On Friday , after lunch, my AP Spanish class headed down to the pool area to celebrate the Mexican holiday Dia De Los Muertos. Kids from lower campus came up as well, we integrated as a group and had fun learning about the culture behind Dia De Los Muertos.
This holiday celebrates both the fullness of life, and life after death. People bring flowers to the graves of their loved ones along with music to remember them. Their spirit is said to be present during the celebration, and families become reunited once again in happiness.
For our celebration we decorated sugar skulls with colored icing. Everyone had a lot of fun bringing out their artistic sides with the decorating. In addition, the spanish classes have created “offrendas” , or offerings, dedicated to loved ones that have been lost. The offerings and alters will be set up in the library in the next couple of days for people to pay respect, and visit. I think that we should do more activities like this because it brings together the upper and lower campuses in a fun way. Sometimes i feel like we stand so separately as campuses, and it is activities like this that bring us together as one “Ojai Valley School.”
Day: November 1, 2010
Sorry.
It is unfortunate, a tragedy. Girls and boys everywhere are put under a microscope, dissected and torn apart with no mercy. They are tormented because they are different.
Because they aren’t skinny enough.
Because they’re wardrobe consists of mostly black.
Because they have a stutter.
Because they like the same sex.
Because the world has decided on its picture of perfection, and the rest of us didn’t get a say in the final result.
X-Woman
We all enjoy a good laugh every once in a while. So, we result to looking up hilarious videos on Youtube or sometimes even look up weird news articles. Well, while I was searching for entertainment I stumbled upon what is probably the most unbelievable story I’ve read. But, here’s the thing, it’s the kind of unbelievable that’s so ridiculous you wonder if it could be true. You think, “There’s no way that’s real!” but, then that little voice in the back of head says, “How do you know it’s not?”
Here’s the story: A 40 year old woman from Indonesia is supposedly growing metal rods FROM HER BODY!
Okay, take a second. Is your little voice going off? See! I’m not the only one. I mean what are we supposed to believe? The picture is right there! The article says that this woman has been growing these wires out of her for 18 years. She says that sometimes they will “retract back into her” and then pop up in a different area on her body.
It makes you wonder whether or not this woman staged the whole thing just to get recognized. Then it brings you back to the “Tree Man” who seems to literally be made up of tree trunks. So, maybe there is such thing as a metal filled woman who continues to grow such metal out of her skin. The article even says that doctors believe that this anomaly is not a publicity stunt, but a true story. How weird!!!!
Death and Art Value
In the worldly beloved art museum of Louvre, there is an important rule strictly applied to all artists.
Every artist must die for over sixty years to have the masterpiece displayed.
This rule abandons the positive correlation between price and demand and most logics that we could possibly mention.
Then, why is it true that artistic value increases along with death?
The answer may be related to the discovery of veiled works after death like Emily Dickinson‘s findings, people’s preference for old genre, or successful estate planning.
Estate planning essentially ensures the art value for the artists. During this process, they are highly recommended to make a will with a careful selection of their artworks that have been evaluated professionally, to decide the management of these works for 70 years after their death, and to figure out a way to reduce the inheritance taxes.
However, the case with Vincent van Gogh who left the world without such plan divulges a mystery of dramatic increase in his artistic value.
Despite the high appraisal he receives from the world today, his death was lonely with unpopularity. Perhaps, his artworks were overly avant-garde to be appropriately appreciated during his lifetime like Leonardo Da Vinci’s previously infamous but revolutionary creation of wheel transportation.
In the midst of this ambiguity, the Louvre Museum continues oblige its artworks to belong to the dead artists.
last home game
On Saturday, seniors had their last football home game at lower against Laguna Blanca.
Unfortunately we didn’t come out with victory, but everyone put their best effort into the game. We all know that this game will be a hard one. However, every senior wanted to have a game with no regret, and other underclassmen also want to give their best to the seniors.
We run hard, hit hard, and tackle hard. Despite that we got hurt, but it is worth it in our last home game. Although we lost it, we still have our last game at Lancaster Baptist on next Saturday!
Off to a Good Start
Today, the Lakers played a magnificent game against the Golden State Warriors. The Lakers cruised past this team with tremendous ease and ability with a final score of 107-83. The great success is due to the Lakers’ strong bench. With players like Shannon Brown, Matt Barnes and Steve Blake, the media has dubbed the bench the “Killer Bees” (due to their last names). The Lakers have had an amazing season and pre-season so far. Their main worry though, is the Celtics. At the beginning of the year I would have said it was the Heat (because they have LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh), but they lost to the Celtics several days ago. If I were to make an assumption about the championship, then I would say the finals will be between the Lakers and the Celtics, with the Lakers winning in six games.
Welcome to America
I have come to the conclusion that the method of immigrating to another county is a joke. Whilst some people hop over the border to gain a new lifestyle. I have to wait a year and a half to get a visa. It is truly ridiculous.
It’s ironic really that it takes so long. In all seriousness the process could be cut a lot shorter. I mean you could just get a flight to another country, buy a house, car etc and BAM you’re now a resident of a new country. But non it has to be made difficult.
TechNO
Ladies and gentlemen, the past few days have been pretty frustrating. Thanks to Ojai Valley School‘s extremely poor Internet service, I have been unable to write anything on this blog for quite a while.
Either way, I’m back. Now, even though the past few games of the world series have been pretty interesting to say the least, I will not be writing about sports tonight. Rather, this blog will be more on the venting side. I need to blow off steam.
Music has always been a thing that I have enjoyed throughout the years, no question, yet every couple of months, I find myself swigging cokes on a sofa during a school dance and saying one thing, “Jesus, this really sucks doesn’t it?” That last statement was censored by the way.
Halloween
In order to welcome Halloween, the OVS student council decided to hold a Halloween haunting tour. We spent few hundred dollars buying costumes and props. However, we didn’t charge the students ay money to take the tour.
The tour began at the courtyard at Friday night, where a mad pianist was playing horrifying music while several zombies were eating dead bodies waiting for new victims to come. After facing the terrifying zombies, a werewolf and the guy from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre were waiting to scare on their way down to the amphitheater.
At the amphitheater, two crazy scientists had just lost control of a ferocious Frankenstein. After escaping from Frankenstein, the survivors stepped into the pool area, which was Death’s territory. The Death and a haunting ghost are trying to take the survivors lives away.
The whole scary adventure was a welcome surprise for the entire school and provide a scary for Halloween.
Lets Talk About Refs
Yesterday, during the match in which the greatest team in the world (Manchester United) defeated Tottenham Hotspurs, a very questionable call occured. I would put a video of this goal up, but the Footballing Government has removed it from the internet due to how controversial it is. Here instead is a description of what happened: Man U’s Portuguese winger Nani dribbles into the penalty box, gets pulled down by his jersey (an obvious penalty). Nani falls down, puts his hand on the ball and looks at the ref, who has not made a call. Goalkeeper for Tottenham assumes it is a hand ball and picks up the ball to place it for the free kick. Nani looks again at the ref and realizes that the ref has not blown his whistle. Nani then kicks the ball into the back of the net from the goalkeepers feet. Chaos ensues.
To most football fans, this was one of the weirdest moments they have ever witnessed. What happened in my perspective was a communications breakdown. The goal keeper for Tottenham (Heurelho Gomes) is from Brazil, Nani is from Portugal and the ref is from England, already there is a language barrier. Although the ref did miss an obvious penalty call, his non-call on the hand ball in my mind was the right call. As a referee, we are encouraged to make the game flow as much as possible while maintaining the fairness and safety required. Whether the ref blew his whistle or not, Tottenham got the ball, but by blowing his whistle he would have slowed down the game. In reality karma happened because Man U got the goal that should have come from a penalty kick. Now if I was a Tottenham fan I would not be angry at the center ref, I would be furious at the linesman. The linesman raised his flag when he saw the handball, which is his job. The center official however, get to decided whether or not to call it. Players are told to play the whistle because it’s the only thing that really matters. yes, he did raise his flag. However the ref made the right call and the keeper messed up. And anyways, Man U would have won even if they hadnt scored because…they ARE the greatest team in the world.
OVS Journalism Blog 
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