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This was a hand drawing.

Self Portrait

A brief timeline about the creation and the operation of the Tennessee Valley Authority, or TVA, created by Michael D. and Uyen N.

We hope you enjoy!

Dear Duane,

Sorry I sounded weird last night, but the parental units were right there. Dad was in his chair and Mom was on the sofa—both sitting as far from each other as they could while still being in the same room. They’re doing the not-talking thing again. It keeps me busy.

Dad: Justin, would you please tell your mother she’s being paranoid?

Me: Dad says lighten up Mom.

Mom: Justin, please inform your father he’s a liar.

Me: This is so lame, would you guys just talk to each other?

Remember those conversations that you were in the middle of? Now all you have to do is march around and shoot guns. Want to trade? I better go; Mrs. Perez is giving me the eye like she suspects I’m not doing algebra.

Adios and hasty banana.

                                                                       Your suffering brother,

                                                                       Justin

P.S. The units are both off work. Mom said she needed a mental health day but I bet it’s backfiring. All that will be left are two pairs of empty shoes with smoke coming out of them by the time I get home.

Self Portrait with Chalk


Hand Drawing with Pencil


Self Portrait with Pencil

Wednesday was no ordinary school day. Several weeks ago my partner and I won the city-wide public forum debate league, this day was designed on our behalf - to honor our achievements. We began the day by meeting Seth Williams, the District Attorney of Philadelphia. We shadowed his assistant around city hall, witnessing several interesting trials - and also several more medial trials involving the use of marijuana and several other misdemeanors. The way people act when they're on defense was unbelievable - with their hood over their head, cursing in the presence of the judge, and a gangster lean that embodied the belief that he was too cool for this court room. 

After that was over, we headed over to the school district to be honored by the Super Intendant of the School District of Philadelphia, Arlene Ackerman and several of her colleagues. 

He sits at the table, celebrating his friend's birthday.  They eat cookies and pile on the ice cream, syrup and whipped cream. Their laughter fills the room as they devour the sugar overload in front of them.  She brings out the milk, offering each boy a glass.  Each one gratefully accepts, inhaling a refreshing sip, until she reaches the last boy.

"I don't want any; milk doesn't agree with me."

"Then tonight's going to be a great night," she laughs to herself, as she returns the milk to the fridge.   

Woke Up at a good time
Actually ate break fast

Drove to King a Prussia
Saw the most amazing store ever
Found my Prom Dress

Took a nap
Went out with my boyfriend
Had the best dinner EVER!

Came home
Watched movies till 11
Stay up all night & reminisce about the day...

The Best Day Ever ♥

Today, I attended the wedding between my boyfriend's brother, Michael, and his longtime girlfriend, Janet.  Although I have only known them for merely a year, they have become very close family. After about ten long years of a serious relationship, Michael and Janet finally decided to tie the knot in a very small and semi-traditional way.  The ceremony was very short and took place at a tiny alter in West Philadelphia. Although the actual service was only about ten minutes long, it was very emotional time for the few of us that attended.  My boyfriend, Eric, was the best man.  As he was standing on stage next to the his brother (the groom), I couldn't help but tear up listening to the exchanging of the vows while staring into Eric's eyes.  It was at that point that I realized that not too far from now, Eric and I would be the ones standing before an audience being bonded together in "holy matrimony".  <3

Sunday was the day of the super bowl. The Steelers were up against the Packers. All my friends were rooting for "black & yellow" including myself. I personally think that football is fixed so I didn't believe that the Steelers were going to win and I was right. They lost and the Pakers won.
During the game I had fun relaxing with old and new friends. The dorito commercials were hilarious. The food was also delicious. I can't wait until the next super bowl party.

one day in a teen's life 

​Today is my dad's birthday. He turns 59 (I know that is one year from 60, which is old). I don't usually buy my dad gifts because: 1. I've never had the money, and 2. he's not really the gift- receiving type of person. Unless it's money in its purest and most recognized state, gifts fail to affect my dad. So I had my annual challenge; give him something that will definitely affect him. Our household consists of 7 children; and the classic ice cream and cake has been my family tradition since the 4th child was born. I knew he didn't have the care or desire to buy his own ice cream and cake, so I bought it for him. I had to buy cake mix and frosting, though because store bought cake is out of my budget. Since our oven doesn't work, I went around the corner to my best friend, Edward's house to bake the cake. Edward had to leave about 20 minutes after I started baking my cake. So I had sat alone in his grandmother's house using her pans to bake my father a surprise cake. Luckily his grandmother was still at work. It would've been strange for her to walk in and see me in her kitchen, and her grandson nowhere to be found. To avoid even a few minutes of awkwardness, I only let the cake cool for five minutes after it was done. I wrapped the pan in foil, slipped on my layers of cold- protectant, and carried the hot cake home. Once I was home, I started dinner. While I cooked, I ran around trying to gather my brothers and sisters to record messages to my dad. Instead of buying a card that he'd forget about tomorrow, I wanted to make him a video card. I planned to record short messages from everybody in the house, and arrange it into a nice video to present to him. I'll probably never do that last minute again. 4 and 5 years seem to love to see themselves on camera because they never moved out of the way. The 5 year old never got the hint to be quiet at times that my dad was in ear shot. He was like the lady on the Ravioli commercial that didn't get the hint about saying vegetables in front of the kid. In the end, our video was raw and heartwarming, and my cake was fulfilling. My dad didn't shed a tear, but he couldn't stop smiling.Hopefully next year, I pull some tears out of him. 

*I'd post our video, but don't know how to. 

I put the gun in my pants so Jacob would not recognize. He was jealous of my shooting skills, and jealous that dad trusted me more. A scream broke my train of thought “shit, man call 911!” I ran down stairs as fast as I could

            “What!?”  I saw Jacob sitting on his ass pointing at the door,

            “That man needs help” I looked at the door, pulled out the gun and slowly approached. “ whoa shit why do you have a gun, don’t shoot the poor guy”

            “Shut-up Jacob” I was at the door now,  and looking through the peep hole I saw what scared Jacob. It was a man, or so it appeared, his  check bone was exposed and his eyes where a white cooler. There was blood all on his face. I could here him moaning. “Jacob, dad wanted me to kill anyone who was infected, now I don’t know why or what, but I think….I think I should kill this man.” I looked back at Jacob who looked from me to the door to the TV screen. His game was paused and the screen showed an image of a gun pointed at a man who looked oddly similar to the man outside. “Jacob…I know what your thinking, but…it cant be”

            “ no man…that’s a fucking zombie out there!”

“no…” part of me wanted to fight it but I was sure that Jacob was right. Just then moaning got louder and I looked back at the door, then in the corner of my eye I saw more men at the windows, they were hitting them hard. Slowly the glass started to break. “Jacob go, wake up eve and Dan we need to get the hell out of here! Go now!”

             I never killed a man before.  I was scared, Jacob knew how to drive though, and my dad had his prized car still in the garage covered.  A yellow Chevy Camaro with the transformer logo on the side, to represent Bumblebee.  My dad put a lot of money into that car, it was a funny thing but he never drove it. Jacob came down and Dan and eve were now wide-awake, no doubt Jacob had said something that scared them. “ ok, just, what’s the plan”

            “we go out the back, take the car”

            “are you crazy our dad is gonna kill us”

            “yeah so will-“ the glass broke “ shit just go now!” I turned with the gun, one of the men was trying to climb in but they were too fat, I didn’t shoot, instead I turned and ran, we got to the garage safely and Jacob started the car. It took almost no time for the men to get in front of the car, despite them all being big and some just plan fat, they moved at an alarming rate of speed. I noticed one was missing an arm, I also noticed one of them was my neighbor, an old geezer that never left the house, unless it was to yell at my younger sibling to get off his lawn.  Jacob drove past them and ran over a fat one who could not get out of the way on time. Jacob was smiling, he never drove a car like this one before and I could tell he was enjoying himself.  

            “What’s the plan, where do we drive to?” he asked eagerly, and unfortunately I had no idea, I had not thought that far ahead.  

            “Maybe-“ just then my phone went off.  I forgot I even had it in my pocket and the vibrations made me jump. It was Chris.

When I answered and he was all shaken,”hey man me and my sister just got in the car, you meet any of the zombies yet?”

            “Hey man, do me a favor and don’t call them zombies, not yet.”

            “Sorry man, but what else should I call them?”

            “I don’t know, just not that, where are you guys?”

            “well we took the van were going to pick up as many people as we can after that we don’t really have a plan.”

            “yeah well nether do we, how about we meet at whatever house your planning on going to first and were escort you…I have a gun.”

            “ok sure, I think I’m going to head to johns house first he is closest.”

            “ok see you there, and Chris”

            “yeah?”

            “good luck man”

            “thanks you too”

Jacob gave me a scared kind of “ok fine lets do this, but I’m not going to like it” look.

            I reassured him “we are stronger in numbers”. He nodded and we headed towards johns house in silence

Today, I drove for the first time. By myself.  With no one else in the car.  I needed to run a few errands and between my brother's birthday party in front of the Wii and her fatigue from the gym, my mom was not willing to drive me.  Of course, the thought of my driving across town terrified her, especially after watching a ten minute video on the dangers of texting while driving.  She insisted that I call her at every stop, working out to five calls in one and a half hours.  

The most urgent errand was a stop at Fedex Kinko's- now know as Fedex Office- to print a single 4x6 picture, that my printer had decided it simply didn't like.  I parallel parked (again, for the first time by myself) and put a quarter in the meter, figuring it wouldn't take that long.  

The moment I had passed the store's threshold, an employee came up to me.  When I pointed towards the photo machine, he replied, "Another customer is using is right now; it will just be a minute or-"

"No, actually it's going to take a long time," an older woman with her daughter chimed in.  "I still have 9 prints to make and this machine's really slow".

"OK, would I be able to just print one really quickly? My meter's running," I asked, figuring she couldn't say "no". 

"You know," she said as she lifted her credit card out of her pocket.  "I've been around for 53 years and I've just learned how to say 'no'.  I used to always let someone cut in front of me because they had less. 'Sure, go ahead it's fine,' I would say.  But it's not.  I was here first."

I honestly don't remember how I responded, but after a moment of shock, I turned around and walked out of the store.  It was a great way to start my first solo drive. 

Yes.. Every time the song comes on we:
Put our hands on our hips, bring our knees in tight and do the pelvic thrust. It's how sisters pass their nights in a way that makes us smile and forget the world.

This is a poem that tells a story

Unknown where the Cursed Wave was born...
After the stars doth cross the heavens...
The sky in the East doth darken.
And air doth fills with mourning.
From the chosen land beyond the forest,
A sign of the Wave comes.
Riding the Wave is: Skeith, the Shadow of Death,
to drown all that stands.
Mirage of Deceit, Innis,
Betray all with the flawed image,
and did aid the Wave.
And by the Power of Magus,
a drop from the Wave doth reach the heavens,
and creates a new Wave.
With the Wave, Fidchell,
the power to tell the dark future,
hope darkens, sadness and despair rule.
Gorre schemes when swallowed by the Cursed Wave.
Macha seduces with the sweet trap.
Wave reaches the Pinnacle, and escape none can.
Tarvos still remains with more cruelty to punish and destroy.
And with the turbulent destruction after the Wave.
Only a void remains.
From deep within the void arrives Corbenik.
Yet to return, the shadowed one.
Who quests for the Twilight Dragon
Rumbles the Dark Hearth,
And Helba, Queen of the Dark, has raised finally her army.
Apeiron, King of Light, beckons...
At the base of the rainbow they meet.
Against the abominable "Wave," together they fight.
Alba's lake boils.
Light's great tree doth fall.
Power - all now to droplets turned in the temple of Arche Koeln.
Returns to nothing, this world of shadowless ones.
Never to return, the shadowless one.
Who quests for the Twilight Dragon.
The wife buffeted by "waves" turns her back on the field.
The daughter that waited for the shadows repeated,
"For sure... For sure I can go home."
But the girl did not know...
The truth that waited at the end of the journey
The eternal mourning of her land.
In the place of the calamitous, only life was known.
After the circling stars
When the eastern dark void, the air full of despair
In the depths of the divided forest, in the land of Karma,
Riding fast on the path is Skeith
Bearing death's shadow, it eliminates all that seek to thwart it.
The Confusing Mirage, Innis
Deceives those that see it with illusions, rescues the waves
The wave soaring high, when its head is smashed,
A new wave will emerge
To become Magus's power.
When questioning the wave,
Hope's light will be lost when he speaks of the dark future of where
sorrow and resignation reign.
Using Fiddlehiem's Technique
When engulfed by the Waves of Calamity, Gorre will plan
The sweet snare of conciliation is Macha
The Waves, an exceeding maelstrom
Nothing can escape
When you think you have escaped, Tarvos exists
To destroy those with his exceeding cruelty
Upon violent requital, only to remain is the void, the vacant darkness
is the harbinger that Corbenik is to appear.

Last night as I was sleeping I was dreaming I was sleeping. It was so peaceful. I must have been really tired, which doesn't make any sense because I went to bad at 8 last night and 7 the night before. You would think a dream about dreaming would be quite boring....but it was awesome. I never slept so well in my life.  I hope I dream like that tonight.

Egypt establishes a Democracy.