Molly's Blog

People have all different ways of thinking about what to write. Everyday, I walk home from school. I walk with Kasey until we reach her house but for the remainder, I walk alone. When I walk alone I usually think about my homework. I know that is kind of nerdy, but it actually kind of helps. For the most part, I think about english. Typically, english assignments remind me of some aspect of my life, or something I’ve read about or seen on TV and that is what the author, Kathleen Benner Duble told us all about on Friday.

Kathleen Benner Duble said that soemtimes, you can get inspiration from other people’s lives. This is very true. In this piece, I wrote about Langston Hughes, a famous poet from the Harlem Reinssance. The piece is titled Making History

I think my grandparents are pretty good people. They enjoy golfing, going to the beach (but not swimming in the water), and going out to dinner. I sorry, but I don’t really think that people my age would want to hear about their lives. But, in this piece I’ll Do What I’m Told, But Not When I’m Old, I wrote about them and their love for Boston College.

I’m 14 and I have had plenty of my own life expierences. I think most 14 year olds have. In this piece, Don’t Take It for Granted, we were assigned to write about something that is important, so I wrote about kindness. That may seem as corny as an episode of Full House, but really, it’s true.

Wellfleet, Cape Cod is home to one of the best movie theaters in the world, well according to me. It is a huge drive in theater and it is always packed. You can sit on top of your car, on chairs or in the front seats of  the car and you will still have a good view. In January, we had an assignment in which we had to relate one part of our book to our lives. In the book I was reading, they had just gone to a drive in. Perfect. I titled this piece, Memories Like the Corners of My Mind.

Kathleen Benner Duble did a lot of research before writing her novels. But I was thinking, I’m in eighth grade writing little blogposts, not great books. Surprisingly, I have found myself looking a lot of stuff up on the internet that I could possibly write about. It’s Not All Fun and Games is about the great snowboarder Kevin Pearce who had a fatal accident which lead to brain damage. When I had first heard this story, I was instantly interested and I looked everywhere to find out more about it.

Reading. It is a great town. We all have complained from time to time about how we wished to live somewhere else, but truly, Reading is pretty great. Once,we had an assignment to write about a place that is special to us. While some people may have written about Paris or St John’s in the Virgin Islands, I wrote about Meadowbrook, an old, crappy pool write down the road in the post, More Then a Pool.

Sorry Mom and Dad, but it is somewhat surprising that I wrote about you guys. My parents are actually pretty relaxed people ad we get along well. I remember this day somewhat clearly, we were in groups and it was so funny because everyone in my group had parents that were different. While some had really tough parents others had some that could completly care less. I wrote about this in the post, Parenting: It’s Pretty Tricky.

Kathleen Benner Duble, I will have to hand it to her, she knows what she is talking about. Hoestly, I didn’t even know that I had got inspiration from all these different places.

“My life is soooooo boring! It’s like ‘Groundhog Day’ living the same day over and over again” People complain, but really is it? Sometimes, I go on and on about how nothing ever happens to me, how I go to school everyday followed by doing my homework then go to swim until late at night. But at the same time, I find myself laughing at least a couple times a day, enjoying myself, and always having something to look forward to. I think no matter how lame you may think you are, you have to realize, everyone has an inspiring, uplifting or fascinating story to tell.

On Friday, we had the author Kathleen Benner Duble, who wrote many great stories like “The Sacrifice” came to our school. She talked to us for a little over an hour and it was great. At Parker, we have had many authors and guest speakers come. Not to be mean, but some were very boring. They dragged on about how long and hard the process of writing a book was, which didn’t really make any of us want to write at all. Kathleen Benner Duble was very entertaining. She started off by telling us that every family has a story to tell.

Originally, I just kind of overlooked what she had said because my family is kind of, well, weird. Then, she elaborated. She told us just by looking at some old records she developed the basic idea for “The Sacrifice” This was very surprising because I never really thought that finding out about your family’s past you could write a story, but it definitely makes sense. She also told us that you have to fully develop characters. When you fully develop a character, you must make sure that the way they act in a situation reflects what they are typically like.

Kathleen Benner Duble also told us that you can always build off something small. Like, if you saw a railroad you could write a story about kids walking along a railroad track trying to find treasure. Basically, she taught us that there is always inspiration, no matter where you are and that we all have a story.

The popular kids. We all know who they are. Some dread their presence while some act as if they are encountering god. You have those popular kids who are such charmers. The ones who the teachers love, the girls love, the boys love, even your parents love them. But then you have the popular kids who are bad seeds. Some teachers hate them, some are afraid of them, but either way, they are uncontrollable.

Not to name names, but there are some teachers I’ve had who are, well, a bit of pushovers. They let those crazy kids leave class whenever they want, do what ever they please and bully the teachers. When discussing this topic in class, Samantha said, “When kids control the class, everything is like opposite of the way it should be which can cause a lot of problems.” Samantha is right, when kids have too much power, it can cause a lot of problems. When kids rule the class, the teacher can’t teach anything, which obviously isn’t good.

“It gets crazy, like bombs dropping everywhere, everything out of control.” When I was talking to Amanda, that is what she said. I agree with her completly. Last year, I had a teacher who could not control the class. We would enter the classroom and she would announce that today we would have a mini quiz. Kids would complain the entire time until we had to have it, and they would completly cheat! I don’t really like getting bad grades and the whole time, while kids were throwing their pencils cases, chucking notes across the room, leaving to visit friends  in other classes, eating the leftovers from lunch, I was trying to listen! That proved to be very hard and I would leave the class really agravated.

Pretty much everyone loses when kids gain too much control. The kids who want to pay attention get agravated, the teachers feel like a fail, and the kids who take advatage of the teacher are just learning things that will make them a worse person. Kids with too much power leads to horrible, messy, and terrible situations.

There are some people you just click with. You know, you would look at someone and they look at you, then you would both grab for the same thing and say “Sorryy…jinx” exactly at the same time again. People who like the same tv shows, people who think about life the same way you do, people who like the same stores, people who you just relate to. It’s kind of like you have a natural connection to them, like your souls match. But there are some people who you have never even spoke to, but you just know you are connected.

The story “Star Food” deals with a connection between the main character Dade and a woman who repeatedly walks into the stores and steals. Although Dade knows that stealing is bad and that he should stop her, he can’t because he feels like they have a connection. Their connection can’t be explained and Dade feels as if the woman knows something about him. Dade ponders what he is ment to do in life, what will he do to achieve limited fame. In the story it seems as if Dade believes the woman can help him achieve it or maybe this connection between the woman an himself-this connection that only very few can understand IS his limited fame.

One day, Dade is determined to catch the woman. He announces this to his father who is very proud. So, Dade waits for the day that she finally comes. When she does, Dade takes her into the backroom and sits her down, like he does with all shoplifters. Then, he decides to just let her go. They walk down the street together. But neither say anything. They keep walking until the woman is out of sight.

When Dade loses track of the woman, he feels lost. As it says on page 166, “I stood there until the world had fully rotated into the night, and for awhile I tried to make myself aware of the spinning Earth.” Then, Dade realizes you can never really know another person. He thinks that he knows this woman and that she knows something about him. Like two star-crossed lovers, that were meant to be. Then, when the woman doesn’t even say anything to him and he can’ t think of anything to say  to her he realizes this is all a fluke. He doesn’t think that him and this woman have a special connection anymore. He realizes that there is nothing between them. Dade realizes this harsh, rough reality and is really how life is.

“I don’t wanna grow up, never grow up, never grow up, not me!” That is part of the famous song from the disney classic, “Peter Pan.” It’s funny that Peter doesn’t want to grow up and he doesn’t have parents, is that a coincedence? I truly love being 14, but honestly, I think it would be way more fun if my mom was calling me every hour when I’m hanging out down town, I didn’t have my parents constantly asking if I’m getting into trouble and where exactly am I going. I don’t need them to tell me how to grow up, how to be a good kid, or how to get the grades I need, but I may need them to really help me make some of life’s hardest decisions.

Last month, when I went to Florida, I forced my mom to drive me to a bookstore. I picked up this book called, “Peaches” by Jodi Lynn Anderson. It was the tale of 3 girls having an amazing summer. One of the girls, Leeda was beautiful. She was rich, popular and always looked great. Everyone saw this besides Leeda’s mother, Lucretia. Lucretia had a heart of ice but the looks of a model. Leeda worked so hard to please her mother in hopes of her mother finally excepting her. But that summer, Leeda realizes that pleasing her mother isn’t making anyone really happy. Therefore, instead of going to Colombia like her parents wished for her, she stayed in Georgia and opened an animal shelter where she was finally happy.

In that story, Leeda does need to defy their parents in order to grow up. Actually now that I think about it, we all do. Hear is a personal story. Four generations on my mom’s side have gone to Boston College. I grew up going to BC football game, hockey games, basketball games, and swim meets. I’m pretty sure I knew all the lyrics to the BC fight song before I knew the pledge of allegiance. I’m the oldest of the grnadchildren on my mom’s side and everyone expects me to go to BC. Honestly, I do not want to go one bit. When my grandfather mentions BC, I change the subject as quickly as possible. When my mom mentions doing a camp at BC, I reminder her I am pretty busy. The truth is, I want to go to UNC.

We all go through rough, ugly patches with our parents. We fight, we yell, we roll our eyes, but yes, we all need Mommy and Daddy, but you know what, we don’t need our parents when it comes to our future.

As middle schoolers we all fit into little descriptions, or titles. You have the total nerds, the kids who kind of just blend in, the “middle class”, the wannabees and the popualr kids. Teachers also have little titles in my head, like the awesome teachers who always have a good time with like Mrs. Low, the teachers who teach you a ton, the mean teachers, the teachers everyone is so annoyed with and the teachers who you don’t love but they are, you know, alright. But here is the thing, which kind of teacher do you learn the most from?

“Ok everyone sit down and shut up! Today we are learning about the way the earth has shifted over the course of millions of-hey you two in the back.. to the office!” We have all had teachers that have scared the living daylights out of us. They stand in front of the class giving that cold, dark, icey stare to the poor class of students they face.

 This is like the griffin from the junior great book story, “The Griffin and the Minor Cannon.” The griffin is a creature with wings, an eagle’s face and a lion’s body. When he arrives in the town where the story takes place, everyone is completly terrified of him. Therefore, they make the Minor Canon, a man in their town who they inlist to solve all of their problems, to face the griffin. As it says in the story, “He was a young man of a kind disposition, and very anxious to do good to the people of the town.” The Minor Canon had previously done many things like teach the kids who no one wanted to deal with. One day, the Minor Canon is forced out of the town. The griffin has so much respect for him that he takes charge and does all of the Minor Canon’s jobs.

When the Griffin becomes in charge of the bad students, they all perk up and straighten themselves out because truly they are terrified of the Griffin. In the story it says, “It was astonishing how much these children now learned of what they had been studying. It was as if they had been educated over again. The Griffin used no severity toward them, but there was a look about him which made them unwilling to go to bed until they were sure they knew their lessons for the next day.” These former bad students where completly perfect as soon as the Griffin came, but what if the Griffin came to our school?

It was just like any other day at Parker Middle School. The halls were like grand central stations, the classrooms like the Roger Williams Zoo. Then, the 8th grade english teacher just left. A new teacher was hired. He walked into the classroom and was instantly shocked. Everyone was talking, some yelling ,some singing, some laughing. Several kids chomped on their gum, while other were sitting down actually looking studious, when really they are just copying their buddy’s spanish homework. The teacher thought the best thing to do was be tough.

He started by yeling “Quiiieeeeeeeeet Dowwwnn!” Some eyes widened and quickly turned around. But most rolled their eyes and continued talking. “Who does this guy think he is?” they muttered. As he passes out the homework some kids walk up to the recycle bin and simply dump it. Sighs fill the room.

So basically what I mean by this is that if Parker had a strict and “scary” teacher like the Griffin, no one would care. Hate to break it to you teachers but when you are in eighth grade teh only authority you respect are the cool older kids who invite you to parties. Having a scary teacher wouldn’t do much, I don’t think we would learn more or less, it would just go how it usually does.

In closing, we would not be affected by the change from a nice man, to a monster.

On One Tree Hill, one of the main characters’ uncle and his girlfriend are driving home from a wedding when there car swirves and falls into a lake. Nathan(the main character) sees this whole scene unfold, he surprises everyone by jumping into the lake, carrying his uncle and his uncle’s girlfriend out of the car and to safety. Not only did Nathan surprise everyone else, he surprised himself. Nathan was never known for being a hero. He had a big ego and only thought of himself, no one thought he was brave. This is what we discussed in english today.

Today in english Mr. Olivo handed us a slip of paper with five questions that we really had to think about. One of them really spoke to me. The question stated, “What are some reasons why a person who is not naturally courageous might act bravely?” My group decided that a person who is not usually brave would act brave when they know that something must be done. going back to the example above, Nathan probably didn’t want to jump into that lake, but he knew that if he didn’t, chances are his uncle would die. Then I thought about myself. I have to admit, I am a bit of a scaredy cat. One of my biggest fears is being abducted. As we have learned from TV, our parents and our teachers if some creepy person asks us if we can look at a map in their car or help them find their lost puppy we say no! When we are asked to go in their car we scream in the middle of the street or run as fast as we can in the opposite direction, but what would I really do? I’m not sure. Would I freeze like an statue? Would I agree? Would I die?

Mr, Olivo brought up a good point in class, you don’t really know have brave you are until you are faced in a situation that is truly life or death. I wouldn’t say I’m weak, because truly I’m not but I couldn’t ever see myself punching or even killing someone. in sixth grade we read the story “Hatchet” by Gary Paulson. The entire time I was reading that book all I could think was that I could never survive in those conditions, the only time i would use that hatchet would be to kill myself. Now when I look back on that, I’m not so sure anymore. I think if I worked hard and used my very few survival skills, I could make it through those rough, tough and gruling days in the forest.

I guess, I don’t really know if I could be brave, or how brave I would really be in a life or death situation.

The book Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson is a tale of three very different girls who bond together for one amazing summer. By amazing, I’m not talking about them winning the lottery, moving to Los Angeles adn becoming instant celebrities. No, this story is much more simple. At the Darlington peach orchard these three girls form an unbreakable friendship that will probably last a lifetime.

This got me thinking, what would my best summer consist of? Well, truly at thi point I’m not sure. But I do have a few favorite summer memories. I’ll start with two summers ago. Two summers ago I went to New Hampshire with my friend and her family and her brother’s friend. Well on the last day of the vacation we decided to go to the Kangamagus river. This day, the river was really, really swift. I guess we didn’t realize it until we we stranded in the middle of the river. We sat there for a good 20 minutes. It was quite a conundrum, but my worries were curtailed by my fears.Kasey was breaking down, I swear she was crying. And truly I felt like crying myself. It was like the Titanic, no place to go except be swept away in the freezing water. We were stuck there, everyone screaming! Then, finally we were saved! WE all acted like it was nothing but really we all knew that we were scared out of our minds.

Here is my second favorite summer memory. Last summer I went to the cape with the same people I went to New Hamphire with. We stayed in this really cool house with a rap around deck. The deck had an outdoor shower on one side. We decided to have a water fight. We got all these plastic, crappy, cheap buckets, we payed a good amount of money for them which was truly a sham and a nostrum condering we had to duck tape them to stop them from breaking, that we found and filled them up with water. We hid all around the perimeter of the house making alliances and enemies. This fight went on for a good hour or even more! It was one of those things you didn’t want to ever end.

This is going to sound really corny, and somewhat tacky but it makes sense to me. I guess it doesn’t matter where you are you can have some very memorable times.

We know a lot of famous celebrities these days. Some famous, most infamous. They are known for partying, scandals, and pretty much nothing that is worth idolizing. My entire life, stars I have admired haven’t had the best reputations. Their road to success has been a trip down easy street. But for some people, it isn’t like that.

One of those people who had an interesting life journey was (James) Langston Hughes one of the most prolific poets of the Harlem Renaissance. Langston Hughes was born on Febraury 1st, 1902. He began showing his gift for writing at the young age of 14. In 8th grade, he was named the poet of his class. He was the Mozart of poetry. One of his english teachers introduced him to Walt Whitman and Carl Sandburg, who were his early insprations/idols. In his junior year of high school he moved to Mexico with his dad. Langston and his father didn’t get along. This is why he began writing  poetry that really came from his heart, not just describing the dafodils in a meadow.

This is really why Langston Hughes’ poetry spoke to me. Most poems I’ve read in my life are either funny,school, sports, or nature. But the poems written in this time period are very interesting. They aren’t really complaining about there lives at all, they are just expressing the hurt and loss of hope they are feeling. To most, being put down time after time would end up killing you, but for Langston Hughes it made him well-known, prolific and memorable.