Friday, September 28, 2012

CBL Project Overview


My CBL Project Overview

 In English class, we are working on a CBL project, which is called, Write to Change the World. “I wish I could be pretty, or cute, or more appealing…” CORRECTION!!! You are pretty. You are cute. You are appealing. We want to reverse people thinking they aren’t perfect or pretty. Body image is our topic and it is super important to me and my community. Our Essential Question is "How can we change when people look at a magazine and see a model.  They think they have to look like that model in order to be beautiful?" The issue at hand is that when people look in the mirror they think they are ugly, fat, and all in all not beautiful. In most cases though, this is not the problem. They look at magazines and think in order to be beautiful they have to look like the model on the cover. Many magazine companies edit people so much, that they look like angels and fake, when in reality, they are beautiful without editing.

This issue is important to me because many people don't think they are beautiful. I have been told many times that 9 out of 10 girls think that they are ugly. A lot of the girls in my community look at themselves and say that they are ugly or weird looking. Many girls actually get sick in order to be thin or to be pretty, redo themselves with loads of makeup. Boys however also get sick, by getting sick I mean when they eat, they throw it up or they don’t eat altogether. Many people die from getting sick. Sadly, the only reason that they get sick… is because of this issue. This issue has impacted me because many girls and boys have tried or committed suicide, which is really depressing to parents and/or friends that are close to the victim.

 In this project I hope to accomplish spreading the word to let everyone know that the face on the magazine is not actually how he or she looks. I want to let people know, no matter if you think you are ugly, weird or funny looking, you are beautiful because you are you and you shouldn’t change how you look. I want to tell everyone that those people on the magazine cover are fake. They are edited way too much. You look exactly like them inside. In conclusion, I want everyone to wake up in the morning and say" Wow, look at me. I'm beautiful!"

Thursday, September 27, 2012

55 Word Story





                                                                   Out of Area

“Ring, ring” Uh, oh…”Ring, ring.” Click! I ignored the call for the 3rd time. Why is this person calling me again? Out of area blinked across the bright screen of my phone. “Ring, ring.” Is this person out to get me? I nervously push the answer key. “Hey!” her voice in a mocking tone. “Emily!!!”


Monday, September 10, 2012

Skiing for the First Time

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“Hey guys! Guess what?” I said as I walked into the cafeteria with a huge grin on my face. "TODAY WE LEAVE TO GO SKIING!” we all shouted simultaneously. Of course, this was my first time going skiing so I was ecstatic. Some of my best friends were going. 12 o’clock couldn’t come fast enough. Talk about a slow Wednesday! Finally… 12 o’clock came.

 I rushed outside to the little red pickup where my mom was waiting and we raced home. Allison and Paula came to pick us up and as it turns out Jake G. was going. As we were leaving town, Jake spit out his gum. We all heard a “clink.” “Oh no, what was that?” We all looked at Jake. The gum got stuck to the back of someone’s car! Laughing hysterically through tears, we managed to get out, “The next time we go through a town, can we please get something to drink?” Slurping down an ice cold Pepsi was all I needed to pass the time. Allison and I talked the whole time about what we were going to do when we got to the hotel. Swimming, of course, was first on our list.

Six hours later, we arrived in Rapid City. Allison and I wanted to eat at Fuddruckers, which is an absolutely amazing burger place. Sadly, they got a sad phone call about a loss in the family. Allison and Paula weren’t going to be able to go skiing.  All I could think about at supper was saying goodbye. After supper and about an hour later, we arrived in Deadwood. There, we stayed at a casino type hotel called Cadillac Jack’s, which was the biggest hotel I had seen in a long time. It was about eight at night when we got to the hotel and the small casino town was illuminated with neon lights, trolleys honking their old horns and people racing down the old cobblestone streets. Wow, what a sight. At the hotel in the main lobby, Emily and Devin were there to greet us. Instead of going swimming, I went to bed super early that night so I wouldn’t be tired the next day.

When its vacation, it’s really hard to wake up at 6:30. Well try waking up at 5 am and going to bed at 11pm.  I woke up, energetic, of course. The only hard part, putting on five layers of clothes. Finally, I was ready to leave this hotel and hit the slopes. I rode the gold elevator with my parents to the lobby. We walked outside to say goodbye to Allison and Paula. We all started to cry. They hopped in the car and drove back to O’Neill. As we were getting in our car, I asked my parents how far it was to Terry Peak. They said about 20 minutes. We got to Lead; good only 3 minutes have gone by. “Are we there yet?” I kept pleading. Through turns and crooks in the road to the mountain, it felt like 8 hours even though it was only a half hour. Finally, I could hear the sound of gravel under the tires as we pulled into Terry Peak. We got in line to pay, then the boots, and finally, most importantly, the skis and poles. Since this was my first year after all, I had to get a ski instructor. 10:00 am, not so bad. Then I found out…we could start skiing at 9. 9:05, magic carpet for about an hour. Feeling the icy ground touch your backside isn’t the most comfortable feeling in the world. Waiting for the ski instructor with 2 other people was horrible.  And not because of my friends, either. The ski instructor didn’t get there until 12:00!

The day went on and I went on the green slopes and some of the blue slopes. Emily, who I was skiing with, decided to be funny, and honestly, it was hilarious. She yelled at the people who were running the ski lift on the green slope. She said “New skiers, slow down the ski lift.” Ok, so I guess I’m not too great at this. I got clunked in the head in the splits even when it slowed down! Going down the slope was good, I fell only like 20 times, which looking at it now, looks like I couldn’t do anything when I did it. And yet, whenever I go down the icy path to the lodge, in between the trees, I still fall!

We decided to go down to Cussy with Morrows to get hot chocolate. When we got there, the hot chocolate tasted like steaming chocolate heaven! We went back to the main lodge and it was early enough that we could go back down the triangle, which are 3 slopes that are shaped like a triangle. I fell about 5 times, but on the 4th time, a snowboarder ran over me! I was furious. In my head I rumbled, “ Seriously, I’m short and I have a huge coat on! I’m not that hard to see!” Luckily it was a kid that was 4, so it didn’t hurt terribly bad. Still, I had marks on my back for a week!

As the day started to fly by, not even hot chocolate could warm us up, so it was time to leave. When we got to the hotel, we decided to go swimming and we “accidentally” turned the sauna on high. We got it turned off and went in the semi- warm pool. We went and played hide and go seek in the hotel and we almost got caught. Luckily we got in our room quickly before the maids chased us out of the halls.

We went for another day skiing and I instantly fell in love with skiing. Thinking I would break my leg was an absolutely insane thought. We have gone every year since then. I love going skiing and now all my friends can go. In those two days of skiing, I learned something. Even though you may fall and get scraped, it is one of the most fun things I have ever done.