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

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

Thank you???

This article/editorial from the New York Times is really interesting. I never really considered road courtesy, probably because I don't drive... But it got me thinking about how many nice things get overlooked every day. I'm going to really start thinking about who holds the door for me, who says "Bless you", "Thank you", or "You're welcome", or who compliments/encourages me. I really will be more thankful for all of the people go out of their ways to make my day a little better.

Also, the swine flu outbreak is really interesting to me. I know it's kind of old news, but it's still somewhat relevant. There have been a few cases in the area, and schools have closed, reopened, sent home letters, etc....basically, gone crazy. Every year it's a new epidemic: swine flu, bird flu, MRSA.... The media will continue to frighten the public.

Anyways, I'm doing a candy sale fundraiser at school and so many people have been so helpful to me! It's really empowering.

Well, ttyl!