Samma O's Site

Dear Journal,                                                                                                                                                                                September l, 2010

            Today is my first day back at Westfield High. The first day of the drama tears and lies. The first day back to my all girls private school. I wish they would’ve told me about that when I first got in. The only good reason to go to school is Mr. Thompson our one and only male teacher (even if he is 30).  I’m just so glad I have my best friend with me along the way. I would not have made it this far without her. Well I’m off to school now. Wish me luck, I’m going to need it.

                                                                        Love,

                                                                           VI ♥

Dear Journal,                                                                                                                                                                                      March 30, 2011

            I think I am losing my best friend. She’s been acting a lot different lately and now she told me we should get drunk. But that’s not even the half of it. She has a boyfriend who’s is at least got to be 20 years old. It’s sort of like 16 going on 20, like hello does anyone else see the problem here?!?! More then likely no. I feel like I don’t know her anymore. You spend 5 years with a person and you finally think you know them but then that change. Something has got to be wrong with that girl!

                                                                         Love,

                                                                           Vi♥

Dear Journal,                                                                                                                                                                                           May 31, 2011

            The BEST thing has happened to me. I never thought it was possible. I have finally succeeded in getting straight A’s on my final exams! That has only been a figment of my imagination until now! I am so excited its almost killing me. Everyone at Westfield only dream of getting straight A’s unless you are Hilary of course the freaky genius. To bad Katie and I are not talking she would’ve been so proud of me!

                                                                        Love,

                                                                             Vi♥

At our School you can look at your grades using Power School. I think it helps me a lot because I can go online and see what my grades are and if I’m missing any work. So I can make sure I get everything done. It also helps that your parents can access it too, because they can see what you are doing or how you are doing in your classes. They can help get you on track if they see you are getting behind on your work. It’s important to me because I like knowing my grades and I can see more clearly what I’m getting instead of sitting there wondering about it all the time.

Our Newspaper is on Mr. Ewell attacking the kids, Miss Maudie’s house setting on fire, and Mr. Ewell’s Obituary.

Peer Review has helped me in many different ways. I think it helps me because it is kind of like I can see out of a different person’s point of view and see what they agree and don’t agree on. I wrote Food Culture with Justice B and people from a different school commented saying that how it’s amazing that two ninth graders can do that in depth of research and that it was really good. I also had people comment on my Hold Still poem saying that they really liked it and that I’m a strong writer. It really helps me because they agree on what I write and I know I’m doing a good job on it as well.

In To Kill a Mockingbird Jem and Scout learn about growing up and how much it affects them in the long run. Like at the beginning of the book when Miss Maudie’s house gets set on fire and the kids have to watch it happen. They learned there that life does not come with guarantees. During the period of time when Atticus was gone and the children had to go to church with Cal, they learned that just because you are different colored then people you are not different at all. When Atticus was in charge of Tom Robinson’s case and he lost, Jem learned that no matter how hard you believe in things they have every possibility of not going your way. When Jem’s accident happened Scout learned that you have to stay strong no matter how bad the situation is at the time.

I think that it is really important for you to work as a team while doing projects. If all you do is fight with each other you are not going to get anything done and your project will be a total mess. I also think that you need to have good communication in your group to get the things you need and make sure they are done right. If you do not talk you will not have any idea on what is going on with anything you are going to do. The last thing I think is important for working as a team is making sure you understand your team mates and where they’re coming from so you do not accuse them of anything they have not done.

The children learn right from wrong through many events in the novel but Calpurnia teaches them the best one of all love. She has taken care of them since they were babies and when they go out she makes sure they’re nice looking so no one assumes something different. She says “I don’t want anybody sayin’ I don’t look after my children (118)”.  She doesn’t take anything from anybody when she brings them to church especially when Lula makes a comment about it. When the children bring Walter home from school to eat lunch she teaches scout how to treat her company. She says “Hush your mouth! Don’t matter who they are, anybody sets foot in this house’s yo’ comp’ny, and don’t you let me catch you remarkin’ on their ways like you was so high and mighty! Yo’ folks might be better’n the Cunninghams but it don’t count for nothin’ the way you’re disgracing’ ‘em—

if you can’t act fit to eat at the table you can just set here and eat in the kitchen!(24-25)”  she showed no matter how much better you are then others you teach them with respect and that she loves everyone. Scout refers to Cal on she rarely comments on the way of white people when Mr. Radley dies which shows she doesn’t make rude comments because she’s not like that. Atticus refers to her as a faithful member of the family when Aunt Alexandra says they don’t need her anymore. He also says that she’s been harder on them then a mother would’ve been in the first place and never lets them get away with anything.

What I found out through the research I did disturbed me a little. I never would’ve thought it would be that bad of a disease. To think that all the meat companies get is sued and not shut down even after the 2^nd time it happens sounds dumb to me. I watch what my meat looks like more closely now because I’m afraid of getting it. Before I even eat it I’m going to look for pink and if I see any I probably won’t eat it. What blew my mind the most was when I made the chart and I saw how many people had caught E Coli. It was worse when I saw that Wisconsin was the second highest state with getting it. It made me think that I could’ve been one of those people getting sick. It could’ve been me as a little girl who died because the meat industries only checked half of the meat before packaging. A big surprise was how many companies their actually are. I want to bring it up to people that this shouldn’t be happening. This disease, this strain, and this killer bug we have control over. Meat companies should check all of the meat instead of just one part of it to be one-hundred percent sure it’s free of anything. I don’t think its fair for the people to get sick because they had bad timing and picked the bad meat. It’s not their fault; it’s like a guessing game for people to pick “good” meat. I think that the meat industries should at least pay for the expenses of the hospitals because I know that its not cheep. That for me would make it a little better but not much. I also think that they should get at least 5 warnings before they get shut down if they send out “bad” food.

Rainbow.

Isn’t it sad, isn’t it sad to throw away something so bad?

Mary Ellen Golding was my best friend, we went everywhere together even jail.

Now she’s gone because of her mother. Her parents divorced while she was 8. At ages 11 and 12 she was traded by her mother for drugs, being placed in foster care after both times. Diagnosed with OCD and depression at age 14 she became disruptive. After serving 6 months in the juvenile correction center at 15, she ran away. Now at 16 she committed suicide. Those are just some of the bad things in her life but she was not the same person with me. She always made me laugh, never was down on herself. We always had the best times, clubbing, destroying the library bathroom. But those things I will always remember doesn’t matter to anyone else. No one has ever been there for her but me and tears. Where was her mother when she got sent to jail or even her father? Don’t they care for their baby girl? Even the dumb can figure that one out with a big whopping no. They weren’t, her mothers probably passed out drunk if she isn’t dead. You can’t get there from here is what we always say. Can’t get rich from the streets no matter how bad you want it. We were all dreamers now were only 3 dreams left. Isn’t sad how people just walk by us and stare like were worthless pieces of trash? Well rainbow didn’t care she was happy who she was and didn’t let anyone tell her otherwise. Now that she’s gone I have nothing. Thank you.

By: Maybe