It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year (:

Ahh, Christmas time! This has to be one of my favorite times of the year, and not just because of the presents, but because of the great times it brings. Sure the presents are nice, I mean come on who couldn't agree with that! I feel Christmas is a time to spend with your family, and enjoy the company with them.

Another one of my favorite parts of Christmas time is the snow. I absolutly love when it snows. Sure I could go without the cold weather but everything looks so pretty and perfect when it has just snowed. I love to go sledding in the snow also. I like skiing and snowboarding to, but i'm not very good at either of them. One time when my family and I went snowboarding, I literally fell about every 5 minutes. It was my first time going and it was fun, and I would definetely go again, I just think I need a little bit of practice first.

Christmas music always puts me in the spirit of Christmastime. Although they plan it a little early, it's still a lot of fun to listen too! Putting up the Christmas tree is always something fun my family & I do after Thanksgiving. We never normally get a real Christmas tree for some reason, but we still get to decorate it and everything. My house is also very decortive because my dad put up a ton of lights and decorations. I always like to see all the different decorations people put up!

For Christmas Eve, my family and I go over to my grandparents house. We get to eat a lovely meal, and then we go upstairs to open up presents. After that we get dessert. Soon after that we leave to go home, because my little sister has to get home fast to get to bed early! She still puts out those cookies for Santa..haha. On Christmas Eve my sisters and I also get to decorate cookies. (:

Early Christmas morning I am always woken up by my little sister saying "Katelyn! Get up it's Christmas!" I sigh and roll over everytime and say "Ugh! Give me 5 more minutes! " Of course she wouldn't listen to me so I get dragged out of bed around 7:30 or 8 every Christmas. We all open our presents, then I usually just go back to bed because I am still exhausted. Later that day we go over to my other grandpa and grandma's house to open presents and eat dinner together. It's always a fun night!

http://www.elcivics.com/christmas-lights-house.jpg

The Rwandan Genocide: Our First Class Debate

My opinion of this genocide is that everyone is at fault. I believe that each group involved in this genocide has had a part in what has happened, and has also had an ending part in the result of it.

Belgium, in my opinion was one of the main reasons for the beggining of this genocide. Belgium people emerged into Rwanda with no background or known history of the Rwandans. They entered the country because they were in charge. They proposed numerous economic, social, and political changes and even gave out identity cards to determine who was a Tutsi and who was a Hutu. This is when conflict started over who had more economic power, which resulted in wars being fought. The Interahamwe is also to blame because they were one of the main killers in this situation. Juvenal Habyarimana is also a huge contributer to this genocide. He & his radio station brainwashed the Hutu's which is why they killed so many people. They were brainwashed but some even say the Interahawe killed those to save their own lives because it was either kill or be killed. The Hutu's also killed others for advantage of food, and land.

Paul Kagame and The Rwandan Patriotic Front were also a contributer because they also killed many people. They killed the Interahawe because they wanted them to stop killing the Rwandan people. They felt it was neccesary to do this in order to stop the conflict when it fact it made it a little more worse. The United States decided to have no part in this genocide, but instead sat back and watched it happen. They wanted nothing to do with it, but wouldn't you want to try and protect those who are being killed for no reason? Apparently not. The United Nations also wanted no part in this conflict so they sat back and also watched the many people be killed. This is not right, which is why I feel all groups are at fault here.

During our first class discussion I was very surprised at how it turned out. I was afraid that the group I was representing,(The Interahamwe) was going to be mostly at fault, and that all the finers would be pointed torwards us. I sure was wrong. I watched as the first group stepped up and picked a discussion topic. It was as soon as they were done talking the bickering starting. People were all pointing fingers at different groups, all for different reasons. No one was afraid to say what they felt and I thought that was really neat. The bickering continued for awhile, until our group got picked on. I discussed the matter with my fellow partners, and we spoke what we felt was right in order to stick up for our group. People must have understood our point of view for awhile because the topic was quickly changed, moving on to a new discussion.

Overall, I felt this discussion was very fun and educational. I learned a lot about the Rwandan Genocide, and that every fight has many different people invloved, all with different viewpoints.

"The American Scholar"

Emerson’s argument in “The American Scholar” about American society still holds true today.


One reason Emerson’s argument still holds true today is because people who have only one job, are only taught one certain skill for that job, and they don’t get the chance to explore other things. Like a doctor for example is only taught how to treat patients and try to cure them, but they wouldn’t think about the patients feelings much like a physiatrist would. “In the divided or social state, these functions are parceled out to individuals, each of whom aims to do his stint of the joint work, whilst each other performs his. The fable implies that the individual, to possess himself, must sometimes return from his own labor to embrace all the other laborers. But, unfortunately, this original unit, this foundation of power, has been so distributed to multitudes, has been so minutely subdivided and peddled out, that it is spilled into drops, and cannot be gathered.”


Another reason Emerson’s argument still holds true today is because people are defined by the type of job they do. For example, when you think of people who work at Target, the first thing you think is that they aren’t educated, and they probably just have a high school degree. When in reality the truth is that they just can’t seem to find a job with the economy. Emerson explains that “The planter, who is Man sent out into the field to gather food, is seldom cheered by any idea of the true dignity of his ministry. He sees his bushel and his cart, and nothing beyond, and sinks into the farmer, instead of Man on the farm.” Although it is true man is determined by his job, I feel this isn’t right because no matter what the job is, they all have their own importance and specialty.

Halloween :)

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. I especially like it because it is in the fall, and the fall is one of my favorite seasons because of all the leaves that fall. Also it's the time of the year where you get to go get cider and donuts! :) On Halloween, I enjoy going out with my friends to go trick-or-treating. (and before you ask, no i don't think we are too old to still go trick-or-treating, ha ha) Normally me and my friends dress up, and this year me and my best friend are being fairies. :) This is also the time of year when you get to carve pumpkins and that's always fun!

My favorite candies to get on Halloween are Reese's, Hershey's, Star burst, Twix, 3 Musketeers, M&M's, Snickers, Crunch, York Mints, Skittles, Milky Ways, 100 Grands, and Laffy Taffy's. I would have to say that the worst possible candies given out would have to be Whoppers (YUCK), Mr.Goodbar, anything with coconut, Kit Kat's, and Pop Rocks.

Normally when I go trick-or-treating, I always forget about the candy I have, and I always forget to eat it. So after a long time I look in my closet and finally realize it's there. So most of the time I just throw it away cause by the time I find it it's about Christmas time. (ha ha)

In previous years, some of the things I have dressed up as were, a Powerpuff Girl, a witch, a pageant queen, and angel, a clown and a rock star. I would have to say one of the best parts of Halloween would be dressing up.

Another thing that reminds me of Halloween when I think about it is scary movies. I am not a fan of scary movies, and I hardly ever watch them. The only scary movie I have seen was Prom Night, and to be honest it wasn't even scary, but of course I got scared and couldn't sleep the first night I watched it. I wish I enjoyed scary movies but for some reason I just don't.

I always enjoy seeing what everyone dresses up for Halloween, cause that's that fun of it. I really don't think it's weird high schooler' s still go trick-or-treating. Of course maybe when you get to college your a little old, but hey that's when you get to go to all those awesome Halloween parties!

New York City!

This past summer I went on vacation to New York. It was by far one of my favorite vacations, and defiantly one that I will always remember. It was very hectic in New York, but it was what I had imagined it being. The streets were so crowded and half of the time it wasn’t even rush hour. People were always pushing past each other running to get wherever they needed to go, and I also remember the constant stream of traffic in the streets and the constant honking of horns especially from the cab drivers.

The traffic was insane, and normally pedestrians have the right away but nope not in New York City. It was always cross the street at your own risk. I would always step in the street to cross and some insane cab driver would come and speed past seconds after I jumped back trying to avoid getting hit, and I always tried to ignore the honks. This was definitely not what Livonia was like.

When my family and I were in New York, we saw a lot of neat and exciting things. Of course since traffic was so bad our main mode of transportation was to walk, and if not, it was the subway. Since I had never rode a subway before I was kind of excited, ha-ha. We got to visit Ground-zero, where the twin towers used to be. The construction workers were busy at work, and it was sad to see that this was the spot where the planes hit on 9-11. Another neat thing we went to see was the Statue of Liberty. It was very neat to see, and I was told that part of the statue had real gold on it, and I really couldn’t believe that considering the statue stood there in all sorts of weather, but it was true, there was real gold on the statue. Pretty neat huh?

I was always excited to go to Times Square at night because it was always dark, and everything was lit up and it was absolutely gorgeous! Times Square was where most of the shops were, so of course while we were there we did a little shopping! While we were there we also visited the New York Stock Exchange, and that was pretty neat to see! Although we did have to walk around a lot, it was definitely worth it. If you ever get a chance to go to New York you should go because you will have a blast. Oh, and while your there don’t forget to try their pizza! :)

Peace for Our World

General McChrystal has made a request to President Obama for 60,000 more troops to support the war in Afghanistan. Do you think the President should authorize this request to send them there? Or should he take a look at the situation we have before he decides on the future of our country and those men, women and families that will be affected by his decision?

I believe that President Obama needs to take a look at the circumstances our country is facing at present. We are currently involved in two wars and we do not have mandatory military service policies in place at this time. This situation only allows for voluntary enrollment, which greatly limits the number of available troops we can have on reserve. Depleting our existing base of military personnel will create greater circumstances of risk to our own country borders and those of our allies. The United States is now facing war in many parts of the world and it is imperative that we utilize our resources as effectively as possible. Keeping such a high percentage of our military personnel in one region of the world makes us more vulnerable to further assault in other areas.

The army is already spending $1.1 billion to provide facilities for additional troops in Afghanistan and plans to start and additional $1.3 billion in construction next year. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/). The troops, which are in addition to the 17,000 the president announced earlier would be sent to Afghanistan, will be charged with training and building the Afghan army and police force. The plans include doubling the army's ranks to 135,000 and the police force to 80,000 by 2011, the officials said. This level of spending demonstrates that we aren’t in any condition to allocate more money to this war. President Obama also has many other significant issues he is dealing with from national healthcare to resolving the financial crisis of our own country. These problems require his dedicated attention and more importantly funding to support their success. Continuing the tremendously high investment rate on the war will surely impact these important strategies necessary for our countries success. In the meantime the Pentagon continues to play the waiting game, while President Obama decides what strategy to pursue.

Probably the most important decision the President must consider before sending additional troops to Afghanistan is the devastating and long lasting impact it will have on those military personnel and their families. Sending more troops will surely result in many more deaths and more children who will grow up without a loving mother or father. How many more people from the United States need to die before we say enough? We have to provide these countries the fundamentals they need to support and fight their own interests so we can begin an organized extraction of our troops. No one really ever wins as a result of a war and presently the United States seems to be mostly impacted.


http://www.newser.com/

So You Think You Can Dance <3

The freezing cold air whipped around us as we stood outside patiently waiting. It started to rain and I was frozen. I couldn’t feel my fingers but I knew this wait would be worth it. As a security guard walked by my sister asked “How much longer until they come out?” The security guard replied “It could be an hour or maybe even two.” We all sighed and just stood there trying to keep warm. After what felt like forever, I heard someone scream, and I looked over to see Kayla, one of my favorite So You Think You Can Dance dancers. They had finally come outside. We had only waited about one and a half hours, but I already knew that getting autographs from all 12 dancers, and getting pictures with all of them would definitely make up for that time all of us remained half frozen.

Every summer, So You Think You Can Dance has an all brand new season. It’s something I look forward to for the entire year. This show is about dancers who compete for the title of Americas Best Dancer. They start out with twenty dancers, and America helps them narrow it down to one. After a few weeks they do make it to the top ten dancers, and this is who they choose to go on tour. This year the top ten included, Jeanine, Brandon, Kayla, Evan, Jeanette, Jason, Melissa, Ade, Randi, and Kupono. They also starred two of the other dancers Phillip, and Caitlin.

This past summer while I was in New York my dad told me I could get tickets to the So You Think You Can Dance tour. I was ecstatic. This would be my second year going, but I hoped that this year my parents would let us stay after the show, to meet the dancers, get their pictures, and get autographs. They agreed, and so after the show, we walked around the side of the building to a line which seemed about two miles long in my eyes. I never thought so many people would want to stand in the freezing cold to meet the top ten. I guess I was wrong.

As soon as all of the dancers made their way around, I ran across the street to the car to warm up before I froze even more. We started to drive back home, and I realized that the wait was worth it, and I started to hope that someday, maybe I would be one of those dancers. Maybe I would be the one everyone knew, and wanted my autograph, and wanted me to take a picture with them. Maybe that might happen, but as of now, It’s just a dream, that I hope will someday come true.

ABC's of My Life

A- is for August. This is my favorite month of the year because I like how it's not to hot, and it's not to cold. I feel like it is a month to relax and enjoy the last few weeks of summer.

B- Is for beach, blue and brownies. The beach is my favorite spot to relax, lie in the sun, and swim in the ocean. My favorite color is blue because it is a relaxing color that reminds me of the sky. Brownies are my favorite desert, and very delicious. :)

C-Is for California, cell phone, and clothes. California was my second favorite vacation and I absolutely love it there. I hope to live there someday when I get older. My cell-phone is my life line and is pretty much with me wherever I go. I absolutely adore clothes and love to go shopping to buy new clothes!

D-Is for dogs, and dancing. Dogs are one of my favorite animals. I had a dog that was 16 years old, and her name was Brandi. We had to put her down last summer because she was very sick. Dancing is my life, and the dance studio is pretty much my second home. I have been dancing for 7 years, and I dance competitively at Pointe Counterpointe Dance Center.

E- Is for eating. I like all sorts of food, but my favorite cuisine would have to be Italian.

F-Is for Forever 21, Florida, and frogs. Forever 21 is my favorite store because I love all of the unique styles and clothing they have. Florida is another one of my favorite vacation spots because I love all places that are sunny. I really do not like frogs, but I do have a pet frog at home named Nemo.G-Is for giraffe. A giraffe is my favorite zoo animal.

H-Is for hockey and hoodies. I do not enjoy playing hockey, but I do enjoy watching other people play it. My favorite team would probably have to be the Red Wings. Hoodies are my favorite type of jacket because they are very comfortable and I love to wear them.

I-Is for Italy and Ireland. I am 50% Irish, and 50% Italian. My dream is to someday travel to Italy and Ireland and visit family I have there. I have lots of family in Italy because my grandpa was born there.

J-Is for January. This is my favorite month because it is when my birthday is :)

K-Is for kayak. I have only used a kayak once. It is very fun to use, but it is also very difficult because of all the arm strength it requires.

L-Is for language. I am currently taking French, and it is very difficult to learn because of all of the conjugations. The French have a very different way of speaking but I’m sure English is just as confusing to them.

M-Is for music, movies, and mustang. I love listening to music. I am always listening to my IPod, and usually listen to music to help myself relax. I love to watch movies, and my favorite movie genre is probably comedy. My dream car is a yellow mustang. I have wanted this car since I was younger so I hope to buy one when I get older.

N- Is for New York. I went here over the summer, and it was probably my favorite vacation. It is just like what I imagined it being. It was so crazy here, and I was definitely not used to the overcrowded sidewalks, and constant stream of traffic and beeping horns. The subway was also a new experience for me, but it was actually pretty neat!

O- Is for ocean. When we go on vacation, I love to go swimming in the ocean, and I also enjoy boogie boarding in the ocean even though I am not very good at it.

P-is for pizza. This is favorite food, and my favorite place to get pizza is probably Jet’s.

Q- Is for quote. My favorite quote would have to be “in a world where you can be anything, be yourself.”

R-Is for rock, and Renee. Rock is my favorite type of music, and my favorite rock artist is probably Theory of a Deadman. Renee is my middle name, and my parents gave me this for a middle name because my mom has a friend in Alabama whose name is Renee, so I was named after her.

S-Is for summer, swimming, So You Think You Can Dance, and shoes. I absolutely love the summer, and it is one of my favorite times of the year because we get a break from school!! I love to go swimming, especially at my grandparent’s house because they have a pool. Over the summer I usually go swimming every day. So You Think You Can Dance is my all time favorite TV show, and I am going to the tour this weekend! I also love shoes, and love to go shopping for them! :)

T- Is for talking, tap, and Thanksgiving. I love to talk. Although I may seem shy, once you get to know me I am very talkative. Tap is my favorite type of dance because I love all of the sounds of it, and it is a very upbeat type of dance with a lot of rhythm. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because of all the delicious food! :)

U- Is for unique. Every person in this world is unique because we are all different and special in our own ways.

V- Is for vacation. I love to go on vacation because I love to travel. I hope that when I am older I can travel to exotic places to see all the different parts of the world, and hopefully be able to experience all types of different cultures.

W-Is for winter. This is another one of my favorite seasons because I love snow. Everything always looks so pretty outside after it snows, and everything looks so white and clean.

X- Is for xylophone. When I was a baby, I would always drag this around with me everywhere, and I would play it all the time.

Y- Is for yoga. This is a very good way to relax. I used to take a yoga class over the summer a few years ago and it was very helpful for helping me relax and get rid of stress.

Z- Is for Zodiac Sign. My zodiac sign is Aquaris.

First Day Memoir

The hours passed slowly as I tossed and turned all night long. I couldn’t sleep. Thinking about school only made it worse. It felt like as soon as I fell asleep the annoying “Ding!” of my alarm clock woke me up. I trudged slowly out of bed only to say goodbye to summer and hello to those late nights doing homework, early mornings, and long exhausting days.

I stepped into the doors of the giant school only to be pushed into so much traffic it easily could’ve passed for rush hour. I frantically looked around for my sister realizing she wasn’t standing next to me anymore. I decided to follow the crowd. I finally found e hall and started walking to my locker. I almost instantly saw my sister standing at her locker. I walked up to her and jokingly said “Wow, thanks for waiting for me!” She laughed and said “I thought you were behind me.” I had to laugh at that one. She probably just didn’t want to be seen walking around with a freshman. I walked to my locker and grabbed my French books. Oh boy, French class.

I cautiously walked down the hallway to my French class. I couldn’t find any of my friends, so I thought maybe I would just walk into class. I walked in only to see no one in class yet. I looked at the clock and realized we still had a lot of more time so I walked back into the hallway. “Katelyn!” I turned around to my best friend screaming my name. “Hey!” Finally a familiar face. We talked for awhile, and then the bell rang so we walked into class. “Here goes my first high school class.”

I walked into a cheerful room, with a lady saying “bonjour!” to everyone. That must be my teacher. I smiled back and her and took my seat. Since French never came easy to me, I got lost the second my teacher started talking fluent French. I knew already it was going to be a long year. I looked around the room to see several other people looking just as confused as me. The teacher must have noticed our confused looks because she laughed and tried to eplain what she was saying. After a little more explaining, I started to remember some French again. Maybe this whole high school thing was not going to be as bad as I thought.

Although I was so scared to start high school, I realized it wasn’t that bad. It was all just going to take some getting used to. Now whenever someone asks “What was your first day of high school like?” I will always have a story to tell, and memories to share.

High School Frenzy

The first day of high school was a whole new experience for me. It was nothing like I had ever imagined, and an experience I will always remember. It's nothing like middle school was and I still am trying to get used to everything. The crowded hallways, a lot of homework, more freedom, harder classes...yeah this may take longer than I thought to get used to. It may take awhile, but I know that this will help me realize a lot of more things such as time management, and responsibility.

The first week of high school was definitely rough for me. I had trouble finding my classes, and always had to go ask my sister for help. I'm pretty sure she got really annoyed of me. The first few days did seem to pass by pretty slow, but hey the classes seemed easy enough. Boy was I wrong. Only did I have yet to figure out that it was going to be a long year. Long nights doing homework, early mornings and long exhausting days.

By the second week of school I can tell you I was already counting down the days until next summer. I never thought it was going to be so rough. I had homework in almost every class and it was only the second week! This was going to be a hectic year, especially trying to keep up with school work and dance. Yet again, time management. I hear that one from my parents a lot.

By the third week of school, I finally got used to everything, and it was easier for me to find my way around. I somewhat got used to the classes and the amount of homework we had, but I could tell you now I was, and still will be overwhelmed by it all. My one hope for these oncoming years of high school, is that things may just get easier.