Book Cover

  Have you ever heard the saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover"? Many of us have, but choose to ignore it. I, myself, have as well. Why shouldn't I? I have done so all my years and never has a book disappointed me in my life. Unfortunately it came to me just today that maybe it's not just a book they are talking about but a person as well. You see, we label a person right away by just looking at them. Whether they are smart, nice, mannered, rich, poor, etc. and we never choose or given it much a thought that this book cover has a story behind it.

  A book just like any other thing that is created is beautiful. Never is one thing exactly like another. Never is a book the same exact story like another, and that is what makes a book special. But this world has gotten ridden of this concept of being different is ok. No longer is being unique, one of a kind, or us is enough. No. And just like books, humans are scanned and proceed as a category. We can't seem to bear the thought of finding a new thing and give it its self worth, no. We have to compare it to another thing and try to categorize it to what it would be or become over the years. Books are beautiful because they are who they are and have a beginning and a end to which they are tied to and cannot be taken back, because only one person can change that.

  We as people need to be in charge of who we are. We as people need to give ourself the value that we have earned. We as people are a book ready to be read and be understood. Like in a book ,Please Ignore Vera Dietz, Vera fights to be a person who she believes is going to be her future. Her mother was a stripper and her father a alcoholic. Sure her mother was only a stripper for a year and her father quit drinking after she was born seven months later. But she herself thinks that the people they were, her parents, is the type of person she will become. I mean she's already drinking, but unlike her father she is smart and as for her mother footsteps she hasn't really had a boyfriend yet at age 17. People around her her look at her as a classy girl, or so her deceased ex best friend Charlie thinks so anyways, and a girl who is perfect. Living in a big home, owning a car, and never once a wild teenager. But the house feels empty because her mother left her and her father at age 12, her father is very cheap, has a questionable drinking problem, has a unlabeled guy in her life in which she makes out occasionally, and her ex best friend haunts her so she can clear his name. Nothing like what people say she is. Vera Dietz is nothing to whom people think she is and never will be, but that is the beauty behind it all. 

  Although being a equal to everyone else is not bad and keeps you quite safe it does not give a value to yourself. What is a life's worth if it does not do something different than the life standing next to it? A book has a value because it gives a impact, and it doesn't matter if that impact only affected one life at least it made a difference to one person.

  A book is beyond its cover. It does have a story to tell. It does have purpose, and just like a book we as well do. So by judging a book by its cover we are already limiting the book itself of its worth. Not getting to know, understand it, and simply listen to what it says gives that book no value at all. People need to understand that everyone and everything thing has a precocious gift to give. It only takes one person to actually acknowledge it to receive the gift and give it its true value, and that makes a big difference.   

Marking Ourselves

 Life seems to not get any better as we grow older. We notice our surroundings more, the people we hang around with, and the restrictions that are not said but are heard in our hearts. So why would we be mean to people? Doesn't everyone already have a tough life as it is? So why are we mean to them?

  I have two classes in which I have two fellow classmates that are not as devolved in their brain as the rest of us. Although they do participate and are not necessarily not smart they do do things that bug my other fellow classmates. For example one of my classmates that is in my classes is ,what you would say, annoying. Although he does not bother me at all and has done nothing to rest of us, he some how's bugs others. His comments of negativity, like when the teachers asks us how our weekend was and he always comments terrible, are not called for but he can't help it, just like we can't help but breath. It's not like he means to be this way, just like we can't stop being ourselves. But just because he is this way it doesn't call us to mean to him. No my classmates don't bully him or torture him or even get close enough to him to somehow hit him in any way, but they do talk about him. They do laugh at him. They laugh at his voice or roll their eyes when he talks. This might not bother him, but it should bother the rest of us. He is just as equal as all the rest of us, so when do we stop being equal with him.

  While reading "The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time" I got a better understanding what happens in a boy who has a special way of thinking. We don't understand why they are who they are so we tend to look at the situation like a problem instead of just another thing that is part of the world. For example there is a boy in another class of mine that is as well special, but again not that big of a difference to us. Yes he may as well say things that are not meant to be said at that moment but again it's the way he is. Once he argued with a teacher about a topic, it was a pointless debate, but everyone knew the teacher was right and so did he. But this did not stop him from keeping debating. Finally the teacher said that he doesn't even believe what he's saying and he agreed but that it was necessary to be said. Everyone else was just annoyed and to be honest so was I. But there is a difference between just being annoyed about a person than making that person less than who you are. 

  People are different and we might not like that so much. They might also not like you either, but it doesn't make you a better person making fun at that person or less if you don't. 

  We all need to understand that just because we might be "better" than that person just thinking like that makes us less. We need to treat others like we want to be treated. Because the worst trait we have is what marks us not necessarily the good ones. It might sound harsh but you never hear people talking about others traits in a positive way. So treat others to your level and better because no one is better than anyone else.

Break You or Make You

 As we grow older we seem to find life even more difficult than the last. We see more of this cruel world. We see the hardships that are to come. We see our future and quite frankly it scares us. Life is not going to get any more easier than today, but if we grow as a person we will grow to deal with them.

  As students in high school we all believe that each day is a curse. That we have to wake up each and everyday to learn something that is not relevant to actual real life situations or that we need to deal with the horrendous day that is to come. There is never a day that I don't seem to see a boy or girl in Twitter complaining about school. Whether about their grades, classes, or/and teachers. I myself have done all of the above. But one day I came upon a revealing video, showed by a AVID speaker on a field trip, about a point of view by a teacher. This video showed me a true love for students a teacher has. How they want us to be better in life, to have big dreams. It was lovely. It made me think that school isn't a game. It is more than just a curse, it's our future.

  As students we say, "At least I did it!". Yes we did it but, so what? We didn't try our best. We didn't give it all we had. We didn't do what was expected. So how are we going to complain later on that our teachers aren't teaching us well when we as students aren't doing our best? How are teachers going to teach us anything if we don't show them what we are capable of. If they see that we are B students they will try and help us be A's students, but we won't truly learn anything if our capability is already a A. I, at times, don't do what is required of me to do. Yes I turn things in and get ok grades, but I'm never satisfied. And how could I if what I turned in isn't what I am capable of doing. Each and every single one of us can be better if we only try.

  Yes life is hard, and life can at times be frustrating but that shouldn't give us the reason to quit. So you may say, "But I tried and that's better than nothing". Yes it may be better than nothing but that is a state of mind for failure. If we all have that mental note that it's better than nothing, one day we will do nothing because you see that others don't do anything so why should you?

   Quitting is never the answer. We need to learn how to be big boys and girls and man up! Life is not going to get any easier at the rate we are living but what I am saying is that we can grow and mature and take responsibility in our life. Work a little more, try to give it another chance, and look at the good side of the problem. The only thing a problem can do to you is break you or make you, but that's all up to us.

Trailer Commercial for Eleanor & Park

http://animoto.com/play/bPHj6APsr7AlaRcFNh12yg

Pet Peeves

 As we grow older we pay more attention of our surroundings. What type of people we hang around, how people react towards you, and how others treat you. This especially happens in school. Sadly, you also notice it in your teachers, and how they are teaching you.

  A teacher can either be a good teacher, an ok teacher, or a bad teacher. No I am not talking about nice or mean teachers. I am talking about how well a teacher teaches you. Have you ever heard about that one saying teenagers say in eitherTwitter, Instagram, Facebook or any other type of media about teachers? That one saying saying "If all your students are failing it's not the students fault but the teachers". For example I had teacher in tenth grade who couldn't teach well. She was very nice and very patient but wasn't good at teaching. We had to teach ourselves everything! Those who didn't teach themselves failed. 

  There is also those teachers who don't help you learn but rather just give you the answers. Yes it will helps us with our problem and will give us the points we need to get a good grade on our homework. But what happens afterwards? What are the consequences? We fail our test, because the teacher didn't take her time to teach us the material well and we can't ask her for help during the test. This affects not only the relationship with the student and that teacher but with future teachers as well. The student will not learn and will keep asking the wrong answer instead of asking the right ones. We ask what's the answer to this question? Instead of asking how do I get this answer for this problem? As a student, I will try my best and push myself to look for the solution of the problem by asking questions that will help me accomplish the problem. Yes it will take more time to get the answer but during the test it will seem like a piece of cake.

  Yes I may to be the best person to talk about the teaching since I have not been a actual teacher. But I do know the perspective of a student and I know what a teacher should act and teach like since I have had my number of teachers before. I can strongly assume that being a teacher must be a hard job to do. But I strongly believe that if a teacher is being paid to teach us the least they can do is make sure we are learning what is thought isntead of assuming.

  Teachers are gift. They should be appreciated. But apart from being appreciated they should also be taken serious in all matters. They should as well take their job seriously as well. Our future lies in their hands, literally. What they teach us we will use in the future, and one day be thankful because they took their time to teach us well. 

My Reading Life

  As a reader I have grown so much in these couple of months, a big factor was that I started to read more during my free time. The books I have read are The Adoration of Jenna Fox, Jesus Freaks, The Infinite Moment of Us, Jumping Off Swings, Trance, Eleanor & Park, and I am currently reading The Curios Incident of the Dog In the Night-Time. This is a huge leap in my reading life comparing it to last year when I only read one book on my behalf which was The Fault In Our Stars. During the process of reading these books I have learned that there is some books that may not be appealing to us, and that's ok. It doesn't necessarily mean that the book is bad but that you have grown as a reader and need a higher reading level. For example one of the seven books I have read this year, The Infinite Moment of Us, was way below my reading level. I could tell how the book was going to end before it ended, I was never shocked by anything, and I felt as if it was too cliche to a romance book. One book though that I found a bit more challenging was Trance. This book was not hard in word choice or reading level wise but it was challenging in the sense that you really had to keep up with was said before and bringing it to the new topic. It made me connect the dots to what was once said. The book that I loved and will love will forever be Eleanor & Park. It is a book like no other. Once I got into it I couldn't let go of the book. It has everything you could wish for in a romance book, even a not so happy ending, but that's all up to you and how you want the story to end. Never have I read a book like this one, although I could say that it has a slight similarity to The Fault in Our Stars I. The sense of having a plot like no other but yet it was beautifully put together. Thankfully I find the time to read these intriguing books at night when I'm off to sleep. It helps me relax and enjoy my peaceful time I have for myself. What I would like to do in my reading life would be reading more challenging books, make my brain work a little more, so that I as a reader grow. Hopefully my goal will be made true and I will read at a much higher reading level.

  Reading to me has opened new worlds! I find myself reading a book so that I may escape this horrible world and enter a new one to which is controlled and precise to what something wants to be done. Reading is not just a pleasure in life but almost a need to me. It helps me hope for a better tomorrow because if that person in the book finds a happy ending so can I, right? Everyday I read something into a mind of someone else and it always fascinates me on how that persons thinks and writes. They are a creator of a person if you think about it and have given a character life I which he has the power to makes us hate it or love it. I am thankfull to have this skill that some people may not have. Reading a book is and always will be a gift to me that I will cherish.

Awesome

  You're about to sleep. You've done your usual routine noncommittally. Brush your teeth, flit to your war and inviting room, have set up your bed and got your covers all laid out, and have jumped implishly down onto your bed. You're smile was as big and ceaseless as the sun and was conspicuous. You knew Hypnos, god of sleep, was going to give you a good nights rest. The ecxcrusiating day you had wrought you and has finally come to it's end. End the misery of that day. The scary night was a beautiful thought. It beckons you to another world like a witch. Infact you could even say you were tired as a person who worked on a entire field of cotton on a hot summers day. Daytime has finally passed away and night is born. No longer was the horrible day and beautiful night coexisting.

  As you were falling into your deep slumber you hear a noise. A noise who has become horribly sweet in your life. The noise that used to haunt you when you were young has now become your best friend. Splat! Tick! Droop! Rain. The enemy of yours who has now become your best friend. The sound that will lullaby you to sleep just like the voice of your mother once did. Rain. A song in its own to claim. Hearing the similiar melody outside of your window makes you feel secured in its arms. The rustling of leaves, the whispers of the wind, and the tiny knocks on your window makes the sheet around you and your bed somehow even more relaxing than ever before riddancing  the day of today. Rain. A friend that decided to come and visit you at the right time, at the right place. Life at that moment can not get any better that that. Hearing the rain as you fall asleep is awesome!

#Writemycommunity

  A community is a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common. It is who we live with and share experiences with. Communities come in different places and sizes. A big factor in my life that is a community is my school, Lewisville High School. This matters so much to me because it is what shapes me to be now and in the future.

  High school consists of different types of people all coming together to learn and try to better in your position in life. As I grow older and get smarter each year in high school I see that we all are trying to reach a goal, graduating. We are all trying are best to learn, live, and love during these difficult time in our life. High school, our community as teenagers, shapes us to who we will be in the future and even now. Teenagers make mistakes and the learn. Teenagers hold back on life but learn to live. Teenagers are learned to hate but soon love because they see that everyone wants is love. We grow all together to be better for tomorrow.

  Communities are people coming together to support and make up that community. High school is all about support. Support from your family, friends, and neighbors to overcome this difficult hardship that they have went through or are currently in. This important community revolves what is outside of its doors and what's in the inside shaping you for the ouside world and making you stronger. When I am alone and feel as if life is hard I have to think about the rest of the thousands of kids who are going through the same situation as I am, and the millions who have overcome this difficult time. In high school I learn that you don't have to go through situations alone. In fact there is always someone there that cares about you and just need you to speak out, because a community is made up of a group of people going through a particular characteristic in common. This means that your never alone.

  Yes high school is hard, and there will be some people in the community that may not like you so much. Sometimes all you ver want to do is get out of this complex community and wing it in life. But we need to see the bigger picture. The bigger picture is the world that one day we will have to participate, a bigger community. We are being thought in this small community to be ready for the big one. A big community will always have it's bullies and hardships but we need to over look those troubles to see the beauty in the community itself.

  A community shapes us to who we will be. A community will always somehow push us to a greater community who will makes us stronger. But a community will also give us another reason to better. This matters so much because every where we go there always seems to be a community whether it's a town, classroom , or simply a neighborhood. Communities are always there to lift someone up or give that person a purpose. High school, a place you would least likely call a community but in reality may be the biggest of them all.

  

My Blog

http://animoto.com/play/f2tp6pUUXmVUKyTZMJZ8uA

    I was making my idea for my project I stopped and thought what is one thing that has always and will always affect me. That's when I thought about how much I feel oppressed by society. The way I live is not always who I truly am, and that is what will always be a huge part of my life. Deciding whether or not to live the way I want to live. As I was doing this I thought about my word choice. One of them was rainbow, meaning the colors that a rainbow holds, and to me that meant happiness and showing your true colors meaning your life. Another word that ties to rainbow is grey. Grey to me means dull and a mixture of white and black that has been combined. Neither black or white grey. A mixture of what they want you too be and what you want to be. These words were a key factor to my short story by adding emphasis on how you live your life and how others make you be who you "are".

    As I was thinking of my short story and how I was going to write it I thought about how others would read it. I thoroughly read over my short story so that the voice behind it could be heard. This was not easy, of course, but i managed to make at least 3 rough drafts. All of these drafts were examined with a careful eye. Every single time trying to improve myself once again. The feedback really helped too. It gave me a better understanding on how the readers read my story. Not only was it helpful it also made me be more open minded to comments and helped me be a better writer by being criticized.

    While I was in the process of making my video I thought about the images. I thought about how I can capture a word/s in a picture. It wasn't easy but that was what it made it fun. I really had to think about what I was saying. It made me think about what I really meant. I got a better understanding of what I was saying, what I wanted in life, and why I felt such a way.

    In the end this short story was good. I think I could have impress others a bit more by slowing down the pictures, and really let it sink in both the words and the pictures. Was I happy with my work? Yes but with the final setup of the video not so much. As I showed it to the fellow classmates of mine I wished I would have found a way to slower down the video. But if not for the speed of the video I think it was absolutely perfect.

A Big Beautiful Mess

  I agree with Wash's post about microagression because people need to not assume someone is offending them when they don't understand what they truly meant to say. We all need to understand that not everyone has the same thought of mind as the we do. So when we hear a comment about something that we are delicate too we ought to just ignore it and not think much of it, because we need to be more open minded.

  There is people that take a comment and overthink the comment. They don't stop and think that 'Hey maybe it's not suppose to be offending and more like a question or comment'. But instead the believe in what they thought they "heard".

  By simply saying something as common as, "Where are you from?" a person from another country might think of it as, "Go back to where you came from!". Which is crazy! That person never said anything to that similar manner and to put words into someone's mouth is not correct. We need to value each word as it is said and not assume something that was never meant to be assumed.

  People need to understand that what they think and do is not what everyone else thinks. Nobody was born with the same mom. Meaning not everyone was taught the same morals or views. Nobody is like anybody else because of how they were thought and raised but that doesn't serve as a excuse to judge a person by what they do or say. We don't know how they think.

  A women could be behind a man and he opens the door to the woman because that is what was thought to him. He doesn't know she is a feminist, and so she feels offended because she thinks she's a minority to him and because of that she needs help. That man was taught to be a gentleman and hold the door for a lady. The woman took his action of kindness and turned it upside down. She did not think that he was just doing what he was taught to do. She over thought the action, and making the action much bigger than what it was intend to mean. A act of kindness.

1.) We don't need to overthink a comment or action

2.) We need to understand that we all think differently therefore not everything we think as rude or critical is actually so

3.) We need not to take comments or actions to the heart because they were never meant to

  As a generation of microagression we need to stop being so sensitive. Open our ears with no filters. Understand that the whole world isn't revolving just around us, but others as well. This includes the thoughts and actions of others. Accept that there is a certain way to act towards one another, and that includes being more open to other thoughts and ideas. By being sensitive you get nowhere. This whole world is filled with different cultures, politics, and religions that we might not always agree with. But with all that, that is what makes this whole wide world a big beautiful mess.

All Human

  Now a days people judge others based on what they are. Whether they are light, dark, or tanned. It's just not good enough to be who they are. We also have to be part of a certain group to not be judged, and even then they are still judged. Well I'm sick of it. People should be accepted by who they are, not what they are. It shouldn't matter what they're color of there skin is, whether it be purple or yellow. We are all human, and it's about time we see that.

  When I was younger I used to go to a elementary school that consisted mostly Hispanics. We all talked and learned how to speak English but also Spanish as well, to not forget our language. Then one day my family and I moved. We moved to a neighborhood that was mostly filled with white folk. Sure there was some other Hispanics and African American but mostly white people. To our luck there was a school right around the neighborhood. When I first got to school I didn't think much of it. I knew English and I didn't feel out of place. Until I saw another Hispanic girl, I talked to her. Except when I talked to her she responded back, in Spanish, we don't talk Spanish here, they don't feel comfortable with that. That's when I realized that out of all my grade there was maybe 8 Hispanic kids all together, and most of them didn't know how to speak Spanish. Soon enough my teachers caught on that I knew Spanish. So naturally they thought I needed ESL. They treated me as if I was special and didn't know what I was doing. They saw me as a Hispanic girl, not me. The ESL class for me was just something to get out of my normal class schedule. They didn't teach me anything I didn't know already. Then one day a boy came into my class, a Hispanic boy. The teacher told me that I should help him out, speak to him in Spanish. I felt thrilled! I had someone to speak Spanish with, until I realized that they saw us both as outcasts,misfits,special. Before going to this new school I was quite loud, but after going to this new school I was totally different. I became self conscious of who I was, In fact I didn't know who I was, and became quiet. I'd hate to think that that's why I am who I am today.

  I'm sure they didn't know that what they were doing was harmful. They probably thought it was a way to help me out. To make me fit in. To become more like them. I don't hate them. In all this experience I learned to value myself. To see that who I am nobody else is. I am special, unique.

  All of this brings me back to see others for who they truly are. If people would just take the time and truly meet the person then they would know who they are and not just assume things that are not true. People ought to just see people as human. That they as well are just as valuable as them. That they have feelings and stories. That we are all equal. That we are all human.

Something To Remember

   Don't you ever get sick of older people comparing their past with yours? Well I do. Yes their past sounds pretty cool, but that does mean mine isn't? No. Just like you wouldn't compare someone to someone else because they are uniquely themselves, you shouldn't compare someone's past with another's. Times are different. Technology is more advanced. That means the future will never again be like the pasts future, and never will be. That also includes people's past (memories).

   As we grow grow older, old folk tend to tell us their stories. Most of them beginning with "In my day....." or "When I was about your age......" It's all nice and sincere memories, until they say "Not like today." That's what makes me mad. Because obviously it wasn't like that day. The present is so much different then the past. Hence the word past. I'm sure that if we were born in their time period we would have as well said stories like them, but we're not. Simply because technology is a whole lot better. Wouldn't they ,as well, done the same things as us? Probably.

   Yes as teenagers we are distracted very easily by technology. Yes we don't do things like they used to. But I don't see why my memories or past is any less in value than the elder people. I still learned, got bullied, had adventures, and most of all I do have something to remember and that to me is just as important to them. I may not have as interesting stories to tell to my kids but it all goes back to the future and how the future for us will not be the same for them. And just like me they will have their own memories that are just as valuable to mine.