"Wow, you go to church?"

Yes, I do go to church. Is that so hard to understand? Religion is everywhere. People are catholic, Christian, Jews, etc. While I do admit that I go to church an awful lot, around 4 times a week, it doesn't take up all of my week. I still hang out with friends, go to school, have fun on the weekends, etc. All my life I've been going to church even when I was still a fetus and when I was born I was that annoying baby crying louder than a speaker. Since I've been there so long I've really managed to get to know the people and now every one of them are like my second family. I know my best friend Lily through church and I've been seeing her three times a week for the past 5 years. We are tighter than bark on a tree.

I love my church in the way that it is not boring like other churches. While Catholics focus on interpreting bible verses and reciting prayers all my church does is give out motivational and moral lessons about life based on the Bible. Every Sunday I go to the gym and learn a bible story or a moral lesson and then we play volleyball and eat snacks. In special events we spend a month working on a play. About once a month we have a huge fundraiser where we sell food. Then we have women's events where we eat food and talk about things that actually matter. In the summer we go out to lakes, hang out in Wisconsin, and have picnics. We really enjoy having events. 

In church I am part of the dance group. While it may sound weird or lame I actually really enjoy it. I've been part of the group for the past 7 years and while the group has changed we are all family. Every Sunday we start of the day by dancing in white leotards, white skirts, and white leggings, and our dance dresses. Every single one is beautiful and elaborate. We make special dances for events like mothers day as well as women's day in our church. It's one of my favorite things to do. The picture below is some of my dance dresses. Everyone looks phenomenal.

Congratulations, you're about to pop!

This weekend I had a chance to go to a wonderful baby shower. One of my moms friends was having a baby and my mom forced me to go. At first I wasn't excited for it but after I got there I loved it. The party planners went out of there way to make to die for decorations and the food there was great. They had a ton of meat based dishes, rice, drinks, and plenty of chocolate based sweets. They had a chocolate fountain and fruit ready for dipping. Everything was savory and delicious.

After we had our feast we started with the party games. The first thing they did was hand out a necklace with a blue pacifier. The game was if you saw anybody crossing their legs or arms you took away their necklace and the one with the most at the end of the night wins. Then we played another game to raise money for the woman having the baby. They handed out name tags with baby based items like toys, actions, laughs, etc. I was given the name " Quchicoo". It's the word people say when they're squishing the babies cheeks. We did a whole bunch of other games and I had a phenomenal day.

A Collection of Instruments/Music

If you were to ask me what type of music I like I would know how to respond. I listen to a variety of genres and sometimes I find music that I like but don't like anything else in that category. For example, I usually don't listen to rap but there are some songs that I find especially catchy. I like listening to music that matches my mood. If I'm feeling calm I can listen to indie, if I'm feeling happy I listen to more electronic and club music, etc.

Music is really interesting. When my mom shows me music from when she was a teenager I get shocked. How did she ever listen to that type of music? Then listen to my old playlists and I wonder how did I ever listen to that type of music? It's funny how people change and how we grow up and gain new interests. A great example of this is clothes. What I wear 3 years ago is so different from now. Not only the size difference but just the type of stuff. Im not going to go into full detail when I compare but I'll just say this; used to shop at Justice! I had pink clothes with sparkles and hearts. Things just change.

This Song Will Save Your Life

The book I read this week was This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales. This book was a big surprise for me because I thought it would be a normal teen romance. I thought the girl would just meet a guy and fall in love but the book was about something much more. It was about accepting who you are and realizing you don't need to change who you are just the same of being accepted by others.

The book was about a girl called Elise Dembowski. She is a 16 year old teenager who is an outcast in her school. All she ever wanted was friends but she never got that. She had to perservere throughout being bullied and facing suicidal thoughts. When Elise is walking around at night is to sleeping issues she runs into an underground indie dance party where she experiences a journey of love, accepting herself, and discovering her talent.

For every 1,000 people killed by police, only one is convicted of a crime

This week I read a book called "All American Boys" by Brendan Kiely. This is a fiction book about police brutality that tells the story of Rashad a black high schooler who gets beaten up by the police after being judged a thief. The story is told through the point of view of Quinn, white kid who witnessed the brutality who was a friend of the cop, and Rashad.

I liked this book because it showed how the victims of the police brutality feel but also how the police feel. I loved how in the book Rashad is a very normal guy and his point of view is easy to understand. One of my favorite things about the book was the reactions his classmates had to his story. They fought for him and supported him  and ended up protesting instead of ignoring the problem. I would really recommend this book to those who want to read about real things.

Vacation Plans

When I was young my family would go to Mexico almost every year during winter break. We would go almost everywhere. These trips were the highlight of the year. This year my mom said that we were gonna go on a 3 day trip to Puerto Vallarta in a glorious hotel. It's like the dream come true for me because I've been pestering her for a really long time. The first time I went was phenomenal. The scenery was beautiful and the beach was so much fun.

While I know nothing can beat my winter plans my summer plans will also be really exciting. This summer a bunch of my friends are having a quincenera. This means I'll have to go to dance practice every week but also that at the end we'll have a great party with all of my friends. I will also be going to a bunch of church events but fun ones. My church always goes to kalahari or the bear lodge as well as Keline cove. We also have picnics and go to the beach all the time. I'll also be excited to hang out with my friends and got to the mall as well as other places. I'm super duper excited to vacation!

Health Myths

For some reason my family is obsessed with their health and they try to be as healthy as possible while not changing their mostly meat diet. They are always telling me things like carrots give you night vision and eating chocolate gives you acne. Around a month ago I had a really bad breakout and the first thing they asked me was, " did you eat a lot of chocolate?". As a chocolate addict I have got to say that I was determined to disprove that myth. So I searched it up and I found out that it was a myth. Luckily for me I could go on eating chocolate without worry, except for all that sugar...

I ended up getting interested in this topic and I ended up researching more health myths. This is the link.

Here are some of the ones I found most phenomenal :

1. Coffee stops your growth
2. If you eat too much sugar you'll get sugar high
3. It takes years for gum to be processed
4. Humans have five senses (to explain a bit more about this we also have a sense of balance, temperature, noticepain, etc. )
5. Everyone should drink 8 glasses of water everyday

What did you think was true?

I love movies

One of my favorite things to do is watch movies and tv shows. I think I watch at least 10 hours of media and entertainment a week. I love how much variety there are in movies and tv shows, but I usually watch comedy, action, or a bit of romance. It's a bit weird to think about the future of movies. There is already 4d in a lot of movie theatres. I imagine that soon all movie theatres are going to have everything in 4d maybe even nearing virtual reality.

Though it would be easy to see movies at home I really like making the effort to go to the theatre. I love the atmosphere of the theatre and I especially like the popcorn. One day I searched up why we eat popcorn at the movies and I actually learned quite a bit. To summarize, in the past popcorn was not easy to make so people had to rely on street vendors. Movie theatres wanted to be classy so they decided they would not have popcorn on their theatres. But after street vendors were making so much revenue movie theatres finally accepted popcorn. After a while people were able to see movies at home and movie theatres were becoming vulnerable.  After comparing different theatres they found out that movie theatres who sold popcorn were booming and those without were not. That's how popcorn became so important at the movies. Just in case you want to read it I'll cite it here: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/why-do-we-eat-popcorn-at-the-movies-475063/.

Let's talk about pennies

Recently, I took a PARCC test and I realized I actually learn from these random articles. So I decided I would write about pennies!!! They are copper and zinc, worth just a cent but there's actually a debate going on to decide their future. The problem with pennies are that they cost more to make than what they are actually worth. It wasn't always like that but after zinc became more expensive so did the pennies production cost. It just isn't a fair deal.

There are a few solutions to the problem.
1. Eliminate Them!
This means to quite literally stop production and stop its use in stores. But this brings a few problems. Will stores round up or round down? If we round down, how much money do you lose a year? What do you do with the excess pennies? This is just a summarization though, there's so much more to this,

2. Change what they are made of
This one seems more logical because that way we can still keep them. The only problem is what material? And even if we do implement a new material, how will vending machines process them with the change?

 What do you think? What would function best?

Life is Beautiful

The movie life is beautiful is about how a happy loving family who ends up separated in a concentration camp. The movie is really factually based on the holoocaust . Everything about it stays true to the facts while being humorous. It makes reference to how women and men were treated and their daily lives.

Life is beautiful creates humor by showing a difference of expectations of the child and the realities that the father experiences. The mood is dark and melancholy while having a tint of humor. The articles about the holocaust that we read were similar to the movie in the way that they were dark but the poems of children were hopeful in the same way as the movie.

Life is beautiful is actually my favorite movie because of how emotional it is. This movie in my opinion is perfect in all ways. It has hints of action, humor, romance, and of a documentary but it is put together in a wonderful way. One of my favorite examples of humor in the movie is the date they have after he kidnaps her and says all of those iconic lines like, "Bonjourno Principessa", and, "Maria las llaves ".

A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall

This book is called A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall and it really is something different. This book is a shortish romance book told by 14 different perspectives. The funny thing is two perspectives are a Park bench and a squirrel. Here's a Little quote, "The best part of this time of year is all the acorns. Acorns are delicious and amazing and the best thing that anyone could ever eat. If you're not eating acorns you're seriously missing out. I tell all my friends about the amazingness of acorns and sometimes they just stare at me like I'm crazy. But I'm only crazy for acorns." I think I've found the cutest thing I've ever read. I love the squirrels personality. He is so light beIt manages to be cute and quirky at the same time. I also love the characters and personalities who surround them. 

The only thing I didn't like about this book was that it dragged a little and I was sad that I never heard the direct perspectives of Lea and Gabe. Still a great book though. I would have to say that my favorite part of the book was when they got together. Whoops spoiler. But it really was so cute to hear about their happy ending. It was exactly what I expected from the book and exactly what I ended up getting except with the added smiles of how cute they were. The characters really seemed meant for each other. I would recommend it to people who like romance novels and aren't afraid to read the perspective of a Park bench without being weirded out. I think that this book really lives up to its title. Instead of being cliche it really is a Little Something Different. 

Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom by Lynda Blackmon Lowery

This book is Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom. It is a civil right memoir by Lynda Blackmon Lowery about a black girls journey being part of the civil rights protesters. She talks about her experiences of going to jail and how she felt seeing all the hate and racism in her country. This book was a very new read for me because I usually read more fiction or young adult books but this book was refreshingly new.

 It talked about real issues and even though it was told in a simple way it was deep and inspiring. The format of the book was basically a picture book with lots of drawing but they were drawings that brought the text to life with passion and emotion. This book was a very quick read that left me thinking. I would recommend this book to people who like phenomenal pieces of writing that are filled with emotion and informing yet still entertaining and quick.

The Butterfly Project

What I Regret

Something I regret is not taking advantage of my vacation in Mexico last year. Last year i went to Mexico with my cousin. She had never been there before and we were very excited to go to the beach and go out and do things. But when we got there we only did a few things and wasted most of the time. We slept most of the time and we basically never got our head out of our phones. Right at the end of the vacation I told my grandmother that I wanted to go to Puerto Vallarta and she told me that it was too late but that if I had asked sooner we could've gone. I don't think my cousin will go to Mexico again soon and I really regret not spending our time doing something more fun. It could've been phenomenal. I learned that I should ask around and start things more instead of waiting for things to happen. Now I feel a little more optimistic about starting and doing things instead of being holed up.
Here's a picture of my pueblo in Mexico.

An Image of Nazi Propaganda

What is propaganda?
Propaganda is when you try to influence people's views by showing biased information usually for a political motive. A famous example of this is Rosie the riveter which motivated the woman to join the workforce while their husband were in the war so that the U.S would still be able to make profit. Another example was Uncle Sam's "I want you for the U.S army

Here are is an image of Nazi Propaganda.

The image shows a baby huddled up by scaryily portraid jews while the caption reads "Every little jewish baby grows up to be a jew." This was aimed towards all people in the time of World War 2 in germany. It wad made to start haitred on every single jew, leaving no jew (not even babies) without harm. I still have the same perspective that nobody should be hated for what they are but what they do. But i think in its time it was very effective in bringing out the hate in the germans. It was hard not to with all of this anti-jew propaganda. Its very horrible how these things were portrayed but it honestly seems like a brilliant tactic that Hitler was proud of. He continued the prejiduce they had against the Jews developing it and watering it like a plant only to use it as a weapon for his evil plan against the Jews. Its very scary how the human mind is influenced, especially throughout the generations.

Who would I want to hang on with?: Famous People

If I could hang out with somebody famous the would hang out with Debbie Reynolds the American sweetheart. Even though she died very recently I am very interested in her life. She was an phenomenal dancer, singer, and actor and even was in a movie with Frank Sinatra. I would hang out with her at my house where we would binge watch all her movies. Then I would ask her how they made that scene, how long it took them, I would basically interview her about all of her experiences. It would be so cool.

Learn about Debbie Reynolds: http://www.debbiereynolds.com/

15 Things That Make Me Happy

1. When I'm with my family
Whenever I've had a long day there is nothing that beats coming home to my family. Being in my house immediately energizes me and I like the simple things I do with my siblings like watching a tv show or just talking about our day.

2. A Good Healthy Dinner
Food is really important to me and usually health seems irrelevant. But when I eat healthy I feel healthy and energized instead of greasy and bloated. I like the days when I eat fried chicken and enchiladas but I love the motivation and energy to do things when I feel healthy.

3. Not having any homework
I'm sure everyone knows what I mean when I say I'm happy to not have homework. That means that I could just go home and binge watch a new tv show while eating ice cream. I could just live my life and spend my free time without worries after a 7 hour long work time.

4. Making Plans
There is something about making plans that makes me feel like I have a life. It reminds me of the fact that I have friends to support me and people around me.

5. Helping Others
I like helping others with small things. For example I might give them food, lend them a pencil, or just help them with a math problem. I like it when they thank me with a smile on their face. Supporting people means they might support me when I'm in trouble.

6. Organizing
Whenever I organize I get the satisfaction of seeing everything in order, I can't describe the feeling I get after cleaning my house or organizing my nail polish collection.

7. Sleeping Late
Every weekday I feel as if I slave away just waiting for the chance to sleep late. Friday's are the best only because I get to sleep late. I feel like a bear hibernating and waking up in the spring. I love sleep so much.

8. Making My Own Dinner
I feel really capable when I make my own food. It makes me feel independent and capable. It's also very tasty.

9. Buying Clothes and Planning New Outfits
I know how this makes me sound but I love shopping for things. Dressing up is one of the funniest things to do. I like asking my friends and family for their opinion and comparing the different opinions. I can never shop alone but when I do shop for things it makes me happy.

10. Having a Long Conversation
Sometimes when I come home I have long talks with my sister about life. It's always very random but also a very nice thing. I love it when we finally realize what time is it and then have to go do things. Our talks always feel like a pause on reality.

11. Getting Food
I love it when my family and I go out to eat. It really makes me happy to be able to dress up and have a good meal.

12. Doing Nothing for a Day
I have to got to school 7 hours a day, not counting my after school clubs and because of that whenever it's a weekend I try to do nothing work. It gets stressful after a while. I just love having no responsibilities for a day.

13. Typing Loudly  + Cracking my Fingers
I have long nails so whenever I type I make noises. But the noises are a bit relaxing to me and make me feel like I'm a secretary at her job. I always subconsciously sit up straighter when I'm typing. Cracking my fingers also relaxes me.

14. Making a Complicated Nail Design
The reason I like painting my nails is because it's very relaxing. I get time to be alone with my thoughts and plan out what design I'm doing next,

15. Finishing a Good Book
I love finishing a book and slamming it closed. It makes me feel accomplished. It's like finishing a long project.

Perseverance

Perserverance is when you keep trying no matter what difficulties you face. A time that I perservered is when I had a really stressful group project. We had difficulties with timing, sharing the work, etc but in the end it all worked out great.

We watched a video on a man who was born with no arms or legs and how he was motivating others. He had the courage to talk to others about his struggle and to do things that a man without no limbs shouldn't be able to do. He had the kindness to give advice and suggestions for others to be happy and give effort in their lives. He had self respect to know that he shouldn't give up even with his disabilities. 

Super Bowl Commercial

Every year I usually watch the Super Bowl with my family. Not because I like football but because of the commercials and the half time show. Especially the food we eat that day. This year I regret not watching it but luckily we have YouTube to watch all of those commercials. My favorite commercial was the Lumbar 84 commercial about a mother and her daughter and their journey and perseverance to get into America. In my blog I've talked about Donald trump and how he is a danger to all immigrants. I felt like this commercial was really sentimental and really hit hard. It tells a message about effort and how much we work to get in here. That was my favorite one this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPo2B-vjZ28

Advice

Dear President,

I have been thinking hard about this presidency and I realize that it is going to be very difficult for you. As a person with common sense I feel qualified to give you advice and suggestions as you are lacking that common sense. First of all, please don't press the red button. It may be tempting, it may call your name, but please for all the citizens of America don't press it.

Second if all, don't say anything bad to the media(twitter  and other social media still counts). Go through a checklist before you speak.
1. Is what I'm saying going to offend anyone or any social group?
2. Is what I'm saying going to help anybody?
If you do this I can assure you you will have avoided a protest.

 Third of all, beware of assasinations. Now, I know that as the president you already have protection everywhere you go but I have a sneaking suspicion somebody might try to sneak in and finish you off to save America. Try to make amend so maybe less people will hate you.

Sincerely,

Cc

The Worst Argument So Far

This week the blog topic is the worst argument I've had. Immediately what came to mind was the time I argued with my mom about drugs. It sounds really bad but it was really just about if it was ok for people to do them if it's medical. At that time there was a huge debate about marijuana and I noticed I don't know what my mothers stance on political subjects are. So we ended up having a super long argument, as I was being very loquacious and my mom was being stubborn. It lasted two days which was especially bad because it was my aunts birthday the next day and I was trying to avoid her.

Fake It Till You Become It

This week my reading teacher showed the class a ted talk on body language and how it can affect your future. Other than making me realize I always slouch, it showed me that if you use power poses you will be more condfident in the moment. Then she told us to write about what we're confident about.

I think that something I might be confident about is my studies. I get good grades and I have been since the beginning of middle school. But I guess I am lacking a bit of confidence in myself when I think about the future. I can't picture my future and when I try to find out something I'm interested in nothing pops up. I feel like I'd need some help with that. In order to be able to find my aspirations I think I'm gonna need to experience more things and really get out there and do things. Try making pottery, draw something, search up about jobs, ask people around me, etc. I'll have to persevere but I'll do it. That would be my first step.

https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are

Winter Break Kindness

When I try to recall winter break everything is pretty much a blur. I didn't really do much except watch a lot of tv shows. However, if I have to think about something I did I helped my mom with a lot of chores. This might've started a chain because my mom bought me a lot of snacks. I was very happy.