Pastor Paul

At some point in a persons life they are asked a very important question, who is your role model? Thats a popular essay question, your teachers ask you, your parents ask you everyone wants to know who paves the way and leads you to who you want to become when you grow up! When I was young this was an easy question for me to answer my mommy and daddy. When I had to chose only one my mommy because she was a girl like me. But now as I have grown up and changed I realize how generic an answer that is I mean don't get me wrong I have seen all the hard work my parents have put in to raising me and teaching me right from wrong and I will always appreciate that. I look up to them and think about the wonderful sacrifice they put in to make me me everyday but there are other people who help shape you throughout your life too that don't get as much credit as your parents. For me I have only known him for about three or so years. My pastor, Paul Wilcox. When I was in confirmation my pastor at the time Clint told us that he was not going to be with us to finish out our two year program, he was leaving the church to fulfill his mission of working with the Matthew 25 hub where they provide clothes and food for homeless people or people who don't have enough money to buy their own things. I had never really had a close relationship with Clint. I mean I thought he was nice enough and he did a good job of teaching us but some things he did I didn't agree with and I just never really got too close to him. He was my pastor, I didn't interact with him or talk to him anymore than I had to which usually encompassed answering a question or two at confirmation on Sunday nights. I'm not going to lie it hurt me when he said he was leaving because I felt like he was just abandoning us. We didn't know who was going to come and fill his and Brians place and I was rather nervous. It didnt weigh on my mind too much though because like I said they were just my pastors, its not like they were my best friends. The next year Paul and Gale arrived at our church and changed my view on that for good. They were both fun and nice and seemed genuinely interested in me. I soon grew to like them very much. Paul especially because he was the one that finished up our confirmation and I didn't expect to grow so close to him as I did. It seemed like Paul was always there for me and willing to talk to me. Whenever I had questions about my faith or religion he was never judgmental or would tell me what to believe in he simply opened my mind to a whole new realm of possibilities. He is always getting me thinking about God and religion. He is funny too and he brought a new energy to church services that I think Lovely Lane really needed. His talks with me and his insightful answers to my questions and his genuine interest in my life and who I am has really changed me and inspired me to be a better person. I look up to him not only as a pastor who I see on Sundays only but as a best friend, a Grandpa who I can look up to and trust and talk to. It is going to be really hard for me to leave Lovely Lane and Paul but I guess when that time comes I will be able to look at him and say thank you for making me who I am today, I couldn't have done it without you. :) Who is your role model?

~Mildred

What is Love?

LOVE
–noun
1.
a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.
2.
a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend.
3.
sexual passion or desire.
4.
a person toward whom love is felt; beloved person; sweetheart.
5.
(used in direct address as a term of endearment, affection, or the like): Would you like to see a movie, love?
6.
a love affair; an intensely amorous incident; amour.
7.
sexual intercourse; copulation.
8.
(initial capital letter) a personification of sexual affection, as Eros or Cupid.
9.
affectionate concern for the well-being of others: the love of one's neighbor.
10.
strong predilection, enthusiasm, or liking for anything: her love of books.
11.
the object or thing so liked: The theater was her great love.
12.
the benevolent affection of God for His creatures, or the reverent affection due from them to God.
13.
Chiefly Tennis. a score of zero; nothing.
14.
a word formerly used in communications to represent the letter L.
–verb (used with object)
15.
to have love or affection for: All her pupils love her.
16.
to have a profoundly tender, passionate affection for (another person).
17.
to have a strong liking for; take great pleasure in: to love music.
18.
to need or require; benefit greatly from: Plants love sunlight.
19.
to embrace and kiss (someone), as a lover.
20.
to have sexual intercourse with.
–verb (used without object)
21.
to have love or affection for another person; be in love.—Verb phrase
22.
love up, to hug and cuddle: She loves him up every chance she gets. —Idioms
23.
for love,
a.
out of affection or liking; for pleasure.
b.
without compensation; gratuitously: He took care of the poor for love.
24.
for the love of, in consideration of; for the sake of: For the love of mercy, stop that noise.
25.
in love, infused with or feeling deep affection or passion: a youth always in love.
26.
in love with, feeling deep affection or passion for (a person, idea, occupation, etc.); enamored of: in love with the girl next door; in love with one's work.
27.
make love,
a.
to embrace and kiss as lovers.
b.
to engage in sexual activity.
28.
no love lost, dislike; animosity: There was no love lost between the two brothers.



I just got back from seeing When in Rome. Of course it was a 100% chick flick filled with laughter, sadness, and of course mushy gushy kissing scenes. It was all about love and finding true love and yadda yadda yadda and with Valentines Day on the way I got to thinking what is love really? How do you know your in love? Are teenagers really too young and therefore incapable of loving someone like a wife and husband do? I see people making out in the hallway at school and after they are done sticking their tongues down each others throats they whisk each other away to their classes with a kind "I love you!" My old attitude used to be are you kidding me?!? You don't love each other. First of all you are ninth graders barely old enough to drive anywhere, straight out of middle school you don't even know what love is! Everytime I would walk by something like this and think something like that I would say to myself...boy I sound like my mother! But this is how I honestly felt and then I got to thinking who am I to judge? Maybe they do love each other! We say they don't know what love is. But I love my mother, I love my father, I love my cousin, I love my sister, I love my friends I know what love is! I know what I feel like when I get to spend time with them and I'm sure they have people like that in their lives too so why could these two people not be in love? Of course I am not saying that every couple you see walking through the halls of Kennedy that say they love each other are actually in love but I'm saying that I think we need to cut some of them slack. My middle school art teacher said that in Native American languages there are over twenty different ways of saying the word love because there are so many different types of love. The love you give your friends, the love you give to your parents, the love you give your husband the love you give to well yeah you know so on. But this is true I don't love my parents like I love my friends. Love is a powerful feeling that I feel shouldn't just be thrown around willy nilly it should be said between two people only when they absolutely mean it and only when BOTH are absolutely ready. Have I ever been in love with a guy? Well I guess you will never know? I have a good idea if I have or not but I'm not telling you! Haha So with Valentines Day on the way don't sit around being a Valentines Day scrooge! Go out and have fun with the people you love. NO YOU DON'T NEED A DATE! Go out and party with your friends :) They love you. Stay in and have a dinner with your family :) They love you too. So with that I bid you adieu and I LOVE YOU! :)



~Mildred
<3

The Technological Age

Today with our new age of technology we have taken food preparation to a whole new level. We now can print our food by putting ingredients in canisters and with the snap of a button you have a totally new unique food to suit your needs. You can customize your food to flavor, texture, and even nutritional value. While I agree this is a very cool new technology and it shows just how advanced science has gotten over the years it isnt really necessary. It shows just how lazy people are getting. You dont need to put all your favorite flavors into canisters and make a new food to suit you. Just go get the ingredients and make it yourself. People are too lazy to take initiative and make healthy food themselves. Food is a natural thing and it is not meant to be freeze dried, preserved or artificially made to produce new wierd foods through the 3D food printer. On this artical there was a link to some students from MIT that are working on a new invention. They are calling it the "Wear Ur World" and it is basically the internet literally at your finger tips. You wear a projector on your chest and can get any information about anything that you want. You can hold up a book and the projector will recognize what you are looking at and will tell you information about it. You can walk around a city hold up your hands in a square position and take a picture then you just have to find a wall to project them on to and you can edit them and draw on them all with just your fingers. The really creepy thing is you can walk up to someone and the projector will recognize who they are and display information about them on them. CREEPER ALERT!!!! While i also agree this is really cool and an awesome new invention it is extremely not necessary. It just shows even more how lazy people are getting. It showed the person projecting a cell phone keypad onto his hand and using his hand to dial a phone number. This is cool but is it really that hard to pull out your phone and dial it the "old fashioned" way. This product is still in its developmental stage so of course some of the things that they were using it for actually made it more complicated than easier for instance the dialing a number. It took a while for the projector to pick up that he pushed a button so it probably took him twice as long to type in a number. My philosophy is we should be inventing things and using technology to make things better not easier for people. (To a certain extent of course). We should not be going all technology crazy and inventing things that are going to cost producers millions and people millions to buy if they dont really need them.

~Mildred

The Pregnancy Pact

Right now (at this very moment) I am watching a movie on television called the Pregnancy Pact. It is about this group of girls who all made a pact to get pregnant. How dumb does that sound?? I havent watched it all yet but so far it sounds like they all did this just to keep their boyfriends around so they wouldnt leave them and go off to college or move away or dump them. They are all excited to have a baby and cuddle it and play with it but they dont actually realize how hard it is to raise a child and how much it costs and how much work it is going to take. It raised the question of was it worth it to teach about abstinence or would it be easier to hand out birth control at a public school. Would that be sending the wrong message to students about engaging in sexual intercourse? I think that both methods would work well. Our schools teach about abstinence and I think that partly helps but some kids are going to have sex whether we say they should or not so I think that the schools should also pass out birth control too. Either way the decision made by these girls in this movie was a stupid one in my opinion. I think that when they grow up and actually experience life they are going to regret their decision. They say they love their boyfriends and are happy and dont want to go to college now but people grow up and change and they are going to grow up and change and have different likes and dislikes and they might not even love their boyfriends anymore. Either way this environment is not a healthy one for children (these girls babies) to grow up in. They dont have enough money to raise the babies and they certainly dont have the experience and it was kind of a selfish decision on their part to tell you the truth (in my opinion). Teen pregnancy is 100% preventable. But it seems to be a popular topic in media these days. There is a very popular show on ABC family called the Secret Life of the American Teenager about teenagers, sex and one of them got pregnant and had a baby. Linn County has a lot of cases of teen pregnancies compared to other counties in Iowa so it isnt just something you can say oh, its not happening here so I dont have to worry about it. It is happening here and we need to do something about it.

~Mildred

Pep Band

So you go to a basketball or football game. There are ten seconds left and our team is down by one. Everyone is pepped up and ready to win this thing but who is there to help? Not only the amazing cheer leaders but the pep band members! We are the ones on the side lines playing that music to help the fans get pepped up. We play a bunch of different songs and this year we got a couple new songs like Thriller, I Saw Her Standing There, and Zombie Nation. Pep band is usually a lot of fun except for when we have to wear those embarrassing jerseys :/ The music is really fun to play and its fun getting to hang out with your friends. I also like being able to see all of the basketball games and football games for free and we even get to travel to the State games and cheer our school on in a different way than everybody else!

~Mildred

Band Carnival

On Saturday the Kennedy band had its annual carnival. The band carnival is a fundraiser for the band program where we have carnival games such as a toilet bowl toss, bean bag toss, ring toss, fishing pond, cake walk etc. There are also lots of goodies like cotton candy, popcorn and snow cones. There are also baskets that people bid on to buy and lots of other fun things. Not to mention that all three of the bands perform throughout the night along with some of the middle school bands and the jazz bands. The carnival is usually lots of fun and we raise a lot of money for the band program for when we need to buy equipment and stuff. This year we also had a winter drumline and they performed there also. Students are expected to work shifts at the different games and help set up and clean up afterwards. This year went really well and I think we raised a lot of money. We wont know for sure how much we raised until we count it all up and stuff but there was a good turn out and people looked like they were having a lot of fun. So remember to drop by next year!!!

~Mildred

District Speech Competition

Over the weekend the Kennedy Speech team competed at Districts in Monticello Iowa. Speech team is actually not what it sounds like where you write speeches and give speeches. It is actually where people prepare different categories of acting like musical theatre, mime, one act play etc. and compete against people from all over Iowa. Kennedy prepares a Choral Reading, Readers Theatre, a couple musical theatres, several mimes and many other categories that go and compete in this competition. I am participating in an individual mime and a group mime. My individual mime is about a little three year old girl who is domestically abused and it is to the music of Josh Grobans "Believe". My group mime is about white water rafting and it is more upbeat and funny. I was really nervoust the morning I competed. I was scared to do my individual because it was the first time I had competed by myself and I was one of the first ones to go of that day in that center. After seeing two people perform though I was less nervous and did pretty well. My group mime did the best they had ever done I thought too. Both my individual and group mime got ones and will be moving onto State speech competition which will take place at Prairie in about two weeks. Most of the Kennedy groups got ones and moved onto state except for a radio news and tv news. But I would say overall we did really well and I cannot wait to compete to go to All State! There will be a speech night the friday before State competition where all the groups will show the parents and other speech members what they have been working so hard on.

~Mildred

Erika

I have a little sister named Erika. She is in 8th grade and goes to Franklin Middle School. She annoys me and makes me a mad A LOT! I mean a lot. We can never seem to get along and we are constantly fighting causing much distress to my mother. In any case I admire my sister a lot because she isnt afraid to be herself or express herself no matter what people tell her. She has a very unique style and no matter what my cousins may tell her she keeps that same style always. She tried out for her schools show choir this year and got in for the first time ever. She didnt try out before but when she put her mind to it and said she wanted to do something she did and she succeeded well. Now she is loving being part of Flapco :) She also has a care free attitude that I admire a lot too. She cares about the things that are important but doesnt let the little things like friend drama or a forgotten assignment get to her and she keeps going. She is an amazing person and I have enjoyed watching her grow up into a beautiful young woman and I know that she is going to become a wonderful person.

~Mildred

American Idol

When I was younger I used to watch American Idol all the time with my mom. I really liked it and thought it was a genuine good show that let people achieve their dreams. I think it shows real talent and lets people experience what they never thought they would experience and it gives people a chance to do what they never thought was possible. In some of the recent past seasons though I have come to find what I find in many many shows lately. Its all about the ratings and people watching. Lately the audition episodes are what get me. From what I know the episodes we see aired on television are about the second or third round of auditions that people go through. So it confused me when we see such good singers get through and then such opposite of that horendous singers get through too. I got to thinking how can some of these people get through two auditions to get here? Well its all because of the ratings. The producers of that show are more worried about getting viewers than sparing the feelings (or pride) for that matter of individuals who honestly and souly feel like they deserve to be there and they feel like they are actually good. I think it is horrible that the producers of this show just hype them up and make them feel like a chance then they throw them in the lions den (or the simons den) Haha did you get that little pun I put in there...get it because Simon is mean....haha oh man Im funny anyway they throw them in to the judges and the judges just rip them apart. Sure its comical and funny and yeah Im not going to lie it provides me with some entertainment for the day but in the long run it is probably damaging these peoples self esteem and they are never going to want to go after their dreams again. So boo to you American Idol bullies!!!! :p




~Mildred

I LOVE DORA!!!

As I am sitting here pondering what to write about for this blog post I got some inspiration from the oddest of places...Spongebob Squarepants. When I was a kid I hated Spongebob so much. I thought it was nothing but dumb comedy and stupid humor all smashed in to one half hour episode for little kids. It wasnt funny to me at all. All the jokes and stuff in it I thought were really stupid. I thought it was a waste of cartoons. I like Disney channel a lot better because at least their cheesy shows taught you something about life at the end. Shows like Dora and Hannah Montana actually teach you things and what not to do in life and they teach you valuable lessons about life that you can actually eventually use. I think children should be exposed to more shows like that when they are younger and less of the dumb ones. Especially on Nickelodean and Cartoon Network. For example my sister always watches The Misadventures of FlapJack on Cartoon Network. I always sit in awe as I watch her. I always think to myself how can she possibly put herself through this torture??? It is stupid dumb and meaningless. I wonder how television companies even make money off of broadcasting things like this. It has no plot, no moral, no lesson to teach, and usually no meaning at all. It is all just nonesense and garbel. Yes garbel. Its my new (I think made up) word of the day.







~Mildred

As Nature Made Him; The Story of a Boy Raised as a Girl Part 1

I am currently reading a book about a boy who at birth had a terrible accident when he was getting circumsized and his penis was burned off. His parents decided to have him go through surgery and turn him into a girl. The scientist that advised them of this was convinced that it was nurture not nature that determined how a child acted or grew up. He believed that if this child was treated like a girl and given girly things that she would in fact grow up to become a well civilized acting girl. They soon found out this was not the case. "Brenda" as she was now called did not like frilly things. She didn't like playing with dolls or doing her hair. She was the all american tom boy and she was as rough and tough as any of the boys. In fact in wrestling matches she would usually beat her brother. As she grew older she was asked, if you could have a partner what would you want a girl or a boy? She answered girl. So her parents were asked if they would be upset having to raise a lesbian. Her father answered, "its not the most important thing in life". I havent finished reading the book but I do know in the end that "Brenda" ends up going back to her natural roots and changing back into a male. What does this say about biology versus nature? I believe it says that you cannot force someone to become different than what they were born as. You cant change someone simply by force and force them to feel feelings of something that they are not. I understand that "Brenda's" parents only thought they were doing the right thing and they didnt realize the phsycological effects that their actions would have on their child in the future. Even today "Brenda" has a hard time talking about her experiences growing up. So I believe the lesson is dont be ashamed of who you are and dont be afraid to be an individual!

~Mildred

Snow Days

The one week where we had three days off in a row I thought was ridiculous, fun but ridiculous. Why did we have that first tuesday off? Because the superintendant doesnt like giving early outs or two hour delays so he thought he would play it safe? That makes no sense, when we go snow day happy at the beginning of the year we waste days that we need in the busy snow season for instance I believe the reason we didnt have thursday off was because we felt guilty for having three days off only a month earlier. This is not the way snow days should be. Plain and simple, if the roads are bad and people cant drive well enough to get to school then call it! Its not really that hard to figure out. If the roads are good and they are saying there is going to be a lot of snow later in the day let school go and call an early out. If the roads are bad in the morning but it is supposed to get better as the day goes on call a two hour delay. Thats what they are all for!! I think instead of resting the decision of snow days on one person there should be a committee of people that decides if there should be a snow day that day or not. That way you would have multiple opinions and you could vote on it and majority rules. But thats just me.

~Mildred

The AP Debate

I think that AP classes can be good but bad also. I think they are good for students who need the added challenge but I think that lately they are used as a ploy by schools to get extra money grants, and to get on top school lists. I feel as though they are good and it is good that schools offer them but I find it bad when schools start pushing and pushing them and practically forcing their students into them because then the students that dont take them feel like slackers and jump into them when they are not ready and feel very unprepared and end up self destroying themselves. Students should only take ap classes when they have done all they can in that regular class and need an extra boost or challenge. They shouldnt feel pressured by the administration to take them simply to help the school. I know what it feels like to feel overwhelmed and stressed out and feel like you have no life besides your homework and I absolutely hate it. Im not blaming my work load on the faculty forcing ap classes on people but Im thinking that if they werent so stressed at Kennedy I probably wouldnt take as many. Honestly I wouldnt take possibly any ap classes if I didnt get some sort of recognition for them (in the form of college credit, awards at graduation etc.) Is this right? Is this how things should be? No but thats the way they are.

~Mildred

Teachers and Facebook

Facebook. Yes if you don't know what that is you are just not even American. Either that or you are over the age of 70. This universal tool for "keeping in touch" with old friends, and "sharing knowledge" with other people via internet has become a worldwide phenomenon. It definitely has its upsides I mean the first thing I do when I come home from school is hop and facebook and see how many notifications I have accumulated throughout the day. I also love to see if anyone has posted any photos in which case I will take the time to flip through every single one even if I dont know the person that well. Thats another thing, Facebook has brought a whole new meaning to stalking. The term Facebook stalking is just a phrase laughed at by many but it is true with Facebook creeping on people has become even more easy! I mean yeah you have to accept someone for them to be able to view your wall (if you have the right privacy settings) but it is easy to look at people you know profile anytime you want without them knowing. You get to hide behind a computer. Facebook although very handy and fun has its dark side too. It has made online harrassment much easier. With applications like Honesty Box it has made bullying anonymously easy and very convenient. People can say whatever they want without anyone knowing. Also studies have shown that it can help with depression. I was reading an article in a magazine that said over 50% of teenage girls who look at photos of people doing things without them on facebook makes them sad. So why do it? You ask. Just ignore it on your home feed. But if you are a true facebooker you understand how difficult that is. Facebook is a fun tool to talk and gossip with your friends but it is also dangerous sometimes too. There are other problems surrounding facebook. The one this blog is titled about. Facebook and teachers. At first I felt as though facebook was only for teenagers people in highschool through college. I didnt think that adults woould get as into it as students would but it has surprised me to see more and more, parents, aunts, uncles, and even teachers joining facebook. Im not going to say that I dont think adults should have facebooks because its America and its a free country. I get that, but I feel like facebook should be seperated into adults, and students. I know this is a far fetched attempt but how would you feel if your mother got a facebook and could see every wall conversation you had with your friends, every picture you were tagged in! Everything! I know what your saying you can just ignore your moms friend request but you try telling your mom you arent going to be her friend on facebook and see how that goes :p haha But the question I want to know is should teachers be friends with their students on facebook? Does this cross any teacher student relation lines that shouldnt be crossed? Whats the worst that could happen right? Well I feel as if facebook is a safe haven to write on your friends walls anything you are feeling, but if you know there is the potential that a teacher could be seeing what you write it doesnt seem so safe anymore. This could also be another reason to not write anything on facebook you dont want repeated. After all it is the internet and there is such a thing as copy paste. But I have heard about teachers talking to students on facebook chat and stuff and i dont know about you but that just sounds kind of creepy to me. Some teachers are adament about not accepting their students as friends until they graduate highschool which i think is a good policy. Either way there are a lot of controversies surrounding facebook but in the end we all love it :) Haha

~Mildred