Thanksgiving Traditions

Throughout my life, I have done many different things on Thanksgiving. I used to go to my aunts in Amherst, but then she moved to New Jersey. After that, we celebrated Thanksgiving at my house for a few years. Three years ago we started to go to my other aunt’s house. Ever since we started going there, our Thanksgiving has been fairly interesting. The first year, my Aunt cooked the turkey in a pan that wasn’t strong enough to support it. When my Uncle Chester when to take it out of the over, the pan bent and grease splashed on the floor and he slipped. My Uncle Mike went over to try to save it and grease got in the oven and a big flame shot up and singed his eye brows off.  Two years ago on Thanksgiving, my Uncle Chester’s mother had a long hair hanging off of her plate, it was disgusting and I wasn’t hungry anymore.  Last year on Thanksgiving, my aunt and uncle decided to invite their creepy neighbor over, who was just being creepy to my cousins and I. 

Since I don’t have any young cousins, I don’t really play games or anything on the holidays. Mostly my cousins and I watch the football game together or just sit and chat with each other. My aunt isn’t really a good cook so Thanksgiving isn’t too exciting anymore. The best part of thanksgiving is seeing my cousins from New Jersey and getting to spend time with my family that I don’t see often. Two days after Thanksgiving my cousins Kayla, Rachel, my sister, and I get money from my grandma and we spend the day shopping. We get the things we buy with my grandma’s money for Christmas. It is nice to be able to pick out your own gifts. Overall, Thanksgiving is always a fun time.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

My favorite holiday is Christmas. I have always loved Christmas. When I was younger I used to just love it because of the gifts. Now that I am older I love it for many reasons. I love getting to spend the day with family I don’t see often. I love Christmas music. It is just such a jolly time of the year and it seems like everyone is nice to everyone around the holiday season. I love walking into the grocery store and seeing a person ringing a bell and everyone donating money. It is so nice at the mall seeing everyone doing their holiday shopping. I love decorating the tree with my family. I also really like making Christmas cookies with my mom. Christmas lights and decorations are all so pretty. I never really like snow, but I love it during Christmas time. On Christmas Eve, I go to my cousins’ uncle’s house and we spend time together talking, laughing, and telling funny stories. Later, when I get home, I get ready to go to midnight mass with my cousin, Kayla, my uncle Rich, and my grandma. When I get home from midnight mass I am tired and am able to fall right asleep. I always get up early on Christmas because I am so excited. First, my parents, siblings, and I open our gifts. Then we all get ready and start cleaning up, baking, cooking, and getting ready for our family to come over. People start arriving at around 3. I always get really anxious to see everyone, and hate waiting until 3. When everyone arrives we all enjoy each other’s company and make many new memories. When Christmas is over it always makes me sad because I have to wait an entire year for the Christmas cheer to arrive again.

Dungeon Case

Earlier this week four developmentally disabled people were found chained to a basement in a Philadelphia apartment. Three people, Linda Ann Weston, Thomas Gregory, and Eddie Wright are facing many charges. These charges include Criminal conspiracy, aggravated assault, trespassing, kidnapping, simple assault, reckless endangerment of persons, unlawful restraint, and false imprisonment. A spokeswoman for the Philadelphia police department said, “As the investigation goes on there may be more charges added.” It is believed that the four developmentally disabled people were taken from Texas, through Florida, and then brought to Philadelphia. One of the people who were kept in the basement is suspected to be Linda Ann Weston’s child. This is suspected because he said, “My mom brought us from Florida to Philadelphia.” The reason that these people have been kidnapped and locked in a basement is so the three people that were arrested could collect their social security checks.

I think that this incident is so sickening. I don’t know how somebody could live with themselves if they were treating someone else like that. It really makes me angry that this went on. To do that to a developmentally disabled person just for money is so cruel. The way they had these people, locked in a basement, chained up, and a bucket to go to the bathroom in, is so extremely inhumane. Since now it is expected that this could be going on other places throughout the country, it’s even worse.  What is worse is that the developmentally disabled people were aware of the fact that they were being kept from the outside world. Tanya Little said, “"They were able to communicate that they do know all parties that were withholding them from the outside world.” More information keeps coming out about this and today another arrest was made in the case. This person is the daughter of the leader of what happened. Authorities are now trying to up to 50 more fraud victims. Hopefully the FBI and other authorities will be able to put an end to what is going on.

Decisions, Decisions...

Every young child aspires to be an astronaut, a teacher, a firefighter, a doctor, or any different number of things. However, when I was young I would say, "I want to be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich." Since that point there have been many things I have had my heart set on doing. When I was about ten years old I wanted to be a crime scene investigator. I always watched C.S.I and Law and Order with my mom and that sort of sparked my interest. In the years after that I had my heart set on being a lawyer. Throughout middle school that's what I said I wanted to be. In 8th grade we did a career research project and I researched becoming a lawyer. After I finished the project I came to the conclusion I didn't want to be a lawyer. The hours were too long and I plan on having a family so I didn’t think that would work out too well. When I entered high school I had no idea what I wanted to be. I knew I would go to college but I had no idea what for. This year my thoughts and feelings on college have changed a lot. I'm starting to think college isn't for me, maybe I will go to a cosmetology school? Or maybe, just maybe, if I get a scholarship to play basketball I will go to college and become a secretary. I am still interested in Criminal justice though. So maybe I will go to school and become a paralegal. I have so many choices of what I can do with my life. Although at this point I am completely clueless on what to do. I think within the next year or two I will get an idea and everything will go from there. I still feel so young and it's weird to think that in the next few years I will have to make a decision on what I will probably be doing the rest of my life.

English

My favorite class so far this year is English. I like reading and writing, so I enjoy going to English. I have English first block, so it is a nice way to start out my day. So far we have been reading short stories and I have found the majority of them interesting so far. I also really like my teacher, Mrs. Schaefer. Also, English comes easy to me and it is my highest average. I have a 98 in it as of now. The only con to English is that I really don’t like research papers and even though I like writing, that is one thing I do not like to write about. Another class I really like is online publishing. Like I said I like writing so that is the reason I enjoy online publishing. It is also fun because I get to pick what I would like to write about, so I can write about sports teams I play on and I enjoy writing about that. Also, the blogs we write aren’t about boring things so it makes them interesting. Another class I really like is sports marketing and entertainment. I find it enjoyable because we learn about things that I like to learn about and find interesting, like sports. We also watch movies and that is always fun. Even though study hall isn’t really a “class” I really like it. I can get a lot of homework done, and it is nice to have a little time to just relax a little bit instead of having to have another class. Also, I was able to drop Spanish this year, which I am very happy about. I have never really liked Spanish but I will still be able to graduate with an advanced regent’s diploma without 3 years of Spanish. Overall, I like most of my classes, but English is my favorite.

Mrs. Landers

Throughout my life I have had many coaches and teachers. Some I have really liked, others I wasn’t too fond of, but one coach really stood out to me. My modified basketball coach, Mrs. Landers, has made the biggest impact on me. Basketball is my favorite sport and she was the best coach I ever had. When I entered 7^th grade I had only been playing basketball for one year and I wasn’t too good. I loved basketball a lot though and I worked really hard to improve. Mrs. Landers was a great coach and really helped me become a better player. Given, I barely ever played, except for in the 5^th quarter which is for girls who didn’t get playing time, I really enjoyed that basketball season and it was a lot of fun. My first year of modified the team was undefeated, we were 11-0. I will never forget that season for the rest of my life. I was really looking forward to having Mrs. Landers as my coach during my 8^th grade year. However, I was never able to have her because when basketball season came, she was on maternity leave. I remember being really upset and let down. What I really liked about Mrs. Landers was that she really loved basketball and you could tell. She was a really tough coach, but in the end that was the best. Any team needs a coach that will push them to succeed, and she did just that. When I was in 8^th grade I would always compare our coach to Mrs. Landers and they just couldn’t relate. Mrs. Landers wasn’t just a very good coach, she is my idol. I really admire her because of how hard she worked for our team, and overall she was a really kind person, and I would do anything to have her coach me another year in basketball.

"Love yourself and you're set. ... I promise you, it will get better."

Bullying is something that everyone goes through at least once in their life. People might think they are joking but what they are saying can really hurt someone. The internet really adds to bullying, cyber bullying is another very hurtful thing. Bullying, however, is taken way too far when someone kills themselves because of things said to them. Jamey Rodemeyer, a 14 year old from Williamsville North High school took his own like on Sunday September, 18^th. Jamey had only just started his freshman year. Comments were made on his formspring account (a website where people can write things anonymously to someone) such as "I wouldn't care if you died. No one would. So just do it :) It would make everyone WAY more happier!" and "JAMIE IS STUPID, GAY, FAT ANND [sic] UGLY. HE MUST DIE!" This tragedy was recognized by Lady Gaga (Jamey’s idol). Gaga tweeted “Bullying must become illegal. It is a hate crime,". I completely agree with Lady Gaga’s statement. Jamey was such a young boy and had his whole life ahead of him, but yet he killed himself because of other peoples’ cruelty. I think that the saying ‘sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can never hurt you’ is completely false. Words can do a lot of harm to a person mentally. I also believe that the kids who pushed Jamey to kill himself should be punished. It is their entire fault he took his own life. Furthermore, I don’t agree with bullying someone because of their sexuality. If someone is a homosexual it doesn’t make them a bad person whatsoever. Jamey said, "Love yourself and you're set. ... I promise you, it will get better.", I think it is very sad that Jamey obviously felt this way at one point but bullies just pushed him over the edge. I would really like to see an end to bullying. There is nothing positive about bullying; all it does is hurt people.

Alden Restaurants

My favorite restaurant in Alden is the Town & Country. I’ve been going to that restaurant ever since I was little. I remember when I wasn’t in school yet and my older siblings were once in a while my mom would drop them off at school and then she and I would go there together. My grandma would also use to take me and my cousins there. My friend, Sarah’s brother recently bought the Town & Country restaurant so I think it’s cool that he owns it. My family and I always go out for brunch on Easter and the place we went to went out of business so we had to find a new place to go. We tried out different places and none were good until 2 years ago we went there, and now that is where we will be going every Easter from now on. Another restaurant I like is the West Alden Kitchen. I went there for my first time before my freshman year as team bonding for soccer. The JV and varsity soccer teams went there together again this year and I really enjoy it there. I also like John and Mary’s. It is in a convenient location right in the village and it is easy to walk to go there to eat with friends. I also like the Chinese food restaurant in Alden. I don’t get Chinese food often but it’s always good when I do. I like Geofanno’s also, chicken fingers are one of my favorite foods and I always get them from there, I don’t really like their pizza though. When Tim Horton’s comes to Alden I think that it will be my favorite restaurant because I really like coffee and bagels from there.   Overall, I like a lot of the restaurants in Alden.

Taco Day

       I have never been a fan of school lunches, but I have also never been a fan of bringing a lunch from home. During freshman year for lunch I either bought a bagel or a pop tart. I don’t know why but that was all I ever got and this year I’ve only gotten a bagel a few times.  This school year, however, I find myself buying salad almost every day. On occasion I find myself buying pizza. The only one exception to this is every other Thursday when it is taco day. Taco day in my opinion is the best school lunch. The only negative thing about it is that the line is always really long. Even if you run down to the lunch line right away there is always already a line. I always just sit at my table and wait for the line to get short and then go wait. By the time I go and get it line it is always half way through lunch. I had my first taco in a bag last year, and now that is what I get every taco day. Another school lunch I like is French toast. Overall, I really do not like the school’s food and there are a few exceptions to what I do like.