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2. The derivation of the word prejudice is “pre-judge.” Prejudice is when somebody forms an opinion or feeling beforehand, either favorable or unfavorable, without knowledge, thought, or reason. I, myself have personally experienced prejudice. Because I am a girl, there are people that think less of me and my abilities. They assume I am not as smart as people that are boys or I cannot perform many of the same tasks. It is a great feeling to use the best of my abilities and prove those people wrong and show them that I am just as capable. I’ve also seen other situations of prejudice. I saw people of a certain background or ethnicity yell at people of different race and call them names. I’ve seen fights break out from these harsh, degrading remarks being said. I think it’s horrible that these people of different races and backgrounds have to experience this cruel hate and live in a world where so many people judge and discriminate against them. A lot of people at our school just throw around racially discriminative words like it’s nothing, not knowing that it could be offensive to others around them. Even if they did take a second to realize this, I don’t think they would care because these people at our school are so rude and inconsiderate of everyone around them. I feel very sympathetic for those who are affected by this and if I did see this happening to a classmate or someone I would definitely want to do something to help the people in suffering. Although racism and prejudice are far less common now than they were 50 years ago, they still exist. Also, I think the discrimination in this area is not as intense as many other places in this country. Overall, I feel people should be aware of what is going on around them and help to make this a better world for everyone to live in.

3. I live in a little town called Springfield, more specifically, the Thurston community. My street is usually fairly quiet, with the exception of the lady with the loud mouth who lives in the culdesac, but she doesn’t get out too often. The lawns are green in the summer and cherry blossom trees are white with flowers in the spring. Drains are clogged in the fall due to all the leaves piled up in the gutters. The neighbors to the left of me keep their house luminous with lights for the holidays during the months of December and January, but on the right, the neighbors lights are kept up all year ’round. The kids run and play in the road until the street lamps come on or ’til the old lady is gone to bed. They wouldn’t want any trouble out of her. Her name is Miss Patsy, the peculiar old lady with the harsh red hair. The chimes on her porch mysteriously swing and jingle in the wind while her house stays grim and bleak. A football over her fence is long gone. Rarely does Miss Patsy ever come out, but on the bizzare occasions that she does, nobody misses the faint chill of her presence or the ghastly sight of her fiery hair. She is the entity of fear among my street.

4. Empathy is the ability to put yourself in another’s place and identify yourself with what they are feeling and experiencing. I feel empathetic towards many of my friends who are struggling in school. I can relate to and understand their problems with stressing over a pass or fail of a class, with the loads of homework we have each and every night, and with the terrifying, intimidating tests we face after studying for hours on end the night before. I think it’s great when people are able to feel empathy for others because it gives them a sense of comfort and lets them know they are not alone in how they are feeling and what they’re experiencing. If nobody felt empathy for anyone else I think there would be a lot more lonliness in the world, more struggle and more worry. Empathy is an important feeling, providing identification and comfort to those in need.

I pushed as far back in my seat as I could, my hands clenching the arm of the chair, nails digging into the soft black leather. I was more anxious than ever. Of course, flying first class in those big comfy chairs definitely helped calm my nerves. As I awaited the landing of my very first flight, I gazed down over the beautifl view, hoping to somehow calm myself. This was Jake’s first flight as well, so I could tell he was just as frightened as I was. Beneath the large air craft, the enormous blue ocean sparkled in the sunlight. Then, with a loud crash and a big shake, the plane dropped onto the runway after what seemed like a 10 hour flight. Finally, we were there. 

The San Diego airport was huge!  The ceilings and walls were of glass, allowing the bright afternoon sun to flood in. Jake and I picked up our luggage from baggage claim and searched the area for a familiar face. There they were, my dad and stepmom, Birgit, leaning up against the Starbucks counter. In a flash, I dropped my bags and ran straight into the arms of my dad, who I had not seen in almost a year. Jake soon caught up, the luggage on a cart, trailing behind him. They said their hellos and we all grabbed a suitcase. As we walked out under the 90 degree weather, we all knew there was a great adventure awaiting us.

When we arrived at the house I was so amazed by the scenery and environment of this southern California city. The streets were lined with palm trees, the scorching hot sun beating down, and the ocean waves roaring in the background. Jake, I could see, was very impressed as well. His nose had been pressed to the window the whole ride home. Stepping out of the shiny red Jeep, I felt the rays of the overpowering sun burning into my skin. The air was so hot you could taste it. This was how summer should be and I couldn’t wait for what was coming next.

Dad grabbed three colorful boards from the closet and handed oe to each of us. Mine was pink with blue stripes, and Jake’s, orange with red. Confused, Jake and I looked at each other, then at Dad. “They’re boogie boards,” he informed us.

“Oh,” we both said, smiling, as if we knew what those were for or how to use them. After Birgit packed us a lunch of turkey and salami sandwiches, my favorite, and a bag of Gardettos, we headed down to the beach, hands full and smiles beaming.

Everywhere I looked there were people, people, and more people. How could a beach be so crowded? The ocean was filled with surfers, boogie boarders, skim boarders, and swimmers. Tan bodies basking in the sun covered the white, gritty sand. Jake and I shared a glance, an amazed, surpised, kinda of “wow” glance. We certainly weren’t in Oregon any more. After finding a small area to set our stuff, we ran out into the ocean, boards in hand, following Dad’s lead. To my surprise, the water was shockingly warm. Dad showed us the tips and tricks to using the boards, and immediately, we picked it up. A couple minutes and a few mouthfuls of water later, Jacke and I were catching waves like dogs catch fleas. Riding high up on top of the wave felt like flying. I got an aerial view of the entire beach for as long as I could keep my eyes open, vefore they were drenched with saltwater. Beside me was Jake on his bright orange board, flying past me, roughly bouncing up and down. That was some wave!

After being taken all the way to shore, I rose out of the water. My feet sunk into the course, wet sand while the sun pierced my moist, salty skin. Exhaustion began to take over my body. Catching all those rough, controlling waves really wore me down. There was Jake, already laying on the beach, looking as tired as I felt. I grabbed a big bright beach towel, dried off, and joined him under the sun. Dad brought out our lunch as we all sat together on the beach enjoying this wonderful time. I worked on my tan until the lifeguards began to clean up and the people began to leave. As the sun began to set, we strolled along the beach in the heat that still occupied the city. Our barefeet sunk into the warm, dry sand, feeling each tiny grain tingle between our toes. The sky was painted with a variety of beautiful colors. Shades of pinks, purples, blues, oranges, and reds paraded over our heads. This was a real summer, a perfect day of summer, and I had fallen in love with every minute of it. I never wanted to go back.

One new understanding that I have gained through independent reading is that life is short and it should be lived to the fullest every day. One quote from the book that made me come upon this idea was, “The only two people I had ever known who had died had died young.” After the tragic, premature deaths of two of her beloved friends, the main character in the story realizes that life is not as invincible as it seems. As a high school student, she is shocked and horrified by these events. Her life is completely changed. My take on this part of the story is that peolple should live and enjoy life to the best of their ability each and every day.  

I think text messaging is pretty cool, but I find it very annoying when a person cannot put down there precious cell phone for 2 minutes to have a real conversation. Mant kids these days are pathetically addicted to their phones, constantly texting, and can barely function without it. I would have to sadly admit, I used to be one of these ignorant kids. Currently, I would say I probably send about 20 texts a day because I am in school and do not find much time to use my phone. I regularly only text 2-3 people a day. For the most part, texting does not impact my writing because I use T9 predictive texting, which only uses real words, not slang or abbreviations. The one drawback from using T9 predictive text is that when I am writing I feel like the whole words should just pop up after I write a few letters, just like on my phone. Phones shouldn’t be used during class times when it is time to work or listen to the teacher because that is disrespectful and teachers tend to get very mad. Text messaging plays a big part in our society today as it is growing bigger and bigger and taking over teenagers around the world. TV and magazine advetisements are being taken over by cell phone companies, and the language of texting is taking over the world! Texting is lessening the amount of face to face and spoken conversation because its so much more convenient. Overall, I just think texting is taking over the human race and should be stopped!

Well for my independent reading I chose a book called The Legacy, written by Kate Brian. This book is one of many in a series. I like to read these because they are about girls my age so I can relate to them. However, the girls in these stories go to a private school so its more dramatic and entertaining to read. I found out about these books from the inside cover of another series of books. They looked interesting so I started the first one. After that I kept reading one after the next and just couldn’t stop. The events in these stories are far too fictional to be even considerably realistic, but they really do make you think and wonder. I am on my sixth book and am very much looking forward to the next book in the series coming out in May. Until then, I will read this book every day during independent reading time in my 3rd period literature class.

I think blogs are writings you put on the internet about anything you want for anyone to see. Never have I heard of blogs until I came to this 10th grade literature class. I’m pretty comfortable with computers because I know how to use them. When using computers I am usually working on some sort of homework assignment for school, but sometimes I’m searching for tight rims on craigslist. The school’s computers, however, will not allow me to be on craigslist or any other tight websites. My peers usually use computers for Myspace all the time, for some weird reason that is still unknown to me. Writing, in my opinion, is great for people that like to do it and feel that it fulfills some sort of purpose in their lives. For others, I feel that they should not be forced to write things that are seemingly meaningless and insignificant to their lives. In my personal preference, I do not like to write and feel that writing about things inessential to my well being should not be expected of me.

In regards to safety on the internet, I believe children should be cautious when using. The internet can be dangerous, especially with all the new sites like Myspace, Facebook, and even blogging, like this. People are so worried about users’ safety, mostly when the user is a minor, because these sites are exploiting and allow anyone to view people’s pages and gain info about their identity. This could be potentially hazardous, and I don’t think it’s a good idea to use this as a school assignment site for kids. My thoughts on using this blogging site in this class for the rest of the year are not so optimistic. Posting my thoughts in writing on the internet for anyone and everyone to read is not really my style, but if that’s what’s going to get me the good grade I deserve, then hey, I guess I just have to suck it up and deal with it, right?

So to everyone else in this 10th grade literature class required for graduation, good luck, and happy blogging!