Hollywood- Zac byrd

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/enders-game/

Assignment 14 hannah pauley

My Thanksgiving looks pretty close to the traditional model, except that we typically have too many people to sit around one regular table. In my childhood years everyone would travel to my grandmother's house and we would pull up the rocking chair and the piano seat so that my nana's 8-seating table would seat 11 or 12 when the babies sat with their mother or in a sibling's lap. In recent years my aunt's horde of children has become so large that only a few of the children and one of their parents visits on Thanksgiving, and this year my aunt simply requested we go to her house.
My most fond memories of the holiday, though, were ones from when I was a kid and my cousin Stephanie (who is closest to my age) were only occupied by one or two infant companions and we had the space to gossip in peace. But I don't mind so much that the family's gotten bigger--besides, I have my doubts that "Jessica has a boyfriend" or "I heard nana Osylin curse the other day" would be quite as intriguing today as it once was (plus, who doesn't love babies? The more the merrier.). 

#11 Rhoman James

My neighbor Jack Humphries has always been my neighbor. We have sat by eachother since middle school because there never happens to be anyone with a last name that starts with "I". He swims for wildcat aquatics along with Genghis and Zac. He's got me beat in every subject because it always comes in handy because he helps me with all my subjects. We've come to be very good friends over time and we've become very accustomed to eachother. I love Jack <3

#10 Rhoman James

There are a few things that always scare me: needles . I'm always terrified when i have to get blood drawn. Even though there is no pain, it is always the worst pain I could ever experience. The act of pulling something out of me is just the worst feeling for me. It is, to this day the only thing that makes me cry. Other than the enivitable feeling of death. I will be scared of death till the day I die. I've had many peers pass away unexpectedly and what hurts me the most is to think that they had dreams for the future just like I did. And they would've never guessed thatit would've been cut short by a bullet. I know that I could die any day by any random act of violence, so I'm always on the lookout for any situation that could harm me. I don't like living scared but it is better than living careless. Lastly, my biggest fear is the thought of religion being all a hoax. People dedicate their whole lifes to a book in which could be a big work of fiction and to a man in which they have never laid eyes on. The act of death will be the most puzzling day of my life. But I'm scared of what it will bring.

Assignment 15: Covergirl

Actually this one is all about make-up (do you see what I did there)?
If you have completed all the blogs for the semester, then take this week off.  If you are missing a blog post then use this opportunity to make-up a grade.

Your Prompt:

Choose one of the other two prompts from Assignment 6: Create your own adventure and write about it.

Minimum of 150 words - due Sunday, December 1st at 11:59 pm

Flying Turkey-Rachel Hart

On the Wednesday of thanksgiving break my family loads up the car and goes over the mountains and through the woods to grandma’s house, quite literally. Most of the family still lives in southeastern Kentucky so we celebrate there. When we arrive the house already smells like celery and onions from prepping the stuffing. Bright and early Thursday morning, the real cooking begins. By the time most of us crawl out of bed, my grandma has the turkey almost finished because it went into the oven around five that morning. Around noon, everyone begins to arrive. The small living room, kitchen, and dining room fill with aunts, uncles, and mountains of food. After we eat, the talking continues into the afternoon. As the people begin to trickle out, we begin packing in order to leave for Georgia. We normally arrive in Georgia around six and begin prepping for Black Friday.  We shop throughout the night and into the morning. The next day we have the traditional thanksgiving meal with my mom’s cousins and go see a movie after we recover from the massive food coma.

Flying Turkeys - Kyle Luo

My Thanksgiving differs quite a bit from the traditional, stereotypical Thanksgiving. A lot of this difference comes from the different cultures. I was the first member of my family to be born outside of China, so my family still bears a large Chinese influence. While my parents have been in the United States for around 20 years now, this influence is still visible in how we celebrate many "American" holidays, such as Thanksgiving. Since the majority of our relatives/family still live in China, it would be impossible to have a yearly gathering. Instead, we invite other Chinese families to our house to celebrate. Generally, each family brings a dish, and the host prepares the turkey. I really enjoy this because there is always the traditional Thanksgiving food such as turkey, stuffing, and pie, there is also a large number of Chinese dishes. While it may seem untraditional to some people, I think that this combination fo two cultures makes for an extremely interesting holiday.

Flying turkeys - Hans Stromberg

The Stromberg Thanksgiving is usually spent with my mom's side of the family, although my father would love to enjoy this holiday with his side of the family, but my dad is not going to challenge the ways of my mom's side of the family (with good reason). We are shaking it up this year by going to see my sister in Florida. No matter where we go my golf clubs come for the ride; I always play at least one round of golf even if I'm stuck in Nebraska or better, enjoying a round in Florida. The other sport recognized during Thanksgiving is always football. Watching the Lions lose is always a good time for the whole family. I stay away from the kitchen whenever dinner comes around and then get to enjoy the fruits of other's labor. Of course there is a large turkey, stuffing, ham, potato rolls, jelly and bread, fruit, eggs, vegatables, and lots of pie. In our family the dessert is just as important as the dinner so you always have to push past your food wall and stuff down some apple crisp. By then, I'm passed out on the couch, so you would have to ask someone else in my family if you want to know what happens after dinner.

daniel horne swift

I have a most wonderful idea for a new reality show. The title… Checa and Da Boys.  The only to things we would need are a guy named Checa and some boys. It would be about Checa the drug dealer and all his boys. It is true that drug dealing is illegal however so is moon shine and there is a show about that too. It should not be too hard all we will need to do is drop a lot of money in the right place. This is what I need you to do leave me 3 million dollars and I will take care of the rest it would be best if you do not know the details plausible deniability and all you know what that is. Any way I am sure that it will pay for its self in n time. Not only will we be able to make money off the show but also on all the drug sales.   

daniel horne war

I think that it is possible sometimes for there to be a time for war. However you should never be the aggressor in a war. That isn’t to say war should only happen in your own country. By that I mean that you should ever attack first. Even then war should not be the first option considered. A country should first try diplomacy and if that doesn’t work perhaps a preemptive strike to try and end the treat before it becomes too big. If all other possible options are explored then it is moral. If the opposing side is unwilling to negotiate and continues the attack it is also moral then. In some cases I do think that war is the only option but once again other options should be explored. War should always be the last option however it should always be an option this is why war can be justified.

daniel horne teritories

 

Public speaking, family, stupid people, debate team, write a book, my bow, archery team, trap, that one dream I had in 7^th grade,

I used to be deathly afraid of public speaking. I feel like that is a fear of a lot of people. Whenever I spoke I would start to shake I would get all sweaty and stumble over my words, which would of course make me even more nerves. Then freshmen year I decided to take Mr. Ray’s debate class. At first it was my worst nightmare I had basically signed up for a class where all you do is give speeches. But after a while you realize no one cares if you mess up they have all been there. It’s crazy how that worked out that class was filled with the most unforgiving people I have ever seen. One person made a mistake and everyone laughed at them. But that was what made it so good it was never personal. I grew out of that fear of public speaking really fast in that class it has taught me more then all my other school classes combined.

daniel horne history

On October second peanuts were invented. I know what you are thinking peanuts have been around for like ever I eat peanuts all the time they weren’t invented by anyone nature invented peanuts and they are great no one needs to change them they are great so what if some people die just by looking at them that is an acceptable  loss. Well that would be correct but I am not talking about the nut you silly goose. The comic strip yes you understand now I’m sure the comic strip with the guy that has a dance named after him and the annoying Holliday specials that every one L^{ooooooooovvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeessss} so much. Well let me tell you something they are terrible. The guy who invented them should be shot. Well maybe not that seems intense we could just tell him not to invent them. So really that is not a very interesting bit of history it is actually very depressing.

daniel horne writing topics

1 chose a controversial event chose a side and defend it

2 write about a time when you were out of your element

3 what is your favorite form of entertainment

My favorite form of entertainment is most likely video game. They are really fun and if you get the right one it has an infinite amount of play time. This makes it far better than all other forms of entertainment. If you find a good T.V show it will end. Movies end within hours and book while they can be very detailed and long those too eventually end. If you find a good video game with a decent multiplayer it never needs to end. Also the fact that you are actually controlling the game makes it even better because it makes the game more entertaining and immersive. This is way video games are far superior to anything else in the world.

 

daniel horne zombies

The First thing I would do is grab my shot gun and my bow then I would want to find food. There is a place on industrial road that sells 3 month food supply kits and guns not even joking it might seem like that place wouldn’t be a thing but it is. So I would go there and get food and like more guns and a knife. Then I would head to my cousins house he lives somewhat in the country so there wouldn’t be as many zombies there. It would also be close enough to the city to make supply runs. The next step would be to create a perimeter fence so that stuff could not get to the house. If I ever have to flee from the house I would go up north because the cold would hopefully freeze the zombies. If that doesn’t work I would probably freeze to death.    

 

daniel horne toaster

One day tony the toaster decided that he was going to try and get a mission from the counsel of the 12 gilded toasters so that he could be inducted into the rank of supa toastas. He went to the house of the living toaster. Once inside a voice came to him and told him of his mission “tony the toaster you must go to the top of the tallest top and toast the toastiest of all toast until it is toastier then toastyness allows.” So tony went to the highest of all the tops known as topeverist and there was a toast monster the scariest of a toast related items. There had ever only been one toaster that had ever toasted a toast monster and that was timmy the toaster so tony fallowed timmys lead and jumped at the monsters head and tried to toast it but he failed and the monster ate him and he died.     

 

daniel horne 5

I do watch a lot of tv but not as much as I used to. I have started to play more games from steam so that is taking up a lot of the time that I would watch tv with. I also have started to watch more and more shows on Netflix like Breaking Bad. I think that it can be a very good source of entertainment in a lot of ways a good tv show is better than a movie the story and characters can be more developed you get  more invested into a it and many other reasons. I think it is also a very good way for advertisers to sell an item possibly one of the best ways. In my opinion it is a very bad thing that the Emmys are more important The Nobel Prize. The idea of pointless celebrity awards being more important than The Nobel Prize is sickening. 

 

daniel horne 4

 

I chose to write about the Boston marathon bombing it is one of the most prevalent and recent terrorist attacks in our nation. It is a picture of a man being led off from the bomb site by paramedics. It shows the horrors of this attack on America. The man in the picture has clearly lost a leg it is very horrible to think about. I could be super cliché and talk about how sorry I am for the victims of the bombing and their families about how lucky I am that I was not hurt in this attack but really I am just glad it did not happen to me. I hope that attacks like this never happen anymore. I wish we were doing more to stop these kinds of people so that atrocities like this never happen again. If this was the last of these attacks I would be very happy.

Daniel horne 2

Technology has inconvenienced me quite often. The most recent example is with the new time warner cable internet. Recently we got our internet connection “upgraded” a new router a faster upload and download speed but now for some reason I can’t connect to our Wi-Fi. We can still watch Netflix on our wii the laptop I’m typing this on still connects to the internet but not my phone. Not a single one of the 4 iPhones in my house will get any kind of internet connection. Well if that isn’t a 1^st world problem I don’t what is. But really it is an inconvenience not being able to get on the internet whenever I want. I have to get out of bed walk out to the family room fight the laptop away from one of my siblings open up Google and type on a real key board it really is a hassle.    

Flying Turkeys - Jasa Harris

I guess I enjoy Thanksgiving, but it’s not my favorite holiday. In the past we would usually have Thanksgiving at my great-grandma’s house, but since her house is tiny and our family just keeps getting bigger, we have been going to my Aunt’s house in the middle of nowhere part of Harrodsburg. Me and my sisters and mom get to her house that Wednesday before so we can help clean it up. We clean and clean and clean, which is really annoying. And then when Thanksgiving comes we clean some more and help prepare the food because my Aunt and grandma cook everything pretty much. Then a bunch of family comes from Alabama, Georgia and Cincinnati and none of my cousins that are my age come anymore, so it’s always a bunch of little kids and old people, and all the adults talk about is Obama, which is also really annoying.  And then I don’t even really like Thanksgiving food, I literally eat Turkey, green beans and sweet potatoes, that’s it. But I guess it’s still fun, I get to see all my Aunt’s cats and watch a bunch of her movies because she owns every single movie that’s ever been created. 

Sydney Smith (Blog #14: Turkeys)

My Thanksgivings are always relatively normal, filled with lots of family, fun, and, most importantly, FOOD. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, so I have lots of awesome memories of that special day in November.

Each year, on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, my family (along with many other members of my church) delivers Thanksgiving baskets all around the city of Lexington. We deliver to the elderly, homebound, disabled, widowed, and single mothers all around the city: a 10-pound turkey, canned goods, eggs, butter, vegetables, and ingredients to make a proper Thanksgiving feast. I love doing this because I love talking to the recipients of the baskets; I always learn so much.

On Thanksgiving, my mom's side of the family gets together at a church in Waynesburg (which, if you don't know, is a little old country town in Eastern KY). We get to see lots of family and eat AMAZING food. Then, we go to my granny's house, watch the Cowboys football game on TV, and spend more time with family.

On the day after Thanksgiving, my dad's side of the family gets together at my grandmother's house in Lexington (which is great because I get to see my cousins from Tennessee). We have more great food and play football outside in the usually pleasant weather.

Yes, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I love the family, the fun, and the food. I also love serving others, and Thanksgiving is a great time to do that.

Changes-Rachel Hart

It’s the day after Halloween. I get into my car, turn on the radio and what do I hear? Some whining girl droning on and on about some guy she wants for Christmas. This is simply my favorite day of the year. The day that Christmas seems to punch you in the face and everyone just accepts it. Then we sit back and allow our stores, houses and televisions to be transformed into tiny versions of the North Pole.  Does anyone ever realize that Christmas is almost two months away? Two whole months in which so many things happen including Thanksgiving. Should we just start preparing for every holiday so many months in advance? Should Halloween costumes and decorations go on sale the minute schools let out for summer break? Or should we begin Valentine’s Day candy sales the minute Christmas is over? Of course! Isn’t it the obvious solution?

Sydney Smith (Blog #13)

There is a huge problem with our society today. We have so much war, and so many people who participate in wars; it's crazy. Out government encourages perfectly happy and normal people to go and fight its enemies, ruining the soldiers and our country in the process. We have vererans day parades, school assemblies, flags flying everywhere, constant news coverage, and numerous songs commemorating famous battles and wars and mass killings. We are teaching our kids these horrible values as well. It's sickening!

Thus, I propose that we encourage all of our citizens to hate veterans. Since veterans recirve such good treatment now, it would definitely discourage them from service if that was taken away.

We should stop honoring them, stop teaching our kids that they're good, stop helping them, stop saluting them- everything. For that matter, we should stop saying the oledge and singing the national anthem. They incite violence.

In fact, all our problems would be solved if we just killed them all.

Changes Jack Humphries

“Ignorance is bliss”

Shouldn’t we all be a little more ignorant then? For if everyone is blissfully ignorant then no one will fall to the sinister sin of malcontentary? In the absence of this heinous lust for selfishly obtained “knowledge”, our society would flourish.  Gone would be the days we would need policemen to stop crime and help the little old ladies of the world; gone would be the troubling times in which we would even need a government to “inform and protect us”; gone would be the lurid lives we live day to day, in which we clamor over one another in an attempt to gain the knowledge of our dreams. A utopia of ignorance is what we should hope and pray for because it promises us a heaven on earth like no other. We would be free of our earthly hell, where we are damned to chase fleeting slivers of knowledge in hopes that prosperity will follow. Our shackles of prejudice, hate, and depression would be lifted from our feeble souls leaving us to blissfully ignorance our way through life. Our suffocating wants and needs would be relinquished as well, shed off like a butterfly would its cocoon. And it is out of this heavy, ridged cocoon of knowledge that we would lift our selves into the airy blissful enlightenment of being un-enlightened. I for one am extremely jealous of those who are extremely ignorant. To me they are like Shoa lin monks who have mastered the concept of inner peace. Unlike the Shoa lin monks though they are blissfully unaware of their accomplishment which makes them much more admirable. Every day I try to spread my wings and be as ignorant as they are, but I have never once been as blissfully unaware as them. Maybe one day I can grow my wings and ascend to their level of ignorance, but until then I’ll hope and pray for blissful blindness.

Karl Werner- Assignment 14: Flying Turkeys

My Thanksgiving consists of stereotypes. I am such a traditional American male when it comes to this national holiday. My special day is composed entirely of my two favorite f-words: football and food. I stuff my face and feel as fat as I will look by the time I'm forty. I gorge on turkey, stuffing, biscuits, ham, potatoes, chicken, assorted sandwiches, and anything else you can soak in gravy and fall asleep after eating. While not deep in a overeating-induced coma, I am participating in something football related. I am either outside physically playing it, or slouching on the couch, dripping with saturated fat and gravy watching it. Since picking up fantasy football, I have come to enjoy this tradition even more. One of my fondest memories was last Halloween seeing my star receiver Andre Johnson go for over two hundred total yards and carry my team to victory. My fingers are crossed that this turkey day brings similar results for my team, whose name is not appropriate to post on this blog. So's here to overindulgence and validation through either feeble competition in actual athletics or through the success of other, real athletes, and a happy Thanksgiving for all.

#14 Flying Turkeys- Haley Longworth

I love Thanksgiving! It's a time where I get to see family I don't see very often and eat delicious food! My typical Thanksgiving is going to my aunt Judy's house in Winchester, where I get to see my mom's side of the family. Usually we congregate downstairs until the food is ready and venture upstairs to eat. We have loads of ham and turkey, rolls, green beans, mashed potatoes, casseroles, pumpkin pie, and cranberry sauce. You could call it a typical southern Thanksgiving. When we're done eating we play games and people gradually start leaving. After we leave we go to my grandma's house where I see my dad's side of the family, and eat even more food. By the end of the day I have eaten so much all I feel like doing is sitting and watching tv. Thanksgiving is one time of the year where I let myself eat whatever I want, although still being somewhat reasonable. I can't think of a specific Thanksgiving memory because most are typically the same, but that doesn't change how much I enjoy them.

#11 My Neighbor- Alexander Reese

     For many weeks now I have sat next to Sydney Smith. She seems to be absent a fair amount of the time, but when she is here, it definitely changes my English experience. She's pretty nice and seems to be fairly good friends with Chelsea. The worst part about her is how smart she is. I can't take sitting next to someone who clearly outdoes me. If I had to give a her a color, it'd probably be blue because she enjoys Doctor Who (much like myself). I also view blue as a sort of excited vibrant color, and Sydney always seems to be highly active. In five years I see her at some large college maybe becoming a doctor or lawyer. She seems to be somewhat ambitious and clearly has the intelligence and work ethic to match it. If she were an animal, I would expect a beaver (hear me out), because she works hard, seems somewhat social, and is good at building essays like a beaver is at building dams.

BOO- Alexander Reese

     It's finally happened. The zombie apocalypse everyone has feared. I don't know about you, but I'm stocking up then heading out to an island like Guam. Islands are really the best places to be. Think about it. Larger islands you'll have everything you need and I have a feeling not many brainless flesh eaters know how to use a boat. Another advantage is that you have significantly fewer zombies to deal with in places that are already somewhat small. Guam, with its large U.S. Naval base is perfect for stocking up and defending myself and whatever other survivors might be around and in all likelihood contains many communications devices I can use to set up a sort of haven for survivors everywhere in the world. Warm weather, a nice ocean breeze, and beautiful scenery are just what I need after a stressful experience after most all of my loved ones have become mindless corpses wandering the earth.

Assignment 14 :Flying Turkeys

The stock image Thanksgiving involves a lot of people around a nicely decorated table with a large turkey and a ridiculous amount of extra food. This image doesn't always depict the reality of the holiday though.

What does your Thanksgiving look like? Do you enjoy the holiday? What is your strangest or most wonderful memory of the holiday?

Minimum of 150 words - due Sunday, November 24th at 11:59 pm

Changes - Hans Stromberg

Isn't safety the number one priority when you're having fun? This safety may come at a price for some. I am proposing a modest plan to keep safety in sports, simply cut off the player's ligament that committed the foul. For example, in basketball, when a player hand-checks another player, the player at fault will get their hand chopped off right there. In football, when a player grabs on to another players face mask with their fingers, the finger at fault will get the ax. This way we can knock all the enjoyment out of watching sports just to keep players "safe". By cutting off limbs we will get a point across to players all over the world in all sports that unsafe actions will be penalized. The point of having officials in a game is to have them keep the players in line, not to have the officials control the game.

    

Changes! - Jasa Harris

Several things bother me like flies, especially the big pregnant ones that just fly into your house and buzz in your ear and the ones that fly near the ground and always land on you. And when people walk by your classroom and just feel the need to stare at you as they walk by- it’s unnecessary.  But I think one of the things that bother me the most is when people go out in public and walk around barefoot. It’s just nasty and uncouth. In the past week I have seen at least seven people not wearing shoes. They were doing everything from shopping, walking home, and just checking their mail. You can find flip-flops for a dollar. I once got some tennis shoes for two dollars on clearance. They were hideous, and I never wore them, but I still own them, and if I had to I would wear them out if all my other shoes were destroyed. I understand this is Kentucky, but you don’t have to play into stereotypes. So whenever someone leaves their home without shoes on their feet they will return and be forced to soak their feet in dog poop. It’s a hundred times better than whatever they might have stepped in or on when they were walking around without shoes on their feet.  

Changes! Jania Stevenson

The world is going through many changes, especially when it comes to the environment. Global environmental issues have been a very talked about topic for the past couple of years, but it seems as if nobody cares enough to do anything about it. It would just be way to hard to do something to help like ride a bike every once in a while. Or, I don't know, make less stuff. Nobody needs that much factory made crap. But whatever. It's apparently not in anybody's interest how our planet turns out. It's not that important. I mean, who really needs the polar ice caps anyways?  Definitely not me!And I just love when perfectly good rainforests are cut down for no reason. Nobody needs those. Oxygen and is for losers!  I propose that if we just keep doing what we're doing, we'll just completely ruin the Earth for good. Then there will be nothing to worry about

Blog 14- Chelsea Southworth

Is it bad that nothing of interest has happened in my NaNo this week? I'm actually writing a climactic scene right now, but I doubt it will be finished tonight. So instead of posting an excerpt, I'm going to tell you all a little bit about my main characters; this will probably help in the future.

Elin is the POV character, the main character, and she is my baby. What an awkward penguin (even though there are no penguins where she's from). Her awkwardness lies less in being clumsy and more in tripping over her words or saying the wrong things. She's so smart, caring, and all-around lovable, however, she does take a level in bad*ss when the person she looks up to goes a little crazy. Elin basically becomes the leader which, since she's my darling, makes me incredibly happy.

N'hyla is my other favorite. First of all, she's incredibly blunt and has an awesome sense of dry humor. Her backstory is incredibly depressing, but considering that she's held up incredibly well. If you need someone who's tough and can endure any struggle, N'hyla is your girl.

Keera is my other other favorite. Despite being raised in a culture where women are the lowest of the low, she still has an amazing internal strength. That being said, she's extremely sweet, sensitive and shy; she won't go out and beat up your enemies, but she'll be there to listen and hold your hand when you cry.

Yalohan's pretty nice. He's the only one who consistently keeps a cool, rational head, which is good in the story but boring to write. Mahayla is his sister.

Mahayla and R'haylal, oh my goodness, they're the cutest couple ever. Mahayla is always smiling and R'haylal is the king of humor, but when some unpleasant things happen to R'haylal, that changes. Right now Mahayla's practically hysterical and is epitomizing the over-protective girlfriend stereotype. It's great fun to see her change from that bright, friendly person you want to punch to an edgy, panicky mess on the verge of breakdown.

Blog#14- Erin Holbrook

For my fourth Nanowrimo installment, I'm going to change things up a bit. It begins with a flash into the POV of Earth's unfinished colony planets, then shifts to the POV of a boy still living on Earth. Standard disclaimer: The story is, as always, minimally edited. If you spot a plot hole or two...sorry. Try not to fall into it.

“Beers on me!” Frank shouted, clashing his cup against Hallie’s with an audible chink.

“What do you think, Hallie? A wheat farm and now a distillery ten years ahead of schedule! Am I the best project director or am I the best project director?”

“The distillery wasn’t on the schedule. We don’t need beer to colonize a planet” She chided, grinning despite herself.

“We work like slaves, the people need a little treat to keep them going. It boosts moral, and therefore production. At this rate we can start evacuating in forty years at the most!” He said loudly, and the people around him cheered. He stood up on his chair. “Drink up, you lot! Tomorrow is a holiday. After that, I expect you bright and early working even harder! Viva la Tierra!”

“Viva la Tierra!” the room echoed, and he chuckled. He winked at Hallie and she scowled, though without the ferocity she had when they first met. If she was a bit more flushed with alcohol, she might have even smiled.

***

Tom didn’t understand a lot of things he heard in class. He didn’t understand how “Global Warming” caused harsher, stormier winters. He didn’t understand why 14 times 14 mattered at all, or why it was really good that he could pick out patterns. Tommy would have loved to understand more, but the teacher herself didn’t know so he had no one to ask. The ten year old could only remember what she said and spit it back out later. Supposedly that made him smart… the same way that supposedly pigs built a castle on the moon.

Today Tommy was lingering in the old town. The town had been abandoned when the smog was too much for the dense population to handle. The population quickly became zero. People lived almost exclusively in villages after that, and since the air quality of Old London had improved significantly. Now London had an occasional population of one. Tommy spent most of his time exploring it, pretending that he was on a dangerous mission to save the queen. He ran up and down Downing Street. He explored old apartment buildings and houses. Sometimes he found a forgotten photograph. He would pick it up and turn it over to see Samantha Goff, Fred Baker, Matthew Yu, 2183. They were standing under a blue sky, surrounded by green trees and a clear lake. They were in front of a boat, but one smaller than any of the shipping boats that existed now. They looked happy and young. Tommy wished he’s known that Earth.

Tom would pocket the photo and take it home. It would go in a box under his bed with all the rest of the trinkets long abandoned. But first, there was something he wanted to see. He made his way South, scrunching up his nose as he tries to see the names of the rusted over street signs. It took him just under 15 minutes to find it: the Library. Tommy’s sister had told him about it often in her bedtime stories. Passed down from grandma, her stories all involved London as it’s vibrant and beautiful self- full of intrigue and romance. He had almost forgotten about it, until he found Joe Atkins, M.D.’s library card. The card had an address on the back. The giant building loomed high in the sky, with modernistic glass windows coating it like a shell. The windows were dirty and non-functional, but none were broken and the building was a work of art. Tommy couldn’t believe that this entire thing could ever have been filled with books. More importantly, are the books still here? He wondered.

 It seemed to take an eternity for him to reach the front door and pull it open. He wiped his sweaty palms on his pants and walked inside.

They were there: every last one of them. Books on books on books. Each was old, yellow, and faded. Tommy doubted that any had been touched in over a hundred years. Tommy looked up at a plaque on the wall: “Library of London. Born: 1841- Died: 2476. A shiver ran through Tommy. The library wasn’t dead. It was empty, it was forgotten, but it couldn’t die. As long as one person read its books, it was alive. And so Tommy pulled out a piece of paper from a desk nearby and a pencil covered in dust I’m writing with a hundred year old pencil. He thought excitedly. He wrote the word “present” as neatly as he could on the paper, and then stuck it to the plaque with hundred-year-old tape. It now read “Library of London. Born: 1841-Present.” He smiled to himself for a second and then remembering the time, ran off.

Maggie, his older sister, was furious at him for being late again. She gave him extra chores to do, so that he didn’t have a chance to go back to the library for another three days. He thought about it the entire time. After that he read every day. He put all other expeditions on hold to read about anything and everything. He read non-fiction and fiction, anything that looked interesting. He started to understand all of the things his teacher could never tell him. He even corrected her once or twice in class.

It was a Thursday many months later when Tommy discovered that London had an occasional population of not one, but two. He was absorbed with a book called Lillith when he heard it: a girl singing. He fell out of his seat with a loud crash when he heard it, and immediately the singing broke off.  He heard footsteps quietly making their way over, and he silently dashed behind a bookcase. No one lives in London. He thought. Who else was crazy enough to visit it but him? No one was supposed to come to the city. It was ‘dangerous’ or so they said. Tommy couldn’t really find anything wrong with it, but “keep out” means “Keep Out”, and if he got caught, well then he couldn’t take the test. If he couldn’t take the test, he couldn’t leave for paradise. He still didn’t know if he’d want to go, but he didn’t want to stay here forever either. The footstep drew nearer and he poked his head out to look. A girl stood there, his own height, with long red hair pulled back in a sloppy bun. She was holding a book over her head like a weapon. It looked like a good weapon too: The Unabridged Oxford Dictionary of English. Tommy stepped out of his hiding place. “Why, you’re just a little girl.” He announced. She jumped and whirled around, almost hitting him with the book in the process. He leaned back out of the way.

“You ought to know better than to scare a girl like that.” She said, smiling. She dropped the book on a table with a loud bang. “I was wondering who changed the sign. It was you, right?” Tommy nodded. “That was quite clever. I liked it. I always hated the person who put it up. Who gets so morbid about a library? Anyway what was your name?” She asked absentmindedly, strolling over to a nearby shelf and scanning the titles.

“Uh, I’m Tommy.” He said, still a bit dumbfounded.

“Nice to meet you Tommy. AHA! I’ve found it. Pride and Prejudice By Jane Austen. This book really never gets old. Anyway, I’ve got to go. See you around Tommy.” She smiled and bounded off. He stood staring after her. He truly didn’t know what to think.

The next day Tommy rushed back to the library yet again. He went fast as his little legs would carry him, curious to see the girl again. But she wasn’t there. He came back again and again, day after day, but for three weeks straight she didn’t show her face.

Then, suddenly she appeared one afternoon. Tommy had gone back to his usual studying, but wasn’t so engrossed in his book that he failed to hear her enter this time. He rushed down to the bottom floor to greet her.

“Oh, it’s you again” She said as she appeared. “Do you come here everyday or something?”

“Yeah, I do. Why don’t you?” He asked.

“The point of a library isn’t to come to the books, it’s to bring them to you. I check out the ones I want and bring them back when I’m done.” She said, matter-of-factly.

“My sister would never let me bring books home without asking where they came from, and I’m not really allowed to be here. Besides, this place is so magnificent, why wouldn’t you want to spend all of your time here?” He said it confidently, but still felt as though He was on the defensive. He took this moment to study the girl whose name he did not know. She was prettier than he had thought last time they met, or maybe she just looked better now that she wasn’t trying to kill him with a big book. Her hair was a dark black, but when she stepped into the light he could see undertones of blue and purple. He couldn’t imagine that they were natural, but then again where would a 9 year old find hair dye now-a-days?

“I guess it’s a good thing I haven’t got a sister then.” She remarked absently. “You must not get out much. There are plenty of places more beautiful than this. I could show you if you want.” She smiled a bit mischievously.

“What would you do that for?”

“Because we’re friends, you and me. From now on you’re my friend and I’m yours” She said. “Yes?” She looked at him to agree.

“Okay, why not?” He said, going along with her direct attitude. There was something amazing and special about this girl. He didn’t want to let her out of his sight. Suddenly she was on him like a lion, even baring her teeth viciously. What could he possibly have done to make her angry now? He stared at her, wondering just what kind of a girl she was. Scratch girl. What kind of a person was she? She was absolutely insane.

“No, this isn’t a ‘why not’ type of commitment.” She hissed “If we’re going to be friends, that makes us allies. You and me against the world, if it comes to it. You have to have my back no matter what, and I’ll have yours.” He wriggled under her surprisingly strong grasp.

“Care to let me up?” He asked, narrowing his eyes. She loosened her grip and he slipped free.

“All right, you and me allies against the world.” He spat in his hand and offered it out to her. She nodded once in understanding, and then spat in her hand as well. They shook on it.

She smiled now, and he wondered what odd mood might take her next. It seemed to be recklessness, but she might always change her mind. “Meet me back here tonight, as soon as it’s dark. Bring a flashlight if you must, but don’t let anyone see you.” She said. “I’ve got something to show you.” Tommy hesitated. He didn’t even know this girls name! Raiders and monsters were supposed to inhabit the ghost towns at night. Not to mention, Tommy decided, some actual ghosts too.

“I don’t know…” He said. And before he could explain himself, she announced.

“You’ll come.” And walked off to grab the next book on her mental list. “See you tonight.” She called as she left. And Tommy knew that she would. 

Blog#13: Erin Holbrook

Instead of a regular blog, here is a third installment to my Nanowrimo novel. Apologies to anyone reading, for it is again minimally edited.

Both girls slept under the stars that night, and woke when the sun kissed their faces. They ate quickly and packed their things, taking off in silence once again. If a search party caught up with them, they would have no excuse for trekking through the forest like vagabonds. Jenine pretended she was a Puma as she crept through the forest, making no sound despite the heavy load of provisions and equipment on her back.

Two days later, the girls reached a clearing in the middle of the giant forest. A great meadow unfolded before them, gated by a fortress of trees on all sides. With one glance at her sister, Jenine knew that Sal was on the same page. Instantaneously they broke out in laughter and dropped their bags, running like schoolgirls out into the meadow. Sal danced gracefully, spinning this way and that. Jenine fell into the tall grass and flowers, letting them swallow her up. Maturity was overrated when there was fun to be had.

No one should have been there for miles around.  “Should” being the operative word. When Jenine stopped giggling long enough to listen she froze in place. She could hear more than Sal’s distant laughter. Gentle footsteps were edging their way across the field. She froze, listening. The footsteps froze too, hiding from her. She jumped up in a flash and saw a man, just 50 yards away. She sprinted towards him. Can’t be seen. She thought. If he got away and told anyone what he saw…

He ran as fast as he could, which wasn’t very fast. Jenine was on him in a second. He tried to fight his way out of her grasp, and failed. Running wasn’t all Jenine was good at. She could also handle herself in a fight. The boy wasn’t very strong, and Jenine had him pinned in seconds. Jeninie examined him closely. His features were fierce. He had very large ears and a wide nose. To mention it, all of his features were large. He had large eyes that seemed to see right through Jenine. His prominent cheekbones could still be seen under a light beard. His hair was dark, shaggy and unkempt, and he shifted uncomfortably from where his backpack cut into his sides.

“Who else is with you” Jenine said furiously. She fixed her features into what she hoped looked like a mix of desperation and insanity.

“Just me….a-and my brothers. We, uh…are all three out ca- camping. They’re just behind me.” He squirmed, terrified.

“You’re lying.” Jenine spat. She twitched her eye sporadically, and his eyes opened even wider.  “Who do you work for? Did Michael send you?” The boy was perplexed. He should be, Jenine had made up the name.

“Michael? Uh, yeah. Yes, and he’s sending his men now, so you had better run!” The boy stammered. Jenine smiled. He would have contradicted her had he been telling the truth. Instead he was lying through his teeth, because he knew that he was no threat to her. She could destroy him if she so chose. She wouldn’t of course, not that she could let him go either. 

“Oy, Sal! We’ve got company.” Jenine hollered. Then, to the boy: “sorry about that, I had to make sure you’re alone.  There is no Michael, and I’m not actually crazy. I ought to win an award for that acting though, don’t you think?” She winked, and helped him up. She saw him glance at the forest edge. “Don’t. You won’t make it ten feet. I’m Jenine, by the way.” She stuck out her hand. He didn’t take it.

“I know who you are. Please, just let me go, I promise I won’t tell anyone where you are!” He said. Jenine frowned, puzzled. Sal bounded over to meet them at this point.

“Oooh, isn’t he cute!” Sal said delicately. “Have you already done the thing?” She asked, not taking her eyes off the boy. He gulped.

“Yeah, he’s alone. We’re safe to talk.” Sal looked a bit disappointed. “So come on then. What’s your story? What are you doing here, and how do you know who we are?” The boy didn’t speak, glancing frantically back and forth between the two girls.  Sal smiled mischievously.

“Don’t worry, sweetie. I won’t bite.” She stepped a bit closer and brushed her hingers through his hair. “Not hard anyway.”

“Sal.” Jenine snapped, rolling her eyes. Sal grinned wider, but stepped back. “What’s your name?” Jenine prompted.

“I’m called Fox.” The boy said surely, seeming to find himself.

“Why?”

He looked down at his feet. “Got good ears is all.”

“And where are you headed? You running away or to?” Jenine asked. He hesitated, and then seemed to decide on honesty.

“Both. I’ve left the city, and now I’m going to find a man on an island who says he can send me to Taurus. I’m going to join the army there.” Jenine nodded.

“So are we, one day. Viva la Tierra” She said smiling. He jumped, astonished.

“Really, you? You’ve got to be joking.” He laughed once, hard. “You blow up the prime minister and then you think you can just waltz over to Taurus like it’s nothing?” Jenine’s jaw dropped, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Sal’s hand fly to her mouth.

“The prime minister can’t be dead.” She said to herself quietly. “I voted for her… Wait, what do you mean we killed her?” She exclaimed suddenly. “That building was empty, the street closed for construction. No injuries, no deaths. Just a fireworks show.” She grew furious. She had double checked-triple checked. No one could possibly have been in the building they destroyed. She was willing to kill for her cause, but never the innocent.

Fox looked at her skeptically, and then explained. “That’s the big question. What was the Prime Minister doing in an empty building on an abandoned street all by herself? But the cameras show her going in, and what’s left of her body is a 100% DNA match. The police kind of just assumed that whoever set off the bomb must have lured her there. It’s not that much of a leap to make. Your pictures are posted all across the city. $100,000 reward for any information about you two.” He paused. “You’ve been sentenced to execution, no trial.”

“The building was empty!” Jenine gasped. “She couldn’t have been in there.”

“She was, though.” Fox said.

“They’ve got no evidence, though. They can’t execute us with no evidence.” Sal said.

“Who cares about evidence? The Prime Minister has been assassinated. We left a calling card. They know it was us. They don’t need proof anymore.”

“Why’d you do it?” Fox blurted, “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“We didn’t! Well, we did, but…” Jenine began. “We want to join the army of Taurus, but Taurus doesn’t just take any Taylor snob who applies. Even if they did, they would do it reluctantly. To get there you have to fail the personality test or commit a crime and complete a jail sentence. We passed our exams years ago, so that leaves crime. But if we commit a big enough crime to get ourselves sent to Taurus, the Jail sentence would be at least 5 years. We can’t wait that long. Earth is dying now. We want to fight now.”

“The bomb was my idea.” Sal said. “it was genius. If we committed a large crime that they couldn’t pin on us, they would want us gone but wouldn’t be able to give us a Jail sentence. We would be sent to Taurus as criminals, but not punished. And the army of Taurus, having heard about our particular skill-set, would surely accept us into the training program. So we planned to set off a massive bomb where no one was present. No casualties, massive destruction. No evidence, but a little calling card: two intertwined roses. It’s been my signature for years, every act of vandalism they couldn’t prove was me.”

“We announced a plan for a road trip as an alibi. We would go hiking in the mountains of Calsurek, and when we came back to the capitol in a few months they would send us away. We could fight when the war finally breaks out. What the hell was she doing in there.” She sighed.

“I don’t know.” Fox said. He decided she was telling the truth. “I’m sorry, but you can never go back.” He said, studying her. She was uncomfortable under his gaze. “look, I’ve got to go. I won’t tell anyone I saw you. No matter what else, it wouldn’t be worth the trouble, I’m on a schedule.” Jennine nodded.

“Good Luck.” She said meekly. He began to walk across the clearing. She watched him go, and about fifty feet away he stopped suddenly.

“Damn it,” she heard him cuss quietly. He ran back to where she and Sal stood, pulled off his pack, and started rummaging around for something. “Look, I can’t travel with you. I won’t take the risk, your faces will probably give you away in a second, they aren’t hard to recognize.” He pulled out a piece of paper and a pen, holding it against his pack, he scribbled down a name and an address. “Go to this location, and buy Jim Heck a beer. Slip the word frog into conversation, that’s the password for the next three weeks, so make sure to do it by then. When he asks you what a frog is, say ‘Something beautiful we left to die a long time ago.’ Say that exactly. He’ll ask you to hand him a napkin, and when you do slip whatever money you have inside of it. If it’s enough, he will ask you to come sailing with him. He’s the captain that can take you to the island I mentioned. The man on the island will take you wherever you want to go, and make sure that you’re taken care of once you get there.” He wrote down the word ‘frog’ and the proper response.

“Thank you.” Jenine said, stunned.

“Taurus needs strong fighters like you.” He said solemnly. “I didn’t give this to you. We never met.” He handed her the paper. She nodded and took it, and without a word he put his pack on and walked off, disappearing into the tree line on the other side of the meadow. 

14-Flying Turkeys Zac Byrd

From turkeys to football thanksgiving is a great holiday.  Turkey-day is a day to appreciate the fact that we have holidays that get us out of school, and to appreciate loved ones too I guess.  Thanksgiving is heaping portions of steaming turkey and ham on a plate getting all cozy with the coleslaw, sweet potatoes and coleslaw.  It’s a great holiday to see some relatives, catching up about life with the background music of wild screams from the TV after the lions score a touchdown.  Even when the deck of cards is stacked high to the ceiling and the stress is high it’s still fun.  As I take the deck and ultimately win the game I realize I’m out of coke.  Popping out that cold coke after a win completed an already perfect Thanksgiving Day.  Thanksgiving is a great holiday to spend with relatives, talking around a table, or relaxing in a chair stuffed full with the ridiculous amount of food thrown at me.

Changes 13-Zac Byrd

I love how America is fantastic at sports.  The Olympics truly reflect how athletic our country is, always winning those gold, silver, and bronze metals.  Here in America we clearly strive for excellence in sports.  Kids practice hours on end to be in the best physical shape possible.  Everybody cares about their sports, and eats healthy to perform well at them.  It’s amazing how I can walk through our halls at Henry Clay and appreciate how in shape and active everybody is in their school and community.  When I go do the Bluegrass 10000 nearly every teenager is at that event.  I mean who would want to go play video games when you could go sweat to death in the blazing hot sun?  As Americans we clearly strive for excellence on and off the field.  We are clearly one of the most in shape nations.  I always here about how fun practices were and how people wished they could spend more time working out.  I love America.  What a picture perfect place of health and physical fitness.

#13 Haley Longworth

I was walking behind a tall and apparently insecure kid who felt like making fun of everyone he passed. "Look at that little midget. The kid looks like she should be in first grade." That is not very nice, I thought. Maybe you are just a giant walking through high school who needs to stop being so mean. "And that other kid in the wheelchair. Why are they yelling? I wish they would shut their mouth." My question is why are you talking? You are not amusing anyone but your own insecure, mean self. You can go ahead and be quiet. "What in the world is that girl wearing. She looks so weird. Maybe like a rainbow puked on her." She probably does not care what you think. She probably loves what she wears and thinks your clothes are boring. And by the way people are allowed to express themselves and wear what they want. Geez I hate when people are mean for no reason.

Sydney Smith (Blog #12)

A Day in the Life of a Pencil:

I start off my morning and it's pitch black outside. Probably because I'm in a backpack. I'm glad I have this backpack pocket, though; it's really comfy and warm. I jostle around against the pens and highlighters in my pocket, and start to feel a little seasick. We get to school, and the movement finally stops. Hooray!

I slowly unzip the zipper on the pocket. Luckily, my human doesn't notice. I slip out of the pocket and slide down the backpack onto the floor. A few heads turn at the noise, but no one sees me. I quickly crawl away, and roll under the classroom door. Free at last!

All my other pencil friends are in the hallway, too. We have a little bit of time before the class change, so we hang out for a while in the hallway. If a student comes out to use the bathroom or something, we roll under lockers or just lay there, looking inanimate. Luckily, no one suspects a thing.

And that's what happens to pencils when you swear you put them in your backpack, but you can't find them anywhere.