CRMN

                    It Smells Like Teen Spirit
    I am constantly in the move, anticipating time, I am always waiting for the next big thing.   Maybe it deals with the obvious fact that I am a curious teenager.  My Senior year has reached its peak.  I am trying to keep my balance with ACT scores, college deadlines, grades, scholarships, work, and my social life.  Senoritis has taken control making this year very challenging.  The Searcy High School councilor, Mrs. Rodey, met with the all the senior English classes in the cafeteria one Thursday.  She gave out thick packets with very interesting facts such as student loans, college deadlines with their requirements, GPA’s, and graduation.  Now that this is all hitting reality,  it is a bit frightening.  Figuring out what college to attend, and what I most likely want to pursue in life.  I get this impatient feeling at times that I may not get accepted into the college I want.  I order to prevent that, I plan on raising my ACT score by taking the ACT as many times as I can until the end of June.  I have even thought about taking the SAT in November or December and start applying to my top colleges as soon as possible.  I’ve dreamed of attending college in a big city.  There is just something about the atmosphere in a big city.  I love the noise, people, and the great opportunities for art culture that are available. I’m quite of an artsy person.  In eighth grade, I met my passion: photography.  A family friend got me a pocket camera.  Because of that pocket camera, I found myself.  I would go around and take pictures with that pocket camera every where I went.  Then, when I turned sixteen, my mom bought me a Kodak with a bigger lens and better zooming.  It was because of the camera that I started seeing what I was really capable of doing.  I went everywhere with that thing.  It was almost like a necessity. I did some of my best work with that camera.  I signed up for Yearbook my Junior year because my English teacher, Ms. Brown, encouraged me.  She mention that I could be great help to the staff and that is how I started learning about Canon.  I’ve been using Canon ever since and won an award last year for one of the top sport pictures at ASPA.  I want to attend a good art college and pursue something with photography.  So far, I’ve taken two senior pictures and have been asked by more then five people to take theirs.  I only charge about sixty dollars to take the pictures and edit them, which in my opinion is a good price.  What I want to do is start my own photography business or work for a music magazine.  Going into an internship is definitely something I’ve considered as part of my future plans.  Somewhere like Chicago or Seattle.  I would love to see Seattle someday or go back to Chicago.  This is it, I have started my life.

Word Count: 511

                    BRACES
    I remember not taking care of my teeth when I was younger.  It was not a goal to try and brush them two to three times a day.  I would bite down into my  candy no matter how hard or unhealthy the texture was.  For that reason, I began to develop cavities, my teeth began to loose their white color, and my second bash of teeth grew started growing in crooked manners.  My mouth was like a cave every time I smiled.  Once I started third grade, my classmates made fun of the color of my teeth.  It was very embarrassing.  It was the most embarrassing though out my  middle school and junior high years.  I questioned my parents about braces for years.  When I was eleven, I had my first orthodontist appointment at Spence’s in Missouri, where I use to live.  After that first appointment, it was a long while until it was ever brought back again.  A year later,  my family moved to Arkansas because of my fathers job.  Then, at age thirteen, my father left to Mexico.  Soon after, my parents decided to get separated.  My mom had to raise three children by herself making money a huge concern.  I asked my mom for braces for my fifteenth birthday.  Usually when a young Hispanic girl turns fifteen, a Quinceanera is held.  It’s a very special thing to have.  A Quinceanera is a tradition that transforms a child into a young woman.  I begged to have my braces instead of spending hundreds on a dress, place, and food for my quince.  Bitter-sweet, I did not get my braces for my fifteenth birthday.  Instead , I got a party, and time with my lovely family. Some even came drive up her from Texas!  I was very happy for that, but that also meant I was going to have to wait for my braces.  It was not until the summer of my junior year that I got braces.  I believe it was just a matter of time and having the correct about of money.   That summer was probably the best summer of my life so far.  I made an appointment back at Spencer’s in Missouri and the process began in June.  My set time to get my braces was in July, but before then, Mr. Spencer informed me that my teeth were to crowded so there would be a total of four teeth to be removed.; two on top and another two on bottom. I had a total of eight shots to completely numb my mouth to help the pain.  To be honest, it was not that bad.  The part were I had thirty pieces of cotton in my mouth was amusing and eating nothing but oatmeal was a piece of cake.  Overall, it was a nice experience.  The hardest part was probably waiting a week to get my brackets on and then waiting another week after that to finally get my wires in.  I’ve had them for a year and two months now.  According to my orthonotist, I am currently at month fifteenth out of twenty four, but I went today and asked for an estimation of about how much longer I’d have them.  He said four to six months and that for my next appointment, they would put my last set of wires in.  Oh boy did I jump with excitement! I really hope to have them off by graduation.

Word Count: 576

            FLEET FOXES
   
    Cape Girardeau is where I go see my orthodontist and fortunately it is only two hours way from St. Louis.  It is convenient in the fact that I love going to shows and many great artists come to St. Louis.  I have seen a total of over ten shows in St. Louis.  My first concert was in St. Louis when I went to go see the Jonas Brothers and my last concert was there a couple months ago when I attended the Fleet Foxes concert at the end of July.  Fleet Foxes, a folk band formed in Seattle Washington, held a concert in STL.  It was a pleasure to see them knowing that they formed in Seattle where the music scene is incredible.  I was lucky to attend this show because it fell right around the same time one of my orthodontist appointments’ took place last summer. I had known about the band for quite some time now.  My best friend, Toni Seyer, who also lives in Cape, showed them to me a while back.  The first song I heard by them was “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song.”  It has beautiful lyrics just like every other song they write.  Even with their great lyrics and all, it was hard to get into them.  I come across certain bands that get good reviews, but when it comes to sitting down and playing one of their  albums over and over again, I just cannot do.  It may deal with the fact that they are folk and I’m more into the “shoegaze” stuff that has more of an edge.  Fleet Foxes would have to be in the softer side of the scale.  It took some time to plan this show.  Saving up to have enough for the trip and the forty dollar ticket too some work since I did not have a job at that time.  Also, finding a way to get there.  I did not think my mom was going to want to drive eight hours in one day just for me to go to a concert.  I looked into train tickets and bus tickets.  For both, round trips were expensive.  My mom decided to just go ahead and drive me to Cape anyways.  I had my money and I was ready for some live music.  Even though I had not cared a lot about Fleet Foxes, I was still very excited to share another concert experience with my best friend.  We made plans to get to STL pretty early so we could go shop around.  I ended up buying a bag from Aldo’s but returning it a week later in Little Rock due to the awful smell of fish it brought.  What was hilarious was that during the concert, I’d open my bag and it smelled like fish.  Fleet Foxes got on stage and through and awesome concert.  The lead singer, Robin Pecknold, was so adorable!  It makes my heart warm just thiking about the way he kept control over the atmosphere.  After seeing them live, I feel in love with them.

Word Count: 515

123

                                         
Lupe Castorena
AP LIT Period 6
Doc Watson
29 August 2011

Marriages of Pride and Prejudice
   
    Many stories are like a basic fairy tale: ever girl is a princess. Every princess has a romantic story where the princess falls in love with the prince and they live happily ever after. This is very balanced to the book, Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen.  However, every story has some form of dilemma. Even happily-ever-after tales such as Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella had their fair share of problems. The book focuses mainly on how Mrs. Bennet, a mother of five beautiful young girls, is trying to control their marital status.  The novel contains three main marriages: Jane Bennet to Mr. Bigley, Elizabeth Bennet to Mr. Darcy, and Charlotte Lucas to Mr. Collins. Each female marry’s for a different reason: happiness, reality, and love.
        Jane Bennet is the elde and most beautiful Bennett daughter according to the towns people or Longbourn and Netherfield.  She can relate to happiness better than the other two characters. Jane quotes, “My dear Lizzy, do not give way to such feelings as these.  They will ruin your happiness.  You do not make allowance enough for difference of situation and temper” (135).  Jane’s giddy personality carries throughout the entire book after her first glance at Mr. Bingly proving that she is the jolliest Bennet girl.  Even though she comes off as shy, the reader is warned that Jane feels great feelings for Bingley.  From the moment they laid eyes on each other, they knew they were meant for one another.  This explains why at the end of the novel, the couple ends up together.     
    Besides Elizabeth’s wittiness, she understands love the best out of all the Bennet daughters.  Her strong way of being prejudice causes her to judge Mr. Darcy before realizing she would feel strong passionate feelings towards him.  The way the two characters had their disputes, the way Elizabeth hated Darcy though half the book, and the way they come to understanding each other makes their relationship romantic.  When two people are fall love, nothing is impossible.  Even though Mr. Darcy was rejected by Elizabeth when offering proposal, he went on to try again because he felt so strongly for her.  Austen explains in chapter 10 that “Darcy had never been so bewitched by any woman as he was by her”   Also, the way his pride diminished thought out the book shows another sign of love.  His change of character shows the power of love between the two.
    Charlotte Lucas, who ends up marrying Mr. Collins, is the most realistic character.  “Mr. Collins is a conceited, pompous, narrow-minded, silly man; you know he is, as well as I do; and you must feel as well as I do, that the woman who married him cannot have a proper way of thinking” This quote said by Elizabeth is negative.  With Charlotte’s old age and lack of money, Mr. Collins is her only hope.  Even though she may not love him, she sees it as though she may one day learn to love him due to the necessities in that time period such as a man to keep a woman healthy living.
    The book contains three main marriages, each describing happiness, love, and reality in a variety of ways. At the end of the day, each of these women ended up married for different reasons.  As the reader can see, love does not always happen in easy ways.  Happiness can be caught with a blink of the eye, love can overcome hate, and reality has some major decisions.  Austen did a magnificent job explaining these three categories in her book, Pride and Prejudice.

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Senior Corey Webb enjoys working at Hays, making money in return of his services. He mentions his coworkers are “pretty easy-going.” From a scale from one to ten he explains, “It’s definitely more stressful than NOT having a job and going to school, because it’s just something else to add onto the schedule…so probably a 7.”

`The key to having a job specially during the school year is learning to manage your tie wisely. “ I have to manage my time better and study on nights that I don’t work, even if it isn’t the night before. I’m still able to keep all A’s though.” Webb works about fifteen to twenty hours during the school year while during the summer he would normally work thirty to forty hours.

“There are lot of fair maidens that work there…that’s always nice,“ hints Webb as the unique thing about working at Hay’s. Who wouldn’t want to be surrounded by such an atmosphere while doing an easy job and getting paid

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Ever girl is a princess. Every princess has a story. A romantic story where the princess falls in love with the prince and they live happily ever after. This is exactly how I picture the book, Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austin. Of course, every story has some form of dilemma. Even happily-ever-after tales such as Snow White and Cinderella. The book focuses mainly on how Mrs. Bennet, a mother of five young beautiful girls, is trying to control their marriage life. The novel contains three main marriages: Jane, Elizabeth, and Charlotte. Each female character pertains to happiness, reality, and love better than the other.

Jane Bennet is the most beautiful Bennett daughter according to the towns people or Longbourn and Netherfield. She is also the eldest Bennet girl who can relate to happiness better than the other two characters. Jane quotes, “My dear Lizzy, do not give way to such feelings as these. They will ruin your happiness. You do not make allowance enough for difference of situation and temper.“ Her giddy personality is carried throughout the entire book that Jane is the jolliest Bennet girl since her first glace of Mr. Bingley. Even though she is very shy, the reader is well warned that Jane feels great feelings for Bingley. From the moment they laid eyes on each other, guarantee that they were meant for each other rose. This is why at the end of the novel, the couple end

up together. It was just simply meant to be. Elizabeth is the wittiest of all the Bennet daughters. She is very prejudice in judging Mr. Darcy never to realize she would be feeling the way she does towards him at the end of the book. The way the two characters had their disputes, the way Elizabeth hated Darcy though half the book, and the way they come to understanding each other makes their relationship romantic. When two people are in love, nothing is impossible. Even though Mr. Darcy was rejected by Elizabeth when offering proposal once, he went on to try again because he felt that strongly for her. Austen explains on the chapter 10 that “Darcy had never been so bewitched by any woman as he was by her.” Also, the way he his pride increased to a lower level though out the book is another sign of love. He changed because of Elizabeth. That is the power of being in love.

“Mr. Collins is a conceited, pompous, narrow-minded, silly man; you know he is, as well as I do; and you must feels as well as I do, that the woman who married him cannot have a proper way of thinking.” I believe this opinion mentioned by Elizabeth on chapter 24 is proof of her pride within herself. Charlotte Lucas, who ends up marrying Mr. Collins is the more realistic character. With her old age and lack of money, Mr. Collins is her only hope. Even though she may not love him, she see it as though she may one day learn to love him someday due to her necessities in that time period.

The book contains three main marriages each describing happiness, love, and reality in a variety of ways. At the end of the day, everyone ends up with each other with the exception of Mr. Collins. As the reader can see, love doesn’t always happen in easy ways, eternal happiness can be caught with a blink of the eye, and reality comes with major life time changing decisions. Austen did a magnificent job explaining these three categories in her book. For that reason being, I’m thinking about reading Emma in the near future.

My best friend Tonirose and I drove to STL at 2:00 A.M. to catch a train to Chicago. We got to STL around 4:15 A.M. since the town were she lives in is two hours from STL. When we got there, we met up with Blake Tucker, a friend of ours. We boarded the train around 4:45 A.M. Once we got on the train, we got our tickets checked and were ready to go. It was a five hour drive so it took a while. We made several stops which I kept waking up to. Once we hit Chicago, we were pumped. We arrived to there around ten in the morning. We walked for a while and visited many stores. The whole point of this trip was to go see HEALTH so we arrived at the venue, Metro, around 9:00 P.M. We got in safely and patiently waited for HEALTH to get on stage. Once they did, it was phenomenal. Later, the crowd of 200 people counted down for new years. Yeasayer performed after that and we left around three in the morning. We took a train back home around seven in the morning and arrived in STL around 12:00 A.M.

Friday night and pep rallies are some of the events the Searcy High School cheerleaders work hard to satisfy and get the crowd going wild. This year, the cheering squad consists of a great working team who bring it all to the table with their performances. Junior cheerleader, Dawnesha Whitney, mentions that her most enjoyable thing is being able to keep the crowd going during the games. With the one hour they get each day, the team runs through routines, dances, and the qualities of team work.  “We pick the band dancers and cheers we want to do in order, and then rehearse during cheer hour”, Whitney mentions. With the many options high school brings, sometimes it’s hard to maintain focused just on one.  Whitney gives her scoop on how she handles staying committed to cheer as well as other extracurricular activities.  She says, “It gets complicated and stressful, but I manage it the best I can.”  The Lion cheerleaders accomplish many things such as getting the crowd cheering “out of their mind”, as Lil Jon says to their favorite dance routine, during a touchdown or good throw.

(Source: followandreblog)