Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Diva Article in School Newspaper



In the most recent version of the school nespaper, the chronicle, I read a really interesting article about bring out your "inner diva". For most people, being a diva isn't such a good thing... but if you think about it, bring out your inner diva can sometimes be a good thing.  Being a diva isn't just about being sassy, it's also about being extremely confident with yourself.  A lot of students at Mason High school have found their inner diva by looking up to the famous singer, Beyonce. 


She is known as one of the most powerful women in the world because she is extremely confident in hersle and doesn't let others opinions ruin her day and stop her from doing what she wants to do.  People see her as a role model because she is easy to look up to and her confidence makes up her whole image.  If she was insecure, and normal, she couldn't make a difference in peoples lives and make other people want to be confident she is. 

























































































































































































































































































































Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Freakonomics: Questions


The thing about Freakonomics is you really have no clue how they come up with some of the questions that they do.  Some of the questions may seem irreelevent in the beginning of the chapter but towards the end they kind of make everything come together and it all makes total sense somehow.  For example, the first chapter is called "What do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers have in Common?"  I know what you're thinking... It's a crazy topic and you have absolutely no clue what they are talking about.  That's just the start of the weirdness... throughout basically the whole chapter they don't mention Sumo Wrestlers once and all they talk about is teachers and people cheating and even politics.  But in the end of the chapter it kind of ties it all together and it all makes sense. 

Freakonomics really makes you think about life and question yourself a ton.  It has your mind questioning itself almost every page.  It gives you facts that you almost don't believe.  For example it says, "In a typical election period that includes campaigns for the presidency, the Senate, and the House of Representatives, about $1 billion is spent per year---" (page 11).  You think after reading this statement that our government is crazy and there is no reason they should spend so much money.  But then the book compares it to something we never think about... "It is the same amount, for instance, that Americans spend every year on chewing gum." (page 11).  Now, you always here people constantly complaining about how out government spends loads of money that they shouldn't but people never realize how much we spend on things much less important than our government, like gum. 

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Freakonomics

I just started probably one of the greatest books I have ever read in my life so far.  This book is called Freakonomics by Steve D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.  Freakonomics is non fiction... but is one of the only non fiction reads I have ever read that has intrigued my mind to keep reading more.  It's basically an economists point of view on everything.  They make you really think about the meanings of things and the hidden sides of things.  For example, it talks about how it's not only students cheating in school but also the teachers.  It talks about how maybe some teachers help out students a little too much to succeed because sometimes their pay is based on how well the students are doing.

It also talks about how polititions winning elections may not because of all of the money being spent and the amount of money they put into it like most believe, but may be because of other reasons that are much more complex.  This book makes your mind want to keep reading more and gives you very interesting facts about things to keep you from shutting the book.  It's not the easiest reading but definitely isn't the hardest.  This book is honestly for anyone because it has no one theme in it.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Romeo and Juliet: Love Story?


Romeo and Juliet seems to be a typical love story.  But is it really "love"?  Romeo basically snuck into a party for the Capulet's and saw Julia and instantly fell in love with her.  Before hand, Romeo had loved another woman and the second he saw Juliet he claimed that he had never felt in love before her.  I just don't think this is true love merely because he and Juliet talked for literally less than two minutes and somehow they claim they are already in love.  This reminds me of the whole idea "love at first sight."  I don't really believe you can fall in love with someone within the first day you met them. 

I think the idea between Romeo and Juliet is more "lust" than "love".  I believe loving someone can take YEARS.  You can't just look at someone and think, "I will love them forever."  Sure, at a young age you may think it's love you're feeling, but to be honest you probably won't feel love at age 16. 

That brings upon another reason that these two teenagers aren't in  love.  They are far too young to even know what love feels like.  Especially after just looking at eachother.  It's just not realistic.  Maybe it's a good iddea for a typical love story but I don't think it can really be a realistic story. 

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Book Recommendations: The Host


This is one of the many covers of her book.
One book I would definitely recommend to all readers is The Host by Stephanie Meyer. The Host is kind of a complicated and long book especially in the beginning.  Basically it's in the future, and the world is perfect. No crime, everyone gets along perfectly, and economy is the best it has ever been. It sounds great right? Except I forgot to mention only few humans still roam the planet because it's taken over by an alien species. 

The book starts out in Wanda's point of view, who was just put into her new host.  A host is a human body and they put themselves in and keep the body as their own.  The only problem they sometimes have with the procedure is sometimes thoughts from the humans are not completely gone.  This is exactly what happened to Wanda's host.

Then the book switches to Melanie's point of view, She is one of the few humans alive and she and her brother are currently hiding from the alien police trying to catch them and turn them into aliens. She has to run out of hiding to get food and she promises her brother she'd come right back, during this time, she meets the love of her life, another human still alive.  This is until she gets caught and turned into nothing. 
Melanie's body is now occupied by the alien... Wanda.  But not completely.  Sometimes when the alien is put into a new host the memories of the human remain and they can still kind of think for themselves.  So basically Wanda and Melanie are sharing a body.  At fist they hate each other and don't get along at all. But then they learn to work together and help defeat the alien species together.  They run off and find an underground world with all the few humans left in the world.  at first they don't believe Melanie is still in the body so they try to harm Wanda.  But she is able to convince them she is still Melanie just also has Wanda's thoughts in her. 

Hopefully this sparked your curiosity so you'' just have to read the book to find out the next!