New Constitutional Amendment

If I were to make a constitutional amendment it would be about welfare. The people that are on it would have six months to apply and show proof of searching for a job, and they would have to have a job within a year. I would do this so that lazy people don't live off of the working classes money. Also, this would cause for less unemployment and possibly new jobs and opportunities to create new jobs.
Along with this amendment, I would create another one that since you live in America, you speak English. If you want to live here then you should know our language and use it on a daily basis somewhat fluently. If I decided to go live in France I would definitely learn French. America is a great place to live, and if people want to enjoy our freedoms, learn our language.
I would create some amendment to help people and give people that need it a little extra bonus. Especially around times such as Christmas, just to give people that deserve it, a little extra money or gift or food or just something. There are a lot of good people that just need some help from others that can help them. Some people that don't have a job, it isn't there fault. They are truly looking for one, and just need help. Also, this would include a program that spends time with people that don't have families or are lonely. It would be an amendment to set up a very helpful program.
I'm not sure which amendment I would pick to put into action. However, I think it would be the last one.

Belief

Something I used to believe in that I wish I could again is Santa Clause. The reasoning for this is because he was such a fun thing to believe in. It was someone that gave you presents and was magical, what part about that isn't fun? Also, I was, and somewhat still am, a really super imaginative kid. I believed in everything that had to do with magic. I don't really know why that changed, but I still believe in some of that stuff. Santa was just an awesome thing to believe in! And if you have ever watched the Santa Clause movies then.... ya never know.

Appearance

I do know people who are big on the outside but little on the inside. Some people have to act like they are tough, or all that or dress a certain way to consider themselves "cool" when really they are just not very secure. I also know a lot of people who are little on the outside but big on the inside. They don't show much or care what they look like but are great people. I think a lot of my friends are big on the outside and inside, they are great people and let it show on the outside. I would call this more of a confidence, they do the right thing, but look the part on the outside as well. Physical appearances are somewhat related to personality. Usually the way people dress or do their hair don't always reflect their personality. For example, if my friends and I always dressed to our personality, we would be in sweatpants and ponytail everyday. However, we change it up, we do that some days but also look nice some days. Personality doesn't relate that much to physical appearance. Except the way someone carries themselves. If they are a confident person, you can usually tell. The same thing applies if they are unsure of themselves, or think they are all that or thinks they are better than others, you can usually tell that by how someone acts. Inside beauty is much more important than outside beauty.

Spending Article

I am a spender. It is really hard for me to save my money, I just have so many ideas to spend it on and I can't save it. Whether it is a candy bar, a new basketball, going to a movie, or getting DQ, I just can't save money. I would agree and disagree with the ideas presented in the article. I agree that people need to be more saving and less for the immediate spending satisfaction, but not all the time. Sometimes it's good to just go buy something and enjoy it. Not everything needs to be based for the future. However, I found the statistic on SAT results interesting. While I am a spender, if I were offered to have 100,000 dollars in four years and go to a college chosen for me, or go to a college of my choice, I would go to the college chosen for me and take the 100,000 dollars four years later. I think our generation is very into the here and now, including myself. I am not saving for college or for any future plans. When I have money, I spend it. For example, if I had 2,000 dollars that I raised to spend on a car or put towards an account for college benefit, I would buy the car. However, some of our generation is on the extreme of spending, whenever, where ever, with whoever on whatever. We are definitely a spending generation.

Tribes

I belong to a lot of tribes. I belong to the family and friend lover tribe. The buckeye tribe and wildcat nation. The sports tribe. The basketball, softball, and volleyball player tribe. The creative and positive people tribe. The teenage girl tribe. The tribe of people who love Nike Shocks. The athletic tribe. The intelligent tribe. The hard working tribe. The Lutheran tribe. The tribe of people who love Myrtle Beach. The tribe of people who would eat out everyday if they could. The Christmas tribe, and the Christmas music tribe. The Katy Perry fan club tribe. The Phineas and Ferb tribe. The Disney Channel tribe. The school-kid tribe. The swimming tribe. The summer tribe. The sun tribe. The Beach tribe. 

Extrovert vs. Introvert

I think I am definitely an extrovert. My reasoning behind this is, I am not shy at all, I highly enjoy social surroundings, I have a lot of friends and I am not afraid to say my opinion. If I had the choice to stay at home and watch movies all night with a couple of my friends, or go somewhere with a big group of friends, it would be a no brainer to me. I would rather go out somewhere, I just love social places. I think it would be bad if everyone in the world was either an introvert or an extrovert because then we would have no diversity, and that would be a boring world. I think both of categories have it easier at certain times. If an extrovert says something that other people disagree with, then they have it harder. However, an introvert could be made fun of for never talking, never going places or things like that. I would prefer my friends to be extrovert because it just makes things more fun when people are constantly talking and saying funny things and just having fun. Most of my friends are pretty outgoing or extrovert and I like that. However, I still have friends that are introvert and it is also fun to hang out with them, I would just prefer to be in a crowd of extroverts. It would be better if teachers were extroverts because they need to be entertaining, outgoing, funny, nice, and just fun to get kids to really be into what they are saying. If you are a teacher that doesn't say much or talk much, it would be hard to do a good job and your students wouldn't be that into what your teaching about. I don't think introversion or extroversion really matters that much. People are who they are, and people need to learn to accept them for who they are.

This I Believe Podcast

Thought of the Day: Life Law 10

The road I am on now is a good one, but not completely clear. My path is not completely known, but I am making good choices that no matter what path I choose, and no matter what I want to do I can be successful in it. It is smooth yet littered with construction at the same time. It is smooth because I always try to do my best in everything, but there are roadblocks because I am not totally sure what I want to do and what I want after high school. The people traveling this road with me are my friends and family. I hope that most of my friends and all of my family will continue to travel it with me. My destination, what I believe right now, is to go to college on a scholarship for academics and hopefully basketball. Waiting at the end of the road is a good job in either teaching, sportscasting, management, coaching, administration, or sports management. Also, a good home. My existence is going to be based on helping people in any way possible. I want to volunteer and really affect other peoples lives. The roadblocks are making good choices and continuing to do good things. Also, people are going to try and stop you and get in your way. The way I can ensure success or eliminate roadblocks is by working hard in everything I do, always. This is controlling what I can control, and that is what I do and how I react to roadblocks.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is a topic that everyone views differently. Personally, I feel people should forgive others and not hold grudges. However, you shouldn't forgive someone right away after they have done something. Give it time, but don't hold a grudge forever. Especially people that you want to keep as friends should be forgiven, but you should not let that happen right away just to send them the message that it was wrong, and they shouldn't do it again. 
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.-- Mahatma Gandhi
This is a good quote because it is hard to forgive, and only people of good character and wanting to create good relationships will do that. 
We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies
--Voltaire
This quote basically said we all make mistakes, and we can't expect to be forgiven if we are not willing to forgive.
It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend. --William Blake
I liked this quote because you don't expect a friend to hurt you, and you do expect an enemy to. So it makes it that much harder to forgive a friend.

Forgiveness is me giving up my right to hurt you for hurting me. --Anonymous 

This quote is telling how, by forgiving someone, you are letting go of those negative emotions and moving on to create more positive relationships.

Another thing that I think about forgiveness, especially with kids our age, is that it is hard to do. And what kids don't realize, is that something that someone did to you is not who they are, it's just a nasty act they chose. Also that as we get older, some people will still be mean, but most are going to get more mature and be better people than what they are today.

Thought of the Day

"Never let the fear of striking out get in your way."
-Babe Ruth
I like this quote because it basically says don't be afraid to fail. It reminds me of the poster in Ms. Brant's room that says you can't possibly hit the ball if your thinking of all the ways you can miss. I can relate this to my life because sometimes I am afraid to fail and I don't want to be like this. A good example of this is in basketball I may not take a certain shot because what if it misses? Well what if I make it and it's the game winning point? You have to think of it in the positive "what if." You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. Plus, it is a positive risk. Shoot it anyway and risk that you will miss it. So what if you do? Make the next one. And it's just like that in life, so what if you mess up or make a mistake? You learn from it and do better the next time, but the point is that you went for it, you risked it, you tried. Nobody, including yourself, can ever ask for your absolute  best. Always do your best in everything you do, and don't worry about making mistakes and the rest can fall into place.

Favorite Walt Whitman Poem found on the internet

FACING WEST FROM CALIFORNIA'S SHORES
by: Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

ACING west from California's shores,

Inquiring, tireless, seeking what is yet unfound,

I, a child, very old, over waves, towards the house of maternity, the land of migrations, look afar,

Look off the shores of my Western sea, the circle almost circled;

For starting westward from Hindustan, from the vales of Kashmere,

From Asia, from the north, from the God, the sage, and the hero,

From the south, from the flowery peninsulas and the spice islands,

Long having wander'd since, round the earth having wander'd,

Now I face home again, very pleas'd and joyous,

(But where is what I started for so long ago? And why is it yet unfound?) 

 

This was my favorite poem because he was talking about traveling the world, but loving home more than ever when he returned. He spoke of all the different places he traveled and how when he stood on the west coast of California, he was more happy than ever to see his home and be back in America. I liked this because I think if I were ever a traveler I could really relate to this. I would have fun traveling and seeing the world, but would be happy to come back home and enjoy the freedoms we have here again. However, if it were an option one day to tour the world or take a vacation to Myrtle Beach or Disney World, I would take the vacation. 

Favorite Poem of Walt Whitman readings

My favorite poem out of the Walt Whitman poems we read was I Hear America Singing.
This is the poem:
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
    Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe
              and strong,
    The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
    The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off
              work,
    The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deck-
              hand singing on the steamboat deck,
    The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing
              as he stands,
    The woodcutter's song, the ploughboy's on his way in the morn-
              ing, or at noon intermission or at sundown,
    The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work,
              or of the girl sewing or washing,
    Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
    The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young
              fellows, robust, friendly,
    Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

This was my favorite poem because it described the pride and love that Americans have for our country. Also, at the time, all the people in the poem were considered people living the American dream, and I just really like how prideful the poem was.

Walt Whitman

Questions:
Who is/was Walt Whitman ?
What type of literature did he write?
Is he a realist or romanticist? Why?

Walt Whitman was an American poet and journalist. He is considered one of the most influential poets and is often referred to as the father of free verse, (a type of poetry.)
The type of literature he wrote was poetry, journalism, and essayist. However, he was one of the first poets to write in what is called free verse. This is the reason he is called the "father" of this style of literature. Leaves of Grass was a very famous, self-published poem.
Walt Whitman is a romanticist because he had originality over virtuosity, he had imagination over intellect and he had feeling over formality. Walt Whitman was a romanticist, but within romanticism he also developed and new form of it, mentioned earlier, free verse.

"When people succeed, it is because of hard work. Luck has nothing to do with success." Do you agree or disagree with the quotation?

I would agree and disagree at the same time with this quotation. I believe that hard work will get you many places you want to go, but at the same time how lucky you are getting there always helps. Preparation and hard work is what is going to get you to the opportunities you have in life, luck and people you know just always helps. However, nothing is replaceable with hard work.

A perfect example of this is high school sports.Hard work, hustle, great attitudes and dedication will all help you win and do the best you can, but luck is a big factor. The region a team is in during tournament time highly depends on the likeliness of going to state. In 2010 and 2009 the Canton South High School girls basketball team made it to the regional finals and regional semi-finals. Both times they lost to a private school called Hathaway Brown. Hathaway Brown ended up winning the state title both of those years, as they had done the year before also. Not only did they win, but they beat the first team they faced in the state semi-final by twenty-six points, they only beat Canton South by ten. Luck. Canton South just happened to be in the same region as the defending state champions. It doesn't mean that Hathaway Brown worked any harder, had any more determination, hustled any harder or had any different attitudes. Canton South by luck just happened to be in the same regional as them. My dad always says that it takes hard work, talent, and a lot of luck to win the state championship.

So I would say luck and hard work both determine success. I do believe whole-heartedly that each person or team should control what they can control, and that is how hard they work, everyday attitudes, determination, pride and the fight inside of them. That way, no matter what outcome, or how luck works that day, you can always say I did the best I possibly could and exerted the most effort possible.

I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.  ~Thomas Jefferson

Sophomore Year, so far

So far, I am really enjoying my sophomore year in high school. I really like the high school and enjoy it much more than the middle school. Something I think we should do more is have more pep rallies and fun school events like that. That's one thing I expected the high school would do that was not done. However, I do like the things like donut thursday and spirit weeks. The thing I have enjoyed most about high school so far is homecoming and getting to play high school sports.