Be A Child Star?? I Wish!

We all know who Will Smith is. Yes, The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air. Well he's moved past those days and has a had a few kids. His son, Jayden, has starred in a few movies, But I wanna focus on little Willow who has just recently hit the scene. Some of you guys might have heard her little tune "Whip My Hair." She is a very talented little girl and a little bit too mature. Recently I went I was reading through some blogs that I regularly visit and I came across an article about little Willow Smith. The article was about an interview she had, and she said that "people are relying on her." After I read the whole article and the opinions Miss Jia gave I agreed with her.

Should Children be allowed to become Stars?

This is a hard question to answer, because when you child has that much talent you want their talent to be brodcasted to the world. The thing that made me think about this issue is that she felt like people were relying on her, and like Miss Jia brought up is she feeling pressured to become a star? I think that if a child wants to be "famous" then they should be allowed to pursue their dreams. Then again we've all heard the stories about child stars like Gary Coleman, Drew Barrymore and many other adults who were once child stars. We've heard about their problems and how their lives were not normal and how they felt like they weren't children. It is a very hard thing to think about because of the high percentage of tragic stories, but I still think that if the child wants to pursue their dream then they should be able to.

12 Sentence Story

I was sitting on the couch, feet propped up on the table, left hand loosely gripping the remote, right hand holding a water bottle. It was a normal summer day; nothing major would happen that day. Nicky and Leo, my cousin and her fiance, pulled up to my driveway. She was under stress, he was over the limit, and I was into my shows. Leo decided to leave. Bad idea. He thought that it was okay to drive and that even though he had a few drinks that day and that nothing bad would happen. Well, he crashed into my mom's car, and my mom's car crashed into the outside storage. In his eyes, I saw fear. What would my parents do when they saw what he did? Would they kill him, or beat him, or merely make him pay? My parents did not give a proper reaction, I was the one given a lecture--this was not a normal summer day.

Yes, another facebook post.

Recently here at the school, there was a group of students who were called to the office for a facebook status that was posted. This really upset the whole school, because they felt like the school shouldn't have control over what is said on facebook. I was one of those students that felt the school shouldn't punish students for what they say on facebook. Then I hear about people who are fired from their jobs and don't get into colleges because of what is on their facebook profiles, and I just feel outraged!

I came across this article Facebook, freedom and thin-skinned bosses and the author, Barry Bruce, tell his opinion on people getting fired for their facebook posts. In this article I actually learned about freedom of speech and what it actually protects us from.

In the article a teacher was fired because she had some pictures of her drinking alcohol while she was in Europe. I felt like this was a ridiculous dismissal because the lady was an adult not doing anything illegal. Granted she is a teacher and might have students who are friends with her, but outside of school, she isn't a teacher she is a regular human being who shouldn't be held at a different standard.

Don't get me wrong and think that I'm saying that it's good to bash your employer or school on social networking sites, I'm just saying that those are two separate entities that should never cross.

I really agreed with Bruce's statement about "...Holding a job should not require giving up your right to an expressive private life..." People should be able to express themselves freely without fear of "what the boss will say". Isn't that why we created social networking sites so we could be able to express ourselves with our friends freely?

Books I plan on Reading

The first book I want to read this quarter is The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki. I want to read this book because my dad recommended it to me, and it talks about how to get started in doing whatever I might want to begin, and I have some things I want to start.

I also want to finish the Hunger Games series. I read the first book in ninth grade, but two years and many books later, I haven't gotten to reading the next books. The first one was so good, I actually might reread it and then read the other ones.

I also want to read pride and prejudice. Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite movies ever, and I always like to read the books of movies. I like to see the differences and give my mental critiques.

Annotated Reading Log 2nd nine weeks

Dark Visions

Smith, L. J. Dark Visions. New York: Simon Pulse, 2009. Print.

752 pages



In this book there is a girl who has psychic abilities and she is sent to Zetes institute where her and a few other kids are being studied and taught to control their powers. Turns out that the owner of the institute, Mr. Zetes, is evil and has a different plan for the students. They run away and try to find magic to defeat him. Meanwhile Kait the main character is having a love triangle with two of the guys. They end up defeating Mr. Zetes in the end and Kait ends up falling for Gabriel, the bad boy. Of course. This book was cool because it was three books in one and it very entertaining. It was a typical predicting storyline, but it was really good just to see how the storyline played out.

The Art of The Start

Kawasaki, Guy. The Art of the Start: the Time-tested, Battle-hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything. New York: Portfolio, 2004. Print.

226 pages


This book is a guide book into starting anything that a person might wanna do. It mostly geared toward new entrepreneurs. The tips in this book will help people start and maintain a successful business or whatever someone might want to start.



To Die For: The Shocking True Story Of Serial Killer Of Dana Sue Gray


Braidhill, Kathy. New York: St. Martin's, 2000. Print.


320 pages

This book is about a woman who kills kills old women and steals their money to support her lavish lifestyle. The book is really slow to get into at first, but later it gets more interesting. The author didn't really talk much about the Law portion of the book. The book really wasn't as good as I thought it would be. I wouldn't recommend it, but I do recommend reading crime books especially if you are CSI fan.

Reading Reflection

This nine weeks was very busy. Band, clubs, and other classes took up so much time, that reading feel on the back burner, but in the end I completed the six book requirement. I was very pleased with that.

The only thing I wish I could have done better was the Journaling and filling out the reading log. Journaling especially, because it was so hard to get into the habit of inking my thinking. This next quarter will be better, because I'm in the habit and I understand how to do it.

I also realized that I read to much "candy" books so, this year I have challenged my self to read more "vegetable" books. Reading more difficult books will make me a stronger reader, which will benefit me in the long run.

Socratic Seminar Reflection

When I first learned that our class would be having a Socratic seminar, I was a bit apprehensive about how it would actually go, would it turn into a heated debate, or would it be long awkward silences. When the seminar began, I realized that it wasn't going as I thought, it was actually civil.

My performance was not as I expected. Usually I dominate the conversation, but in the seminar I was dominated because of interruptions, but I digress. The seminar did deepen my understanding of the novel. It also posed a lot more questions about our society and if we[our society] are heading to a society like the one in Brave New World. The seminar also showed me the different views people had, on the same topic. For example, Andrea interpreted Henry Ford as God because he basically "created" the Brave New World society just as God Created us. While Nelson and I viewed him as a figure they[ Brave New World people] looked up to because of his scientific advances and they were a scientific society.

My favorite part of the Socratic discussion was the evaluation period after each discussion. I feel like the conversation became deeper with the whole class involved, and it was easier to share opinions because the pressure was taken off.

This exercise turned out to be really fun and thought- provoking! I would not mind having these seminars more frequently! If I had a "do-over" then I would be more aggressive in getting in the conversation.