Mark Twain's Wit

Age

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.
Mark Twain

    I like this quote because I agree with it so much. When I saw this quote, I immediately thought of my grandpa. He is over 70 and still runs almost everyday and enters a lot of runs around here, most of the time he is the winner only because he is the only one in his age group. But because he doesn't think of his age, it doesn't matter. He can do whatever he puts his mind to, within reason. I hope someday that I will be like that. I will still be doing everything I love, despite my age. I know I may get sad sometime when I'm older that I am getting too old too fast, but then I'm going to try to remember this quote, because it's the truth. Mind over matter and I will do whatever I want, within reason.

What's Good?

HARRY POTTER

 

     This is my favorite series by so far. No other series that I have read can match these. I just love the way that Rowling ties all of the books together. Every single thing in every book had some kind of significance that comes out later. The seventh and last book is really the one that nails everything down. 

     Also, every time that reread the series, it has been 8 times now, I learn something new, or make a connection I never did before. There is just so much packed into them, it's ridiculous. I can never just put them down, once I start I finish that book in a couple of days, usually less. Then, when I do finish it, I run upstairs, grab the next one and start reading that one. I will continue to read them despite the fact that I know what is going to happen.
     They are classic books, and whenever I have kids, I will have them read that series or I'll read it to them if they can't read yet. Anyone who hasn't read them, slash thinks they are dumb, I tell you, don't say that until you have read them, because you wont say that afterward.

Stories of the Quest for Civil Rights

Another Sit-In

The story I found was very short so I will just type it out.
"As we were sitting in at McClellan's in Nashville, persons pulled Paul from his seat next to me and began hitting him roughly. I turned aside in shock, but was trained to do nothing."

civilrights.historybeat.com/gannett.php?page=110458091 

     This story, though short connects to the other stories we've read. The first to the sit in at Woolworth's were there was much violence taking place. This story also had violence. This violence was an uncommon thing at a sit in. It was expected those who choose to do the sitting in. They, had he said, to do nothing. This was also mentioned by Martin Luther King Jr. in his writing Stride Toward Freedom. He says in this writing how he trains all the people he protests with not to react to violence and not to protest by using violence. He tells how this takes the focus off of the problem at hand. There are numerous testimonies just like this out there that prove how many people followed that to get was should have been theirs in the first place.

Augusta Fells Savage (1882 - 1962)

Augusta Fells Savage (1882 - 1962)

     Savage was an artist who lived in Florida. She started out by making clay figures against her father's wishes. She was so passionate about her art that she went to New York to study art and receive training to become an artist. At one point, she applied for a summer art program, but was denied by the French government because of her race. This was how she was like the sisters because though she was denied there, she was determined. She ended up studying with the sculptor Herman Mac Neil.  She became a portrait sculptor and portrayed W.E.B. DuBois, Frederick Douglass, and many other famous black persons of the time. Another way she was like the sisters was that she strived for education. She knew, just like the sisters, that education was the only way to get ahead in life. In the end, she became a teacher just like the sisters were at one time. She did it to help others use their gifts to get ahead just like her.

The Truth about Nature

The Grand Tetons 

     When I went on a cross country trip last summer, I my family and I stay at a hotel in the Grand Tetons, a national park. We went on many hikes, which took a lot out of us but one stands out. We went on a hike up Signal Mountain to get what was supposed to be the best view of the Tetons. We started out and it was fine, and then it gradually got steeper and steeper and harder and harder. Eventually everyone besides my mom was complaining, but that wasn't even the worst of it. The worst part was the mosquitoes. They were always following you and almost never left. It made the whole trip up almost unbearable. We eventually made it to the top, and it was worth it. It was worth the mosquitoes, the work, the heat, all of it. When i saw the view I remembered how beautiful nature as a whole was, and not to focus on the negatives. So on the way back down, I started to ignore the parts that annoyed me, and focus on a small cool breeze that swept the mosquitoes away, if only for a moment. Or the beautiful flowers and animals that we saw on the way down that I was too pessimistic on the way up to see. The nature taught me to focus on the good things rather than the bad.

Affirmations of Life

My Great Day

     Today I had a great day. I woke up with a full 10 hours of sleep under my belt, which hasn't happened in a while. Then I came into school first hour and Megan and I did the egg drop in Physics. We successfully got on our second wall of the year! We tied for second place on the egg drop, under Hannah Williams and tied to Andrew Wieting and Jimmy Clark. That made my day to start out with. I went through the rest of my day, and collected zero homework. Then Megan, Julie, and I made the band senior night posters and were very productive. I then went to my basketball game against Christian Life and we killed, not to mention I scored 4 points! (Never happens). I then came home and had a brownie and chocolate syrup ice cream thing. It was great. Now I figured I would write this blog about my great day. Really great day.