Journal Entry

The songs "Big Yellow Tax" and "Field Below" are very similar. They have the same tone, the same mood, and they both make you think twice about yourself. But, that's only the lyrics. When you add the music to the words, they sound completely different because "Big Yellow Taxi" is so upbeat and happy. "Field Below" is so depressing and makes you want to cry. The only part in "Big Yellow Taxi" that is sad and depressing is the end, the music slows down and so does the voice of the artist. This made that part of the piece actually seem depressing, even though the rest of it is too. In the other song, the whole entire thing is sad, and that gives you the feeling that there is something wrong happening with this person.

Frisbee

I can watch your shimmering gold car drive by everyday
I can listen to you bellowing through the streets with you and your friends every night
I can smell your nauseating armpit stink when you jog past me every morning
I can taste the bittersweet chocolate you just ate as you skip past me every afternoon
I can feel the damp puddle that showed up under me when you tossed a can of soda into the ditch
You left me here, you come looking for me, but I can't say anything.
I'm a miserable, depressed, lonely, troubled Frisbee, that you will never find.

Disgusting Lies

People wonder why kids don’t listen to their parents. But they don’t realize how badly kids are treated. They get lied to every month of every year. We are told Santa brings us presents. We are told there is a bunny that hops around and gives us candy. We are told that there are magical tiny people that come around building rainbows and giving gold to lucky people. It's so tragic that we get into so much trouble for sneaking out, or lying to a teacher. But really, parents should be the one's getting in trouble for lying to us every waking moment of our lives.

Santa is great. Every December he comes around and gives us things we want. Of course no one wants to completely get rid of Christmas, but we should change it up a little. We could actually tell the truth to kids! No way, right? Well, it's the right thing to do. According to Parent Beyond Belief, six percent of kids die each year because they find out the truth about the obese man that celebrates holidays only by giving. We could change this, and give up on Santa. It's fine if your parents give you presents, it'll make a big deference and every year there will be no percentage of kids dying because of Christmas.

Next to Christmas, Easter Is pretty bad, too. Many kids start to believe that a giant bunny passes out candy to every kid in the whole world. This is bad because when they're older they decide that they will catch this bunny. They don't trust rabbits hopping around their house. This is very dangerous considering that children might try to set up traps for these creatures, and then the bunny never comes, well that's what they think. But really, they leave their hiding fort and find baskets in their living room. The Easter bunny is the most unrealistic. At least Santa is human, unlike the symbol for Easter. We need to make this holiday more realistic, this is why kids have wacky imaginations. This is why kids run around the yard naked. This is why we need to change holidays and they way we treat children.

St. Patrick's Day is by far the worst holiday! So many kids are terrified by the fact that there are tiny people roaming around their house anytime in that day. This is unacceptable. That's not even the true meaning of St. Patrick's day! It all started when a very clever man who brought Christianity to Ireland. Everyone respected him so much, they made a holiday that was named after him. This holiday is touching, and should not be treated so dreadfully. St. Patrick deserves some respect, and never was he a leprechaun. Leprechauns have nothing to do with this holiday, and we are treating it the wrong way. That's what people believe in, and we shouldn't make up some dim-witted story, even though adults tend to do it a lot.

As you know, kids love holidays. They have merriment times no matter what day or what time it is. But, we shouldn’t be lying to them. No child deserves these lies given to them by their own parents. When they find out that these things were all lies, they start lying because they think it's okay. They get into so much trouble, not only with their parents, but with kids at school as well. Also, all the three holidays mentioned are not very realistic, and they could start thinking out of the ordinary. This is why people believe in aliens taking over the world. This is why people believe in the world ending on twenty-twelve. This is why kids don’t do well in school. They're scared about what's going to happen next. If we stop telling lies now, imagine how much further in life everyone will get. Parents should stop with the lies, and tell the truth, or sooner or later no body will be telling the truth.

Parody for The Lovely Bones(Death Scene)

I was walking home, when I heard twigs snap behind me. I quickly turn around with my fast reflexes. It was Harvey. Mr. Harvey. He’s the new guy that moved down the street. He’s so nice and funny. But my mom told me to stay away from him, he was too mysterious. Anyway, so Mr. Harvey asked me a very interesting question, “Would you like to visit my fort?” I didn’t know what this meant, but I realized it would all be worth it in the end. So, I followed him into his underground fort. The one next to Dairy Queen. It was humongous! But the only thing in there was a stack of Pokemon cards. “You wanna play some Pokemon?”

“You know me so well!” We both ran to the deck and sat on the floor. We were battling each other. But I usually won. I had better cards. But, right when I threw down my Pikachu, he exploded like a volcano. Not literally, but he got so mad. He stands up, and turns on a switch. I look around, and where am I? In a pot. He pours oil all over my body, and my body bursts into flames. Eventually, once all my body parts were boiling, he stuck them all into a large bowl, and sucked me up through a straw.

When I was watching from heaven, there comes my sister, skipping into this hole. She paid him money. To kill me.

Then they went out for ice cream.
THE END!

By: Austin & Brittany

Mother to Son response

In the short story Mother to Son there is a lot of figurative language throughout the whole thing. Mostly there are metaphors, that all follow the same metaphor is the beginning; life ain't no crystal stair. This means life isn't easy. There are hard parts of life, but later the narrator tells that even though life isn't so easy, she has gotten through it. I think this poem is about how life is difficult, but that doesn't matter. Never give up and try your hardest to get past all the bumps in the road.

How important is love?

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a lonely, miserable old man, that had no one to talk to? Well, in the book, The Lovely Bones, you can put yourself in this man’s shoes. Mr. Harvey came off as a nice man. He seemed like one of those people that wouldn’t harm a fly. This was obviously wrong, considering he killed a child. But, if this man would have someone to truly love him, he wouldn’t be a bad person.

Many people get sad because they don’t have someone special in their life. Because they have no one to hold them close when they’re sad. Because they have no one to love. This is how Mr. Harvey feels. Susie was an innocent girl that he betrayed. He never said he was going to hurt her, nor did he say he was going to do things to her, but she didn’t know. She died because of that man, because he had no one to love. Her last words were, “I love you.”, only because the man threatened her, but Mr. Harvey killed the fourteen year-old anyway. It’s a very sad world you live in when you have to threaten people into saying three simple words.

If at some moment and time Mr. Harvey had someone to tell him they loved him, everything would be great. No dead girls, no scary man living down the street, the world would be a big happy place. But, a disadvantage towards this situation would be that the Salmon family would never go through a problem. They just have a wonderful, happy life, well, until Susie went missing. If they never went through this problem, they would have never had the experience of having trouble in their life. And if something bad happens later, they won’t be ready for it. But then again, this is the only disadvantage to the idea, so Mr. Harvey should have a chance to be loved. If he did, the world would wondrously go round.

Susie Salmon

Author's Note: our class had to make a character description story of the book we're reading. This is about what happens when Susie Salmon, from The Lovely Bones, walks into the room.

When she enters the room, nobody looks. They see right through her. They can’t see her flowing blond hair or her tight yellow jeans sticking to her legs while she jumps trying to get someone’s attention, even though she knows no one will ever even realize that she could be there. Susie Salmon, a dead fourteen year old girl, looking down on her family. She isn’t actually in the room, but she’s watching. Watching her family’s every step, getting closer and closer to finding out the truth about her mysterious murder.

Susie just wanted to tell them. She wanted to tell them she’s okay. She wanted to tell them everything was going to be fine. She wanted to tell them all Mr. Harvey did was kill her, nothing to it. But, she couldn’t. Susie couldn’t mention who hurt her, and what horrible things they did to her body. She is there, technically, and she knows it, but only if they did, too.