True Friendships (and Their Unexpectedness)

Honestly, good friends are hard to find. You go through many friends to find the ones who won't back stab you, are trustworthy, and are always there for you. Those are some of the qualities I look for in a friend. Most of my friends are my age and go to the same school as me. But that's not what qualifies them as my friends. Some of my very best friends are not my age and don't go to my school. I guess you could call them unexpected. I wish I could write about all of my friends but I am only going to talk about a few.

Your family is your family. Some stay as family and others take advantage of being related and they become even better friends with you. This is the case with my cousin Lillie, and my older brother David. Lillie is a senior this year and is graduating in about a month. We always hang out, which is weird because you'd think that she want to hang out with her friends more than her freshman cousin. This isn't the case with her. We constantly have plans, and if we don't, then we are probably making them. We completely trust each other and tell each other everything. I love her so much and since I don't have a sister, she fills the big sisterly role for me. With my older brother David, we never really got along or close until this year. I know he will probably kill me for writing about him but we have gotten extremely close, and now he listens to my problems and gives me advice. I don't think he understands how much he means to me and how much I look up to him. I hate that we just became close and he will be leaving in a year. I know I could not have asked for a better older brother.

In TV shows nowadays, it's extremely common for the main character to be a teenage girl with the popular guy as her best friend. It happens all the time in TV shows, but not in real life. Roo and I are the real versions of these shows. We have been best friends since we were born. I can trust him with anything, he is always there for me, and no matter what, he can cheer me up. He has probably been my best friend longer than anyone else. It's extremely special that he considers me his best friend.

As I mentioned in my first paragraph, the school you go to doesn't matter in a friendship to me, even if they do go to Heathwood. :) My neighbor Cate and I have had a long history. We always hung out when we were younger, but we seemed to get in lots of trouble. For some reason, we stopped hanging out. But this year we started getting together over the summer and we renewed that friendship. It is difficult because we go to different schools however, being neighbors makes up for it. It's awesome when you're having a crappy day and you can send a text saying, "Meet me in five", and then your best friend is waiting for you, ready to talk. Cate can always make me laugh and I am so happy that we are best friends again.

Playing a varsity sport and being in high school allowed for me to become best friends with Kaki. She is a junior this year and in my brother's grade, so it was unexpected to end up being best friends with her. She always know the right thing to say to me and she always makes me feel better. There is one story that just proves how much of a good friend she is. Kaki and I went to the new cupcake place down in Five Points as much as we could. This past year my birthday was on a Sunday and Kaki and I were going to go to the cupcake place to celebrate. When we walked in, my whole volleyball team was sitting in the corner and they yelled. "Surprise!". It was the best birthday surprise ever. It truly showed me how good of a friend she was for planning it with my mom. We have both been extremely busy so we haven't had time to hang out, but I hope she knows how much she means to me.

Throughout this blog, aka the longest blog ever written, I guess you can see that my best friends are older than me, go to different schools, and are my family, literally. As hard as good friends are to find, I know I have found some keepers. :)

Biased Misunderstandings

"I know zoos are no longer in people's good graces. Religion faces the same problem. Certain illusions about freedom plague them both."

In the Life of Pi, Zoos and religion both share a common similarity. Both religion and zoology are looked down upon because of misunderstanding, when really, they are wrong and the two studies should not be looked upon. I will explain how they are looked upon in the next couple paragraphs.

Zoology is looked down upon because everyone thinks that the animals are not free and that they are tied down in the zoo, when they should really be out in the wild. These is not true. Animals actually have more freedom in the zoo. They are habitually fed and watered, they do not have to worry about whether they will be fed or not. They are also sheltered so that they will be protected. Their main worry would be about the visitors that wish to harm them, not being in the zoo. The animals have way more freedom then everyone thinks.

Religion can be looked down upon because everyone thinks that you are tied down when you are religious and you have restrictions to the way you live. This is also untrue. Religion can be as it is interpreted, depending on how serious you are about your religion. Most religions do not tie you down. The people who you think this, enjoy living wildly instead of having a religion. They are missing out on experiencing religion because of their misunderstanding that they will be tied down.

The opinion that religion and zoology are both taking away your freedom, is a misunderstanding. Religion only take your freedom away if you want it to. Zoology is allowing the animals to be free and not have to fight for their lives. These people are being stubborn and not allowing themselves to be open to anything else because of what they think.

What should I think?

We are finally in high school , we know we are going to learn about evolution in biology class, but did anyone ever tell us we would also be analyzing Genesis also? No. It's great to increase your intelligence so you can make up your own mind and have your own thoughts. It is also hard because you don't want to believe in what you were not taught growing up. I remember when I was in sixth grade learning about evolution and talking to my mom about it because I was confused because it contradicted what I was taught. Recently we have been studying evolution in Biology and we just started analyzing Genesis in English class.

In Biology we learned about the introduction to evolution. We are not encouraged or discouraged to believe in it. Our teacher just wants us to know all of the evidence behind them so that we can make an educated choice. I personally think that some of evolution makes sense but when I think about it more I just come up with a lot of questions and then it doesn't make that much sense anymore. I think that some parts of it are true. I understand it and will learn it but I don't think that I fully believe in it. There is a lot of evidence to prove evolution but it comes down to your own educated thoughts and you have to choose what you will believe in.

Now we can discuss the Creation story. In English we recently began to analyze the myths in Genesis. I believe in the Creation story. I was raised to believe in it and I find no problem with it. I enjoy analyzing this in class because we are analyzing the VERY beginning of our time. It is interesting to hear what we infer from reading a passage. It is very cool to find the very details of the story or even come up with an inference that your teacher had not thought of. We have only begun to analyze the stories in Genesis so I hope to learn more and gain a stronger grasp of the Creation story.

Now that we have discussed both evolution and the Creation Story, maybe you will realize how hard it is to be a kid and have to make this decision on your own. Hammond is a great school and they prepare us to be able to make our own decisions even when we are young. It is great that we can be taught both of the stories. I believe in the Creation story. Maybe this has inspired you to go and do some research of your own and find out what you believe in.

Nantahala- Freshman Trip

Nantahala. Freshman Year. 73 students. Giant Swing.



Imagine being suspended in the air, your friends pulling the rope that pulls you higher and higher into the air. Now, its all up to you. YOU are in charge of releasing the rope that is connecting you to the tower. When you let go, you will fall, straight down to the ground.
But then, all of a sudden you start rising up in the air again, swinging back and forth, back and forth. All of this adrenaline hits you. You are swinging high up in the air..... and then, the pain hits you. You don't realize it until you are no longer afraid of being swung in the air. You start thinking, "Were these harnesses this tight to begin with?" and "How much longer until i can take this harness off!!!" Why don't we start at the beginning now.


Here comes the truth. They first give you a harness and show you how to put it on. You don't quite realize how tight the harness is until you are in the air, and yes, for those of you thinking, "Oh it must not be that bad." Wait until you experience it. It's worse then it seems. After you are all harnessed up and ready to go, they give you a helmet and glasses to wear for protection. Now they tell you to stand on the ladder so that you can be hooked up to the GIANT SWING. They check to make sure that you put on your harness correctly, because you know that putting a bunch of freshman in charge of their own safety could be quite dangerous. After they make sure you will live after the swinging, they tie the rope that holds you in the air and YOUR OWN classmates are in charge of pulling you up high in the air. Now, as scary as the swing was, it may have been scarier having your friends lifting you in the air. The main part is letting go of yourself. I will just say that it was TERRIFYING. Your looking down at high how in the air you are in then you have to let yourself fall? What? Why would anyone want to do that? Those questioons are probably what you were thinking when your friends were doing the swing. I must say that as scary as it was, it was fun!

I think I should probably tell you the big part of this story. That the person who was experiencing and doing all of those things, even being suspended in the air, was me. I know, hard to believe, especially since I am afraid of heights. Although I was really freaked out, it was rewarding because I faced my fears. Now, climbing the tower is a WHOLE other story.

First Post

I picked the passage where Scout first walks past the Radley house and notices a shiny object, a piece of gum, in a tree. I think that this passage is important because Jem and Scout are already intrigued by Boo Radley and when they find an object near his house it makes them more interested in meeting or seeing him. I like this passage because it shows that Scout is not afraid to play by the "finders keepers" rule. Instead of ignoring the shining object, she follows her instinct and discovers what the object is. The term I applied to this passage is imagery. The author describes the scenery as if you where there looking at the Radley place and the tree that held the object. This passage is key in the novel of showing the children's interest in the Radleys.