Finding Joy

By reading the book “A Tale of Two Cites” I want to make this week’s blog post about revenge and how nothing good comes out of it. You hear people telling you all the time that you cannot be truly happy when you are so held up on anger and revenge. I found this poem that shows just a little glance of how to be happy and how to have joy. I liked looking for these pomes because in doing this is showed me even better how to be happy and how to have joy. This is just one of the small poems that showed it.

joy leaps joy skips joy dances

joy in a spring step of life lives

joy in brevity of life celebrations

joy in spontaneous moments lives

joy in a quick pace moment lives

As you can see, nowhere in this poem does it say anything about revenge, anger, and hatred. This is because to have joy you can’t have any one of those traits be part of you. Joy truly does come from dancing, being optimistic, and moments of peace you will never forget.

On sort of this same subject, you can get happiness from similar ways. When I am just having a really bad day or just mad for some reason, exercising really helps. I did a science article on exercising and is said that it releases endorphins that make you happy. Good Music and other things have the same affect.  Laughing is also a good source of medicine when you feel sad. You could be having the worst day ever but someone makes you laugh and it can turn your whole day around.

Surrounding yourself with things that make us happy and feel good really makes a difference in how we see the world around us. If we hang around friends that make you feel bad about yourself or make you do bad things than you aren’t going to feel as good as hanging with friends that make you feel good about yourself for who you are. A good friend won’t try to change you for who you are. They will embrace it and make you an even better person. Being nice to others and bringing the best out makes you happy too.

Doing service for others makes you feel better too. If you don’t believe me then go do service and see how you feel afterwards. I have never met anyone who after they have done something nice for someone else had a bad feeling in their stomach and felt bad about themselves. You never hear this because it never happens!

Doing service and finding joy in the small things is what will make us truly happy in life. Revenge, hatred, and other things will just bring us down. Be happy!

Why sports teams and other clubs should keep the expectations for GPA’s high

Many sports teams have their required GPA’s at about 2.0 or a 2.5.  Officers and cheerleaders have their GPA’s up at a 3.0. Many schools and people believe that the requirements should be lower than this so that more students can be in on these fun activities. There are also a handful of people that believe that requirements should be raised so they can get their students to work harder. I believe that we should not lower them and even raise them if we can.

            Kids enjoy their extracurricular activities. Sometimes even more that their school work and that is where the problem arises. It is important for students to get good grades even if they don’t think it will help them. Lots of kids are interested in some sort of sport or club whether it is wrestling, dance, basketball, cheer, color guard, art, glee, etc.  If a student’s wants to be in this club but cannot participate because of their grades, it gives them an incentive to make them better.

            Being a cheerleader, I know what the grade point average expectations can do to a team. It really motivates the girls to get better grades to still be on the cheer team. This practice of getting good grades now prepares you to be more successful later in life. Weather the kids know it or not the standards and expectations for grades and clubs is really not that high. They also might not realize that it will really be helping them later on.

            I do see where the other people come from when they say that they want to lower the GPA’s for sports teams and clubs. Many students have a harder time focusing than others so it is harder for them to achieve these expectations. Others may argue that it doesn’t matter at long as they are getting exercise and having fun. I must have to say that although those things are important, if they can’t meet those grades then they should not be able to participate in these activities.

I think that the GPA’s for sport teams and clubs should not be lowered. If anything they should be raised because students should have these activities as a reward for their good doings. By having a higher grade point average for sports it will help the students become smarter and achieve more in their lives.

Poem Contest. Seasons

This is the poem I wrote for the literary contest. It’s not the greatest thing I have ever done but it has taught me to stop procrastinating! When I read the requirements for this contest I thought it said AT LEAST 40 lines. I wrote this whole poem that was really good and like 60 lines and it was a complete thought and I was super excited to turn it in, and then I read the intrusions one more time and I about had a heart attack! There was no way for me to shorten it down with it still making sense so that is how this whole new poem called “Seasons” came about. This made me realize more than just not to procrastinate. I realized that you must read ALL the instructions before you ever start a project of any kind. This was a good learning experience for me so I hope I never to it again! Besides, there is nothing wrong with a good old rhyming poem about things in nature :)

Seasons

Spring is the beginning,

The beginning of a new year.

You can start over

Without any fear.

Animals are born,

Grass turning to green,

Flowers blooming in the sun,

Oh, what a wonderful seen.

The sun stays up late,

And the heat is coming near,

The sweet smell in the air,

Lets us know that summer is here.

The season is so great,

Because summer makes you free,

From school, from work

And responsibility.

The Bar-B-Q starts,

The first thing on is the meat,

It smells so delicious,

It smells so sweet.

Fall is also a start,

A sad one at best.

The starting of school,

Lets me get no rest.

The leaves all change,

To brilliant colors of red.

They all fall to the ground,

‘till the last leaf is shed.

The taste of harvest

Lingers all around.

All are excited,

For a plump turkey to be found.

Winter brings snow,

Along with the cold.

To go outside,

One must be bold.

As winter ends,

We know spring is near.

So we can start this poem over,

Right now, right here.

Mexicn Paper Flowers

MEXICAN PAPER FLOWERS

 I had to do some research on this for Spanish so I thought, “Why not just write all this up and make it a blog post”. That is exactly what I did! I hope you like it!

Mexican paper Flowers are a very popular craft in Mexico, especially around the day of the dead. The day of the dead is a holiday around the same time as our Halloween.  Mexican Paper flowers are a very popular craft mad to decorate churches, day of the dead altars, tombs, and celebrations such as weddings and Quinceaneras. The most common use for paper flowers is to decorate the graves of their deceased family members and friends during the Mexican festival of The day of the Dead. They are usually made with tissue paper and sometimes with crepe paper too. Sometimes they are lacquered with acrylic varnish to make them more resistant and strong. Paper crafting made its way from Asia to Mexico and crossed the Pacific Ocean from the Philippines to Acapulco, Mexico. From there is just spread to all different parts of Mexico. A common name for tissue paper in Mexico is “papel de seda”. This means paper of silk. Paper crafting was one of the imports from the Spanish ships when they arrived in Mexico. Ever since then paper crafting has taken on many forms such as piñatas and other types of festive things. In some parts of Mexico, paper flowers aren’t just used to decorate graves but also used to decorate cakes that are then used to celebrate the day of the dead. Mexican paper flowers have been around for a really long time and have served as a great tradition to make around the day of the dead!