Whitney Houston will be missed

A few weeks ago, one of the most memorable singers of all time pasted away.  She was a African-American who was known for being a producer, actress, actor, and a model.  She was one of the best-selling music artist that have sold over 170 million singles, and videos across the globe.  She also was awarded in 2009 as the most-awarded female artist of all-time.  She has sold seven albums that turned diamond, mulit-platinum, platinum, and gold.

If you haven’t guessed already guessed, this famous artist was Whitney Houston.  Whitney Houston changed the music industry with her beautiful voice and has inspired many young artist, as well.  She actually took a tour around the world and gave out speeches and lessons to various amateur up incoming artist.  She has changed many people’s lives around the world, and I applaud Whitney Houston for her career, and what all she has done for many people.  I remember my 5^th grade graduation, my teacher made us practice a Whitney Houston song for the graduation.  None of us really wanted to sing it, but when it was time for the graduation the song really brought us together.  I remember a lot of people crying and how the song made others that more determined to strive for greatness.  Now as the years go by, I still remember that song till this day (Greatest Love of All).

Nervous Conditions during the break

During the long Mardi Gras break, I got a chance to play in some exciting playoff basketball games but I also spent most of my free time reviewing Nervous Conditions.  Even though, I could have done other things.  I chose to strive to capture a better understanding, and I actually got a lot out of it, as well.   I annotated a lot of passages and key phrases which gave me a better understanding.  I also found out that chapter review questions from 6 and 7 also helped me out. Certain questions made me think more and it cleared certain blurry questions that filled my mind over the break.  Even though it was a lot to read, I used my time really well.  I read in the car after I had practice and while the rain was raining the day of some parades.  This week was great, I got a lot of things complete and feel as though I used my time very well.

Both of the chapters were good to me, but chapter 7 kind of caught me off guard.   Certain things are changing, and Tambu’s mother seems to be depressed.  I was thinking that she may have been depressed because her kids have left.  She also may be acting this way because she didn’t get the chance of a life time like Tambu has now(education).  But that may not be the case because usually parents would be happy for their children receiving education.  I hope that Tambu’s mother doesn’t past, and she gets better soon.

Reading-
Chapter 6 (read Wedensday for 25 minutes(10:00 am-10:25 am)

Chapter 6 (read Wedesnday for 45 minutes( 10:45 am-10:11:30 am)

Chapter 7 (read Friday for 30minutes(11:30 pm-12:00 am)

Chapter 7 ( read Saturday for an hour( 11:03 am-12:03pm) *reread chapter

Memphis!!

This weekend, I got the chance to go with my family for a little road trip.  We went to Memphis, Tennesse to visit my grandmother.  I had a great time with her even though I only had 2 and a half days to spend with her.  We played games like monoploy, checkers, and connect 4.  Usually when I was little I use to win, but she beat me bad in everyone of them.  I'm beginning to think that she was letting me win because she was beating me to easy.  She also shared with us old stories about her child hood adventures when she was a kd.  I loved hearign her stories because she adds a little excitement to them to keep you awake.  I love her so much, and I can't wait to see her again.

Before I got the chance to leave, my grandmother offered my father and I to a college basketball game.  She knew I loved Memphis University and basketall so she bought two tickets.  She said that she couldn't come because of the high flights of stairs.  My father and I enjoyed the game a lot.  And I'm glad that my grandmother did something so special for me.  That was one of the most charishable moments of my life.

This Week

This week we hand in our rough draft of the world issue research paper. We also finished chapter two and chapter three of Nervous Conditions.
                  
This week, we submitted our rough drafts on our global issue's paper.  I am kind of confident that i did pretty well on it. I feel confident with the way I used good voice, organized it pretty well, and interpreted the issue very well.  Although this was my first written copy of my paper.  Although I made a mistakes with certain cited quotations, and a few gramatical errors.  I'm glad I recognized these issues so that when the final draft comes.  I will have all of these mistakes cleaned up.
This week we have also been getting into more depth with our new book called Nervous Conditions.  We have also advanced to chapter 4.  The story is beginning to change as it progresses with Tambu authoring the story.  I like the way that Tambu desccribes the story because of how sassy she is and how she feels like whatever she says matters.

Outside Reading-
(2/10/12)-read Nervous Conditions for an hour(1)
(2/12/12) read Nervous Conditions for 30 minutes
(2/12/12)-read Nervous Conditions for 25 minutes

Nervous Conditions; Chapter 1

          This week my English class started reading about this new book called, "Nervous Conditions."  I wasn't that excited to hear that we were reading about it, and the cover didn't give me that spark to alter my interest level.  Although like my mother always tells me, "Don't judge a book by it's cover".  Usually this deals with a person's personality but I'm relating it to what first pops in your head.  Well Nervous Conditions is about this young girl named, Tambu.  Tambu goes through many struggles in life with her family’s setting and her heritage.  
           While reading chapter one of Nervous Conditions, I gathered a lot of information.  I noticed that Tambu isn’t showing much sorrow for her brother death.  She kind of brushes the whole incident off.  She is mainly mad at the way her brother, Nahmo was acting once he came home for a visit.  Nahmo turns away from his family with the attitude as though he is better than them.  He does some cruel things as well.  For example, he acts pushy by thrashing the girls and forcing them to carry his baggage once he arrives.  This isn’t something I would be proud of if I was Nahmo, and I would never do that to any of my younger sisters.  I am disappointed in the way that he was acting. At first I figured that since the boys went to school that they would have a good type of perspective on life and family.  But as you can tell, Nahmo as gained a obnoxious role with being to forceful.  I think that Tambu has every right to be mad because Nahmo became a cruel individual. Also I wonder if Tambu will like or dislike going to school, and her situation with her family.

Celebrating Black History Month

It is the beginning of February which means it is Black History Month.  This is a month that we should dedicate toward celebrating certain African Americans who struggled but stayed on that rocky path to succeed.  Most of us would probably just name popular people like Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, and Spike Lee.  Even though, these are some names that have done a lot for the community.  I think that we should do a little more depth research on some of the deceased African-Americans who were idols of our idols today.  For instance, a lot of people don’t know that Granville T. Woods.  Wood’s parents were slaves and he dropped out of school to support his family at the age of 10!!!  I know a lot of you are wondering like how is this relevant, but he was the one invented the train-to-station communication system.  I’m just saying that there is a lot of things that certain African-Americans have done for us, and this is the perfect month to look it up and show appreciation.
During February, I always wrote a paper on how, and what a certain African Americans has done for the community.  I loved reading about how fearless, determined, and how dedicated they were.  Also how they stopped at nothing to strive. Today, while I was going through my early 5th grade days.  I noticed a paper that I wrote with huge bold typed letters across the front, "African-American History Month....George Washington Carver".  I remember being stubborn while writing this paper.  I acted this way because I wanted to write my paper on the greatest basketball player a live named Michael Jordan, but my father wouldn't let me.  He told me that I knew too much about him already (because I loved to wear Michael Jordan shoes) and I would benefit much more on someone that I didn't have a clue about.  And now I have a different out look on what I wrote.  I am proud to say that I have written a paper about George Washington Carver!! He did so much that a lot of people don't really give him credit for.  They may say that he was the man who found out how to make peanuts, but he is known for so much more.  He actually was born a slave.  He lived a very hard life.  He also didn’t go to college until he was thirty years old.  I feel very sorry for him but I also applause him for his determination and his will power to succeed.