I love Christmas. It is my favorite holiday, by far. You get to get out of school for two weeks, spend time with friends, and family, and just get to relax from all the pressures that are placed on you from school. Too bad that this year I didn't get to get out of school on December 18 like everyone else, and actually feel like I got out of school because of Christmas vacation. Instead, I was stuck at home with bronchitis. I was looking forward to almost being done with school on Tuesday, December 16. I would finally be done with swimming in three days! I should have known that I wouldn't make it to the end of the week. You see i have had a cough for about a week and it was getting pretty bad, but I made sure that I would stay in school for as long as possible, and I did.

On that Tuesday I felt so terrible right when I woke up. I was coughing had a headache, and I just felt plain tired, but I somehow made myself go to school, because I was so determined to make it through this week. First hour, I felt chipper even though I was sniffling like crazy. I felt really bad for all the people around me, because I knew how annoying my continuous sniffles were. I was feeling okay until I got to sixth hour... gym. Now this week was the last week of the dreaded swimming, so it would be a pain to have to make up any swim days. When I entered the swimming pool I started to cough so much that I thought my lungs were going to collapse. I just wanted to be done so badly. I made it through that day of swimming.

When I dried off everything felt odd. My skin hurt, I felt hot, and I was exhausted. Unfortunately I had to stay at school because my mom was working the Teacher Luncheon and I had to help. I tried so hard not to cough but it wasn't working. The harder I tried not to the harder I coughed. It was a nightmare. Finally, I went home and took my temperature, it was 101.3. I was glad that I could sleep in tomorrow but so upset that i had to miss a day of gym ,because I would have to make it up later on. I went to the doctor the on Wednesday and she told me I would have to miss the rest of the week due to my fever. I was devastated that I would have to miss the last days before Christmas vacation.

Emerson’s argument in “The American Scholar” about American society is very true even in today’s society. One way that Emerson’s idea is still true today is in the way Americans work. “The planter, who is Man sent out into the field to gather food, is seldom cheered by any idea of the true dignity of his ministry.” (Emerson). Today we believe that our occupation is the only job we can do. We don’t see that there is a bigger picture. The bigger picture is that our job is part of a cycle that keeps us living and prospering. There is a farmer, a doctor, and a soldier. The farmer produces food, the doctor makes sure the people are healthy, and the soldier defends the people. If you take one of those careers out of the picture, the people of the country would wither away. If the farmer is taken away the people would starve, take the doctor out the people would die from illness, and lastly take out the solider the people would be killed by foreign countries.

The second reason why Emerson argument is still true is the way we educated our children. We teach our children different subjects, so that they can decide what they will progress in at life. School gives us an oppurtunity to accomplish in a vast majority of fields, and yet when we grow up we only have one job that defines us. In conclusion, Emerson's idea is very common in our world today.

I found the debate about Rwanda to be a very useful tool in understanding the situation in Rwanda and how all major parts contributed to the genocide. My group, Paul Kagame, though played a major part in the genocide was not called on that much, because most of the questions were directed to the countries rather than the groups of people that actually were involved in the fighting part of the genocide. I was upset that I wasn’t able to answer many questions, yet I learned so much from the other groups. I was surprised that so much of the blame went on Belgium for leaving Rwanda in their time of distress. I was surprised that no one really called on the Interahamwe, the Hutu Rebel group, because they did most of the killings along with Rwandan Armed Forces. Instead most of the blame was aimed at the MRND, a Hutu group that supposedly brainwashed the Hutu people into killing the innocent Tutsi people.

I do believe that the MRND did help to get the Hutu people to become enraged, but I believe more that years of racial conflict really caused the genocide, and over years and years of fighting they just snapped and started to go out on a killing spree. The event that caused the thin wire to snap was we Hutu leader Juvenal Hirotayama’s plane was shot down. Most people believe that Paul Kagame was the one who ordered his plane to get shot down, so he could use the opportunity to become a leader of Rwanda, but there is no proof. After the genocide ended however, Paul Kagame did become vice president, later the president of Rwanda. Therefore, all of us are to blame, but some of us contributed to the genocide more than others.

I hope that in the future that we will do debates again. They really cleared things up for me that I didn’t understand, like who is to blame. I really like how all of have opinions that clash with each other. I hoped that we could have come up with a resolution together, because a whole class has more ideas than a group of two or three people. All in all the debate was a great opportunity to get ideas off your chest and see what other people think about them, I believe that we should do debates more often than not.

Saturday October 31, 2009 is Halloween. For Halloween I’m going with Brenna Gabrielson, Sarah Fier, Bekah Hagewood, and Brenna’s cousin whose name I do not know at the moment. I thought I was going with a different group, but I forgot that Brenna asked me first, so I felt bad when I had to tell the other the other that I couldn’t go with them. I felt so terrible, but anyways I still have to figure out a costume. Originally I was going to be Peter Pan, but it is almost impossible to find green tights, a feather cap, and green pants, that actually look like Peter Pan. So Cortney Marschner told me I should be Beyonce. This is almost even harder to find, a black leotard, high heels, and a brown long-haired wig. So I hope I can come up with a costume by tomorrow!

Halloween is my second favorite holiday. My favorite holiday is Christmas, because its fun having all those days off, spending time with friends and family. I also enjoy eating all the food that comes with the holidays. Anyways Halloween is so much fun, I mean who doesn’t like going outside walking for hours, and getting free candy. I love chocolate; it is by far my favorite type of candy. My favorite candy are Milky Way’s and they are always the first to go when I empty my bag-normally a pillowcase- full of candy. I always eat too much candy the night of Halloween and I always feel like I’m going to throw up when the night is done. My legs are always so tired from walking through the neighborhoods on the hard cement surfaces.

I have been a variety of characters for Halloween. I have been Dorothy, a pumpkin, a nurse, a dinosaur, and the guy from the movie Scream. At the time, I didn’t know that it was from Scream I just like the way his mouth was all curvy and such. I am not the most creative person so I usually make my mom or my sister get my costumes together. I always wished I could come up with good ideas for Halloween, I always get jealous of the people that have the super nifty

costumes.
Halloween only comes around once a year, and you really have to enjoy it, because when you get older you look strange when you go trick-or-treating. So what if you look odd, just go out to be with friends and family and just have a good time.

On Friday October 16, 2009 I went to Greenfield village with Heather Coppola, Cortney Marschner, and Olivia Campbell, and I had a great time. First of all, I had to find out what costume I had to wear. I thought I was going to be a cowboy, so I looked all around my house for blue jeans and a flanel shirt. Turned out I had no flanel shirt so I borrowed one of my dads. Now my dad is a taller man, and this shirt made me look so gigantic. I had tucked it in and it looked great. But I felt like npt being a cowboy anymore, so i grabbed a black and red checker jacket and decided to be a lumberjack! It still wasn't complete, my mom drew some mutton chops with eye liner, and then it was complete!

I was very late, and I was rushing to her house in the car. I felt so bad, but at least I was very stylish, in my lumberjack outfit. I got to her house to see all three of the girls standing there in thier lovely costumes. Heather was a can-can girl and she was wearing this really awesome skirt that was full of color. Olivia was a cat, she just wore ears and some black wiskers. Lastly, Cortney was a flapper and she wore this red dress that had tassles, and when she spun they would look like the were flying around. It was a sight to behold. When we were all ready Heather's mom took us in the car to Greenfield Village.

We took a long time to find a parking spot, but we eventually found one. We got out of the car and went to the enterance, but our tickets didn't allow us to go inside until 9:00. So we walked in the gift shop and Heather was following me around to make sure I didn't break anything. It was hard to try to look at something ,because Heather would take it away from me before I had the chance to take a gander at it. It finally reached 9:00 and we enterned the pumpkin lit pathway to see all differnt sites.

The item we recieved was an apple, which is possibly the most random food to get at Greenfield Village, but I took it anyways because I wanted to fill my orange bag. We walked and looked at the pumpkins, I was afraid that maybe Heathers dress would catch on fire from the burning candle inside the pumpkin. I was burning up from my super lumberjack coat so I gave it to Cortney who was supposivly freezing. We walked a recieved candy, which I couldn't wait to eat. Along the way people who were dressed up in costumes, and had these massive staffs would tell you where to go, and there was this one girl who would sing Happy Halloween in the greek opera voice. She couldn't sing well so Heather and I were cracking up, but i felt bad because she was right behind us, but she was just not the best singer.

The walked finally ended and we had to leave. I was so sad to leave such a great time with friends. I will always remember that night full of laughs and fun.

Will America be Passed?

China will surpass America economically, if America doesn’t come up with new inventions and ideas. America needs to come up with new inventions that the world will want such as an alternative to oil or a new car that uses less energy. With these new inventions and the world buying our products we will realize that these new inventions are what got us here in the first place. This drive for being on top will come back like it did in the 1940s, and will make sure that China will not surpass our economy.

Obama and the Peace Prize.

I was surprised to hear that Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. I could not believe that our president, who has been in power for nine months, received this prestigious award. I learned that you received 1.4 million dollars if you win this award, and that the man, Alfred Nobel, was inventor and created dynamite. He made dynamite so that miners would have an easier time clearing out land. When he found out that people were using his invention as a weapon he was furious. He wrote in his will that when he dies that his fortune would go to creating a foundation that would award people for their good deeds.



I was glad to hear that he won this award but also shocked, because he hasn’t really done any life changing events that would cause him to get the award. Yes, he did speak at the United Nations about Iran and how we should live without nuclear weapons, but he didn’t do anything about it just suggested the idea. Now if he created a treaty with the rest of world declaring that nuclear weapons were against the law against the whole world, then i would be thinking that he deserved it very much. All he did was speak about how the world needed to get rid of nuclear weapons, which is a very big step, but it just isn't enough to get the 1.4 million dollar Nobel Peace Prize. I hope that in the future Barack Obama does more than just tell the world that we need to get rid of nuclear weapons. I hope Barack can rightfully earn his Noble Peace Prize.

I am very happy that he got the prize I just wish that he did more than just speak, i wish he did an action to deserve the award.

I was so shocked to hear that I was nominated for Homecoming court. It was the most random moment of my life. I was in Mrs. Bergeski’s class -3rd hour- and we were listening to the ten minute annoucments and they were talking about homecoming court. I heard the name Matthew Mar….ar…arldo. Of course they messed up my name, and when I finally figured out they were talking about me my mouth dropped. Everyone turned around to look at me, and I just started to laugh. I have no idea who nominated me, and I really want to know. I hope I win, I don’t know what they do, but it is probally something awesome.

I went over to Heather Coppola’s this past weekend, with Heather, Paige, and I, and it was a blast. First, we went to the movies. We saw Fame. It was a really depressing movie. I had a meet Tuesday and it was really funny. It was raining and we were at Cass Benton. The ground was muddy and we knew that it was going to be bad news. We went for a warm up jog and it was raining so hard. About five mintues into the warmup we heard thunder. All of the cross country team cheered because this meant we could go home. But it was short lived because we still had to run. It didn't thunder or lightning again so we had to run. It crushed my spirit and i knew that i was going to do terrible, and i did. I got to the line and i was standing in mud. The gun went off and i started to run... but i slipped. Thankfully i just got my hand and leg and missed hitting my face. I got up and started to run, everyone was laughing because it was so ridculous. I was getting done with the first mile and there was a lot of Novi kids in front of me. We rounded a sharp turn and one slipped. This caused a chain reaction of them to all fall. I was fortuante to be able to get around them. I finished the race with the time in the 20s but i was glad that i didn't break, sprain, or strain any part of my body on that rainy, muddy day.

Sophomores, Juniors, Seniors, Oh My!

"Good morning sleepyhead, it's time for school." Said my mother at 6:20 AM, in the morning. "Just five more minutes.' The classic phrase i mumbled to my mother. I crawled from my bed to the bathroom where the lights blinded me so badly, I had to close my eyes and flail my arms around to find where I was going. I freshened up and grabbed some very stylish clothes that I picked out from the night before. It took me a long time to put clothes on because, I would put on my shirt then lie on the ground to rest, as if i had just run six miles and needed a break. I ate a tasty breakfast and grabbed my bag, the i realized- Oh my gosh I'm going to high school, and my life is never going to be the same!
I was so nervous in the maroon Flex on the way to Stevenson High School that it made me have to go to the bathroom really badly. So many random questions popped into my head like popcorn popping in the microwave. Where's my first class? Are my teachers going to be nice? Is my breath fresh? These were just some of the many questions that i came up with on that never ending drive to school.

I kept hoping that maybe the school burnt down and that I could go home, and go back to sleep in my warm cozy bed... But no it was there, just sitting like a giant English castle in the Middle Ages. " Time to get out pumpkin." My mother said in her comforting voice. "Oh yeah." I replied knowing that from this point on, my life was going to be completely different in ways i did not know. I got out of the car, crossed the street, and headed straight towords those blue, steel, and scary doors- and pulled them open!
Ahhhhh it's high school noooo! I screamed inside. The first thing i saw was Kelly Glynn. I ran up to her, I was so relived to see someone i knew.
" Wow i can't believe we're in high school."
" Oh my gosh, I know it's so weird."

We exchanged very little words since we knew we had to get to class, and we didn't want to get lost on the first day of school. I mean how embarrassing would it be wandering the halls, looking like a little child trying to find its mother in a crowded shopping mall. My locker was all the down B hall right next to Mr. Fielder's class, and according to every person B hall is the most crowded hall. At my locker, i devised up a plan to navigate to my classes. I felt like a spy on a secret mission coming up with some crazy plan on how to get the prized jewel, and like i was under a time restriction- which i was.

I walked to my first class, biology and somehow, without my knowing, the nervousness had lifted away like a feather in the wind. I felt so empowered just because i was in high school. I felt like nothing could touch me, like i was invincible. I was confident when i sat down next to Courtney Marschner and from that point on i knew, this is going to be a piece of cake.

A is for ambitious. I am ambitious for most things. I love to get things perfect, like homework, running stride, and most academic activities. I hate when I do bad on homework or a project.


B is bananas. I love bananas because they are my favorite fruit. They are full of potassium, and they are very sweet. They are the best with ice cream and hot fudge.


C is for cross country, which is my favorite sport ever. I am fairly good at running i am close to getting my varsity letter which for a freshman is 18:40 and i am at 18:59

D is for dancing. Dancing is my favorite cardiovascular activity. It is so much fun and it allows me to get out my energy creatively. Also, I am very good at it if I do say so myself.

E is for energetic. I am very energetic and that’s why I run. I am very hyper when it comes to certain things like cookies, cake, running, and playing games.

F is funny. I like to make people laugh, but I don’t like hurting people’s feelings when it comes to jokes. I like it when people laugh because it makes me feel good about myself.

G is for games. I love to play games. It doesn’t matter if it’s tag or monopoly I am always up for a game. My favorite board game is Pictionary. I don’t like card games though, because they bore me.

H is for happy. If you can’t see I always am happy. I am always laughing and smiling, which is good because laughing is good for you heart and helps you live longer.

I am imaginative. I am a very spur of the moment kind of person. I like to just create things randomly and say really weird words that no one ever uses like shan’t and shall.

J is for jumpy. I jump at pretty much anything loud or scary. I also scream at the same time as I jump.

K is kites. I wish I could fly kites, but that is one talent I do not have. Also it’s not really windy in


Livonia so flying kites is a hard activity to perform here.

L is for listener. I am a very good listener. I really listen to a person and can offer advice.

M is for Milky Ways. They are by far my favorite candy, i especially like the caramel.

N is for Neptune. I like how the Romans have different gods i Neptune is my favorite. He is the god of the sea.

O is for outgoing. I do believe i am quite outgoing. I like to be the center attention unless it is bad attention like getting in trouble.

P is for pizza. Pizza is by far my favorite food. My favorite toppings are banana peppers and pepperoni. I hate mushrooms they make me want to puke.

Q is for Quaker oats is my favorite brand of oatmeal. I like oatmeal with raisins and whip cream.

R is for running. Running is so much fun. It allows you to feel free, and it is so refreshing.

S is for sleeping. Sleeping is my favorite past time. It is so nice to get relaxed and just lie down and fall into a deep slumber.

T is for television. T.V. is a useful tool for everything. The news, entertainment, and shows that are informative such as commercials that try to sell you items.

U is for understanding. I understand not only homework, but i also understand people in difficult situations and can relate to them and give input.

V is for violin. I wish i knew how to play the violin, because it is such a interesting sounding instrument.


W is for Washington D.C. I want to visit the capital before die, because everyone should visit their country's capital at least once to learn about how the capital originated.

X is for x-rays. I find them to be so fascinating. I think it's really neat how you can see inside the body.

Y is for yo-yos. Yo Yos are very entertaining when you have nothing to do. It would be excellent to be able to do awesome tricks like walking the dog , which i cannot perform.

Z is for zebras. Zebras are my favorite animal. It's so cool how all zebras have different stripes even though it is so hard to tell the difference between two zebras.

School so far is okay. We got a fair amount of homework and it is quite reasonable. I really like my first two classes which are Biology with Mrs. Faulk and French 1 with Mrs. Ruiz. I really enjoy these classes mostly because the kids in the are very fun and nice. My favorite teacher is Mrs. Ruiz because she is very patient when we mess up words and she is very energetic, so she teaches with enthusiasm.
My least favorite class is geometry, mainly because, by the end of the day I am exhausted so it’s hard for me to concentrate. But the homework in class is not a lot which in a sense is good especially for a math class. Global Ed. is okay. It is definitely a lot of work and mental focus. So it is these classes that cause me to have headaches at the end of a long day.
The school is very crowded. The first couple of days I would start getting dizzy when I was in the halls getting to class to since I came from a school of only 850 students over 2,400 people in one building is very overwhelming. But now I have adjusted to the stuffy halls and tight walking space. I have met new people and I really have a blast talking with them because they are so amusing.
Cross Country is so hard. I am so tired and then I have to go and run about five to eight miles a day! I am pretty good at the meets, except I run terrible on after school meets, and brilliantly on weekend meets which are normally on Saturday mornings. The kids on the team are really supportive and are always cheering people on and giving high fives at the end of practices or races.