Madelyn / Life As We Knew It
Chloe / The Manny
Hannah / The Fire Within
Ashley / Leaping Beauty
Kyra / Green Glass Sea
Timothy / Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Eric / Wish List
Shoun / Artemis Fowl
Hannah / Twilight
Hannah / The Clique
Madeline / Shug
Grace / Gossip Girl
Katelynn / Eragon
Elizabeth / Soul Surfer
Avery / Tree Girl
Max / The Blade of Fire
Patrick / Maniac Magee
Caroline / The Clique
Courtesy of http://www.bloggersblog.com/teens/
Parents are apparently tired of the mystery and so many are trying to find out what their kids are up to on Facebook. The Washington Post reports that some teens and young adults are shocked to find their mom or dad trying to “friend” them on Facebook. Some are even finding their Mom or Dad friending their friends.
Across the country, Facebook users are contemplating similar questions when they log onto their accounts. More and more moms and dads are signing onto Facebook to keep up with their offspring. Not only are they friending (or attempting to friend) their sons and daughters, they’re friending their sons’ and daughters’ friends.Some, like Matt, take the requests in stride. He ultimately friended his dad. Others are less sanguine, voicing their dismay via online groups that decry parental intrusion and offer tips on how to screen out mom and dad. (”Just go onto their computers and delete their accounts.” “Just don’t add them as a friend or any1 that is a co-worker with ur parents duh.”) Even parenting experts are getting involved, offering their own tips on proper Facebook etiquette.
“I do not know if this has happened to anybody, but this morning I log on to Facebook and I have a new friend request!” wrote 19-year-old Mike Yeamans, a sophomore at James Madison University, on one of several “No Parents on Facebook” groups that have popped up on the site. “I am excited to make a new friend so I click on the link. I could not believe what I saw. My father! This is an outrage!”
Some might argue that this means Facebook has jumped the shark. They might be right. If someday in the near future young people start complaining that their parents are following them on Twitter it could mean that many twittering teens are about to relocate. However, these same types of stories popped up a couple years ago with parents becoming the MySpace friends of their children. We’ve seen this all before. We’ve even seen this story before with Facebook and parents. Last June the New York Times ran a story called “omg my mom joined facebook!!” Today, MySpace is still going strong although one could argue that some of the younger people have gone elsewhere. Facebook seems to be holding onto its young users. Most 20-somethings can probably deal with the idea of parents on Facebook but parental intrusion might discourage some of the younger Facebook users who just aren’t interested in having their parents as Facebook friends.
Posted on March 9, 2008
The novel (for older teens) Unwind, by Neal Shusterman, addresses a plethora of issues surrounding identity, autonomy, and sanctity. If you read this novel it will challenge your own ideals, even if you believe them to be well founded. The narrative of the novel weaves political and religious issues into philosophical ones and when finished with the novel, you will most likely wrestle with the foundations of your own personal ideals. Immediately upon opening the book, you are faced with the Bill of Life, a document that consciously mirrors another Americans hold dear to their concept of patriotism and personal realization. It sets the tone and ideological foundations for the novel and is the reason why Connor Lassiter, age 16, is forced to reassess his sense of self when he discovers his parents have signed the order for him to be unwound.
At first the premise of the novel sounds far fetched and unrealistic: our characters live in a near-future United States, after the Second World War in which Pro-Choice and Pro-Life armies fought and killed to maintain their ideals (I encourage you to read about these subjects to discover what you think about the issues). The result is a preposterous compromise in which a pregnancy can be retroactively “aborted” after the age of 13 and until the age of 18. Teens everywhere become possible commodities because their bodies, if retroactively “aborted,” are unwound. This process systematically dismantles, but does not technically kill the host teen and disseminates his or her organs and tissues to recipients in need. As adult and teenaged characters are introduced, it becomes apparent that this “Great Compromise” does not necessarily produce the guilt-free results it purports to do. One of the unspoken results of unwinding is a split of the donor’s consciousness and muscle memory through the population of organ recipients. Instead of our present day reality of black market organ selling, in Connor’s world this is common trade. Another result of unwinding is the growing guilt of the adult population, evident in the actions of a few conscientious individuals.
To our sensibilities, Connor is just another troubled teen—he gets into fights, he tries to maintain a tough exterior, he doesn’t get along with his parents. But when his parents decide to have him unwound, his fight or flight urge kicks in and he does both. Along the way he picks up Risa, a state ward who is being unwound because of budget cuts and rescues Lev, a tithe whose religious family chose to have him to unwound and donated to humanity in the name of God. Each of these three main characters is developed in separate chapters of the novel and through their struggles they each come to understand their own ideals and their misgivings about the society in which they live.
The plot itself is exciting and a page turner, with underground networks of Unwinds trying to reach freedom, terrorists using the exiled Unwinds for their own schemes, and jaded authority figures in between. At first I thought this novel would be another “wham bam thank you ma’am” experience, with little thought to character development. I was completely wrong. While the characters generally act as you would expect them to, it is in ways that develop them into adults and it reflects on the choices all teenagers must make as they accept responsibility and work to become adults. There just happens to be a lot of action and a lot of “bigger picture” issues acknowledged along the way in this novel.
Shusterman doesn’t necessarily tell his readers what to think about the issues of abortion, religion, consciousness, the soul, organ donors and organ harvesting, parenting, or politics. He merely weaves these questions into his narrative and lets the reader muse over them. In this respect, the novel allows for a dialog between readers and people interested in these issues. It is also a compelling read and each character complexly explores his and her own personal issues. Ultimately each character works through their own questions about how to be a thoughtful and successful citizen in their community. Connor struggles to control his temper and make wise decisions, Risa reflects on her complacency while living in the State Home and her growing resistance to the wrong types of authority, Lev battles with his loss of the faith he thought he knew and trusted and learns to be an individual.
While this novel touches on several important and very controversial issues, it doesn’t necessarily make assumptions about its readership and what we believe, for we all believe something a little bit different. By weaving these contemporary issues into a dystopic future, it reminds its readers that we all must address these issues on some level even if we’re not technically faced with the ramifications of Unwinding.
If you had the chance to express to the three remaining Presidential candidates what you think the priorities of the next administration should be, what would you say - what are your greatest concerns for yourself and for our country?
Honk, Honk, Honk;
a gaggle of geese slowly make their way toward the south,
warning of the brutal winter storm that is coming.
The gray sky threatens to let down its fury.
The long wretched branches of trees stretch out,
as if they are waiting to grab me and take me away.
A bushy red tail appears above the grass, a squirrel.
It sleepily dashes across the field looking for one last nut,
before it returns to its warm hole, in a tree.
A cold bitter wind begins to blow,
making my ears scream for a hat.
Delicate snowflakes begin to appear,
twirling down from the sky
like ballerinas dancing.
Winter is here.
National Poetry Month
Poem Contest
1st Place
With every single breath you take
Each adding rain drops to the lake,
The flowers sing and grasses shake for
Spring, spring, spring
The robins sing as their nest they make,
Leaves unfold as tree branches shake,
It’s all too much for a man to take
Spring, spring, spring
The white has gone both sickles and flakes
Sun pierce the clouds as the cold it takes
The earth rejoices to God whom creates,
Spring, spring, spring
National Poetry Month
Poem Contest
2nd Place
You feel the air against your face
Your heart going like crazy
Racing and running
And going to face your mind
Your wings start to give
And you soar
You feel new inside and…
Let go
You feel that nothing in the world
Matters anymore
You die from the freedom
Loving to fly and…
Being you
National Poetry Month
Poem Contest
3rd Place
This is a really good book by Erin Hunter about wild cats that live in groups called clans. The four clans are Thunderclan, Riverclan, Windclan, and Shadowclan. Each clan raises their kits to become warriors who fight and hunt for the clan. A kittypet named Rusty tries to hunt in Thunderclan territory. Then one Warrior apprentice named Graypaw finds Rusty and explains about the clans. Rusty joins Thunderclan and his name is changed to Firepaw. He waits for when he is done with his warrior training and can become a full warrior. All the clans struggle with the wrath of the Shadowclan leader, Brokenstar. Brokenstar trains Shadowclan kits into apprentices when they are too young to do so, he drives Windclan out of their territory. This book is very good and is the first book of the Warrior series which has a few series connected to it. For more info on book 1, visit:
I wanted to let y’all know about this book I read a few days ago. The name of the book was Snakehead by Anthony Horowitz. It is the latest book in the Alex Rider series. If you have never read an Alex Rider book before I suggest that you start with the first book in the series. One of the things I liked about this book was that the author put a page in the front that catches the reader up on what happened in the last book. When we last left Alex he was falling to the earth in a capsule. Boy that line right there caught my attention. I wasn’t for sure if the author could pull off another great story. I was also afraid the story was going to get slow but I don’t think it did. It is a great story for younger and older boys both. As for the girls I think they would enjoy it just as much as the boys. After all, who doesn’t like to read about a teenager who is a British spy and kicks the bad guys butt. I found that the more pages I read the more I got into the story. I think you’ll find that you are right there with Alex no matter if he is in the jungle or in outerspace. (You will have to read the book to find out what I mean.) When I was finished the book I wanted to see what happens next with Alex. I hope that you read the book and enjoy it as much as I did.
WOWbloggers - One of the hottest topics in Fayetteville right now is whether to keep the high school at its current site and build it up to par, or to build a new facility out on Deane Solomon Road. Parents and other concerned citizens have been very vocal on the matter, and quite understandably so; a lot is at stake. But what say you about it? You are, after all, at the very heart of the matter, whether you are a student there now or will be someday soon. Would you prefer FHS to stay or to go, and why?
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