Sirens on the radio should be illegal

Many people listen to the radio while they are in the car, and music that has sirens in it can be very distracting. If one hears a siren in a song, they could easily think that it is a police man and get distracted looking for a cop car or end up pulling over when it is unnecessary or unsafe to do so. The passing of this law would not require too much effort on anyone's part, but could very well increase safety on the road. Someday if this law were to be passed, which I strongly suggest it should be, radio stations could easily blur out or replace a song with a siren it just like they do to some explicit songs. If advertisements or songs play sirens in them with the intention of drawing your attention, it is unsafe and they should be prohibited from doing this. As far as I'm concerned, not much value could be added to an ad or song by just the sound of a siren, it is very easy to replace it. Many may not even think of this issue until it happens to them one day, which is why people must be exposed to this issue. While it may seem like a very small and rare problem, it could still threaten the safety of people while driving and should not be ignored.

Flifferhuzza

It was a humid summer day in Maine. One of those days where it is not quite warm enough to go to the beach but not quite miserable enough to sit inside all day. My neighbors and I decided to go for a hike. Although it was called a mountain, it was really just a large hill in the middle of nowhere. We began our hike into the deep woods, seeing animals like chipmunks and birds everywhere, but nothing too intimidating. About a half hour later as we came to the top, and saw the beautiful lakes and forests down below. There was a stone tower that was used as a lookout point, so we climbed up the stone stairs and saw the word Flifferhuzza carved into the stone wall with a circle around it. "What does that mean?", my friend asked. Shrugging my shoulders, I touched the engraving, and it began to budge. At first I thought I was just playing mind games with myself, but when we whacked the wall using all of our strength the entire piece then crumbled and there was a large opening in the wall. Speechless, we peered inside and discovered a metal box with a rusty lock that said "F" on it. We were able to twist the lock off because it was so old, and discovered an old piece of paper that read:
             Congratulations! You are one of the many to have discovered the Flifferhuzza of this mountain. Open the box to discover the Flifferhuzza and sign your name to show that you are one of the few to have discovered this.
Captiously, I removed the lid to see a large, dark green stone attached to the smaller box. Sure enough, the word Flifferhuzza was engraved into it. The stone sparkled and looked like it had been there for years on end. There were small dents in it where people had tried to take some of the Flifferhuzza for themselves. The stone was tough, however, and it appeared that none of these people had been successful. After about an hour of marveling at the stone, we signed our names on the sheet of paper and continued on our hike back down.

A Complaint

I love Christmastime and all of the things that come with it like Christmas music, getting together with family, presents. However, I do not think that people should feel the need to put up horrendous Christmas lights all around their houses or just leave them there until Valentine's Day. Of course most lights are nice and spread holiday spirit, but, some of them just make your house look bad. Some of my neighbors, who are guilty of putting up ugly Christmas lights, do not realize the pain they are putting others through when they drive by their house everyday. I do not know what these people think they are going to benefit from having these decorations up. It will certainly not make them more popular or brighten their neighbors day. Worse than these awful Christmas lights is when people leave them up for extended periods of time. I do not think anyone is so busy that they cannot spare ten minutes to take them down in the two weeks following the new year. By mid-February, they might as well just leave them up for next season. It makes the dismissal of the holiday season more painful for everyone, seeing these lights up a month later but knowing you have to wait another 340 days before late December comes again. Holiday decorations should be used to spread spirit and make people happy, not to make them annoyed by a flashy display or to painfully remind them that the holidays are over.

Is homework really worth it?

After spending over six hours in school all day, and usually some sort of extracurricular after that, as most kids do, is there really any benefit to homework? Most people are tired at the end of their day, and getting a good night sleep would benefit them more for the next day of learning rather than continuing their studies at night. Many only do the work halfheartedly in order to just get it done. Of course some things are necessary for a students success, especially in high school. The amount of studying that a student does, for example, shows how dedicated they are to their schoolwork and how much effort they are willing to put it in. If students, particularly ones in high school, were given more time to study instead of completing worksheets, charts, and readings assigned by the teacher, they would be more motivated to go to school the next day and learn more. If a student is not overwhelmed by their academic workload they will find the topics more interesting because they will not see them as such of a task, more of an opportunity to learn. The Washington Post published an article on this topic recently, where a professor at Duke University, Harris Cooper, states that  "it appears than more than two hours of high school homework, and more than 1 1/2 hours of middle school homework, have no academic benefit and may produce negative results." Many reasons can contribute to homework having a negative affect. It can cause sleep deprivation if students are up late doing it after a long day, stress due to an overbearing amount of work, and a decrease of interest in the topic because it is seen as a chore to the student. Also in this study, an example is given of an elementary school in Tuscon, Arizona where homework was banned but students created their own independent projects after school because they wanted to keep learning. Traditional busy work, and the endless amount of worksheets and packets students receive for homework eliminates the desire to learn. If students, even elementary aged ones, can appreciate what they do in school when given freedom to explore what they want, then homework should be banned. Even if test scores do drop by a point or two, a child's appreciation of education should never be discouraged just because of homework.

(Source: Washington Post, "As Homework Grows, So Do Arguments Against It")

In 1492...

In honor of this travel/sea-inspired blog and today being Columbus Day, here are some fun facts about the holiday:

1.  Alaska, Hawaii, and South Dakota do not celebrate Columbus Day
2. It was not made a national holiday until 1937 by president Franklin D. Roosevelt
3.  There are no portraits of what Columbus actually looked like, all of them were made after he died
4.  Known as Discovery Day in the Bahamas, this is where Columbus landed on his voyage
5. The Nina and Pinta were not the real name of some of Columbus' ships, the Nina's real name was Santa Clara and it's nickname derived from the ships owner, Juan Nino. The real name of the Pinta is unknown, but translates to "painted one" in Spanish

Sources: http://thehofstrachronicle.com/columbus-day-fun-facts/
http://www.wrightusa.com/blog/some-surprising-columbus-day-fun-facts-figures/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/10/14/christopher-columbus-3-things-you-think-he-did-that-he-didnt/

Difficult Conversation

Family sits down to dinner, there is a a daughter named Mary and her two parents. Mary is a straight A student and her parents think she is perfect, but today she got a speeding ticket and has not told her parents
Mom: How was your day Mary? Did you get any tests back?
Mary: (chuckles nervously) yep, I got a 95 on my science quiz
Dad: That's my girl, you couldn't do something wrong if you tried
Mom: Hows your new car doing?
Mary: Well its funny you say that-
Dad: (cuts her off) I am so glad we can trust you with your own car, I heard Billy across the street got a speeding ticket the other day
Mary: Well speeding tickets aren't that bad, right? I mean I'm sure Billy would never break the law on purpose or ever want to disappoint his parents
Mom: Well I guess so, but his parents were pretty mad and took away his car; I know I would do the same thing
Mary: But I mean if it was an accident he can't help it, sometimes bad things just happen to people
Dad: Alright, I know whats going on here. You didn't really get a 95, did you? Don't worry honey, I guess I won't get mad over one A-
Mary: Dad! I swear I got that grade! But like we were talking about cars before... I saw a police man when I was coming home from school today
Mom: Ha! It was probably the one that pulled Billy over
Dad: (laughs)
Mary: Well I talked to the police officer for a little while, he seemed nice
Mom: Why would you be talking to this police officer?
Mary: (puts speeding ticket on table)
Dad: WHAT is this?!
Mary: The same thing that Billy got
Mom: How could you?! We told you to be safe and responsible!
Dad: What happened
Mary: I was speeding
Mom: Well ma'am, we are going to need to talk about this, it isn't like you to do anything wrong! It's a good thing you do well in school, otherwise we would have more troubles on our hands
Dad: I am disappointed, go upstairs and your mother and I will talk about what to do with this
(end dialect)

Boston Globe Article

There was an article in the Boston Globe last week that my mom suggested I should read. This article was published on September 20th and was titled The literature of bullying. It discusses how many famous books revolve around the underlying theme of bullying, and mentioned novels such as Catcher in the Rye and Lord of the Flies, both of which we read in English class last year. The author of the article, Joan Wickersham, mentions that the bystanders are one of the worst aspects of bullying, because it creates a message saying that bullying is okay. In Lord of the Flies, the boys turn into a violent and torturous mob because none of them feel powerful enough to stand up to the leader and stop the cruel acts. The author mentions that a more subtle theme of bullying is shown in Catcher in the Rye, part of the reason Holden feels the need to protect innocence throughout the story is because of a boy who committed suicide due to the bullies at his prep school. After this, Wickersham states that, "we need to read them [these books],and teach them in our schools,with fresh eyes." These novels can be used now, in present times, to show that bullying has always been a problem and how it is a prevalent theme in literature, even though some may not recognize it while reading.

Perfect morning as surfboard

It's 6 a.m. when the sun begins to rise

Cannot wait to soon be under big blue skies

A set of sun-kissed arms wrap around me

I know we are about to feel free

Together we splash into the great big salty ocean

The waves soon give us the notion

To set off for the day

and wash all of our worries away

Sinking into the deep blue waters

Never knowing if we might spot a few otters

Breaking through into the crisp Pacific air

There is no better place on earth, I swear

Tough bare feet on my back

The salty spray makes a great big whack

Quickly emerge back into the sea

in the beautiful islands of Hawaii

Enthusiasm & Learning

As a goal-oriented person, I feel I am most enthusiastic about learning when there is a certain goal my classmates and I are trying to reach and we can go about it creatively. Doing a project or creating some sort of visual piece makes me the most enthusiastic about learning. When I have an assignment and can go about doing it creatively I find that I am more motivated to do it. In my past experiences, I've found that working as a class and trying to solve something is a more enjoyable challenge than analyzing a source from a packet. Being active in the classroom and collaborating with others is a way for everyone to be involved. Enthusiastic learning makes me think back to my seventh grade history class. Although the material we covered is much lighter than that of classes I am taking now, our teacher always found ways to surprise us in the way we would be taught. There were always interactive activities going on; whether it was with other students or the Smart Board. From class discussion to group projects. Something where I always have to be on task makes me become more involved in the material and enjoy it more. Walking into a class and being excited to find out what you will be doing that day makes me more enthusiastic about the whole learning process. Being passionate about what I am learning can cause me to think of the topic on a larger scale and relate it to life. Connecting themes and things we do in class to the outside world can cause me to not have a tunnel-vision when it comes to learning. When any group of people becomes truly passionate about a topic, it can create a sort of "excited" environment and cause every individual to also expand their own mind.

An experience with courage

When I was about ten, my family and our friends went to Disney. Wanting to sound courageous, I told people I wanted to go on the Tower of Terror, even though I was completely scared and didn't want to at all. Knowing that most of my family hated rides, I figured that I could keep on saying this and still be safe from going on it. Our friends went off on a day trip the day that we would go to where the ride was, so I knew none of them could do it with me. After thinking it through, I decided the chance that I would have to go on the Tower of Terror was slim, so might as well just keep talking about it to sound brave. However, my plan turned around when my dad said he wanted to too. That day, I purposely ate an huge breakfast so I could say I did not want to get sick on the ride because I had eaten so much. Once we had been at Disney that day for a few hours, my mom announced she bought passes so we could cut the line on the Tower of Terror and go on it right away. I tried to use my breakfast excuse, but I had eaten 4 hours earlier so that was not going to work anymore. Wanting to seem excited, I suggested that we could just go now, but in reality, I wanted to just get it over with. My dad then told me the ride was just like being in an elevator, that it went straight down. At this point, I figured even if I die, at least I can say I went on it. An hour later, we were getting on the ride. In my head I pictured the thing were we sat going straight down the side of the building, with us facing the ground, and that I would just tumble out. The theme music began to play, and we went down. It was actually like an elevator. We didn't go down the side of the building and I didn't fall out. Afterwards, I was glad that I did it. This experience made me realize that sometimes things aren't as scary as they seem and that if I wanted to sound courageous, I had to be courageous. Courage is not wanting or pretending to want to do something, but actually doing it.

Goals