Finally!

Final blog post? Nahh. This is the end to a new beginning. A beginning of a stronger love for reading books on my own. I really have enjoyed this class and I didn't think it would have such a strong emphasis on reading and writing. But it has been so amazing! Before this class I will shamefully say that I only read one book this summer. But I had my reasons. I was destined and focused on taking care of my terminally ill Grandmother while my parents were gone at work. We'd do puzzles, sit outside under the cottonwood tree and listen to the crickets chirping mellifluous songs of happiness. My Grandma kept nagging me to read more, I didn't. But now, I've been reading non stop. It's something I do for a grade in etymology and for my Grandma. Reading for this class brings me back to the days when I would stay at her house and we would sit on her big bed with the soft fluffy white duvet and read an entire book. My favorite? Stuart Little of course! My Grandma always said I was her little mouse, because I was her youngest and smallest Grandchild, and the sweetest. During her last weeks on Earth, I asked her why she loved reading so much and she said,"Reading is my escape from thinking about cancer. Cancer maybe lethal, but reading NEVER is!"

Update: Week 10

     Like last week, I am still reading "Open" by Andre Agassi. It has been so inspiring and very motivational. Agassi does not hold back in this book, he is totally, one hundred percent, brutally honest about what his life was like being in the tennis spotlight. His words are so perceptive and observant about what life was like around him. Agassi often mentions in the book about how fatigued, sore, and tired he is of tennis and how much he truly hated it. He talks about the rituals he performed before playing matches, and one which was being stretched out on a therapy table. The way Agassi describes it is gross but gave me a true feeling of what he was struggled with and went through. Pain. Tennis was his job though, and he knew that as well as his wife, Steffi Graf who was a very successful tennis player as well. The thing that I adore about Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf is that they were such successful athletes and tennis players. But, they used their success and money to create a school in Las Vegas, Nevada for under privelaged children. The AAFE (Andre Agassi Foundation for Education) has given kids a chance they have never been given, to get an education. Athletes who use their money to create better opportunities for other people other than themselves really moves me. Not many athletes write their biography all by themselves, are one hundred percent honest in their book, and turn around and do good with all of the money they earn. Andre Agassi was one of many tennis greats that forever changed the game of tennis. I have a big pet peeve, when a person is caught doing something wrong and are too stubborn to admit their wrong doing and are too stubborn to learn from it and turn it into something positive. We are all human, we ALL make mistakes. Some big, some small. Regardless, being able to admit you messed up and apologizing and turning it into something positive takes guts. It doesn't make you less of a person. It makes you a much better one. If Andre Agassi, Tiger Woods, and Michael Vick can admit for their wrong doings, anyone can!

Behind

     Where to start, where to start. I am so behind, that it's stressing me out beyond belief. It's not that I'm some lazy, careless student. I am just so tired, I have all of this work to do and so little time for personal time. I’ve turned into this sad, fatigued person. You may see this as a complaint, but I see this as my way of expressing how I feel. You may think that this has nothing to do with Etymology, but lately, the grieving process has gotten worse for me. The more time that passes, the better realization I am getting that my grandparents are truly gone. They were a part of my everyday life, and life without them, has not been very pleasant. The thing that gets me is knowing my grandma won't be able to see me graduate next year. That really hasn't been an easy thing for me to realize and digest. I'm the youngest and last grandchild, and ever since I was little, she promised me that she'd be there. These feelings of loss, sadness, and fatigue keep coming back to haunt me, and I never know when they will hit me. When they do, I feel like a statue. I grow tired. And on top of that, I fall behind on school work which makes me feel even worse. It's not that I don't care about my school work, I've just had other things standing in the way. I want so desperately to knock that wall down, but I know that will take some time. I know that I have been knocked down, and I need a little time to get back up.

Currently

     Recently, I started to read "Open" by Andre Agassi. As you know, Andre Agassi is one of the best tennis players that ever lived. But what caught my eye right away in the book was that he actually HATED tennis! He hated tennis with a passion! Agassi never had a choice though. He was born to be a "tennis star" at birth. He talks about his dad in the book and how much he pushed Andre into becoming a "tennis star". I really am enjoying this book so far, I love how detailed Agassi is. He using powerful words to show and express his pain and fatigue from playing tennis for so long. He talks about how everything aches and stings, it was very easy to conclude that he was just plain tired.

Quarterly

     This quarter, I read some really excellent books. They all except one, had good morals and lessons. I really enjoyed A Girl with a Pearl Earring the plot in this story was so simple but yet it had such a big moral to it. To not lose yourself, and to always remember to be yourself and no one else. Griet really struggled with that in the book and was constantly reminding herself to not be someone else in the eyes of the Vermeer family.
     I also read Columbine. When I picked up the book to start reading it, I had an idea of what I was getting myself into, but I didn't think this book was going to be that in depth about the 1999 Columbine High School Massacre. It's left a permanent mark on me, that tragedies like Columbine happen, but you can't live your life constantly reminding yourself that a tragedy like that could happen.

Favorite Sentences of the Quarter

1.)  A Girl with a Pearl Earring -page 159- "He is very powerful," "and you are but a maid. Who do you think will win that round of cards?" "You think I will become like the maid in the red dress?" "Only if you drink his wine."- conversation between Griet and Pieter at the meat market

        Why I love it- I love this paragraph, because it shows that Griet was coming out of her own little protective shell and standing up for herself. In the 1660's a girl would probably never do such a thing like what Griet does in this chapter but it inspires me to come out of my shell once in a while and stand up for what I think is right.

2.) A Girl with a Pearl Earring- Whatever Catholics did on Sundays, I did not want to be among them."- Griet

        Why I love it- I find it quite humorous that Griet had a little chip on her shoulder which was her dislike for the Roman Catholic Church. In the book, Griet is bothered and brutally disgusted by the large gold crucifix hanging on the wall across from her bed in her room. And I find it hilarious how Griet wasted no time in taking it down. It really showed me her rebellious side and that she was more than just a housemaid working for the Vermeers.

3.) -Page 9-"It will keep the family in bread. And a bit of cheese. That's not so little."- Griet

              Why I love it- I love how Griet is willingly going to live with the Vermeer family to keep her family afloat. This sentence was at the very beginning of the story and for her to say that so early on, shows a lot of maturity for a girl her age to say something like that. 

Update

     This week I have been reading more of "Columbine". It's really an interesting book! I find myself having to go back and reread chapters to understand the chapter I would currently be reading. So it has been hard to keep track of where I am in the story. There was so much more to know about Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold than what we already knew, which was the terror they brought upon Columbine High School April 20th, 1999. I find it chilling how freakishly good Dylan and Eric were at covering up their rage and anger at the world. On the outside, they lived completely normal teenage boy lives. They both had "plans" after they graduated high school (which was less than two months away). They both attended Columbine's prom the weekend before, and both had exceptional grades in school. No one really took the time to put the pieces together to realize how angry these two boys were at the world. There was so much evidence that could have prevented the tragic outcome of the Columbine Massacre. Dylan Klebold's father for years kept note of Dylan's behavior and actions, Eric and Dylan were both arrested in 1998 theft, and one of Eric's teachers reported one of Eric's violent and disturbing essays he wrote for his composition class, and both of their Bipolar, on edge and explosive tempers. All of the evidence was there, no one took the time to get help for those boys. It led to the worst school shooting in United States history (pre Virginia Tech ca. 2007). We all know that Kelly Fleming, Steven Curnrow, Rachel Scott, Isaiah Shoels, Lauren Townsend, Dave Sanders, Cassie Bernall, Daniel Mauser, Corey DePooter, John Tomlin, Kyle Velasquez, Daniel Rohrbough, and Matt Kechter might be alive today if it weren't for Eric and Dylan's deadly massacre. But the tragedy had some good come out of it. New laws were put in place to increase external and internal security at schools around the nation, Rachel's Challenge a program created by Rachel's older brother that tours the country to different schools spreading the importance of kindness might not have been created, and we were able to get better evidence and create more resources for kids like Dylan and Eric to help get psychological help. From reading this book, I can't help but feel that there is always some good that comes from these devistating tragedies. R.I.P.- Lauren, Kelly, Daniel R., Isaiah, Dave, Daniel M., Rachel, Kyle, Steven, John, Corey, Matt, and Cassie. Your legacies live on forever. Always Remember, Never Forget. 4/20/99.

"She said yes"- Cassie Bernall's mother. Cassie's mother wrote a book about how her daughter was a true martyr and stood up for her faith in Jesus.