Why is Monday so far from Friday and Friday so close to Monday?

     It's finally the weekend and I am so relieved because lately I've been stressed out at school and now it gives me time off to think and catch up on work. The reason I've been so apprehensive is because I have not one but THREE essays to write, one for science, one for English language arts, and one for social studies. It's honestly too much and it feels like my brain is going to explode!! So guess what I'm spending half my weekend doing? Thats right...homework. But don't worry thats not all I'll be doing. I will be hanging out mostly with my cousin because I mostly  see him on the weekend since he lives with his mom. Friday through Sunday he spends time with his dad (my uncle). During the summer he stays with his dad the whole break so I literally spend every single day with him. I was with him on Saturday and we got bored so I started to style his hair in different ways. Sometimes we don't know what to do, so we just come up with our own games to do and it is the best thing ever. Anyway that's what I'll be doing this weeekend, hope you have a fun one too!!

Everybody told him to be a man. Nobody told him how.

     The book I just finished is called Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson is about how a high school senior named Tyler Miller, changed his persona after getting arrested for vandalizing the school over the summer and his whole life takes a wrong turn. This book talks about how Tyler tries to live up to his new reputation and how he goes too far and ruined the somewhat relationship he had with the girl he has liked since they were in middle school. Throughout the book Tyler gets support from his younger sister Hannah, and friend Yoda on how to handle the new attention he gets from his peers.

     I really like this book because it is not your typical teen fiction book where the boy gets the girl of his dreams and everything is perfect. No, this book gives you lessons for your own life and how to handle being the center of attention without intending to be. Tyler and his dad butt heads a lot because their personalities are polar opposites. He seems to be suicidal because he repeatedly talks about wanting to die and how his problems would easily be resolved if he no longer lived. Twisted helps you cope with those feelings and how that is not always the correct answer. A quote that really stood out to me was, "Everybody told him to be a man. Nobody told him how." To me this shows how life works, you have all these people telling you what to be in life but no one tells you how. They expect you to be great in life but they don't help you achieve it. My favorite part was the ending because it sorta kinda leaves you at a cliff hanged but it really just makes you think. I would write here, but that gives away the ending so I'll leave it to you to find out.

Here is the link to Laurie Halse Anderson's website

Goodbye Middle School, Hello High School

     Graduation is just around the corner and I am finally done with middle school. I have to admit these past 2-3 years have been pretty fun. I made so many new friendships that I hope will last a very long time. I don't think that I can summarize all the great memories I have experienced in middle school. When I look back at my 6th grade yearbook, I can hardly recognize half of my classmates. Comparing how we look now from back then, it really shows how the years have gone by. I would get somewhat stressed in my classes because I was in advanced Math and English Language Arts, so my homework would take me longer to do because of all the reading and notes for math class. My favorite class in 7th grade was science and social studies because my teacher would make it interesting. He would tell us all these random stories about himself, and he would show us the toys his kids would play with when they were younger.

     I really don't want to leave middle school but at the same time I do because I want to move on but I am really going to miss all the memories created here. I made some really great friends that I will never forget. They helped me get through so many things. I would also like to thank those friends who ended up not really being my friend because they just prepared me for life and how everything is not what it seems. I would like to thank my teachers for being hard me because they want me to succeed. Middle School for many people may have been the worst years of their life, but to me it was one of the best years of my life.

Life is Beautiful

     The movie we watched in class was called Life is Beautiful connects to the holocaust because it is about a Jewish Italian man that marries a German lady, and they have a child together and are sent to concentration camps. This movie shows you how they tried to make the best out of the situation because the man tried to make it fun for his young son, because he did not know what was going on. The events that were similar between the movie and the readings we did in class were that the Jews that were older, diasabled, or too young were sent off to the gas chambers because they were useless and not good enough to work. In both types of medias, the Nazis told the Jews that they were going to shower and that they would get their clothes afterwards, but in reality they were being put to death. The reason for this was because it was a pyscological effect on the Nazis, so they wouldn't feel guilty.
     The tones are different because in the movie it includes a bit of humor to lighten the mood, but it also includes a depressing mood because it shows you what the Jews had to go through and the feeling really hits you hard. In the readings we did the tone was much more depressing because the poems we read gave off a lot of emotion and it expresses what they had to go through. The main reason I felt more sad towards the poem was because they were written by kids my age and it is hard to think that someone so young could go through something so traumatic and depressing. The moods were similar because they were both upsetting and both medias show how the Jews were treated and how they felt.
     Life is shown as beautiful in the film because it shows that you should make the best out of bad situations. For example, in the movie when the man was sent off to a concentration camp with is five year old son, the dad tried to cheer the son up by saying it was game and in order to get points they must follow the rules and whoever had the most points won and got to go home. He did this because his son didn't know what was happening. The dad basically sacrificed his life because his son was too young to work he would have been killed, but the dad couldn't go through with that so he hid him from the soldiers. This was one of the most heartwarming moments but also the most stressful moments of the movie because it showed how much the dad cared about his son but I was apprehensive because I did not want them to get caught. This showed hoaw life is beautiful because if you spend your life in worry, it is only going to make you miserable and miss out on all the things going on around you. Like the dad could have been all depressed but he decided to make the best of the situation because he wanted to see his son happy. Another example of how life was seen as beautiful was that hope was never lost. The dad never lost hope that maybe one day this would all be over and he would go home with his wife and son. Even when others started to lose hope and say they were all going to die, he told them not to think like that and to be positve. This movie shows you that you should appreciate the things you have and never take things for granted because in a split second, everything can be taken away from you.

Thoughts ln nonfiction books

     I don't really like to read nonfiction books but the one I did read was called, The Seasoned Life by Ayesha Curry. This book is a recipe book but about half of it is a little bit about herself and her life as the wife of NBA star, Stephen Curry. This is a very phenomenal book because not only does it teach you recipes, but it also includes why she decided to become a chef and a little bit about her relationship with her husband. One thing I found interesting was that close friends and relatives say that they are very down to earth and humble and I feel like that is hard to be if you are very well known and out there. I actually think that it is better to be down to earth when you are very successful because it shows that even though you have a good life, that you don't like to rub in people's face.

     I really like this book because I want to be a chef when I am older and she really inspires me to follow my dreams and not let people bring me down. This book has special meaning to me because it is a signed copy that I got when I met her on September 22, 2017 (I wrote a blog about this already).  I was very apprehensive about it because I did not know whiat to say. To me Ayehsa Curry is a good role model for young girls because she shows that you do need people to tell you how good you are to feel accomplished, as long as you achive your goals and do what's good for you, that is enough.

Two Way Street

     The book that I read is called Two Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt and it is about a girl named Courtney and her ex boyfriend named Jordan and how they have to go on a road trip together. This story goes back and forth between both of their sides of the story. They just graduated high school and are both off to the same college and since they are no longer a couple, there is some awkward tension. Its too late to call off the trip so Courtney goes along but plans to not speak to Jordan at all. She thinks that they broke up because he met some random girl, but there is a secret that will change everything. Courtney tries to emphasize the point on why she will never have feelings for him again but deep down, she still loves Jordan and vice versa, but neither will admit it because they think the other one doesn't feel the same.

     I really like this book because I think it was very relatable in the way the author made the characters talk. The way their conversations were made it seem much more realistic because it was how teenagers actually spoke and acted. I also liked it because it was very easy to comprehend for a story that had two perspectives going on at once. This was a fast paced book and it kept you wanting to read more. I literally could not put the book down, I finished it in three days! My favorit quote was, "Because, let's face it - no matter how much you tell yourself you're over someone, your heart knows the truth." I can relate with this quote because I have feelings for someone that is my best friend and sometimes I feel like I don't like him anymore but then I hang out with him and I get all werid and my feelings are out of control. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes a realistic teen fiction book with a little romance and mystery because this book has it all. It is very relatable and it causes suspense with the whole secret Jordan has against Courtney.

   

The Butterfly Project

Theresienstadt's Hospital 

Once, happier people lived here
in the gray building.
Now, death moves silently toward those other creatures,
those with typhoid, who moan and writhe
in their own diarrhea,
who lie here and don’t understand
why they are being fed bread and margarine.
I enter and become silent.

“You shiny new doorknobs,
you pretty painted walls in the bright ward,
can you make up for the stench of excrement?
Can you appease the hunger of those who are ashamed of their underwear,
and brought here to die,
day by day?’

The paint looks at me
and doesn’t answer.
“Why? I don’t understand why!”
It seems the doorknob would say,
when it opened for me,
a free soul, with a full stomach.
“I can tell you
and then you will come to me!”