jess' work

I really like my finished portfolio product for my Senior year in contempory literature with Mr. Smith. The back ground sets a soft calm mood to a good readings. I wrote many blogs, did many assignments and had a lot of fun creating a great portfolio to show off all of my hard and creative work. I have never heard of edublogs and I am glad I got a chance to express my writings through a school website. It was interesting to briefly spit out words on the computor and then be able to go back and work on my project for a few days to make it tip top shape and be qaulity work. I was very interested in all the different assignments that we accomplished as well as our own personal touches to our portfolios. I could have organized and played around my profile more but all in all I was really proud of every piece that I wrote. I hope everyone who looks at it enjoys it as well.

Is humanity to blame for global warming? Or do you believe human nature is the cause? Let me give you some facts and then we’ll see who you blame. Humans are sucking up gas as quick as it is spouwing into the Golf. Humans build factories that burn coal produce around 8 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year! Humans have created a world of problems that are perfect fit for the cause of global warming. Natural resources will become harder to come by each and every year. Two billion people each year worldwide cook over open fires, which will cause a discusting sooty polluted air quality. Sooty pollution will shorted many lives due to breathing bad air. It will cause cause global warming to happen at an even faster rate. Which brings up the question again, is humanity at fault for the global warming disaster? That was an argue in the climate science community. One brave man named, James Hoggan, the founder of the Desmoglog, set himselfout into a world of denial and explained that humanity is the cause of global warming. Everything humans are doing is causing the pollar ice caps to melt faster than we the people can’t fix it. The ice caps are melting and causing sea levels to rise 1.8 mm a year today. With smaller ice caps, pollar bears will be extinct befor we know it. With less land mass from a rise in sea level, a rise in the real estate market will effect our economy. The tax on carbon will as well effect our economy. An epidemic of worldwide spread of diseases, malaria bieng the most popular today due from the heat loving insect migrating north. National Geographics states the cost of adaption for humans with the new hotter climate could rise the Gross Domestic Product between 5% and 10%. Trying to change a culture of consumption would be long, hard, and insane battle, but the question isn’t can we do it, but do we love our planet enough to do it? I believe yes and there are many ways each person can change just a little aspect of thier lives to help our problem. Changing light bulbs, buying fuel efficient vehicles, recycle, help the science of finding new technology to stop if not slower the process of global warming. Our government has come up with a few policies to help the disaster. Global climate policy are promoting a global framework that links climate with development. The National policy is to mobilize legislatures, strategic partners and grassroots groups to win a cap on carbon. Which then the climate bill will ensure clean energy and national security. There will be a world of opening economic green jobs to help our unemployment. The state and local projects to aid came up with smart grids, designing the energy system of the future and clean energy pioneers, building a clean energy economy. “We demonstrate the best policies to build national momentum” states the state and local projects. The governent is becoming more and more involved in our crisis and so should you. If you don’t belive that humanity is the cause of this vast climate change, rethink all the facts I just provided and consider the reality. We as the people can change the world if every single person just changed a tiny arrangement in their lives. This battle will be a never ending fight, there is no end to it. We must start somewhere and the best time to start is the present. So stand up for our planet and go green, what do you have to loose? Think about the generations after us, that are going to thank us for keeping our world alive and healthy.

Family Campground has been around since I was born. Hendy Woods it’s called. About 30 miles east of Cloverdale lies a cherished campground with many remembered memories that will substain in my heart forever. It is the place I learned how to walk my first steps, conquering the steadiness and ablility to last forever. My family has been fans and yearly residents there. We have found to few campsites that we reserve a year in advance just to make sure we have our perfect spot. Not that every site could be the perfect but since the whole Streebel and Lysell gang go, we need the biggest and best site. All my uncles and aunts, grandparents, cousins, mom, dad and brother join in on our week long family vacation. We compare Hendy Woods to our Heaven. A calm water hole with a small flow to assure clear water. Although it is usually cold, we always get in. There is a bridge you pass over on your way in and beside it hold the perfect height for rock jumping. Some dare and some do, I prefer to do. There is a downpoint to the water there, there are little round bugs that lye under and around the rocks and pebbles along the shallow ends and up on shoreline, and when you step near or close to them they have sharp teeth and bite you! Im not going to lie those suckers really hurt. But we have come up with a remedy to overpass the flesh eaters, you leap and hope as big as you can till you reach about two feet deep and then your out of the clear. It’s an adventure every time. Another neat thing about Hendy is there are many trails to ponder and explore. The main trail is called Big Hendy, filled with the biggest Redwood trees you have ever seen. At the beggining of the trail there is a humungous Redwood tree that had fallen over 20 years ago and my whole family climbs on it and we set a tripod to snap a few pictures…family tradition. I have pictures of my family on that tree every year from when I was 1 to this year and I pray it will be a few more years til the end but I will soon in about 10 years taking my own family and making new traditions. We usually take our bikes and cruz around the ground as well as up to the 5 or 6 miles to the waterhole, might I say it is quit the workout! I have spent many birthdays partying with camp fires, smores, late night tent stories, and laughter to last a lifetime.  My grandpa once brought his turtle Sally and put her in the water hole and she loved it!! She sank to the bottom and sat there just as happy as could be. But I not only go to Hendy with my family, I have recently been introducing the place to my friends as well. I took my bestfriend Lauren (now my girlfriend) there and we had such a great time. We spend most of our time racing bikes around the grounds and trails, and one time we were haulin A#@ down a hill and we had no helmets on and saw the park ranger and I said keep going, then changed my mind and said stop and we both got confused and ended up crashing right into each other, it was so much fun. We got up, brushed ourselves off and hoped right back on our bikes and kept laughing. Except the part about me thinking I broke my pinky! All in all I have been going to Hendy all my life and I plan on going there the rest of my life.

The final days left. Soon within two weeks, about 200 highschool seniors will be dumped out into an unknown world with little knowledge of financial and physical survival. Struggling for the bare minimum and working their asses off just to get by, but isn’t that the thrill of it all. Four years have gone by with the same faces, same places, and the same atmosphere. We have all changes, grown, developed, matured. Some have risen above the influence and others have fallen completely on thier ass trying to keep thier head above water. Struggles, heartbreaks, tears and fears, some consider it a failure but I consider it a lesson learned. A bumpy road traveled is the only way to go, some up’s some down’s only to get around and in the end you come out with a lot more then when you started. Many memories to keep, laughs to carry on, smiles to last a lifetime, and friends there to stick with you by your side. I have learned so much these past four years and I wouldn’t change a single thing. I have gained amazing friends as well as lost quit a few. We grow together as well as grow apart. Life goes on, you live you learn. Each day was an adventure, you ace one test and fail the next, you stay up all night craming for the final exams soon to explode your mind. You have so much going on to think about, work, school, friends and family, relationships, sports, volunteer work, planning the entire prom night and being there for everyone else befor you do the things you need to do while trying to manage doing your own thing. Soon you find the pressure collapsing your lungs and you can’t breathe. You find a minute to collect yourself and get you mind straight an then all of a sudden another twist! You pick yourself up and carry onward the best you can. You manage all of the above and beyond just thinking about that minute you are going to shake that hand and recieve your diploma as a huge smile swips across your face. Your family and friends there to join and capture one of the most important days in your lifetime, other than your weding and your childrens birth. A new chapter begins the day after you walk the walk. Plopped out into the world, trying to make something of yourself, trying to find your path and hopefully choose the right one. Wanting to succeed, wanting hope, wanting a successfull future is all worth the while of working so hard for where you will end up one day. Attending the college of your choice, choosing the classes you want to take, making everyday the way you wish. I could image it would be a lot harder than most of us percieve it as. Our whole lifes have been started with aid and affection from our parents and to soon think about having to do it all ourselves is quite unmanagable at the time but will soon have to be managed. Cooking for ouselves, cleaning after ourselves, shopping for ourselves, disiplining ourselves, showing ourselves right from wrong, making sure we take care of our bodies with body, mind, and spirit. Not to mention waking up on time every morning, getting to sleep at a decent time, working to make a living instead of living off of mommy’s and daddy’s income. Im sure over 50% of the seniors have yet to obtain their first job in the labor force, therefor will make it harder to understand the meaning and responsibilities of being an adult. Anyways, with having spent 4 and more years with the graduating class, it is sad to see us all go our seperate ways…well most of us our planning on the JC but I highly doubt we will have classes, and hang out as much as we did because we will be dealing with our own seperate lives now and building new friendships and relationships while still holding the strings to our pasts. I actually have quit a few plans for the JC but before then I have still some unfinished business to complete. I had a choice of trying out for performing at graduation solo or with a few of my talented piers. Of course I thought it would be much more fun preforming with my classmates and sharing the spotlight. We got together and started messing around with some songs and instruments. We have Kevin on the piano, Ricky on the drums, Brian on the bass, Cory on guitar-vocals, and me as head singer. Cory and I decided to duet to mellow the tone and deepen it just a little. We are all super stoked and I, well I am a little nervous being the only one who has not once performed in front of people. I was in choir in the 4th grade but other than that  I have had no further aid with voice performance. Unless you count in the shower, around the house, an my favorite place… around school! People tell me I have an amazing voice but I always believe it could be better. On the other hand we as a group tried out with little practice but we got the part! So we plan on practicing a little more but less than I would prefer but im sure no matter what we will go up in front of everyone and try our hardest and have a hell of a time!

Love is a magical. Love is spiritual. Love is amazing, but only when it is real. It is the feeling the butterflies occupy your tummy when you look at the one you love. It is the feeling of when you kiss, you feel a warm feeling flow throughout your body and it leaves shivers on the spine of your back. It is love when you look into their eyes and know that you want to look at those exact eyes for the rest of your life. Knowing that they will unconditionally love you, provide for you, be there for you, until the end of time. Love is a scary but beautiful aspect of a persons life. There are those who cheat and lie, those who cry and die, those who can’t trust due to the past. Courage and bravery are needed to fall for the one you truely love. When it is real, I think you know it. Just being around the one you attomatically have a special feeling, you feel good about where you are and who you are with. You feel like you can accomplish the world. You are content and happier than you have ever been just knowing you have found true love. Forever lasting into the world on forsaken fruit. Your loom til your doom. Sharing memories, laughs, cries, goodbyes, and emotional feelings til you honestly know them inside and out.

Life is hard for everyone, that is why there are friends. There are many types of friends: good friends, bad friends, influential friends, negative friends, inspiring friends, easy-going friends, drama friends, and friends who go and friends who come. A person can never have enough friends, but the importance is having a few or even just one really special friend. A friend who knows that when you say no, you really mean yes, a friend who knows all your favorites, a friend who remembers the special days in your life, a friend who makes you laugh when your don’t want to, a friend who can turn your frown upside down even at the worst of times, a friend who stays when you say go, a best friend. They know your weak spots and they know your perfections, feeding off each others energy as if you were one. They know when your sad, mad, hurt even if you don’t show it. A best friend calls you at 12 p.m on your birthday and sings you happy birthday even when you tell them not too. A best friend suprises you when you least expect it. When your old in your rocking chair, they will be the ones sitting right next to you making you smile.

Way ward sun, a path to

the unkown

Up, down, over and around

To find something we’ve never known

But only to reach greatness

An opportunity to step forth

and be…YOU.

an individual.

so fly like a bird

shine like the sun

bloom like a blossom

sprout like a tree

carry like a river

upwards like a fish.

Free

Free to be

Free to be YOU.

The tradgety of Hurrican Katrina,  a Category 1 hurricane hit Lousiniana at about 9:45 AM CST, August 29, 2005. The people of New Orleans was struck and horror broke lose! Families were ripped apart, homes were destroyed, and lifes were completely changed in a matter of minutes. The hurricane was known as the worst engineering disaster to ever occur in the history of the U.S. Evacuees lined up aside to take cover inside New Orleans’ Superdome, mostly poor- African Americans. They were forced to go there for refuge due to the lack of not owning a vehicle and/or need of money. Many victims of this tragedy blamed racism for slow and poor aid. For example ” No one is going to tell me it wasn’t a race issue” said New Orleans evacuee Patricia Thompson. 53. ” Yes, it was an issue of race because one thing: When the city had pretty much been evacuated, the people that were left there mostly were black”. Victims accused aid because they wouldn’t let the poor and black cross the Mississippi River to safety. Another example, ” If 6 out of every 10 black of Katrina’s victims were white, relief would have arrived sooner” NBC News Kerry Sanders reported.  On the Southern Coast were the hurrican struck, there were a reported more than 1,800 deaths with over $81 billion dollars in damages. Floods, striking killer winds, and the death tole made Hurricane Katrina the deadliest U.S. hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane. Economist and crisis consultant Randall Bell wrote: “Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was the largest natural disaster in the history of the United States. Preliminary damage estimates were well in excess of $100 billion, eclipsing many times the damage wrought by Hurricane Andrew in 1992.”  Years after the hurricane, thousands take cover and continue their lives in trailers unable to live in thier past homes due to the floods that distroyed thier homes. Over a million were changed by this horrid day and over ten thousand were left homeless. To take not, members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Black Leadership Forum, National Urban League and the NAACP, gathered for a conference about why there was slow aid and if it was due to most of the victims were poor African Americans. Finding the controversy extremely racist a few Black members of Congress felt the need to express thier beliefs and anger about why there was slow aid. “Black people are mad because they feel the reason for the slow response is because those people are black and they didn’t support George Bush,” said Ron Walters, who is a   government and politics professor at University of Maryland. “And I don’t expect that feeling to go away anytime soon.” His words were herd around the world. Racial comments were flying around and just made everything even worse. Happy lives were quickly changed into heartbroken refugees with mass amounts of anger. The U.S. Navy arrived to New Orleans to help. Those who were alive and able to lend a hand, did so. So many lives were devistated by this natural disaster and til this day, their lives are not the same and probably never will be again. Deaths occured by drownding, starvation, blood loss, murders and more. The poor and the black were untreated and left to die, but I honestly don’t believe it was due to racism, discrimination, stereotyping or anything else in such category. I believe aid was there to help and do the best they can by trying to save as many lives as possible and feeling down about those they lost but kept trying, but many  on the other hand disagree. In America, they state we are free individuals so therefor by the victims stating slow aid was due to racism, they are manipulizing the American Government and the U.S. citizens born rights. All-in-all no matter what, aid was provided and even though about 2,000 deaths occured, it could have been an even greater number and some say racism increased the death percentage but I would say, it’s a personal opinion.

Today as we know it is a whirl wind from the past. Everything is smaller, more advanced, more compact, and more intelligent. Apple being the sky  rocketing company has done an  astronomical job creating the newest, the most useful, the smallest possible size for easy access\ acsessability. Iphones, Ipods, Ipads, Itouch, and many more. Ipads being the most recent release of Apple. I believe the human brian is the most powerful technology ever created. We are using those intelligent minds to creat further knowledge but has it gone too far? Is tv, cell phones, texting, ipods and more making our nation lazier, slower, less independent on thier brain to think so we let a piece of machinery do it for us? We started of as television and music as an enjoyment, now days people just abuse that. Watching tv all day every day, listening to music while studying or driving, always texting when there are people right around you that you could be talking to. I find it has made people more irritable, lazy, rude, and offcentered.