The Sky Is Everywhere

In the book "The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson", there's a few conflicts. Lennie is not the same ever since Bailey (her sister) died. Lennie and her sister would spend a lot of time playing the clarinet together. When her sister dies, Lennie goes through a hard time accepting the fact that her sister was gone and she wouldn't come back into the real life but that's just how things work in this world. Lennie has a hard time communicating with boys, so she was struggling with a boy who made her forget about her sister and her sister's boyfriend: Toby. Joe was a boy who just moved into the city, who made Lennie forget about her sister. They both had a similar thing and it was their music talent. 

This connects to me when my grandpa died, he was my everything, he was my life saver. He was like my second dad! The fact that my grandpa died made me feel down and depressed, it made me feel like I wasn't going to be happy again, I thought my happiness was over. But then I met my stepdad. I was still sad that my grandpa died and I couldn't be with him anymore but my stepdad made me forget what sadness was and made me remember how happiness and joy felt like. I always thought that my grandpa sent my stepdad into my life for a reason and I think I know what the reason was. Me and my stepdad fight now and then but he means the world to me. 

Teenager Problems & Solutions

"Teenagers are bad.", "Teenagers are trouble.", "Teenagers are bad influence to younger kids." People think the worst of teenagers but yet, they don't know the story behind every teenager. Being a teenager is one of the hardest things in life. When kids become teens, their minds start to mature, they notice things more, and they take situations differently unlike adults. Some possible problems that teenagers can phase are death, parents divorcing, relationships, losing friendships, school, and parents not giving them enough attention. Some teens cut themselves, use alcohol and drugs, or commit suicide to forget things and make the pain go away.

Kids in eighth grade from Heritage Middle School were asked about what kind of problems teenagers go through and one kid named Dante said, "I think teenagers phase a lot of depression, relationships, getting exposed, nudity, and just making bad decisions in life problems." About 25 percent kids get bullying by sending mean texts, threats, or exposing other kids. When teens get exposed, they start to think about committing suicide which is not the answer. An eighth grader named Samantha Ray was asked about what she thought of people exposing teens and she said, "It's nasty. The person who is getting exposed might feel horrible, disappointed, scared, and nervous. Their feelings might get to the point where they want to commit a suicide!" Samantha's opinion was right, teens do get to the point where they want to commit a suicide. 

Mr. Miley, who is a professional was asked about the students he works with and what he does to solve their problems. "What kind of problems have you worked on?" Nayeli said. "Well, teens come up to me with their relationship problems, depression problems, family problems, and anger problems." "What have you done to solve or help their problems, Mr. Miley?" "Ok, we give them classes or therapy if they have family problems. Like in Heritage Middle School, we have a program called Crossroads, where professionals help you succeed." Teenagers don't have to think that committing suicides is always the solution, getting help is the right answer! 

By: Nayeli Galaviz 

Personal Narrative

I was living in Chicago with my mom, sister and grandparents while my dad was in Tennessee "working". My dad said he was going to come live with us when he had enough money to come, but I knew that was a lie. Years passed and my dad was nowhere to be found. I was always asking my mom when was my dad coming or where was he but she will always tell me that he was still working in Tennessee when we both knew that was a lie. Every day and every night I would cry myself to sleep because my dad wasn't there to ask me how was my day or to be there supporting me on my decisions.

It was 12 years since I haven't seen my dad or hear about my dad until one day my dad called me on my 12th birthday to say happy birthday and how sorry he was that he couldn't make it but I knew he wasn't sorry, I just had a feeling telling me he wasn't sorry. When my dad finished talking to me he asked me if  I can pass the phone to my mom and I did. I was curious why he wanted to talk to my mom, but when my dad got off the phone my mom started crying. I felt bad because I never seen my mom cry, so I asked her why she was crying and she starts to tell me how much she loved me. I was getting scared so I screamed at my mom saying to tell me what was going on. My mom called my sister so she can know too. Once my sister came my mom told us that my dad and her were going to break because my dad cheated on my mom and the women was pregnant! When I heard those words coming out of my mom's mouth, I was speechless. I didn't know how to react, so I started to burst into tears. I was furious, I felt like not talking to my dad at all. I hated him. 

My mom needed to tell our family, so she started with my grandparents. When my grandpa found out, he tried to explain things to me and try to support me through the situation but I was so furious that I pushed him away. I didn't want to talk to anyone at all and I lasted about a year feeling like this. I was so rude to my grandpa but I was acting like that because I felt so embarrassed and disappointed about the situation. It was a year later and I still felt horrible from the inside. I didn't had anyone because I pushed everyone away. 

It was on November when I get a call from my grandma saying that my grandpa died. I felt so horrible because I pushed him away when he was only trying to help move on from the situation about my dad leaving us! I didn't appreciate my grandpa at all and I regret it so much everyday. Hearing that someone special to you died hurts a lot and the last thing you did to that person was be rude to them was even worst. If God gave me a chance to see someone from heaven, I would pick my grandpa. He means the world to me and everything I do now is to make my grandpa happy. My grandpa just wanted to support me and make feel better. I didn't appreciate him at all and that was a big mistake I made and ever since. Now, I been appreciating everyone that I have in my life because sometimes you never know when it can be their last day or your last day. 

HMS Shocking Day

                                               Heritage Middle School Shocking Day 

It was in May when Heritage Middle School had their terrifying moment since years. It was a normal school day, kids were learning and teachers were teaching. Until, the principal announces that the whole school is having a hard lockdown. Everyone rushed to their place laughing and the teachers locked the doors, no one knew what was happening or if it was real but, mostly all the kids thought it was a fake hard lockdown. The students got to their position calmly until one teacher told their class that this was real, that a kid had brought a gun to school ! Then, everyone knew somehow. 

Students started to panic! Some students called their parents to let them know what was happening and that they needed to get picked up when the drill was over. Parents received emails too about the situation. It took about and hour for the drill to be over! When it was, all students were dismissed from school. 

When students and staff members got out of school, there was police cars, helicopters flying around, news reporters, and parents. It was so loud because parents were yelling their children's  name.  "It's so packed!" a kid said. Students and parents were happy to see each other and staff members were glad that the students were safe and they were too. The next day, the students found that the drill was a false alarm. When students found out that it was a false alarm, they were so annoyed but relief that nothing happened also. The kid who brought the gun was expelled, no shooting happened.

Day of Tears

Day of tears is a historical fiction book. It's about this woman named Emma that takes care of her kids. She wants to teach her kids that everyone is equal in their own ways and that slavery is wrong. After a while, Emma gets tired of how her owners were treating her so she decided to excape and move to the south. She takes her kids and her whole family with her, she didn't who what she was getting into but she did know that she wasn't going to be treated like that anymore. While Emma and her family were getting to the south, a few obstacles got in their way. Also, when they were close to reaching the south, someone was walking on the road. Emma and her family tried being quiet as a mouse but th the guy saw them. At that moment, Emma thought they were screwed but the person was someone who they knew and were cool with each other. The guy told Emma and her family that if they wanted to go to the south, they needed to hurry up before their owners found out that they were trying to leave to a better place. I truly recommend this book because I think it's a very powerful book. It shows how Emma teaches her kids to know that everyone is equal and that everyone should be treated the same. Now a days, people still are treated unequally. This world is so messed up that innocent people are getting shot because of their color! I really liked this book because Emma did what she needed to do so she can be treated how she's supposed to be and not because of her skin color or race. 

Positive ➕

     In this book, there's a girl who was born with HIV and it says how she went through her obstacles. Her mom got HIV from her husband, both parents are divorced in the beginning of the book. The book is mostly about Paige's life and what she goes through when everyone from her middle school found out she had HIV. When middle schoolers found out that Paige had HIV, everyone started to treat her like if she didn't had feelings. What I mean by this is that middle schoolers didn't talk to her or hanged out with her because they'll think Paige would pass that sickness to them too. There was this guy in middle school who she liked and they talked which shocked her. 

     Paige was in a toddler modeling contest when she was younger. She met this girl in the contest, they talked and gave each other advice so they can win and I remember that in the book, the girl showed Paige a paper that was inside her shoe that said she was going to win the contest and when the judge announced the winner it was her. This made Paige realize that everything she believed in could happen. Paige was in cheer but then she quit because of the comments people were saying, when Paige got home she started to burst into tears, she started to rip papers, destroying her supplies but she only did it because she was holding too much in and it was time for her to explode! All of these actions led Paige to not go to school and get homeschooled. 

      I really like this book because it relates to me so much. This book relates to me because in the past years rumors been spread about me saying that I passed HIV to someone. At first, I didn't showed that I care but I did. Until one day in seventh grade, I felt so fed up with everyone that I started to cry in front of my friends. I was shocked that I was crying because I never cry, it's really hard for someone to see me cry or make me cry. Paige felt like this before, she was so fed up that she exploded into tears like me. This book was amazing and powerful, I think other kids should read this so they can see how other people feel. The most amazing part from this book is the end, in end it says how Paige moved on with everything and didn't pay attention it because she had made it somewhere in her life. Like when was on this magazine for the prettiest girls or something like that. That's how I am, I might be struggling right now but I'm in a really good place because I'm reaching my goal which is to be a model. 

The Outsiders Movie

There's a lot of similarities between the book and the movie. Everything that happened in the book, happened in the movie mostly. For me, the saddest part was when Dally died. I felt like crying when I saw that part. I don't think he deserved dying, neither did Johnny! I think that the only difference between the book and the movies is how the characters look in the movie and how the author described the characters in the book. When I first heard Cherry's name, I thought that she was going to have a red hair in the movie but she didn't, she had more like a brown color. Overall, I think the movie was better than the book in my opinion. This is probably one of my favorite movies!

Blog 2 - The Outsiders

I think the theme is that when you go through rough times, your real friends will only be there to support you. I think this is the theme because Ponyboy was with Johnny through all the fun and hard moments, like when Johnny killed someone from the Socs. Also, Dally helped Johnny and Ponyboy not to get caught by the police. Now, I know how it is to have siblings. Johnny, Ponyboy, Dally, and Darry never gave up on each other. Anyways, I think the theme is that if you have real friends, they will find a way to support you in the easy and hard times.

Blog 1 - The Outsiders

Now that I've been reading this book, I can relate to some of the characters. The characters I can relate to are Ponyboy and Johnny. Johnny, he killed a member from the Socs. He decided decided to run away and so did Ponyboy. In my opinion, I think they thought that running away from a bad situation was going to be easy and simple, but it's not. This relates to me because one day me and my mom got into an argument. The last thing I said to my mom was "I hate you" then I runned away. I wasn't thinking at all obviously and I don't think Johnny and Ponyboy were thinking either when they made that decision to run away from a really bad situation. I went to my aunt's house from Cicero. I didn't tell my mom where I was going, I just left the house with so much anger inside of me. My mom was worried, she called everyone except my aunt where I was staying. My aunt called my mom saying I was at her house, so my mom came to her house in a hurry. My mom came and I didn't want to talk to her because I still had anger inside of me but since I couldn't be mad at my mom, I talked to her and we worked things out.