Into the Wild

The book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is about Chris McCandless's (Alex Supertramp) journey through the wild he throws away everything he has worked for and drops out of college. He burns all the money he is carrying and abandons his prize car. Chris McCandless walks into the wild with no money, thin clothing and a 10lb bag of rice, he met many people and one specific couple, Jan Burres and her husband, Mr. Burres, made a huge impact on him. Chris used to write to them all the time, whenever he stopped in a city for a long time and around holidays if he remembered. I definitely see something noble and brave in his story; he literally walked into the wild with almost nothing, lived off the woods, depended on them for everything, and died with the woods, which to me is admirable, noble, and brave.

Chris started out in his car, an old yellow datsun, but after getting caught in a flash flood he abandoned it. Inside the car he left a gianini guitar, a saucepan with $4.93, a football, some old clothes, and a fishing pole with tackle, a razor, a harmonica, jumper cables, 25lbs of rice, and in the glove box were the car keys. He originally started out with a good supply of things to live out of his car with but once he couldn't use his car anymore he needed to lighten his load dramatically. He only took 10lbs of rice, a blue sleeping bag, a .22 caliber rifle and a journal to record everything that happened over the next 2 years.

When Chris McCandless was living in Alaska for 4 months he had a rifle that was used to kill many squirrels and porcupines. Although in a stroke of luck he managed to shoot and kill a moose. He tried to copy some hunters by smoking it but that did not work, he ended up just ruining the meat and wasting all of it. There was a bus that he lived in, it had been left there by a man who had been trying to forge a way through the woods but had run out of money so he returned with only 2 out of the 3 buses he owned. He left the last one for people passing through or hunters to stay in. Chris McCandless wrote an SOS note in which he says “I am out collecting berries close by and shall return this evening.” This note gives solid evidence that he is using the woods to his advantage and using it for all its worth.

Chris was in Alaska for 4 months and ended up dying in the bus. He got too weak to try to cross the river and did not have energy to go collect food. He basically starved to death, he could not collect food for himself and he needed to get more protein into his body but could not do that for the lack of game in the area.

I think what Chris McCandless did was stupid, he walked into the wild with almost nothing and expected to live? Well I think that was stupid but at the same time he is courageous and noble. He decides to just live off the wild with nothing, no phone, computer, TV, nothing! I think that is really brave of him to do, I don't think I could do that. He just decides to up and go to Alaska and live like people like hundreds and thousands of years ago did. I think what Chris McCandless did; living off the woods for 2 years was noble and admirable.

BLOG 27!

i am thinking of doing number 1 or 3.



1. 168 says "I am reborn. This is my dawn. Real life has just begun....The Great Holiness of FOOD, the Vital Heat....Reality. Independence. Finality-Stability-Consistency." this passage is very powerful, it has words that are capitalized for no reason just so that they become more powerful and meaningful. Food, is bold and all capital letters, it makes it stand out even more then it would. i think the reality of this passage made him realise that he needs to start over to become something new. start a new life with food, stability, and consistency.

3. "nothing positive at all about Chris McCandless’ lifestyle or wilderness doctrine …surviving a near death experience does not make you a better human it makes you damn lucky." in my opinion he was courageous and brave for going out and trying to live in the wild for years on end. but i also do think that he knew it would end bad, he wrote to Everett Ruess "as to when i shall visit civilization, it will not be soon, i think" this is saying that he did want to go back eventually but not quiet yet. i think he was very brave for going out into the wild, not many people survive for as long as he did, the only reason he did not leave was because he was rained-in. the river that he had to cross was over flowed and would have killed him if he had tried to pass it.

BLOG 26!

http://www.outdoorphotographer.com/contests.html

the entry is free, you can upload up to 5 photos. the deadline is dec 2, tomorrow but there will be another one opening up that i plan to enter.

my work compared to theirs is about the same maybe a little less but it will still be accepted, and will get my work out in to the public.

THE GREAT GATSBY ESSAY!

The Great Gatsby is written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story is told by Nick Caraway, he is in love with Jordan Baker. Jordan’s sister, Daisy Buchanan is married to Tom Buchanan, although Daisy is really in love with Jay Gatsby. Tom is having an affair with Myrtle Wilson, but Myrtle is married to George Wilson. The Great Gatsby is portrayed as the American dream in the beginning but once you get into it, suddenly it does not seem so perfect. There are affairs left and right, Gatsby seems like this perfect person, he is always throwing huge parties that people go to from all over. Tom is an alcoholic and abuses his mistress, Myrtle, and Daisy married the wrong person, and she loves someone else now. The Great Gatsby is not the American dream.


Gatsby is the perfect person in the book, he is someone everyone wants to be and know. He is always throwing elaborate parties and everyone goes to them weather they were invited or not. Gatsby portrays the American dream in the beginning of the book, everyone wants to be friends with him and go to his parties. The ironic thing is though when Gatsby dies no body went to his funeral, not even Daisy who said she was in love with him. The only people who went to his funeral were Nick, Mr. Gatz who is Gatsby's dad, and old owl eyes. For someone who had parties all the time, that’s not very many people who really and truly cared about him. I would have at least expected Daisy and Tom to be there.


Gatsby starts out as the ideal American, rich, famous person. But as you get into the book you start to unravel the story, Gatsby is lying about everything, his name, his background, even his family. There are rumors left and right about him. He says he graduated from Oxford, well that’s a lie. He dropped out after a month. When he was 18 he legally changed his name to Jay Gatsby, his original name was Jimmy Gatz. Another rumor was that his family was a rich, wealthy family from Germany. But really they were just from some state in the mid east, they owned a farm and Gatsby was ashamed of that life. He made up a whole other identity so that he could win back Daisy.


Gatsby and Daisy knew each other from back before Daisy and Tom got married. They loved each other but Gatsby went away to war so they broke up. When Daisy saw Gatsby again she claimed to fall madly in love with him once again, however this new Gatsby is rich and popular so I think she was in it just for the money and fame. Daisy claims to have married the wrong man, Tom. When she meets Gatsby again she falls in love with him and starts to have an affair with him. Tom finds out about the affair and soon Gatsby and Tom are competing for Daisy's love. All of these intertwined affairs are all confusing and get locked up in the big picture of the American dream. None of these relations ships are perfect and can represent the American dream, almost all of them have something going on beneath the picture perfect people.


Shortly into the book there is a dinner party that Nick, Myrtle, Tom, Catherine, and Mr. MeKee all go to. It starts out as the ideal dinner party that anyone would want to go to. They are having fun, drinking, laughing, and talking. But some are drinking too much. Tom and Myrtle start drinking too much and start to fight, until Tom slaps Myrtle across the face and breaks her nose. So what started as a perfect party does not end up well and is not like the American dream at all.


The Great Gatsby starts out as a book where all the characters are perfect and they have money and lots of friends, but once you really get into the book and discover the truth about the people in the book then you discover that none of them are good examples for the American dream. Tom cheats on Daisy with Myrtle. Daisy cheats on Tom with Gatsby. Myrtle cheats on George with Tom. Gatsby Lies to everyone about his life. Nick and Jordan are the only sane ones and somewhat represent the American dream. The Great Gatsby and the characters in it do not represent the American dream at all.

BLOG 24!

1. "The state has funded the program since 1999.Thousands of people visit San Diego beaches each year.The ocean testing helps alert swimmers when it's not safe to swim."This is a small excerpt from "state resumes paying for beach water testing in San Diego county". You can read the entire article at http://www.kpbs.org/news/2009/jul/10/state-resumes-paying-beach-water-testing-san-diego/.
2. this article is summarizing the entire battle for the children's pool, it gives information about the beach, and what would need to be done before children could return to it. http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2009/02/17/opinion/01foster021709.txt
3. Seals Get To Stay At La Jolla Children's Pool... For Nownews link: http://www.cbs8.com/Global/story.asp?S=10778651Summary: Many court arguments have been mostly about people wanting to get rid of the seals and others who are in favor of the seals. They want them to be there in their natural habbitat. The city planned to scare off two hundred seals using recorded dog barks. Arnold Schwarzenneger signed a bill permitting the cove to be used as a marine mammal park.
4. this artical gives some very good piont on why to keep the seals there, it also explains some of the rules that are set in place at childrens pool, it also gives some back ground information that i did not know yet. http://www.amwest-travel.com/awt_sdseal.html. "At the la jolla childrens pool, wild seals congregate without fear of human harassment. People are allowed to mingle freely on this beach as long as they don't bother the seals."
5. http://www.10news.com/news/21606828/detail.html it is just a very recent artical about the recent ruling that the seals have won and will be allowed to stay. "A colony of harbor seals that took over a beach in La Jolla that had been willed to children will be allowed to stay, a judge ruled Friday, possibly bringing an end to the prolonged legal tug-of-war over the cove."

BLOG 23! current artical.

1. this article is summarizing the entire battle for the children's pool, it gives information about the beach, and what would need to be done before children could return to it.
2. "The joint-use plan that the City Council fashioned involved harmonious beaching on the tiny strip of sand. Barriers would be put up down the middle of the beach, and theoretically, into the water, to separate the seals from the swimmers. The beach would also undergo an immense cleanup process, in order to remove the toxic excrement left by the seals."this is giving a good compromise that would satisfy both sides of the argument.
3. there is no information that supports the seals side of the argument. the author clearly will vote in favor of the children.
4. it give my counter arguments for the seals to stay. i am fully supporting the seals and needed to find some evidence that supports the opposite side, the children.

BLOG 22! part 2

1. la jolla friends of the seals
2. 1. To preserve the La Jolla Harbor Seal Colony for ecological, educational, scientific, historic and scenic opportunities.
   2. To create and administer volunteer docent programs which will provide environmental education for the public and promote safe viewing of harbor seals and other marine life along the Southern Coast of California.
3. 3a: there is 1 specific event that caught my eye, it is called Seal-a-Bration, where the entire community of San Diego comes together on mothers day to name the new seal pups and to write letters to the city council explaining why the seals should stay, there is many activities for the young kids to do and get involved with the seals.
   3c: the la jolla friends of the seals is very involved with the seals pool. they emailed a chain letter to everyone and told it to forward it to thier friends, it gave every sigle coucil members contact info so that they could send letters and call them.

BLOG 22! part 1

1. San Diego Chapter of The National Audubon Society
2. Fostering the protection of birds and other wildlife through education and study. Advocating for a cleaner, healthier environment
3. 3a: there are tons of ways that this site is getting involved with the comunity. there are skegweled field trips, they can send speakers to comunity meetings, they are a member of together green, and tons more.
   3b: San Diego Audubon Society is the proud recipient of a $20,000 TogetherGreen grant to promote wildlife-friendly landscapes in the eastern Chula Vista community of Eastlake. SDAS will be collaborating with the City of Chula Vista and the National Wildlife Federation to carry out a NatureScape workshop series and to install a demonstration habitat garden. See our project profile and press release.

BLOG 21!

Gatsby seems kind of crazy at some points but also at the same time he is the ideal neighbor, he keeps his house in perfect shape and has awesome party's, which we are ALL invited too. yet nick is holding back from us(the readers) he does not always tell us everything. he and Gatsby are similar because both of them are interesting and add to the story in their own ways. nick is narrating everything and we always get his opinion on everything but Gatsby is hidden from us and we don't know very much about him.

BLOG 20!

1. the narrator is kind of in the story, like he is one of the characters. "only gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction" its like he is talking with us, the readers.
2. he accomplishes more, he can become a character or he can just be the one reading the book to us.

blog 19!

1. when i watched this video the level of proffesionalism stood out to me as not very good. this video is made from a family going to the cove. the most sucssecful asspect of it is the close up shots, the camera they used is very high quality, so when it zooms in then it still stays clear.

2. the message is to show people the pool so it might get more visitors or it someone wannted to go but couldn't, now they can just look at a video.

3. the intended audience is anyone who likes seals or wildlife. perhaps they want to remember there time at the pool.

4. the movie is made with just a simple movie maker. but tthe quality is very good it has great camera shots and the zoom is amazing and all of that together balances it out perfectly.

5. one techneque they used was the camera angle and quality.

6. i chose this video because it give perspective from different angles of the cove and shows a local fun thing to do with your family, it was also one of the things i could find on it that was not ruined with the type of music used.

blog 18!

During the Industrialisation news paper project I learned that teamwork is everything. If we don't communicate with our group then nothing will get done, and it may turn out not to be our best work. this lesson that I have learned I will carry on to our MSB project, it is always good to have teamwork within groups. I can communicate with the entire photo essay group as well as all of the people going to the La Jolla children's cove. Since I hope can do a photo essay then I might have to work with the calendar group to give them my pictures as well as give them my caption and make it all fit.

MBS people groups and organizations!

http://www.surfrider.org/stateofthebeach/05-sr/state_summary.asp?zone=WC&state=ca
this is surfriders foundation, it gives information about the state our california beachs are in. becuase it is surfrider i trust the information, we will work with them in our MSB project so i trust their website information.

http://www.sdbaykeeper.org/content/programs/waterMon/overview.htm
this is coastkeeper, we also work with them on the project and i also trust their information becuase i know it is real and good, they would not make up information and then put it on thier website.

http://www.coastkeeper.org/coastkeeper/work/projects/marine.asp
this is the website for orange county coastkeeper. it is also a part of coastkeeper, so i trust the information there is a short story on the MPA (marine protected area) and i think the informaiton from it is good to use in my final product.

3 blogs posts i liked!!

From Brent-"Possible MSB Products", I realized/learned/thought....


i really liked the movie that he choose as his inspiration, it was very professional, as well interesting. it gave tons of good information and helped me learn more about the recent oil spills. if i end up doing a video, this is one that i will definitely look into. i still would like to do a photo essay but if i am not allowed to then i would do a video.
http://bspringer-brent.blogspot.com/

from D'Vaughn-"blog 15", I realized/learned/thought....

when i read this blog, what really hit me was all the trash on the beach! if i could do a project i would try to do something about the trash on our beaches it would really raise awareness about the increasing piles of trash on out beaches.
http://herewego-dmccrae.blogspot.com/

from grant "blog #15," I realized/learned/thought....

when i followed the link on grants blog, it took me to an amazing photo essay. there were really proffetional photos and there were little paragraphs about each picture, like backgrougn information.
http://ggarrity11.blogspot.com/

idea #2

for my final product i think it would be cool to do a video. i have never really worked with cameras much but i could figure it out. i would like to answer the question, should we let kids come back to the children's pool?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqmL8pXCufs

this video is a lot better then some of the others i have watched. it caught my eye because there is no commentary or background sound, some of the other videos i watched had horrible sound and screeching noises in the back. this one also had a steady picture, like they used a tripod. it was much more professionally done, then the homemade ones where the picture was shaking.

idea #1

For my final product i would prefer to do a picture essay, i would like to take pictures of the seal pool and address the question, should we let kids come back to the childrens pool?

This picture is very high quality. It uses the rule of thirds, and side lighting. It gives a view of the walkway where people can see the seals, it also shows the seals on the beach.

FINAL QUESTION

1. Would it be a good idea to let kids play in the childrens pool?
2. How do the tides affect the water flow, would that contribute to the matter? Would sharks be a factor? is it worth it to clean up the beach and let the public use it?
3. http://childrenspool.org/, http://www.a-zsandiegobeaches.com/lajollachildrenspool.htm, http://www.beachcalifornia.com/chilrens-pool-la-jolla.html
4. the children's pool in La Jolla, was once a coastal bluff called Seal Rock Point. It was a shallow water pooland it had a large offshore rock called Seal Rock. La Jolla philanthropist, Ellen Browning Scripps donated the funds in 1931 to build a sea wall in an attempt to close off the channel and create a safe beach area for children. Seals began using the beach in winter during the 1970s. Seals and people shared the beach until 1997 when high bacteria levels from the seals deemed this beach unsafe for human to use.

http://benno.newsvine.com/_news/2009/06/20/2951007-water-wars-2009-privatization-industrialization-pollution-exploitation-conflict
1. The basic issue is that industrialization leads to increased water consumption by everyone and everything. 70% of or water is taken by industrialized agriculture and agriculture is always being industrialized.
2. it does not tell you where the other 30% is going. it could be for humans to consum it, or using it else where.
3. if i were to create a follow up, i would deffenetly add the information that is missing. i would try to add more into the story to make it relate to people on a more personal scale.

3 possible project questions

how can we clean up the NPG or keep it small?
-my table and i had an idea to just go out and use our plankton tows to get a sample and see aprox. how little the plastic is, how much there is, and if we can reduce it somehow.

would trash cans help keep the beaches clean?
-we were wondering why there were NO trash cans on the beach, also if we put more out and emptyed them regularly if that would help or not.
-we noticed when we went to our site that there were absoulutly NO trash cans any where, which means there was trash everywhere.

why should i care?
-this is a broad question that i think would help raise awarness about the state the beaches are in now.
-it would give information to people who would want it.

Continuum of the Civil War

Dying for Dixie is a chapter in the book confederates in the attic by Tony Horawitz. He traveled to Guthrie, Kentucky, a small town on the border of Tennessee to report on the murder of Michael Westerman. He interviews Westermans family to get their side of the story. “They say that the war ended a long time ago. But around here it’s like it’s still going on.” (pg 124) In some ways I think that this is explaining a very true assumption. Throughout the entire article it just seems like random shootings start because of their race, or if someone gets offended by the rebel flag being waved around, fights just seem to start. The war is still going on because they still have tons of racial problems, but it seems the issues revolve around the rebel flag.


When Freddy shot Michael Westerman, he did not know why he was doing so, “I thought it was just the Dukes of Hazard sign.” (pg 116) Freddy did not know anything else about the flag, he shot Michael because he thought it would get him attention and he would be seen as “cool.” I suppose that some of his friends in the car knew what the flag meant; they could have pressured him into shooting Michael because he had the flag waving on his car.


Freddy was deemed as “prone to violence and showing off.” (pg 116) I think Freddy only shot Michael because he wanted attention and that he was being pressured into following his old ways. Freddy moved to Guthrie because his mom got sick of his Chicago attitude. He was originally in a gang where they created violence where ever they went. He was falling back into his attitude and becoming violent.


The racial tension is not just affecting the blacks, there are whites being abused as well. “Yo, snow! What’s your name? Hey sugar, come up and get some sweet stuff.” (pg 114) “Any given black person…is about seventeen times more likely to kill a white person then the other way around.” (pg 112) Some people hear racism and automatically assume that black are being abused, but what some don’t realize is that whites are being abused or shot just for being white and announcing what they believe in.


“Slavery was not all that bad, a lot of people were quite happy to be living on large plantations…blacks need to get over slavery, you can’t live in the past” (pg 99) Chapman never had to go through that, but yet she still says that it was a good way to live “don’t put us there they used to be” (pg 99) and yet she does not want to be forced to live like that.


When faced with a racial problem I think you should at least try to face it. “As soon as the blacks got in [the pool], all the whites got out. Whites demanded that Eskridge tell the blacks to leave…Eskridge and her husband filled the pond with dirt rather than let it become the scene of racial strife”(pg 94) Eskridge seems to me like a cowardly person, she tries to hide and just dismiss things. If she stood up to the whites and told them a piece of her mind, then maybe there would be a little less racial problems that were over the pool. This was after the slaves had all been allowed to be free. Some people just need to get over the fact that we are all equal.


I think that the south still has racial problems. Most of the racial problems are caused from the rebel flag still being used as the mascot for the school. The war still seems to be going on in Guthrie, but I think people will stand up for what they believe in. Sometimes it gets out of hand when guns are drawn for no apparent reason, or just to have their time to fight back at the opposite race.

Reconstruction

Reconstruction started in 1867 and it is an act that laid out the process for readmitting Southern states into the Union. After Lincoln was shot, president Andrew Johnson had to try to bring all the states back together again, after the Civil War divided them into South and North.

The North seems to just give up about 3/4th of the way through, that to me seems like a bad choice amongst the people who are the African Americans only help trying to be free. They just give up and say oh we have done enough for you, deal with it yourself.

It is relevant today because just 13 years ago, there was a vote to keep people from marrying opposite race's. Around 30% voted to keep it intact, that tells America that there are still racial problems whether they are hidden or not. "Today, racial segregation has been outlawed, blacks vote on the same terms as whites, and more black Americans hold public office than ever before." (http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/reconstruction/epilogue.html)

*gasp* not safe to swim??

"The state has funded the program since 1999.
Thousands of people visit San Diego beaches each year.
The ocean testing helps alert swimmers when it's not safe to swim."

This is a small excerpt from "state resumes paying for beach water testing in San Diego county". you can read the entire article at http://www.kpbs.org/news/2009/jul/10/state-resumes-paying-beach-water-testing-san-diego/.

This article does not actually tell you any information about how horrible the water actually is. It is not giving us actual statistics. This article is just telling us the bare minimum, its trying to conceal the truth about how bad the water actually us. 'This definitely relates to our class because we are learning about how to test the water and get the actual amount of bacteria in the beach water. This is basically what we will be doing for our Media Saves the Beach project.

Media saves the beach!!

some ideas i have for media saves the beach is to just go and clean the beach, pick up trash and check the water. I'm not sure how we could fix the water problem thought i think that would be pretty hard.

the project i am most interested in would be photography. i have always loved taking pictures and editing them but i am not willing to take my camera to the beach, unless it can be in my own time. i have a really nice camera and it takes awesome photos!

final product of american icon project

I first heard of Ryan Hall when I was a freshman. I was new to cross country and was desperately trying to get in shape for my first race in 2 weeks. My XC team held a 3 day trip to Big Bear where anybody who kept up with their running log, could go. I went so I could improve my running. I tried to persuade some of my friends on the team to go, but none were up to it. I went to big bear and I was the only freshman girl to go. Being the freshman I was, I was terrified.
Those 3 days at Big Bear changed my whole high school experience. I realized how much a team can bond in just 3 days, I was able to participate in a program called “move a million miles for Ryan Hall” and to help participate in that program I had to up my game and run with the girls varsity team. Those 3 days were the painfulness experience I had ever gone through, both mentally and physically. I was drained by the time I got home, but was so excited to tell my family about my experience at Big Bear. The first time I had ever heard of Ryan Hall was in Big Bear, freshman year.
Ryan Hall popped up in conversations all the time after that year at Big Bear. My sophomore year I went to Big Bear again, Ryan Hall had just passed the Olympics trial and had a time of 2 hours 3 minuets, he won first place in the Olympics trial. We had mandatory meetings every night on the cabins porch, but on the 2nd night Myette, our coach yelled at us to hurry up and get everyone in the small room with a TV. 60 kids and 10 adults cheering and yelling, all crammed in that room watching Ryan Hall win bronze in the Olympics. I felt so proud to be in Ryan’s home town of big bear, watching him complete his own dream of being in the Olympics. The best night of my life happened there. Ever since then I have always thought of Ryan Hall as my inspiration to being the runner I am today.
Last year I participated in an organized protest called “The Rescue,” that supported young boys in Uganda Africa who were being abducted from their home. We were supposed to be rescued by someone well known. Ryan Hall rescued us. I was ecstatic that he would come to “The Rescue”! But he came, and gave a speech about protecting the boys in Uganda. I dragged my friend Elena over to meet him and take our picture. I wore my XC jacket and he mentioned it and I told him I was a sophomore in school and ran for the XC team at Patrick Henry high school. Elena then snapped a picture and the rest of the night I freaked out. Ryan Hall has always been my running inspiration, and I inspire to be like him when I grow older.

Micheal Meyer. “The last days of old Beijing.”

USA track and field. 23 June 2009. 10 Sept. 2009. .

The ryan hall story - 2008 olympian. 6 May 2008. Web. 10 Sept. 2009. .

REFLECTION!!

During the American icon project I learned that I can still write a good sized essay even after summer break. A writing technique that I used was to activate my verbs and avoid ending in -ing. I used both of these thoroughly in my essay. On my second draft I went through my entire essay and circled every single word ending with -ing, in purple. Then I tried to rewrite every single sentence that had words ending in -ing. i then needed to activate the verbs that needed to be activated.

If I had time for one more draft I would send my artist statement out to a couple of my friends and have them revise it. One sentence I am very proud of is "There were 60 kids and 10 adults cheering and yelling, all crammed in that room watching Ryan Hall get bronze in the Olympics." I think this sentence is very good because I tried to describe everything that was happening in the room, I think it is very descriptive.

rough draft picture

blog number 4!

The feedback I recived in todays critique was very helpful. Shannon critiqued my artist statement and really told me to just lay down why I like Ryan Hall so much and how I aspire to be like him. I knew I had to put that in I just did not know how to put it down on paper. Shannon really helped me be able to get my words to come out right.

Rough Draft Artist Statment:

I was a freshman when I first heard of Ryan Hall. I was new to running and was desperately trying to get in shape for my first race in 2 weeks. My cross country team held a 3 day trip to Big Bear where anybody who was keeping up with their running log, could go. I wanted to go so I could improve my running. I tried to get some of my friends on the team to go, but none were up to it. I ended up being the only freshman girl to go and being the freshman I was, I was terrified.

Those 3 days at Big Bear that year changed my whole high school experience. I realized how much bonding a team can do in just 3 days, I was able to participate in a running program called “move a million miles for Ryan Hall” and to help participate in that program I had to up my game and run with the girls varsity team. Those 3 days were the painfulness experience I had ever gone through, both mentally and physically. I was drained by the time I got home, but was so excited to tell my family about my experience at Big Bear. That was the first time I had ever heard of Ryan Hall.

Ryan Hall popped up in conversations all the time after that year at Big Bear. In sophomore year I went to Big Bear again, Ryan Hall had passed the Olympics trial and had a time of just over 2 hours, putting him in first place. Every night we had mandatory meetings on the cabins porch, but on the 2nd night Myette, our coach yelled at us to hurry up and get everyone in the small living room. There were 60 kids and 10 adults all crammed in that room watching Ryan Hall get bronze in the Olympics. I felt so proud to be in Ryan’s home town watching him complete his own dream of being in the Olympics. That was one of the best nights of my life, ever since then I have always thought of Ryan Hall as my inspiration to being the runner I am today.

Just last year I participated in an organized protest called “The Rescue,” that supported young boys in Uganda Africa who were being abducted from their home. We were supposed to be rescued by someone well known, like a celebrity or person in office. Guess who rescued us! Ryan Hall! I was ecstatic that he would come to a puny thing like “The Rescue”! But he came and gave a great speech about sticking up for the boys in Uganda. I have always liked Ryan Hall but just seeing him support something that has also been big in my life, well I was over the moon. I ended up dragging my friend Elena over to meet him and take our picture. I just happened to be wearing my cross country jacket and he mentioned it and said something, I told him I was a junior in school and ran for the cross country team. Elena then snapped a picture and the rest of the night I freaked out. Ryan Hall has always been my running inspiration, and I inspire to be like him when I grow older.

photagrahy tips

The Rule of Thirds: I will use the rule of thirds because I have already worked with it before and I am used to using it in every photo I take. The rule of thirds forces the photo to have a background and it gives it a lot of flavor and color.

Contrast: When I take photos I edit them to have a very high contrast. I like pictures with high contrast I think it gives them more color and flavor.
Side Lighting: I like the effect of side lighting, it makes the picture stand out more and give it some personality. I will try to give my picture side lighting and edit it so you can tell.

blog #3 american icon resources. yo.

Beatles:

• http://www3.timeoutny.com/chicago/blog/out-and-about/2009/04/ryan-hall-dishes-; - Website

This website gives me tons of information on the history of the Beatles and how they became the band they are now.

• John Lennon: the life - book

This book does not follow the title at all, it talks about the band as a whole but at the same time gives me information about John Lennon also.

• The Beatles Live on the Ed Sullivan Show - video

This video is an interview with the Beatles, it lets me get information that I could not have gotten otherwise because they are personally there and not dead yet.

Ryan Hall:

• The Ryan Hall Story - 2008 Olympian - Video

This video is all about Ryan's work outs and how he trains for the up coming Olympics.

• http://www.usatf.org/athletes/bios/hall_ryan.asp - Website

This website gives me tons of information about how Ryan hall did in the Olympics and it goes deeper into the race then what they showed on TV.

• The Last Days of Old Beijing - book

From what I have read so far, this book just talks about the Olympics as a whole and how Beijing got ready for it. it is really good background information that I will use.

BLOG 2! American icon ideas!

Ryan Hall: In my opinion Ryan Hall is one of the best runners I know. I ran on the Patrick Henry Cross Country team for 3 years now. When I went to Big Bear training camp in my Sophomore year, I was running in a program called "run a millon miles for Ryan Hall." That was one of the best running experiences of my life. Running has always been a big part of my life and has been Ryan's main purpose too.

I actually got to meet Ryan Hall when he came to a protest I was involved in called "The Rescue," which supports children in Africa who have been illigaly taken from their home. When I met him he gave me some really helpful hints to improve my running. He has inspired me to be the best runner I can be. He has also inspired the varsity boy's cross coutry team at Patrick Henry to be one of the top 10 teams in America.


Meghan: I met my best friend Meghan in 9th grade, my Freshman year. We did not have any classes together and only saw each other during lunch but still we became really close. Now my 11th grade year, we are still best friends.

She is one of the few people that I really respect and love with all my heart. I would do anything for her. She has shaped me by always being there for me and helping me with anything, whether it be memorizing vocabulary for a test or writing an essay. I know she will always be there when I need someone. Meghan has always brought out the best in me and I in her. When I moved schools she was the one who I stayed really close to. I know I can always lean on her.

Beatles: The Beatles have always amazed me with their music. They originated in Liverpool, England in 1960. The Beatles became one of the most commercially successful bands in the history of popular music. The band consisted of John Lennon (rhythm guitar, vocals), Paul McCartney (bass guitar, vocals, piano), George Harrison (lead guitar, vocals) and Ringo Starr (drums, vocals).

The Beatles have inspired people all over the world, but the person who affected them the most was Elvis Presley. He played a major role in the music that Paul McCartney wrote.

"It was Elvis who really got me buying records. I thought that early stuff of his was great. The Bill Haley era passed me by, in a way. When his records came on the wireless, my mother used to hear them, but they didn’t do anything for me. It was Elvis who got me hooked on beat music. When I heard 'Heartbreak Hotel', I thought ‘this is it’ and I started to grow sideboards and all that gear." -Paul McCartney

Blog #1

For my junior year at HTHMA I would like to have all B's. I would also like to try to take 1 honors class, whether it be humanities or biology. I have already taken biology for a half a year and it will definitely help me this year. In math I hope to fully understand all of it and be able to teach others if they are having trouble. I have taken algebra 2 and Pre calculus so I have an advantage in math this year also.

In humanities class this year, I would like to come out of this class ready for senior year and sort of be ready for college or feel better about it being my last year here at HTHMA. I would like to learn about the world politics this year. Last year when the president was being elected I really got into it and enjoyed following Obama's presidency. I hope to follow the politics again this year.