N = Eight People to Emulate

Noah Jones: she has won numerous awards for her jazzy blues songs and i just love her lyrics and soft calming music. it just reminds me of an easy summer day full of sunshine and a breeze passing by.

Natasha Bedingfield: she hasn't had a big hit lately but after all the rejection she went through and still became as successful as she is now, she inspires me.

Nick Jonas: was diagnosed with diabetes when he was 13 and with that negative he turned into a positive and started the Change for the Children Foundation to increase the awareness of diabetes.

Neil Patrick Harris: as an actor he is so versatile and open minded to a lot of different characters and i admire that because that is hard to accomplish.

Nathan Lane: i mostly know him from the movie "the Producers" because i LOVE that musical. he has become such a well known actor and so successful even though his past wasn't the best.

nick Cannon: just like Neil Patrick Harris he is very versatile from movies to hosting shows, and he always just seems so genuinely happy and we can lose that smile sometimes from the stress of work and school but he always has a bubbly personality.

Nelly: is a rapper who has built himself up from when he was young. he has work with many different artists and he has used his fame to help others. he inspires me because he is willing to try anything and still cares about others when he has so much.

Nicki minaj: is a rapper who is always being compared to the other male rappers. her clothes are unlimited and she isn't afraid of what others think. she is very strong minded and i admire her for that.

TU Tuesday - Culture

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/discrimination-11/  Then, respond to it by including a link to a POEM from that same culture that connects to the article and use text quoted directly from your poem in your response and put it in quotation marks.  The Power Standard this addresses is:

<><><> Interpret, analyze, and evaluate culturally diverse narratives, poetry and drama, aesthetically and ethically, by making connections to other texts, ideas, cultural perspectives, eras, personal events and situations.  Self-select text to respond and develop innovative perspectives. http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/French-legislator-assailed-for-anti-gay-remarks-3333065.php  it seems that other countries seem to be dealing with the same topics as we are. in the article it says "Vanneste said gays are "at the heart of power" in France, manipulating the media and making humankind "lose its dignity." There are always to points of view to the story but it seems in this case, it is mostly against gay rights. the saying "history repeats itself" is shown strongly within this article. as we look through time discrimination against "others" is always occurring. first, there were strong religious discrimination, then against African Americans, now against same sex marriage. but if we look into the future, there is always the next target that people will look at and it will just become a thing of the past. even from the 1980's, most people weren't as open or familiar with the topic as people are today. the drama found in this article is really similar to what we have in the U.S. this topic can date back for many years "Nazi Germany declared homosexuality an aberration that threatened the German race, and thousands of gay men were sent to concentration camps, where few survived." most people think this is a problem, that people need to change, same sex marriage is as normal is any other marriage. but that of course is just opinion. ethically, it is always just a matter of opinion, but it is the actions that make the person speak their opinion louder. personally, i do have family members that are gay and i grew up knowing that, that is a normal thing for me. when i see that people are against it i always wonder what if same sex marriage will happen in their family? will their opinion change if they are going against a brother, sister or even their own child? in the poem by David Taylor it states "Discrimination would be good if it were used for what it does; revealing what unites ALL of us." this reflects that everybody is different in their own way and people just need to accept the fact that we are all different.

valentines day

“Tommy Terrence thought Valentine's Day was for babies. But one special Valentine's Day made him change his mind.”


Tommy Terrence thought Valentine's Day was for babies. But one special Valentine's Day made him change his mind. it started that morning on Valentines Day when he first woke up. he dragged his feet down stairs to see his mom preparing heart shaped pancakes. he was dreading going to school, he hates the thought about love and anything that has to do with it. once the first heart pancake was set in front of him, he turned his back to it and walked back upstairs. today's outfit, black shirt, black pants and black sweatshirt. at the school bus stop the first exchange of valentine cards made Tommy sick to his stomach. he unraveled his ipod and listened to heavy metal songs all the way to school. the red and pink heart balloons greeted him as he walked through the school doors. he pushed them out of his path and looked away from anybody wearing hearts or anything relating to valentines day. everyone had a big smile on his face except him. as he approached his locker he let out a big sigh as he unlocked his lock. he opened it to find a little note taped on the back of his locker door. his eyes glanced around to see if anyone was watching this. he peeled off the taped note and began to read through the handwritten letter. his eyes brightened and a smile came onto his face when he learned he had a secret admirer. 

Dreams are lined up against the wall

Choice

dreams are never limited
imagination can travel far and wide
from the moon and back
kids seem to run wild
from being a princess into being in a jungle
careless and carefree
but as the summers pass
and the trees grow taller
those dreams shrink to reality

Dreams are lined up against the wall
stripped down bare
and picked out for every flaw
now dreams don't seem so whimsical 
and reality sinks in
bring your sky high dreams 
back to reality. 

comic connection

First the super bowl was this Sunday which I can connect to because I was watching the game. But this reminded me of my brother, he is absolutely CLUELESS about football and everything about it. I know the basics of the game because one super bowl I finally asked what was going on to my dad. He explained it and now I know what is happening. Anyway, my brother only cared about the halftime show because he is obsessed with music. This comic reminded me of when my brother came up to me the next day and said "who won the super bowl? Patriots?" I mean, come on, and at least know who won! My mom and I have him the strangest look when he said that. Relating to the comic, I guess everybody has one of them in their family.

Hi-five yourself

Hi-five yourself became our motto during the volleyball season. It somehow started when the JV girls came to a varsity game to cheer on our team. I don’t think anybody remembers how it started and why but it just seemed to stick around longer than the actual season. After the varsity game a couple of us went to a nearby pizza place to grab a bite to eat. We just thought it was the funniest thing it high five yourself... in public. We were very entertaining for the people around us and they probably just thought we were going insane. I remember one day our team was gathered at Blayne's house for a team bonding time and Blayne pulled out a cough drop that just happened to say "Hi-five yourself" we couldn’t stop laughing and we hoped that one of the cough drops would say "Hi-five yourself... in public." now whenever a hi-five ever comes up, I can’t help but to remember those great moments with our volleyball team and the inside jokes we had. And when Blayne and I read this assignment together hi-fiving yourself... in public we couldn’t help but to laugh and that just confused the people around us of what we were talking about.

TU tuesday

Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.


Pull out - from the article - THREE examples of figurative language.  Label the examples with their appropriate term, define them, and analyze the overall role of figurative language within the text in a response paragraph that uses text quoted directly from your article and put in quotation marks.


http://www.timesunion.com/entertainment/article/Garcia-channels-power-of-music-2792285.php


"his band eased through just over an hour's worth of love songs, love songs, nothing but love songs." =  repetition: a word repeated in a piece for emphasis. 


"who wove his fret board work around Garcia's passionate songs like lacework" = simile: using "like" or "as" in a comparison between two things. also personification: giving human qualities to inanimate objects


"How the Argentinian-American singer-songwriter survived" = alliteration: combining two or more words of the same sound 

Garcia channels power of music by Greg Haymes was about a journey of a singer and the music he creates and how it inspires the people who listen. Where it is written, "his band eased through just over an hour's worth of love songs, love songs, nothing but love songs." This helps emphasize how many love songs he played and, from a different aspect, what the audience heard throughout his performance. Using the figurative language, it helps strengthen the writing piece and help imagine the performance. In the piece where it states "who wove his fret board work around Garcia's passionate songs like lacework" you can almost hear the music because of the way the writer described it. The instruments seemed to work together with ease. Lastly where it says, "How the Argentinean-American singer-songwriter survived" it almost a sneaky way to introduce his background in music and nationality.