fair. It was organized to commemorate the day Cristopher Columbus made landfall in America and to showcase the new inventions of that century. It was a very significant part of Chicago’s history because many new inventions were on display there, and it attracted many people to Chicago which helped the economy of Chicago, and gave people a reason to move there and stay.? Many new innovations and inventions that we use in our everyday lives were showcased at the Chicago’s World Fair. Amongst them was Wrigley’s Gum which we take for granted nowadays but back then it was a very new concept. Another invention from the Chicago’s World Fair was the Penny Presser, the machine you see at Disney and Places that attract many people that take pennies and shape them into an oval with a picture on them. One of the most prominent inventions was the Dish Washer, invented by Josephine Cochrane. Also featured were the useful inventions of spray paint, Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix, and the Ferris Wheel (Ten products from the Chicago’s world fair). The Chicago’s World Fair was the home of many new inventions and innovations of the 19th century. ? The Chicago’s World Fairs grounds were planned out by an architect by the name of Fredrick Olmsted (Novak, Matt). He designed the city while hundreds if not thousands of people were at his command to build the city. Many people visited and presented inventions at the Fair but one of the most noted was Nickola Tesla. Who for those who don’t know was one of the men who made modern electricity possible. There were also many other notable inventors who visited the fair but Nickola Tesla was one of the greatest.? ? There were many interesting things that many people know about the Chicago’s World Fair. One of which is the fact that there were many murders during the fair. Most were done by a serial killer named H.H Holmes, he is said to be one of the first serial killers amongst the United States. He was an evil man who would trick young women into coming with him then he would murder them. Another interesting fact that many people don’t know is that Chicago was one of the first cities to have electric lighting throughout the area. These are only two interesting facts from the fair that not many people know. ?Amongst the new inventions of the world there is the fusion reactor. It is a nuclear power plant that is about 4x more powerful than the common fission reactor. The fusion reactors use the same nuclear energy as the sun. It is such a new invention man has not been able to replicate it yet, but it is believed they will be able to use it commercially as an energy source of almost limitless power.? ? The fusion reactor will be used to produce mass amounts of energy. The fusion reactor requires isotopes that are very light weight and generally are from hydrogen atoms. The isotopes that are used are called deuterium and tritium (How Fusion Works). The isotopes are heated to extreme temperatures until they are stripped of their electrons and become a form of plasma. The isotopes then are forced together under great amounts of pressure causing them to fuse producing momentous amounts of energy to be released. A fusion reactor will work by using magnets to channel the plasma in a container called a tokamak. Then the pressure will force the isotopes together creating a nuclear fusion reaction. When the isotopes fuse they will react by creating helium and a spare neutron (How Fusion Works). The heat of the reaction will then be used like a normal fission reactor produce power. The heat will turn water into steam that will turn a turbine, producing electricity. The fusion reactor will have two applications one is the fact that people will have tons of electricity produced which will help the energy crisis. This will cost a lot at first because you have to cover the price of the reactor and maintenance. But after those prices are covered it will be almost limitless and free energy produced. The other application isn’t very important but it will be a way for people the get helium but that won’t be very important. Many people will find the reactor useful but the main people will be power companies. The fusion reactor have many pros and cons. The pros are that it provides almost limitless power from practically nothing and it is a renewable resource. There are also a few cons though, one is that it is very expensive to get permits and set up a fusion reactor, like all other power plants, and another would be that it’s costly to maintain. These are only a few pros and cons of the fusion reactor.? Consumers wouldn’t really be able to buy this piece of technology although they will probably be able to invest in stock. I think it is a good thing that the average person can’t buy one of these as if something goes wrong and they don’t have the appropriate precautions bad things could happen.? In the upcoming Roanoke World’s Fair I plan on presenting my invention in the form of a model reactor. I believe it will capture the audience’s attention more then something like a power point. I think it will especially stand out because I plan on adding lots if details of the invention and explaining how it works. As you can see the Chicago’s World Fair was a very important event in history, and that some very important inventions are still being made. By Kaylin Grahame1. Do what you love, do it often, and do it unapologetically 2. Pay more attention to your thoughts, what your thinking is what your attracting 3. Timing has a lot to do with everything 4. Not everyone thinks the same way you think 5. Silence says a lot 6. If an opportunity doesn't exist, create it; if an idea doesn't exist, create it 7. Your feelings are always valid, you're allowed to feel them, and you're allowed as much time as you need to heal them 8. Self doubt will be your creative downfall 9. It begins and end in your mind, what you give power to, has power over you 10. Breath in the future, breath out the past 11. The most beautiful things in life are moments and feelings 12. What you see in other people is a reflection of yourself 13. If it makes you nervous... it's worth doing it 14. Certain things will never go back to how they used to be, and that's okay 15. At your absolute best... you still won’t be good enough for the wrong person 16. If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done 17. Talk to yourself the same way you would talk to someone you love 18. Focusing on the negative in a situation destroys the positive 19. You can't find happiness in other people 20. Know exactly what you want and don't stop until you get it The Ant by Weston Colip? There once was an ant named Bucky,Who was very, very lucky.He followed a trail,And crossed a rail,And ended up living in Kentucky.?HPV: What it Is and Why We Should Know About It by Emma LarsenWhat I Knew ? I recently visited my family doctor and she recommended the vaccine, Gardasil. It went right over my head. I had no idea what my doctor and mom were talking about, so I decided to do more research to get insight about this topic. I knew that when you are born, doctors give you vaccines to help prevent chicken pox, measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, and several other communicable diseases. This controversial topic is of interest to me because I want to make an informed decision when it comes to my well-being and health.? What I Wanted to Know ??????????? I wanted to know what the human papilloma virus vaccine was. I asked my mom and she said this topic was very relevant and controversial today in America. Why do I need to get vaccinated? Is it safe? Does it actually work? Should I be against vaccines or should I follow my doctors’ recommendations? Interview ??????????? I emailed my chiropractor and I still have not gotten a response back. ??????????? My Search Process ??????????? A source that suited my topic was obviously the Centers for Disease Control website, then I visited the World Health Organization website and read a few articles from there. The whole controversy about this specific vaccine is whether your child should or shouldn’t get the vaccination. Every parent has their opinion and different ways of raising their child. Some parents prefer not to vaccinate their child and others vaccinate their children right from the start.? ??????????? What is making the human papilloma virus vaccine so controversial at the moment are the side effects it has caused. The Centers for Disease Control supports this treatment and recommends it to doctors to prescribe their patients. They recommend that children (boys and girls) should start this vaccine at ages nine through twenty-six.? The counter argument is whether your child should start this vaccination. This topic is mature but I believe that teenagers and adults need to have more awareness towards this issue. I didn’t quite get to the documentary that I wanted to watch but these websites were very informative.? ??????????????????????????????????? My Research Process ??????????? I didn’t go to the library as planned because this topic is so recent, so I decided to look up some information. I started on the Centers of Disease control website and read about Gardasil. The informational was very valuable but it had only their opinion so I decided to go to the World Health Organization. Their opinion about vaccinations are neutral, they agree and they disagree. I went to the regular Google search and just looked up “vaccinations” I lead me to great website about a mother who wanted to show the world what the HPV vaccination did to her son. And then that lead me to the Dr. Mercola website.? What I Learned ??????????? “The biggest lie ever told is that vaccines are safe and effective”?? - Dr. Len Horowitz ??????????? This quote from Dr. Len Horowitz caught my eye as soon as I found myself on the Truth behind Cancer website. From 1990 to 2008, the US government recorded that 238,755 vaccine related injuries and deaths had occurred, and 90% of vaccine reactions go unrecorded. Majority of the time parents think they are doing the right thing and getting their child vaccinated but what they don’t know is what toxic ingredients that are in these certain vaccines. For example, an ingredient that majority of vaccines contain is the “toxic cocktail” which are live and dead viruses that have been gathered from monkey kidney tissue, cow tissue, goat tissue, pig tissue, and even human babies that have been aborted.? ??????????? 60% of women who get the Gardasil vaccine had have a higher risk of being infected with another type of Human Papillomavirus. Even though these “anti-cancer” vaccines have been not proven to prevent cancer, Gardasil and Cervarix have been tangled in controversy from the start. Gardasil was licensed after testing on only 1,100 girls under the age of 16, and Gardasil even has the highest concentration of aluminum than any other vaccine on the market. ??????????? As I have mentioned, why you should get the Gardasil vaccination or not; is it safe??? What is it? Everyone has their own opinion.? The purpose of this paper is to educate myself and educate others about the safety of Gardasil. The manufacturer of Gardasil, Merck, has not done enough proper unbiased testing for safety and efficiency.?? What This Means to Me ??????????? Searching for this topic was actually very difficult for majority because this topic is very opinionated. What I didn’t know is that you can’t always be dependent on the internet, it can be very difficult at points if you don’t have a good patience. This information has now forever impacted my life, and I think I will never forget what I have learned because it is such a big health problem.? The Fair by Kaleb Hedrick Every year, a fair comes to Virginia for a couple of days. The fair is typically around the Roanoke or Salem civic center. I used to go to the fair every year when I was little. My dad would take me to the fair so we could have fun and ride cool rides. I still go to the fair sometimes, but not as much as I use to. I still have the memories of when I did go deep, hidden inside my head, only to come out and be remembered when I feel the nostalgia of going back.? The fair had many rides and fun things to do. My favorite ride has a title that I cannot remember. What I do remember is that it had something to do with the moon. The ride was basically one big circle that made you go upside down backwards, and forwards. I remember that when I rode it as a kid I would close my eyes because I was scared. I was too shy to ask to get off the ride before it started, so I had to deal with it. After the ride was over, I wasn’t scared anymore and I wanted to do it again.? Another one of my favorite rides was the Ferris-wheel. As a kid, it was exciting to see the whole entire fair from high up. At night time, all the rides and attractions lit up which made the view even better than before. Everyone below you would look like tiny ants crawling on the ground. The wheel spun around multiple times before letting you off. It also had to start back up again every time it let someone off to get the next people off. This made the people in line a lot less patient. It felt good when you were on the right while everyone else was waiting.? The fair at more things to do then rides. They had food and drinks for when you’re hungry or thirsty. I don’t recommend eating fair food as it is kind of bad for you and isn't the best quality. The drinks are all things like brand soda and stuff, so those are fine. My favorite drink at the fair was their lemonade. They had a stand for Deb's Lemonade which if you didn’t know if literally the best kind of lemonade. It is very sweet and tastes more perfect than anything you could imagine. There lemonade is different because it is part slushy and part lemonade which gives for a neat texture. The drink is usually what we get at the end of the fair so we don’t have to walk around holding a cup. This is my least favorite part of the fair (except for the drink) because we now have to leave because it closes around 10.?Leaving the fair sucks because the fun is over and you got to go back home and wait until next year. When the place is closing, all the rides and carts each individual close up and/or turn off. It is sad, but knowing you had fun while you were there makes the whole experience worth it. I plan on one day visiting the fair again to have some more fun, like I did before. Until I go back to the fair, I will be stuck with the faded memories of it when I was a kid.? The Lunch Line By: Daniel Reeves 'Twas a blur, when time flew by, the restless days and nights ?A obsession, now an addiction, of pizza oh my pie Every day I travel time to get to the day of Fri ?At last it's hear but oh I fear it makes me want to cry. 'Twas a blur when time flew by the truck of goods and sweets oh my,? The name brand stamp up on the side? Unreadable through my teary eyes.? 'Twas a blur when the truck drove by carrying the last load of my pizza fries stuffed with goods inside. The Red and white of the coca cola sign combined to make a sad design? the graveled rocks being thrown behind?? ‘Twas a blur when time goes by. Now it's gone, that corporate truck, leaving me with my bad luck, no more cakes with the white dust, no more delicate pizza puffs. Fast Travels by Jayna Reed As I am perched on my seat inside the train, I look out the crystal clear window beside me. The pedestrians stand still with luggage in their hands. Their faces have eager looks on them as I see their expressions for a split second. The vibrant painting on the wall in the back reads, "New York City." As the train continues to zoom out of the station, I see bold sunlight approaching the train. The background changes from subtle to earthy. All of the trees blur together into one swirling forest. Maintaining its speed, the train continues on to its final destination.?? What is Summer Without…? By Roshan PatelWhat is Summer Without…?SunshineLaughterAkan NdemSportsThe PoolAmusement ParksWater ParksSleepoverDonald Trump and Hilary ClintonThe OlympicsThe Running ManWater BalloonsIce CreamGetting CashFriendsFamilyWhat is Summer without Anything?Orbiting Jupiter Rap by Zada PorterOnce upon a time there was a boy named jackHe needed a friend to really watch his backA couple of days later he got that friendEven if the two of them didn’t really blendInstead of a friend Jack kind of got a brotherA brother that was raised by a whole different motherThis kid, was different in so many waysWays that would be too hard to explainThis boy had a child even though he was thirteenHe was split away from his lover when they were just teensAt first he was alone and then he met JackThey immediately knew they would have each other's backHe has never met his daughter but he's wanted to foreverJack used all of his power them back togetherThe boy ran away to find the rest of his familyOne place he didn’t go was to the libraryThe foster mother was there and she was really confusedBut she wanted to do everything to help the twoAfter a while the boy finally met his childEven if he was a little wildThey went back home to their thingUntil a dad came by and was really meanEverything was okay until he pulled out a gunPutting it to the hip of Jack the sonThe dad went away with the other boyThen flipped into the ice like the truck was a toyEveryone was sad and some of them where madBut at the end they were all gladGlad that they met a wonderful child like himAt times he was bright at others he was dimBut maybe he would have rose ifIf his name wasn't Joseph The Subway by Hannah Young ? I'm waiting for the subway at the station in Washington D.C. Looking around, I see many different things. I see a geometric mural of jungle animals that sits in front of me. Vibrant shades of blue and green surround and attack the picture. The abstract painting pulls me into a deep trance that is hard to escape. I know that the graffiti on the subway station wall is probably illegal, but I can’t help to do anything but admire it. Suddenly I see a bright light and I hear a loud horn and I know a subway is going to pass where I am standing. I try to look in the windows, but I can only see a few things. I see a flamboyant, deep orange coat on the back of a little girl with bleach blonde hair. I also see a small boy and his mother talking and laughing as if no one else could even be near them. Their conversations are so bold, nothing could harm them.? The Train by Sarah VarneyAs the rain drops onto my head and slithers down to my face lacing my eyelashes in clear pellets, I solemnly wait for the train to come by. I sit under the roofing of a construction building next to a man with sharp eyes and a grey trench coat. I watch as car after car go by spraying my clothing with a murky mist of water and dirt. Each color seems to be the same when the rain is this constant. Vibrant colors turn grey through the sleet and rain hurtling down to the ground.?As soon as the rain stops the sun begins shining. It’s almost a piercing feeling having the sun shine down and reflect on the glistening puddles of the roadside. As soon as my eyes adjust to the new found light I begin to hear the rattle and roar of the train engine. Billows of soot and smoke spread through the sky as the train lurches forward with intense speed. The first object that comes to sight from the far corner are the first pair of wheels screeching their way along the old metal tracks. Once the train had come completely into view there is a big blur of the black that you could only see in starless midnight sky. The train cars follow in a great burst of tinted orange and blue. Quickly I spot a child in a purple dress moving her hand along with the wind of the outside window. An elderly woman in light forest green unsteadily hops up from the seat and begins grabbing her bags readying herself for exiting.?Before getting fully caught in the daze I wake myself up from the blurred trance and run at a steady pace to the train station. Once in line for the train an elegant man strides down the train steps down to the floor as if he had done it a million times. He then yells an inaudible sentence due to the train’s louds puffs, but it signaled everyone to enter into the large train cars. I am finally facing the entrance and slowly grasp the shining ivory handle.?? TV by Roshan PatelIt’s where you can watch Trump and Clinton make their AMAZING speeches. It’s where you can watch Cartoon Network. It’s where you can watch advertisements about things that you beg your parents to buy for you. It’s where you watch the news and learn about what is happening in today’s world.? It’s where you saw Cam Newton be a baby after he loses Super Bowl 50. There is something on TV for everyone. TVFour Teams by Mason HarrisThere are four teams in the NFC east The Cowboys are the team I like the least The Eagles are bad? And that makes their fans sad The Giants are trash? And every week they get smashed? The Redskins are the best? And they lay all of the other teams to rest Chapter 10 5 Years Later by Dori Havens?When I got home, there were orange streamers hanging all over the front porch, and pink balloons trying to escape the ribbons holding them down to the columns supporting the porch roof. Opening up the trunk of the car, I see a giant teddy bear with an orange bow tied around his neck, and I put a birthday card in between the sheer ribbon and the soft “fur”. I pull the teddy out and haul it to the door. I put it on the living room couch, right where it would be the first thing that Jupiter sees when she comes down the stairs. Two minutes later I hear little footsteps slowly coming down the stairs, and then--?“AAAHHHHH! TEDDYTEDDYTEDDDY!!!” Jupiter is at the bottom of the stairs now and running into the living room squealing. She hops up onto the couch and hugs the bear, which is three times the size of her. Mom and Dad walk into the room with smiles on their faces, but not as big as mine. Jupiter reaches and grabs the card I got her and starts reading it silently, and then I smile spreads from ear to ear and she slides off of the couch to run and give me a hug. “Thank you Jackie!” she squeaks.?“You are very welcome, Jupiter. What are you going to name him?” I ask her. Jupiter sits back on the couch and stares at the bear for a while.? “I’m going to name him… Joseph, like daddy!” Mom and Dad look at each other, and then at me. Mom is starting to tear up a little, and Dad puts his arm around her. I look at Jupiter and she has cuddled up next to Joseph petting his fuzzy hand. “Hi, Joseph.” She whispers, and her eyes start to shut before she can open any more of her presents. Reading Wisdom by David Richardson“A person who won’t read has no advantage over one that can’t read” -Mark Twain Mark Twain was an entrepreneur, American Writer, publisher, and lecturer he was born in 1835 married from 1870-1904 and died in 1910 he was 74 years old when he passed away. Twain was born in Florida Missouri but hoisted in Hannibal Missouri which later provided a setting to his popular book “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”.?Twain was an author but was best known for him comedy. Mark Twain was?so known and respected the city of Florida Missouri named an entire lake after him. Twain has many quotes such as “When all else fails write what your heart tells you, you can’t depend on your eyes; your imagination is out of focus” or “The lack of money is the route of all evil” Mark Twain wasn’t lying when he said those things because it’s all true because someone who can’t read will probably never have the option to read but people that do have the option to read but don’t read I have more respect for the person that doesn’t have the option to because at least he has a reason he can’t read people don’t understand how lucky we are in the United states of America we have freedom here freedom you are able to get an education here in the USA unlike many countries around the world. I don’t read too much or too often but when I do I appreciate it because we are lucky to live in the USA almost able to do anything that isn’t breaking a law. I’m glad I will always have an opportunity to read and even if I don’t read very much I will appreciate that I have the opportunity. ?Save the Penguins by Jacob Kielty If giving up one of your many cars could save the penguins would you? Penguins are some of the cutest most lovable nondomestic animals that there are. They are in danger of losing their homes. Have you ever seen a penguin waddle? Well if you haven’t then you haven’t seen the cutest thing in the world. They also swim so fast that they can jump 3 feet out of water! But the main reason the penguins are going extinct is because of us. We are causing global warming which is causing the penguins homes to disappear. Some ways we can save the penguins is to walk and ride bikes as much as possible, also if we stop burning so much fossil fuel, another thing we can do is obey the speed limit. ?Penguins are so cute but they are dying off. Unless! We can save them if we just conserve our fossil fuels. If we chose to walk places instead of drive our cars everywhere this world will be a much better place. We could also ride bikes and electric powered things instead of driving a gas powered car that will cause global warming. If you are traveling a long distance you could carpool if you must drive. But if we could stop producing those greenhouse gasses the world would be a lot better off. ?Second we could stop burning so much fossil fuels. The United States gets 81% of its total energy from oil, coal, and natural gas, all of which are fossil fuels.? They are used to run factories, heat our homes, run our vehicles, and provide us with electricity The amount of fossil fuel that we burn a year is equivalent to 97 million billion pounds of carbon. If you have ever been to a big city you have seen thousands maybe even millions of things that are made possible by fossil fuels. ?The final thing that we can do is to obey the speed limit. Did you know that it isn’t just there for your safety? It is also there so that you get the most from the gas that you have in your tank while releasing the least carbon dioxide. If we can reduce the carbon output on a huge scale it could close to sea level cities from being drowned. ?Finally all of those things put together will not only help the penguins, it will save us as well. Penguins are one of the cutest animals that is still left. But if we stay on track there won’t be many penguins left. Do you really want to kill off the poor penguins? Have they ever done anything to you? Well with your help we could save them. ?? Summer Vacations by Carter Taylor?Summer vacations are awesome and I know most of us look forward to them. Almost every year my family goes to Lake Powell in the southern part of Utah. We do all sorts of amazing activities like tubing and knee-boarding. ?I am pretty sure you know what tubing is but, knee-boarding may sound unfamiliar. Knee-boarding is a lot like wake-boarding but, on your knees. When you start out, you are in the water holding onto the board. Then the boat starts going and you have to hold on tight and pull yourself up on to knees. Once you are up, you move your hands (without falling off) to the tug rope. This is the thing that is pulling you and you will feel the tug. From here, you can do all sorts of tricks like a 360. Knee-boarding is awesome and I love doing it. ?At Lake Powell, my family makes all sort of memories because of all of the fun we have together. One memory I have is about tubing. So I was nine or ten and I was on the tube with my little brother and my cousin. We were being pulled by my grandpa’s speed-boat and he was going around in circles over and over again, or doing doughnuts. He came out of doing them and went a little ways from them. Then, he turned the boat around and started going really fast toward the waves he had made. When we made contact with the wave, our tube flew through the air and from where we were it looked like we were higher than the boat! When we finally came back down, we hit the water and all three of us bounced off in unison. It was amazing and one off the best times of my life.??? Visiting With My Grandfather by Colin Owen Every year since I was 10 years old I went to my grandparent's house for a week during the summer. Last summer my grandfather showed me his extensive gun collection and told me some stories about some of them. One was a Czechoslovakian 32. Caliber hand gun. My great grandfather served in world war two. In the war it was protocol if you killed a Nazi you took his gun. My great grandfather killed a Nazi and the Nazi happened to have that little Czech piece on him so he took it. Well when he got off the boat in the harbor he forgot that he still had that little 32. In his back pocket.? My Grandfather and I spent a lot of time watching food network, and we got onto a late night "Beat Bobby Flay" marathon. When they started using goat he told me that once in Africa he once saw an entire goat carcass barbecued in a pit. I asked him if it was any good and he told me that it was very good because he tried parts of the goat he had never even thought of trying before. He did however tell me that goat when cooked incorrectly makes for a gamey meat. Then I asked what other meats are gamey and he told me deer, squirrel, zebra. Then I said "Zebra?!” Apparently in Africa at the time he was there you could get zebra in a restaurant. He told that he went to one restaurant where you dined outside and the waiters walked around with a leg of some animal or a haunch on a sort of lance and when you asked for some they used a carving knife to cut you a piece. ?He also told me that since you dined outside it was common for a monkey to try and steal something right off your plate, so the owners of the restaurant had members of the Maasai tribe run off the monkeys with clubs, as the Maasai are very fast runners. He then proceeded to retrieve a stick with a sort of ball on the end that he told me was a Maasai throwing club. At that point I was a bit confused because the average person doesn't own a signature weapon of an obscure native people, but then again the average person doesn't own a world war two era German officer's sword. He explained to me that he was in Africa with a friend who had roots in the Maasai tribe and wanted to reconnect so my grandfather bought a Maasai throwing club to remember the trip. My grandfather explained that there were three different kinds of throwing clubs. The first one was for hunting, the second was a tool, and the third was meant as a weapon for war. The custom in the tribe was that for a boy to become a man he had to go out in to the wilderness with nothing but a single throwing club and kill a lion. The custom had to be stopped when the tribespeople were informed that lions are endangered. The clubs are made of a root of a tree and are pulled out of the ground then hardened in a fire the one my grandfather owned was very shiny and smooth so that it looked like it had been made in a factory I could only assume that it was manufactured and not authentic.?? Shopping for My Mother by Carter Taylor???? My mother said to go get some bread? But here is what I got instead? A gallon of milk,? Three feet of silk,? Twelve packs of hot dogs, One liter of egg nog,? Three bottled ships, along with thirty six bags of chips, A rubber kazoo,? A little plastic zoo, A silver clock,? And a pink and blue smock. Now, whenever my mother needs something from the store? She does not send me anymore. Why Everyone Should See Hamilton by Sarah Duff“Pardon me are you Aaron Burr sir?” Hamilton is a musical on Broadway written by Lin-Manuel Miranda. In my opinion it is the best musical because it teaches you about what Hamilton did for our country, how race didn’t affect casting and how theatre is a helpful thing to know and have. Lin puts it into a way where modern day people can understand our country’s history with Alexander Hamilton.? Hamilton the musical teaches us average folk about what Alexander Hamilton, a founding father did to improve our country. He grew up as a poor child like he says in one of the song “I’m just like my country, I’m young scrappy and hungry.” This states that he started out as a poor nobody and was determined to not throw away his shot. He first met Burr and they became buddies. In 1777, he became George Washington’s assistant. Then in 1778, he persuaded the New Yorkers to agree to ratify the U.S. Constitution. In another song you here Hamilton ask “Sir would you like me to run for the treasury or state department?” And Washington responds “Treasury” So in result Hamilton runs for the treasury department. He actually served as the nation’s first secretary of treasury for 6 years. But then in having to choose between Burr and Jefferson running for president. Alexander choose Jefferson and Burr get mad. He feels betrayed and calls for Hamilton and him to duel at dawn. They count to ten but before Hamilton had the time to surrender to Burr, Burr shot and Hamilton died. But later in the play the songs start to show that Burr regrets his actions. Back when Hamilton was alive and thriving most of all of the men he correlated with were in fact white. But in the play most of the cast are different races. See Hamilton is played by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Lin is Puerto Rican. Lafayette is played by a mixed man named Daveed Diggs. So you see a lot of the cast is a different race/ethnicity. I think it’s cool how in this modern age people don’t discriminate and that’s what I think Lin was also thinking when he casted so many different ethnic people to play as people who were white. You don’t see much discrimination anymore. When Lin was casting he focused more on how the people acted in character rather than what the color of their skin is. From what I see he did a really good job in the casting department.? Hamilton is placed on the wonderful brilliant Broadway stage. Hamilton is of course in the theatre department. Hamilton the musical is an excellent example of why people should look more into theatre. This is because Hamilton is about history which is educational. Haven’t you had a history class before? Most history classes learn about Hamilton and all of his glory. Some people learn better when they are listening to music. What better music to listen to than educational music. I have actually learned a whole lot from just listening to Hamilton. Once a teacher was talking about Hamilton and in my head I knew about everything she was talking about. The songs are informational and marvelous so in my opinion that’s a win win situation. Theatre is an excellent thing to know because it can teach you things no other classes can teach you. When you’re on a stage you are not who you are on an everyday basis. You are what your character is. For instance, I played in my middle school performance in The Lion King. I had to change from average Sarah to a wild hyena. It was a really good experience for me and something like that would be really good for you. In summary, Hamilton has done so much for the country. If he hadn’t have done anything, the country wouldn’t be the same. It would be disastrous. Race and ethnicity aren’t considered when casting is performed. Discrimination isn’t a thing when casting is happening. Hamilton the musical really teaches you about Hamilton and his adventures to save and help our country in a really unique way. It teaches it in song. Some songs really make you feel emotions that some songs can’t do. Basically what I’m saying is you that seeing Hamilton would be a positive experience for all.? Tropical Paradise by Henry TonHaven’t you ever wanted to relax in a tropical paradise? Well now you can with the amazing VA-CA app. People should buy this app because it is very helpful. The app provides many different vacation spots where you can relax, make new friends, and create beautiful memories. You can relax on the beach of Hawaii with the clear bright blue waters. And the beautiful bright white sand with the most amazing views. You could stay in an amazing 5 star hotel. You would be able to see palm trees for the first time in person if you haven’t seen one. You would be able to see volcanoes at the national park. There is a Honolulu zoo to see over 900 different animals. You could hula dance and where a grass skirt. Hawaii is an amazing place to go although if you want to see famous history you could go see national ruins in Greece or Rome. You could see the Olympian gods like Poseidon, Zeus, and Hades. You can go see the Parthenon, the Acropolis of Athens, the temple of Hephaestus, The Theatre of Dionysus and many more. Mount Olympus which is the highest mountain in Greece is a landmark you could see if you downloaded the VA-CA app for free! ? You can meet new and exciting people on you vacation. You could go to a bar and make new friends. If you don’t want to drink or go to a bar you could go to the beach or a restaurant that serve mouthwatering food that you would love to devour. In the hotel you can simply chat with your friends on line if you miss them. You can tell your friends all about your amazing vacation. Who knows you could meet someone famous on your vacation like a famous archaeologists or a famous celebrity. You could even meet someone who has so much in common you could talk with for hours. You could watch sporting events with someone that may like the same team. Most of all you could make beautiful memories. You could tell your kids about the adventure the things you saw when you on your vacation. You can entertain people and maybe they will go through the adventure you went through. You can create memories that can last a lifetime. When you look back at the memory you can laugh. You can tell your friends about the vacation. Memories are the minds memory books. You should buy the VA-CA app and why do you care because you need a vacation. You could build memories. You could meet new and exciting people. You can relax in a tropical paradise. The app provides different vacation spots where you can relax, make new friends, and create beautiful memories. That is my perfect description of the perfect vacation app and you’ll regret it if you don’t you could miss out on all these things. ?Distractions by Cameron Weld Have you ever been sitting in a classroom and need to call your parents or need to check something very important, but can’t well I think all of us have been in this situation. I believe being able to have a phone in the classroom should be aloud if you are not being a distraction, or kids could use their phone for something educational, and or could help make a learning environment more fun and easier for the students and the teachers.? ?A distraction is very bad in the learning environment and if a kid is being a disruption then I think the teacher has the right to take their phones away, but if they are not that is a different story. For example if a student is playing music loud or noise is coming out of the phone then I think the teacher could take the phone away or tell the student to put it away. I know most schools have laptops, but a laptop can’t do everything a phone can do. A phone is more mobile meaning that it is easier to carry around that having a computer, charger, and laptop case to take to every class.? ?Almost all the kids my age have phones and let’s face it they don’t use them for educational purposes. So having a chance to use a phone for school work or homework or even a project seems like a good idea to me. I think a phone is better to have than a laptop because I think it is easier to use for education. Sometimes for me it takes at least five minutes to get to my desktop while a phone can take ten seconds to get to the home screen. The school doesn’t let us download apps to our computer so we have to search everything while having a phone, all you have to do is download an app then click on it. I think by having a phone present in the classroom would make a learning environment more fun for everyone and easier on the teachers and the students. If you are using a laptop it takes longer for everything while using a phone this is why I think it would make it easier.? The way to make it more fun is that you are able to play more games and more learning apps than you are on laptop. These are some reasons to make it easier and more fun in a classroom.?In conclusion I think schools should allow phones in the classrooms if there is no distraction. They can make school more exciting and even easier and maybe can make you enjoy school more. This is a very important topic for me so I would like to see it happen. What do you think about this idea do you like it or not so much.? ????Playing Sports by Emily ClevelandDo you play a sport of any kind?? Sports can help you in many ways like getting a scholarship, be better in everyday life, and you can build friendships.? ???? The first reason why you should play sports is because you can get a scholarship at a college. You and your parents don’t have to pay as much for your college as someone who does not play a sport. If someone wants to go to UVA without a scholarship it’s around 61,000 but if you have a scholarship it is maybe a little more than a half of what you need to play. For example if you have been playing football for almost your whole life and you get better and better as the football seasons go on. Then when you reach college you have a good chance of getting a scholarship to a college you may want to go to.? ???? The second reason why you should play sports is because it is proven that if you play a sport you do better in everyday life. Sports help kids learn life lessons like responsibility and teamwork. Sports will help you learn that working as a team or with people will help you in life. For example if you get older and have a job that involves working with people and with your family you will not get as mad. Also sports help with responsibility because you have to make sure you pack the clothes you need for that sport and you can’t rely on your parents to pack the stuff you need. ???? The last reason is that you can build different friendships you would have never made. Friendship is very important and it is good to have a couple of friendships from different schools or same schools. Sports also pull people together who like that same sport and so you can get to know them because you may have stuff in common. For example if there is a girl that goes the Hidden Valley and you don’t know who she is and she is on your soccer team you can get to know them and you both realize that you have a lot of stuff in common and you can become friends. ???? In conclusion you should try out for a sport because it will help you with college scholarships, everyday life, and lastly you can build different types of friendships. You can start out with any recreational sport to see if you like the sport that you picked. If you don’t just keep trying sports until you find the sports you like. Then stick with it and see how far it can get you in life. A Less Dependent Country by Jacob Mardian?With over 430 government agencies regulating us on a daily basis how do we have freedom? They stomp on us, tell us we can’t open shops, we can’t keep our home like we want it, and worst of all it adds to our taxes. Sense when have we needed to be so reliant on the government to baby-proof our world? This essay is about freedom, downsizing and the great country that can come out of it. If you don’t agree with me that’s your opinion. You can think that and you have the freedom to do so but in twenty years when the FTC is telling you that your business is illegal because you’re the only one on the market then I want you to think about this.? What’s my reasoning behind thinking that we need to do away with all the government agencies? Well that’s very simple. I believe in freedom within the law, which means that I think we should be able to do what we want as long as it does not infringe on other’s rights. So naturally I think we shouldn’t be regulated. If a television company wishes to air a program which our government feels that is inappropriate it is censored. This in my opinion is a violation of the first amendment by denying the writers the freedom of speech. “But Jacob!” I hear you liberals saying, “How will we protect our children’s minds?” and to that I have the simplest solution in the world. Have informed parents. If the parents are informed enough to know what their children are watching we won’t have this issue and thus a government agency called the FCC disappears. This is just one example of how we could slowly and surely build a better, more free country.? ? So how can this happen? How can we get rid of all this government regulation? Well here is the shocking, controversial, innovative solution. Get rid of them. Sure some agencies are necessary for our country to function such as the CIA, but organizations like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is completely and totally unnecessary. Some even, infringe on our rights to personal property such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service which is telling us we cannot shoot an animal on our own property. Other groups like NASA for example can be turned into companies run by the people. One great example is SpaceX a company which is now basically turning into a privately owned NASA. Lastly if we got rid of welfare and unemployment checks we would have a much stronger nation. This might sound terrible and I recognize the benefits of welfare, but maybe that should be on the people. Instead of the government forcing us to pay for people to be unemployed lets be a more giving and kind country where we show kindness to those in need. And for those that live off unemployment checks you can go find a job at McDonalds if you can’t find any job anywhere else. Learn to go through thick and thin and you will come out of it stronger.? ?“So Jacob…” says the reader,” How does this make us a better nation? It sounds like you think people should starve and deer should die out.” Well let me explain. If we learn to be less dependent on the government we will become better and stronger people. Back in the 1800’s we had peace. There were no school shootings and drug wars. Do you want to know why? Because Americans back then didn’t rely on the U.S. government to tell them how to live their lives. They educated their children on how to act and behave and didn’t need the government to tell them not to smoke something. That was their own choice and they had to live with the consequences. If they died at the age of 28 because of excessive alcohol that was their own fault. If they killed someone while under the influence of marijuana they would be tried with murder. Using the great justice system we have in place.?This is how a new country would be formed. A stronger, more independent country. We would be free to do what we wanted to do one our own property, be able to sell and purchase what we want without implications. We can downsize our government by allowing these freedoms to exist and lastly we can make America great again by doing this. So I encourage you to debate with me. Tell me I’m wrong and insane for saying this. But come on, who doesn’t like a little bit of freedom now and again.? ?Spring Break by Jaden IademarcoSpringtime! One of the best seasons in the year. The flowers start to blossom, baby animals come into the world. This spring break I’m going to Atlanta with my dad, brother, and my sister. We are going to Atlanta to visit my uncle, Michael Iademarco and his family. Michael Iademarco has a doctorates degree so he is called Dr. Michael Iademarco. He has a wife, Aunt Beth, and two kids, Nico and Ana. The main reason that we are going down there is because he is getting a big promotion in the Navy even though he really is the Department Head for the CDC in Tuberculosis. I have been to Atlanta about five times in my life around Thanksgiving. But recently I haven’t been down there in a couple years because it is so far away. My uncle’s house I decently big but my favorite part is the outside where he has a brick oven to make pizza and other delicious food. My uncle has gotten several promotions in the Navy but never any as big as this one. He even said that the President might even be there. The promotion that he is getting is called Rear Admiral. Rear Admiral is the highest ranking position in the Navy during peace time. My uncle has his naval suit and he has a bunch of badges on his left hand shoulder and some colorful strips. The promotion is kind of like a ceremony, it is a couple hours long with a lot of people there. Then after we go to my uncle’s house and celebrate with my family. My dad has six other siblings so ergo there will be a lot of people not to mention all the other people getting a promotion. My uncle is a great person and dad and he truly deserves everything he has done for the country and all the people around him. It seems like whenever you’re around him you learn something valuable. He brings out the best of everybody and makes the world a better place. With that said that’s what I’m doing this spring break. Hopefully I will get to be like the great man he has become. I wish everyone knew how great of a person he is and what he does for the country. Congratulations Dr. Michael Iademarco! Photography by Jake HopstetterDo you love artistic pictures? Do you find them entertaining? I believe that in today’s world photography is the new art platform of the 21st century. Everywhere today you can see a photo taken across the world in your social media feed, watch a movie scene shot in the Himalayan Mountains, or maybe even something created digitally by a computer program. These photos are art and art is everywhere.Photography connects us with each other through photos, whether you take them or you look at them. Furthermore I could post or send a photo of a vacation or a trip to a friend. If we both saw something about it we liked we’d talk about it and share our opinions. For example, I have been talking to a Canadian photographer, Daniel Pronk. Most times we’ll talk about photography related things such as lighting, editing, or just the scenery of a photo in general. He has very interesting photography. As I mentioned before, he is Canadian. He travels the world to take interesting and neat photos. Therefore almost every few days I see a new picture in my feed posted by him and it could be shot in Canada or on a trip he took around the world.So now take a bunch of pictures and put them in a sequence. Boom! You now have a video or movie. Although it won’t have sound unless you have a microphone. All television productions, movies, animated shorts, etc. are shot frame by frame in a quick sequence. Now think about this, when you see a movie in the cinema you don’t see what the camera originally saw. You see the director’s vision of what that scene could be. Some videos are shot in 60 frames per second, while some are shot in 30 frames per second. Anyone can film a video. Maybe not with a really expensive and high quality camera, but an inexpensive camcorder or your smartphone. Through film we take an ample amount of photos and play them in a sequence to tell a story to pass on. To conclude my thought concerning movies and how they are the creators’ visions, digital creations or animations are made completely from scratch. What these digital artists around the world visualize is what they make for our eyes to see. Graphic designers create custom logos we know that belong to famous companies today. The first ever Apple logo was created by Ronald Wayne. Mr. Wayne’s brain child has probably been a big impact in your life for at least the past ten years. Sometimes brands’ logos could draw in more customers than other companies with only numbers or facts to back up their products. Finally, to wrap up this blog I wish to remind you that now in the current world photography is a new form of art whether it is completely digital, a movie, nature, etc. we see them every day. A movie is a story, that story is made up of pictures. A picture could tell a story and that one single photo could have a great impact on your life. Utopia by Lucy Pendleton? Utopia is an imaginary place where everything is perfect. If everyone was kind our real world could be a little bit more like utopia. Kindness is rewarding, it can make someone’s day, and it doesn’t have to be a big act of kindness. You can open a door for someone else or maybe send a card to someone who is ill. Even small acts of kindness can change someone’s life for the better. ? Kindness is rewarding to both those who receive the kind act and those who do the kind act. Kindness is rewarding to those who receive it because they didn’t ask for it was done in their favor, and kindness is rewarding to the person doing the kind act because it is self-rewarding. The person doing the kind act gets a sense of accomplishment and that they’ve done something good for someone else. They feel proud in knowing that the person was affected by their good deed. If people won’t be kind to be kind then they should do it for the self-reward. ?Have you ever given someone a gift and seen their face once they opened it? If you have then you have seen their face be lit up with joy. Being kind and seeing your kindness pay off brings the same joy and gratefulness to the recipient. For example I went to Starbucks drive through line with my mom and we ordered and then went to pay and the man at the window said “the people in front of you payed for half of your order”. I was surprised and grateful for their kindness to me.? ?Kindness come in many forms, it can be big or small. You don’t have to go extremely out of your way to be kind, you can buy food for a homeless person or send money to a charity. These small acts can help more than you think, they charity may send clothes to kids with nothing and that homeless person could live another day because you gave them food. If you are kind then it could help someone in ways you would’ve never thought.?? ?The flap of a butterfly’s wings can send a hurricane half way across the world, a phrase that means something small can have a big effect. This meaning can also go for something Aesop said “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” This is true because your act won’t go unappreciated. Acts of kindness are never wasted because they a rewarding, they can make someone’s day, and they don’t have to be big. TV by Abby EstradaTV is an addiction across the nationWe go from station to stationIt’s like we don’t know what’s rightMy mother gets quite upsetWhen I’m on our new television setOh how we wish we could break the addition ofTVList Poem by Ashlee Yeatts"Why do you buy these, you know he hates them” My mother would say? But I was attached to them as if they were a limb? “Let me just tell you how many dog clothes you have if I may” “You have a rain coat, and purple dog boots? A reindeer costume, and sweaters galore? A bear costume, but I have to admit, that’s actually pretty cute? A sports jersey, a snow suit, and more, more, more!? And don’t get me started on his accessories? You’ve put him through torture on making things fit A St. Patrick’s day hat you call necessities? A scarf, you better watch out or else you’ll get yourself bit” “But Mom”, I would say “He looks so adorable and I spoil him anyway”? “Then let’s make a deal” She said one day “No more dog clothes until Christmas day!”? Jason Bowles?One day Jimmy the Platypus was waddling around inside of his lake thing like he did every Sunday morning when he saw something, standing there at the edge of his lake staring at him. Jimmy sat there looking at this strange being who had the guts to threaten him inside of his own home, for this was Jimmy's lake thing! Jimmy waddled over to the other side of the lake and confronted the creature.? "Whaddya think you're doing in this here lake fellow aquatic animal?" Jimmy asked menacingly.? "Blep" Replied the creature that Jimmy found out was a Humuhumunukunukuapuaa, or the former Hawaiian state fish.? "Get out of my lagoon or I'll be forced to get you out myself!" Jimmy said in a very serious tone.? "Blep" Replied the Humuhumunukunukuapuaa.? "That's it," Jimmy Hollered, "You have to the count of 3 before I do something dangerous." He bellowed.? "One, Two, Three!" Jimmy said as he started?throwing pine cones at his newest foe.? "Blep" said the Humuhumunukunukuapuaa angrily as he slowly rose into the heavens whilst screaming "Blep" at the top of his little fish lungs at Jimmy.? Building Model Aircraft: A Rather Enjoyable Hobby? By Skylar Perdue ? Have you ever endured a rainy, Saturday afternoon in which there is nothing to do? If so, you know that everything that you try to do, whether it be reading a book or playing a game, is boring. We all know, however, that there are certain things in life that never get old. Building model planes is one of these few things. Therefore, the best thing to do when life gets boring is to take up this wonderful hobby. In fact, I believe building model aircraft is one of the best hobbies out there because it promotes creativity, teaches patience, and is (my opinion) rather fun.? ? One of the things that make this hobby worthwhile is that imagination plays a key part. While the instructions provide basic color patterns and part placement, you are often forced to make decisions that influence your model. For instance, you may have to decide whether to have the landing gear up or down, or what type of equipment to put on your plane. Other little decisions include how you weather your model (or how much wear and tear your plane accumulates). Does your plane sit out in the dessert sun all day long, or does it sit under a protected hanger somewhere in Britain. If it sits outside, the paint should look faded and be possibly chipping. If it is under a hanger, the paint should look fine and the plane clean. You see, imagination plays a key part in your model, and causes you to make little decisions that make your plane slightly different from everyone else’s.? ? Another reason I think others should take on this hobby is that it teaches patience. In this hobby, you learn rather quickly that quicker is not necessarily better. If you do things in the spur of the moment, you may find yourself in conundrum latter on. Instead, you should think about how what you are doing now could affect what you will be doing later. “If I put the antenna on now, it will look really cool, but what are the chances of me accidently knocking it off before I finish? Should I put this off until later?” These are things that we must ask ourselves before we jump in. As I said, you learn patience rather quickly in this hobby, and I feel that it is an important thing to learn and to use elsewhere in life.? ?The final reason I think others should take up this hobby is because it is fun. That’s the point of having a hobby, right. So you can have fun. Some people may find this hobby extremely boring. I will admit that it is not exactly exiting. However, I think that the anticipation for what is to come keeps the hobby interesting. The whole question of “when am I going to finish”, “how is it going to turn out”, and “when can I hang it from my bedroom ceiling” are just a few examples of how anticipation can keep the hobby fun and exciting.? ? After reading this passage, I hope that some of you out there will consider building your own model airplanes. The hobby may not have the same type of excitement that sports have, and it may take a long time to produce a single product, but I think that it is worth it. What this hobby does have that others don’t is longevity. Unlike sports, you can build airplanes to your hearts content when you’re 75 years old. The final product, the finished model, will give you pride and joy for many years to come, and doubles as a nice room ornament. Anyways, I hope that next time you encounter a rainy, Saturday afternoon, you remember this passage, and consider my suggestion. The Blue Light by Caroline Weston In the darkness of the night, all you see is a bright blue light. Eyes burning, stomach churning, brain yearning for you to go sleep. But who needs sleep anyway? 8 hours a day is what they say! Is it enough? Of course it’s not! I wonder what would happen if we all forgot? About the little things, like the screens, like the scenes? Would our conversations be more real? Would our surroundings become more surreal? But of course, this could never happen. For as long as the blue light glows, our eyes will always burn, our stomachs will always churn, and our brains will always yearn for one more hour of precious sleep. President William McKinley by John Baier President William McKinley was born on January 29, 1843, in Niles. Ohio. During his life he went to Allegheny College for a little while. After he was done in college he became a country schoolteacher. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, he enlisted into the Union Army. During the first year of his time in the army he was sent to a western part of Virginia, with no real serious fighting. On April 1862 he was promoted to Commissary Sergeant, he was responsible for supplying his unit with rations. ? At the Battle of Antietam in Maryland, McKinley showed personal heroism. McKinley went to the commissary stores and loaded wagons full of cooked food, then drove it back to his squad under fire. This event earned him a lieutenant’s commission. After the Battle of Antietam he returned back to Western Virginia which was still very inactive until the mid-1864. During that time he joined Rutherford B Hayes’s staff as an assistant quartermaster. In Shenandoah Valley, 1864, federal armies under the generals of David Hunter, George Crook, and Philip Sheridan, they attempted to destroy confederate forces of Jubal A, Early. At the end of the war McKinley earned the rank of Brevet Major and was serving as a divisional adjutant. After the war McKinley decided to study law, and opened up his own Canton, Ohio and married a women named Ida Saxton, she was the daughter a local banker. McKinley entered in to Ohio Politics in 1869. Rising through the ranks as a Republican, he won the election in the U.S Congress in 1876. 14 years in Congress, he served as the chair of House Ways and Means Committee, during this time he became known as the proponent of economic protectionism, in the form of high tariffs on imported goods. ????????? In the 1893 election McKinley won the Republican nomination. He won the election with the majority vote of about 600,000, the most votes in 25 years. Soon after taking office, McKinley called Congress into a special session to discuss raising customs duties. The result was the Dingley Tariff Act, the highest protective tariff in American history. McKinley’s support for the act strengthened his position with organized labor. ????????? McKinley was the president during the Spanish-American War. In foreign affairs would McKinley’s presidential legacy happen. It started with the ongoing conflict in Cuba, where Spanish forces were attempting to restrain a revolutionary movement. At first McKinley didn’t want to enter the crisis because the American press were outraged by the bloodshed of it, so McKinley wanted Spain to make concessions. In February 1898, the sinking of the U.S battleship Maine was blown up in the Havana Harbor, it was said to be an external explosion thought to be a Spanish mine. After this incident McKinley asked Congress to declare war. On April 25, the declaration of war came. From early May to sometime in mid-August, U.S forces defeated Spain near the Santiago harbor in Cuba. We occupied Puerto Rico and seized Manila in the Philippines. Before that on August 12, we signed a cease-fire. Four months later the war ended. After the war Cuba got its independence, we got Guam and Puerto Rico as terms in the treaty, and we paid $20 million for the Philippines. The U.S Senate ratified the treaty on February 6, 1899.? ????????? McKinley also used the war as a pretext to annex (making it your) the independence of the state Hawaii. In 1893, a group of Hawaii-based planters and some businessmen led a coup (plot to take over) against their queen and established their own government. They wanted to annex to the United States. In the past Grover Cleveland denied their request. In 1898; however, President McKinley and the American Public were more favorably disposed toward acquiring the islands. They supported it because they thought Hawaii was vital to the United States economy. It would also serve as a strategic base that could help protect U.S interests in Asia, and the other nations were intent on taking the islands if the United States did not. At McKinley’s request, Congress had a resolution, and Hawaii was made a United States territory on August 12, 1898. ????????? In 1900, McKinley ran for reelection against William Jennings Bryan, who ran for an anti-imperialism platform. McKinley was reelected with a greater margin of victory than he had the first time he ran for president four years ago. On the afternoon of September 6, 1901, a 28 year old anarchist shot President William McKinley in the stomach during a public reception Pan-American Exposition, a World’s Fair in Buffalo, New York. President McKinley underwent surgery and was said to recover but his health soon went bad. He developed gangrene and blood poisoning. He died eight days after he was shot, becoming the third president to be assassinated. Two Sides by Meg AskewFlowers Lady Bugs Warmth Longer Days Laying out all day Weeds? Mosquitos Sweat More Time to have to kill Two ways to look at summer The Forest? by Oriel Soltysik What secrets have the woods to hide?? Overseen by trees, the stewards of time,?? Whose spectacular canopies roof the halls where wild beasts abide.? These things they have seen of a forest in its prime;? Mist off the mountains, taking shape.? The cloak of night, a fantastic cape.? The sun of day, shining bright,? Over both tranquil peace and furious fight,? Life and death of both predator and prey.? Tree trunks gleaming silver-grey.? A carpet of leaf mold dusted by frost,? The passage of time as it forever becomes lost.? My Bedroom by Noah Hartson Clean up your room! Mom hands me a broom I look on the floor I don't want to do this anymore There are shirts, pants Books, blankets Games, cards Backpacks, shoes Cables and balls I sigh in frustration As I reach down to star My inability to clean Is what sets me apart Insanity by Dakota PhillipsWhat is the definition of insanity? Insanity is doing the same thing over and over hoping for different results. The more you do one thing exactly the same the more it drives you to insanity. Our society continues to repeat itself. It’s stuck in a loop of insanity. Going to war for land or power is the perfect example. War cannot be won it’s a matter of who loses more. Because we harm our own people by sending them to war for an unnecessary cause we lose trust in each other. A society without trust will not continue to succeed or even exist. When we lose sight of what is important we are sure to lose what is important to us. Rain by Tyler Cundiff The Grass appears darker than it did before With a little sun shining The trees appear to be crying with raindrops And their leaves sinking The flowers look wilted, possibly sad But their color's still radiant With the clouds still hovering over the sky You can still see the blue And when all of the rain is gone The sun will arrive The Truth, About Television by Caroline HarrisSitting in front of a screen, hours on end It’s what society does, so I must blend It won’t hurt you they say, It’s entertaining, in a sinister kind of way Does it affect you?? Why does everyone want us to do it too?? It’s some kind of brainwash, that’s what I say? Wasting, wasting, the day away We've all been tricked.? English Yourself by Ethan SheehyLook?? If you had?? English?? Or one chance to do DGP? To correct everything you ever wanted? In one hour and 35 minutes?? Would you learn it?? Or just forget it?? Yo,?? His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy? There's vomit on his sweater already, English is ready?? His nervous because he forgot his help notes? To drop incomplete sentences, but he keeps on forgetting? What he wrote down on Monday while labeling parts of speech? He opens his mouth but the answers won’t come out? He's choking, how, everyone knows it know?? The clocks running out, DGP's over now? Snap back to English, oh there goes DGP? Oh, there goes Mrs. Bowen, correcting the class? She's so mad that he forgot his help notes but he won’t give up? He won’t have it he knows the whole sentence but can’t figure out if its and noun or action verb? It don’t matter he now knows his mistakes Mrs. Bowen helped him out and now he knows?? He's so happy that he knows when he goes his mom will be happy because he learned his DGP? Charles Emanuelson?What would you be willing to see? Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales? The Incredibles 2? The Last Airbender 2? While all those would be great, they are nothing compared to what would happen if U.B. Funkeys came to the big screen. ?U.B. Funkeys was an online game and toy line first released by Mattel in 2007. They were figures that had a USB cord attached to the back, and could be plugged into your desktop or laptop and allow you to play the Online MMO game, where you could meet new people, play games, and customize your house. Although it only lasted a few, short years, over 45 different types of Funkeys were made, the majority of them coming in three different types of color variation depending on rarity. These 45+ figures came out over many different waves, but each wave could be grouped up to make 4 main waves, “Funkeys, Funkiki Island, Speed Racer, and Hidden Realm.” Mattel had gotten a deal with Warner Brothers to make a D.C. line of Funkeys, it was sadly discontinued.? Besides this, it’s just completely obvious that a movie and TV series were to spawn, but unfortunately this never became a reality. The only visual production they had ever made for U.B. Funkeys were commercials, which were very high quality. So at this point, you’re probably thinking, “Wow, we need a U.B. Funkeys movie, and no, it is not a want, nor is it a laughing matter, it is a need. It is the next step to advancing our technological science, it is the true reason why we haven’t found the cure for cancer, it is the true reason why we haven’t discovered the Fountain of Youth, it’s the true reason why the definition of life itself may only be pondered upon, it is the true reason why we have not colonized the moon. Because the missing link, was the U.B. Funkeys movie,” and you’d be right. So, who would be hired for such an intense job? Quentin Tarantino of course. The movie itself would have a cameo from Easy Pete, and he would only show up once, to then be killed by a falling tree. The movie would all start out with the Devil funkey saying, “WILL YOU BE FUNKEY?” and then head-butting the screen, and then pan over to the mountain where the evil Master Lox will be sitting on his summit staring over Funkeytown menacingly, while Mayor Sayso is fighting off his henchmen. He sees a wounded soldier, Easy Pete, on the battlefield, holding his new born child, U.B. (the main Funkey) on his back. As a henchman approaches the wounded ally, Mayor Sayso comes over and screams, “YOU BE FUNKEY?” in the henchman’s ear until it’s rolling around on the ground in pain. “Here,” says Easy Pete “take my son, teach him how to be funkey,” the mayor doesn’t question his dying friend’s wish, and goes to pick up U.B. Right as he picks the child up, a tree falls on Easy Pete, rendering him, not funky. ?In conclusion, a U.B. Funkey movie should be made, sometime before I get out of high school. If there still isn’t a U.B. Funkeys movie by then, I will personally do it myself, no matter the expenses. Sure, it might take millions of dollars, and yeah, who cares if I’m not trained in anyway and don’t plan to be any time soon? The money doesn’t matter, all that matters is defeating Master Lox on the big screen, where he, his henchmen, and every other Funkey in Funkeytown belong. Recreational Marijuana Should be Legalized by Josh Williamson I believe marijuana should be legalized because it can help annihilate our national debt,?reduce spending, and help prisons become less crowded.? The way legalizing marijuana can help reduce our national debt is through allowing it, and then taxing it. Colorado, a state that has legalized marijuana, has collected nothing short of 1 billion dollars. Imagine if we sold it in big cities with a large population like Boston or New York or Pittsburg. Those cities would most definitely generate more than 1 billion, and making steps toward getting rid of our national debt. Legalizing marijuana will reduce government spending by more than 3.6 billion dollars. In the last year we spent 3.6 billion dollars on crimes related to marijuana, and that’s enough to give very human in the united states 10 dollars! These stats are proof that legalizing marijuana will not only give us money, but also save us 3.6 billion as well, and a penny saved is a penny earned right.? Legalizing marijuana will make prisons less crowded, and we will not be letting out violent criminals, we will be letting out people who only have a 3.1% chance of committing another crime besides that of marijuana related. There are 2,220,000 adults in prison, and there are over 40,000 people in prison for only possession of marijuana. About 650,000 people a year are arrested for possession of marijuana, and legalizing marijuana will also give the justice system more time for important cases.? Marijuana should be legalized because it will make the United States over 40billion dollars in tax revenue. We also will cut out 3.1 billion dollars of our budget to spend on bigger problems like our national debt. Legalizing marijuana will also get over 40,000 people out of prisons. Legalization will also free up the judicial system by 650,000 people. I believe we should legalize marijuana because it will help rid of our national debt, help widen the U.S budget, and free up prisons and give more time to the judicial system. The Meaning Behind The Day by Grace Gongora ?Easter is just right around the corner and I can’t wait. I love Easter because it has such a?powerful meaning that my family celebrates and cherishes. On Easter I get to wear a pretty?dress to church, everyone else is always dressed up also. My family has always been big?believers and have always heavily celebrated Easter morning! This year is going to be extra?special because it’s my nephew’s first Easter. I’m so glad I get to celebrate Easter with him and read him the story of the Easter miracle. I think it’s a great thing that my family loves and?celebrates Easter the way they do. I’ve grown up in church since the day I was born and have?never known it to be any different. I wouldn’t change the way, form, and style I grew up in for?anything. My mom every Easter tells me the Easter story about how the tomb rolled away and?how everyone should learn about it, and how if they don’t know about it how it’s not too late?be saved. I think that Easter is one of the most meaningful times of the year. I think Easter?should be celebrated as a holiday because it’s one of the most important historical events of all time.? I love on Easter how I get cool gifts and everything, but the real reason we celebrate is not because we love the gifts but because he first loved us.? School Athletics? by Taylor Smithson? Non-student athletes earn a lower GPA than a student athlete does and they spend an average of 7 to 8 hours on electronics a day. To add to the list over 60% of secondary schools are considered “drug infected”. This is why school sports should be extremely encouraged in secondary schools because it improves social skills, grades/ academic performance, and reduces the use of drugs. ?Nearly all teenagers from 6th to 12th grade spend an average of 7 to 8 hours a day on electronics (phones, computers, iPads, TV, etc.).? This causes teens to be anti-social on a daily basis. If students played a sport in their free time they are forced to communicate with one another whether it be with a coach, a teammate, or an official (ref). For example if you are playing basketball and you are open for a shot you? have to call out for the ball cause if you don’t then your teammate most likely won’t see or hear you. Not only do sports teach social and communication skills they also teach you about time management when planning for practice, for homework, and for social activities. To go along with learning social skills comes learning decisive decision making and learning about teamwork. ?The University of Kansas found in a study that student athletes hold a grade point average of 3.25 while non-athletes hold a grade point average of 3.01 which is significantly lower than the athlete’s grade point average. An athlete learn how to focus and improvise in the sport they are playing and use it in the classroom which helps them with study skills. Research published in The International Journal of the History of Sport last year found that having "dual careers" provides motivation for training and preparation, stimulating athletes intellectually and relieving stress. Meaning that if you pursue an academic and athletic career you are more motivated for learning and studying without being stressed out. As a result students who play sports have a 10% higher chance of graduating high school than non-athletes.? A new study was published online in the journal Addiction drew data from a series of studies sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and found startling results. It found that only 15% of student athletes had been involved in drug use situations while 23% of non-exercising teens had done tried drugs. This is because most schools drug test their athletes to make sure they are not cheating with any illegal hormones and are making sure if there is any drug use on the team there is no chance of any drugs traveling to other schools. In addition school athletes are too involved in their sports to be messing around with any illegal products known as drugs. ? All things considered in my opinion it is clear to see why all secondary schools should encourage students to participate in a school sport. Enhancing social skills in the next generation is much needed in order to have success in the real world. In addition to social skills there is also the improvement in Academics. Student athletes have proven that they have a better intention to focus and learn which is almost guaranteed to improve the GPA of the student. Another thing is the reduction in the use of drugs. Student athletes are more likely to stay away from drugs if they are involved in a sport. So why do schools not require their students to participate in an athletic sport at their school as it can improve the reputation and quality of the school? Comet (Not the Reindeer) by Josie BehelerI look up into the abstract beauty of the night sky. Trillions of twinkling, geometrical stars peer at me through the darkness, followed by the dim moonlight of the night's sun. All of the sudden, there it was. A moment that I had wished upon for almost 3 years. A glistening shooting star gleamed through the dark with its tail flowing behind it like a flag billowing in the soft wind of Earth. The star's vibrant colors swirled out of their home into my mind. My thoughts were filled with delicate strokes of yellow and orange mixtures. The curvaceous swirls organically flowed through the sky, weaving away from every star in its path. Then, in the blink of an eye, it vanished; along with the colors in my mind.? Poem on television? by: Cameron BishopWhen I wake up in the morning,The first thing I like to see,Is my hometown boy Mickey MouseMaking jokes on the TV.You see, I grab my cerealAnd sit down in my favorite chair.I don't care what I look like,I don't even fix my hair.The last thing isWhen I'm all done with my cartoons.I get so worked upI look like a baboonSo since I'm writing this poem,And the whole class in entertained.I'm like a wild animal,I can't be contained.Eating Disorders by Kaylee Glas Do you know what an eating disorders is, or how much it affects people? Most people do, but they don’t know the meaning of having an eating disorder. I believe that eating disorder awareness week should be a country wide event. This week will teach kids what an eating disorder is, how to identify one in their friends, and why people resort to the unhealthy eating habits of an eating disorder.? When we say the words ‘eating disorder’ we don’t always know what it means.? Eating disorders are, and I quote, any psychological disorders characterized by abnormal eating habits. Eating disorders affect about 4% of all adolescent girls and about 0.4% of males. If eating disorder awareness week was a country wide event then people would know more about them and what they are. They can be very hard to spot in children as well. ?Eating disorders, in their early stages, are one of the hardest things to identify in a child. It may start out as long bathroom trips after lunch and dinner (bulimia), or the kid constantly talking at meal times and not eating any of their food (anorexia). If eating disorder awareness week actually existed then we could help stop eating disorders in their tracks. It is very important that we all know what the beginning stages look like, so that eating disorders don’t get fatal. Along with knowing what to look for, it is also a good idea to know why people develop eating disorders. ? When someone has an eating disorder, it is their attempt to be in control of something in their lives, or they need to cope with a certain unpleasant event happening in their life. If a person goes through a major change they will likely want something that they can control, and many show control by restricted dieting. Some people think that eating disorders are choices that the person makes, this is untrue they are mental illnesses that cause chemical imbalances in the brain. Eating disorder awareness week could show that neurological changes in a person’s brain happens with an eating disorder.? ?Eating disorders are not something to play around with, they are abnormal eating habits that need to be addressed as soon as possible. The warning signs can be so obvious, we just don’t stop to notice them. If the country made an eating disorder awareness week mandatory in schools then our future will be more educated on the dangers of this illness. They are a cry for help and a desperate need kids and some adults to have control of something in their lives. So I’ll ask you again. Do you know someone with an eating disorder, or have you just not noticed it yet? List Poem? by Dylan WilliamsAt the store there is much to buy? so many things to occupy? Candy, games and so much more? so many things at the store? You can buy food and other good things? you can buy a bell that rings? You can buy a bike and a helmet with special wheels, at the store,? there are some very good deals? Things are 10, 20, and 50 percent off!?? You can buy medicine that will help will die out your cough.?? At the store there is so much to buy? some many things you think you could die! TV by Hadley Brandetsas The screen shows my reflection As I flip through all of the channelsYou make me sadYou make me happyIt can be true or full of liesColored or black and white Writing Like an Artists Paints by Grace Williams It is another busy night in New York City. I hop in a mustard-yellow taxi cab and stare out of the translucent window as I am driven home. Even though it is an hour to midnight, the town is bustling with activity. We pass Rockefellers Center and I stare longingly at the ice skating rink. The many flags around the perimeter of the rink swoosh side to side with the wind, and I watch as families glide (and sometimes fall) along the thick ice. As we get closer to my apartment, we pass tons of stores where only the finest and the richest can afford even the smallest object. Women in 10-inch heels and designer fur coats flee out of the store carrying dozens of shopping bags in their recently-manicured hands. As we pass through it is another busy night in New York City. I hop in a mustard-yellow taxi cab and stare out of the translucent window as I am driven home. Even though it is an hour to midnight, the town is bustling with activity. We pass Rockefellers Center and I stare longingly at the ice skating rink. The many flags around the perimeter of the rink swoosh side to side with the wind, and I watch as families glide (and sometimes fall) along the thick ice. As we get closer to my apartment, we pass tons of stores where only the finest and the richest can afford even the smallest object. Women in 10-inch heels and designer fur coats flee out of the store carrying dozens of shopping bags in their recently-manicured hands. As we pass through Times Square, I see thousands of people. Tourists are huddled anxiously around a map of the busy town are taking pictures every few seconds. People are smashed together in long lines waiting to listen to a Broadway musical. We eventually get to my small brick apartment. I hand the taxi driver a 20 dollar bill, grab my bag and coat, and enter the doors of my building.? At Times Square, I see thousands of people. Tourists are huddled anxiously around a map of the busy town are taking pictures every few seconds. People are smashed together in long lines waiting to listen to a Broadway musical. We eventually get to my small brick apartment. I hand the taxi driver a 20 dollar bill, grab my bag and coat, and enter the doors of my building.? Legalization of Marijuana? by Seth Schindler As of 2017 the United States has been twenty trillion dollars in debt. Inflation in the economy prevents the government from printing more money. The only solution is in the people’s hand. The government can get us out of debt by taxing. If we legalize marijuana the government can make money by putting a very high percentage of tax on the product. I think the legalization of marijuana is a very good idea. There are many ways marijuana can be beneficial. For example: it creates jobs, taxing it will get America out of debt, and not having to pay for drug war. ?Since the legalization of marijuana in Colorado 18,000 new jobs have been created. This generated $2.4 billion dollars as of 2015. Colorado is one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation.? Most of the jobs are paying higher than the national minimum wage. There are 28 states with the use of recreational and medical marijuana. Eight of the top ten highest growing state economy are states that use recreational and medical marijuana. Creating jobs in America is very important. There are around 93 million people in the nation we live in with no job. With marijuana creating jobs, this could lower the amount of unemployed Americans. ?The total federal government debt in 2017 is nearly $20.1 trillion. The Legalization of marijuana is estimated to produce up to $28 billion dollars in yearly tax revenue. Colorado by itself gained up to $270 million dollars in the first three months of the legalization of marijuana. In Washington $257 million dollars were brought in in just one year. If every state follows there lead we could end up getting the United Sates out of debt. ? In 2015 alone there were exactly 646,121 people arrested of marijuana law violation. All of those people have to go to prison for committing a crime. It costs around $60,000 dollars just to put one of those people in prison. That is around $38,587,260 dollars we spend on inmates to go to prison. Not only that, but we annually spent around $51,000,000,000 on war on drugs. With the legalization of marijuana we could cut the prices down. As an alternative the United States will be making money, rather than having to spend it all on arresting people that have it.? ? Legalizing marijuana in the United States will create jobs for the unemployed, will get us out of debt, and will make money. What we are doing know is spending large sums of money on people that are breaking the law. Instead of letting people do that, we need to flip the system around. Make marijuana legal and we won’t have to spend money on the people that do it. We will instead make money off of them by taxing it. Let’s use this idea and help America get out of debt. If you really loved your country you would want to see it out of debt. Ideas like this which create large amounts of money will get us out. ?The Lunch Line by Daniel Reeves'Twas a blur, when time flew by, the restless days and nightsAn obsession, now an addiction, of pizza oh my pieEvery day I travel time to get to the day of FriAt last it's here but oh I fear it makes me want to cry.'Twas a blur when time flew by the truck of goods and sweets oh my,The name brand stamp up on the sideUnreadable through my teary eyes.'Twas a blur when the truck drove by carrying the last load of my pizza fries stuffed with goods inside.The Red and white of the coca cola sign combined to make a sad designthe graveled rocks being thrown behindTwas a blur when time goes by.Now it's gone, that corporate truck, leaving me with my bad luck, no more cakes with the white dust, no more delicate pizza puffs.Ten Years Later by Emma Larson Ten years later. Jupiter had almost every trait like Joseph. Watching her grow up was amazing. Jupiter excelled in school and was the best in her class. She has straight A's. All one hundreds. If she had a 99, she knew the teachers had messed up grading.?? ???????? I was 24, now attending the University of Maine. I went and visited Jupiter and my parents whenever I had the chance. I went to Maine University for baseball. I was the starting pitcher. I was the only who knew where I got my arm from.? ??????? I thought about Joseph a lot, and how that night could've been different. How I wish I were brave enough to fight back against Joseph's father, how we could've stopped him from driving off with Joseph. But in the end I still had a part of Joseph with me, I had his back, he had mine. I always had this feeling right when I first met Jupiter's foster mom that I would end up with her forever.? ??????? My nickname "Jackie" had always stuck. Even my parents would sometimes say it, I never minded. Rosy loved Jupiter as much as she loved Joseph. She would moo her lovey moo whenever she stepped into the barn, and when she would rub her rump.??? ????????? Mr. Canton finally learned some respect for Joseph's name and Jupiter. During a parent teacher conference my parents were both busy with chores so I decided to take Jupiter. That was where Mr. Canton apologized sincerely to me.?? ????????? Jupiter had even more athletic ability than Joseph. She beat his record time for the rope climb. She was on the soccer team and was the fastest offensive player. She was team captain too. Jupiter had this smile, her shiny white teeth, and her amazing personality, she could make anyone feel better in seconds with a flash of her smile.?? ????????? After Joseph, my parents continued to still foster kids, ages ranging from 3 years old to 15 years old. Most of them have only stayed for months others maybe a year or two. There was one child in particular that my parents got attached to and contemplated adoption but couldn’t because the child's birth mom wanted full custody.? Joseph and Jupiter have made a huge impact on our life, and that’s a fact.Writing Like an Artist by Eden Giannini My head jerks up, and I feel my phone slide off my lap and fall to the floor of the train. I must have been asleep. It is silent, except for its soft hum as we speed down the tracks. A few cabin lights illuminate the tops of peoples' heads in front of me, but many are asleep with the lights off. I yawn, adjusting my position in the seat. The train rattles some more. Grabbing my phone off the floor, I look out into my dark window. It is as cold as ice. Nothing is visible out there, only a deep darkness that seems so thick I could hold it.?? One man turns off the light at his seat. I am starting to nod off again, but my phone buzzes in my lap and I notice the time. 12:07. Soon someone else turns off a light, and then another. One light remains besides the dim ones on the ceiling. A moment longer, and I am in total dark.? I notice the stars first. Silent and sure, they speckle the night like someone took a handful of glitter and just let it fall down to the earth. Some shimmer, some do not. The moon casts a milky glow over the darkness, blurring it as if in a painting. The trees speed by in a flash, their dormant forms too fast to really look at. The sky is no longer black, but a deep navy blue. Soon we leave the trees, and the hillsides move past slowly. I sigh and sink into the seat, slipping into a peaceful sleep.? The Tank by Josh WilliamsonThere was an iridescent blob in the distance, and I could hear a light hum. It began to get nearer and form its box like shape, with the long extension hanging about 10ft in the air. The swamp green tank, with its wheels the size of a 5th grader, passed by with tremendous might. It was so heavy the ground seemed to scream for the pressure to be relieved. The hum of the beast was like 100 beehives, and the scent of the gasoline fueling it was overwhelmingly strong, as the green mass drove out of sight,?I could?still hear the hum of the gargantuan vehicle.?????????? Rollercoaster by Lexie RhodesThe cart of the rollercoaster drops down the mountain speedily. I hear the earsplitting screeches of the petrified people around me. As I descend I look at the park through the blackness of the night. I see the bright green of the leaves of the Tree of Life as they glimmer in the dark. I see the tiny dark shapes of the people below me. Multicolored illuminations from cheerful children’s Mickey Mouse balloons flash up at me.?? I can see the ice cream truck imported from Nepal. Its vibrant colors of blue and purple and the intricate designs stick out in the dark. There are children laughing and jumping around as they debark the rollercoaster that they were terrified of moments ago. I realize that soon I will be departing as well. There are so many different exotic colors I can see as I hurtle past. The park is like a kaleidoscope of color.?? ? In a matter of seconds, the whole park goes by me. A sense of peace comes to me even though everything is crazy. Although my eyes are incapable of focusing on the distorted images, everything is sort of beautiful in a bizarre, wild way.? I look over the blur of Animal Kingdom through the Expedition Everest ride. I see an amazing world of color that is really just a blur.? No War by Christian KeriazakosIf there were no warStill murderIf there were no warStill famineIf there were no warStill hateIf there were no warStill homelessIf there were no warStill diseaseIf there were no warStill theftIf there were no warStill DisasterIf there were no warStill deathIf there were no warStill better.A Poem by Kamryn NewmanI don’t understand why people have to disrupt classWhy people make fun of meWhy my friends get mad at me for no reasonBut most of allWhy people have dirty mindsWhy people argue so muchWhat I understand most isWhy people worry about moneyWhy people laughWhy people plant flowersTwo Poems by Austin HuffmanHappiness??Smells like blooming flowersTastes like a batch of cookies Sounds like flapping of wings from birds and beesFeels like the shining sunFeels like a nice breeze on a hot dayFeels like little licks of a puppyHappinessMetaphorPart of me is orangeMild and ordinaryNormal and bland Going and flowing through lifeBut deep inside there’s another partA crimson red, like a leaf on a treeAngry and madFurious and franticDelirious and frenzied Steaming when people are stupid Yet they’re both very realAnd they’re both me!Six poems by Jacob MorrisI don’t understandI don’t understandWhy people hate the quietWhy people dislike the calmWhy people hate each other.But most of allWhy people act in spiteWhy people act in hateWhy people hate at all.Why people aren’t peaceful.What I do understand mostWhy people can be kindWhy people can do good things in this worldWhy people are niceWhy people love others.Where I’m fromI’m from familyThe greatest joy in my lifeI’m from cheering on my family in everythingBeing in the backyard with my relatives during a reunionI am from friendshipHow they always cheered me upI can still remember itJust the same.I still am from comfortWhere the tree growsIts leaves still fallIn the delightful seasons.It towers over the houseWith its shadowThe river in the parkIt still flowsBut it will remainNature will remain.EMPTINESSEmptyBleakNothingDarknessDEATHBarrenGoneNo MoreThis is us nowOn the Other HandThere is Still Life HereJust add ColorWe are Still HereEarthThink about itEarthGoneClimate changesMelting IceWater GoneRunning out;FuelTerminal declineWe will be goneThey will dieEverything will dieOr else, say goodbyeFeelings.EmptinessIt smells slightly sweet, luring you in;It tastes like nothing, just like waterIt is the static sound from the TVIt feels like you are alone, the bitter taste still sits in your mouthIt feels like you aren’t there at allIt feels like everyone hates youEmptinessFuture SelfDon’t be downBe as bright as the sunJust tryBe the stars;The sunRemember;Stay happy;Do what makes you happy“Reuse, Reduce, Recycle”by Catherine ChenThe Earth is a wonderful place.There’s animals, nature, and grace.You think you’re helping the Earth, yes?Think again. You’re making a mess.Our world is slowly breaking down,Making humans cry out and frown.Only takes a careless human,To influence and let the doom in.It could be Cole, Mark, or Jannet,So please, help save our planet!It could be Susan, Brock, Michael, Please! Reuse, Reduce, Recycle.“GLITTER”by Catherine ChenGlitter is small, It cannot be tall.It is shiny,Almost blinding.Glitter gets everywhere,Take caution, beware!Cuts your eye, Watch out, goodbye.Glitter is small,Dangerous falls.Gets you itchy, Next you’ll be stitchy.Glitter. . . …..A killer. Should Cities Offer Free Public Wi-Fi? by Thomas PierceHow many of you own an electronic device? A survey conducted by Pew Research center in 2015 shows that 68% of Americans own a smartphone or tablet. In 2010 4.9 million citizens used public Wi-Fi. The number of users increased 4 million in the past three years, imagine the amount of users in the next three years. More people are using portable devices than in previous years. In my opinion, YES, cities should offer public Wi-Fi. One reason why cities should offer free public Wi-Fi is because it would be free to all users with an electronic device, including those people that cannot afford it. ?When you buy internet from a cellular network it is twenty-times more expensive than sending data through Wi-Fi. Students could use Wi-Fi for school purposes, research, and they could play games on the computer or phone without using data. 17 colleges offer school laptops to their students. While traveling, you could access the city’s Wi-Fi and work from your car, a park, or anywhere you would like to. Although some students have cell phones, others own devices that only run on internet. I’m a prime example of this; I own an IPod which can only be used with internet connection. I am unable to contact my parents or emergency services if need be.Another reason why cities should offer free public Wi-Fi is it could be used for medical emergencies if cell phone service is not available. If there was a medical emergency like an allergic reaction and they had no service someone could call 911. In Dallas, Texas, one of three deaths were reported from heart attacks, nine people have died from allergic reactions. Cities offering free Wi-Fi would help decrease the number of medical emergencies death because schools that have cellular service blocked to prevent the students from using their phones in class could have the students hooked up to the school’s Wi-Fi, this helps give parents a sense of security because they would be able to contact their loved ones in case of a medical emergency.A Third reason why cities should offer Public Wi-Fi is because it would cut back on data overages. The benefits of cities offering free public Wi-Fi are people could check e-mails, text family members, and do this all without using data. 75% of the time people are on their electronics so having free Wi-Fi would DEFINETLY help. Having free Wi-Fi in public cities would help families save money to buy necessities like food and bills.??? Just think a city that offers free public Wi-Fi imagine other possibilities. I personally think that cities would be better off with free Wi-Fi. Think back to the start of my speech did you think that I absolutely didn’t know what I was talking about? Did you? Probably but face the facts cities would be better off with free Wi-Fi. Do you think they would?Where I’m From Poemby Taylor HilovskyI’m from the star cityFrom enormous mountainsFrom blazing summer daysFrom RoanokeI’m from BobolinkFrom faded paintFrom the ugly mustered houseFrom friendly neighborsFrom patched grassesFrom thick tall treesFrom colorful flowers full of insectsI’m from never ending loveFrom hugs and kissesFrom love at all timesFrom happy familiesI’m from celebrating all holidayFrom early morning birthdaysFrom Easter egg huntingFrom good timesI’m from the big backyardsCriss Cross by Caroline MooreCriss-Cross,You might be lost,Is it a bridge?Or scaffolding along a ridge,Grey is the sky behind it,The sun could make the sky split,Criss-Cross.Eight Poems by Alicia CarvalhoPiclit poemThe fresh air calms his racing breathThe heat of the sun beats down on himThe wind pushes him back as he races towards the house in the distanceHe feels the adrenaline running through himHe’s so excited to share the news he can barely hold inFeeling poemIrritationSmells like a skunkTastes like rotten meatSounds like a monotonous alarmFeels like something sour shooting through your veinsFeels like eyes rollingFeels like slow controlled breathsIrritation Color poemsPart of me is fiery red-orangeSarcastic and socialIntelligent and ambitiousFollowing my aspirations and making others smileBut deep inside there’s another part,Queen blue, like a stream flowing calmly,Serene and sentimentalInquisitive and indecisiveThinking of other ways when options are lowYet they’re both very real…………. And they’re both ME!?????????????? ?One Minute in Time poemSmells like food!Footsteps coming from the kitchenPhantom flavors on my taste budsI rub my hands together in anticipationThat one minute in timeWhen you’re waiting…For the food to be set downThe prayers to be said…And finally!Yu waited thirty hours for these words-DIG IN!Where I’m From I’m from the GardensFrom the steep roads that are horrible for runningFrom the sidewalks and trails of friendly smilesFrom the views of unending housesI’m from the memoriesFrom the sounds of kids laughing and dogs barkingFrom the smell of freshly cut grassFrom the boxed-up Christmas and Halloween decorationsI’m from the giggling From the squeals of Tag and Hide& SeekFrom the excitement that bubbles produceFrom the silly jokes and fancy handshakesI’m from the practiceFrom the tears of frustrationFrom the hours of repetitive drillsFrom the cheers of long awaited victoryEarth Day HaikusThe air we breathe inGiving us all life to enjoyFueling body and soulOur beautiful homeShared with other animalsWith beauty and honorStages of RainThe first sign of rainDrip ?drip ?dripYou look up in wonderCould it be?Patter ?patter ?patterYou walk faster, but only a littleHesitant to see if it’ll get any harderDrop ?drop ?dropLooking through your bag Where’s your umbrella?Splosh ?splosh ?sploshForget it--RUNFuture Self poemLife is made for you to live it at the fullestFor you to thrive inSo follow your ambitionsMeet your goalsExceed at what you do bestProve to them that you can do anythingLearn from your mistakes and your successBut most importantly…Enjoy your life! Poems by Priya Patel Feeling poem JoySmell like cookies baking in the ovenTastes like strawberries covered in chocolateSounds like children laughing on the playgroundFeels like you want to jump up and never come downFeels like a warm breezy dayFeels like roasting marshmallows with my familyJoyI don’t understandI don’t understand Why people hate Why people don’t understandWhy trees are tall and grass is lowBut most of all Why people always leaveWhy people are racist Why people are annoyingWhat I understand the most Why bees buzzWhy the ocean rises and fallsWhy moon glows Why the sun shines13 Ways of Looking at the OceanWhen the waves hit the shore Bringing us shiny treasures The big cities that lie Under the surface with Sand and coralTides rising And fallingThe perfect blue Color of the waterFilled with life And creatures We don’t know Anything aboutThe soothing sounds of waves Crashing to the rest of the oceanOnce you loose Something it will Never returnSeparates the countries From one anotherSurrounds many Island known To no manShips sink From Crashing wavesHarbors many Deadly sharp RocksRocks turn to Sand years later On shoresFinding all Sorts of life On the shoreOnomatopoetic poem Birds chirpBees buzzBears growlWolves howlAnd cats meowEvery animal makes a different soundMice squeakOwls hooSnakes hissBut things make sounds toClocks tick and tockCoke fizzesBut we make sounds tooWe chuckleWe yawnWe snoreWe groanWe snort We are the ones that Make so many sounds????????????????????????????????My Future Self20 years down the road I don’t know where I’ll end upIn 20 year I’ll be 33 years oldAs a 33 year old I wantTo be a wife and have kidsI want to be a doctorI want to live near my familyThe sun should be bright I’ll be 33 years old in only 2 decades I don’t know where I’ll live I don’t who’ll I’ll end up withOr where I’ll workIt all matters with the Decisions and mistakesI will make in the future??? MetaphorPart of me is a bright yellow Happy and laughingCheerful and relaxedEnjoying life and exploring the worldBut deep inside there’s another partSoft white like snow in a meadowLonely and self-consciousEmpty and isolatedDigging a whole whenSomeone knocks on the doorYet they’re both very realAnd they’re both me!Where I’m From I’m from Roanoke, VirginiaFrom that big star that hovers over the cityFrom that little town thatBecame a fairly big oneI’m from helping my dad mow the lawnFrom the times I helped my mom cookFrom the times I played lava and hide and go seek with my sistersI’m from drinking Debs frozen lemonade On the hot summer daysFrom eating Miami ice all summer longFrom eating Full Moon chocolate chip cookiesRoanoke is my home I have nothing to compare toBut it is my home Earth Day PoemThe earth is roundBut once believed flatFilled with mostly water The sun rises every morningAnd the moon glows every nightThe earth is filled with many thingsFlowers, trees, animals, us, and buildingsWe walk around and watch theRain drop and sun shine This is the earth ???????????????????????????Part of Me by Ivory WoodPart of me is translucent gold…?? Exiting and adventurous?? Affectionate and ambitious ?? Amusing my classmates and appreciating our time together But deep inside there’s another part, delicate lavender, like a leaf blinding in, in a forest…?? Bashful and cautious ?? Timid and humble ?? Calming myself down when I step into the burning sunlight of the field ??????????? Yet they’re very real,?? And they’re both me…???????? …Ivory Wood…Arrive Alive by Aiden DellingerThe text you sent,The conversation you had,The call you attempted to make,Can all kill you or hurt you in a car.The concentration on the road,The times you wear a seatbelt,When you don’t look at your phone, Can all make it safer for everyone on the road.Would your passenger want to be in a wreck because of your mistake? Arrive Alive13 Ways Of Looking At A Summer Day by Grace Reed1) ?The first day of summer was excitingNo school, no worries, no homework!Then I realized we had to read a book over the summer. At least I like reading!2) The first 3 weeks of summerOur camp was so fun!My mom and I are heading to a pet store to bring home my special surprise!3) My family is taking a trip to the beach! Soft sand, cool waves, and fun selfies!4) The Middle of summerHanging out with friends, going to the pool!Thinking about how 8th grade will be.5) A little after the middleI forgot about that book I’m supposed to read.Sorry mom, I’ll start it now.6) After the middle of summerMy mom just helped me move in into my brother’s room!Now my brother gets the baby room, then I realize I won’t see him often,He’s off to college7) Towards the end of summerA whole new wardrobe, because everything is torn up a bit and faded.Starting to buy school supplies, getting the schedule8) Also Towards the EndSeeing if my friends are in my classesUpset for the ones who aren’t in them9) Almost to the end Worrying about getting to my classesOpening my locker, remembering the combinationWhat was it? 26-17-0?10) The last week of summerMeeting up with my friends for the last of summerMy mom surprised I’m already in 8th gradeEnjoying the last moments outside11) Four days until SchoolMy birthday is coming up soon, August 27th!It has been on the first day of school before…I can’t wait to see the friends I couldn’t see over summer!12) three days until the end of summerThinking of how people have changedHas anyone gotten a different haircut? Maybe Color?Have They Gotten taller?13) Tomorrow is schoolGetting prepared for the first dayUpset about having to wake up at seven againI had a great summer! I enjoyed it while it lasted!SUMMER WENT BY SO FASTby Jackson Hugh VestAs the spring left and the Summer came, the whole world started to change.The schools were out, the crowds were about, andThe sun was shining stout.The pool had opened; the wind had stopped.It was time to do a belly flop.The lifeguard whistled, the little kids splashed, While mothers spray sunscreen with a flash.Johnny chases Jimmy. Jimmy chases Jane.Jane almost fell down the pool drain.The snack bar was open. It never shut down.Jimmy loved the popcorn’s popping sound.Unfortunately, for Jimmy had low funds,So he could buy the hot dog but not the buns. Jimmy was trying to catch a beautiful dragonfly,And when he did, he jumped around and said, “Oh my!”Jane felt a chilling breeze; This made her ill at ease.This made her make a fuss,For her mom talked about riding the school bus. As it started to get colder, and the kids put on their coats;The parents put away the pool toys and floats.Walmart was packed and got good replies,For this was the place to get school supplies.The students got their uniforms;They also got furnishings for their dorms. The students got homework on the first day,And not one gave a big hooray.They all wondered,And they pondered, “Why did summer go by so fast, it didn’t even last?”Jacob by Jacob MillerSmart, kind, funny, and athleticChild of Mr. and Mrs. MillerBrother of Mallory and Mackenzie Ruler of Lego dimensions Creator of Lego charactersWho feels happy when I’m swimming Who fears of riding the bus homeWho dreams of making the OlympicsWho loves his friends and familyWho would like to see Michael PhelpsWho wonders about himselfResident of Windy Hill Key Miller THE STRUGGLEby Lauren HollandOne day Maria and Julio went to the grocery store with their mama and papa. It was Sunday and they had just finished with church and they were still in their best clothing. They were about to check out when, Maria, the youngest, had gone up to her mama to ask her a question. “Hey Mama, there is that cake I wanted; can we get it please?” It was a red velvet cake with superb frosting perfectly spread evenly on the top of the cake that had the words “Happy Birthday.”Mama hesitated “I’m sorry Maria, Mama just can’t afford it, maybe next time.” “That’s what you said last time,” Maria sadly exclaimed.Maria was very upset, and Mama felt badly for her daughter for she just could not afford it. A little girl had witnessed it all, she felt badly also. So the little girl went to her parents and told them about the situation. The little girl decided she would try to help.“Surely you have enough money to buy that cake, right?” the little girl asked Maria.“No, we have just enough for food and shelter,” said Maria.“Well, you have nice clothing on, why is that?” The little girl asked.“I just came from church. My grandfather got this for me two years ago for Christmas,” Maria replied.“Oh, ok,” the little girl sadly exclaimed, feeling sorrow for Maria.The little girl’s parents came up to the cash register and bought the cake that Maria had wanted for a long time as Maria’s family was leaving the store. The little girl had to hurry to catch up with Maria.“Hey girl, wait!” the little girl screamed.Maria looked behind her and saw the little girl with the cake she has wanted for a long time.“The cake, for me?” Maria asked.“Yes for you. May I get your name?” the little girl asked.“Yes, my name is Maria Arigaton,” Maria said proudly.“I’m sorry but we cannot accept this offer,” Mama said.No, you take it,” the little girl insisted.“May we get your name?” Mama asked.“My name is Samantha, Samantha Higgins,” Samantha replied.“We can’t thank you more,” Mama replied.“Now Maria, when you become older, if someone needs help, will you promise me that you will help?” Samantha asked.“Yea!” Maria said.Maria skipped off joyfully to her papa to show him the cake she had got. Maria had wanted this for her birthday two months ago but didn’t get it until now. The Arigaton family was very grateful for the amazing gift from a complete stranger.Maria, Julio, and their mama and papa enjoyed the cake at home one day after they had received it.“This is yummy cake!” Julio excitedly exclaimed.“I know!” Maria replied.From then on the family still struggled with money but they had never forgotten what that little girl had done for then.Arrive AliveMallory CochranIf you’re alone,Put down your phoneTurn down the radioAnd your chances of surviving will growYou know they make seatbelts for a reasonSo buckle it and you could look decent Your mom would like the car quietIf you want to live maybe you should try itIf you’re driving, you should slow downBut only if you want to make it back to your hometownOnce you’ve broken all your bonesYou might need a loanFor your hospital bill, that isNow I’m out of stuff to sayListen to me and you won’t have to paySo if you want to take that new car for a test driveThen you need to Arrive Alive11 Ways to Read by Mallory CochranIA bookopens a page is turned. IIEyes flutteringrapidlyacross the words. IIIPictures form insidemy mind. IVMindracing,eager tofinish. VThe pagesare never still,never.VIEmotions are strongand plentiful.VIILost my place.Urgently tryingto find it inthe ocean of words.VIIIWordsare everywhere.I’m lostin them.IXThe storyis almost over.So close.XA final pageis turned.The book is closed.XI Finished. Arrive Alive by Matthew DancoIt may be true The feeling when you feel safe It’s important, that feeling It’s warm, soft and comforting Or the fear of not being a safe passenger It’s sharp and coldLike it will never end But you can fix this By staying buckled in your seatAnd not disturbing the driver That makes all the difference.Apple Orchard by Leah SortoreI am slouched in my seat, staring out the window of our racing car. The colors outside blur together and make my head ache. As we speed past an orchard I watch as the blooms on the apple trees swirl in the wind and up into the bright sky. The petals?blot?out the world, but something catches my eye before we leave the orchard behind. A small girl leaps from tree to tree like it's the most natural thing in the world. Her golden hair is intertwined with blossoms and her bare feet never touch the ground. Her blue jeans and white t-shirt are stained with mud and grass and she has specs of bark clinging to her clothing. I see her smile and disappear into the trees. We leave behind her laughing face and the whirling blossoms, but the image is stays in my mind as we race away.Animal Abuse by Alenna WilliamsonAnimal abuse needs to be recognized and dealt with, there are many different types of animal abuse though most people just stand by and watch. I believe that animal abuse is wrong, 905 species have gone extinct in the last century. Poachers are slaying innocent animals, and 7.6 million cats and dogs are put into shelters each year. 905 species of the 44,838 species on earth that have been discovered have come extinct. To me this is a major problem, and to show that this is a problem, in 2006 it was 784, that means that in a total of 11 years 121 species have gone extinct. Many do to climate change, but even though humans aren’t the main problem doesn’t mean we can’t help. The second biggest reason for animal extinction is rising sea levels. I have recently read an article where poachers came into a rhino orphanage in Africa and killed two baby rhinos, one was defaced for his horn, and the other was shot and had his horn sawed off brutally. What is very sad about this story is that these two rhinos were a week away from getting their horns off and moved to another sanctuary. This shows that poachers care for money more than nature, the fact that these two rhinos were killed so brutally just for the horns to sell for money is pure selfishness and should be stopped. With how many poachers are found only a few are actually caught and convicted. Did you know that 7.6 million cats and dogs enter shelters each year? Only 1 out of 10 dogs born will find a forever home when they’re born. These cats and dogs are homeless and helping each other stay alive. Some depending on people to get half the food they have, some suffer from diseases such as lime disease and other diseases from certain bugs. Very few are found and treated with the treatment they need. Homeless animals outnumber homeless people 5 to 1. People should care about this because innocent animals are not being taken care of and they don’t deserve living on the streets, or being killed, or being the last of their species. Animals are amazing children of nature and animals are a big part of today whether its animals being killed in Africa or millions of cats and dogs being adopted, or an endangered species being brought back to a healthy number. Poachers need to be stopped, species need to be saved and, cats and dogs need to be adopted and taken care of old or young.CSMS 8th Grade Jazz Band by Hanna ScaerPlaying in the Cave Spring Middle School 8th grade Jazz Band has been splendid so far. I have met so many great new people with sweet personalities and they have made my experience even better. I am so excited to play the rest of the year then move on to 8th grade! In Jazz Band, I play the bass guitar. I have an amazing time playing it. There is another bassist in my class, but she usually sticks to the piano. A lot of people in Jazz Band play many different instruments and move around the room to play with a different section. I play the French horn in regular band, but that’s not a very “Jazzy” instrument. If a person in Jazz Band plays multiple instruments, they would switch from brass or saxophone to percussion, or the other way around. I guess you could call them “bilingual” in instruments. Usually, they play piano or the drums for some odd reason. Maybe that is just an easy instrument to play, I guess I’ll try it sometime. The Jazz Band holds many different events to promote the band. One that is very popular is the Jazz Café. Jazz Café is when a Jazz Band meets at a particular place and plays music. Students from concert band volunteer to serve desserts and coffee to guests attending. This Café is held once every year with a famous guest attending the Café while they play their instrument of choice. This past year, Soprano Saxophonist Chris Vadalla came to play his instrument. Being in the 8th grade Jazz Band is fantastic. I get to meet so many great people and have a lot of fun playing my instrument. I’ll get a lot of pleasure the rest of the year and also when I am in 8th grade playing. Maybe I’ll pick up a new instrument next year like the trombone, trumpet or saxophone. Many adventures await on my path in Jazz Band! My Spring Break by Arin ChevaliDuring the spring break, I did a numerous things. First, I packed all my clothes and stuff for the trip. Then we started our journey to Williamsburg, Virginia. It was about 3 and a half hours till we reached our destination. Finally, we got to our hotel and left our luggage in the room. Next, we went to the Williamsburg Premium Outlets and got stuff from lots of brands like Van, Adidas, Nike, North Face, Vineyard Vines, American Eagle, and more. After that we went back to our hotel and rested a bit. Next, we went out to an Indian Cuisine called Nawab. After eating a delicious meal, we went to our hotel and I just watched TV all night. The next day, we ate breakfast and went to Historic Jamestown, we saw many statues and historic documents. Then, we went to a place called Go Cart Plus, a place with many rides, go cart tracks, and an arcade. Finally, we went to Busch Gardens and rode a lot of really fun rides like Griffin. After that we headed back home marking the end of our spring break vacation. Kindness by Reagan Nye Kindness, a two syllable word that has two million different impacts varying on how you do or don’t use it. Kindness means more than using good manners and being respectful towards others. Everyone has bad days, but we always have a kind friend or peer we can go too. What would happen if we didn’t have someone to lift our spirits or maybe just pick up something in the hallway for us? Nothing would be the same kindness means everything. Kindness makes others feel good, damage others if you don’t treat them with kindness, and choosing the right words to be kind and think before you speak. Making others feel good makes you feel good, right? By using kindness you can make that happen. By making someone feel good it takes one kind gesture or a few kind words. Maybe one day at the rescue mission volunteering your time to help others that need it. Kind deeds have a huge positive impact on others that don’t have it a good as others. By volunteering your time someone will appreciate your kindness and you will feel great. You see a friend in the hallway with a whole bunch of supplies and materials in their arms, you are empty handed you decide to show your kindness by helping a friend out. Make someone feel good or maybe just brighten their day by showing your kindness! Through social media and even in our school a lot of negative things get said. There are cold hearted people that can’t be kind so they steal others happiness by bringing them down. Being mean really affects others and sometimes can take their life by one thing you said. You wouldn’t ever want that to happen right? Kindness is the answer to everything, as long as your kind everyone will be kind in return. Many people have hard time dealing with depression and anxiety because people weren’t kind! You may think it’s cool to act like a “cool kid” and say mean spirited things but news-flash you are cruel. Just be kind. We are human we all make mistakes but sometimes we say all the wrong words at the wrong time. We immediately regret it but can’t fix it. If we think about our actions before we do or say them maybe we’d all be little kinder to one and other. Words and actions play a huge role in our society. If everyone took an extra ten seconds to think what they were saying there wouldn’t be hurt feelings or negativity. Nobody is perfect and we have all said or done a rude action to someone. Thinking doesn’t mean make an essay before talking to someone you want to be friends with or needing to apologize to your best friend for ditching them. Using kind words can make a huge difference. If we could all think before we speak we could have a happy society with less negativity. Kindness makes others feel good, damage others if you don’t treat them with kindness, and choosing the right words and actions to be kind and think before you speak. As the ancient Greek storyteller Aesop once said, “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” Be kind and the world will be kind in return. DANCE! By Annie SlempI jump and spring all over the stage I leap I kick I sparkle on stageI clap I stomp and jump with joyI step shuffle hop and flap oh boyI turn and flip and do awesome tricks When I'm on stage you'll surly flip Dancing is fun and so cool I'm glad I got to share it with you!Watching TV by Carson WebbWhen my day has begunI quietly turn on the tv because it's fun My brothers and I watch it while my mom makes breakfast After the show my mom says "turn on the news its good information that you can use." I go about my busy day wondering what I will watch next When my day is done I will surely go to bed watching tv because it's so much fun Summer by Breann HageeSummer is coming? Ready for fun in the sun Vacations and more School's gong away No more homework or teachers More time to have fun Television's Information by Arin ChavaliTelevision, the only thingThat only entertains youProperlyPeople wrongly accuseIt for rotting your brainBut kids see beyond that,They see the things adults can'tTelevision isn't unhealthyIt feeds you information withAll types of genresDocumentaries are educationalComedic shows and movies provide youWith the best medicine of all,LaughterAll the different types of moviesTell you things you might not have known beforePeople fail to see thePositive side of television???DOWN TO EARTH by Landon Cox??? The launch of the shuttle Paragon had marked the beginning of a new age of space exploration. The shuttle, a tall, slender mass of sleek metal and paint, was to carry three passengers to the stars and back. However, a while into the launch, a fuel tank was busted by a piece of debris, and the Paragon lost contact with the UAA launch center. The Paragon was forced to dock on the space station Odyssey where they would live until help arrived. A month into their stay, the launch team had radioed the Odyssey, and notified the team that UAA was currently working on perfecting a rescue shuttle, and that they would launch the shuttle in about eleven months, and that they were to make themselves useful on the station. While there, the three passengers had partaken in spacewalks outside the station, tests, and experiments. A week before the team’s stay was to come to an end, an amazing discovery was made. The station team, after five years on the Odyssey, had found a way to extract materials from the junk floating around space. The team had their minds set on making history with the rest of the stations team. All except one. ?Adam was had not expected this to happen. As the youngest member of the Paragon’s team, Adam had had his share of new experiences. But this was not one Adam had expected to make. Adam had been looking forward to the launch of the Paragon ever since he had completed advanced training at the UAA training institute in Florida. Adam had been looking forward to being part of the team. But what had promised to be an exciting adventure had soon turned dull. When the tank burst, Adam had been scared. And when the Paragon was forced to dock at the Odyssey, Adam had been looking forward to floating through the zero-gravity capsules that where the station’s recreational areas. And even when the announcement was made that the team was to return to Earth, Adam had been relatively enthusiastic. But when the rest of his team, along the station team, had made the decision to stay, Adam had been. To say the least, irritated. He was tired of others making the decisions for everyone else. Just because they wanted to be famous, they were going to waste five years of Adam’s Life. Going to space was, for most people, a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But for Adam, Going home was looking more appealing than making history. He missed many things while in pace, but now he missed home most of all. Home was where you could do real things, and not comply with a daily checklist of chores. He missed his friends, but he missed his family the most. He missed his mom, who was the best cook he knew. When Adam was younger, she had stayed at home with him when he was sick, and she made him hot chocolate. Adam’s dad was the head of a banking firm, and Adam always looked forward to spending time with him. When Adam had left Earth, his sixteen year-old sister, Sarah, who made it her mission to remind him every day that she was older than him, was into volley ball. She was always into something new almost every week. There was no way of knowing what awaited him when he got home? If he got home, that was. End of Part 1 Homework by Sidney SchillenHomework is not the bestThere are better things to do like restLate nightsEarly morningsTV breakChocolate shakeWhat did you say?It's due today!?????????Kindness by Samuel Smith Kindness comes in contrastive ways. It may be sharing your food, gadgets and toys, and a lunch seat so someone can sit and enjoy themselves. All kindness revolves around the spread of it by individuals. Kindness today has been seen as rare to many people, because the focus isn’t on brightening someone else’s day. It is about dragging someone down so you can feel on top of everyone one and thing. I believe certain humans around the globe contribute to this and it needs to be condemned and that you can be part of the change.? A Poem by Grace Simon? A light, Reflecting off the window, A scene of horror or happiness, Every season, Changes the type of show, In front of your eyes, Each character has a different personality, They sing, They dance, They gleam as the show continues, What character would you be? Pollution by Chloe ClarkPollution. What’s the first word of phrase that comes to mind when you hear or see the word “Pollution”. It’s probably not a good thought. When I hear pollution I think that’s something that damages the earth, affects habitats, and how it even kills animals and even humans. What’s your opinion on this?? ?Pollution affects animals either way you look at it. It destroys their homes, their families, and sometimes even their own lives. You may not realize it but every time you throw away metal cans or plastic or even Styrofoam you possibly just killed an innocent animal that did nothing and didn’t deserve to die. When you wake up in the morning you don’t expect to get up and kill an animal I don’t believe that would be on your calendar or to do list. But when you do throw away things of that nature you are not trying to hurt them but you are. So every time you go to throw away that soda can or plastic ring around your 6 pack of soda just do a favor and put that in a recycle bin and make sure that it’s going to the right place and not the wrong.? ?Did you ever wonder how that pollution got there or where it came from? Well if you have you know that we the people of this country are the cause of pollution. Every time we carelessly throw away things that can be recycled we just literally put animals to death and destroyed their habitats. A lot of it goes to our oceans and ends up on our beaches. Have you ever walked on the beach and seen a turtle with a plastic ring around it? Well I have and its heart breaking to look at an animal and see it suffering. It so horrifying knowing that because of us people we kill things without even knowing it. If someone came up to your door and told you every time you killed something, I think America could open their eyes and wake up. It’s us that’s killing and endangering these species. And we can simply stop this my owning and doing some recycling. Pollution kills the earth, its humans and animals every day. All because of us. To stop this problem all we need to do is think before we act and that would stop a lot of things from happening and going wrong. What we need to do is invest in more recycling programs. And as well with all that we should give away some free things to get the idea out to people. It would be a great idea for the community and it would stop some, not all but some problems going on in the world. One small step at time. But the littlest things can make a big impact, whether it’s cleaning up your community or saving lives of animals they all help. And that’s what matters most. This earth has already gone through enough does it really need your pollution as well? No it doesn’t and that’s why we should make a place where it’s clean and happy. If we can all chip in and do what we’re supposed to do the world could be a lot healthier and a better place to live for everything and everyone. That’s what I think when I hear the word “Pollution” and it’s not a very good thought. Pollution does so much damage and I don’t think were helping it by throwing away recyclable items. But if we all try hard enough we can make this world a better place.?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Pooftopia Zoo by Emalyn Sylvester?In the future there will be a town called Pooftopia. In that town there is a zoo a magical zoo were there are all sorts of animals imaginable. The zoo its self is quite extraordinary it is in a huge building made of stones that look like they are from an ancient pyramid in Egypt. In this passage you will read about not only a zoo but the creatures within. ?There are SO many different habitats so they don’t fit in the building. So the top scientists of our day have engineered exhibits that move. With a push of a button the glass exhibits will come and go through tunnels beneath the ground. So the building is fully customizable to fit any theme or event. This comes in handy when you have a finding nemo party or a save the endangered species day. ?Since no one works in the future we had to come up with a solution for workers. So we have robotic zoo keepers. There are two in each exhibit that take care of the animals. They also run the zoo restraint called swamper where we serve Italian food. The restraint is fully surrounded by glass aquariums with fish, octopus, jellyfish, and crabs. The robotic zookeepers also run the IMAX and gift shop conveniently located by the exit.? ?There are animals that do not exist in your day or time so you would not know what they are but I will try to explain them to you. The animals you know have changed and evolved, we still have the other animals but through nature and geneticist there are also animals like unicorns, hippogriphs, botrucles, and woolly mammoths. The science its self is so evolved that you can create almost any animal you want. ?The zoo also has spectacular events. Like cool limited time exhibits in honor of holidays or huge parties featuring different animals. For example on earth day we have a green party were you have to take care of an animal for the day. ?Just as a heads up it opens from 8:30 to 3:45 so in a couple years just pop by and see the best zoo in all history. I will see you there. ??The Year 2040 by Thomas BarrowThe year is 2040 and technology is everywhere, at least in this neighborhood, in Miami, Florida. Kids and adults alike have teleportation devises to take them where they want. There are no more school buses to drive the kids to school. The neighborhood is also floating 300 ft. in midair, and at the bottom of the neighborhood is a 200 mile long as well as wide net that catches people and things and teleports them back where they came from. The adults in the neighborhood drive hovering cars that escalate up to 10 ft. off the ground. The way the teleportation system works is simple, all you do is think of a place in which you want to go and it will take you there. The schools in the neighborhood have fancy technology as well. The desks have built-in Active-boards so the teacher can have a way to not just show the kids all together but individually as well. The Active-boards in the desks are touch sensitive so the students can use their fingers to select and draw. The teachers can select if they want the kids to use the Active-boards or not. The neighborhood has crazy designs as well. There are mini stones on top of the sidewalk that can activate many things. Some can activate a portal to another building while others can trigger a siren. There are also buildings that have hidden doors and levers to open them and only the employees know where they are. Lastly, the most important design is the groves in the walls. If you touch one then it knows if you are in need of something. The technology in this neighborhood is crazy, the neighborhood is in midair along with flying cars. As well as mini stones on the sidewalk that activate things and groves in the walls that all tell the core of this neighborhood what you need. There is also teleporting devices and portals that take you where you want. Along with a net that is 300 miles long and wide. Lastly, a core that can tell what you need and when. To the poets and writers:Thank you for making our first online Literary Magazine a success.Imagine, Write, and create! ................
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