The Last Post...Or Is It?

Hey guys!

First of all, I would like to say congratulations to everyone for getting everything together for our awesome project! I thought it went really great, and the class also seemed to enjoy it. BKLounge's video skills were pretty sweet, and I'm sure that everyone liked the "bedroom cam." Thanks s-kat for putting the paper together, at kinda the last minute. All in all, we got it done, so that's a pretty good accomplishment, I must say.

Next, I would like to say that I am a very nostalgic and sentimental person. So, this last post makes me want to cry. I think that this does not have to be our last blog. If anyone is up to it, I think it would be cool if we could keep our blog going and just talk about our life and stuff. It won't have to be 6 per week or anything, it could be kind of like a checking in thing with everyone. Then, at the end of the school year we could show mr. inloes. :)

For The Red Stapler

Our research has proven that although doodling may appear distracting, the act is not as unprofessional as it may seem. In an article about Karl Gude, a professor at Michigan State University and news graphics provider for magazines such as Newsweek, Associated Press, United Press International, and the New York Daily News. In this article, “Decades of Doodles” Gude releases 27 years worth of his business meeting doodles along with some insight, “Clearly, I have attention issues, but I really did focus better when I was doodling.” Gude never really considered himself as an artist until he started with the doodling process, “I’ve never studied art or design and learned how to draw by doodling and sketching from life.” Yet, he is now teaching a cross-discipline class combining journalism with studio art. Gude culminates the benefits of doodling in one sentence, “Drawing distracts the part of my mind that wants to wander.”
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A few things:
1. Sorry it's a little late!
2. Is anyone else sad that there will not be anymore blogging?

Irksome

A little followed grammatical rule is that one is never to end a sentence with a preposition. It is acceptable, however, to end a sentence with a word that is commonly used as a preposition, but not in that specific sentence. This rule is broken often in speech, which is why it is commonly broken is writing. Most people write as they would speak. (This topic is further discussed in the post “Students lack a decent vocabulary”) Writing is not speaking. Some styles purposely use incorrect grammar, but for all intensive purposes, this is wrong. Students need to read novels that are grammatically correct so that they may pick up on how the rules are applied. Few, if any, students enjoy doing grammar worksheets and activities. Because of the lack of enthusiasm, few students actually learn the rules. Schools must find new ways to present this information. Without grammar, writing would make little sense. With incorrect grammar, writing rarely makes sense at all.
The preposition rule is my greatest pet peeve of the moment and is continuously found. For example, “For me, Holden Caulfield, the isolated adolescent and protagonist of the novel, was someone to relate with.” (Sorry to pick on BK Lounge, but it was the one that caused me to write this.) The sentence should say, “For me, Holden Caulfield, the isolated adolescent and protagonist of the novel, was someone with which I could relate.” A minor change, but vast improvement.

Focus by Doodling

Numerous people doodle. Children in school, teachers in meetings, parents at work. Doodling is used to keep focused.
When a teacher sits in front of a classroom to discuss a topic, it tends to turn into a lecture. Students begin to fall asleep, text on cell phones, daydream about the weekend, and doodle. Idealistically the student is actively listening to every word the teacher is saying. This rarely happens. Children today are increasingly being diagnosed with ADD and ADHD. They simply cannot focus their attention for that long. Doodling provides a way to focus without distracting the mind. “Doodling is accomplished during mindless sketching or aimless drawing while the doodler's attention is focused elsewhere.”
Do you believe this to be true?

Yes we did

I know many people are probably going to blog on this, and I know I'm not the first but I am proud. I'm proud to belong to a country that has not only found hope, but brought it to the surface. I'm ecstatic to be apart of history, to know that I can live to say something significant (positive and significant) has happened. A few years ago my brother and I discussed that we had no Moon landing, we didn't defeat Hitler,or over come segregation and now we have it. We have the moon, we've landed into a new era. One that will hopefully bring us back to the American dream. this is not only a great day for all African-American (which it is), but for all those that have fought, and are tired of the struggle. This day is for those that believe, not only in change but in greatness. I've always heard how great America was, but I never experienced the love for this country as I have as of now, and this love will carry on for years to come. Because now I know that we, as a nation, are capable of anything. Obama is our President of the united States of America. WE wanted change we got change and we will continue to see change come. Yes we can, Yes we did, but moreover Yes We Will.

Violence or Play?

In response to Mr. Inloes post, I don't think all violent video games and movies contribute to violent behavior. It depends on the age and maturity of the person who is watching the movie or playing the video game. When I watch violent movies, I know that half of the scenes are fake so I don't take it literally. I know that the key point of promoting violent media is for entertainment not to go out and copy the movie or media game. I believe that some people get caught up in the violence and can't tell what is real and what isn't. Those selected few people are affected and decide to act in the same violent behavior. Young children shouldn't be exposed to movies such as Saw or Halloween because there is too many negative messages that could be confusing to someone at such a young age. Children haven't learned true morals and aren't mature enough to watch something so gruesome and negative. All people act different at the sight of violence so it is hard to just blame the violent media. What do other people think about violent media today? Does it only affect young children, teenagers, or adults?

McMurphy and Luke Comparison

While watching the movie "Cool Hand Luke," I found some similarities between Luke from the movie and McMurphy from the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. In the beginning of the book, McMurphy is a hero to the rest of the patients because he was a rebel towards the Big Nurse's many rules. He encouraged the patients to laugh and to revolt against the Big Nurse. The movie's character, Luke, is also a rebel at the prison he is sent to for vandalizing. Luke becomes the hero at the prison when he fulfills a bet that he could eat 50 eggs. The inmates were also encouraged when Luke escapes for the first time, gets caught, then escapes for the second time, and gets caught. Luke and McMurphy both realize that they can't keep rebelling so they both have a breaking point where they confirm to the Boss/Big Nurse. Luke stops running after he is beaten while digging a large hole for several days; he begs the Boss to stop beating him because he promised to be good and to follow the rules. McMurphy realizes that he is one of the only patients that is actually committed and decides to keep quiet and follow the Big Nurse's emasculating rules. In the end, both characters return to their rebelling ways and become the true heroes of the stories by dying for the inmates/patients. The characters are both portrayed as Christ figures because they are the Saviors of the patients/ inmates. Luke is portrayed as a Christ figure after her eats the 50 eggs, and is lying on the table with his arms stretched out. Luke is seen as the Savior after he escapes for the last time and is shot by the Boss. McMurphy is a Christ figure when he is lying out on the hospital bed ready to receive his EST. McMurphy is seen as the Savior after he receives his lobotomy and is killed by the Chief. Since the stories are similar, is there one story better?

Question

Although this is somewhat unrelated I felt the need to post this. I've heard that the guy from SuperSizeMe also madea documentary on smoking Marijuana for 40 days, and than 40 days without to compare the health effects it REALLY has on your body. Does anyone know if this is true? How did he produce this legally?
Thats CRAZY!

The Aimless

"Not all who wander are aimless. Especially not those who seek truth beyond tradition, beyond definition, beyond the image (Mona Lisa Smile)." Experiencing life as no one before you has, beyond the tradition, can lead to new insight. Where would science be if no one did new experiments? Where would clothing by without creative designers? Why, then, do students feel the need to be kept in a little box when writing? The perfect essay may wander in what seems to be an aimless, yet intriguing, way for a majority of the piece before coming to a complicated point that ties everything together. This idea is especially shown through One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Ken Kesey was high when he wrote parts of the novel, but everything came to focus in the end. Students need to feel free to play with writing styles so that they may come up with their own unique style. It must be incredibly boring to read the same formatted paper over and over again- introduction, thesis, support paragraphs one, two, three, conclusion. What if my paper started with a story, then had supporting paragraph number one, which leads into my thesis, loops around to supporting paragraph number three.... That would be much more interesting.
Writing shouldn’t be confined to a dusty room with grammar text books lined up neatly along the wall. Writing should be an energetic playground with interesting wording. Why experiment with illegal substances when you can experiment with writing styles?

Advertisments...Where Dreams Can Grow

If you were watching Heroes this past Monday you may have encountered the Hasbro Rose Cottage Commercial. If not you'll be surprised at the contents of it. In this version of the commercial they are appealing to mothers and they tell them that with this cottage their daughters will "...have a place where their dreams can grow." And "entertain her imagination."

Well apparently entertaining the imagination is doing laundry and little girl's dreams are to grow up and be housewives. I’m not even one of those people that think being a house wife is demining or anything. In fact I believe it’s a great sacrifice and an honorable job that I would do when the time comes, but it's not a decision advertisers should force upon young girls. These girls don't know that they have any other options when all they know how to do is decorate and do laundry. And the commercial that aired on T.V also had a small spot for the Hasbro Castle, a place where girls can wait for their prince charming. I didn't just make that up, the commercial said that...yeah.

What do you think? Am I taking this too far or is it insulting?

In Case You were Wondering...

The best thing to order:

BK- Whopper JR without Mayo and a Garden Salad- 360 calories and 12 g of fat
McDonalds- 6 piece chicken McNuggets and a Side Salad0 380 calories and 16 g of fat

p.s: did you know that 10 % of americans have logged time behind the counter at Mickey D's

BK Lounge

No Brian, I'm not talking to you.

So last year for easter my mom decided to get me a book called "eat this not that", apparantly it's extremely popular although I must admit my first tiem opening it was last night. It is a book that basiclly compares all the different fast food restaurants by their health calue and calories, it also gives suggestions on the smartest choice to make at each. The best way to state my thoughts is to simply present this information to you.

Mcdonalds Big Mac- 540 calories, 29 g fat
BK Whopper w/cheese-760 calories 47 g fat

Mcdonalds Filet-O-Fish- 380 calories 18 g fat, 640 mg sodium
BK BIG Fish Sandwhich- 520 calories 34 g fat , 980 mg sodium

Mcdonalds Quarter Pounder- 410 calories 19 g of fat
BK Triple Whopper- (this is not an exaggeration) 1,230 calories 82 G OF FAT!!!!

So...my point is, what the heck is up with the BK Lounge and why weren't they the center of the attention, at least comparativly to McDonalds?

McDonald Knowledge Surpasses Failing School System

In Supersize Me, Morgan Spurlock tests children using pictures of famous people, such as George Washington, mixed in with a picture of Ronald McDonald. What was appalling was that these children could tell stories about McDonald, but knew little or nothing about the famous people. One child thought that Washington was the third or fourth and abolished slavery. Are the advertisements to blame for these children’s extensive knowledge or McDonald or are the schools to blame for the lack of knowledge about historical figures?
Children are not told to memorize facts about McDonald as they are about Washington. Children are not made to do project after project on McDonald, as they are Washington. Yet it is McDonald that sticks in these children’s brains. Perhaps the schools would do well to take a few notes on the advertising strategies of McDonald’s.

Misogynistic?

The women in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey are either uptight and prude or utterly loose, except one. The one nurse who works in Disturbed seemed to be an accurate representation of a woman. She was motherly toward and worried about the patients. She apologized for the sting when cleaning the wounds McMurphy and the Chief sustained during the fight against the black boys. This nurse was a kind, loving character. To fit the theme of misogyny that is supposedly apparent throughout the novel, would not this young nurse be described differently, probably grouping her into one of the two categories above? Have people judged this novel too quickly, deeming it misogynistic, without looking at the finer details?

Supersize Me

Supersize Me brings to light the issue of Americans eating too much fast food. Morgan Spurlock's extreme diet of only McDonald’s was dangerous, even with the advice and care he received from his chosen doctors. Spurlock becomes ill because of the abuse he inflicted upon his body. Some of the damage that he did will never be undone. It’s horrible, and unrealistic, to think that anyone would eat McDonald’s, or fast food in general, for every single meal of every day.
Americans do eat out more than ever, but not at what Spurlock sees as fast food places. Places such as Subway are working to create “fast food” that is healthy. McDonald’s has added healthier substitution items to its menu, including apple dippers, in addition to the many salad meals. Numerous companies have headed the warnings of this film and added or changed menu items. Obviously, the film was correct to point out that although most of the blame does lay with the consumer, some of the blame does lay with the company.
Personally, I believe the companies shouldn’t have to hold any of the blame. Capitalism is about getting a product to market and selling it. These fast food places have lived up to their expectation. On the other foot, nowadays companies have taken more community responsibility as a new way of advertising. McDonald’s started funding the Ronald McDonald House to show their community responsibility. But at the end of the day, McDonald’s is supporting charity because it looks good to customers.
It is the customer’s responsibility to hold their urge to buy McDonald’s in check- similar to the way a child must abandon to urge to eat glue.

My Interpretation of Cuckoo's Nest

While reading the first couple of pages in the book, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" I was quite annoyed by the author's writing style. I didn't understand the point of the story, until I started to take notes by focusing on the main characters. I learned to read in quiet place so there were no distractions, and I began interested in the text. I found that the author's hallucinations helped me differentiate between what was real and what was fake. The book has become more interesting each chapter especially with the character, McMurphy. I have enjoyed Kesey's use of figurative language throughout the book because it allows the reader to use his/her imagination while reading. Each character is described through imagery and detailed metaphors which makes reading more enjoyable. I know a lot of people in class hate reading this book, but I found that if you take time to read it, the book isn't so bad. Is this book boring and useless for our class to read, or is the book worthwhile learning about emasculating? What does everyone think?

What Cuckoo Published This?

Who would ever think that a novel like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest would ever be published, let alone part of a high school curriculum. The novel begins in an off the wall matter, but does settle. The writing is well done, but the context can be confusing. I have given up rereading sections of the novel to understand a scene because the novel is contradictory. Although it can be difficult to figure out what is real and what is not, I enjoy going with the flow of the novel. The novel is interesting. Even if nothing too interesting is happening in the plot, the writing itself keeps me awake and thinking.
What do you think?

Mean Girls Revisited

While watching the movie "Mean Girls," I found many parts to be humorous. I realized that half of the scenes I was laughing about were true at our school today. There are still girls who will act stupid to get a boy's attention, or girls who will do anything to be popular. In the movie, Caddy, a new student, gets sucked into the world of the "Plastic" life. At first, she joined the group to make fun of the leader, but Caddy ended up becoming fake herself. I have found that many girls at our school try to do anything to become popular, whether it means to change their personalities, leave old friends for popular girls, or to become entirely fake. I thought the scenes were funny in the movie, but to be truthful the scenes were quite desperate. The characters known as the "Plastics" hurt their fellow classmates and teachers by trying to up their status at the school. They made themselves feel better by putting other students down. Girls can be extremely nasty towards one another because they are always in competition with each other. I don't know if this vicious cycle will ever end, but I do know it isn't worth trying to start the cycle. Do people feel that they need to become popular in order to survive their high school years?

WHY

Why is it that a guest (for a dance) if graduated from highschool must have graduated from groves?This is the most frustrating thing in the world to me because as seniors, it is not uncommon to find students who have significant others a year or two older. Can soemone explain to me the logic behind this? Other than the slight chance that my guest may be a serial killer that got expelled from his or her highschool and are now coming to the groves commons (again, i could talk about that for days) to attack our school. Why?

Mean Teeny Boppers

Perhaps many of you will think I am completely oblivious to the true atmosphere of our school when you read this, but I don't find that our school has a "plastic" like clique, or even one dominate clique. When I mentioned this to a friend of mine, she suggested that this was because there is too many egotistical people within the school for one to ever be able to take over the vast majority. We have abundent amounts of beautiful, wealthy and intelligent people in our school, how would we ever pick one?
I like to think that our school is filled with mature young adults who have had plenty of anti-bullying assemblys to thank for the lack of cliques, but I'll leave the decision up to you.
My cousin is going into the eigth grade this year and it's almsost documentary worthy how mean her friends are to each other. It seems like the sterotype of "mean girls" has gone down a few generations to the teeny boppers. But how does this attitude stop at the highschool level?Why?Or does it?

Response to Mom, Doug is a Good Babysitter 10/1

I agree with the fact that our society hasn't reached equality among men and women. Women are still thought of as the care givers that clean the house and prepare meals. Men on the other hand, are thought of as the money maker that is unreliable when it comes to care giving. Men are thought of as being aggressive and dangerous, but this isn't true for all men. I have experienced this with my older brother. When I was a freshman, I didn't trust my brother and accused him of lying all the time. He wasn't reliable, and made stupid decisions that I didn't approve of. I thought my brother would always be that way, and he would never grow up, but I didn't give my brother enough credit. Today, my brother is one of the most trustworthy person I know. He has moved on from being the "typical male teenager" and has showed me that I can count on him with any situation. I hate the typical stereotypes for males and females because it is only directed toward the selected few people of society. People change whether for the good or bad, and they need a chance to show that they can change.

Mom,Doug is a good babysitter.

When we talked about the gender stereotypes and roles in class today I was reminded of a conversation I had with my mom the other day. It was last minute and we were franticly looking for a babysitter for my brother because our usual one had called in sick. I started going through my phone calling every person I knew to be available, and all of a sudden it hit me. Doug! He would be perfect, he’s always saying how bored he is and he lives right down the street and I KNOW he wouldn’t mind. When I pitched the idea to my mom she blankly stared at me for a good 5 minutes, and then walked away. Apparently my mom had thought I was being sarcastic and was offended that I wasn’t taking the task seriously. My mom’s lack of confidence in our neighbor was hard for me to grasp because we all know Doug to be moiré responsible than myself, if anything I am probably a bad influence on him. Despite this my mom was simply “not comfortable” with the situation. When talking about gender stereotypes we hear the same old story that women get paid 3 cents less than men per hour and that woman should stay at home all day and pop out babies. We rarely hear about the things that guys have to go through. So instead, my mom stayed home from work, and I hung out with Doug at the mall.

Why women are better than men...

Female V. Male

Why Is It Always The Media's Fault?

In almost every documentary, news clip, etc that discusses violence in children they drag in the media. What has the media ever really done? Wow, violent video games, fake characters killing the enemy or aliens or mythical creature, because Fox news, and CNN doesn't repeatedly show real people killing other real people. Or wait wait, it must me the lyrics from a rap song, or punk band, that must be the reason why some 13 year old boy took the life of another human being. It has nothing to do with our government reinforcing violence, by getting involved in pointless war. No it has to be Martin Scorsese's fault, because Goodfellas always make me want to murder people, abuse my boyfriend. Now that i think about it I feel stupid for even thinking that it could be anyone but the medias fault. It's not drugs, or abusive parents, it's the film industry, the record companies, and Grand Theft Auto's influence. I just wonder how all these kids are getting ahold of such violent material? Probably their parents, but it's not their fault they don't monitor their children's activities. It's the medias fault all the way, because look how long people have been killing eachother and look how long we've have major motion picture films. I mean honestly we never killed eachother for no reason before sega genisis came out.

Thoughts on Morals

Today, we were discussing the two essays, “Women’s Magazines Flip Past Feminism” by Alex Kuczynski and “How Boys Became Men” by Jon Katz. Each author was the same gender in which they were writing about. I agree with Kuczynski’s article in that magazines are more focused on body image, pleasing your partner, and how a family should act. The magazines only focus on one cookie cutter image, but in the world today, everyone is different from one another; they can’t always fit into that one perfect image. I believe that if the magazines didn’t focus on body images and sexual relations, then women wouldn’t be so self conscious; instead women could focus on other issues whether it is political or economic. Jon Katz’s essay is the opposite of Kuczynski’s essay because Katz is talking about the stages of men. Katz explains that at a young age boys are taught to be tough and to be a “man” not a “sissy”. Boys would rather fight each other than express their feelings through words. It seems as if both essays are trying to express that no one is the same person and each person has their own personal feelings. I have to be honest though because I do read those convincing woman magazines, but I have come more accustomed to ignoring some of the topics dealing with body images. I get to the point where I stop caring about what other people believe what the best body or the perfect makeup is suppose to be. What does everyone else think? Are these stereotypes true for everyone? Do you fit into any of these stereotypes?

Elementary School Lessons

Fahrenheit 9/11, directed by Michael Moore, and “Unfairenheit 9/11,” written by Christopher Hitchens, have one glaring commonality- bipartisanism. Both pieces reflect only one side of the story in an exceedingly frank way. Fahrenheit 9/11 is openly Democrat, while “Unfairenheit 9/11” is openly Republican. I don’t hold either party close to my heart, but pieces of work such as these make me strongly dislike both. Many Americans complain about politics; bipartisanism is a reason why. These already heated pieces fueled more intense debate and argument between the already dissonant parties. Moore and Hitchens are showing Americans that even after a national crisis, the two main parties will point fingers and bicker as young children do. When Americans were calling for unity and truth, these men were causing a ruckus.
What would have made either piece better was if someone had presented an argument that went against their own- even if the argument was later disproved with concrete evidence. Both men are utterly and bitterly opposed to opening up to the possibility that the other man might have a couple rational points. Neither man is completely right, nor is either completely wrong. Children learn at a young age that they can’t always have their way because they are not always right. People learn to compromise.
Perhaps these men should go back to elementary school and learn to play nice.

What Was Moore Thinking?

Micheal Moore's controversial film reflects his ability to use extreme methods to attack President Bush. The message Moore was trying to portray is that if George Bush wasn't elected in the first place, then 9/11 wouldn't have occurred. Moore used sensory details in his film through different music clips, comidic comments from President Bush, and photographs. While watching the film, I found Moore's documentary to be over the top and unnecessary. His piece doesn't amount to rational discourse because he is too biased toward President Bush being the only culprit of not preventing 9/11. I don't agree with his approach to portraying his feelings in his documentary. The music was unnecessary and somewhat offensive because it defeated the purpose of the true facts. The music almost discredited Moore's creditablity because it was childish. I did agree with Moore's main point that Bush didn't work as a President should have, but I was distracted by the extra nonsense. It was one thing to discredit President Bush, but it was another to degrade the President with untrue facts. Micheal Moore's documentary went to the extreme in the absolute inappropiate way. Therefore, it doesn't appear to have credibility or rationality.

Reflection on "On Native Soil"

While watching the movie "On Native Soil," I was taken back by the mistakes made by our own country. I don't believe the 9-11 attack was the country's entire fault, but clearly the rules and regulations were not followed. I felt the soundtract was over the top and shouldn't have ehanced the horrible terrorist attack. I found myself getting more frustrated and upset with the dramatic music in the background especially when the planes hit the towers. The images of the people jumping from the tops of the twin towers really hit home for me. I couldn't bear watching the people suffering so much that they would have to jump off a building that magnitude in height. The images and personal stories that were presented in the movie made me more aware of the fact that 9-11 was more than just a terroist attack; it was an attack on our security and crisis departments. Does anyone feel the same way or do they feel that the attack was unpreventable?

playing in the shadows-wiltz

It only occurs once in a blue moon when I actually enjoy a reading assignment. Yet when I read this essay, it was pretty cool. I liked the way Wiltz incorporated pop culture into her essay such as, the Oscars, U2 and Alicia Keys.
It's a weird thought that after a huge trauma, like 9/11, that we, as Americans only need a diversion to get clear our heads. Now, I am not bashing diversions becuase I think that they are a great way to get the stress off, but it's weird to think that we are more vulnerable in a time of crisis and that the ever-changing spirit of pop culture can help form our thoughts, similar to brainwashing.
On the other hand, I think that it is good that America can rally around with our patriotism in a time of crisis with songs and shows focused on America. But look at our patriotism today, most people want the current President out. If we were true patriots of America, this would not be true. I like this current state, because it is not just black and white, it is a little bit of everything.

Students lack a decent vocabulary

The students of our generation lack an extensive vocabulary. We tend to use words that are below our intellectal level instead of using the energy to think of what the correct word to use would be. For example, we might say "This is so annoying" instead of saying "This is dreadfully irksome" or "This is terribly vexatious." Some students wouldn't even say annoying, but would instead prefer "grrr" or "ahh." Also, we create words to fit our needs when we don't know a word that fits. Unfortunately, no one seems to understand that we can't do this forever. We can feasibly use our "new" words in conversations with our friends. Nevertheless, job interviews and introductions can become dismal situations when we fall into the habit of using made up words. An easy way to gain respect in a new place with new people is to at least appear to be intellectual. As many famous people have said in their day (Geogre Elliot, Mark Twain, Benjamin Franklin, etc), "it is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." We need to learn the language to gain respect in our field of choice.

It is a basic requirement of many colleges that we study a foregin language for, at minimum, two years. Much of the first two years of any language is memorizing vocabulary. The same is true of English. It is also true that as one progresses through the different levels of a foregin language, the words become more diverse. Never is it appropriate to describe a tempestuous person as a ugh person in Spanish. Thus, why do we not feel below par when we do it in English?

This lack of vocabulary presents itself in many of our papers for school. Every year English teachers give the same speech about how papers cannot contain "u" instead of "you" and the like. In this speech, many of them include the idea that using bigger, better words will improve anyone's writing. Probably, this message never makes it to our brains because it is the first day of school and we have heard the speech numerous times. I ask us now, to honestly consider how developing a more comprehensive vocabulary could improve writing and speaking.

Vocabulary lists are never enjoyable, but I have found an amusing way to learn new words to incorporate into my life. I pick a favorite word for a short amount of time- sometimes a day, sometimes a week, sometimes even longer. The point of doing this is that I work this word into my daily vocabulary. Last year, one of my words was pensive- meaning thoughtful. Now, I use this word without even thinking about having to choose it over thoughtful. This week, my word is tempestuous- meaning of or relating to a violent storm. Hopefully, I will find plently of uses for my newest word.