The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

This time of year sure is the most wonderfel time of the year. Christmas is personally my favorite holiday. Is it because I’m a selfish brat who loves getting stuff? No, I would never ever think that way. My favorite part of the holiday is shopping. When I go to the store in search of the perfect present it always makes me feel excited and happy. What makes it even better is when I actually found that perfect present and the person I gave it to lights up when they open it. It makes me feel good to know that all that searching paid off. Actually here are so many things I truly love about Christmas.

I love driving by all the houses and staring at the brightly colored lights and decorations. I love how on t.v. there is always a Christmas movie playing. I love Christmas movies. Although I hate to admit it I love the snow. I love how people are always so happy. I love how excited I still get on Christmas Eve. I love how Christmas smells, which at my house is cinnamon and pine tree. I love staring at the Christmas tree. I love staring out my window at all the snow, and admiring how picture perfect pretty it looks. I love taking pictures of the picture perfect snow outside my window. I love Christmas music. I love wrapping presents for my cousins and aunts and uncles. I love decorating the tree. I love making snow men. I love getting Christmas cards. I love sitting by the fire at my grandma’s Christmas party. The last thing I am going to bore you with on my long list of things I love about Christmas is that I love how whenever I think about Christmas I smile.
I would like to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Merry Christmas!
Feliz Navidad!
gëzuar krishtlindjet!
vrolijk kerstfeest!
Joyeux Noël!
frohe Weihnachten!
Buon Natale!
nollaig shona!

The Rwandan genocide debate

Yesterday we had a debate on the Rwandan genocide. We debated back and forth on who to blame and who did what. We mainly tried to get the blame off ourselves and onto another group. I am in the Ugandan group. Uganda, if we were going to pick sides, I would say we were on the Tutsi’s side. Uganda helped the Tutsi’s during the genocide by giving them a safe place to hide and help to again be equal with the Hutus. Some groups think that we were harboring terrorists, but we believe that we were simply making the fight fair by arming and giving the RPF a base. As a group we don’t feel we did anything wrong.


I personally think that everyone at the debate should all be partially blamed for different things in the genocide. Each group could have done more to stop it or more to try to prevent it in the first place. I hope that all the groups will be able to admit this because they all know that they did something. If you did not somehow participate in the genocide, then your group wouldn’t be involved in this debate, or as it seemed at the time, the blame game.

A responce to Emerson's "Man Thinking"

Emerson’s argument in “the American scholar” about American society is still true today.

One reason Emerson’s argument is still true today is that most to all Americans have one job. This job is one that they chose and one that they like. It is one they take pride in doing. They have one job and therefore one main skill. This main skill varies by the job. My dad, in example, is an engineer and the skills he needs are math and science. He doesn’t need to know history, or English. All those things in his mind are lost. When people lose their jobs, it can be difficult to find a new one because you only have one set of skills and one knowledge of one job, so it can be hard to get another job. We should be taught to know more than one set of skills, so this won’t happen to us.

I think that it is a good thing that we are taught different subjects in school. Although we may not like a subject or not do well in it, the skills and knowledge you learned from it may come in handy some day. In some countries, when a child in school has picked out a profession, that is the only thing that child learns about. Say he/she wants to wants to be a computer technician, that person would only be taught things you need to know to become a computer technician. Even though they would become very good at that specific job, it wouldn’t help if they need to find a new job

Halloween story

Halloween is a holiday that at my house is not our favorite, but we try to make the best of it. I am not a huge a fan of Halloween one, because its always cold, two, it sometimes falls on week day and we have school the next day so you can only stay out until like10:00, and three, me and strobe lights don’t mix well together.


Once when I was 8years old I went trick or treating with my sister and brother and parents, like it always used to be, and everything was going fine. So, I went up to a house, like I had done with the houses before that one, and once I was almost up there, I saw a flickering light. It was the first time I had ever seen a strobe light, so I was pretty amazed with it. Imagine this, there is a little girl dressed like Dorothy from the wizard of oz standing on your front lawn staring at your strobe light like it’s the ultimate Barbie dream house complete with all the dolls and an array of furniture and cars. This is what it probably looked like to everyone who saw me, including the owners of the house. After a few seconds, I came out of my daze and back to reality. The current reality that I was walking up to a house, saying trick or treat, getting candy, and running back to my mom to do it again. As I started to get distracted be the flashing light, I started to feel dizzy and tripped over my foot and landed face first in the grass. That was the first time I realized that me and strobe lights don’t go together very well. So I looked away from the light and continued on. I reached the door and just as I was about to walk away, someone jumped out of the bush wearing a scream mask. I screamed and was still with fright for a second. Then I started to run, but I was still blinded by the strobe light, so on my run back, I tripped off the porch into the bushes and landed on the guy who had scared me. I was once again very scared, so I got up and ran to my mom, who hadn’t seen any of it. She was too busy watching my sister go up to the house next door.



Since then I have never been friendly with strobe lights. Every time there is a strobe light on, something painful is bound to happen to me.

An Ancient History of Halloween

"Halloween dates all the way back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain 2,000 years ago in what is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and Northern France. They celebrated New Year in November on the 1st. it marked the end of summer and harvesting and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with death. Celts believed that on the night before the New Year, the boundary between the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. They caused trouble and damaged crops, Celts also thought that the presence of the spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. The people depended on the spirit world for these predictions; they were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.

To celebrate the event, they would build bonfires and gather around them. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, mainly consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other their fortunes.

By 43 A.D., Romans had conquered the most of the Celtic territory. For over four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two of the roman festivals were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain. The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans remembered the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is sometimes done today on Halloween.

By the 800s, the influence of the Christians had spread into the Celtic’s lands. In the 7th century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 as All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead, with a church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in 1000 A.D., the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas."

So, I was watching the history channel, like I always do, and I saw this little advertizement in the bottom right hand corner that said to go to history.com to watch history about halloween. I got the idea to watch it, take notes, and make it my blog. To watch it yourself click here or here.

World News

A recent news story that I found interesting was Hillary Clinton’s talk at a Russian college. Earlier this week, she met and talked with the president about arms control, Afghanistan, and Iran and its nuclear weapons. That resulted in nothing, the president agreed to nothing. This conclusion makes me ask why. I want to know a reason why Russia doesn’t care about terrorism, or is it that they just don’t care for the United States. I agree with Hillary in thinking that it is because they sill have resentment toward the U.S. because of the cold war. This is bad sportsmanship in my mind. Forgive and forget is what I think they should have done. If it is the other way around and they really don’t care about the terrorists, then they need to wake up, because they don’t just have one target, the whole world is there target.

So, obviously not liking this, Hillary gave a speech to next generation Russians, college kids. She talked to them about their country’s grudge against the U.S. and how we should get over it, let the past be the past and move on to the future. I think that this is a good idea. If only we could all get along, but that is really not an option, since the human race is violent by nature. I hope that these young people can learn to do the right thing, which is to stick up for what they believe in, if they don’t hold grudges, and stick up for weapon control if you believe in weapon control.

I think that terrorism is a huge issue; I also think that if all the countries who want to bring it down ban together we can stop it. We could put an end to some people’s constant fear that an attack will happen near them or to someone near them or that they will somehow create nuclear weapons and become even more dangerous. If we put an end to all threats, maybe we can start anew, all be allies and get along, just like I have always wanted. Hillary also thinks that it is wrong or Russia to turn us down because of a past grudge toward the United States.

So, after reading this article, I still have a question that is unanswered. I would like to know if terrorists are at all threatening to Russia and it they are, why not try to put a stop to them?

Four hundred words about nothing, anything, and everything

After school last Friday, I was in deep thought on what to write four hundred words about. At first I decided on writing about dance. At the moment, it sounded like a good topic, but once I actually started writing about it I realized that I already had too much written about myself on my blog, even though the blog is supposed to be mine and about me, it just seemed like I spent too much time writing about me, also, I thought, who cares?, because really who does care how long I have been doing ballet or what grade of cecchetti I’m in?

My next idea was to write about my family. After about five minutes, I realized that there is really no way I could squeeze four hundred words out of I have parents, a sister, a brother, and a dog. I decided that that idea was not a good one. If you are going to write something, you want it to be worth reading, and so far, I have not come up with that read-worthy idea. So again, I thought about what I should write about.

Then, I thought I had it, the golden idea, the read-worthy one, it was about summer. I thought long and hard then about what I did over the summer and came up with practically nothing. So, for the third consecutive time, it was back to the drawing board.

My next idea was not one that I was very proud of, but it was an idea. I was going to write about my favorite subject in school, history. I would write about how me and my love for history go back to when I was about four years old. I thought about how to write this in a way that wouldn’t put people to sleep, but that was not an option. Anyway I would have written that would have been exceedingly boring to practically anyone who doesn’t love learning about history, or me. Once again I brought up to myself the fact that nobody really cares. Ugh, I thought. I was out of ideas.

For the next few days, I would be in almost constant thought on what to write four hundred words about. It was pain-staking, until I finally came up with it, the real winner, the one you have just read. I wrote about writing the four hundred word page.

A Morning to Rember

The first day of school is either a day you look forward to, or a day you dread. For me it has always started fine, and ended with excitement of what the new school year will bring. The night before, I picked out my clothes and laid them on my bed, well actually I picked out my clothes the month before. My bag was packed with supplies and I was ready for a new experience.

Being the easily excitable person I am, when I got up in the morning I was filled with excitement and happiness. I could barely contain myself. It was almost like Christmas, but with a hint of nervousness. I just wanted to get to school, open my locker, and meet my teachers. Ever since I was in 3rd grade I had dreamed of high school being this glamorous place with polite people and room in the hallways to walk. Boy was I wrong.

As I was in the car driving up to the school I could already see lots of people going in. I started having second thoughts about my theory of how high school went. Alright, I thought, maybe there are a little more people than I expected, but probably not as many as they said there would be at orientation. Well, as I walked into the school, my thought was immediately proven wrong. I felt short and out of place with all these big, older people I saw. It was intimidating. It felt like I was an alien in a world of humans. I wanted to go close my eyes and when I opened them it would be summer and I would be sleeping.

When I went to my locker the stress started to pile on. First, I hadn’t set a time to go to my locker and I didn’t know when I would have time. Second, there was no bathroom break and I didn’t know if I would have time between classes. I was worried about everything, then I heard someone say my name and I turned around. It was Morgan. Good, I thought, someone to talk to.

“So, this is your locker.” She said.

“Yup”, I replied.

“Where’s yours?” I asked.

“A hall.” Said Morgan.

“Hey, wanna sit together at lunch?” I casually asked.

“Yeah” she said.

The first bell rang; I jumped and asked what it was. She said it meant we had to get to class, I thought it was the drill bell. Morgan and I said goodbye after deciding to meet at my locker before lunch.

As I started walking to my class I realized that my second and third high school theories were proven wrong. People weren’t polite, they pushed you and told you to get out of the way and stepped on your toes. There was also no room to walk in the halls. It was a traffic jam all the way to my class. I heard another bell go off and started to panic. Oh, no I’m late!, I thought. I finally got to class, then the third bell rang. I wasn’t late. I sat in my seat and class began.

Getting to know Ashley a..b..c's

A: My name is Ashley. I like animals, all types and all sizes. I enjoy eating apples. I like granny smith apples when I’m in the mood for something sour, and red delicious apples when I’m in the mood for something sweet, but my favorite kind of apple has to be caramel apples with sprinkles.

B: I like books, mostly all types of books. Historical books, biographies, fiction, non-fiction, fantasy, I like them all. I also like ballet. I have been doing ballet for 12years this year. It is slow, but not physical; I am not a very physical person, so you can see why I like non-physical sports, if you call it a sport.

C: Cookies are delicious, especially when they are fresh out of the oven or not baked. My favorite kind of cookie is chocolate chip. I like when they are fresh out of the oven and the whole cookie is gooey and melt-y and delicious. Another yummy food that I like is chocolate. I like any type, but my favorite is Godiva milk chocolate. I enjoy coloring. I know some people might say that I’m too old for coloring, but I like it anyways, even though I’m not very good at it.

D: I like dancing. I have a bad habit of dancing whenever I’m eating and standing. I just have to; there is no way to stop it. I also like Disney. I love everything Disney, especially Disney movies.

E: I hate eggs! I hate when they are being fried and the smell they give off. It’s horrible. It makes me want to gag. I do like elephants.

F: I like fairy tales. Fantasy stories are a good kind of story to escape into, become part of that story. I like to imagine I am somewhere else, I guess you could say I have a big imagination.

G: Games are fun, especially board games. I like mostly all board games you can think of, but my favorite would have to be Life.

H: I love history! I love learning about history, talking about history, reading about history, watching other people talk about history, researching history, and inform others who don’t know about it. History has always been my passion, ever since I was 4 years old. It is the funnest thing in the world to me.

I: I like ice cream, it is very yummy and delicious. My favorite kind is chocolate, if it's soft serve. If it's hard serve, i like chocolate chip.

J: Juice is a very tasty and sweet drink. I like grape juice, apple juice, and sometimes cranberry juice.

K: Keri is my best friend's name. We have been best friends for about 6years. She doesn't go to the same school as me anymore, but we will still stay best friends no matter what.

L: Lemons are sour, but when you mix them with sugar and water, you get lemonade! I like lemonade in the summer when it's hot out and the lemonade has been in the fridge for hours and when you drink it you are automatically cooled down.

M: Movies are fun to watch. I like many movies, I am not really a fan of scary movies though, I like happy endings that don't involve someone getting killed along the way.

N: I like new things. Change doesn't always come easy, but once i get used to it I end up likeing it.

O: Octopus is an animal. Well, actually I think it's a fish. I like all fish, too. Not to eat, because I hate eating fish, or even watching other people fish.

P: I like pasta. Italian food is one of my favorite types of food. I like pasta with marinara sauce, not meat sauce.

Q: I don't like eating quail. It's a bird, so it's kind of weird knowing that you are eating something that could fly.

R: I sometimes enjoy running. I ran track in 7th and 8th grade and I guess I enjoyed it. I'm not sure yet if I will do it this year.

S: Shopping is one of my favorite activities. I could shop for days, if i had the money, but i don't, so i just shop until i run out.

T: I like the Titanic. Not how it sank and people died, but learning about it. It was the first thing that got me into loving history. Turtles are my favorite animal.

U: Umbrellas are very useful. They sheild you from the rain, or sun. I like them.

V: Taking vacations is one of my favorite things to do. I like traveling and seeing other parts of this planet besides Livonia.

W: I like wedding cake. I think it is the best kind of cake out there. The people who make it spend so much time making it and it shows when you taste how good it is.

X: Playing the xylophone for fun can is something I like to do when I’m bored and come upon it in my basement.

Y: I enjoy eating yogurt. I like that Trix triple cherry kind, but my favorite is frozen yogurt. I like the chocolate kind of that.

Z: I like the zoo. I like watching animal in their semi-habitat. If it was their actual habitat, there wouldn't be cages surrounding them.

New Experience = More getting used to than i expected

High school is really different place than from where I’m used to. I think that for practically all of my first day I was in shock from all the changes. The first thing that fully put me in a daze was all the people. When they told us that there were 2,000 kids here, they weren’t lying. Ever since that part of the day, I felt like I was in a dream. I seemed to be floating, not walking, and when someone would bump into me I would go back into reality for a second. During the few brief moments of reality I had, I felt like I wanted to cry, go home, and never come back to this strange place we call a school.

Well, since then, I’ve gotten more used to the idea of high school not being what I had expected before it started. It’s sort of embarrassing to look back on that day now and how I told everyone who asked how the first day of high school was I don’t know. Now when someone asks me how it is I say its okay, it’s really different. People tell me that I’ll get used to it. I sure hope I will.

Since up until now, everything has been negative, I would like to say something positive. I like that you can wear any clothes you want, no uniforms. I also like that all the teachers are nice and willing to help if I need it.

Okay, now back to the negative. I don’t like getting up at 6:00 every morning. I used to get up about 40 minutes later than that last year. I also don’t like that my classes are far apart from each other.

To put my experience into a phrase: so far, so good.