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!

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!

World Water Day

And one other interesting vid. Maybe this will make you think twice about eating that burger:

Quite an amusing video...

They're sorry.

While I'm Posting...

Enjoy this heartbreaking video from the Courage Campaign on the effects of Proposition 8. Think about it. And enjoy the awesome song along the way.

Even more thoughts...

As you can see, my post titles are becoming less and less creative - oh well, at least they're still coming. This is the longest that I've ever been blogging on one site!

I have very little homework, because it's the first day back from midterms. So nice not to have to work!

The weather today was supposed to be horrendous, but it turned out to be not so bad. Of course, my school district was the only one that was still open (as usual), but I got a lot out of being in school. I complained about it a lot, but then I realized that in the end, what's one day in a lifetime? Anyways, school is going great. I have a couple of really close awesome friends, and all of my teachers are great this year! :)

Hey, by the way, check out this video embodying the entire Obama campaign. It's beautiful:




or what about this? Ugh, Bush...




Why do so many ignorant people wink? Bush, Palin, cough cough.

I have a great video that I made with all of the best debate moments from Palin... I'll try to upload it...

So yes, today's theme was politics, obviously. Well, I hope you've enjoyed it!

See ya! - Brianna