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So I have been playing soccer since the 5th grade, and I would say that I was pretty good at. Over the years I played on so many teams, and at many different. In the 10th grade, though, I stopped for a very dumb reason and I was always mad at myself for that. So in my last year I decided to play soccer. I was so excited when I made this decision because I missed it so much! Today was my first time playing soccer in about 2 years, so I expected the worst.
From the running and diving to drills and dribbling I almost died!
When I got home, I felt all the pain rush through my body as I laid in my bed. I started to question my decision to start soccer again and some doubt definitely did surface. In the end though I decided to stay and hopefully the pain would decrease as the time went on.

Opening empty bag.  Calling the exterminator.  

Miss high profile, caught you shopping on Canal
I guess it makes sense, it seems phony as your style
Your hair and your nails just as phony as your smile
Fake eyelashes, you drew your eyebrows
It makes a brother ask, do you pride yourself?
Your make up like a mask, tryna hide yourself
It seems on the outside you thinking you the shit
But there's a soul that's inside that you don't even knew exist
So you so out of touch that the world mistreat you,
Rich niggas fuck you and broke niggas beat you
Hoping this will reach you when you understand
That your value ain't determined by another man
Cause right now you let them brothers get the upper hand
And you just tell them go deep like Cunningham
And you just let them OD like Len Bias


i like to wear coats everyday.
never take them off.
bundled up.
out of view.
above are the blinded reasons.

I went skiing today. It was very pleasant outside. The temperature was just perfect at 50 degree fahrenheit ( took me forever to spell that right) and there were no crowds.  Although everything was perfect I still did a poor job skiing. I guess I just had an off day, which is a shame because I was really looking forward to skiing all day but had very little energy and my legs were killing me from soccer. Oh well, maybe next time will be better. At least I didn't fall.

The Video is Here

Tariq & Sekai's FDA Presentation

Whilst listening to Cowboy Casanova by Carrie Underwood….

There was a boy. His name was Dylan and he was the head-honcho of Shady Oaks Campground. He was blonde-haired, blue-eyed and was a comic. All of the girls liked him, including Caroline. She was new, everyone at the campground had grown up spending their summers together and Caroline felt extremely out of place. She fell in love with the campground the first time she had ever gone. She had come at night with her family, put her stuff in the trailer and spent the night walking around, looking at the stars that weren't visible in the city, and listening to the sounds of laughter and crickets. It wasn't a large campground, but it was mostly quiet and undisturbed by sounds of the city like cars, obnoxious teenagers, and shootings and she could see thousands of stars in the sky above her. She almost never saw more than two or three stars from her house in Philadelphia.

The first time she met Dylan she was sitting by the pool in a tank-top and shorts with her bare, slightly burnt feet hanging in the clear water. He called to her, which she of course didn't' pick up on at first because he said "Hey you!" It dawned on her a moment later that he must be speaking to her because she was the only person whose name he didn't know. So, she turned and faced the picnic table that he was sitting on. She thought he was cute, but wondered why he could be disturbing her when she was minding her own business. "Yes?" she asked as she took in him and his many friends. "What's your name?" Simple enough, odd that he would ask, but simple. "Caroline" she replied. He said hi and smiled at her, she waved and smiled back and then turned her back to him. Eventually another boy by the name of Shjon swam up to her and introduced himself. He was younger than her, blonde-haired, blue-eyed and completely skin and bones. He stood talking to her while she played catch with her younger brother (her brother being in the pool and diving for the ball as she threw it and then tossing it back). Shjon went to join her brother at the other side of the pool and they dove to be the first to get the ball. Then, of course, Dylan and a few of his guy friends joined in. All of the boys competed for the ball and tossed it back to Caroline so that she would throw it again.

Later that night Caroline sat at the darkened park at the front of the campground and again she found Dylan. He came and sat on the bench with her and started asking her about herself. From this close it was obvious that Dylan was a very cute boy, he was being sweet and she told herself that she would make friends with this boy. Dylan had other things in mind. They talked and flirted, Caroline in a shy way, and eventually other people came to see them; girls from the campground. They were slightly younger than Caroline and they didn't really seemed to be bothered with her, they were curious about Dylan's approach of Caroline and they weren't happy about it. Caroline assumed that the girl who appeared to be the leader of the group liked Dylan and was used to being the one that he flirted with, she wasn't very pretty but the prettiest girl Caroline had seen so far. Maybe they were like the "It" couple. But, Dylan walked away form the other girls and insisted that Caroline come with him to the other side. So, she went and the other girls followed. They worked their very hardest to get Dylan's attention so Caroline walked away to go to the back park and watch the stars. Dylan left the other girls and followed Caroline. The other girls followed but decided not to be a part of what was going on and to just watch. They eventually left Caroline and Dylan alone.

Dylan helped Caroline onto a pile of sand and they sat there talking and looking up at the sky. He eventually laid down and Caroline just sat there with her arms locked around her knees. He told her she could lay down and put his arm out for her to lay her head on. So, she laid down leaning her head against against his shoulder. They talked, flirted and she found herself crushing right away. He was charming, he was an animal person, he was a Philly fan (Eagles, Phillies, Flyers..) and he was funny.

Eventually they kissed, spent time together every time she was down the campground, and started "dating" (if you consider seeing each other once in a while during the summer dating). Autumn came, the campground closed, they talked over the phone and promised to be together over the summer. Summer rolled around they dated, Autumn came around and they split. It became a cycle. Whenever they were apart he was with a hundred other girls, when he wasn't with her down the campground he was hooking up with other girls. She knew, but she couldn't admit it. Eventually they had sex and the next morning when she woke up in his arms, she felt like an idiot. Played back memories of when she made love for the first time and how different the two experiences were. She let herself see the real him and she didn't like it. She learned her lesson and she left him. She stayed friends with him, but she learned not to trust him ever again because she would never again feel the way she did that night.

We did our NHD on the genocide convention in 1948. We decided to focus on different genocides all around the world. Amaris Romero, Shelby Harcher, and Johnathan Neris

Process:

The three of us stumbled upon our topic when the assignment was first given by our eleventh grade American History teacher, Ms. Diana Laufenberg. Our topic, Segregation In Schools, deals with the negatives, and also the positives of how schools came to be segregated and why they were useful and also racist and unfair. The three of us have always been interested in the ways segregated schools worked and how the white schools differed from the black schools. Since the three of us had this common interest, we chose to base our National History Day project around this topic.

Before creating our website to display school segregation, we each wrote an essay about a topic that had to do with another topic we found interesting. Aaron wrote his essay about segregation in schools so we were able to use some of his sources when it came time to create our website. We used numerous links from outside sources, along with the sources Aaron used for his essay.

When it came time to put all of the details and pictures into the website, we had to take a minute to decide what type of website we were going to use. In the end, the three of us agreed to make a tumblr blog because it was the best and most accessible way to display our information and pictures. The tumblr blog has numerous pictures with citations and also several excerpts that give details about school segregation. 

In the end, we enjoyed working together on this project. We were able to work together and come to a consensus and complete the task at hand. The link to our blog is schoolsegregation.tumblr.com

<iframe width="500" height="375" src="http://www.schooltube.com/embed/27b3ff3e001173ee2089" frameborder="0"></iframe>

Reflection of Project

I'm really interested in women's rights, and I always have been. When I was young my mom would bring me to some of her Women's Way meetings. So I thought it would be interesting to find out some more information about a topic that I've always been interested in. I started by talking about earning the right to vote, and came together with Marina and we combined the right to vote with other women's rights topics as well. 

I chose the format of a documentary because it's a format in which I feel comfortable creating a product that I will be proud of. I feel that people connect with visuals more than they do with simply reading something and our final movie is definitely something that I can connect with, so I think others will be able to as well. That makes the documentary more real and more interesting to the viewer. 

The parts of this project that were challenging were coming up with a specific timeline and story line to follow as well as finding primary sources that would look good in a documentary. Because both Marina and I had primary source docs from when we wrote our paper we used those, but then still had to find more to go along with our new thesis. On the other hand, some things that went well were coming up with a script and piecing everything together with smooth transitions and relatable topics.

If I were to do it again I would probably find more of a specific story, then look for documents that related to that story so viewers could follow along more intently, by following a story.  

In the process of doing this project, I learned both sides of the story of women's rights and why it's important that we have rights for women in this country, and that there are rights for women all over the world. I learned about the different movements and the stages of women's suffrage, and I think that now I have a proper understanding for what women's suffrage really means to the women in this country and how it relates to me. 

http://www.schooltube.com/video/27b3ff3e001173ee2089/Womens-Masculine-Role-In-Society

For this project to be submitted to the National History Day Competition in Philadelphia, I chose to present on women's masculine role in society because the time period I focused on was one of back and forth between women's rights and also how women stepped into a more masculine role in society that is present to this day. The format that was chosen was a documentary.  I chose this because it was easy way to make a visual time line of events, which was how the original paper I wrote had been formatted.  It was also an easier way to present sources such as pictures and videos. One problem I had was simply the time management, and making sure everything was put together and finished properly.  Another issue was making sure it continued relating back to the overall theme of debate and diplomacy, however just the topic of women's rights during the 1900 in general is one filled with back and forth between men and women and their acceptation in society.    
What went well was the amount of primary sources I had in the beginning and the myriad that I had in the end.  The putting together of the movie also went smoothly besides small technical difficulties.  I mostly had a script for the audio before because of the paper I had written on the same topic. If I were to do the project over again I would make sure to focus a bit more on the debate side of the argument and also make the movie longer. I would also tried to get it done in a more reasonable time.  During this project I learned a great deal about what it was like for a women growing up during the 1900's and also more about using the movie program on my computer. Also my knowledge of bibliographies and research was expanded by this project.  But mostly I am glad I learned and got to experience the experience of submitting something like this to a competition like National History Day.

Below is a hyper link to my NHD project that includes the process paper, annotated bibliography and the script of my performance.

Battling Bastard of Bataan: An account of a P.O.W.

Benchmark Reflection

I chose this topic because there weren't any other topics that interested me, and after reading the book, Ghost Soldiers,  I was so intrigued by this story that I never heard of before. I decided that the Bataan Death March would be something worth researching and would meet the topic of Diplomacy, Debate and Successes & Failures.

I knew that I wanted to perform long before I had picked my topic and that is because in school I've done a lot of projects similar to the other choices such as websites, papers, and documentaries. I wanted to do something different and I was attracted to the idea of performing because I knew that not many people would pick it, therefore my project might have a good chance of standing out.

I ran into trouble with the actual acting. I've  written many different pieces that were meant to be performed, but I've rarely had to embody a character and act. In Drama class, I would always struggle with characterization, so I figured that this project would probably help me be a stronger actor. However, now I feel as thought I've bitten off more than I could chew and while I am confident that I'll be able to perform in front of others, I'm not sure if it'll be the best quality. 

What went well with this project was the timing. I had a lot of time to write my script and because I chose to do a performance there wasn't much for me to work on except for practicing, which I think I could've done more of.

If I had to do it over I would maybe just have picked the easy way out and would've created another documentary, or I would've picked a different topic. I think that my topic was okay, but it wasn't anything that I felt particularly passionate about and it didn't stir my bones when I thought of it. I would probably pick a topic that I felt more connected to. I would also take my work more seriously. Because I chose a performance, I don't think I worked as hard as I should've and I spent a lot of my time slacking when I could've been rehearsing.

Throughout this project, I learned a lot about World War 2. I'm not sure if I was absent from school during that part of history class( I was sick a lot in elementary school), but I had a vague set of information on World War 2. Since researching the Bataan Death March, I learned  about America's past relationship with the Japanese and America's history in the Philippines. I also learned of some courageous men who survived the war and the horrible prison camps.

I chose to do this topic originally because in my ILP (Marshall Brennan) we were learning about student rights and I thought this could become the perfect topic for my NHD project Donna and I chose to turn it into a documentary together because we originally wanted to incorporate ​my ILP into it but that became an impossibility. 

We chose to do a documentary because we are both very creative and felt we could make this our own. We also wanted to film my ILP. Even though not all of our ideas worked out we still enjoyed making the video.

We ran into trouble when we didn't have enough time to have both of us record. It ended up being that I would record and Donna would just write some of the things out for me. An easy fix but it was difficult at the time.

I feel that besides the ILP aspect it turned out exactly how I imagined it. I don't like some of the pictures we used but they were all that was available. 

I would gather all of the info first before trying to make anything because sometimes we got stuck having to go back and find things we neglected to get before. It made everything take longer.

I actually learned more about my topic this time around. There was a tad more research involved and I also had to listen to the court cases which gave me the chance to understand more of what was going on. 

OUR PROJECT

Why did i choose this topic?
Originally i was going to do immigration in America the difference between unexcepted illegal immigration and people exempt illegal immigration. Then I figured why not go deeper and decided to talk about how becoming a citizen has changed along the years. Upon doing research i noticed the way it changed was no fair to the people of a nation we were at conflict with even if they were trying to flee.

Why did you choose this type of presentation format?
I want to do a video but

Maxime, Julia and I worked together to create this website about the history of gay rights.

I have always been interested in gay rights. I have deep beliefs about the topic and feel personally connected to it, partly because the laws concerning gays have changed so much within my lifetime. I didn't know much about the history, but I was constantly hearing on the news about changes. Also, I knew that it was clearly a debate, so it fit the NHD requirements.
At first, our group chose to create a website. My part was the Prezi and also the conclusion. I wanted to do a Prezi because the idea of a zooming time seemed like a good one and I wanted to try to make one. Once the three of us created our website, we realized that it would not fit the requirements for a National History Day website. Mostly, that was because we had too much video in the site. We realized that our video was easily convertible to a documentary. For our actual submission, we created a documentary.
We ran into trouble with this project when we realized that our product did not fit the requirements for National History Day. I personally had some trouble trying to fit our information into matching circles in the Prezi timeline: some of the events seemed too complicated and others too simple.
Our website turned out well. We all added to it - about evenly - and it ended up looking like the hard work of three people. Not only was it aesthetically pleasing, it also contained all the information we wanted it to contain. I think that my Prezi turned out quite well, too.
I would read the rules for a website much more carefully. Then, knowing about all the restrictions, we would be able to decide between creating a website and creating a documentary. I think that I would have wanted to make a documentary originally. If we had known earlier, I could have made a Prezi that was more suited for use in a video. We also could have put more effort into the documentary and not have wasted time on the website.
I learned that the debate about gays in the military does not go as far back as I thought and that it was much more than just an argument back and forth about whether or not gays should be allowed in the military. There were other aspects to the debate, such as the Solomon decision. I also am able to clearly understand how the laws have changed recently. I learned more about creating Prezis, which is always interesting. I also got a bit more experience with how to deal with suddenly having to change a product. I had to format my project to meet imposed guidelines, which is a skill I will certainly need to have for the rest of my life.

    We chose Women in Combat, because after looking at all of our research from our individual papers the research Brenda did was the best. Also because after consideration we figured it would be the best and easiest topic to explain in the time allotted (for the video). We chose a video because, none of us had the public speaking skills to perform live, the website was something none of us were familiar with, and a paper written by three people never turns out well. Finally, Brenda and I both take digvid, which gives us skills with film editing which gives us an advantage in this category over other participants.
    We ran into trouble with looking for a time when all three of us could work together in person, so our thoughts and ideas on the project all made an impact on the video. Although we had little time together, what time we did spend together we worked extremely efficiently in it, causing us to have a very good video that represents all of our individual ideas of the topic into one video.
    If we had to do it over, I would work on the computers in Herman's room and not these laptops, because they are much faster and would have allowed us to have an even higher quality video. I learned a lot about the struggles women had in order for them to be in combat. Also from a working standpoint, I learned how to work together with two other people on a topic that I was still learning. It was a progressive project, for me because as I was taking in the knowledge I was pushing it back out into a video.

Website is viewable here!
         I chose to do my benchmark on food safety in America because I find the issue both fascinating and a little scary.  Food is such an intimate part of our lives, and I think it is a little disturbing how disconnected we are from the origins of our food.  I chose to do a website because my project was composed of multiple, rather distinct parts, different major turning points in the history of the American food industry, which meant that it might get a little confusing.  I felt that a website would allow for better organization and visual representation.  Most of the problems I had were technical, since I do not have much experience with web design, especially using iWeb.  I also had trouble deciding how to convey all the information I had without overwhelming the pages with text.  One thing that did go quite well was gathering resources.  I had an abundance of sources of information, particularly because food safety in America is "history," but it is also "current."          If I were to do this project again, I would try to find more non-text sources, so that the final product could have a little more variety.  I would also try to get help from someone who had experience with iWeb so that I could do more with the site's design.  I learned quite a lot about the history of food safety in America, as well as about Upton Sinclair and The Jungle.  I also got a handle on the basics of iWeb, which I think could be helpful in the future, and I learned how to present the same information in different ways--turning a wordy thesis paper into a concise web page, for example.