Highlights of 8th Grade , Impacts

- Being invited to the summit program

-Being able to emphasize social justice in first quarter in a community outreach type gathering.

- Springfield

-Eating cakes in science

-Getting accepted to Naz

- Holocaust museum, it was very informative.

- Making the volleyball team

-Getting to the championship with the 8th grade team.

     Overall this was the best year out of all my years at Heritage. I learned things from these three years at this school not only academically but about friendship, loyalty, and self control. The teachers at heritage have impacted me greatly, teachers such as Mr, B, Mrs. Nugent, and Mrs coalson. Mrs coalson being the first teacher I ever had in this school which set the stage for my Middle School Career. This has truly been the best three years of my life.

If I was stranded on a island what would I bring ??!

        A lot of people encounter this hypothetical and for me it's a hard question. Or is it? To make it fair I am gonna limit it down to only 5 items. One being a bottle of water. A lighter to be able to filter the water by boiling it and killing the germs. I would bring a knife in order to hunt and it can be beneficial in cutting plants for food also. Second I would bring a CD player to be able to play music. The album I would bring is the album Blonde by Frank Ocean. It is most likely my favorite album of all time. It has a ton of themes that apply to life which I find relate able. I feel like I would be able to survive well with these items the essential ones generally.  The album and cd player would be for my entertainment.

Summer Seventeen

       This summer will be nerve racking. The idea of going to high school will be on my mind all summer making me aprhensive. The classes will be harder, the teachers will be stricter, and there's a lot of new kids we have to mix with. However through the stress and anxiety that goes along with going to a new school I plan on doing stuff that will take my mind off it. The one thing I'm excited for is basketball. Some students at HMS and I have started a travel basketball team that will play all through summer. This is the thing I'm looking forward most because I have not played basketball since March. I'm also excited to take another trip to Texas and visiting the lake house again. It will take my mind off the big transition of middle school to high school. All in all this is mostly likely what my summer will consist of, also hanging out with friends.

Lord Of The Flies, My thoughts.

         A cult classic and often regarded as one of the best books of all time Lord Of The Flies is a book about school boys stranded on a island after their plane was shot down. We read this book for a project in school. This book is not so much about the boys and the island but the exploration of human nature and how we function under no rules, no order and no supervision. I feel like the author did this to explain the current state of the world which was after World War II. Throughout the book we are introduced to many different characters like piggy, an intelligent kid who is often bullied for his weight. Jack who is the rebellious one who wants to be in charge. And Ralph who just wants everyone to civilize. We are introduced to many characters but these are just the main three. The boys also deal with the "beast" who is a mythical creature that is first brought up by the littluns are basically the smaller kids on the island who aren't really named. Throughout the book the boys deal with the beast in many different ways, from nightmares to brutally murding a boy. The book is a real insight on human nature and life itself.

     However I did not enjoy this book. It is lengthy although roughly over 230 pages the book seems to just drag and drag and it becomes boring. The language is a problem to me because it is hard at times to comprehend because the grammar is so Advanced. Scenes of the book are beatifully described while at times scenes drag on without purpose. The characters are hard to relate too because they're all preppy British school kids with personalities of no teen or child I know. The characters develop slowly like Ralph who doesn't really change until the end of the book. Overall I did not enjoy this book but I would understand why some would like it because of the deeper meaning of the book which is still hard for me to grasp.


Overall 5/10

Why school should start earlier.

      This is an issue I've always wanted to address. The early hour of which school starts. We have to wake up not fully functional and come here tired as can be. It's something I've always despised even when I was a child when I couldn't even comprehend what school even was. According to Nahtienal Watson, “Early school start times make it difficult for adolescents to get sufficient sleep on school nights, and chronic sleep loss among teens is associated with a host of problems, including poor school performance, increased depressive symptoms, and motor vehicle accidents,” A later school start is scientifically proven to be more beneficial to us so why do we no take up on it? It is proven we are not able to perform at such early start times so I suggest in the future we consider starting school later.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D9vr4ytSIv8

This YouTube video should elaborate more. 

Top 3 shoes I've ever owned.

This is list of shoes that I owned and ranking them one by one. 

1. Crazy Explosive 2016 ( Adidas.) Generating a shoe of this comfort I feel is almost impossible. The cushioning to this shoe is like a stack of pillows under your foot. Let's not forget of the lightweight materials meticulously designed to give you a comfortable feel which keeps you light on your feet. The downside of the show is probably the looks of the shoe. It is quite clunky and bulky looking but I prefer a shoe that performs rather than one that is only purchase for looks. 

2. Kyrie 3 (Nike). This is a reletavily new realease but I've owned these shows for a while now and let me tell you they are quite amazing. They fit like a glove which is something I appreciate since I use them for basketball. They have a narrow fit which I like because I have narrow feet but if you have wide feet I would reconsider getting this shoe because it is tight. The traction on the shoe (how fast and hard it stops on the basketball court) is revolutionary as it is simply amazing. The outsole curvature is another innovative feature which allows your feet to roll freely in the shoe as you play.  The shoe does have it's downfalls such as the comfort ability. The cushion of the shoe is rock hard which is bad for those with bad knees or feet. The materials get kind of soft but are stiff at first, break in time recommended. Overall this is a great shoe and I recommend this to those who love to play basketball. 

3. Kobe 9 EM (Nike). This is shoe is often thought of as one of those legendary shoes. However I did not see as that. That doesn't mean this shoe isn't amazing which it absolutely is. First of the shoe is so 

minimalistic which feels like you have nothing on your feet when playing. I personally love this feel and it was great. The traction of the shoe is one of the best of all time. So good in fact I found myself tripping over my feet as that is how hard the traction stopped. Cushioning wise the shoe features a full length lunar Lon drop midsole which is a foam that will provide you a comfortable ride. The problem with this shoe was the materials. They were really stiff and hard to break in which I did not 

like. All in all the shoe is fantastic and I recommend this to all.

NBA Playoffs 2017! PREDICTIONS.

 
       This year has been a great year in the NBA. You had Russell Westbrook persevere through the season with a mediocre team at best, carrying them to a 6th seed in the west. Then you had James Harden who lead the subpar rockets to a stunning 3rd seed in the west, demonstrating that anything is possible. While the regular season is great, playoffs are what really matter. The first round of the playoffs is exactly what I expected. The cavaliers blowing past the pacers in 4-0 sweep. The thunder losing in style to the rockets, ending Russell Westbrooks great season. The first round went exactly as I thought it would until it got to the Bulls and Celtics series which was the most intriguing to me. The bulls came in with a ton of expirenced players like Dwayne Wade and Rajon Rondo who are both title winners. However the injury to Rajon Rondo really destroyed are chances of winning. The Celtics eventually went on to win the series. The second round has turned out the way I thought so far. The cavs up 2-0 to the Raptors who really have no chance when up against the man himself Lebron James. The Celetics are steam rolling the Washington Wizards up 2-0. The Warriors who are talent wise the best team in the league, are also up 2-0 against the Jazz. The interesting thing is the Spurs vs Rockets series. I didn't think the Rockets would be able to blow out the spurs as they did in game 1 but they did. Then the Spurs came right back blowing out the Rockets. Overall these will be some entertaining series.


PREDICTIONS-

Cavs vs. Raptors- 4-0 Cavs advance

Celtics vs. Wizards - 4-1 Celtics advance

Warriors vs. Jazz - 4-0 Warriors Advance

Spurs vs. Rockets - 4-2 Rockets Advance

My top artists right now (top 3)

1. Kendrick Lamar. He's been making hits for about 5 years now and his batting average is still a hundred percent. The guy makes art, from Good Kid Maad City to the raw yet complex album untitled unmastered. I mean nothing else to say he's just amazing his whole album is in the billboard top 100.

2. Frank Ocean. The guy is simply amazing. His latest album blonde has been on repeat every since it came out. His ability to illustrate a story with his lyrics in my opinion is parralle to none in the rap and r&b industry. Songs like Nights, which is personally my favorite song I think ever, and songs like  Solo which is artistic and unique which makes it great.

3.  Chance the Rapper, the Chicago kid with a mission. The way he carries himself through the rough rap industry by staying true to himself and his Chicago roots. He uses a gospel sound his music which I enjoy greatly, including his last mixtape coloring book. Chance is a overall great artists and I hope to hear more from him.

Kendrick Lamar- DAMN Album Review

       

       This is a bit late as this album came out on April 14th. However I feel like in order to have a strong opinion on a piece of music or an album you need to sit down with the music and really take the time to interpret what the music is trying to portray. With a rapper like Kendrick you never really know what you're gonna get and he seems to make very layered music with underlying messages and themes throughout his projects. With these project it completely came out left field.
     Kendricks Last project was actually phenomenal (To Pimp A Butterfly) as it had a great message, great lyrics and crazy good production. I was excepting an album similar but these albums are completely different. On DAMN Kendrick takes a more mainstream and cocky approach in this album. First off I do appreciate the very grand and loud production on this project however the voice changes similar to those of rappers like Kevin Gates and Travis Scott who emphasize their voice using auto tune which I find annoying. An example of this is the song God. However Kendrick comes in with great songs such as DNA which I think is incredible as the production is very loud and extravagant however it fits with Kendricks aggressive tone which created a masterpiece, which is quite explicit. Then you have songs like XXX where his flow is retro, similar to the 90s sound and his flow mixed with the beat is fantastic. What I got from this is album was Kendrick is going down a new path of sound and I am certainly enjoying it.

DAMN- 10/10

Malcom X

 
       A nom fiction book I read was a book about Malcom X called "Malcom X." If you don't know who Malcom X is then you really should look him up or research him. I chose this book because of what I've heard about Malcom X and is more outlandish ways in the civial right era. Teaching such as his is still relevant sadly in our time and age. So just a brief explanation Malcom X is he is a civil rights movement leader and a innovative leader at that.
   So this book is a biography about Malcom X who differed from civil right leaders such as Martin Luther King. His approach was not peaceful but he felt like the only way to get things done was through being forceful. Throughout the biography you learn about his gambling, drug, family and overall society issues. Again he was a civil rights movement leader if you don't know what that was he was basically was heavily in favor of changing life for African Americans in the U.S. Overall the book is enjoyable and I liked reading what was going through Malcom X mind.

In darkness

          We all have a reason for picking a book. Reviews, Articles, and Suggestions. For me I usually pick a book for the cover. I know we're always taught to not judge a book by its cover but sometimes the cover matches the pages it holds. This is the case with In Darkness. The cover really caught my attention and Indecided to read it. Good descion on my part if I do say so myself.
    In darkness coves the story of a young boy named shorty who is trapped under the rubble in the aftermath of a Haitian earthquake. This whole book basically takes place while Shorty is trapped under the rubble. He is hunger and thirsty surrounded by the dead bodies that were killed by the collapse of the hostpial short is trapped under. From here on he trapped in the darkness. However in this book we more discuss the life of a slave and revolutionary leader Toussaint L'Ouverture who was a revolutionary leader in the Haitian revolution. We learn about his life and his impact on the Haitian country as a whole. Sadly in the end short dies because of his situation. 

BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLY

REGRETS....we all have them, even me.

          Regret is something we like or not, is almost a guarantee in life. For me I can say I expirenced quite a bit of regret in life. However I feel like even though regret is seen as a bad thing, it is relevant  in the process of learning from our mistakes. I'm going to tell the story of a recent type of regret I felt only a couple weeks ago. It was the end of the day, eager to go home I rushed to my locker and noticed my ball was missing so I went to mrs larsons room to see if she had it and she did. In this moment I left my phone basically in the open in my locker. As soon as I got back, you guessed it, it was gone. After school I was extremely apprehensive as I had to tell my dad about this. He was extremely upset and as was I. The basic thing is if I would have never left my locker this whole situation would have never happened. That is regret the feeling you get knowing a situation could have been avoided, That is exactly what I felt at this time, regret.

The inhumane portrayal of Jews in Germany

This Propaganda shows a Jew portrayed as the devil. The nazis are basically trying to call the Jews an evil and rotten group of people.


This type of propaganda is targeting towards the entire German population and Jews. Why I said its toward the German population is because it is for them to interpret as good or bad and for the Jews because this is putting them in a negative light.

This Propaganda can be effective if you have a shallow mind because It's kind of ridiculous to categorize a whole group as the "devil."

I personally think this Propaganda is extremely exaggerated and not effective.

If were to meet someone famous WHO would it be???

       If I could meet any celebrity I would meet Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick Lamar is a Compton born rapper that has made numerous chart topping songs. I have enjoyed Kendrick Lamars music since I'd say 2012. For me I like rappers such as Kendrick who aren't super cliche and cheesy like some of today's rappers. He is very excplicit in his raps as he usually refrences modern day problems, growing up in a rough neighborhood like Compton and The "black" struggle. This is why I'd love to meet him because he seems so knowledgeable in his rhymes and so socially conscious. From these traits he has I feel like he would be able to teach me a lot from his own expirences about the world and life itself which in this life is something extremely valuable.



Favorite 3 songs:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GwamhuY6Yy8

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D_d3JfLW1Sc


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=10yrPDf92hY

Happiness

- Happiness is that new shoe smell

- Happiness is the anticipation for that ups truck

-Happiness is the feeling of a fresh haircut

-Happiness is standing the hot steamy shower in your own thoughts

-Happiness is the smile on you're parents face when you bring home those 3s and 4a

-Happiness is the feeling of ears popping then realizing you're on your way to paradise

- Happiness is when that certain smell brings you back to a childhood memory

- Happiness is that ripping of the first present on the 25th

- Happiness is the feeling of perservance 

-Happiness is knowing your friend is reliable in hard times

- Happiness is when a song relates to your current feelings

- Happiness is when the grandchildren reunite

-Happiness is the finally breaking in of those new shoes

-Happiness is ridding on the highway with a view of the skyline

- Happiness is finishing that last piece of homework

- Happiness is popping bubble wrap

- Hapiness is seeing that golden arch when your hungry

- Hapiness is the relief of getting that test back and knowing you passed

- Happiness is watching those videos where the military parents come back to see their children

- Happiness is taking of the plastic on a new phone

- Happiness is that feeling you get before a road trip

Purserverance

       In the video we watched the man had no arms and legs. In this video the man talked about how he doesn't let his absence of arms or legs affect his ever day life. This shows great courage, perseverance and integrity. He shows great courage but not caring about what people think or say about him. He also shows great strength despite his disabilities. He shows great perseverance by being able to make it thought life and d every day things despit what might hold him back physically. Finally he shows integrity because he still has morals and moral uprightness because he has the natural ability of teaching moral lessons to ththe youth.

Super Bowl Comerical.. MELISSA MCARTHY SOCIAL CONCIOUSNESS

       A Super Bowl comerical I found interesting was one with Melissa Mcarthy. Basically in the comerical Melissa did things such as such as "Saving The Rhinos" and "Saving The Whales." These were all shown in a comedic light. However I think that this was created to show a much more undermining message if you analyzed it to its full meaning. I feel like even though the comerical was supposed to be funny it was also a message saying that these things in the world are going on and we need to help solve them. As detipicted in the comerical Melissa Mcarthy had no idea of what the situation was with the whales or rhinos yet she still tried to help. I thought it interested how they integrated this message in a highly viewed program like the Super Bowl so it can get recognition. I think that's the message the comerical is trying to convey that even if you don't know something about something that needs changing you should still volunteer your time because this is all our planet.


Link To Comerical: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jtnsrDjr8M

Best advice I've ever got

    We all learn things in life. Some of us chose to use things these in order to succeed or possibly fail. What really is advice. Is it the key to more knowledge or just a time that could become usless? For me advice is information that changes your mindset in a positive way.  For me the best advice I ever received was at the beginning of the first quarter from Ms. Suarez. Her advice was to basically evaluate and analyze deeper the stuff we see and do in the world. From that social justice class I learned a lot about reading deeper into what we really know in our world. I still use that advice today. For example I try to delineate truth from fiction when watching the news because something's sound irrational. So the best advice was from Ms. Suarez and that was to basically analyze the world for what it is.

  

WORST ARGUMENT EVER!

       The worst arguement I ever had was with my mother in 7th grade. What had happened was I was at youth crossroads and I ran out basically ditching and went to a basketball game and I was with two friends. One friend wanted to go to 7/11 so I decided to call my mom and mind you I never really went anywhere in 6th grade and this was the beginning of 7th grade. So when I called my mom and asked if I could go to 7/11 with my friends and 7/11 was pretty far from my house. My mom is pretty meticulous when it comes to my plans and where I go. So when I called I asked my mom where she actually screamed at me and told me that my dad would pick me up. When my dad picked me up he drove me home in complete silence and once I got home I got lectured. My mom thought I was doing more than just going to 7/11 she infered I was doing something more because it was the first time I had really asked to go anywhere. We argued all day and we ended up not talking to each other for a long time, about 2 weeks. Afterward I felt bad because after all she is the person that brought me into the world. I told her I was sorry and she apologized back. What I learned is holding a grudge is a bad thing and that it only hurts a relationship with someone.

Fake it till you become it.... we all should actually

       For this blog I will be referring to the academic aspect of my life, school. Something I am very confident about is writing. Subjectively I feel like I am a pretty decent writer and usually don't get stressed or worried about a writing assignment because I know I am capable of completing the assignment. However one aspect I struggle with greatly is Math. I've always disliked math since 1st grade because numbers and fractions are hard for me to interpret and cause me to be slack off. I feel like if I fake being good at math while getting average grades I can just get through the school year and continue the process because it has worked for me so far.