zMac'nCheese

The reality of our world

    The reality of life scares people.  When there are the adds asking for donations for children in Kenya and other places, many people change the channel because they just wanna get on with their lives.  Not wanting to deal with the painful truth about people less fortunate enough.
    I'm one of them.  I was flipping through channels late in the night, I came across this add.  Feed-a-Child and this broke my heart.
    More than once I was tempted to change the channel and just forget that I ever saw it.  But something told me to stay and watch.  So this is a post about the harsh truth of the world around us.
    Reading about it in text books and hearing the hardships from the past, is nothing compared to seeing actual footage of places of today where there are kids as young as 16 months old that are on the streets sleeping on roofs with nothing more than the rags on their backs.
    It's devastation throughout the world is a level of depression that cannot be measured.  Everyone always say that there's something that needs to be done.  Yet nothing has changed.  No one has stuck out their hand to the orphans of Kenya, China, and other devastated places in the world.
    Even I know that I can't do anything about it.  If I were able to, I would've picked up the phone and called the number that they kept mentioning over and over.  Asking for help.  Asking for the little kids who cannot reach out to us themselves.  I would've done it.  Donating only 8 dollars a month.
    But I'm only 12 years old.  I can't do much at 12.  All I know is that people can help these kids.  But no one has done anything.  Not enough people at least.  I want to make a difference and make my mark on affecting this ugly face of the world.
    But I'm only 12.  I want to help kids that are my age and younger.  But there's always that little bit of doubt.  What kind of difference can I make?  I'm only one person.  Donating to help only one kid?  What will that do?
    It means that one more kid will have a nutritional meal and get to sleep in a warm bed and receive medical treatment.
    And this is a commercial of crucial necessity and it's running at 1:00 AM.  When no one's going to see it.  It just shows how people think of this.  I don't want to blow it off and just watch a re-run of My Super Sweet 16 instead.  I don't want to be able to watch this add and then buy 300$ Jimmy Choo heels.  Not when I know that the money could go to a cause that needs our attention.
    And I'll end up forgetting about this post and what I saw on that TV screen within a week.  But I think that everyone else should know that ugly truth about our world.  Whether they want to or not.  Whether they know it or not.
    It's how I make my mark on it all.  Hopefully I'll be able to make more of an impact on this than just telling people.  I'm just 12.  But you can help other people in the world who need the care.  Please.

What's on my Mind?

    It got me to think at 5:12 PM on Friday, June 13th.  The unlucky day of Friday the 13th hit home to someone.  Or rather hit the heart of someone.  My dad didn't know him.  But he knew about him.  He hadn't talked to him.  But he has heard him.  He was a lecturer that moved my dad whenever he spoke.
    The first time that we heard him speak was in Nantucket in a small neighborhood church house with no air-conditioning and so many people that we ended up standing through his whole speech.  It was only 2 years ago when we heard him.  My dad seemed to enthusiastic about seeing him speak.  I was more concentrated on trying to stay cool in the crowded, white wall, high ceiling room with so many people.  Yet only one voice.  At the end everyone clapped.  Some people might have cried.  I don't remember the topic he talked about.  But it didn't matter.  Babies didn't care what they were crying about and so why should it matter now that we've grown up?
    So how did it make me think?  Well small news always seems to make me think.  And this guy.  this lecturer that my dad was so moved even if he was only hearing the story of The Giving Tree for the first time.  Had a heart attack.  He died today, from a heart attack.  No older than my dad, his last breath was that of struggling to stay alive.  I doubt that it was the poor guy's fault for dying on an unlucky day.  But it made me think of other great leaders.  Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr.  All were killed/assassinated in the primes of their lives.  We were all moved by their words.  Even if they were reading the poem of Auxiliary words.  They were all taken from this world before we believed it was their time.
    Why does this spark an interest in my mind?  Why does this want me to write this?  Why does this thought seem to have made its own mental post-it in my brain that'll stay there until I write it down?  I have no clue in all honesty.  Maybe it's because of that ever repeating line, "You don't know what you've got till it's gone." maybe we didn't appreciate these men enough so they were taken to find a much more worthy place and time for them to shine.  Would we become to persuaded that there's a solution to everything and that no matter what dream we have of a new and better nation of equal blacks and whites, can come true?  Would that mean that a 3 year old girl will be able to imagine up her dream pony and princess dress?  A woman would dream up her dream relationship, home, family, and wedding?  that a young boy out of high school will dream up his future career as the star athlete that all the major league teams will beg to put on their team?  It doesn't work that way.
    Without the balance of good and bad, it would all be psychotic and nothing would get done unless we dream it.  I wouldn't call it crtisism to Martin Luther King's speech.  the speech moved me to tears when I was in the second grade and I didn't even know why.  I thought it was beautiful withought having to even look at a painting.
    The founding father forgot so many more members of the shapers of out nation.  uncles, grandfathers, cousins, brothers, sisters.  They all deserve their own credit for managing to inspire at least one ear.
    That's why this caught my eye.  The post it was stuck on my mental bilboard and it sits along side the photos of who I believe their faces belong on Mt Rushmore.  the inner me at the end of the day looks at the bilboard and thinks to herself, "All in a days work.  But it's all thanks to them."  The only reason we're as successful as we are now.  But also, I haven't found any real leaders that have inspired me too much over the years.  All the good guys have been used up and they were rencarnated into small children whose potential hasn't woken up yet.  realizing that they've got a founding father, uncle, brother, sister, cousin, and mother inside of them.  And maybe that's even me.  I'm only a 7th grader.
    I'm only a 7th grader whose gains a thought, looses a thought, texts all day, and types all night.  Whose constant thought is either what college I'll go to, or if I look ok in this shirt.
    So I'll either wait for the next leader to come along, or become a leader myself.  I'm no polotitian but who is really?  These days they're all on Law and Order and other crime shows.  You don't usually see anyone who inspires you these days.  All you can see are people.  regular ordinary people.  whose either got potential, lost their potential, or are at their peak of potential.  I want to think that it's legal to go on a search for an inspiration.  A diamond in the ruff.  Something shining through all the dirt and crud.
    I wanna be that diamond.  But I also want someone else to be the diamond.  Are you an inspiration?

Economic Differences Should Not Affect Relationships

On the first day of kindergarten, most of us automatically became friends with the first person that gave us a smile.  Nothing else mattered between use and that person, because that person had just done one of the nicest gestures that we knew 0f at that point, during our innocent, premature lives.  It didn't matter whether they were Jewish and French or Christian and Mexican, or whether they were born into an rich, poor or working class family.

We didn't then, but today, we sometimes do use these things to decide on our relationships and thoughts on/about others.  Which brings me to my point.  To say that "Economic differences between friends cause problems; people from different economic backgrounds cannot be friends," would be one person's opinion, (which I happen to strongly disagree with).But in my eyes, "Economic differences between friends MAY cause problems, but people from different economic backgrounds CAN STILL be friends," is a MUCH BETTER quote.  I mean, after all, it is a free country, according to the Constitution, and we are allowed to be friends with anyone, so why would economic differences matter?  Well in my opinion, they don't.

What Would I Do Without You

    What would I do without you?  Would I walk down the street holding hands with a boy?  Or would I walk down the street walking 17 dogs?
    What would I do without you?  Would I have played in the mud as a little kid?  Or would I have been feeding the 17 dogs that I have?
    What would I do without you?  Wonder what it would be like if I were famous?  Or would I go shopping every day and have take out every night?
    What would I do Without you?  Would I stare at the rain pounding hard against the window wondering what it's like to be a rain drop?  Or would I be out in the rain not caring if I caught pneumonia?
    What would I do without you?  Would I sit around all day eating Ben and Jerry's Ice cream on the couch? Or would I read every single thing in the dark.  Not caring that it ruins my eyes?
    What would I do without you?  Would I take a walk in between every class not caring that I'm making a fool of myself?
    What would I do without you?  Would I get 100s on tests and still tell myself I should have done better?  Or would I be hiding under my teacher's desk untying and retying her shoes together?
    What would I do without you?  Would I be in and out of love over and over, or be so along even when I'm surrounded by friends?
    What would I do without you?  Would I stay up till 12:00 AM writing a blog post because it was due 5:00 yesterday?  Or would I be randomly buying old used toupees that my science teacher could've used?
    What would I do without you?  Sing about llamas and make shadow puppets in when there's no shadow?  Or wonder what the world would be like if everyone was as equally smart as the smartest or dumbest kid in class?
    What would I do without you?  Would I get muscle spasms every night because of lack of movement, or have to go to the doctors because I'm always sick?
    What would I do without you?  Wonder if I'm going to hell or heaven?  Or wonder how many wrinkles that girl is gaining by frowning all day?
    What would I do without you?  Write an epic about love, or draw all day until my hand decides it needs a vacation and leaves for Hawaii?
    What would I do without you?  Watch as all my friends become adults, married, have kids?  Or would I just sit around waiting for him to run over to my house in the pouring rain drenched just to say that he loves me?
    What would I do without you?  Count how many words I've written or how many words I'll write?
    What would I do without you?  Talk tough to my friends and little to my brother, or wear my bra on the outside not caring how many people are laughing?
    What would I do without you?  Would I be strong enough to stand any insult or punch thrown my way?  Or would I grow up to have 17 Beagles and 47 cats in my home?
    What would I do without you?  Would I be a widow? Or a hero who lives in retirement happily?
    What would I do without you?  Would I be here waiting for life to take me?  Or be where you are rite now content?
    What would I do without you?  Write a song and sing it to the dead?  Or write a book and read it for all the world to hear?
    What would I do without you?  Take the smooth path to happiness or take the hard path to meet my true love at the end?
    What would I do without you?  Would I sit around wondering what I would do without you?  Or would I be talking to you right now wondering if you know how much I love you?
    I know what I'd do without you.  I'd go down the street, to the corner, into the waiting car, and leave.  I'd follow my list of what I would do, and do them.  Act before you regret, and never hold back.  Take chances, love them, and never wish something else happened.  What would I do without you?  Read it all over.

Titles FINAL

You can say that you've never heard of titles, but then you would be lying.  The truth is that we all have heard of them.  The prettiest girl rules all of the girls, and the most athletic boy rules all of the boys; at least that's how it is in most of today's movies.  But titles are everywhere from movies, to books, to magazines, to the Internet and even in real life.  We even learned about titles in school.  If you don't believe me, just ask Ms. Hill.  In her class one day, we had had homework in Springboard the previous night, so we were talking about what we look for in a friend.  Ms. Hill made a list on the SMARTboard, of some titles that occur repeatedly.  So there, I just proved it to you.

But back to my point, titles are everywhere.  Titles define what kind of person someone is.  If someone likes to read a lot, they are usually called a bookworm.  If someone plays a ton of sports, they are usually called a jock.  If someone is really strange, there are sometimes called a weirdo.  I'm even called an over-achiever sometimes, since I try to do my best in school.  Titles can be mean, can tell the truth, or can not affect you.

Sometimes people hang out with people who have similar titles  to themselves, because if they have similar titles, they usually have similar interests.  Some of the most popular titles are as follows; jocks, bookworms, j.a.p.'s (Jewish-American-princesses), goths, emos, punks, weirdos, bakers, teacher's pets, valedictorians, class clowns, freaks, over-achievers, obsessives, musically-inclined, dancers and flexibles, and girly-girls.  Now, if you are one of these, that's okay, because that just means you are interested in something in particular;  if you are interested in something, that's a good thing, because that means that you define whether you like something or not, which is perfectly normal.

So anyway, titles are everywhere.  Okay, I admit that it is kind-of stupid writing an essay on titles.  But to me, titles are important, and they really make a difference in our school lives.  I mean, don't you think school would be a little different if we all didn't have our little cliques at lunch and in the halls of Albert Leonard.  Titles separate us sometimes, but sometimes bring us all together, as a student body.  Titles divide us into groups and bigger sections that will probably stay the same until we all graduate; which could be a good thing.

Thanksgiving Parades- Then and Now

     As you all might know, there is a Thanksgiving Parade every year (the New Rochelle parade), which I go to it mostly every year because my sisters are in it.  My dad told me how the parades are so different from when he was a kid.  He said that they were a lot better than the parades of today, and his mom ( my grandma) agrees with him.

      I asked my dad about the parades when he was a kid, and this is what I found out.  The first thing he told me was that the parade was the night before Thanksgiving, which they called Thanksgiving Eve, and they lasted for about two to two and a half hours.  He then told me that all the streets and store fronts were decorated to the nines.  He said that he and his brothers and sister and his dad went to see the parade because his mom was preparing for tomorrow- Thanksgiving Day.  There was lots of marching bands in the parade, so there was plenty of music.  There was no gaps in the parade, there was one thing after another.  The parade ended with Santa driving the back of the Hook and Ladder Truck, and that was how you knew the parade was over. They would dress according to the weather- hats, gloves, scarfs, boots, and a jacket.  When they got home afterwards, they would all have hot chocolate.

      The parades thar we have each year are entirely different.  First of all, the parades are in the morning, and they are several days before Thanksgiving.  Also, the streets and stores aren't decorated for the parade.  There is also gaps in the parade.  Usually the gaps are very long, up to five to eight minutes long.  All that time when the parade could be going on, there is nothing going on.  There are still marching bands in the parade, but sometimes not the whole band is even playing.  My sisters are baton twirlers in the parade with their school, but sometimes they aren't doing the routine and they were just walking with the baton at their side.  I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with that, but some people want to see them twirling the baton, doing the routine. When they come up, they aren't doing the routine and they start it after they pass them, they will be upset that they weren't able to see it.  Especially if that was their neice or child and they weren't able to see the routine, and then afterwards, they go, " Did you see me doing the routine?" and all you can say is, " Sorry, but I didn't see you doing the routine, you weren't doing it when you passed by me, but I did see you." 

     I wish that I would have been able to see the parades my dad saw when he was a kid.  Oh well, maybe one year the parades will be like how they used to be.       

My Favorite Things FINAL

I knew that I had to post again by this week, but I had horrible writers block.  So I made a list of my favorite things.  I'll probably post again, a real story, but anyway I hope you like this.  I know the title makes this sound like the song from "The Sound of Music," but believe me, it's very different.  Anyway, here it goes.

My Favorite Things:

1. My family, friends, and all others that I care about and who care about me.

2. Figure skating (including my actual skates, my coach, and skating)

3. Running (track, cross country, my coaches, the meets I go to, and running with one of my favorite cousins, Bernie (her real name is Bernadette,) who is an UNBELIEVABLE distance runner as well!)

4. Playing the violin (including my teacher, my playing and my actual violin!)

5. My health, including food, water, and air.

6. The health of my family, my friends, and all others that I care about, and care about me.

7. My two ADORABLE cats!

8. My house

9. My grades, so that I can go to a good college.

10. Traveling (I absolutely LOVE to travel!)

11. My room (it's my sanctuary and great for sleeping in!)

12. My computer (email, music, i.m., games, and help with homework!)

13. Shopping (clothes, shoes, etc.)

14. My music

15. My cell phone

16. My T.V.

17. Cooking with my mom and my friends, and cooking at camp!

18. Acting, singing, and dancing with friends, and at camp!

19. Volunteering (for college, and it makes me feel good.)

20. Paint, markers, and colored pencils (I love to paint, even if it's kind of childish!)

21. The smiley faces that you can make on the computer, I love them! ;-)

22. The weather (I love the snow in the winter, I love the colors of the leaves in the fall, and I love the flowers in the spring.)

23. Couches because they are SO comfortable!

24. The hilarious stories my dad tells me, about his childhood!

25. Making lists, just like this one, because it's really fun!

So those are my 25 favorite things.  Notice anything? Yeah, I DID put that I like running and figure skating, BEFORE I put breathing, eating and drinking! I hope you liked my list, mostly because I worked hard on it and it took me a while, but also because I plan on making more lists on this blog, aside from writing real stories! :-)

Alberto Lennard Academy for Talented Young Ladies [and Gentlemen] ch 4 (final)

    "I'm sure you all have heard the wonderful news!"  Ms Gradey said that afternoon.  I was sitting down against the wall with Molly, Michelle, Trisha, Julie, Stephanie, Abby, and Katie.  Katrina Fitzgerald (Katie for short) is another tall friend of mine.  Golden hair with natural blond highlights that everyone's jealous of.  About 5'3" and one thing to describe her is, she loves the color pink.  So she's very satisfied with the school uniforms.  "Thanks to the brilliant minds of the the ladies, we will be having a social this coming Friday.  Oh my that leaves us little time to prepare.  Our class will be performing at the social!"  ms Gradey was so giddy during class that I thought I saw her eyes literally sparkle with delight.  "Get into the partners from yesterday."  She said as she searched for music.
    I was honestly half hoping that she wouldn't say that.  I don't know if I can face Matt again after yesterday's fall.
    "Molly I'm scared."  I said.
    "Because of a boy?"
    "When was the last time I talked to a boy that wasn't related to me and was my age?"
    "Cole?"  Molly suggested shrugging.  I rolled my eyes.
    "At least your partner is decent.  I'm stuck with Seth."  Michelle complained.
    "Seth's not that bad."  Trisha said.
    "Josh isn't bad either."  Abby said.
    "Lets go people.  Move, move, move!"  Ms Gradey said impatiently.
    "It's madam graceful."  Matt said when we got with our partners.  Molly was all the way on the other side of the room with Kurt, her partner.
    "Yeah."  I said a little uneasy.  "I'd actually rather you call me by my real name."
    "Well you never gave it to me."
    "You told me not to."
    "Touche."
    "I'm Susan but everyone calls me Sue."
    "I know that already."  He had a playful smirk on his lips.  I didn't know if I loved it or hated it.

    "How?"

    "Cole Michaels.  He was dating one of your friends."

    "I know.  We met."

    "For this dance we will be doing the tango."  I felt my stomach lurch.  Out of all the dances, Ms Gradey had to choose one of the most passionate dances of them all.  Again we placed our hands in the right spots and started to repeat the moves Ms Gradey was demonstrating.  After dance we had lunch.

    "Man Ms Gradey is going tough on us.  We have to learn that dance by Friday!  It's already Tuesday.  I don't think I can remember what we did today.  Oh my goodness I'm gonna do miserable."  Katie said.

    "Don't hyper-ventilate on us Katie."  Molly said.

    "Hey Michelle."  Seth said.  He was standing there with his hands in his pockets.

    "Um hi?"  Michelle said uneasy.  Cole was there with that kid again.

    "Oh this is our friend Cole."  Seth said. turning to the two kids with him.

    "We know he's Cole Seth."  Molly said in an obvious tone.

    "No not Cole Michaels.  This is our other friend, Cole Katz."  Seth explained.

    "Yeah Sue.  It's the other kid."  Molly said to me.  I rolled my eyes.

    "It's nice to meet you Cole. I'm Susan but you can call me Sue."  I said to Cole.  He nodded at me.  "These are my friends, Michelle, Julie, Trisha, Stephanie, Abby, Molly, and Katie."  I introduce my friends.  Cole K had dark brown hair that almost looked black.  It was slightly curly I guess and like many other boys, it gently fell over his eyes.  He had brown eyes and had his uniform shirt un-tucked and had his sleeves rolled up.  He didn't have on the jacket.  I estimated his height to about 5'1".

    "Well we better get back to our table."  Cole M said looking at Michelle a little too obviously.

    "Nice meeting you all."  Cole K said.  Then they walked off.

    "oh-k.  How awkward was that conversation right there?"  Michelle said.

    "Did you see that?  Cole couldn't stop staring at you."  Julie said poking Michelle.

    "You're really nosy you know that?"  Michelle said glaring at Julie.  Julie had an amused smirk on her face.

    "Yeah I know.  Isn't that why you love me?!"  No one said anything.  She pouted and we all started laughing.

    For the rest of the week, things slowly dies down.  Except in Ms Gradey's 4th period dance class.

    "Lets move people.  The social is tomorrow and we need to practice big time.  I have excused you from your afternoon classes so that we can practice."  There were cheers and groans.  I was in between it all.

    "Does anyone else think that Ms Gradey is taking things to a bit of an extreme?"  Stephanie asked.  We all nodded.

    "At least we're getting out of Trig.  I forgot to finish my homework for her."  Julie said.

    "When do you ever finish your Trig homework?"  Molly pointed out.

    "Ready partner?"  Seth asked in a pissed voice.  Seth and Michelle haven't become the best of friends the past 3 days.

    "No but does she have a choice?"  Molly answered for Michelle.  Michelle just rolled her eyes and walked off with Seth dragging her feet the whole way.

    "Well I guess we better get with our partners."  Abby said.

    "Hey Trish.  Over here."  Peter said.

    "Trish?"  Julie and I asked in unison.

    "Jinx both of your owe me sodas!!" Molly said.

    "Don't ask."  Trisha said.  She walked over to Peter.

    "Hey Molly over here."  Kurt said.

    "Coming.  Don't miss me too much now."  Molly said to us.

    "I miss you already."  I said sarcastically.

    "I'm over here Julie."  I heard Josh say.

    "Mama Mia.  See ya Sue.  I gotta go."

    "You don't gotta.  But you want to."  I said.  She rolled her eyes and walked away.

    "Well looks like I'm the only one left."  I said to myself.  Katie disappeared with her partner already.

    "What am I?  Bologna?"  I turned around to see Matt.  In all his mysterious glory.

    "Might as well be."

    "Lets go you two.  Dance doesn't wait for everyone." Ms Gradey said.  We hurried into our positions.  Dancing till the end of the period.  We took a break for lunch.

    "Oh my goodness I ache all over."  Julie said.

    "But you only used your feet.  How could you hurt all over?  Does that include your head?  Your hips?  Your Spleen?"

    "Enough Molly.  Not while we're eating."  I said.

    "Technically you can't hurt your spleen by dancing Molly.  Dancing very rarely causes internal damage to organs." Trisha pointed out.

    "Well how would I know?  I can barely pay attention in Mr F's class.  I'm sure you could find his name next to the word, drone in the dictionary." Molly said.

    After lunch we went back to dancing.

    "Ladies, we will be going into town to get costumes."  Ms Gradey said.  There were screams everywhere from girls.  "And boys, you will be shopping for costumes as well with Mr S."  There were some groans from the guys.  "Lets move, lets move, we don't have much time."  We hurried into minivans and drove off to the mall.

    "I can't believe we're going shopping within the 2 week time period.  It's great to be in Ms Gradey's class!"  Michelle said.  Michelle loved of shopping.

    "I'm just glad to be away from the school."  Stephanie said.

    "Ooh look it's the mall."  Julie said.

    "Yeah ever seen one before?"  Molly asked in a sarcastic tone.  I laughed.  When we got out of the vans we dispersed into girls with Ms Gradey and boys with Mr S.

    "move along girls.  We're going to a dance store."  We all shuffled up the elevators in our uniforms and sneakers.  "Lets see now.  Michelle, Julie.  You'll be our models."  Michelle seemed startled.  Michelle and Julie went into the changing rooms and came out each in a different dress.  Michelle was wearing a black halter dress that flowed and a red ribbon tied across.  It went down to just below the knee.  Julie had on a layered pink spaghetti strap dress that was different shades of pink on each layer.  That dress went to mid-knee.  "Hm.  I don't really like those that much.  Next."  I knew this was going to take a while with just two people trying on dresses.

    "Um, Ms Gradey, may I suggest that we have more than two girls trying on dresses if we want to get through this quickly."  I said.  "Perhaps Trisha, Stephanie, or some other girls could try on clothes as well."  I wanted to get through this as quickly as possible.  I was fine with skirts.  I usually wear leggings underneath anyway.  It's dresses I'm a little iffy about.

    "Fine.  You and Molly go try on dresses as well."

    "I wasn't implying that I should try them on.  Almost the opposite actually."

    "No protesting miss Witherstine.  Now chop, chop."  I huffed our a sigh of frustration and stormed into one of the changing booths.

    "Come on Sue.  You love to shop.  Maybe not as much as Michelle but still."  Molly offered over the side of the changing booth.

    "Yes but not dress shopping."  I reluctantly pulled on the dress and came out for the rest of my class to see.  Molly had on a dark olive green dress.  One strap with arm sleeves.  The bottom part of the dress was slanted down from left to right.  I had on a strapless white dress with a gold brim at the top and bottom.  The dress was to the floor and was kinda puffy.

    "The white one's not good for dancing tango and the sleeves of the green one might be annoying.  Next."  Michelle came out next in a midnight blue bandeau styled dress.  It was again very flowy and this time, went to the floor.  there were rhinestones randomly on the dress.  "Too dark."  Ms Gradey said.  Julie then came out in a yellow dress.  off the shoulder with an orange ribbon.  "Too bright."  We all went back into the changing rooms.  We all came back out in different dresses.  This time, Molly had a purple halter dress that had built in regular black straps under it.  There was a slit on the left side.  "Not school appropriate."  Michelle had on a lavender dress that had hyacinth flower pattern.  "Too busy."  Julie had on a black and white striped one strap dress that went to the floor and covered her feet.  "Why would they have such a dress in a dance store if you can barely walk in it?!"  Ms Gradey I could tell was getting frustrated.  I had on a simple blue and white spaghetti strap that had a low back with bunched of straps.  "Looks impossible to get into."

    "Close."  I said going back into the changing room.  I only had one more dress.  I put it on and walked out.  Molly, Michelle, and Julie didn't have anymore dresses.  This dress was bright scarlet red.  purposely wrinkly.  It was to mid-shin and again was kinda layered with different shades of thin, orange and red, wrinkly, cloth.  At the bottom the layers pointed out at different ends leaving a petal sort of effect.  On top it was a halter.

    "Perfect for the passion of the Tango."  Ms Gradey said.  Ms Gradey made Michelle, Molly, and Julie put on the same dress to make sure it looked good on everyone.  Just as we were about to change out of the dresses, we heard the store bell that shows customers are here rang and the store became loud.  The guys were here.

    "Oh wonderful Mr S.  I assume everything went over well with buying proper outfits for the gentlemen."  Ms Gradey said.

    "It did indeed.  So have you picked out a dress for the girls yet?"  Mr S replied.

    "We just did.  Take a look boys."  I was just about to slip back into the changing room to get out of the dress before anyone saw me until I heard a voice.

    "You don't look half bad."  I turned around to find none other than Matt, Cole K, Cole M, Seth, Josh, and Peter at the front of the crowd of boys.

    "Oh my goodness."  Julie said.  I saw her face start to go red with embarrassment.  Same with Michelle and Molly.  Before I knew it, I was blushing as well.

    "Okay now hurry and change girls."  Ms Gradey said.  I gladly obliged.  I threw off the dress and put on my regular clothes again.  I walked out of the booth.  Michelle, Molly, and Julie were waiting for me.

    "Everyone else is getting fitted."  Michelle explained.  I nodded feeling slightly nauseous.

    "Anyone else think that was very awkward before?"  Molly asked.  We all nodded.  We walked over to our class.  We checked out and boarded the minivans again.  When we entered the familiar black iron gates that surrounded our school, we dropped off our things and went back to the dance studio.

    "Class I'm so excited for the social tomorrow.  We will be performing at the climax of the social."  Ms Gradey said.  "You should wear a different dress girls to the social and then just change right before it's time.  Same thing with you gentlemen.  Wear something different."  I groaned.

    "Why do I have to wear 2 dresses for this thing?"  I complained on the way back to our dorm house.  "It's just a stupid reason for kids to flirt with each other."

    "And by people you mean Keisha right?"  Molly said.  I nodded.  When we were safely in the room I shared with Molly and Trisha, I flopped onto my bed.

    "So how's life in dancing partner world?"  Michelle asked walking in with Julie.

    "Torture.  He's so mysterious and it makes me want to know more about him but it also wants me to avoid him.  What's Leafered Adams Academy like anyway?"

    "Good question to look in to."  Trisha said pulling out her laptop.  She opened it and expertly typed in the school's name on Google.  While it loaded she pushed her glasses back up her nose and fixed her ponytail.

    "That's strange."  she said frowning slightly.

    "What is?" I Julie asked looking over Trisha's shoulder.

    "There's no matches for the school."  This caught my attention.  I got up and walked over to look over Trisha's other shoulder.

    "That is strange.  Even ALA has a website.  Even if it's an extremely hard school to get into."  I said.  Trisha tried to search on a foreign web searcher.  It pays to be trilingual sometimes.

    "Nothing on the European searcher or the Australian searcher."  Trisha said.  Michelle got up to pace.

    "So LAA doesn't have a website on any web searcher in the united states, Australia, or Europe?!  I highly doubt their from Asia."  she said.

    "Looks like we have another mystery on our hands."  Molly said.

    "Another?"  the rest of us asked.

    "What?  it's my Freddy impression from Scooby-Doo."  Regardless of Molly's pathetic impersonation, I knew she was right.  Who were these boys?

No Homework!!!

In most cases, homework is a very debatable subject.  Some argue that too much homework influences social skills and curiosity, while others argue that homework raises I.Q. points and grades on state tests.  The reason for so much observation on this topic is simply that people want to prepare children for college, such as what colleges are looking for.  Some say that colleges look at grades and test scores, while others say that colleges look at social skills and after-school activities.  But in my opinion, homework is something that we all could live without, because in the end, it effects everyone.

Imagine the following.  "She trudged up the stairs and tried to gently place her backpack on one of the kitchen table chairs; since it was so heavy, it came down with a huge 'boom.'  Lara had a lot of homework and way too many things to do aside from the work.  She had been at Cross Country practice until 5:30 pm and had gotten home around 5:45 pm.  She quickly ate her dinner, tried to get as much homework done as she could, then ran upstairs to shower and change for her music lesson.  At 7:00 pm her mom drove Lara and her sister, Elena, to Larchmont Music Academy and got there a little late for Lara's lesson.  The teacher didn't mind, because she understood what a hectic schedule Lara had, plus all of her homework.  Lara got home around 8:15 pm.  She immediately started her homework, but even with no water breaks, she finished all of it around 11:15 pm.  By that point she was really tired, and ran upstairs, only to fall asleep right away." 

So you see, that is a typical Wednesday night for me, Lara.  I really try to get all of my work done, but homework influences a ton of my life.  I rarely see my friends, because I only have time to see them on weekends; and I get to bed later than I should because I have so much work and then I wake up late, am late for school, am tired in class, and it is harder for me to focus.  I really want to pass with honors in all of my classes but homework makes everything else harder.  I feel so taken-advantage-of because I am forced to do so much work in school, and then you tell me I have about twice that amount of schoolwork to complete once I get home?  I personally, find it completely unfair and cruel.  I barely have time to myself anymore, because I'm doing all of this work for school. 

But it's not just my classmates and I who are affected, I mean who do you think is supposed to correct the homework after we hand it all in?  That's right, teachers have to correct the homework and grade it.  So we're not the only people stuck with a ton of work.  Teachers have to correct quizzes, tests and projects, as well.  But don't forget about the parents of these hard-working kids, they also have to deal with homework.  Parents are affected, when kids need help with homework, if they don't understand it and parents have to deal with children staying up until dawn, to complete homework assignments.  So you see, by giving seventh graders around three and a half hours of homework a day, you not only affect the rest of our lives, but you affect the teacher's and parent's lives too.

If you search the Internet, and go to this website, you will see "After years of teachers piling it on, there's a move to... Abolish homework," by Vicki Haddock.  In Haddock's story, she quotes Phil Lyons, a teacher at Palo Alto's Gunn High School, who doesn't give any homework.  "My students achieved a 94% pass rate on the advanced-placement test, one of the highest in the country -- and a success has risen since I jettisoned homework assignments," says Lyons.  He believes that homework robs children of childhood, family life, and restrains their curiosity levels; also that learning becomes a chore, rather than a fun adventure.

The Browns Center Report on American Education states that the time spent for homework increased 23 minutes per week from 1981 to 1997.  That is only around three minutes per night, but that adds up to about 1,196 minutes (19.93 hours) of extra homework time, per year.  Browns Center suggests deeply that the amount of homework should be based on grade level.  They believe it should be 10 minutes multiplied by the grade level.  For instance, a seventh grader would have 70 minutes of homework per night.

In conclusion, many efforts have been made to abolish homework, and many studies have been shown that not only does homework have a negative affect on children's lives, but in reality it does not have a point.  What I mean by this is, that homework is just a repeat of classwork, and if many children don't do the homework, they will most-likely still be able to score well on exams, which was proven.  So next time a teacher assigns a three-hour homework assignment to you, explain to them all the pain you will have to go through, just so you can get a simple grade, that you could easily get for a classwork project; because in reality, you could get the same grade for a long, complicated homework assignment as a classwork project, and get the same exact work done.  The only problem is, that teachers are assigning the work for homework.  In my opinion, that just isn't fair to students.

No More Homework! Final

     There should be no or less ( A LOT LESS!) homework given to students! Students have a lot to do after school, then, when they get home, they have to do their homework!  They might not even get home until late, and if they have a lot of homework, they will be up until late at night!  Why do we need homework? 

     Kids don't just go to school, then go right home and have nothing else to for the rest of the day.  Some to most kids have something they have to do after school, besides doing homework!  Say after school, you have to go to a basketball game which is not over until 3:30, then after that you need to go to the dentist and don’t get home until 4:15. From that you need to bring your pet to the vet, then when you get home at 5:15, it is time to eat diner and you don’t finish diner until 6:00, then at 6:15, you start your homework. For homework, you have to finish a Science project, you have Math textbook work, Language Arts sheets, then study for a final that is coming up!  Also the teachers give us the homework, but we are the ones that have to do it!  They only have "homework" when and if they decide to collect the homework we had from the night before!  Sometimes, teachers will just go over it as a class and make the students correct what they got wrong.  I don't think that is fair!  If teachers give homework, they should have to correct it, and go over it when you give it back, after you grade it!  If we have to stay inside to do homework, they have to stay inside to grade what we had to stay inside to do!!

     In the article, "After years of teachers piling it on, there’s a new movement to... Abolish homework," it said that high school teacher, Phil Lyons refuses to assign homework. He noted that of his students achieved a 94% pass rate on the advanced placement test, which is one of the highest tests in the country. Like Phil Lyons, a minority of educators and researchers are calling for an end to homework. Some are out to abolish it altogether. There was an international comparison by two Penn State professors and  it concluded that junior high students who scored higher in the math test, was where teachers assigned relatively little homework. Where in places when the students got a lot of homework, scored lower grades.  This article also said, " The preponderance of research clearly shows that homework for elementary school students does not make a difference in student achievement."  The principal of Oak Knoll Elementary in Menlo Park, David Ackerman wrote in a letter to parents, " It is hard to believe that a strategy used so extensively has no foundation,"  as he puts the brakes on homework. 

     In another article called, " As Homework Grows, So Do Arguments Against It,' it says a lot about what people in authorities have to say about there being no homework.  A Duke University professor Harris Cooper says, " Elementary school students get no benefit from doing homework.  He is also the nation's best- known researcher on homework, so I think he knows what he is talking about.  He also says that High school students are probably wasting their time studying most of the night because after two hours a night of homework, there is no academic benefit from it.  For middle schoolers, one and a half hours.  The article also says that the American Child Health Association pinned homework and child labor as the leading killers of children who contracted tuberculosis and heart disease.  Dorothy Rich, a veteran educator, founder of the nonprofit Home and School Institute, asked, " What should homework be?"  The answer was, " Homework ought to help kids make better sense of the world.  Too often, it just doesn't."  In his new book, "The Homework Myth," by Alfie Kohn, he points out Harris Cooper's research as reasons for giving kids other things to do to develop their minds and bodies after school, besides doing homework.  I agree with this because if we are always doing homework inside, then we will never have time to go outside and enjoy the outdoors.  Or if we have to go places, such as the dentist, the doctor, a game, or the vet before we can start the homework we have for the night, and we don't get back until late, then we would be up late doing our homework.  The article also said, and I quote, " It is striking that we have no evidence that there is any academic benefit in elementary school homework." 

     Again, the three reasons why we SHOULDN'T have homework!  Kids have a lot to do after school, which takes away time from doing ALL THE HOMEWORK! their teachers give them.  You also don't need homework to pass a test- you just have to pay attention in class and know what the teachers are talking about.  A Duke University professor said that elementary school students are wasting their time doing homework, which is just like saying- homework is a waste- and HE IS A DUKE UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR!!!! So why give homework if a professor thinks it is a waste of time?!!!!