The Tradition

As many of you probably know I am torn between two of my favorite bands, Taking Back Sunday and AFI. Taking Back Sunday and AFI sound very alike. They are both Emo bands. Taking Bak Sunday has produced very good music including Liar (it takes on to know one) and MakeDamnSure. AFI backs there name up with Love Like Winter and Miss Murder.[googlevideo]-4512680860198937777[/googlevideo][googlevideo]6568250967630823424[/googlevideo]

Those are both really good videos huh.  It tough to decide whose better.  But there still both my favorites.  Hooray.

As many of you know the Chicago Bears will take on the Indianapolis Colts, Sunday February 4th, 2007 in Miami Florida. Bets have been placed by co-workers and classmates alike. RAnging anywhere from the infamous $1.00 bet all the way to a new plasma TV (they might bet one). Tim and Ted have placed $5.00. Tim has Chicago (becuase he hates Indy so bad) and Ted has Indy (because he felt like it). Other bets are bound to be placed. But heres a break down of who I think will win.

I have my money on Indianapolis (honestly i could care less who wins) for one reason and one reason only. There defense is barely better than Chicagos offense. As long as Indy can stop Thomas Jones then they should be fine. Rex Grossman is impossible to predict. He can have good games and then he can have extremely bad games. His good games aren’t like really good games. But the way he plays just gets them by. With Dwight Freeney and Raheem Brock on the line of scrimage Rex Grossman can only hope his offensive can hold them back.

Now lets look at the Colts Offense and the Chicago Defense. Heading up the Colts Offense is Peyton Manning followed by Joseph Addai (I hate Dominic Rhodes so I won’t mention him), Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, and the Three Amigos (if anyone can name them, kudos to you). In the Colts win over the Patriots, Manning racked up 350 yards. Impressive. The Bears defense is lead by Brian Urlacher and Tank Johnson.  The Bears Defense have carried them to the super bowl.  The defense alone has carried them to the Super Bowl.

This game is going to be decided by who has the alst possession.
Anyone who is betting on the bears can bet with me.

May the Best Offense/Defense Win

Last night I watched a Documentary/Reenactment of the Jonestown Massacre. The two-hour program presented on History Channel raised alot of questions that I thought were really important to answer. Instead of writing a summary that will leave important information I’ll just let read about Jonestown on your own. So anyway here are some of my questions/ideas.

Jim Jones started out as a normal preacher to the congregation of People’s Temple.  Jim Jones offered an immunity to the racism and cruelty of the U.S.A.  So Jones took the Peoples Temple congregation to a remote part of Guyana.  They established a camp where they were safe from everyone else.  No-one came in and no-one got out.  Every now and then Jones would arouse the siren in the middle of the night and announce over the intercom “White Night”.  Everyone was ordered to come to the pavilion area and practice fake-suicides.

On November 14, 1978 the U.S. sent congressman Leo Ryan a democrat from San Francisco with a reporter and news crew from NBC to get the full story of Jonestown.  Jim Jones reluctantly allowed the reporters to come in.  They got what they needed and took whoever wanted to leave to the air strip.  Jones didn’t want the story to reach the press so he sent nine gunmen armed with shotguns to kill everyone.  They did their job fully.  A few people escaped before they were shot.  Those who were shot were again shot in the head to insure they were dead.

As the stroy continues Jones felt it was time for everyone to die.  He ordered some followers to place cyanide and other drugs in kool-aid.  The first people to die were the children.  If the children didn’t voluntarilly drink the kool-aid they would inject the kool-aid by means of a needle.  Then they killed all of the adults.  Jim Jones was killed by a single gun shot wound to the head.

Anyway all of this raises so very serious questions.  How can someone just kill all of his followers?  Why did he kill the children first, all 300 of them (1/3 of everyone there)?  Even though the reporters still had the story why have everyone commit suicide?  It seems to be very  twisted to have everyone die for no reason.  Almost like suicide.

In my next post i will answer these questions.

For now see if you can.

Your first step is to write down that idea or thought that you have and want to turn into a poem. Next, we are going to turn that thought into a free verse poem. There are two different types of poems, and they are structured and free verse. One example of a structured poem is a limerick. Free verse is much easier to write as there are no steadfast rules to writing them. Some free verse doesn’t even have any rhymes or meters to them. Meter is defined as a rhythm in verses, or a pattern of syllables.So, now, rewrite your thoughts into lines. Don’t worry about spelling or punctuation at this point in time, just change your thoughts to lines. Don’t worry about how long or short each line is either. Now is the time to look at your lines and remember that the poem should have a beginning, a middle, and an end, just like a story, a book, and a movie has. You may need to add more information in order to turn your thoughts into a start, a middle, and a finish. Keep in mind that these parts need not be “written in stone”, so to speak. The words of a poem are pliable while they are in the creation stages. They are to be molded and changed until you find the exactly right words you need to complete a line or stanza.

Reread your poem several times and listen to the words and to the rhythm of each line. Now is the time to shorten or lengthen each line in order to create a smooth-sounding poem. Even though it is a free verse poem, you can choose to make each line rhyme with the next line if you want to. If you do, you can use the rhyming dictionary to aid you in finding the appropriate words.

Now go back and reread your poem again. Check for proper punctuation as well as for the proper spelling of each word. Think up an appropriate title for your poem. It would be a good idea to set your poem aside for awhile and then return to it later. Then, reread it again with a fresh mind and make any necessary changes.

If you decide to continue writing poetry, it would be a good idea to investigate some books about creating poetry, and to attend some local workshops. Check out the available recources on the Internet as well as what is available at your local public library.

Thanks to:  http://njnj.essortment.com/howtowritepoe_rqoi.htm

This semester while attending Cresthill Middle School I will strive to accomplish three personal goals that mean a lot to me. Here they are:

1. Learn how to write a poem or song. Writing a poem will unlock a hidden part that has been lost inside of me for an eternity. It would be excellent to learn how to write them with ease so that when I take an AP English class I won’t struggle with poem writing.
2. Learn how to play a bass guitar. Playing a bass will provide the oppurtunity to join bands, create my own music, and let music flood into my life. Although I already enjoy music it will introduce me and allow me to experience music in a totally new fashion.
3. Write a poem about the joy of snowboarding or a real life experience.

In order to complete the curriculum I have established for myself I will need the following supplies necessary to complete my curriculum:

• A bass guitar package
• A bass guitar playing book
• An introduction to poem writing
• A rhyming dictionary
• A thesaurus