A Nice Day...

So, today was quite nice. I spent the majority of it relaxing, practicing bassoon, and enjoying my free time... Not a bad life! I updated my profiles on zinch.com, cappex.com, and fastweb.com, so that my scholarship chances are greatened. :)

In my internet adventures, I've discovered amazing stop-motion videos by someone who calls him/herself "PES". I really enjoy them, though! Here's my favorite, "Western Spaghetti".


Cool, isn't it?

Next order of business, I'm just learning of this case out of the Mohawk Valley (relatively close to me). A lawsuit's being filed from the NYCLU on behalf of an openly gay 14 year old boy. Being openly gay, he was subjected to years of verbal and physical harassment, according to the lawsuit. Apparently, administration did nothing to prevent/deal with this. Now they're being sued because of it. I think that the boy and his parents are doing the right thing. Comments under the news article suggest that thousands of lawsuits could be filed like this... my response is, "Why not file them? We need more attention to be drawn to bullying and harassment in schools." As a student, I see firsthand the effects of bullying. Students that are bullied usually undergo years of harassment that is uncalled for. Check out this story here and here.

I'm considering writing reflections on some big summer events for me; when I do, they'll go right here!

The schoolyear is approaching fast. I'm happy to say that I'm looking forward to it. Clubs are meeting early so we can discuss the upcoming year, and I'm actually getting psyched for these plans!

Speaking of school, I'd love to discuss a recent news story. In New York, low-income families were given an extra $200 per-child for "school supplies". If I understand this correctly, a millionaire decided that he would contribute to this because "as a child, he was poor, and he always remembered the money he got for school supplies". That's all well and good, but this was a truly disastrous plan in execution. Most of the people receiving the money had no idea what it was for until after the money was spent on things other than school supplies. And for those that did know, I'm sure that many of them put the money towards "more important things". Their children will still come to school complaining that they can't afford notebooks and pencils. How do I know? These children are my classmates. I watched my single mom drop over $100 on my brother's school supplies alone, and does she get welfare money? No. She pays taxes that go towards ineffective programs like this. I apologize for ranting like this, it just seems a bit unfair. Everyone's suffering, Paterson.

Well, that's all for now. I'll check in soon!

Apology, and Update

First of all, the delay in my blogging is inexcusable. I do apologize for not including any posts since over one month ago! I should have kept it up to date. Won't let it happen again. :)

So, now the updates.

I've been using this new site called Polyvore and I really love it. It's so much fun. Basically, if you can imagine clipping photos out of magazines and making collages with them, that's what you're doing. It's a really good time! I'm so addicted but I love it. Here's two examples of my work:

Untitled by lettert on Polyvore.com

Vintage by lettert featuring Alexander McQueen shoes

Also, I found this really interesting: Joshua Bell, world-renowned violinist, played for an hour as a street musician at L'Enfant Plaza subway stop in Washington D.C., and he went unnoticed by so many! I was shocked to see this. It made me wonder, "Would I stop to listen, even if I didn't know who he was?". Check it out here.

If you enjoyed the photos from my previous posts, be sure to my photography out on Flickr.com! View them here.

I just finished the book "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Piccoult, and I loved it! It was such a sad book, but it was really touching, too. I'm trying to decide whether the movie would be better or worse.

My Sister's Keeper from Red Carpet on Vimeo.

Check out this cute editorial on water fountains across the U.S. Artists tallied who went to each fountain during a certain amount of time and sketched the fountains. Makes me want to do the same thing! If I do, then I'll be sure to post it!

I think that this contest would be interesting to enter. Write a story of 600 words and start it with this sentence: "The nurse left work at five o'clock."... How exciting! The possibilities are endless.

My summer's been pretty exciting. I'm really enjoying how laid back everything is, I'm looking forward to an upcoming vacation and school. :D So far, I've already survived summer school in Health class, so I can get ahead and not take it during the school year. The summer weather has been somewhat iffy, with lots of rain. The past few days have been warm, but it just rained again. Who's complaining, though? I've ridden my bike often and spent time outside, some time tye dying, and we've already gone to Boston/Hampton Beach and Sylvan Beach. Fun trips!

Well, that's all for now. My goal is to write a bit more frequently now. Let's see if I can keep it up! Ta ta for now!

Happy Fourth of July!

Hey, everyone! Happy Independence Day!

We're not really doing much today, just hanging out at home. Sometimes it's really nice just to chill out...

Well, I'm working on making an alternative paper and a website with a friend. I was over at his house yesterday. We're making some progress, slowly but surely. It's a lot more work than we thought, but I'll keep you posted as soon as the website's up and running. We're deciding on topics, length, how often it'll be updated, whether or not it'll be school affiliated, etc. It'll be hard to make this work

It's actually really nice here. We don't have thunder rolling through, for once! The sky's nice and blue, with cotton-ball clouds, my favorite weather! It could be a little warmer, but I'm not complaining.

Isn't this cool? I'm always interested in hairstyles and stuff, so I thought that the New York Times did a nice job with the comparisons between first ladies.

This was a pretty interesting article. I was so shocked to learn that it's so easy to graduate in Louisiana! That's not the real solution to their problem with education.

I'm planning a trip to Boston and Hampton Beach, NH, so I'm pretty excited! That should be fun......

I have a lot of work to do on that AP World summer assignment - I'd better get to work on that soon! I have to write some articles for the alternative paper, too. I'll be busy, but I'll check in with you all soon! :)

Enjoy this cute Fourth of July video!

I've Missed You!

I apologize for being away! Final exams descended upon me in June, and now I'm free (kind of). I still have a summer assignment to do, and I'm taking Health as a summer class instead of the mandatory elective next year. So I go to summer school every weekday. The good news is that I've met some really nice people from this!

The weather's been mostly thunder-ish for the past few days, unfortunately. I do love lightning, but the dark clouds that are always looming make me miss the sun!

Let's see, what's happened in the last month or so:

• I've received an A in all classes and on my finals!
• I'm reading some awesome books, including Persepolis, which is really good.
• I've been chillin and not doing to much, but I will be working on an "alternative paper" with a friend. I'll give the website link as soon as I have it! Also, I'm going to be in a concert, commissioning a new musical piece! That's pretty exciting, too.

Ooh. It looks like a storm's coming right now, as I type! Excitement.

I've also been into some photography lately. Here's some photos, and a link to more here.






















Here's a really serious article about a teen who was "bullied to death". It's so awful that things like this even happen. I wish that adults who saw this happening would do more about it.

This is an amazing story of Daivd Ashby, someone my age, who's walking along the east coast from Orlando, Florida to Washington, D.C. all by foot! He's trying to raise awareness and money for homelessness, and I think it's a wonderful cause! Check it out!

I contribute to mylife24-7.org often as well. I'm a student ambassador for them, and I really love their message. Go to the site and take a look around!

Recently, I joined a few college/scholarship search sites that I really love: zinch.com, fastweb.com, and cappex.com. All three have helped me find really good scholarships and contests, along with schools that I may be interested in. Some are really fun to use, and not that different from social networking sites!

See you soon!

-Brianna

Happy May!

Well, students have basically made it through the school year, and some of them are coasting through their last months of high school! Whew! This year went pretty fast, but I sure am looking forward to summer!

I'm having a very busy week, but I'm enjoying every minute of it! I have so many wonderful people supporting me!

Anyways, actress Mia Farrow is on a 21 day hunger strike for Darfuri conflict awareness. I'm unsure what to think about it. On one hand, it's wonderful that she wants to bring awareness to the people suffering in Darfur. On the other hand, some people are saying that she has used the hunger strike as a way to gain attention. I really respect her for doing this though, as long as its for the right reasons. She seems extremely dedicated and passionate about her cause, so my attitude is: good for her.

She's blogging her experiences, so here's her videos below: