This is my response to this situation.
In effort to save money, your local school board is considering getting rid of elective subjects, such as art, band, and auto mechanics. What is your position on this issue? Write a letter to a school board member stating you positions and supporting it with convincing reasons. Be sure to be able to explain your position in detail. (Just in case you are wondering, this is not true. This is just an assignment in Mr. Thompson's class.)
Dear School board,
Picture a school with a lot of different types of classes. As you walk through the hall ways you see students creating masterpieces, fixing cars, creating beautiful music. Now picture a school with just the basic classes like the following: Math, English, and Science. The students are taking test, listening to lectures, or in some cases sleeping. The students just enjoy classes like that and if that is all there was, school would be pretty boring and people would fail more often. If I had a school like that I would never pay attention.
I enjoy school. I like having to go to different classes and participating in their activities that they have, but if all my classes were just the basics I know I would hate it. Students like me would not enjoy school. It would be way boring because you would have no “easy” or “fun” classes. Students need a break to just do what they want. I am not saying that they should just goof around; I am saying that they should be able to take a class that they enjoy. Taking away those classes would make me not want to come to school because it is so boring, so then I would fail.
Students don’t pay attention as much to classes like Math, English, or Science, but they pay attention to classes that they choose and actually like. The more you pay attention to classes the more you will study. The more you study the better chance you will do good in the class. There fore if you do well in you classes you will more likely get an A and so on. Doing well in school is important to a student. It helps them in the future get a better job in life.
So in conclusion, I think that we should still have elective classes, rather than just the basics. Students will do better in class and will enjoy it. They would do better in life and get a better job. They will want to come to class more often. So, it you take those elective classes away students will more likely do the exact opposite of what was just said.
So what did you think? Did it persuasive you to keep the classes? Leave a comment telling me what you thought and how I can improve this essay. Also if you want to respond to this question go right ahead. Once you answered it let me know and I would like to read it.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
The Talented Vitas
Picture someone singing in a really high voice, a voice so high that it is even hard for a girl to sing. Then, picture that person as a guy who is about 26 years old. I know what you’re thinking, that is not possible. I am here today to tell you that it is possible and the guy who can actually do this sort of thing is named Vitas. Vitas is a talented Russian singer. He has had many great accomplishments in his lifetime. Not many people have heard of Vitas, but that is probably because he is not from the United States.
Vitas was born in Latvia, that is a continent of Europe, but most people just say he is Russian because no one here in the US really knows were Latvia is. He does concerts everywhere you can imagine. He is really popular in China and most of Europe. He has done concerts in the United States, just not in Utah. Even though lots of people have never heard of him that live in the US, he is still very talented.
I have never heard a voice like Vitas’s in my life!! It is to incredible to even imagine someone like him. Vitas writes his own songs and sings them in a very high range. Even though he can sing high he can still sing in the range of a man. He performs all kinds of music such as: pop, opera, techno, and many more. But singing is not all Vitas is good at. Vitas has learned to speak all kinds of different languages. He speaks Chinese, English, Japanese, Russian, French and others. I guess that is useful since he goes on tour to those places. Part of the reason Vitas is so popular is the fact that he has had many great accomplishments in his lifetime.
Vitas had his first hit in 2000 when he was only 19 years old. When he was 21, he did a concert at the State Kremlin Palace as the youngest singer to ever perform on that stage. He currently has 8 albums and 12 music videos.
I personally love Vitas’s voice. My friends think otherwise. They say things like, “Vitas is a freak,” and things like, “Vitas gives me a headache.” I just don’t see that in Vitas. So, my reply is, “Yes, Vitas is a freak, but he sings like an angel.” He is the most talented human bean in the whole wide world. It is neat that he is Russian and has had many accomplishments. I hope after reading this you learned something about Vitas. If you want to see Vitas go onto YouTube and search Vitas Smile, Smile is the name of the song, then click on the guy in the white tuxedo and listen to him for a while. You won’t believe your ears. No matter how much you want to turn it off listen to it all the way through (or you can just look and listen to my blog.)
Vitas was born in Latvia, that is a continent of Europe, but most people just say he is Russian because no one here in the US really knows were Latvia is. He does concerts everywhere you can imagine. He is really popular in China and most of Europe. He has done concerts in the United States, just not in Utah. Even though lots of people have never heard of him that live in the US, he is still very talented.
I have never heard a voice like Vitas’s in my life!! It is to incredible to even imagine someone like him. Vitas writes his own songs and sings them in a very high range. Even though he can sing high he can still sing in the range of a man. He performs all kinds of music such as: pop, opera, techno, and many more. But singing is not all Vitas is good at. Vitas has learned to speak all kinds of different languages. He speaks Chinese, English, Japanese, Russian, French and others. I guess that is useful since he goes on tour to those places. Part of the reason Vitas is so popular is the fact that he has had many great accomplishments in his lifetime.
Vitas had his first hit in 2000 when he was only 19 years old. When he was 21, he did a concert at the State Kremlin Palace as the youngest singer to ever perform on that stage. He currently has 8 albums and 12 music videos.
I personally love Vitas’s voice. My friends think otherwise. They say things like, “Vitas is a freak,” and things like, “Vitas gives me a headache.” I just don’t see that in Vitas. So, my reply is, “Yes, Vitas is a freak, but he sings like an angel.” He is the most talented human bean in the whole wide world. It is neat that he is Russian and has had many accomplishments. I hope after reading this you learned something about Vitas. If you want to see Vitas go onto YouTube and search Vitas Smile, Smile is the name of the song, then click on the guy in the white tuxedo and listen to him for a while. You won’t believe your ears. No matter how much you want to turn it off listen to it all the way through (or you can just look and listen to my blog.)
Friday, January 18, 2008
Cougar Facts!!
Some information on cougars!
Names:The large, tawny, long-tailed cat native to the New World probably has more common names than any other animal: cougar, puma, mountain lion, panther, painter, and catamount are the best known names in the United States, but several dozen additional names have been recorded across North and South America. All of the names refer to the same species of cat, whose current scientific name is Puma concolor couguar. The multiplicity of common names may have arisen from the extreme elusiveness of the cats, which made them very difficult to see and understand. Not until radio telemetry became available in the 1970s were wildlife researchers able to identify and track individual cougars to learn how they behaved.
Original Range:Cougars were native throughout most of the New World when European settlers arrived in the 15th century. Because cougars are powerful predators, settlers feared for their own safety and for their livestock. Cougars were hunted with dogs, harassed and persecuted until they were believed extirpated in the eastern United States and Canada by about 1900. Cougar populations in the West were also greatly diminished but have rebounded to some extent since the 1970s, when bounties on them were removed.
Characteristics:The Cougar has been described as Nature's Master of Silent Stealth and an almost Perfect Predator. They can sprint 35 mph in an ambush. Can jump 15 feet high & 40 feet broad jump. Can climb a tree and swim a river. Can kill a full grown deer & elk. And they can live up to 20 years.
Vision:They have binocular vision, which is important for depth perception and judging distances. Their eyes allow them to hunt both day and night.
Hearing:Cougars hearing is well developed and they are able to detect ultrasonic frequencies. The cup shaped rounded ears can move together or independently in the direction of sound to futher aid in hearing.
Smell:Cougars have a keen sense of smell and can easily follow scent trails. The back of the nasal cavity is densely packed with olfactory cells.
Sounds:Cougars make a variety of sounds including chirps, peeps, purrs, growls, moans, whistles and screams. Hear cougar sounds
Skull:The skull is short and rounded with powerful jaws and strong teeth. The heavy bones of the jaw and strong neck and shoulder muscles absorb the shock of attacking large prey.
Feet:Cougars have 4 toes on each foot. The front foot is larger than the back. They have 3 lobes on the back of the heel pad. Their large padded feet enable them to stalk without making noise.
Tracks:See Cougar Tracks: Cougar Tracks
Claws:Their claws are kept retracted, are extremely sharp and used for gripping prey.
Teeth:Cougars have 30 teeth. The canines are large and used for delivering a lethal bite. Their other teeth are specialized at slicing & shearing flesh. See Cougar's Teeth
Predatory Behavior:Cougars are solitary hunters, taking prey by ambush rather than long pursuits. They stay low to the ground and use available cover. Then when they get close enough, they explode with a powerful burst of speed and over take their quarry.
Diet:Deer are their main diet, but they will also accept smaller animals and birds.
Scat:See Cougar Scat: Cougar Scat
Home Range:Cougars are territorial and maintain their own home ranges. Sizes of these home ranges vary depending on the available prey and type of habitat. Usually males have the largest home ranges & it will overlap several females.
Reproduction:Cougars breed at about 2 years of age, with a gestation period of 3 months. The female raises the litter on her own, and teach them how to hunt and survive. The young stay with their mother until they are 17 to 23 months old, at which time they disperse and find their own territory.
Names:The large, tawny, long-tailed cat native to the New World probably has more common names than any other animal: cougar, puma, mountain lion, panther, painter, and catamount are the best known names in the United States, but several dozen additional names have been recorded across North and South America. All of the names refer to the same species of cat, whose current scientific name is Puma concolor couguar. The multiplicity of common names may have arisen from the extreme elusiveness of the cats, which made them very difficult to see and understand. Not until radio telemetry became available in the 1970s were wildlife researchers able to identify and track individual cougars to learn how they behaved.
Original Range:Cougars were native throughout most of the New World when European settlers arrived in the 15th century. Because cougars are powerful predators, settlers feared for their own safety and for their livestock. Cougars were hunted with dogs, harassed and persecuted until they were believed extirpated in the eastern United States and Canada by about 1900. Cougar populations in the West were also greatly diminished but have rebounded to some extent since the 1970s, when bounties on them were removed.
Characteristics:The Cougar has been described as Nature's Master of Silent Stealth and an almost Perfect Predator. They can sprint 35 mph in an ambush. Can jump 15 feet high & 40 feet broad jump. Can climb a tree and swim a river. Can kill a full grown deer & elk. And they can live up to 20 years.
Vision:They have binocular vision, which is important for depth perception and judging distances. Their eyes allow them to hunt both day and night.
Hearing:Cougars hearing is well developed and they are able to detect ultrasonic frequencies. The cup shaped rounded ears can move together or independently in the direction of sound to futher aid in hearing.
Smell:Cougars have a keen sense of smell and can easily follow scent trails. The back of the nasal cavity is densely packed with olfactory cells.
Sounds:Cougars make a variety of sounds including chirps, peeps, purrs, growls, moans, whistles and screams. Hear cougar sounds
Skull:The skull is short and rounded with powerful jaws and strong teeth. The heavy bones of the jaw and strong neck and shoulder muscles absorb the shock of attacking large prey.
Feet:Cougars have 4 toes on each foot. The front foot is larger than the back. They have 3 lobes on the back of the heel pad. Their large padded feet enable them to stalk without making noise.
Tracks:See Cougar Tracks: Cougar Tracks
Claws:Their claws are kept retracted, are extremely sharp and used for gripping prey.
Teeth:Cougars have 30 teeth. The canines are large and used for delivering a lethal bite. Their other teeth are specialized at slicing & shearing flesh. See Cougar's Teeth
Predatory Behavior:Cougars are solitary hunters, taking prey by ambush rather than long pursuits. They stay low to the ground and use available cover. Then when they get close enough, they explode with a powerful burst of speed and over take their quarry.
Diet:Deer are their main diet, but they will also accept smaller animals and birds.
Scat:See Cougar Scat: Cougar Scat
Home Range:Cougars are territorial and maintain their own home ranges. Sizes of these home ranges vary depending on the available prey and type of habitat. Usually males have the largest home ranges & it will overlap several females.
Reproduction:Cougars breed at about 2 years of age, with a gestation period of 3 months. The female raises the litter on her own, and teach them how to hunt and survive. The young stay with their mother until they are 17 to 23 months old, at which time they disperse and find their own territory.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Sad Story, Good Message
Motivating story to read - Another man's folly
.......He paid the price for another man’s folly.
One life gone, 2 people dead !
A mother is devastated, she is howling with pain, yelling all she can in that dark and dingy corner of her four by four kholi. There was nobody to hear her yell and not a soul to pacify her, because outside her shack is a long winding lonely road. There was no existence of mankind for miles and miles ahead. The wind was at rest, the leaves didn’t rustle and no resonance of a barking dog, silence filled the air. Loneliness was already killing her, but no one knows what made her cry?
Losing something you love with all your heart isn’t really the grief you can ever overcome. Radha lost her baby. Her only means to live. She saw her child getting crushed under a car in front of her own eyes. Blood was all over and the accident was terrible. One lonely night, she was walking down the street t get a breath of fresh air with her child cuddled tight in her arms. She walked a long time s till she saw the face of mankind (in the evilest form).
The whole time she walked with her child in her arms the only thing that worried her was Aryans (her son’s) future. What kind of a person will he be? Will he make me proud? How much light is life going to bring in his existence? She was imagining and feeling every day of the Child's growth, and what she had in store for him. But who knows what’s in store for us tomorrow, life can change in the splits of a second. Talk about destiny, all those dreams hopes and expectations were snatched away from her in an instant. Her smiles were frowns and her faith just crumbled, like a deal soul in a living, rather breathing body.
This is how it happened…. On that abandoned road, were a few streetlights barely sufficient? There was this one light that was visible from a distance, but as it came closer it got brighter and brighter. That light changed radha’s life into darkness forever. A speeding car came down that road, as if the driver had jammed the accelerator, cutting across the wind. He came at a speek of 110mph throwing beer bottles out of his half open window. He was definitely drunk, the speed took everything in its path. Just then, there was a loud cry, and silence set in again. The cry of a baby and no sight of a child.
Ironically the mother wasn’t hurt, not a scratch on a body, not a bruise on her arm. She opened her eyes and didn’t she Aryan, her vision was blur. After a few minutes when her sight cleared up she looked all over frantically for her baby, but alas! There was nothing. Just then she noticed something about then feet away it was blood draining into the gutter’s, and pieces of minced flesh, laying there saying so much without saying anything at all. The blood of her baby, the child who hadn’t even seen life,
He paid the price for another man’s folly. The same little child whose future was just being planned.
Simple, don’t drink and drive. You could take a life, but kill a number of people.
.......He paid the price for another man’s folly.
One life gone, 2 people dead !
A mother is devastated, she is howling with pain, yelling all she can in that dark and dingy corner of her four by four kholi. There was nobody to hear her yell and not a soul to pacify her, because outside her shack is a long winding lonely road. There was no existence of mankind for miles and miles ahead. The wind was at rest, the leaves didn’t rustle and no resonance of a barking dog, silence filled the air. Loneliness was already killing her, but no one knows what made her cry?
Losing something you love with all your heart isn’t really the grief you can ever overcome. Radha lost her baby. Her only means to live. She saw her child getting crushed under a car in front of her own eyes. Blood was all over and the accident was terrible. One lonely night, she was walking down the street t get a breath of fresh air with her child cuddled tight in her arms. She walked a long time s till she saw the face of mankind (in the evilest form).
The whole time she walked with her child in her arms the only thing that worried her was Aryans (her son’s) future. What kind of a person will he be? Will he make me proud? How much light is life going to bring in his existence? She was imagining and feeling every day of the Child's growth, and what she had in store for him. But who knows what’s in store for us tomorrow, life can change in the splits of a second. Talk about destiny, all those dreams hopes and expectations were snatched away from her in an instant. Her smiles were frowns and her faith just crumbled, like a deal soul in a living, rather breathing body.
This is how it happened…. On that abandoned road, were a few streetlights barely sufficient? There was this one light that was visible from a distance, but as it came closer it got brighter and brighter. That light changed radha’s life into darkness forever. A speeding car came down that road, as if the driver had jammed the accelerator, cutting across the wind. He came at a speek of 110mph throwing beer bottles out of his half open window. He was definitely drunk, the speed took everything in its path. Just then, there was a loud cry, and silence set in again. The cry of a baby and no sight of a child.
Ironically the mother wasn’t hurt, not a scratch on a body, not a bruise on her arm. She opened her eyes and didn’t she Aryan, her vision was blur. After a few minutes when her sight cleared up she looked all over frantically for her baby, but alas! There was nothing. Just then she noticed something about then feet away it was blood draining into the gutter’s, and pieces of minced flesh, laying there saying so much without saying anything at all. The blood of her baby, the child who hadn’t even seen life,
He paid the price for another man’s folly. The same little child whose future was just being planned.
Simple, don’t drink and drive. You could take a life, but kill a number of people.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
About Vitas!!
This is Vitas he is the most amazing singer in the whole entire world. He is a male soprano that can also be a tenor. I am not sure what the name for that is, but it is totally awesome!!! This is a little information about him and his life.
Early life and success
Vitas was born Vitalii Vladasovich Grachov on February 19, 1981 in Latvia. He first appeared in Russia in December of 2000 with his hit Opera #2, which was notable for use of Vitas' surprisingly high-pitched and energetic countertenor voice.
He has a brother Vladislav Mironich (Bладислав Mиронич) from the same father living in Tbilisi, Georgia born July 5, 1980.
2002-2003: Rise to fame
He had his solo concert at the State Kremlin Palace which has established a record, playing to packed house on March 29, 2002, having been the youngest artist to perform there. Vitas got an invitation from Lucio Dalla, the composer, who created "In Memory of Caruso", to perform this famous song together with the author at the concert "San Remo in Moscow" held in the State Kremlin Palace. Vitas’ voice enchanted not only the audience but Mr. Dalla himself. So the composer invited Vitas to come to Rome to take part in the rehearsals of "Toska", the modern version of the legendary opera.
Vitas presented his second solo program "The Songs of My Mother" in the Concert Hall "RUSSIA", Moscow in November 2003. Two albums: "The Songs of My Mother" and "Mama" of the artist were released for the premiere. The album "The Songs of My Mother" included the songs which are considered to be the gold reserves of Russian pop-music. Another album "Mama" included only the new songs composed by Vitas. In March 2003 he gave 264 solo concerts in places including Russia, Australia, U.S., Canada, Israel, Germany, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Georgia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Belarus.
I personally have heard some facts about Vitas, but I am not sure if they are 100 percent accurate. This is what I heard: He speaks many languages including English (I have actually heard him sing in English. It was the song Blue suede shoes by Elvis. In my opinion he sounds better in Russian.) He is really popular in China and has done many concerts there. Vitas has been to the United States and done performances, but not in Utah unfortunately, at least I don't think he has. Vitas is not married and is only 26 years old.
Wow he is pretty amazing!! I heard him from my friend Alyssa (who I have talked about before.) She heard it from a friend and so on. So now I am leaving it up to you to tell you friends about Vitas. That would be totally awesome if Vitas preformed in Utah. I would totally go and watch him. Tell me what you think of him. Do you think he is cool? weird? amazingly talented? Leave a comment and let me know or just to the poll. Keep on checking my blog for cool new features on Vitas. If you want to see more of Vitas's videos just go on to you tube and search for him there.
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