Freshman!

Hello readers! Today, I'm talking to all the freshman that will be coming to our school. Although I won't be there to help you through the school I definitely have some tips for all of you. Do not be lazy and procrastinate! It will get you nowhere and leave you more stressed than ever. Junior and senior year will destroy all people who wait until the last moment. Another tip I have for you guys is to join activites. Freshman year, I didn't have a lot of friends. But than I started going to meetings for clubs and later I joined marching band which got me a lot of friends! Talk to people you see around you. If you see someone sitting alone, it's probably because they have no one to talk to either. There's no shame talking to someone new. One more tip is, talk to your teachers. They are there to help you. They don't want to see you fail and they do not hate you. If you talk to your teacher about why something is not getting done ( a week or so before it's due) they'll try to help you. Or they might even give you a different assignment that fits you better. High school is all about you. It's not a time to look back on negatively. You should love every moment of it. I hope these tips helped you! Good luck at Timber Creek and have a great four years!

Burundian Civil War

The Burundian Civil War happened over 20 years ago. It started in 1993 and ended in 2006. The country was split into two, the Hutu and the Tutsi. When the first Hutu president was assassinated the country fell into war. The country has still been on a rocky path since the end of the war. But in 2015 the president Pierre Nkurunziza decided that he was going to run for a third term. The country fought for democracy and thought this was unconstitutional. Nkurunziza ended up winning the third term which has thrown the country into chaos. President Nkurunziza has started passing laws that are limiting the people. He passed a law that limited what the press could say, to stop the press from "undermining national security". The country started throwing riots to show their anger at not being part of the reelection. So far over 200,000 people have fled and 700 people have died.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13085064

War in Syria

The war in Syria has been going on for a long and tiring four and a half years. The war started because people had began to lose trust in their leader, president Bashar al-Assad. The countrt felt as if they had no political freedom. There was a high unemployment rate and there was corruption throughout the country. Pro-democracy demonstrations started in march of 2011. After the demonsttations the government made sure the people felt their rage and shot the people invovled. As of right now over 250,000 people have died and 4.5 million people have fled. The country has been split. Rebels are being helped by the gulf states which are getting supplies to the rebels through turkey. And Assad is getting help from Iran.
The war is most connected to loss. Loss is seen from the very beginning of the war. The war started because part of the country had lost faith in their leader/ government. Once the man lost their trust he had no way to get it back. They wanted him gone and he had to fight to keep his spot.
I think the reasons are right to go to war. The country was becoming too corrupt and the people were not happy. But overall the affect that the war has left on the country is even worse than when they started. Syria used to be a home for people but now it's a war zone. You can't raise your kids in that environment. The people who fled probably didn't want to leave their home but because of the war, their was no guarantee that that home would still be there when you came home from work.
I got my info from these websites and one video.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26116868
https://www.google.com/amp/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/35806229
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DNKb9GVU8bHE&ved=0ahUKEwjmhbbIubPRAhXh7IMKHZOaDQAQt9IBCH8wDw&usg=AFQjCNEqDGbVz93nDe0t3D9yoZNmmjY11g&sig2=qKPvBLhgGhkX6syhVBDi1g

Loss

In the Venezuela Rising Video the country is in great pearl. The students no longer agree with their 'dictator' Nicolas Maduro (They say this throughout the video) Because of the president the country is very corrupted. Henrique Capriles is the Justice first leader. He said that they were in

"One of the worst economic crisis of our history."

The country is going through loss. Loss  is seen in how the government  importing everything instead of buying Venezuela made items. The country is getting poorer while the corrupt government makes more money. Buying luxury items is no longer something that you can do. Nobody has any money. The only money people have they spend on food where they wait hours in line. They have lost the right to do what they want because if they fight for what they want they could end of being one of the 25000 people who died during riots. The media is trying to hide the corrupt society but the people can see the corruption everywhere.

Archetypes

      Hey readers, today I'll be talking about the archetypes in Speak. The first archetype in Speak is most definitely transformation. Melinda actually went through two transformation. In the beginning of the book she wanted to be popular and she wanted every one to like her. By the tenth page she no longer felt like like that. She felt insecure and she thought everyone hated her. She no longer wanted to be a near anybody or do anything. Her second transformation is when she's in the bathroom at the end of the book, as I mentioned in a earlier blog, and she realizes people are there for her. They understand what she is going through and they are listening to her.
      Another archetype in Speak is Mentor. Melinda thought she was all alone but throughout the book she had her art teacher cheering her on. Her art teacher understood her pain, even though he physically didn't go through it. He kept letting her redue her painting even though she was supposed to have done it months earlier. He kept failing all of her pictures because he couldn't see the life in them. On the last page of the book Mr Freeman says

"You get an A+. You worked hard on this.' He hands me a box of tissues. 'You've been through a lot, haven't you?' The tears dissolve the block of ice in my throat. I feel the frozen stillness melt down through inside me, dripping shards of ice that vanish in a puddle of sunlight on the stained floor. Words float up. 'Let me tell you about it."

       Sorry for the long quote but this ties both the transformation and the Mentor archetype together. I really liked this quote, because it showed how much Melinda had grown throughout the book. Before she couldn't tell anybody about herself. But after Andy tried to rape her again and got caught, people finally saw who she was. She was finally comfortable sharing her story with the world. The block of ice in her throat was melting at last.

Rachel

Hey readers, so today I'll be talking about why all of Melinda's friends turned on her. The reason why she couldn't speak was because of what Andy Evans had done to her. Andy Evans raped Melinda at a party. After she was raped, she called the police and everyone hated her because they didn't understand why she would do that.

Melinda had a best friend named Rachel, after the party Rachel stopped talking to Melinda. To stop talking to your best friend over something that trivial you have to be a cold-hearted person. Rachel seems like the type of person who wants to know everything. When she doesn't know everything, she becomes angry and lashes out at whoever she deems fit.
She wants to fit in and not be stuck in the shadows.

"It's Rachel, surrounded by kids wearing clothes that most definitely did not come from the EastSide Mall... Her eyes meet mine for a second. 'I hate you,' she mouths silently." (Page 4-5)

 She didn't care what happened to Melinda, all she cared about was how Melinda was going to ruin her climb to the top. This quote shows that Rachel will make sure you know that she does not like you. If you don't fit into her group she has no problem telling you that.

Rachel never asked Melinda why she called the police. That shows that she is the type of person who crosses you off the list as soon as you cross her. She doesn't stand for excuses and even if you tell her the truth it probably won't satisfy her.

Do you think popularity is that important? Could you ever throw your friend to the side like Rachel did to Melinda?

Melinda

Some humans can do disgusting things and feel nothing. In Speak, Andy Evans was one of these people. Speak is a book about a girl named Melinda who's been keeping a secret. I feel like Melinda is the type of person to keep everything bottled up until it all comes rushing out. She can't open up to people because when she does they won't believe her. They'll think that she's lying and walk away from her. Melinda's best friend, Rachel, did exactly that.

"Rachel writes in a heavy, fast hand. WHO DID IT???  I turn the page. Andy Evans. 'Liar!' She stumbles out of her chair and grabs her books off the table 'I can't believe you. You're jealous.You're a twisted little freak."  (pg 184)

In this quote, Melinda told her best friend what happened to her and Rachel
automatically calls a liar and didn't believe her. Melinda's fears came true and she wanted to go home and never talk to anybody again.

Luckily, before she told Rachel what happened to her she decided to write "People not to trust: Andy Evans" on the wall in the bathroom. After she did that, multiple people answered back on the wall telling her what a creep he was. She saw that people would believe her if she told the right people.

If she hadn't wrote the message on the wall, she would have never thought that people would believe what she says.  The story would obviously have been different. Melinda would have fallen into an endless spiral until she eventually hit rock bottom.

Would you have been able to tell people about something horrible that happened to you or would you have stayed quiet? What do you think the better option is; to forever stay quiet or let people in?