creativity

Writing a blog about something I feel strongly about is difficult for me. Do not get me wrong I have quite a few iron-willed opinions, but I simply do not feel the need to rant about them in my blog. If a peer were to ask me how I feel on a subject like abortion or human rights I could jabber out a long monologue about my views, yet I am not inspired to tell the blogging world about a sixteen year old's view point on life. One might ask, then why is my all time favorite blogger writing this blog at all? My answer to that faithful reader is, I am trying to pass tenth grade English and to accomplish that, I can not just blow off an assignment just because I am not inspired. For that reason the topic of today's blog is you can not force creativity.

Teachers seem to expect creative masterpieces every time they read a report and sure enough every time a paper falls short of perfection they call in for reinforcements, the infamous red pen. Though you may not want to believe it I too have had my hard work xed out and scribbled on by the malevolent red pen. "Why is this?(-shocked face-)", you ask beloved reader. Certainly I would not get points taken off my work because of a mistake, typo, or plain lack of literary skill. My teachers take points off my work because my writing, at times, portrays my complete lack of enthusiasm. How am I expected to unveil my creative genius if I am forced to write about i topic that bores me to tears. Creativity simply can not be forced upon a student. Ether a topic jumps out at you with the enthusiasm of a ten year old girl in a Jonas Brothers concert (sorry for the lewd mental image) or a topic is just not worth wasting time on. Students should have several topics to choose from, so they will have the zeal to do an assignment worth reading.

To see Jeff's view on forcing creativity click here.

Here is a quote from David Mead about creativity that I liked and wanted to share with you, my favorite follower.

Deadline (1 book)

Chris Crutcher's Deadline made me think about what I would do if I knew this was my last year. The story is about eight teen year old Ben Wolf who has been diagnosed with an incurable blood disease.

The theme of this novel is tacking a stand. Ben finds out that he is going to die. Though there is a treatment, his chances are slim. He goes against the norm. and chooses to forgo treatment and live out his life, as healthy as possible. Ben does not let other people's opinion of his decision deter him from living the life he wants to. He waits to till he is comfortable to tell his loved ones, much later than when his doctor and shrink tell him to. Even though he is guided by Haysoos, his imaginary friends, Ben makes his own choices.

Ben, the main character, is smart, sarcastic and cares about the people around him. Ben spent most of his life tacking care of his mentally ill mom. This has turned him into the type pf person who takes care of everyone around him before himself. When Ben first gets diagnosed he decides to think about his own feeling before his family's. His senior year being his last, Ben does not hold anything back. The small but determined teen goes out for the football teem and asks out the girl of his dreams. Just when I thought Ben had become selfish, he finds out his girlfriends big secret and does not run. I know very few teenagers who would stay with a girl they just started dating after they found out news like that. In fact I doughty I know many young adults that would.

I recommend this book to everyone because it made me thankful for every extra minute I have on this earth.








PS. I do not know why the font on this blog is being weird. Please accept my sincerest apologies.
- The author

taking Stands part 2

Even though my hair was a mess and I was screaming at the top of my lungs, my dad always got me to school, half an hour late, but I was there. Every single day of second grade, I would think of new ways to prevent going to school. One day I had the genius idea to hide from my dad so he could not make me go. I hid inside the empty jacuzzi in our back yard. After two hours I got board and came out. My dad was a teacher at the school I went to, at the time which meant when I was two hours late he was two hours late. Needless to say he was mad. After being yelled at for a bit, I decided school just was not worth it. So I told my dad I was never going to school again. Apparently he also decided it was not worth it so he left me at home. The next day my dad asked me if I was going to school and I said, "no!" and I did not go. He left me with a list of chores to do before he got home. I waited till 1:45 and then did the chores.

This went on for a few days until I got a call from my bff Melissa. She told me all about the new things that happened in school. Sammy Gillbert was her partner in P.E. I had a crush on Sammy and Melissa knew it. This was not going to continue. The next morning I got up and put on my uniform to go to school. To my surprise, my dad would not let me go to school. He said, "You made your bed and now you have to lay in it." What kind of second grader knows what that means. I begged my dad to take me and I promised to never miss another day of school again. That was a triumph of hope over experience.

Taking Stands

Deep in the dusty corner of my mind, where I store the information forced upon me by my history teachers, sit all those people who have taken stands and made it into the exclusive pages of high school text books. There is no shortage of proud American stand takers, so many in fact that I have to read about stand taker after stand taker for the entire 1034 pages of the U.S. History book. Why does this country produce so many citizens who firmly call into question issues they do not agree with? Is there something in the water? Have our infants not been exposed to sufficient Mozart and Baby Einstein to cool their hot heads from the start? Though these possibilities should be checked out, I think the large amount of stand takers is due to the very first Americans to go against the grain. These rebels have their own holiday, the good type of holiday, the type we get out of school for. During this day "sorry we're closed" signs are promptly displayed and families gather together to drink and play with fireworks. Good combination. The colonial revolutionist are the reason so many Americans are willing to stand up for what they believe without fear of persecution.

Colonial revolutionists paved the way for the rest of the nation. They were willing to die for the what they believed in and wanted all Americans to have the freedom to do the same. The U.S. is filled with activists that ranging from tree hugging protesters to my sister, refusing to eat Heinz ketchup because it will support John Kerry.

Julius Caesar

William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is a tragedy, based on the conspiracy against Caesar and events proceeding his death.

Though Caesar is killed in the third act and only appears in three scenes, I still consider him the central character. He might not be physically seen in the play very often, but Cesar's presence is noticeable. In the first scene his statues are garnished with scarves and the people cheer in the street. In this scene we see Caesar like a commoner might see their lord, not face to face, but the Prof of the lord is visible. Even after Julius Caesar's death he reappears in the form of a ghost and haunts his killers. Caesar's ghost impels the murderers to suffer the same fate as Caesar.

True to form of all Shakespearean plays, Julius Caesar fallows Shakespears dramatic sturcure. The protesters tearing off the decorations from Caesar's statue and Cassius' sonnet showing his discontent with Caesar, both represent the rising action of the plot. The climax of the play is the deceitful murder of Julius Caesar. The falling action is represented by the battle waged between Mark Anthony and Brutus, a consequence of the death of Caesar. In the end Caesar's killers die, only living in the pages of history as well as Julius Caesar.

I would recommend Shakespeare's Julius Caesar to anyone who is interested. Though a bit hard to understand this play is well worth the extra effort.

Uglies- 2books

Scott Westerfeld's Uglies made me look around at the people I considered pretty and ugly, wondering why I even care. I have to recommend any book that makes a sixteen year old change her views on beauty.

At the age of sixteen each character undergoes an extreme cosmetic surgery changing every inch of their body, transforming them from "uglies" to "new pretties". A whole group of people voluntarily calling them selves uglies was very interesting to me. It reminded me of teenage boys calling themselves gangsters. Something tells me the majority of the children in Batesville High School do not really want to be in gangs. Gangsters are not on the top of the community totem pole. A teen calling himself a gangster is demeaning. Because the word is cool, someone who calls himself that word is instantly cooler. right? What if the word were to change? I would not feel convertible with my future son calling himself a murderer.

The theme of Uglies is adolescent change. As a child, Tally never had any reason to question her elders. Her life was planned out for her and Tally was looking forward to the future. After meeting Shay her view point changes. She discovers that authority figures do not know everything. Her self-image changes dramatically as the plot progresses causing her to doubt her teachings. Tally, always a risk taker, was as mush of an individual as an "ugly" could be. Once she saw the real world her seance of individually grows as she learns to be self sufficient.

Uglies is an intriguing books that is a real page turner. The book was recommend to me by several friends and I have enjoyed Uglies very much.

My Name

When my mom was pregnant with my older sister, my parents could not decide what to call her. One day while reading a baby names book my dad got an idea. He put his hand on my mother's stomach and began to say the names he liked out loud. The first time through the list my unborn sister kicked on two names, Amina and Alita. The next time they tried this my sister only kicked on Amina. Personally, I think my sister was kicking because she did not want to be named Amina. It seems my parents did not agree because a few months later Amina Erica Mobley was born.

My dad lived in Japan for fifteen years and during that time his grandmother had only written him one letter. The letter arrived two weeks after my sister was born. She wrote,"God only gave me one son but if I had a daughter I would have named her Arita after my sister, who died as a child." In Japanese the sounds for R and L change depending on other sounds in the word thus when a Japanese person says Arita it sounds like Alita. My angel obsessed mother decided Alita, the Spanish word for little wing, was prettier. On April sixteenth, 1993 bald Alita Marie Mobley, the most amazing child ever, was born. What my mother did not know was, in any Spanish speaking country I can go into a KFC and order alitas de pollo (chicken wings) covered in hot sauce. I am sure you can imagine how much I got made fun of during the three years I lived in Costa Rica.