So:

Lots of news here! In the time since my last update, I've discovered so many cool news articles. I'll share that and some news from my life with you.

First of all, hearing Ishmael Beah speak was wonderful! We got to take a picture with him and I even got his autograph! Now I'm actually reading his book, and it's so suspenseful! It's amazing to think that he survived those events and manages to talk about them frequently. It takes a truly strong person to admit that he/she's killed someone, seen people die, and suffered.

Secondly... I discovered this wonderful website: OperationNICE.com, which highlights all of the positive things in life. It made me smile. It's a great resource for anyone who needs cheering up. :)

Also: things have been hectic, and they'll stay like that until after finals. Once I get past those, I'll be free (well, except for that summer assignment in AP World)! In the meantime, I've taken a bassoon reedmaking lesson, uh... not too much else. Awards night is tomorrow!

Now, on to the articles!

1) This article appeared in the New York Times last Thursday. It talks about teens and hugging. I'm not really sure where to stand on this, but I'll write a later post on teens and hugging, from the perspective of a teen.

2) WireTap Magazine has a very progressive, youthful take on national/international news and opinion. I really enjoy reading about young people's takes on the world!

3) Here's an article from WireTap Mag about the future of high school journalism. I'm slightly worried about this, considering that I want to take this course next year, and I'd like to go into journalism!

4) Here's two Newsweek spotlight articles on our society's focus on beauty. It's really interesting. I cannot believe how much the average diva spends on beauty... Click here and here to see the articles.

5) Here's an article criticizing Sesame Street. I couldn't believe how low it was ranked among children's shows! I grew up with it! I really enjoyed that show, although there is much controversy over the usefullness of kids' TV shows now... Let's take a look at some good old Sesame Street memories:

Cookie Monster? Healthy Food? What's Next?!?!


I would always dance around to this one... Do De Rubba Duck!


So catchy! I loved this song...


These animations were so cool!


Now that I've shared my articles, here's one more website. I recently discovered Jango.com, which is a great resource for music and internet radio. It allows you to get the songs that you like onto a single station, and it lets you skip past the songs that you don't want. :) It's really fun! I'm listening to it now!

On another note, I've been meaning to comment on Susan Boyle for awhile. In a later post!

-TTYL!

Ishmael Beah!

Hey! Sorry for not writing for awhile, things are picking up towards the end of the schoolyear. Anyways...


I'm going to see Ishmael Beah speak tonight! He's the author of the book A Long Way Gone. I've seen him speak once before - he's a really powerful speaker, so I'm looking forward to it!

Also, I'm preparing for a bake sale on Thursday at school... we'll see how that goes. My club is kind of wiped out from all the recent activity, so I've been bombarding them with emails...

:) Well, ttyl!

-Brianna

News. About my life.

Today we "celebrated" Earth Hour, a global cause that was started a few years ago. The main goal was to conserve some energy by turning out lights worldwide for 60 minutes. So tonight, from 8:30 to 9:30, my family participated. We basically spent the time talking with each other on our deck in the backyard, enjoying the fairly warm night. It was great to bond with my family, as most of the time, our schedules are too packed to do anything like this. It also got me thinking - people that were around before electricity/light bulbs must have been much closer to their families, and they must have also been more efficient during the daylight hours. Definitely an awesome opportunity to bond and get thinking. :)

Also, last night, we saw Monsters vs. Aliens. This is a children's movie, but in the theater that we were in, several couples were there, and in the almost empty theater, almost all of the people there were adults. The movie boasts an all-star cast, including Hugh Laurie, Seth Rogen, Rainn Wilson, and Reese Witherspoon. This cast really holds up the cute plot of the movie. I loved watching it. It's a great movie for kids and adults!

It's nice to have a chance to talk about what's been going on in my life for a change. Thanks! See ya!

More thoughts...

Here's some great essays about teenage inauguration attendees - definitely worth reading!

Midterms are over! I did fairly well on all. They were not as bad as I expected, although I still don't understand the necessity of them only in certain classes.

I'm working on making the blog more interesting without clogging it up, so thoughts would be great. I've added a music player, so comment about that... It was surprisingly easier than I'd planned for.

I'm dreading actually having to go to classes tomorrow - even though there were exams, I enjoyed having half days today and yesterday! I definitely enjoy school, but of course with high school comes the typical social awkwardness(although I still feel like I have some good friends), and the high stakes for grades - that's pressure, haha. I do cause some of it, considering the fact that I'm the freshman that's concerned with college.

Also, I finished a very peculiar book review from the New York Times: it chronicled a woman's experience in a mental hospital. The catch was, she feigned being mentally ill to experience firsthand patient conditions, so that she could write about them. Being in these facilities, she relapsed into depression, and truly needed treatment. A similar idea was done by Nellie Bly, the famous journalist, during the Industrial Revolution. Here are the two links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/health/27book.html?ref=health
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bly/madhouse/madhouse.html

Another hot topic: teens and sex. It's being discussed on nytimes.com, which says that despite rumors of teens being wildly promiscuous, the percentage of sexually active teens has gone down. It appears that teens today are more careful about sex, but that ideals behind relationships have changed. There are "hook-ups" more often, where teens are physically intimate without having a long-term relationship. This is where "friends with benefits" falls. Those that are unwilling to commit but are interested in a physical relationship become "friends with benefits" or "hook-up". So, what do I, a real live teen, have to say about all this? Well...

It's clear that sex is on teens' minds; anyone could see that. At my school, teens have been "going out" and having relationships since 5th grade. The "popular" teens constantly switch boyfriends and girlfriends, and by this point, certain students have gone out with almost all of their friends of the opposite sex. What I don't understand is, how does one "go out" without having a car? Your parents have to give you rides, so it's technically not "going out". But that's not the point. As I was saying, teens do think constantly about sex and relationships, and some adults have caught on to this. They attempt to talk to us about this, which is extremely awkward, and they do excercises about this type of thing. My classmates and I were "polled" by our guidance counselors, to discover that we perceived the senior class as wild, party-loving, substance-abusing, non-virgins. In actuality, I know many upperclassmen that I know are not sexually active. Yes, there is a percentage of students in each grade, but for the most part, teens may talk, but do they actually do it? My guess is no.

Well, that's all for now. Ta ta!

Interesting...

Here's two very interesting editorials from the New York Times, one on Chief Justice John Roberts' flubbing of the presidential oath, and the other on what we hope the Obama presidency will mean for America. Check those out, and comment with opinions.

Also, I'm currently reading a book titled Coffee With Buddha. In it, Buddha is fictionally "interviewed" by the author. It provides an insight into the life of Buddha, and the concepts of Buddhism. Buddhism is much more complicated than I'd thought! I'm really enjoying learning about how to let go of things, which would be an excellent skill for me to have. Also, it teaches the basics of meditation. I've tried it, but have been unsuccessful so far. If anyone wants to try to meditate, here's a great link on basic stuff. Again - more complicated than it seems.

I play in my school's pep band, which plays at all the home games for basketball season. It's actually pretty fun, and we all joke around about being band geeks... fun times. Also, a really great thing about my school is that the athletes and cheerleaders don't consider themselves elite. In fact, many of them aren't the "popular people". So, yeah. B-ball games are pretty fantastic, hanging with friends and watching some really talented players. Always a good time!!!

Ah! I am definitely in the mood for some pizza right now, even though I had some last night! Oh well...

Well, I have a very busy weekend, and I have to study for midterms. But I think it'll get done alright. I hope. Wish me luck!
-Brianna