Grandma B

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At 90 years old, one can hope to still be alive, let alone completely mobile and thriving.

My 90-year-old neighbor at home, known as Grandma B, can be seen out every day, doing various errands and tending to her intricate garden.

Although inhibited by being nearly blind and hard of hearing, she has no physical troubles and is completely there mentally. Because of her eyesight, she sports thick, black rimmed glasses, causing her eyes to look gigantic.

No one in the neighborhood knows her real name, for she chooses to be known as Grandma B to everyone.

Grandma B owns a car, and is still legally allowed to drive – resulting in her doing all her grocery shopping, banking and other errands on her own. However, her enormous family is always there to assist if need be.

Always outside, Grandma B has an abundance of fruit trees, vegetables and flowers growing in her garden. Constantly hunched over to tend to her pride and joy, her yard thrives and is beautiful to look at.

Photo Credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org

Standing outside her quaint house, it always smells wonderful, for she can be found baking her personal recipe (chocolate chip cookies) at least once a day.

Grandma B is a favorite for the neighborhood children, for she has countless life stories to share, lots of food to pick from her garden, and a cozy house with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies to accompany everything.

Although she’s approaching the top of the age scale, Grandma B is a cute, lively woman who is a joyful addition to the neighborhood.

Roadtrip

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My Grandfather who lives in Illinois gave me his truck, so my Dad and I went back to his farm to pick it up. It is a three seat truck, and with three people, there’s a tight squeeze. We decided to bring him back with us on the trip. This was the third time we have all done this together .

 

You would expect it to be really fun. But it was really uncomfortable. We went to two baseball games because my Dad loves baseball so much. Then when we hit Colorado we had some problems. The truck broke down. We were stuck in a small town all day. I was actually kind of glad because it was an uncomfortable car ride. Plus, the situation could have been much worse. We could have been in Kansas. It’s the only place the whole way back that isn’t pretty.

Once everything was fixed we went back out on the road. Sadly we ended up back in the shop the next day. I was disappointed then because we needed to get home and we where going to have to skip the one place I wanted to go to, Bryce Canyon.

As we got closer to Bryce the weather was getting really bad. I haven’t seen that much rain in years, and we had to stop. We got the hotel closest to Bryce and I was able to go. The weather cleared up enough to go on trails and explore the amazing canyons. The rocks are bright red, and it looks different every time you go. The weather couldn’t have been better and the scenery was amazing. The wait to get there was definitely worth it.

The Dolphin Slaughter of Taiji

Lula Rod

Sea Shepherd is a non-profit organization that was established in 1977, and continues to support marine wildlife conservation today. The SSCS (Sea Shepherd Conservation Society) uses direct-action tactics to take action and expose illegal acts in the open sea, such as destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans.

The organization is currently running a campaign called “Cove Guardians”, a Taiji dolphin defense campaign that is now in action in Japan. This campaign has volunteers going out to a place called the cove, filming and documenting throughout the dolphin hunt season, when about 20,000 dolphins, small whales and porpoises are killed each year.

The Taiji campaign aims to end the unnecessary hunt, and achieve permanent freedom for the dolphins and small whales of Japan.

Officer-Involved Shootings in 2014

Lula Rod

The Los Angeles Times is a source to the public that provides news stories, media stories, and something called the Homicide Report. The Homicide Report is a blog/database that can help people find entries on certain homicide reports by category. The category options are: “race/ethnicity,” “gender,” “cause,” “officer-involved/not officer-involved,” and “year.”

In the year of 2014, there have been several controversial officer-involved shootings. Many of these have been directed towards black or hispanic victims. Officer-involved shootings have occurred in places like Bellflower, CA., Florence, SC., Inglewood, CA., Compton, CA. and, as many have heard recently, Ferguson, MO.

Within the Homicide Report database, there are twenty-two deaths in 2014 that fit the guidelines of a black or latino male killed in an officer-involved shooting. Switch those categories to a white male killed in an officer-involved shooting? Three deaths. Coincidence? I think not. Many of the officers reported in these shootings have been white as well. With facts like these, it’s difficult not to think of these deaths as acts of bias reasoning or racism.

After the death of Michael Brown on a Sunday at 2:15, unarmed and shot multiple times, news announcer Lawrence O’Donnell conducted an interview with eyewitness Tiffany Mitchell on what she saw that day.

During this interview Mitchell brings up the point that cop cars should, and most do, have operating dashboard cameras that could have, in this situation, captured some footage that could confirm what happened. When Mitchell points this out, O’Donnell seems to change and disregard the subject. A little suspicious maybe?

Outrage In Missouri Town After Police Shooting Of 18-Yr-Old Man

2014 Worlds

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Photo by Cole Zellner
Photo by Cole Zellner

2014 League of Legends World Championships is currently near the end of competitive season 4. This year, Worlds will be hosted in a stadium located in Korea. It has turned into the most watched Esport in the last 4 years.

The first season was disappointing compared to now. It used to just be a small event with fold out chairs and a $50,000 prize. Now, they fill soccer stadiums and have famous bands make songs for them. This years prize pool is over $2,000,000.

But the gamer’s don’t play for the money. They play because they love gaming. One pro said he gave up everything for the game, because life gave him a chance to be the best in the world at something, and he wanted to take it.

There are so many teams. TSM will be representing America in this years season. There are a few others but they don’t stand a chance.

As you can see, gaming is turning into something much more than just something you do for fun. It is becoming a career.

Across the Country

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Photo Credit: http://www.telegraph.co.uk

With most of my family living on the East Coast while I’m in Oregon, it’s hard to get everyone together and have time to catch up. My sister and I go to New York every summer for about two weeks, where we stay with my Aunt, Uncle and cousins.

Those two weeks provide endless fun – we go camping, sight-seeing and enjoy each other’s company. It’s also refreshing to escape from my hectic life and relax into a different lifestyle.

However, since my sister and I traveled all the way across the country, we hope to see even more of our family. Through extensive planning, we hold a family reunion, where I see the rest of my Aunts, Uncles and cousins. It gets pretty confusing though, for I have two Uncle Dan’s, two Uncle David’s, two Uncle Jeff’s and two Uncle Johns!

During that time we usually go to a park and have a picnic, with lots of good food and great conversation. My sister and I are the reason for the gathering, so I get asked plenty of questions, often repeated and usually pertaining to this school. It lasts for about 4 hours, when everybody then goes their own way and continues on with their life.

My annual short and sweet gathering, and my trip to New York are always a success – I get a chance to see my extended family and I have a wonderful time!

Unplug

kennyroo
cnn kid with phone
photo credit to: http://www.cnn.com/

When I was younger my brother and I shared a flip phone and we were over the moon thrilled. Our house had one big black computer, and my dad had a laptop for work. Adults had small flip phones to text, call, and take horrible quality photos — but that was it.

Phones weren’t buzzing and beeping 24 hours a day, and we could all get through a meal without even mentioning technology. Today, I have my phone with me most, if not all of the time. I can’t even go into a mall without seeing at least a handful of toddlers playing on tablets, or crying because they don’t get to watch television on their mother’s phone. The kids that are being born today are being born into a generation of technology – a generation that cares more about taking pictures of their lives, rather than actually living them.

Maybe we should all unplug. Take a break from other peoples’ lives and start living your own.

Have You Ever Seen, An ASIT Company

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This summer, I spent a grand total of eight weeks at summer camp. Yes, the same summer camp, but this time I was not a lowly camper.

I was an ASIT. 

An ASIT. Animal Specialist in Training. We, 11-25 of us, wake up at 6:45 a.m. to feed, water, and clean the enclosures of over 300 different camp animals. There are four areas; the Barn, the Animal Learning Center (ALC for short), the Jungle, and the Kennels.

Barn people take care of the Inner Barn, the Back Pastures, the Nursery, the Bird Nursery, and the Creepy Crawly Room.

ALC people take care of the Habitats, the Small Animal Room, the Reptile Room, and the Cat Room.

The Jungle and the Kennels are their own areas.

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I worked (I PAID TO WORK) as an ASIT for 6 weeks, meaning I worked in every area at least once. My pride and joy, where I wished I could sleep at night, was the Reptile Room. I memorized the meals of 7 reptile species in under three days. My greatest moment was walking into the ALC Kitchen and the lead Animal Specialist planted herself in front of me and said “just the person I was looking for! I need you to feed the reptiles!”

Chuckwallas, Mali Uromastyx, Green Iguana, Leopard Tortoise, Plated Lizards, Blue-Tongued Skink, Bearded Dragon, Leopard Gecko. For the sake of my own pride, I listed the reptiles (minus the snakes) that we took care of. For the sake of time and space I won’t write down their meals.

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The Habitats was the next area I memorized. Again, under three days.

Given the time, I assure you I would have memorized all the meals for the animals. I didn’t really try anyways until the last week.

Just a Practice Run?

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That 89 percent that could have been a 90 percent is not going to matter to you in five years, believe it or not. I can’t even fathom how often the sentence “but it will look good for college apps,” is heard yearly on a high school campus. Are these four years what define us as humans? I sure hope that’s not the case because I’m so much more than a percentage.

High school is such a small portion of our lives when you really think about it. These four years are all that matter to you right now, but are they all that’s going to matter in ten? What about when our kids go to school? Will that B- you got in geometry matter then? We work so hard to be judged by our performance rather than our person.

What are schools teaching about being a good human? What about how to do our own taxes? Nope, sorry that’s not taught here. I can recite the Pythagorean theorem basically in my sleep, and tell you the difference between an acid and a base; but what about the values of honesty and kindness? Isn’t this all a practice run anyways? Aren’t we being trained for “The Real World”? I’ve only been told that exact statement once or a million times.

Kids these days are on anxiety medications for the amount of stress they’re put under. We run ourselves into the ground for what? To be judged some more? We are expected to put our education before personal health. It is not asked, but expected. We must do whatever it takes to succeed.

Photo from: http://lahaiseslair.com
Photo from: http://lahaiseslair.com

Dress Code Controversy

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nullComing from an art school where one could come to school with bright pink hair and an abundance of fringe on their shorts, Ojai Valley School was quite a culture shock.

Although understandably more conservative than my previous school, I still believe that this school takes the importance of dress code too seriously. The impetus for dress code is often girls having to dress a certain way as to not distract any members of the opposite sex.

The fact that this is a large cause for dress code is the worst part about the rule, for it is shaming. Females shouldn’t have to alter themselves for the convenience of males. All in all, not only are the motives behind our dress code a controversial point, but it prevents everyone from wearing certain articles of clothing they love!