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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

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!

Pretty Little Liars: Connections and Questions

In my book Pretty Little Liars, there are many connections in the real world to make to this book.  One example would be the fact of all the mean, and anonymous users.  There are sites in real life where kids go on anonymous accounts and cyber bully other innocent kids just like them.  Usually, they don't even have a reason, maybe just jealousy... which brings me to a question about my book.  I wonder why this "A" is attacking these girls? Is he/she jealous or did the girls do something to them in the past?  It's exactly like what happens in real life if you think of it.  Ya, you may say someone acting like a dead girl to attack innocent... or not innocent girls.... is crazy, but really, this same thing is happening in our society today in different forms and that's a huge problem.  Another question I have is how this anonymous user knows so much about the 4 girls?  And how long have they been watching them?  It's actually a pretty creepy concept to think about.  I predict in the next book of the series, I may find out some more about A's intensions but I won't find out who a is.

Pretty Little Liars: End of Book Summary

The end of this book kind of leaves you hanging a TON.  In the end, when the Rosewood police find Ali's body, proving that she is dead, they have a funeral for her.  all of rosewood is invited because her mother thought that is what Ali would want.  Aria, Hanna, Emily, and Spencer obviously all go to the funeral.  they can't believe that Ali is dead because who else would be sending them the anonymous A texts? Those text messages from A were the slightest hope for the four girls that maybe... just maybe Ali was still alive and her whole death was a practical joke she had been playing on them. At the funeral, the four girls were asked to sit together by Ali's mother.  This was a little awkward for them since they still hadn't really talked at all since Ali's dissapearance. The tension between the four girls was weird... all of them sad and them all being together... without Ali... made them feel weird.  It was the end of the funeral and the four girls had seemed they almost bonded over Ali's death.  They were all standing together after the funeral outside.  When suddenly officer Wilden, Rosewood's policeman, came up to the four girls telling them they were going to bring them in for questioning on Ali's death.  They were definitely worried because of "the Jenna Thing" and worried theyd find out.  "The Jenna thing" happened in 7th grade when all five of the girls wanted to pull a prank on Toby Cavanaugh, Jenna Cavanaugh's step-brother for just being a "creep."  They kind of blew up his shed and didn't realize that Jenna was inside.  Not him.  This whold thing had blinded Jenna for life.  They found out later that Toby had seen them and didn't tell anyone.  In my opinion, I was thinking maybe he was trying to hold it over their heads, threaten them with the situation.  The four girls when being questioned the first time, when Ali had just dissapeared, they were asked f there was anyone that had anything against Ali, but they said nothing because then they would most likely get in trouble themselves. In the very end, they all get the same message from A saying "I'm still here."  It is really mind boggling considering Ali is supposed to be dead.