Music Review: Gipsy Kings

                              http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x24sgr_gipsy-kings-volare_music

 CLICK THAT LINK AND LISTEN TO IT!

    I was so anticipated into sharing this song, I really hope you'd take the time to listen to it and ENJOY it~ I am personally not a music type of music. I don't prefer R&B over classic or rap over country but this. This is...... This is like MYYY song. My dad is a huge jazz fan and he loves a lot of instrumental music so when we were younger, my sister and I, he would play all sorts of music and the song I'd always love to dance to is Volare by Gipsy Kings along with Sade~ I can't even pronounce the song correctly but they are really amazing~ I barely play this song or listen to it every day but when my dad is out of songs to play (which is rare) I always suggest this song my "singing" the chorus. Hopefully this song will keep you moving. It's very uplifting. This song is just "in my blood". For a little more ummfhhhh listen to the remix version that I just searched up (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXHdd8vyrFA) <<<Youtube~

OH Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway

Compare and contrast? First impressions? Who do you like better? Is their friendship truly real or fake??? Hm...
So the main characters of the Great Gatsby Jay and Nick are quite fascinating to me. Slowly learning more and more about their characteristics especially Gatsby is very interesting, just like everyone else who wants to know who this wealthy guy is. In my opinion, I really like the character of Nick Carraway. He's seems very quiet, understanding, and I've noticed a lot of people tend to really open up to him and that's how us readers discover every person's secrets. On the other hand, from the very beginning I was quite curious about Gatsby. He is Nick's neighbor, he is known by everybody but few know who he truly is, he seems to love to show off (new money), and over all he holds a very mysterious character. We all know from reading that Jay and Nick's friendship is obviously fake. It really shows Gatsby effort into trying to get to Daisy (♥) through Nick. Since Nick is Daisy's cousin Gatsby could be a few steps closer into seeing Daisy. (I stand correctly)
Fakes + Users, what else will we discover?
                                               

First Draft of Golden Snowflake competition

 

FYI: I am not good at writing poems so you do have a chance of winning the Golden Snowflake…. Here’s my first draft of my poem. Enjoy. (I couldn’t find a certain style to stick with so I need to edit that)

I stand there, gazing at my entire family.

The announcements from Santa Claus,

the screaming, the laughter, the smiles.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five.

How many gifts are we all going to receive?

Those greedy eyes, those devious fingers.

You want those envelopes don’t you? ($$$)

I stare at the sea of rainbow wrapping paper,

the stack of bows and jungle of ribbons.

You noticed the pile of presents

becoming SMALLER and SMALLER and SMALLER,

but the piles of trash becoming BIGGER and BIGGER and BIGGER.

An hour has passed and the last gift is finally called...

The bottom of the Christmas tree is bare.  

The tree no longer has any envelopes to share.

It’s time to categorize and clean up.

Now there’s no more craziness, everyone has subsided.

I should be cleaning but I just stop and stare.

The song you’ll never get sick of by Mariah Carrey playing in the background. (You know it)

A short glance at the video camera,

I try to look my best and smile.

The camera is gone,

It’s time to reflect.

Remembering the past Christmas’s,

Thinking about how much you’ve changed.

You have new memories and more memories to come.

The thought of Christmas being over

Is never any fun.

But the kisses and the hugs,

The tears and the laughter.

The tons of money you’ve spent but gained.

It is all worth it when you get to have another year.

  

Dear Santa,

I want a puppy, more Neopets, a giant teddy bear and I want a picture of Rudolf.

Dear Santa,

     Can I have money for a new laptop please?

As Mr. McCarthy said this is probably the most anticipated blog "of the quarter" or whatever... Everyone is going to be reading each others blogs to see if they got picked. We all know everyone will choose who they're friends with. 
Truthfully, I have to be honest. Because I missed the first two\three weeks of school I haven't met all my classmates in all my classes, but I am starting to know everyone in this unique 3rd period class. I'd say I'm thankful for my sister. Rose. My twin. I know I told Mr. McCarthy I wouldn't write about her but I can't be as much thankful for anyone else in the class because first of all, I don't live with them. Nah. But before I came to school she helped me a lot in getting prepared for his class. Considering all I went through, she was really (no actually) looking after me.
When I first went to class I was quite nervous. I was expecting Mr. McCarthy to throw out tons of essays and poems for me to catch up with, considering all the complaints I got from my sister... But he was actually 2 out of the 6 teachers that didn't give me a hard time. I'm thankful for that.
Although after being in his class for about 2 months or so (???) I'm very thankful to be in Mr. McCarthy's class and very thankful for the rest of the people in my class. Everyday I get a good laugh and no worries (but maybe about this HSG book...)
Thanks~
Wait... After thinking about it I really like my 3rd period class. They make everyone laugh and make my mood not so sucky. I'm thankful for a lot of the people surrounded by me, since they have other classes with me. Thanks for saving my life 50x.

I am (definitely) a plow

A plow is either a noun or a verb.

·         (n) plow, plough (a farm tool having one or more heavy blades to break the soil and cut a furrow prior to sowing)

·         (v) plow, plough, turn (to break and turn over earth especially with a plow) "Farmer Jones plowed his east field last week”

Why haven’t I used this to describe myself? Ever? I’m just realizing this is so me. THIS WORD is so everybody!!!! Every day of our lives we work work work! After working so much our result is either negative or positive. When I go to school I smash through all the hardcore classes and then I make my teacher pleased or un-pleased. When we “plows” are over worked we break down and get broken. Sometimes we get fixed and repaired like we normally should, but others just… Don’t get fixed at all. Why I’m I acting so serious? I don’t know. I believe everyone who responds to this blog will refer this plow as a symbolism of working in school and life….

Don’t you also notice plows are made every year? (Duh for farmers… What a lame way to start a new paragraph) But they aren’t necessarily made the same why. We are always built and made to achieve high expectations and we are constantly used. We need someone to create us and “teach” us how to work. We plow through different types of fields and obstacles. There usually a piece of cake but some are hard to restore...  

Whacha think about American Lit?

    You ask how’s American Lit for ya? I actually like this class. I really enjoyed Survey Lit during freshmen year and this year I think I’m going to enjoy this class. It’s ironic how both my teachers are coaches on a sport team at Whitney Young (baseball~ and soccer~).

    First of all, the first day of American Lit for me was very calm. I didn’t expect it to be so…. Not hard? Because I wasn’t in school for 3 weeks I was just watching my sister doing Mr. McCarthy’s homework and I was like, wow seems difficult. But thank goodness I came at the right time. I came right when we started the Crucible. That’s one thing I like about the class. Reading very interesting books (maybe not the HTSG). I normally don’t have time to read my own books so reading in class helps my "Reading Skills". (I really enjoyed watching the Crucible movie which helped me and some of us understand more of the story line). I also really like these blogs. Not only do I get to create my own blogs I get to read other peoples thoughts and opinions as well. Although I don't have the best writing skills, this is good practice.

     Secondly, I like my class as a whole. I like the people in it and I also enjoy having Mr. McCarthy as a teacher.

     "Mr. McCarthy!!?"

     "I am."

I feel like my American Lit class has a different atmosphere than any of my other classes. Everyone is really expressive and chilled back. I never really see anyone sleeping in his class either. I can't say this class is perfect but I do have a problem with note taking and then the tests. I've taken one test but it was quite hard. I just hope the way we are note taking and answering questions, is good enough for us when we take those exams or tests.

My SLA-VERY opinion

My opinion on slavery? You know I always had to study about slavery in Social Studies or World History and I'm actually reading about it now... But my opinion on slavery? I never really had to answer to what I believed was good or bad about it (or my opinion). Of course everyone should say slavery is wrong right? Isn't it cruel that actual human beings are being treated like property where you can be BOUGHT or SOLD and not allowed to run away or escape. Aren't you born to be free? Not under control of a person of higher status or level? All people should believe slavery is wrong, I agree. Of course slavery was good for some slaves depending if your slave owners were kind enough to treat you well and give you an education but still... Even though slavery existed hundreds of years ago, it still existed today. Thankfully it's not as horrifying than before. Slavery still goes on in many countries like Asia and Africa but often consists of women or children sold into slavery as domestic servants or for prostitution.
My last thing to say is I really hate any sort of cruelty especially when someone or something is being treated like an animal or dust. 

        I guess that's it.

To combine would be divine~

As we were told to, I researched about 20+++++ minutes on Salem, the Puritans, and the actual House of the Seven Gables and Nathaniel Hawthrone. So this here is what I have sucked in:
     The first thing you get when you type "Facts about Salem" on Google is facts about Salem Witch-Craft. You basically find witch-craft on every single website you click on. Salem, Massachusetts was where alllll the quote on quote witches were hiding. Salem was best known for it's many witch trials. The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings before local magistrates followed by county court trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft. Salem also has historic sites such as the House of the Seven Gables, also known as the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion. the house is an actual house built in 1668 that inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne to write his book The House of the Seven Gables. How ironic?! Salem was an important port in the trade with East India, and shipping merchants built lavish mansions in town. You may ask: "What is a Puritan?" Well, Puritans were a significant grouping of English-speaking Protestants in the 16th and 17th-century who were also big believers during the witch craft trials. They performed many exorisms during that time.
Hope you learned a lot!
FINI

When did I first realize I was a TRUE American?

This is probably one of the easiest blogs to answer... It truly is.
I knew I was a true American when I rejected learning Tagalog when I was a kid. That's what all Filipino Americans would say. I am now almost 16 years old and I still need my younger cousins to translate when I’m lost in a conversation of Tagalog, my native tongue.

Well of course I don't remember REJECTING all the Tagalog books my Lola (grandmother) sent me or refusing to listen to my parents when they wanted to teach me Tagalog, but Filipino's born in America tend to not learn Tagalog. Plus my sister and I were stubborn. We understand some Tagalog but can’t speak a lot of it. We know the basics. Growing up I did learn the naughty words first (of course). Like stinky, ugly, and such, but of course I do address my relatives as Kuya (older brother), Lolo (grandfather), Lola (grandmother), Tito (uncle), Tita (aunt), and so on.

When I meet Filipinos that come from the Philippines and they do speak Tagalog, the question comes up. "Hey, do you speak Tagalog" and I reply "no". Each time I say no, I act as if I know a lot. But once I open my mouth and tryyy to say something in Tagalog my accent defines ----

a true American Filipino.

~A Stairway to DEATH~

       What drives a conflict with no solution to death? When you think of a conflict you think of an argument with a person and another person. Usually when a conflict is unsolvable you normally have a mediator or several mediators to help you out and solve the problem. There’s never a situation where a conflict gets too out of hand and someone has to die. WRONG. In some cases, like in the Crucible the conflict may be a lot bigger. The conflict in the Crucible was between the witchcraft in Salem and Abigail’s affair with Proctor. It was so unfixable it led to innocent people being executed and in the end, led to John Proctors death. WHAT? That’s what you normally think in the end of every story with that kind of ending. Sometimes the resolutions to conflicts may lead to death and make people relieved and the problem is solved, or people may feel devastated and the problem still lingers on. Death of people brings out many emotions. When conflicts involve death, it’s not like a candy bar you decide to throw out just because you have to lose 5 pounds by the end of the week. There are situations where a person has to be killed because they are harming other people. But there are also times where a person has to be killed for what’s “best” of them and the people he\she is affecting. In my opinion, conflicts to death is very hard to think about. There are many things that can drive conflicts to death but I just believe the best thing to do is try to solve the conflict as smooth and easy as possible. (That's normally what people would say but an opinion on conflicts to death is too hard to explain.) 

THE END  

John Proctor STOOGE or HERO -_o

When we were asked to make a blog about John Proctor and whether or not he was a stooge or a hero, at first I thought. Stooge. Stooge. Stooge. I guess I was just confused... I believed it was John Proctor's fault for having the affair with Abigail in the first place. If he hadn't messed around with her, Abigail wouldn't have wanted to get rid of Elizabeth Proctor and have him for herself. This also meant she wouldn't have done anything "witchcraft" related as a way of getting rid of Elizabeth. My thoughts changed soon after when everyone went to trial. I thought his main goal was to save himself and his wife and just leave Abigail. But, John Proctor had enough of lying and commotion about witchcraft so he did tell Danforth that he had somethin-somethin with Abigail. This is when I found him as a hero. He cleared what he was hiding, which I never believed was possible to confess. But things would of gotten worse. In the end the uproars about witchcraft and the devil seeing the girls couldn’t be stopped. Proctor didn't want this to effect anyone so he lied, saying that he signed with the devil. He was hung. Hero's normally or always sacrifice themselves for their people this is why I believe John Proctor is a hero.     

Introduction

I am Melanie and welcome to my blog. Just to make it clear I am a sophomore here at Whitney Young and I missed the last week of summer and the first two weeks of school because I was stuck in the hospital for 15 days and I'm not the same person I was before. Not because I dropped out of school or transferred and came back... (I have a lot of catching up to do.) So anyways, hey I'm Filipino, born and raised here in Chicago, I don't speak tagalog but have huge Filipino pride. I have a twin sister, an older brother who looks Mexican,  and typical Filipino parents (a chef and a soon to be special ed teacher). I use to go to Abraham Lincoln Elementary school, probably one of the best elementary schools out there (probably not anymore...) There are a lot of people that go to WY that use to go there. Oh ya~ So I'm a stresser. I stress out a lot and complain a lot to my friends. I tend to overwork myself and still feel stupid. I suck at writing and hate math. And ever since I came to high school I never like to speak up in class. I adore and love photography, film and digital. I love Manny Pacquiao <3, hate all horror movies, love hanging with friends, and eat sooo much food but my high metabolism takes care of the fats and what not, so that's it. My blog isn't that amazing but thanks. Nice to meet cha.