Assignment 9 – Dilni Abeyrathne

War, violence, terror, misery – will they ever end? No. No matter how insufferable they seem, they always lurk at the back door, in the shadows, waiting to pounce. A dreary picture, is it not?

War – why does it exist? What purpose does it serve? These represent some of the questions flitting through my mind when I think of this violence-ridden subject. My answer, simply, is that war should not exist. Of course, this is not a Utopian society, or else war would not touch our lives. War is inevitable. It always has been and always will. So why is it that I act so vehemently towards it?

War consists of several far-from-positive aspects: violence, misery, sorrow. Two groups fight one another, the result being spilt blood on both sides, staining the previously pristine ground crimson. Simply put, people die. And where there is death, there is misery. Think of the poor families of those soldiers who left the living. What misery must they be facing? Nothing good, I assure you. War is impractical, it serves no purpose other than to settle conflicts that could have been easily settled through negotiation, had the participating sides took time to even consider sparing the bloodshed. Why fight to the death when diplomacy is an option? Why not settle for the less crimson-stained choice?

In moral terms, war is not just or right. Killing in cold-blood, only perceiving the notion that one side must win – how is this morally right? Is killing another individual right? Is it just? No, it is not. Everyone deserves the chance to live, to breathe, to not die by the hands of another. Diplomacy is an option, a viable option. Diplomacy could settle these war-inducing conflict without spilling any precious blood. So, why resort to war? I see no logical reason, other than the fact that it is human nature.

Spilled blood, broken families—we could all do without this miserable existence.

Assignment 11: Who’s your neignbor?

You are juniors. You are in the Academy. You sit next to each other in Mr. Logsdon's class. You've been here for 11ish weeks and only 7ish to go until the end of the semester.

I think it is safe to say that you know at least a little about each other. Your understanding of each other may include extra curriculars, favorite TV shows, hobbies, but your level of familiarity may also extend into knowing each other's personality. Are they intimidating, carefree, honest?

This week, write about the person you sit next to in English class. What do they do? What are they like? What color would you characterize them as and why? Where do you see them in five years? What type of animal are they like?

I know you're in a seating chart, but you are writing about your peers. Getting to know for the past few months, I have seen you as genuinely nice people and so I expect genuinely nice things in your posts. It doesn't have to be all puppies and ice cream cones, but your entries shouldn't cut anyone down.

Minimum of 150 words - due Sunday, November 5^th at 11:59 pm.

December 3th is the last day to make up blogs 9-15

Assignment 10 - Erin

My zombie survival plan is simple: I'll probably be in my room (on the second floor of my house) when they first break into the world. If I'm the only person at home, God rest my family's souls, but also thank God because I'll be safe. Just keep quiet. That's the key.

To avoid drawing any of the flesh-eating amblers toward my hideout, one great sacrifice would have to be made: release the dog into the world. I love my family dog to bits, but he is loudest creature I have ever encountered. He'd surely lead to my demise.

So, set him free to make it as far as he could, then use the major furniture of the house to blockade all the doors and windows; just for good measure. Next, to grab some provisions (everything that would spoil quickly) and some weapons (my brother has a Nerf arsenal, but I'd prefer something along the lines of a kitchen knife). With my stock, I'd head back upstairs; muster all my strength to push my platform bed in front of my bedroom door; then relax from the safety and comfort of the floor of my closet to observe the panic –presumably spreading across Twitter and Snapchat like a wildfire. 

Assignment 10: Boo

ZOMBIES (or White Walkers) HAVE ATTACKED. Detail your survival plan.

OR

Explain what scares you the most and why.

OR

Describe a moment in which you were fraught with peril. Tell it as a ghost story.

OR

In the vein of David Sedaris write an observational humorist piece related to your daily life: school, home, social, etc.  (don't be mean)

Happy Halloween!

Minimum of 150 words - due Sunday,

October 29th at 11:59 pm

December 3th is the last day to make up blogs 9-15

Assignment 9 - Erin

Humans are never going to get along with each other. People will always disagree. People will always argue.

That being said, I feel as though war should be considered the absolute last resort when dealing with conflicts. The losses outweigh the wins with war. Innocents suffer and die, and even when conflicts are eventually resolved, often times the price is devastating.

I believe that diplomacy offers the best solution. Firing shots, dropping bombs, and taking lives should never be our first instinct. Problem solving, discussion, and negotiation should be where we place our focus; avoiding casualties as priority number one.

But we must also acknowledge that not everyone will be rational or reasonable. Some antagonists simply won't listen to any reason and see only violence as an answer. In these delicate cases we must find a solution that will result in the least amount of harm. Innocent lives most definitely take precedence. And although achieving total world peace seems impossible, I do believe that measures can be taken to find peaceful solutions to our global conflicts.

Assignment 8 - Erin

Fears - painful unexpected death (mine or someone I care about), living a life without purpose, the unknown

Annoyances - bigotry, obliviousness to others

Accomplishments - maintaing a healthy long distance relationship, running a YouTube channel

Confusions - betrayal, bigotry

Sorrows - letting anxiety rule me, closing up when people try to become close to me, my diet (why's all the tastiest stuff gotta be so unhealthy?)

Dreams - directing a feature film, accepting an Academy Award, raising a family of dogs

Idiosyncrasies - my brain thinks in stories (mostly movies), life is like a big story to me

Risks - my career (broke artist life is inevitable but boy do I want), zip-lining

Beloved Possessions, Now and Then - my extensive collection of notebooks (then), my Canon SLR camera (now)

Problems - motivation (in schoolwork)

My most notable idiosyncrasy melds into my dreams. Literally. My brain is wired to think in stories, so at night, my dreams play out like films. I'm the protagonist; I see the events from various camera angles; I hear some kind of score in the background. As fun as this can be, my storyteller mindset comes at a cost at times. I tend to expect a nice linear story to unfold in my life, but that's not how life goes. I don't have a script to tell me what's next. Life just happens. And we roll with it. The unknown terrifies me more than it excites me, but that's just the director brain. Forever craving control in a world of the unexpected.

Assignment 8-Alex

Fears: falling, loss
Annoyances: Ignorance of reality
Accomplishments: Being a relatively good kid, good in school
Confusions: Why we do certain things
Sorrows: Prefer not to post
Dreams: Trying to figure some of those out
Idiosyncrasies: Nerd, Nerd again
Risks: Done some dangerous activities but came out ok
Beloved Possesions: Technology (yep, nerd)
Problems: Time management (Essay done at 11:55 night before, whoops)

Fears. Relatively simple topic, I would say I'm not scared by much. Falling, that is much different than heights. Yeah, I'm ok with being high up but not so if falling down and getting hurt is part of it. Loss is more general than that. I don't like losing people or things I like or have. Do not read that as "people I have", that was in terms of the items. That other one is illegal. I'm not a hoarder, but I tend to be a bit greedy and like keeping what I've got.

Assignment 7 - max marksbury

50% of my immediate family either goes to UK or teachers there. So, currently, that is my fallback plan. My brother got in, so I'm pretty confident I can get in. Let's hope he never sees this. UK would keep me close to some friends and family and would be pretty familiar. I think it's a good enough path to traverse to where I can get somewhere with it.
But, maybe I want to get away from family? I do have some areas that I'm interested in. Wouldn't mind studying in NYC, Minneapolis, Denver, or somewhere else that is interesting. Lexington is this weird black hole in America where it's decently big, but not be big enough to be recognized by anybody nationally or really attract any attention. I might want to get away from that. I've got no spot in particular picked out, though.
College would act as a good reset. A chance to start over. With the whole college "experience" I want to do more than just be locked in a dorm studying computer science or something. I want to expand not just my brain but myself as a person. College would give me the opportunity to do this and make myself who I really want to be. 

Assignment 7- Alex

College is a place where your career starts. There's networking, internships, job experience in your off times, and the degree itself. All of this contributes to your working future. Yes, it's a place learning and self-improvement, but everything is dependent on you getting a job and earning money. If you want to follow your dreams, you need money for food, housing, everything. There's no such thing as a free lunch. Yes, it does seem like I have a kind of bleak outlook on life but when looking at the facts that's the truth behind education. It prepares you for your future. And your future looks bleak without a job, so you try to model yourself to be a perfect candidate for the position. Every aspect of college can teach you something, and all aspects of life as well. Just be observant, learn from the past, and get ready because everything moves much faster than you think.

Assignment 6- Alex

Personally, my favorite subject in school is math, but my favorite subject overall is computers. Normally i spend my free time doing something, anything, with them. Whether it's playing games or learning about them, it's fun. They have solid, set rules about how they operate unlike foreign languages with irregular verbs, or english with its grammar rules that can be optional (Sorry Mr. Logsdon). There's a reason for everything and there's a way to solve every problem. Yes, sometimes that answer is just bulldozing it with more computing power but that is still a concrete answer. Logic trumps all in the realm of computers and 1's and 0's. Sometimes resorting to cold logic is the answer to some real world issues, but really almost never. I personally try to stay as far away from politics as possible but that gets harder and harder as I get older and anything and everything is political. Speaking of recent events, someone in Hollywood is a Democrat and from what I've heard he did some bad things (no idea what they are or who he is, don't really need to know for the purposes of this example), and people online are calling out Obama and Hillary to denounce him. He can't just be a terrible person who is a Democrat, he's a Democrat who did terrible things. Two facets of life can be separated.
Rereading that, that stream of thought is an example of that. Even a kind of innocent blog post went down that path. But, also demonstrates my point, cold logic is not our strong suit as humans and isn't the answer but can be a tool at times. That's what I've learned from this.

Assignment 6 - max marksbury

My brother got me a CD for my 13th birthday. It was one of his favorites when he was teen aged - Arctic Monkeys, Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not. He continued to get me CDs for about a year which was weird because listening to music on discs had been archaic for several years at that point. I didn't really like for the record at first, wasn't really my taste. Little too loud, little too angsty, little dated. Despite all of this I continued to listen to it anyway and it began to grow on me. This served as a jumping off point for listening to music in general and it began to be something I did more and more. Now I'd say listening to music is my primary interest. It's something I pursue every day, learning about new artists and getting into new stuff. There's a very strong connection between music and parts of my life, which is the best part. Not only is it just great to put on something, but I can go back and reminisce about what I was listening to in the past phases of Max Marksbury's life.
Playing music is cool too, but I haven't really taken it as seriously. I've played guitar on and off for 2 years and that's been fun but I don't have much to show for it. Maybe I need an instrument switch. Maybe my interest in it will pick up later and feel more motivated in improving. Right now, I feel like I have enough on my plate to be comfortable where I am.

Assignment 8 Gabe

Fears: Spiders, heights, and creepy twins
Annoyances: When people ask for a favor then keep buggin you about it
Accomplishments: Henry Clay Academy
Confusions: How to do taxes
Sorrows: I wasn't able to meet my granparents
Dreams: Be successful in life have loads of money so no one in my family has to work ever again
Idiosyncrasies:  When people speak on a subject with no knowledge about it
Risks: Procrastinate (often), Sleep (too much, like an unhealthy amount).
Beloved Posessions: Phone, Family, Dogs, Car.
Problems: Procrastination, time management, eyesight ( I really need to start wearing my contacts again).

Throughout my entire life I have noticed that with most families its either that the parents work so much so they can have extra money to do things they want but no time for family, or not enough money for things they want but enough time spent with family. My dream in life is to have both: enough money to do fun things and enough time to spend with family. A good balance between family time and money is all some one could ask for, and that is all I ask for.

Assignment 5 - max marksbury

I went a long stretch not really watching any TV (or movies) - just YouTube and video games for my entertainment. And those are great sources of entertainment, but there's really no good reason to just cut out something like that. I've since reincorporated watching shows into stuff that I do. Not really any cable, just streaming and on demand. So this means that the TV I'm watching is a bit more curated than just whatever happens to be on cable. Some of my favorite shows are Breaking Bad, Arrested Development, the Office, and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
I'm gonna play the devil's advocate for why the Emmy's are such a popular and monetized event. Yeah, it's a bummer that the Nobel Prizes don't get as much immediate attention as other award ceremonies and everything would probably be better if they did. Yet, it's not like they go completely unnoticed. The right people that should/need to see the Nobels will see them, and awareness is fairly high.
Entertainment is a really important thing in society. Breakthroughs in science, politics, and humanity are interesting, for sure. And things that are interesting are entertainment. But I doubt many people want those to be all they have to be entertained by after coming home from work. This is where TV, movies, music etc come in. And it's not like there is no intelligent media out there. Breaking Bad is not just very entertaining to watch, it also hardly ever panders and poses questions of morality and ethics. Arrested Development is a comedy show, yet it might be the smartest show that I like. Every time I watch it some joke catches me off guard; it is an extremely well crafted and deliberate show. It's not exactly posing any moral dilemmas, but is definitely something that you could study. There is absolutely garbage TV out there, but the whole medium shouldn't be put down. It might not be as important as Nobel Prize-worthy people and ideas, but it deserves praise where it is due.

Assignment 7 - Sarah

College scares me: the pressure of picking the right one, the right major, the right roommate, the right classes. I don't have a particular college on the top of my list. However, there are a few things that I am looking for in a college. I want a college that is willing to help me have real-world opportunities, for example co-ops or internships. I think it is important to be able to put something on your resumé before you apply for your first job in that field. I want to go to a college with a beautiful library; I think I will spend a lot of time there. I'm also looking for a campus that is active and I can get involved in. I'm very involved in clubs and band at school currently and would love to have the equivalent to that in college.
I'm still in the process of figuring out what I want to do and with that where I want to go to college. I can't wait to find out where my college search leads me, but I do know that wherever I end up I want to come out being able to serve other people.

Assignment 8- Clifton Grady

       Fears- Heights, flying, losing those close to me

Annoyances- menial and repetitive tasks, singing along with music

Accomplishments- very close friendships, becoming a decent musician, making it this far in life and still being relatively successful in most things that I do

Confusions- people with opposing viewpoints/ people who do not think like my (confusing because I just do not understand why or how they think that way, not because I am judgmental)

Sorrows- not being able to satisfy everybody, being unable to improve life for everybody

Dreams- traveling the world, making the world a better place however I am able, success in whatever career I choose to pursue, having a happy and loving family

Idiosyncrasies- realistic thinking (others may call it pessimism, but I disagree), bluntness

Risks- marching band

Beloved Possessions- video game collection (then) and musical instruments (now)

Problems- organization, procrastination, bluntness

I am a blunt person, it is just a fact about me. I have trouble keeping my mouth shut, and sometimes, this causes problems for me. I have been told many times that I need to be a nicer person or that I should be careful of what I say, but I really don’t understand this. Almost everyone says things about people behind their backs, and I absolutely despise this. I would rather someone tell me exactly how they feel about me rather than pretend that everything is good when in reality problems exist that remain unresolved due to the two-faced nature of the mass of our population today. This is the reason why I am blunt. I want to be told the truth and I feel that everyone is deserving of that respect if it is what I expect. It may be harsh, but as the saying goes: sometimes, the truth hurts. I would much rather hurt someone’s feelings in telling them the truth than lie to their face, masquerading animosity and unexpressed feelings behind a façade of happiness and friendship. Perhaps it is not a matter of what I say so much as it is how I say it (though, I try my absolute best to be respectful to everybody), so in that regard I could definitely work on this which is why I also listed it as a problem, but overall, being blunt is just a part of who I am.

Assignment 7- Clifton Grady

       In just one year, I will be applying to colleges. What just a short few years ago seemed like forever away is right around the corner. For someone like myself who is still somewhat unsure of what they want to do in life, this is terrifying. I do not know where I want to go to college, or exactly what I want to pursue as a major, but I have a few ideas about what my ideal college would be like. I want to go to a school that isn’t particularly overcrowded, but I also want to go to a school with a large and diverse student population so that I can immerse myself in many different cultures and people during college. As someone who is relatively studious and introverted, I am not the type to actively seek out parties and events to partake in with fellow students (at least, I have not been up to this point), but I would like the option to be there, as I feel like going to at least one or two parties is a part of college. College is about more than learning academically, but also learning socially and developing as a person, and I want to go somewhere that will offer me that. On the academic side, somewhere with strong programs in mathematics and engineering are strong draws for me as I am currently pondering majors in those fields. Additionally, a school with an established music department would be ideal, because while I may not major in music (though, a double major could be a possibility), I would like to continue music as either a minor, an extracurricular, or an elective. I may not outright pursue a career in music- or more specifically, playing trumpet- but it is a passion of mine that I hope to continue. I’m not entirely sure about college yet, but I have some idea of what I hope to do, and with the coming year and guidance from those around me, I am sure I will pinpoint a place which I may one day declare my alma mater.

Assignment 6- Clifton Grady

      In fifth grade, my world was changed forever. Splitting us into different groups to study different topics which he deduced the groups of us he had created we would be interested in, my teacher exposed me to something that changed my life- algebra. Most students hated math, but one others students and I had a profound love and understanding of the subject. Arithmetic, fractions, multiplication and division, probability, I could do it all. I was great with number- which is why I was astonished to see a math problem in which I was solving for…x. “What is this,” I initially thought to myself. Math was supposed to be about numbers, not letters. I was admittedly a bit confused at first, but after a failed attempt or two, my teacher sat down with us and began explaining how we were to go about solving these problems. It was like a puzzle. We had to work out the problems to move “x” to one side of the equation and the mathematical expression to the other side. Easy enough, right? The problems began getting increasingly harder and I almost obsessively began researching this “algebra” on my own. My brain was working in a way it never had before. It was amazing. I was instantly in love, and I never looked back. Mathematics has by far been my favorite subject ever since.

Assignment 5- Clifton Grady

A society where the awards shows, such as the Emmy’s, receive so much attention seems, to me, a bit bizarre. Especially considering that this is the same society in which prestigious recognition for legitimate contributions to the human species, such as the Nobel Prizes, are quietly celebrated by few, unbeknownst to the bulk of the masses. We place our values in selfish desires, we want to be entertained. Slaves to “the industry,” actors and actresses tirelessly crank out the same washed up plot lines that viewers will fall in love with time and time again. Meanwhile, the innovators of the world who are producing new medicines, solving unsolved mathematical problems, making peace, and laying the groundwork for new discoveries beyond our scope of imagination, go without massive praise. Perhaps this isn’t by chance, though. Maybe, this is how things are designed to be. Although it may seem a bit counter intuitive to abstain from elevating the scientists and doctors and peacemakers and mathematicians and activists of the world to superstardom, maybe it is by design. Maybe these people simply want to help people, and not praise. Perhaps superstardom is faceted in the occupations it is due to people chasing those dreams for the fame, rather than a genuine care for the people they are serving. Perhaps it says well about our society, that the unsung heroes of the world are such for a reason- there are still people whose interest is vested in doing genuinely good things. Perhaps it isn’t so bizarre, after all.

Assignment 4- Clifton Grady

     Why? This word may be one that has populated my vocabulary more than any other. I have been told that even from a young age, I have always been inquisitive. As an analytical thinker, this is only natural. I am always wanting to know how things work, why certain things are the way they are. One time, though, sticks out in particular in my mind, as it was the first time I ever recall someone pushing back and challenging my inquisition. In Kindergarten when we were studying English, we began discussing vowels. One day, my teacher said something that shocked me. “You will never see a word with more than three vowels in a row,” she said. I quickly raked my brain to try and find an example, I knew this couldn’t be true. “But how could my teacher be wrong,” I asked myself. Upon being able to recall the word “beautiful,” I vigorously lunged my hand into the air. I was called on, and I asked her “What about the word beautiful? That has three vowels in a row. Why did you lie to us?” She looked stunned. She snappily replied “Just because I said you won’t come across them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. They are just more advanced than the words we will be spelling in the classroom. You don’t have to ask so many questions.” I remember this vividly; it astonished me. How could this be? Was I wrong for asking a question? Wasn’t school supposed to be about learning? I pondered these things and that night I returned to the ever-present question, why? The answer now seems obvious, but to a Kindergartener eager to learn and full of questions, it was a tough pill to swallow- sometimes it’s just best to keep your mouth shut.

Assignment 3- Clifton Grady

      The year is 2012. I, about as awkward as one could imagine, was finally growing acclimated to life beyond elementary school.  Going to a school where I would be leaving many of my friends from elementary school was a challenge- not seeing them every day would prove difficult for me. Making friends did not come easy to me; I was thought of as “weird” because of how quiet, shy, and reserved I was. Due to this, the friends I had were very important to me, I was close with them and knew them as intimately as I knew myself. All of this made the news my parents brought to me early that winter all the more devastating to me: we were moving to Kentucky.

While difficult at the time, moving to Kentucky may quite possibly have been one of the best things that ever happened to me.

Moving here, if nothing else, has taught me an extremely valuable (albeit cliché) lesson- life is what you make of it. I was presented with a remarkable opportunity, and I recognized that. I was able to reestablish who I am. No one here knew me or anything about me. All anyone knew was I was the new kid in school, somewhat of a novelty, and I quickly began garnering acquaintances. It was exciting.  Never had I been in an environment where I felt in control of who I was, I felt a boost of confidence. I was able to talk to people, able to try new things, able to finally be the person I wanted to be.

Assignment 2- Clifton Grady

      When it comes to (fiction) novels, I am not big on reading. Over the past twelve months, aside from reading The Great Gatsby (which is an excellent novel that I actually thoroughly enjoy) at the end of last school year, I cannot recall a novel which I have gotten further than a few pages into. Despite this, the number of books which I have read is actually quite plentiful. I am a fan of nonfiction books because of the sheer amount that you can learn from their contents. One such book that I read was Michio Kaku’s The Future of the Mind, an insightful commentary on current and hypothetical advances in technology and the way humans utilize their ability to think. I got a lot of enjoyment out of this particular book because I like to think abstractly and hypothetically, and the content of the book was incredibly thought provoking and provided insight into a possible near future of better understanding our consciousness and humanity, while coexisting with artificial intelligence. This book was very interesting and really made me think, which is what I love in a book. I really think this book, along with other books I have recently read- a few of which included Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki; Calculus for Dummies, by Mark Ryan; Physics of the Future ,by Michio Kaku; and (yes, this is a real thing) No Bullshit guide to Math & Physics, by Ivan Savov- personify me as a person who is very interested in the real world, the future, and thinking about things in a very practical, analytical, scientific way.

Assignment 1

          My name is Clifton Grady. I would not consider myself a person excited by the study of the English language-in fact, I would say English studies in school are close second behind History on my list of least favorite subjects- however, I am a person fascinated with the art of expressing oneself. Despite this, ironic as it may seem, I would consider myself both writer and as a person who loves reading the writing of others. One might then ask why it is that I don’t enjoy English classes, and the answer is a simple one: I despise conformity and doing things the so-called right way. I am very much an abstract thinker. I am fascinated by technology, mathematics, and music; all things which revolve around innovation. I am definitely a nerd, and I have no shame in that. A successful student who finds himself immersed in textbooks concerning physics, computer science, economics, and calculus, a trumpet playing band geek, an avid video game player, and perhaps most important of all, a self-proclaimed connoisseur of tea. I believe that is a sufficient surface-level summary of myself, but I hope to get to know you much better as the year progresses.
           Here's a picture:

     

      And for my favorite website, to stray away from what I am assuming will be typical responses such as YouTube or Twitter, this is Brilliant, a website with lots of cool questions and quizzes that really make you think. https://brilliant.org/

Assignment 8 - Brenden Knuckles

Fears: Drowning, being unprepared, losing chicken

Annoyances: My little brother, that stupid vibrating phone, people being visibly rude
Accomplishments: Haha
Confusions: Being confused, how they get those wooden boats into the bottles
Sorrows: school, work
Dreams: financially well-off, making games
Idiosyncrasies: I had to look this one up but playing games, being humorous
Risks: Losing at a game of Risk, Losing my license and not being able to drive on my own
Beloved possessions: Every single piece of technology that belongs to me
Problems: public speaking, organization

My fears are what guide me as to being a better person. Except for the first one. Other than swimming, I don’t feel that drowning can really guide anyone. But I digress. Let’s get on the subject of unpreparedness. I have always hated, hated, hated public speaking. And still do. I can’t pinpoint as to why I do, but I feel that people understand that. If I have to speak in front of class, even if it’s the most minor thing in the world, I completely fall flat (metaphorically and literally). I learned back in debate class (I know, right? I took debate class to try to fix public speaking issues, but obviously it didn’t work) that unpreparedness is what killed me. If I went up to speak in that class and didn’t have anything written down, I’d act how I would usually act. If I went up there and knew what I was gonna talk about, then I would be able to say what was needed to say. Although to be honest, around the end of the year talking about Donald Trump was what guided me into my speeches. Anyways. Unpreparedness, I feel, is the reason why people don’t enjoy public speaking. But that might be wrong. Being prepared, being confident, and also looking good is the best way to make sure you don’t (expletive) mess it up like they would in the movies. Unpreparedness, and chicken, are what guide me into being a better person.

Assignment 8 - Sarah

Fears: my foot falling asleep and never waking up, sharks, really big bugs

Annoyances: complaining, waking up late, bugs that fly into people’s faces

Accomplishments: being drum major in band, having good grades, got two people up on one wakeboard, slalom ski

Confusions: cruel treatment of other people/violence

Sorrows: homework

Dreams: travel, having a pet

Idiosyncrasies: to close the door to the laundry room before I go to sleep, wearing my watch on my shoe

Risks: jumped off a bridge at Norris Lake, high ropes course blindfolded, get air on wakeboard (want)

Beloved Possessions, Now and Then: snow globe collection-32 (then), friends and family (now)

Problems: time management, over booking myself

I love the lake. I could be out on the water 10 hours a day and never get tired of it. There’s always new things to try and to do. When I was little I learned to kneeboard, then I moved up to skiing. My dad would be in the water with me and hold me until the boat pulled me up and he would just float there while I skied off and then once I fell we would turn back and get him. After I learned to ski I upgraded to wakeboarding and then to slalom skiing.

I now have learned to do some tricks on both the wakeboard and the ski.

My new goal is to get air on the wakeboard. At first it didn’t seem complicated. Then, I started trying. I was wrong. When you’re out on the end of the rope it’s peaceful, like nothing else in the world matters, but it’s also scary because you know you could easily fall. I’ve tried and tried to get air and sometimes I’ve succeed, but as soon as I leave the edge of the water the scariest and most amazing feeling hits me. It’s like flying. I’m still working on getting decent air, but I think I’ll be able to master it next summer. Fingers crossed.

Assignment 6 - Sarah

I’m a Broadway fanatic. A few summers ago my father and I went to see Matilda and I fell in love with it. I downloaded the soundtrack on my phone and started listening to the songs on repeat and I started to learn the lyrics. A lyric from a song called Quiet caught my attention.

 “There’s no way of knowing if red means the same thing in your head as red means in my head when someone says red.”

I started thinking more and more about this lyric and it’s fascinating. In all actuality we have no idea if the colors I see are the same as the colors you see. If I point at a book and asked what color it was we might both say red, but we could be seeing two different colors and just have learned them as the same color name: “red”.

I love this theory because we don’t have an answer and we have no way of finding an answer with the technology we have available to us. I used to automatically think that I saw things the exact same way as everyone else and everyone thinks in generally the same process I do and although it is possible we have no real way to test it.

We both say the sky is blue and the grass is green. But we don’t know if we are seeing the same colors. All we know is that we both learned those colors as “blue” and “green”.

Assignment 5 - Sarah

Prompt 2.

I believe that television is a great form of easy entertainment. It requires nothing of the person being entertained other than to watch. It is not always the most educational, nor the most useful, but it is a good, easy way to be entertained.

Television’s ability to conveniently advertise has decreased because of DVRs and Netflix because they allow you to skip the commercials and go right to your show. However, most Americans still watch normal television as well and do sit through the commercials while waiting for their show to come back on, so advertisers still get their message out to most Americans.

Watching TV is sometimes used as a way to procrastinate and watch useless shows about the Kardashians, but it can also be used for good reasons too. TV can provide educational resources to children and adults alike. This summer we had to watch a documentary for English and Netflix proved to be an amazing resource to find a documentary. Also, if you’ve had a bad day sometimes you simply need something to cheer you up and your favorite show could be the one thing that could make you laugh. Or if your boyfriend broke up with you and you watched hallmark just to cry and feel a little less alone. TV shows emotion and can touch people in a way they need.

Assignment 5- Alex

Television is a good form of entertainment, but like all other forms, of a certain kind. I think that each medium has its own use. Books are good for telling the story of a character, relying on the theater of the mind. The words provide a framework, but you have to fill in the rest. It may read, "The chair is blue", but what shade? What kind of chair? What's the location? And so forth.
Video games can tell stories, and quite well. They put you in the position of a character, and the success or failure of it all depends on you. It gives you visuals, sounds, the works, but the key is interaction with the world. That is the realm of the game, the ability to impact it in your own way. Granted, you know that everything is limited by the coding of the game but still is fun/exciting/sad/thrilling/etc.\
Finally, television. In my opinion this puts people on the rails of the camera, following the story. Television can be replayed easily by simply rewinding, finding details and reviewing with the all powerful remote. Observe the world as a spectator in (insert name here)'s life or the journey to retrieve the McGuffin, doesn't matter. It can be used for just as wide a selection of purposes as the others. The quality of the entertainment depends on the story is what I'm trying to say. Pick a medium, quality varies wildly but most of it is enjoyable.
Advertisers use this for exposure, and yes they do choose it because so many people watch television. That is the core reason advertisers have paid 4 million dollars for Super Bowl ad slots. They have the audience, they know where the people are, and they take their chance they will earn back their money.
As for is it an inane use of time, that isn't a simple question. Why do people do anything? Enjoyment, money, their kids, opportunity, because they can? No idea. Yes, it doesn't immediately progress the betterment of humanity or earn money or anything useful. It's entertainment. If something isn't useful, then it is inane, then yes you call it inane. But my opinion on the matter is that life should be enjoyed. Why live if there's no point in anything. Not to get existential in a blog post on entertainment, but to quote the band OKGO, "This to shall pass". Enjoy it while it's here.

Assignment 4 - Sarah

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

For some people the answer is easy: a doctor, a lawyer, or a writer. However, I would not be one to easily answer this question. It’s as though from a very young age society expects for you to have an immediate response. I still don’t have a response.

As I entered high school I started thinking more and more about what I want to be when I grow up. And I’ve concluded that I don’t know and that’s okay. I’m still exploring what interests me. I do know that I must start making decisions this next year and I have started paying more attention to what I enjoy doing. I’ve started ruling things out; I can already tell you that I will not be in politics or medicine.

I appreciate the people who know exactly what they want to do for the rest of their lives, but I’ve come to find that I don’t have to have everything together and nailed down.

Assignment 3 - Sarah

Every year with my church the youth group goes to a camp called Passport for a week during the summer. Almost every year it changes locations, yet every year it feels like going to a second home. I can’t begin to describe the love that everyone has for each other there. Two years we were doing our mission project for the week and every day we went to the Atlanta Boys and Girls Club, which is basically an afterschool program for children and teens. Our job was simply to play with the children and show them kindness and love. And I thought I was going to show them that, but they showed it to me. They could’ve played all day if they could and as soon as we walked in the door they would just come up to you and grab your hand, literally, and start dragging you to go play a game.

I met a 6-year-old boy named Denim. He made the whole experience worth it to me. He became attached to me and wouldn’t do anything without me for the whole week to the point where his mom had to come in to meet me one day because he had been talking about me. I learned so much from him. He taught me how to care for people without knowing anything about them or being like them and how to show kindness to everyone.

It made me realize that I want to do something with my life that impacts other people. I want to show people love and kindness.

Assignment 4 - max marksbury

My dad is a professor at UK, so naturally I'm being pressured about college and higher education. Whether you go to to college is a choice you make, not anybody else. However it's been presented in my family as something that will definitely be happening after high school. This isn't to say I'm really even thinking about not going to college - pretty sure I'm gonna choose to go to college. But I've had some skepticism about whether you really need to go or not. Sometimes it feels like if you try to stay afloat you can eventually stumble onto some line of work that you can get by with, college degree or not. Especially since tuition not only expensive but continuing to rise, and a college degree no longer guarantees a job. 

Of course, I'm just a 17 year old dude who doesn't know anything. So, despite all this natural skepticism towards my family's pressure, it also doesn't really mean much.

Assignment 7 - Brenden Knuckles

Okay, first off, I don’t have a college picked yet. That can be a good or bad thing. But who cares? College is meant for people to have fun and also learn hardcore topics such as theoretical physics. College is the place to meet new people, travel to new places, and be able to buy Jimmy John’s right next to your dorm. Such convenience can be had at your local dorm, with so many places and traffic jams happening right outside your window. But that’s besides the point. I believe articulating education at colleges is crucial to creating a very educational and inquiry-ous learning environment. Now this may seem like a sudden jump, but education is obviously why you’re at the college to begin with. For example, if I wasn’t able to articulate my educational needs and feelings at John Doe College, how would I learn anything? That’s right, I wouldn’t. And for that, is why I believe that college is the barrier between seeing the world for what it really is, and educational backdraw.

Assignment 6 - Brenden Knuckles

My mind constantly wanders into dimensions beyond humankind. Not really. But I do sometimes (when at school) think about how much fun I’ll be having playing games with friends and staying up until midnight realizing how much you’ve failed in the past 7 hours because you forgot to do your homework. But that’s not often. That’s happened like five times, okay? None more. I think about work and how that will go, or thinking about where I want to work instead. There’s a lot of things that go through my mind. If it wasn’t obvious before. But I want to rant about the current conditions of Mercury going into retrograde. Mercury going into retrograde is what causes all of the bad problems in the world. And that’s only become a recent discovery as well. How come we haven’t known about Mercury going into retrograde before? Google even says that Mercury going into retrograde “incites dread” whenever it occurs. Nobody wants that to happen. But you can definitely blame that darn retrograde for all your problems.You left your homework at school? Mercury in retrograde. You forgot to put gas in your car? Mercury in retrograde. You forgot how hard life is, that’s obviously different. Mercury doesn’t fix that. Sorry.

Assignment 5 - Brenden Knuckles

I feel as if Television, based on how it was in your life, can drastically change who you are. For example, everyone always has that “childhood TV show” or channel that they loved watching as a kid. TV is an amazing form of entertainment. TV is easy to access, and is (usually) very well made and produced, with well thought out writing and jokes to go along with it. For me, that show was definitely Spongebob Squarepants. All my friends would either say “Oh yeah, I always loved Cartoon Network,” or “Hey what was that show on Nick with the dog?” I only loved one show above any other one, and it has never changed since. Spongebob was my childhood, and that’s why I firmly believe that Television can shape someone’s childhood just based on one show alone. You could argue that it’s meant to establish advertising and send “subliminal messages”, but who cares? I still think that, even if it can be described as a waste of time, Television is one of the best ways to shape a person, especially during childhood.

Assignment 4 - Brenden Knuckles

I’ve never really had the chance to question or challenge an idea. Other than debate class, where that’s a given, it’s really not much. I’ve never really tried challenging anyone, because I’ve always just been accepting of what they believe. If they believe in it, why should I bother? But I’m not trying to be a bummer. My thinking has been focused on the ideas of morals recently. Based on past and recent events, I’ve been really considering as to why people do what they do. For example, I’ve heard many people use the phrase “People don’t kill people, guns kill people.” I, rather, think it’s the opposite of that. I’ve always loved challenging the ideas of why things are done and why such tragedies happen. And from what I believe, I don’t think that guns kill people, but moreso that a person’s intention or belief is what makes them kill those people; guns are just a sort of (I hate to use this) “tool” to them. But that’s mainly what’s been on my mind recently. Other than that, not so much.

Assignment 3 - Brenden Knuckles

My world view has rarely ever moved from my backyard window. Rather, I’ve never been outside of this country in my entire life, and don’t have any plans on doing so currently. In the future it’s an obvious probability, but other than that, not really.

I remember going to Florida every other year with my dad’s side of the family back when I was younger, but that’s fallen off. However, I do remember one of my favorite travel experiences over the years. Back when I was around 14 or 15, I went on a trip to Arizona. By bus. The entire ride just to get there took roughly seven days. But man, did I go through every state and every big city and every environment and every culture. In fact, I remember more from the bus ride there than I do from the actual vacation. Something like that ride I could never forget, because it was almost like travelling around the world in only a few days. Going only with my little brother and older brother, sometimes showing up to Memphis or Little Rock at 4 AM and having to get off the bus and quickly find the next. Meeting new people, seeing new places, and a lot more. Would I do it again? Probably not. The entire trip was very confusing and difficult due to planning it all out. Would I never forget it? Definitely.

Assignment 2 - Brenden Knuckles

Sadly, but probably not surprisingly, the only books I’ve read recently were the ones we had to read for summer reading. Whys that? Well, reading has never really been a big part of my life. Sure, I did go to that nerdy “end of the year AR point party” back in elementary school, but that passion has definitely dropped off over the years. For me, reading has never really been as important to me as other interests that I have. Although, some books I do enjoy reading are graphic novels. Graphic novels are easy to pick up and easy to follow. After all, they do include those bright colors and detailed drawings. How could you not turn away? All of my friends and I would exclusively read graphic novels back in middle school because that’s what we loved so much. But regardless, books have played some part in my life leading up here. What interests me most is finding the next good graphic novel series to read and look at. But other than that, not so much.

Assignment 8- Richie Lane

Fears: Spiders, most bugs in general, public humiliation, private humiliation, physical altercations, disagreements with my peers
Annoyances: Arrogance, stupidity, excessive need to be noticed/liked, emotional immaturity, high expectations
Accomplishments: Can eat fast, can drink fast, never failed a class, made it to this point
Confusions: What is a mortgage, how do you pay taxes, how do credit cards work, physics in general
Sorrows: no backbone
Dreams: showed up to school in my underwear
Idiosyncrasies: I looked up the definition of this word and still don't understand it
Risks: Eating a really hot pepper(want)
Beloved Possessions: money, phone, MY EDUCATION
Problems: Time management, being taken seriously, being serious

I'm quite afraid of bugs. I don't know what it is about them, they just creep me out and I hate the sight of them. Spiders and centipedes especially. I'll stand over a spider or centipede with a shoe in my hand for like 20 minutes before I build up the courage to squash it. I don't know what I'm afraid of in that scenario, I mean, I have all the power, right? I'm the one with the shoe. I guess I have an irrational fear that once I swing the shoe down, it's going to dart away into some crack I can't reach and plot its revenge. I really don't think I'd last in the wilderness just because every time I lay down I'd know there's a bunch of bugs all around me and when I fall asleep they are gonna be crawling all over me. It's creeping me out just to think about. And it's almost impossible to know which ones are venomous and which ones are harmless. Which also contributes to my fear of the unknown. I know they say stuff like the ones with the black spots on their back are venomous or something like that, but I rarely analyze the spider before I attempt to kill it. And if it gets away, and it is venomous, it'll come back one day and get revenge my biting me. And spider bites are so small that you probably wouldn't feel it right away, you'd feel it once it starts to get super painful and you have to go to the hospital. Or maybe my parents will be like "You probably just have a cold" and make me wait it out and before I know it my arm is black and has to be amputated. If I ever think I've been poisoned by something I'm gonna exaggerate the pain so much to make sure my parents take me to the hospital.

Assignment 1 - Brenden Knuckles

Introduction into a new place is always slightly difficult. Not super difficult, but definitely not easy. Where should you start? Who should you mention? What should you talk about? All of these questions come to mind into simply asking “introduce yourself.” Well, for me, you ask? I’d like to first come off and say that I truly put myself towards something that I truly enjoy doing. Not to be rude, but that’s who I have become. In fact, let’s lead into that. In Kindergarten I was this kid who never talked to anyone in my class. All I did at school was do my homework and schoolwork, and that was it. Besides, what else did I have to worry about? Making friends? Pshh, sorry, that’s not happening. And then there was one moment in Kindergarten that I will never forget: meeting my first friend.

For the record, I didn’t really come up to him, but he came up to me. What he has told me recently is that I was very timid and shy about saying my name. If you see me now, how could I even compare at all? But something else led me to not being a kid who exclusively did work, and that was video games. Video games have been a giant part of my life, if not my life entirely. I love playing them, I love buying them, I love playing them with friends. What amazes me is the extent as to how video games can bring people together. But I digress. After all, there needs to be an end to this blog post.

http://www.coolmath-games.com/ was THE website to use back in elementary and middle school. This was the sole website that got us all into playing video games. The best memories I have with my friends from school was playing on this exact website.

And here’s a picture of a Bob Ross painting (right) next  to the same painting hilariously made in Mario Paint. Ironically, this Mario Paint picture is my desktop background.

Assignment 7 Gabe

My ideal college is USC (South Carolina) mainly because it fits all of my college wants. Main campus in a big city, check; large school enrollment, check; good business school, check; far away from home, check. I would hope to use my education at this fine establishment to get a good paying job with good insurance and a good 401k plan, hopefully retire at 35.What I see is that many of the jobs around today will not be around in twenty years or so but businesses will never go away. Hopefully I could leave an impact on the earth. If not the earth at least the people who I come in contact with will be left inspired and amazed. A college education will be very important in the coming years as its predicted that 65% of all jobs will require and college degree in 2020. therefore if there is hope in having a successful life a college education is needed.

Assignment 4- Alex

When I was in elementary school, I was told that for research projects we couldn't use Wikipedia, but everything else was OK. I could just google the question and use the first thing that popped up. Nope. Everything has a bias and Wikipedia isn't all bad. I didn't even look at Wikipedia for the longest time and trusted anything else blindly. Have you seen that ad that says "They can't put anything on the internet that isn't true"? That was me in elementary school. 

I had to learn what kinds of sources had questionable info. Certain topics needed much more checking than others that were dictated by pure facts, and even then it wasn't OK to just breeze by. Seminar helped a little with that but I think I have it down now.

I know others will have much more interesting stories than this, and over more current topics and issues, but I wanted to do something a little more tame. 

Assignment 3 - max marksbury

I haven't been outside the United States ever, but luckily it's a country big and diverse enough that you get very unique experiences just travelling within the borders. I've already written about my vacation to NYC, but it's the best fit for this topic so I'm writing about it again at the risk being a broken record.
I'm getting older and starting to think about if I really want to stick around in the 859 or if I want to go somewhere else. Especially when the college years roll up. And when I went to NYC I felt a very strong connection to the area. It's a constantly impressive place, and just being there not doing anything in particular is quickly a fresh experience. Compare that to Lexington where the downtown is kind of neat and the rest is a sprawl. Everything is very dense and compact, but it's still a very big city. It's also quite diverse - you can point to a general section of just Manhattan and go there and you'll have a new experience. And you can get anywhere with a subway pass. Despite all of the jokes I've heard at the expense of the New York subway system, I didn't really have any negative experiences down there. We took the subway to Brighton Beach and I got sunburned, but behind the boardwalk was a very Russian suburb. All of the signs are in cyrillic first. Pretty neat.
I can't really speak such a high praise for anywhere else I've been. I went to New Orleans when I was like 5, so I wasn't really thinking about whether my future was there or not. And I don't really see myself southbound anyway. I've been to Myrtle Beach a few times and that's nice but no I don't want to live there. Especially in an academic pursuit.
So, my trip to NYC really made me think about what I want to do after high school and where I want to go.

Assignment 6 Gabe

I'm gonna preface this by saying I am totally confused about what we are supposed to do here so this could be disastrous. Over the summer one of the projects we were assigned was to create and annotated bibliography over some articles and a documentary that we were passionate about. thinking that this would be a breeze and the hardest part would be the bibliography for the documentary I found through research that the hardest thing was finding a topic that I could present as being passionate about. Yes even with all the controversial incidents and the ever widening gap between people I couldn't find anything that I could even fake as being passionate about. Now I don't know if it was maybe my mind being sheltered from the real world because its apparently more important to know the rules of special right triangles than to know about what is polarizing the two ends of our country. Or maybe I'm just an easy going person who is too relaxed give a hoot.

Assignment 8- Kayla Conrad

Fears: being a disappointment, the dark, the ocean.
Annoyances: Fake people, rude people.
Accomplishments: hiking the Great Wall of China, completing a Tough Mudder.
Confusions: why everyone in this world isn't treated the same.
Sorrows: thinking about the children all around the world without food, clothes, or a family.
Dreams: become fluent in Chinese, help people in need.
Idiosyncrasies: all my classes are color coordinated, I make this horrendous goose noise when I cough or laugh.
Risks: going to China with people I had never met before.
Beloved possessions: my baby blanket my grandmother knitted my before she passed (then), a bracelet a little 4-year-old boy made on a mission trip (now).
Problems: I am very blunt to people's faces which can get me in trouble. I am REALLY loud.

A Tough Mudder is a competition that is 10-12 miles which include 25 obstacles to challenge mental grit and physical endurance. My father has now completed three while I just competed my first one back at the beginning of September. I originally planned to start one right after my sixteenth birthday (the minimum age requirement) in the first weekend of June. I started training at the beginning of last year every single day going to the gym, whether I was running around the track or attempting a pull up, I was always there because I wanted to prove everyone wrong. Everyone saw me as the little girl who played soccer that couldn't even do a pull up. That's all I heard for months was everyone except my parents telling my I wasn't strong enough, or I would never be able to complete 12 miles, let alone with obstacles made for the British military in boot camp. So I used it as fuel.
I made a shirt. With everyone's name on it that told me I wasn't strong enough to complete such a difficult course. I wore it to the gym all the time and every time I wanted to give up, I looked down as my shirt and I would do one more lap, one more push up, just to prove those people wrong.
When June came around I got an email saying the age requirements had changed for just Kentucky, you had to be 18. I obviously wasn't so I had thought all my training had been for nothing. My dad and I signed up to compete in one down in Nashville in September but to be honest I basically stopped training. I went through a rough patch and I never went out of the house or worked out so when the weekend came around in September, needless to say I was far from prepared. But I did it.
I ran through electrical wires and 33 degree water. I proved everyone wrong except for myself. And I'm stronger for it

Assignment 3- Alex

I haven't traveled that much outside of the state. I've never even flown in an airplane. The few places that I've been to have been Atlanta, Georgia to my cousins house, Ohio for Kings Island, West Virginia for the Boy Scout National Jamboree this summer, and Florida for Universal and Disney World in elementary school.  The most recent of these are the Jamboree. The Jamboree itself wasn't the most interesting thing, almost everything got canceled by a massive thunderstorm, but the whitewater canoeing trip was much more interesting. I was in a canoe with my friend Ethan (no not Wallace) but he wasn't that great at it. I got impatient and a little panicked sometimes, when you don't work together, you can flip pretty easily. But yeah, I can get frustrated at people when they need to help or some consequence will happen, but they aren't the most skilled.

Assignment 7- Richie Lane

My ideal college is Ohio State. I want to stay on the east coast, and I'd like to go further north because I consider myself a cold weather person. I also want to go to a large state school. Although a lot of schools match this criteria, I visited Ohio State over the summer and really liked it. Also, Ohio State has one of the nation's best psychology programs, which I am very interested in pursuing.

Assignment 5 Gabe

I can proudly say that I do not watch much TV anymore mainly because in my opinion there are only a couple of shows worth watching: Impractical Jokers and The Walking Dead. The reason I watch TV is usually because I'm bored and there is nothing better to do. I think that whether or not TV is a good form of entertainment is personal preference and matters on what and who you like. As for me, I do not think it is an adequate entertainment source and I would get a lot more entertainment out of Netflix or Hulu. I think that for what the Emmy's are, it does a good job at it. The Emmy's is just a giant spectacle and eye grabber with no real content or importance. And the fact that the Emmy's get more audience than the Nobel Prizes is no suprise considering only 53% of the U.S. population goes enrolls in college there is no craze for education.

Assignment 8 - Trip Church

Fears: Bees, falling to death, 

Annoyances: When i make a stupid mistake that shouldn't have been made

Accomplishments: Academy, pretty good at drums, etc

Confusions: How life can so quickly switch between amazing and awful

Sorrows:  Not making better use of time I've wasted

Dreams: "Succeed" in life, have a happy family, and never have financial worries, enjoy life for as much as possible.

Idiosyncrasies:  I have scoliosis, have 2 dogs

Risks: I think I might want to be a musician as a career, but that can be a tough career to succeed in.

Beloved Possessions, Now and Then:  My phone is important to me.

Problems:  I let my mood get the better of me far too often, and it affects social interactions way too much.  

Assignment 7 - Trip Church

To be honest, I'm not sure what the perfect college is for me.  I've only recently began to explore my options for college, and I'm not 100% familiar with all things that colleges can and do have.  I'll make a list of somethings I think I would value in a college:
-No huge classes (other than entry level courses that everyone takes)
-Strong music program
-Active student population
-lots of clubs and activities and sports
-city nearby
-professors dedicated to helping me succeed
-will mean something to potential employers

Assignment 8- Neil McGinley

Fears: Guilt comes to mind specifically, formerly bugs and rollercoasters,

Annoyances: I can not stand it when people make my decisions their issues. I do not think things through and I probably will not ever. By associating myself with you, you make my stupid decisions representative of yourself and then I feel like an idiot. 

Accomplishments: I can do a front flip into a pool. 

Confusions: Honestly grammar and punctuation, but I’m sure your aware already. 

Sorrows: I kind of miss my hair.

Idiosyncrasies: I often sit in ways many might deem uncomfortable but that’s just the way I sit

Risks: Every once and a while I run stop signs on my bicycle. 

Beloved Posessions: I wore a Maori hook my dad gave me until it turned brown, now I wear a silver bracelet my dad got me. 

Problems: I want my braces off, but also I want to be able to provide for my family. 

To expand on the fears thing. Luke Cline cured my fear of everything. It was right up there with that Mexican mechanic. He and I and some others went to the fair. He coolly bragged he was not afraid of roller coasters and I truthfully said that I was. Except when we got on the first ride he was afraid like really afraid. And in an effort to make him feel better I talked him through it and that’s how the night went. Rides got progressively scarier luke got progressively more scared and I tried harder and harder to reassure him. He eventually passed out on the “Nitro.” And while he was out it occurred to me, I wasn’t scared. All it took was someone more scared than me and I was fine. And if all it took was someone more scared than me I could probably just make my head do it. Long story short I eventually got in trouble for touching spiders with abandon something that I used to be decently afraid of. Thanks Luke!

Thank you, that is all. 

Assignment 7- Kayla Conrad

Free coffee, equality, and free books. What I want in a perfect college, even though this is extremely unattainable. Something I have really been researching in colleges is whether or not they have an Equestrian Team or not, while this is not as much related to academics as much as looking for a certain major is, Equestrian is a big part of my life that I don't plan on giving up when I go off to college and through my research, not many colleges have an Equestrian Team.
In searching for my perfect college, I want something that will cater to the individual needs of the students instead of worrying how good they are academically in the country, Now don't get me wrong, I want to go to a good college, but I have also learned that where I get my undergraduate isn't as important as my graduate school or my med school. This means I am most likely going to end up getting my undergraduate from whatever school gives me the most money and meets at least some of my expectations.

Assignment 6- Matthew Street

For me I would have to select science. Although a lot of the time the subject of science "gives me greif" (as in on the ACT and through Mr. Davis and Mr. Ratliff's classes),I love everything about the field, even though there is A LOT of information to be known and memorized I find it fairly interesting. I particularly like anatomy and biology because it really helps explain why things work and in depth and it’s very interesting. I didn’t really enjoy chemistry very much (it was all my fault mr Ratliff was amazing and such a great teacher). It was not even that i did not like chemistry more than the fact that i thought the class was insanely difficult to fully comprehend. Even thought I don’t particularly want to go into the medical or science field for a job it’s just really fascinating to learn about how things work and for that, I select the science field.

Assignment 4 Gabe

As a child I would frequent the neighborhood church on Sundays and Wednesdays and like most people I would sit and stand with the crowd. Listening attentively through the hour or two the service would last then as soon as I got home I wouldn't put another thought into it. Since so many people view talking about religion as a faux pas unless in a religious place there nothing to challenge peoples beliefs and that being so anything I heard in church I would take as truth or "words to live by". But a lot of times its these thought provoking conversations between people of different beliefs that bring up ideas of disbelief or questioning. Me, I'm not someone who takes faith or believing to heart as in my experience it is better for people to find their own ways and not have to believe in the conventions of society.

Assignment 6 - Trip Church

Right now music is on my mind. I really love music - whether it be listening, playing, or creating - it is a huge part of my life.  Right now I'm listening to a Red Hot Chili Peppers greatest hits collection.  When that's over, I'll probably listen to Rush, or Led Zeppelin, or Smashing Pumpkins, or countless other bands that i enjoy.  Rock has always been my favorite genre, It's what I grew up listening to, and what I can always fall back on to comfort me.  I've learned to appreciate jazz lately, it's never my first choice for songs to listen to, but jazz is often quite complex and demanding for the musicians, so I really enjoy listening to that, and playing it as well.  I listen to rap occasionally, usually only if a friend is playing it.  I used to hate rap but now I've gotten to the point where I don't really mind it, although I still don't choose that to listen to, myself.  The only music I just straight up don't like to listen to is country.  Maybe I'm stereotyping the genre, but all the songs seem to be compromised of extremely simple istrumental parts, along  with cliche vocals about booze and rodeos and women.  But then again, if you like country music, more power to you.

Assignment 4: Luke Webster

There has never really been a time where I have had a profound change in my ways or in my way of thinking, although there have been a couple of things that I would consider close to it.

One of those would be being exposed to the Ben Shapiro podcast. Something about the things he believed and the way in which he articulated them struck a cord with me. He spoke with something that I really found to be fascinating and relatable.

This challenged my previous notion that I should really stay out of politics, being almost apathetic.  It also challenged the notion that the world was black and white, blue and red. He regularly talks about the need for discourse instead of name calling and rioting. He has really shown that even though you may not agree with someone politically, you should also accept them at the end of the day for who they are, your fellow person.
That really changed my worldview.

Assignment 6- Kayla Conrad

I love Science. Everything about it, from cat dissections to molecular chemistry I just can't get enough. Over the years I have always been drawn to science and math, may come from my whole family being engineers. Since I want to create a career in the medical field, I have focused my class selections around that idea, hints me taking three science classes in one year. One of the ways I have discovered that I work well with is through hands on experience and I am so grateful that our school is able to offer dissections in anatomy class and chemical experiments in chemistry class because it allows me to understand how the workforce may be like to decide if science is worth being my career path.

Assignment 3- Matthew Street

This is truly a blog post in which I can connect more with because I am personally impacted by it. I am originally from Medellin, Colombia and I still visit back there fairly often so I get a very broad perspective on the culture from there and how it is different from here in the United States. Every day things are different here than there and lots of people in the United States take things for granted that would be seen as blessings in a third world country and it is very eye opening when you can see it as a first hand experiment. As some may know, I swim a lot and I swim pretty often. I am a colombian national record holder in the 15 year old boys 200 meter butterfly, but I don’t put much credit into that title because I have access to many better facilities in the states as well as I have the opportunity to spend more money on suits here than they can in colombia but I think the ability to see the whole thing from two cultures really benefits me as a person.

Assignment 6- Richie Lane

The only thing I can say deeply interests me is psychology. Since about 7th grade, I've always been fascinated with the human brain, the way it works, why we feel the way we do about things, and everything else about it that makes the brain so great. I had a very minimal understanding of all the things about the brain I was interested in until last year when I took AP Psychology, though. I mean, even now I wouldn't say I have a great understanding of any of it, but I definitely learned a lot about the human brain and mind, and it was very fascinating to me. When I go to college, I will likely major in Psychology.

Assignment 8: Nathan Boshard

Fears: drowning, being eaten alive
Annoyances: valuing feelings over facts
Accomplishments: N/A
Confusions: mixing up your and you're
Sorrows: being weak, mediocre grades
Dreams: Paleontologist
Idiosyncrasies: eye twitches, nerd
Risks: climbing on buildings, urban exploration
Beloved possessions: boy scouts stuff, heirlooms
Problems: Organization

Assignment 4- Matthew Street

I usually question my beliefs fairly often, and usually I’m met with a reason as to why I believe what I believe. This has happened almost every time I question what I truly believe except when I start to think about authoritative figures. I genuinely do believe that adults of all kind (especially teachers and parents) should be treated with the upmost respect, but when people who claim to have authority over someone for no reason really question my beliefs on the issue. I don’t believe any one person is truly better than someone else and that everyone is equal, while some people may not apply themselves as much as they could it doesn’t make them lesser of people. It annoys me when people come from and authoritative position act as if they can say and do whatever they want just because they have a title. I don’t believe that gives anyone the right to discriminate against anyone or be particularly rude to someone especially when it comes off a first impression. I actually faced something like this last week with someone who works at Henry Clay and I was actually shocked and it’s been bugging me for a while.

Assignment 5 - Trip Church

Prompt 1:

I watch TV to pass time.  If I need a break from doing something, then TV is one of the many ways i fill up the gap in between other things.  Many TV shows i watch are kind of mindless, and theyre just to make me laugh a little, which can be really good sometimes.  Shows like South Park, Family Guy, Rick and Morty, The Simpsons, and The Office all fit in this category.  I also watch some more serious TV shows that have real stories, where you actually connect with the characters.  The Office also fits in this category, as do shows like: Breakng Bad, Better Call Saul, The Walking Dead, Black Mirror, and Game of Thrones.  Of course these aren't the only shows I watch, but these are some of the shows that i watch the most.  I don't think I hate any TV shows, but in general I'm not big on crime shows or reality TV shows.

Assignment 3 Gabe

The most influential trip I have been on is the one I took to Fiji. It was the summer of eighth grade and I embarked on a trip to Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji alongside many classmates. While the Australian nightlife and the cool New Zealand countryside proved to ever so peaceful and exciting nothing compares to the polarity between two places so close together such as the Fiji natives and the vacationing tourists. Its fair to say throughout the trip I rode on plenty of planes and been through plenty of airports but the airport in Fiji was so much different. It was small, had no air conditioning, and couldn't have had more than three planes. On the bus ride to our resort we rode through the commons riddled with poverty until we came up on a bridge which took us across the river to a place so much different but so close in location. The resort was heavenly and again on the ride back home we went through the commons and it really taught me not to take things in life for granted.