Proud American

           Forever and always I will be a proud American. Sometimes I’m disheartened about some of the judgments of some predicaments though. If we made little changes to our everyday life we would be in a really great place. A simple compliment to someone can change a whole person’s day around.

            “A ripple in the water can make a wave”. It’s like saying one little change can make a huge affect.  America has a wee problem with obesity. If you decide on having a nice leafy green salad instead of crispy greasy onion rings with your burger. Yes you get to have your juicy hot burger but a better side so you helped your over-all figure. It’s that little choice that’s part of the big picture.

            After you chow down your burger and salad. Don’t dare throw your wrappers out the window you just ruined the picture of the environment. It’s just as easy to recycle and throw away your trash. If the police see your chuck your garbage out the window you will be fined and end up throwing it out any ways so why take the hard road out.

            Each motion has an effect so think before you act. We can only benefit from making little changes just think if were to do two small things a day that would be over six-hundred acts a year times the number of people in the U.S.A. We would be making some mighty fine progress. All those betterment changes will help not only us but our children forever to come. 

Far From Perfect

Authors note: I decided to read these books because I love the television series. They use some parts of each book but at the same time it has enormous differences  

The book Perfect has so far been the most strikingly dramatic book out of all the Pretty Little Liar series. Lots of tragedies happened to each of the girls but every second the clock ticks on; these young ladies get a centimeter closer to finding out who –A is. In the book the girls get closer than ever. The downside to things is all their dark secrets are revealed leaving them in a catastrophe.  What if all the horrid things you’ve done or all the atrocious things you’ve encountered got leaked to just about the whole town you lived in? Would you break down and leave? Or stay strong through the humiliation.

These girls stay, well at least three of them Aria, Spencer, and Hanna do Emily gets shipped away not by choice though. Emily’s mother doesn’t like who she is and thinks she is a mistake to their impeccable family. That would be the worst feeling in the world to think you’re not gratifying enough for your family. Personally if I was in that situation I would always have a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Each girl’s dilemma was different but all lead up to one big picture. For Aria her Mom finds out her Dad is cheating on her and Aria has known the whole time. Mother Montgomery kicks Aria out which builds on to Aria’s problems. Then her perfectly tanned all-American boyfriend takes her in. Till her old sensations came back about her teacher. This is a big scandal because he likes her too. Poor Aria but she could just have made things easier on her and go to her age appropriate boyfriend. But no she takes the formidable way out and goes back to Mr. Fitz. This time she takes her gut feeling wrong and her and Ezra (as she calls him) gets caught by her boyfriend and the authorities. 

Spencer has a gut feelings too. Hers aren’t the brightest either. There’s always that one girl that people love and you praise her too because you know if you don’t she’ll make you life a living nightmare. That’s how it was for Spencer and Ali. The night Ali goes missing Spencer and Ali were in a predicament and once the lights went off Spencer couldn’t remember anything of that night. Later finding out she has memory loss issues, she thinks she was the one to have possibly slaughtered Ali. Personally I don’t think she had it in her and wouldn’t be able to have kept her emotions in check.

The girl with the most difficulties I would have to say would be Hanna. –A has caused so much dilemmas for the poor girl no wonder she has gotten back to her old ways of an eating disorder, and she turns Mona against Hanna. Personally I think Mona is two-faced, there’s really not a loss. Let me tell you this thought Hanna finds out who the killer is and right as she’s about to tell the others all heck comes crashing down. A shiny black SUV comes speeding at Hanna and hits her hard sending soaring through the air. I guess you know the rest from there. Moments later the girls get a text, “she knew too much, -A”.  What would you do if a car was coming full force at you not intending to stop would you run as fast as your legs could carry? Or would you be stuck like glue too frightened to move?

How could there be this much drama in a picture perfect town? Usually the houses are grand clean and spotless with no dirty secrets, the air smells off apples and Chanel No.5 not lies. How could this town become such a train wreck? How can these girls get back to their idyllic lives, without –A threatening their every move? We will just have to wait and see in the next book, Unbelievable.

Pageant Princess

Author’s note: I decided to right about pageants because I watched Toddlers and Tiaras on TLC and I think what those young kids have to do is awful.

            What were you doing when you were 1 year old or even 2 months old? My guess is that probably you were pooping, sleeping or, crying your little heart out. But for some unlucky children they were doing pageants. They were on the stage even before they could walk. Putting make-up on and getting dolled up just to go on stage performing before strangers. Girls that are in fifth grade probably haven’t put that much make-up on yet. Picture one year old girls and boys caked up on makeup. It makes me sick. I believe little kids shouldn’t be able to do pageants until they are five and they shouldn’t be forced into it by their parents.

            Usually the kids that are in pageants have been there since they were infants. Since they have been doing it since they were so young I bet it has costs a great deal of money. An average pageant costs $20,000 just for the essentials, not including hotel, food, beverages, and transportation.

Glitz pageants are so intense. They have a signature saying for these kinds of pageants, “Go glitz, or go home”. They take glitz to a whole new level. Picture huge hair done by stylists, golden-brown spray tans, perfectly French manicured fingers, shiny black shoes that you could practically see yourself in, teeth extremely straight and a blindingly white, and outfits that are spectacular with virtually no flaws.

            Getting all this stuff is only half of the work. You have to get your kid to do it. They will probably be really tired and cranky most of the time if they are little. It will be a challenge for them to get all their make-up and clothes without throwing a tantrum every couple of minutes. “My dress is too tight, something in my wig is poking me, she stabbed my in the eye while putting mascara on me!” It gets a lot worse throughout the day too. Little kids can’t take it, so why put them in there so young? 

            My beliefs on why parents put their children in pageants are because they want to live their dreams out through them. They push their kids to do it even if they hate it. Hours and hours of practice to go on stage for 30 sec. The worst part is they have possibilities they couldn’t win anything at all. Which is basically being told you aren’t pretty enough, your props aren’t good enough, you clothes aren’t glamorous enough, basically don’t shine above the rest. Then you come back to the irritability of loosing. Your weekend just wasted and your kid feels dreadful.

            That’s a lot of stress for one weekend. Is it really worth it because I think pageants are bad for you in the long run. Stereotyping what pretty is when everyone is beautiful in their own way. Young children shouldn’t be put into pageants until the age of 5 when they can make up their mind and have a sense if they really want to go through with it.

Casey's Tragic Loss

Author’s note: This is a letter from Casey’s mom to Casey discussing his actions of a baseball game. Its plot and rising actions, climax and resolution.

Dear Casey,

                 I witnessed your game on Thursday and to tell you the truth I’m pretty ashamed of you. Not because you lost the game for us but because you let your head get to big. When you were younger you spent hours on end practicing batting, I thought you were taught to swing at every pitch that was a strike and if you get behind in the count protect the plate. But all you showed that day was cockiness.
          You had lots of opportunity especially since both your teammates got on base. Then it was all up to you nothing would be the same since you got up to the plate the whole atmosphere changed. At the first pitch that was a do or die moment. The game could have ended there but no you let it go on. If you would have kept your attitude in check then I believe there would have been quite a different result.
          The result wasn’t different though you let two perfectly good strikes get by you then you had struck out! I guess that’s what you deserve though. I thought I had raised you better. Not everyone gets those kinds of opportunities and you let it go right before you. I strongly suggest you make a public announcement stating what you did wrong and an apology to the baseball association. People look up to you every game and it’s your job to be the best person you can. Think next time. We’ll see you soon.

Love,

Mom