Book Review- Twenty Boy Summer

Sarah Ockler's Twenty Boy Summer brings out all of the emotions inside. It makes you laugh, cry, and it even made me angry at times but I have to admit, I absolutely could not put this book down once I started reading it.

If I had to choose only one word to describe the theme to this book, it would have to be confusion. Not that the book itself is confusing, just that the situations all of the characters are put into are very hard to make any decisions about. A life lesson this theme gave me was that life is hard. It does not matter who you are, how much money you have, or how famous you are. Everyone will always be faced with day- to- day situations where you have to make tough decisions. Some are harder than others and some will affect your life as you know it. You just have to do what you think is the right thing, have faith, and hope for the best.

This book is about three best friends, Anna, Frankie, and Matt. Anna and Matt are in love. Frankie and Matt are brother and sister. Their all three basically joined at the hip until Matt was killed in a horrific car accident. While he was alive, he made Anna promise not to tell her best friend Frankie about them so that he could tell his little sister on their yearly family vacation. But he was not given enough time before the car accident happened. So Anna is left with many, many life alternating decisions to make. Should she brake her promise to Matt and tell Frankie? Or should she keep and major secret from her best friend as their both going threw this ruff time together? What does she do?

A year after the accident, vacation time came around and Frankie's parents invited Anna to go along. Frankie likes the idea but wants to make a game out of it. Since she is still grieving, Anna agrees. They have to talk to at least twenty boys before the vacation time is up.

Read this book set in Zanzibar Bay where Anna will attempt to go along with a little game that Frankie plays. See if Anna is strong enough to keep her secret about Matt from Frankie and a secret about a newly developed crush from Matt.

My American Dream

The future is something my boyfriend, Jacob and I talk about almost every day. We have been together for a little over two years, so our plans have been set and stone for a while. These plans consist of living my American Dream of being successful.

The first leap to success would have to be finishing high school. Shortly after that Jacob and I plan to move. Something we found out in the early time of our relationship is that we are both absolutely in love with Miami, Florida. Therefore, it is only natural that this is where we plan on moving. Of course, neither of us has actually been there. With this in mind, we took the liberty of planning a trip. My senior year is next year, and my parents have been saving for my senior trip since before I was even brought into this world. Since they are both on board with mine and Jacob’s plan, they have agreed to let us take my trip a summer early! This is great for Jacob and me because my parents have also agreed to take Jacob along and even let us choose the place. Miami, here we come!

Prior to moving to this amazing dream place, Jacob and I have also chosen our future careers. Jacob has chosen to become a cardiologist, a lifelong dream of his. Me? I could not decide on just one career so I have decided to become a hair stylist to pay my way through nursing school, where I will go to become a registered nurse.

The cost of living in Miami vs. the cost in Batesville, AR is a huge difference. Research shows that the average grocery cost in Miami is $105 and the cost of food in Batesville is only $96. Although food is a big part of living, we will also need a house. The cost of housing is 45% cheaper in Batesville. This will be difficult but we have both agreed to stick to our jobs so paying for these expenses will not become a problem.

All of these leaps to success will be difficult, but I know Jacob and I can do it. Once we do, we will both be living my life-long American Dream.
 

When bullying is taken too far

Bullying, acting with negative intentions to hurt someone physically or emotionally, is something almost every child has been through at some point in their lives. Some more than others. Some just get bullied by one person by words just one time. Then there is there attacks that need to be taken care of before they occur. For example, in the article entitled, "The Daily Home- When bullying Goes Too Far." This article tells readers about a little twelve-year-old boy who hung himself in his very own room because he was bullied by kids at his school for over a year.
It's natural for littler kids to be bullied or "picked on" for a short time in school just because of the fact that they are, what the bullies would call, "an easy target." This or any other bullying to any extreme should be tolerated, ever. Yes, it's going to happen, but I believe that this should not be tolerated in any way. No matter how little or how severe the attacks are. Bullying should not be tolerated, allowed in any place.

Current Connection- A few things you might want to know if your a coffee drinker.

In a recent article by Veronique Greenwood entitled "Why Bacteria, But Not Humans, Can Live on Caffeine," Greenwood is very descriptive and interesting to coffee drinkers (me). His purpose of writing this article is to clearly answer the question "why bacteria, but not humans, can live on caffeine.
The first point that caught my eye was this, "When the molecule seeps into the brain and interferes with neurotransmitters, blood pressure rises, neutrons work faster, and adrenaline production jumps." It's sort of common since that coffee gives you a boost when your tired.. Exactly why people drink it in the morning, before work and even before school. Except I did not know the next thing that caught my eye. Greenwood provides readers with a diagram, curiosity of Wiki media Commons, that shows the break down of the two carbon and nitrogen rings at the molecule's core. He goes on saying, "Human liver enzymes, which have the task of processing caffeine and other drugs, can get part of the way there. They can remove that Ch3 groups stuck to the rings, just as bacterial enzymes do. But after that, while humans show the caffeine derivatives, the most simple of which is known as Xanthippe, the door, the bacteria hang onto them, chopping down the rings to their component elements and harvesting energy." For all of you non science people out there, Greenwood also provides a more simple sentence, "The specific reason caffeine isn't an energy source for us, thus, is that we don't have the gear to digest derivatives further."
Myself, a big coffee drinker, obviously needs to be looking more into this.

Current Connection- Flying Saucer documents found!

In a recent article by Fox News, "Government report on secret flying saucer program made available." Fox News' purpose of the article was to inform people about the "secret"documents from the 50s on how to build a flying saucer, that have recently been found. Therefore, this article would be an expository essay. To support their reasoning, Fox News pulls various quotes from the document itself.
 "The truth isn't out there ... it's been stored in a warehouse for 56 years," They state in their very first line of the article.
Fox News goes on by saying, "The disc-shaped craft-- which comes complete with an ejector seat and was powered by a "ram jet"-- was designed to reach a top speed of Mach 4 and reach a ceiling of more than 100,000 feet, according to the lengthy document, ... dated 1956." They go straight into detail about the flying sauce, letting people know all of the important details. They even go so into detail, they give the title of the document. ".. which is titled "Project 1794, Final Development Summary Report."
Finally, Fox News goes on by stating a quote from the document that reads, "The efficiency of the airframe at supersonic speed appears good and that of the engine reasonable, so that a long supersonic cruise range is also forecast." This is describing how fast it's supposed to go, adding onto when they earlier stated all the details of how the flying saucer is supposed to look.

Book Review

What would you do if you received tapes of a dead girl explaining how you were part of the reason shes dead? This is exactly what happened to a young boy named Clay Jensen, along with 12 other people that contributed. By Jay Asher, this book is possibly the best book in the world.
This book is very powerful. It just goes to show that you really should watch what you say and do to people, even if it's not a big deal. If you think it would hurt their feelings, just don't say it. It's very simple, actually. Think of it this way, by biting your tongue and not saying it, you could save some one's life. The mean things you say just might push them over the edge.
Jay Asher is an incredible writer. One of the reasons I love this book is that he organizes the story so well. He keeps the events in order but puts a little twist on things so you later find out how everything ties together. Hannah Baker, the narrator and main character of this book just adds sprinkles on the cupcake. When the book starts she is dead but the whole time your reading what is on the tapes and listening to her explain her story, so it's like shes alive the whole time. Asher gets so into it with her character, you begin to feel like you start to know her as a real person. Which bring real emotion when she's explaining how all of these people hurt her in so many different ways.The setting of this book doesn't exactly take place in any certain place. I guess you could think of it as inside Hannah's thoughts. This book relates to me because I'm a teenage girl and the things that she describes some of her "friends" doing, happens to everyone at some point in their lives.
I recommend this book to girls, boys, adults, elderly, teachers, doctors, anyone! Set aside some time because once you get to reading, you won't be able to put it down.

Essay on my duty as an American Citizen

“You are the future. No pressure, but your generation determines how the world is going to be when you all are adults.” This is a lecture my United States History teacher began the class with. Hearing this and his further explanation on this topic made me realize that he’s right. It made me worry that my generation will never accomplish the responsibilities we need to keep our country alive as adults.

Being responsible to my nation includes many, many things you should on a day-to-day basis. I'm going to give only two that everyone, American Citizen or not, should be doing out of respect for the people around them. Being kind and treating people equally as you would want them to treat you is, in my opinion, the most important thing everyone should do every day. Tomas Jefferson, the 3rd president of the United States of America, happens to agree with me. "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their CREATOR, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." Sometime before slavery was abolished, if someone had said that you should treat everyone, men AND women the same, they most likely would have laughed in your face. Women had no rights whatsoever. They were not allowed to vote, own land, and they even had to listen to everything their husband or father told them. If their husband told them to do a chore or cook and they refused, they would either have been beaten, or possibly even killed. "we observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom--symbolizing an end as well as a beginning--signifying renewal as well as change." John F. Kennedy was a very smart man, who is very correct. Unlike all those years ago, today we are free. Men and women have the exact same rights as the other. Women can vote and it's not okay for a man to beat his wife if she chooses not to listen to what he has to say. This is obviously A huge change from how the world used to be, which is good. I agree with John F. Kennedy that this was a positive and necessary change.

Being kind and treating someone how you'd like to be treated can take you a long way. I mean, look how far we've come since slavery.

The second thing that is needed to be a responsible citizen to my nation is having at least an idea on what is going on in the political parts of the world. In the Declaration of the Independence, Thomas Jefferson states that "..it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security." In this quote, he is basically saying that if the government is doing something the people don't agree with, it is our responsibility to solve the problem. Seeing how our government is a democracy and the people of our nation have the right to vote for whomever is running it, it is our responsibility to know enough about each running candidate to be able to vote against what they think would be a bad president, or for the president that would give our nation just what it needs. If we, the people who decide who is going to run our country, has no idea about any of the people running, were obviously in big trouble.

So, everyone, kind or not, should have at least an idea of what is going on in the political region. So that our country can stay alive and healthy!

These things we need to practice. Everyone- young or old, boy or girl. We all need to realize that our responsibilities are what determine the future, our future.