Just survive somehow- Rachel Roberts

I'm not even going to try and lie about, I'm a total zombie nerd. An avid watcher of the Walking Dead. So the possibility of a zombie apocalypse is something that I (and the rest of my family) are totally prepared for. My plan has three sections to it detailing what to do at each point in outbreak.

I. Rumors spread.
Clips from YouTube capturing zombie attacks are featured on everything from the local news to celebrity gossip shows. The time has come for me to embrace my Estill county redneck roots.

1. STOCKPILE TIME! Start by buying canned food, rice, pasta, peanut butter, BOTTLED WATER (possible the most important), and other nonperishable food items. Small first aid kits, batteries, matches, and flashlight would also be advantageous Shop at normal grocery stores (make sure you clear the shelves there) and at stores that sell in bulk. Go to every single one in town. Too much is not enough. The key to this is not waiting till the last minute when people begin panicking and there are more zombies, but to begin buying once you see the first clip. And at this point you have a better chance of getting more of the good stuff (this girl wants to live out the rest of the zombie apocalypse eating Spaghetti O's and not canned peas). THOSE WHO HESITATE DIE FIRST.
2. Clean all your guns and make sure they are in proper working order. If you don't own any, you need to buy at least two (like a shotgun and pistol would be best). Order ammo online, there is still time since the world hasn't gone to pot yet. But still go to stores to buy it so you can immediately have it on you. Also weapons that are quite and don't need ammo are an absolute necessity. Knifes, machetes, cross bow, and meat clever are all important too. Just make sure to sharpen you knives. Just remember the rule about weapons is THE MORE THE MERRIER!
3. Now you must prepare to become mobile at any given moment. Begin packing backpacks for each family member with water, a few cans of food, a small first aid kit, and some sort of weapon (and ammo if needed). Keep these backpacks beside the door that's nearest to your car (for me that's the garage door). For the rest of stockpile, keep half in your get away car and the other in your basement or most internal room (think where you would go incase of a tornado). Leading up to the world totally going to pot, make sure you don't drive the get away car and keep its gas tank full.
4. Now to make a safe room. The place mentioned in section 3, needs to become where you will ride out the first wave. Board up the windows and install industrial locks on the inside of the door. Along with the stock pile, keep flashlights, batteries and a weather radio in there.
You are officially prepared.

II. The world around us begins to crumble.
The infection has infiltrated your city and the military has given up. Anarchy ensues. But don't worry, your prepared.
1.The first wave. By this I didn't mean zombies, I meant pillagers. At this point people are more deadly than the still small but ever growing zombie population. They are scared and unprepared. Board up all your windows and all doors except the one closest your get away car. They will try to raid you house. Stay in the safe room as much as possible, especially at night. Don't let children out of the safe room because they WILL die first if you aren't careful.
2. It is now a kill or be killed world, so I think you can guess what you need to do for this step.
3. Try to find or get in contact with family members and close friends. Add them to your group of sane survivors. Just make sure they can contribute to the stock pile.
4. Now you and your group must sit and quietly wait. Wait for there not to be any sound outside. Wait for the pillagers to leave or kill each other. Just make sure there is now one outside your house to complete this step.
Good work, your survived the crazies.

III. The first day of the rest of your life.
Now is the time to pack up your loved ones and supplies and put them in the get away car. The coast is clear, time to leave the safe room.
1. Time to move on. Now you must head out to the country. The roads and such will have zombies hoards and crash cars all over the place, so it's important that you drive slowly and know several alternate routes. Have a good idea of where you are going before you pack up and leave. Like I would go to my grandparents farm in Estill county, where my Mamaw has an insane amount of canned vegetables from her garden (as in she has a whole room devoted to storing them) and my Papaw has a wide variety of guns and ammo (yep they are pretty hardcore).
2. Once you reach you farm destination, clear the land of zombies. Send out parties of people to kill small groups of zombies. Dig large holes in a hundred foot radius around the farm house to stop and trap zombies. Make sure the holes are at least ten feet deep. Build bridges that are two people wide across each of the holes (WITH RAILING). Leave a large chunk of land in between two of the hole to park the run/get away cars on. Once these holes fill up with zombies, shoot them and burn the bodies to make room for more (or you could pull a governor and just throw in people you don't like, not that I would do that). Build fences  in a seventy five foot radius around the house, just incase the zombies get out of the holes make it across the bridges.
3. Start going on runs once every two weeks to replenish your stock pile and to bring TRUSTWORTHY people back to your camp (example: children that have somehow survived on their own and people who are hiding in stores without weapons or people you actually know). You should also get plants and seeds on the runs if possible.
4. Become farmer Rick. Dig a garden inside the fence and start planting. You will need to be able to live off that land because there is only a small amount of food left in stores.
5. Just stay put and survive. You have a nice little set up, you can make it now if you've made it this far. Thrive where you, make the best of it. Just don't do something stupid and mess up everything.
You are now one of the survivors.

"Just Survive Somehow"

Asignment 8 Rick Marino

Fears: Grizzly Bears, Heights, Opossums, Steve Buscemi
Annoyances: Small Talk, Unintelligent Conversations, Bland Tasting Food
Accomplishments: Rap Battle King of Kentucky( jk :) , it sounded more interesting than a cliché answer like good grades)
Confusions: Our Entire Existence
Sorrows: Unending Bipolar Cycle between Laziness and Perfectionist
Dreams: Travel the World
Idiosyncrasies: Silly Jokes, Funny Walks
Risks: I want to battle with a katana. Also, a pistol duel would be cool. I just don't know how to do either without someone dying
Beloved Possessions: Food and Video Games(Then), Music (now)
Problems: Procrastination

This is a short story, sort of in a mold of Kurt Vonnegut-esque ideas from his science fiction stories. My story is about one of my annoyances, Small Talk, and its sudden absence in the human race-

To whom it may concern,
I  hail from a race of beams of light, a group of all knowing, forever existing beings. This may be difficult to comprehend, but everything in the universe has already happened.  All matter, all existence has been sprawled out in a great buffet of time. The problem is that creatures of the universe can only exist at one station of the buffet of time. As a beam of light, I can pick and choose from the buffet of time as a please. Because I can view the buffet from afar, I prefer to experience the more pleasurable and tasty stations of time. However, at the moment, I am writing to sober myself and remind my fellow beams that there are dismal stations at the buffet too. I will tell the story of the downfall of the human race. Man was once a progressive and promising creature. Even though it was drowning in its own ego, the race was on pace to catch up with the intellectual and technological abilities of the other species in the universe in a couple of thousand of years. Here's the story:

The year is 2099. The place was Earth, home to the humans, a baby race in the grand scheme of things. Humans loved themselves. And for good reasons. In just about 200 years, they had gone form horses and buggies to flying cars, artificial intelligence, inhabitance of other planets, and even a primitive form of teleportation. Bring into the situation Gerald Gadget. Only 22 years of age, Gerald was quite possibly the most intelligent being to exist in the Milky Way Galaxy. Albert Einstein of a century and a half earlier possessed the brain power of a mere house cat compared the the greatness of Gerald. Gerald was completely human, however he was carefully crafted by robots. He was created to be the perfect human being. Raised by his robot creators and he held the maximum knowledge a human could possess. Gerald remained inside the dwelling of his robot caretakers for entirety of his childhood. He grew as any other child would, physically at least. Instead of ice cream and hamburgers and spaghetti, he was fed genetically modified morsels of cabbage that were generated in the stomach cavities of his mechanical parents. Instead of going to tradition school, where kids gathered and communicated like packs of fish, wires were hooked up to his brain, feeding him the truths of the universe. If the game show Jeopardy asked him to be a contestant, he would have drained all their money. When Gerald turned 18, he was released by his robot parents into the outside world. Gerald was neither sad, nor happy, nor depressed, nor ecstatic, nor scared. Due to his upbringing, he could not feel or perceive any human emotion at all.....




That was the beginning of my short story. I was going to keep going and talk about how Gerald didn't comprehend small talk and he created a device where all humans knew each other thoughts without speaking. Some humans didn't implant the device in their brain and they revolted and it led to the end of all humans and stuff. But explaining everything in detail would have taken too long. So yeah...

Assignment 9- Meriwether Carling

War is always occurring in the world. But the real question is, how necessary are these never-ending wars? Under specific circumstances, war  is okay and in most cases, needed to end a problem. War leads to the deaths of many soldiers and in some scenarios, innocent people. So how can one justify war? They say that war is used to save even more people than it is hurting. The whole point of fighting is to protect the people that soldiers serve. They are willing to die in order to keep their country safe from outside forces that want to hurt them. Therefore, war is never "morally just", it is the lesser of two evils, but this doesn't mean that peoples intentions are ill hearted. Countries go to war to protect their citizens and their countries. If an outside enemy becomes a serious threat, then in most cases, war is the only answer to keep themselves and their citizens' safe.

Even though not as effective, there are other alternatives to war. The first one being peaceful negotiations between two disagreeing sides. This doesn't always work because it will only be successful if both sides are willing to call a truce. Another alternative is not acting on a threat. This means not declaring war on a country or group of people because they pose a threat, but instead forgive them and move on. This method is also not effective because by "forgiving" the opposing side  they may take advantage of that and attack again. In the long run, this could hurt more people than war would have.

Post 9 Mason Saunders

It's impossible for one to say that war is entirely unnecessary but there are a lot of occasions in which war was resorted to when it could have been avoided. For example, after 9/11, George W. Bush declared a "war on terror" and used this as an excuse to invade Iraq. While America, to some extent, has almost a responsibility to poorer, developing nations, this was a circumstance where invasion was entirely unnecessary and hundreds of lives were list for no reason. Now while war is unavoidable, it is never a solution. Once we start "solving" our problems with invasion and killing we begin a journey on a dangerous path that can easily lead to much more corrupt intentions. This can be seen through the actions of Hitler when he started his invasions to strengthen his country and continued them so that he could target a singular race. All in all when it comes down to the decision, was is a last option alternative that cannot be avoided in many cases, definitely the worst of two evils.

SBSGOZA: rachael gilbert

i feel a little embarrassed to admit that i’ve spent more than a few hours research and detailing my plan for the zombie apocalypse. of all the “supernatural” beings, zombies are the ones i consider most likely to exist in some shape or form (i mean there’s a salmon gene in most commercial corn now (to prevent freezing) so there’s no way some scientist out there won’t discover some way to bring us all back form the dead (sidenote to that scientist: screw you. have you not seen any zombie moves?...or frankenstein? do. not. create. the. mutated. zombie. virus.))

so here is my step-by-step guide on how to survive the zombie apocalypse (the SBSGOSZA if you will)

1. the zombie apocalypse is where the survivors are separated from the sentimental. i don’t care how much you love your grandma. inevitably she will get infected and then it’s only a matter of time before you a.) get infected or 2.) shot her in the head. neither of which are good options (if you don’t trust me on this reference i am legend, the night of the living dead, or literally any zombie movie ever). the zombie apocalypse is a game best played solo.
2. have a supply of canned food on hand (this does require preparation…i’m sorry procrastinators of the universe). you don’t want to be entering the zombie apocalypse unprepared, and god forbid be reduced to eating canned tuna by month two (a little preparation will have you on your way to eating those amazing canned mandarin oranges for the rest of your life). also stock up on more than just food...you might not think of regular household materials immediately but eventually you'll regret not buying 100 pounds of toilet paper.  
3. do not hide in a city. are you stupid? finding secluded areas with few people to begin with is your best bet as a.) not too many people are around to be infected and b.) zombies are unlikely to travel too far just to eat your scrawny ass. ultimately, the best place to wait out the zombie apocalypse is either one of the dakotas or montana.
4. include your family in the preparations by playing the board game pandemic to hone your survival skills (if you somehow by the grace of god win please let me know because my family and i have owned the game for over a year and still not won…we’ve been reduced to cheating and still somehow everyone dies.
5. stay updated. it’s very unlikely that the zombie apocalypse is going to occur spontaneously across the world. like a disease it’s most likely to start from a secluded area and spread from there (reference world war z (the book, not the movie) which is credited as being the most scientifically accurate zombie apocalypse scenario). by staying updated and reacting quickly you should be able to get your family to safety before the apocalypse even reaches your doorstep.
6. watch clips of zombie attacks on youtube. honestly everything is on youtube at this point, so in the event of a zombie apocalypse i’m sure that multiple zombie attacks will be posted there. watch all the videos carefully and look for common themes and weaknesses among the zombies. how is the infection transferred? is it viral? blood to blood contact? bite? etc. you should also look for cues on how zombies hunt. can they see you or do they rely on sound? smell?
7. water should always be your main concern. you can survive days without food or shelter but you cannot go a 24 hour period without water. buy the little pellets that make water drinkable. stay near a reliable water source and check it often for corpses that may be infecting it.
8. the basic rule when building a zombie apocalypse plan is to think: will other people be doing the same thing? (as already stated more people = more zombies = death (i.e. don’t go to walmart)) if the answer is yes then don’t do the thing.
9. do not, for the love of all that is good and holy, hide in a place with few exits. your shelter should have plenty of ways to escape in the event of a zombie attack.
10. don’t be shy with your weapons. if you think it’s a zombie, it’s a zombie.

Assignment 10: BOO

ZOMBIES HAVE ATTACKED. Detail your survival plan.

OR

Explain what scares you the most and why.

OR

Describe a moment in which you were fraught with peril. Tell it as a ghost story.

OR

In the vein of David Sedaris write an observational humorist piece related to your daily life: school, home, social, etc.  (don't be mean)

Happy Halloween!

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

Assignment #9: Liz Graves

I would love to be able to confidently say there is never a time for war. I would love to tell you that peace talks will always work in the end.  The fact is,  these things are just not true. There are times when war is necessary. There are times when peace talks are futile.

Countries are sometimes forced to show their strength to avoid future conflicts. The War of 1812, although not really a win or lose for the United States, proved the small, fledging country had earned respect. It was not a failed project or hopeless experiment, but a force to be reckoned with. Had the U.S. not gone to war, the British would have continued the impressment of American sailors and the disruption of trade. In cases such as these, war is the lesser of two evils. It was better for the U.S. government to prove the seriousness of their resolve for independence than to abstain and tolerate their British bullies. 

War is always plagued with moral dilemmas, though. Innocents will always get caught in the crossfire. When the U.S. military dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, millions of people were killed, and many are still suffering the affects of exposure to radiation. But was it necessary? Was the Japanese’s bombing of Pearl Harbor any less monstrous? Had the U.S. not gotten involved, would WWII have lasted many years longer? War is always used as the cruel means to justify a fortuitous end.  

Do countries have a responsibility to go to war? It depends on who you ask. The hard-willed revolutionaries, with passion sparkling in their eyes, will tell you yes. Citizens, they will say, have a duty to defend their God-given right to freedom, to stand up against an oppressive government, to create a brighter future for their children. The grief stricken families, the often overlooked casualties of war, will probably tell you no. War, they will say, creates no winners, only sorrow. 

As I write this, I realize it is easy for me to casually discuss war and weigh the pros and cons as if it were only hypothetical. I can blow steam all I want about how “war is hell,” but it’s necessary to preserve “liberty and justice for all.” Truth be told, I cannot begin to understand what it’s like to be in the throws of combat or the emotional turmoil of not knowing if the last time I saw my loved one is the last time I will ever see them. Until I have experienced one or both of those things, I cannot tell you with conviction whether or not war is worth it. 

Assignment 9- Will Shapiro

While war can be very unfortunate for those involved, I think that for the most part, it is a necessary evil. Now, to clarify, I think that only certain types of war are worth fighting. Wars that are over new territory are lame. Its just unnecessary lives lost when the same goal could be gained using money. Unfortunately, the bullies of the world don't see it that way. Other wars, like the on on ISIS I feel are completely necessary. When a group such as ISIS is going around and killing many and capturing land in Iraq and Syria. War against those turds is needed to stop them from doing more damage to others. Is it morally right? Nah. It would be much nicer if we could all just sit down at a table and have a conversation ending in "oh I didn't know we were being so mean, we will stop now. Sorry". Unfortunately, that kind of stuff doesn't happen, and some people only listen to force. Ultimately, war is a necessary evil, but sometimes it is the lesser of two evils.

Assignment #9 - Daniel Kolpek

The consequences of war bloodstain the history of humankind. Millions of lives taken, millions of families heartbroken, millions of people beaten, and for what purpose? Most of the time war seems pointless and unnecessary. Though it may not seem like war is needed, there are some cases where it is vital. For example, ISIS and radical terrorist groups. What they do is not justifiable in any way. They are killing civilians over the very things we have protected under our government. When innocent lives are being taken and people are being oppressed by a radical group, something needs to be done. Sometimes blood needs to be shed to protect the helpless. In no way does this make it morally right, but it is more immoral and selfish to just stand by and watch from our safety while others are being slaughtered by irrational people over their beliefs. No country is ever obligated to go to war and most of the time can avoid it through compromise or other methods. But when one side refuses to negotiate, they leave no choice.

Assignment #7 Rick Marino

While browsing for influential events between September 12 and October 11, I came across paramount battles, life-changing inventions, and the births and deaths of great men and women. I would love to say that such events fascinate me and drive me to make sense of my entire existence. But, they don't. Frankly, I could care less about presidential proclamations and the Nazi campaign. I did, however, strike gold. I discovered a gem amongst a mountain of dull, lifeless B.S. - Did you know that on October 11, 1987, a team of "scientists" in Scotland completed a full survey of Loch Ness in attempt to prove the existence of the Loch Ness monster? Equipped with the best technology at the time, the team sought to settle the debate sparked by a controversial photo of the monster in the 1930s. Upon firsthand examination, the picture resembles the slobber of a baby smeared onto a pointless picture in a somewhat geometric fashion.

Despite the pure amusement that this brought me, I am perplexed as to why this is considered a "historic event." More so, why do a handful of individuals persist on creating an idiotic state of mankind? Ancient aliens built the pyramids of Egypt, Sasquatch roams the Canadian wilderness, you name it. I in terms of good and bad, this event is more laughable than anything. I guess conspiracy theories are just in human nature.

This event had absolutely no effect on my existence. Ask a pretentious philosopher and they might think differently, but its difficult for me to buy into those ideas. But, who knows, the Loch Ness monster might emerge from the murky depths of Loch Ness thirty years from now like an erupting volcano, awaking from a thousand year dormant slumber. She might exact revenge and gulp down all those who doubted her(I was always under the impression that is was a female, after all its nickname is Nessie), including me. The theorists might be right. Nessie could be shifting between dimensions, to the point where humans can't perceive her true form. We might be all a apart of an elaborate novel, with the monster representing our Achilles Heel for curiosity. This event might later be considered as the most significant event in history by humans living in the NE(Nessie Era). I mean, who knows? Nobody. That's who.

*raises white flag*- Henry Walther

War is natural. We see something we want so we take it. But just because something is natural does that mean its justifiable? Succumbing to our innate impulses is progress. Remaining in a state of comfortability promotes complacency and suppresses progress.
War represents the worst humanity has to offer.
Greed.
Selfishness.
Brutality.
Most war supporters (read: mongers) justify despicableness through hackneyed (wow vocab word go Henry) consequentialist bullshit (excuse my french(wait Napoleon was French never mind(*raises white flag*))) but what they neglect to allow to pierce their thick skull is that anytime war is fought, morals are compromised.
The "good" side in war is supposedly fighting for superior values and morals than the "bad" side.

Take the war on terror.

There's no doubt in my mind American morals are superior to terrorist morals. We've established the end is a worthwhile goal. Now let's look at the means. Water boarding, drone strikes killing thousands of civilians and setting back infrastructure 20 years, discriminate policies in America. What are we fighting for? American values. But how? Through the same morals that make us condemn terrorists. War degrades justifiable morals. The means of war are inherently despicable so the only way the ends are justifiable is if the end goal is despicable morals.

9) Alec Dupont

War...war never changes

After thousands of years of fighting and power grabs, one would think that humans would have run out of things to fight about. But no. over the last ten years geopolitical tension has risen massively, USA-Russian relations are the world in decades, and we are entrenched in a never-ending quagmire of "conflict" in the middle east. As always, war is displacing millions, causing migrant crisis all over Europe. Is it worth it?

No.

War always leaves many lives far worse than improved. With infrastructure and homes destroyed, the stage of war is often left completely destroyed. And in recent times, war has grown increasingly useless.

look at the last ten years, when we invaded Iraq and Afghanistan, we claimed they had weapons of mass destruction. After we found out that that wasn't true, we said that it was to plant the "seed" of democracy in the middle east. But nothing grows on land that has been salted as the romans did to Carthage. whats let in the areas we razed is the Islamic State, a radical Islamic group fed with the hate of America. Yet we created, they are our unintentional creation. War never brings what you expect. World war one led to world war two, world war two led to the cold war. The only time war is appropriate is when it is an absolute last resort, for you while you may achieve what you set out for, you will most certainly bring unintended consequences.

there is hope to be found on october 11th: rachael gilbert

on october 11^th of 1987 hundreds of members of the LGBTQ+ community lead a march on washington that lasted six days. the march was structured to protest the recent supreme court decision bowers v. hardwick which upheld criminalization of all homosexual activity, even if done in the privacy of the home. the march also aimed to end the prejudice against AIDS as well as to rally support for better AIDS research and education.

            to celebrate this important step in recognition of the LGBTQ+ community, robert eichberg and jean o'leary founded national coming out day (hereafter referred to as ncoa) in 1988. the holiday was aimed to raise awareness for the community and to provide a resource for people still in the closet.

            in 2015, history was made again as the united states supreme court issued their decision on marriage equality in early july. this year’s national coming out day was the first in which members of the community in all fifty states could be legally married and set the record in some states for most marriages approved of in a day.

            the struggle for equal rights in the LGBTQ+ community is still not over, prejudice still exists all across the world and the fight to be recognized as equal and valid is still a developing one. this year, several campaigns were launched in order to create gender neutral bathrooms in public places in order to battle transphobia and dysphoria across the country* and some strides were made in cities such as new york and los angeles.

            the events on this date are important to me personally, but moreover I find it astounding that so much progress has been made in the past thirty years. This feeling however; is also a double edged sword. reading and researching events that occurred when my parents were in their twenties that were so horrifying and seemingly inhumane is a terrible thing to do. it makes me thankful that I exist in a year like 2015, and even more hopeful for what the future brings us.

*in the past ten years the number of crimes committed against trans* people have risen dramatically (2 in 3 trans* people will experience a violent hate crime in their lifetime).

dysphoria is defined as a state of general unease or dissatisfaction with a certain aspect of life. in public spaces dysphoria can be felt by trans* people as they feel pressured to use the restroom of the gender they were assigned at birth, rather than the one they truly are. 

a pessimist's view on war and alexander the great: rachael gilbert

war is something that is spoken about but is rarely discussed. sure, we learn about the war of 1812 in history class and you hear war stories that have changed with time and age from your grandfather every christmas, but rarely do you hear someone debate over the necessity of war.

we fight over stupid things. objects or people or words written down thousands of years ago. and in most instances i cannot find reason in this violence. why do groups fight over religious texts that, though different, both command their followers to be loving and forgiving? is the loss of thousands of lives worth a few miles of desert? in these instances, war seems unnecessary. but we live in an imperfect world. one in which evil and hate and prejudice exist. and in that world, war is a given variable. it happens. groups do terrible things in the name of their country or their god or their leader and then we feel called to commit even more heinous crimes in the name of justice.

i find it exhausting to theorize on the possibility of world peace. it seems to me an unattainable dream, something we hope for but can never quite reach. perhaps reality and a naturally pessimistic personality has jaded me towards this idea. but to me the possibility of world peace is not yet attainable. i tend to view war as a symptom to something greater. people don’t just wake up one morning, eat breakfast and say:

“hey, that bagel and cream cheese was really awesome. maybe i’ll have some coffee later and then conquer all of the known world.”*

we go to war over a multitude of things: hate, prejudice, lack of fundamental resources, fear, etc.

and it is those problems that need solved before we can hope for world peace. talking about some "bright new age" in which war no longer exists is fun to fantasize about but it will never happen until we repair the fundamental fractures found in our society.

*unless you are quite literally alexander the great

Assignment #9- Noah Tapp

Although war often results in death of people, there are times when it is needed. As people we should strive not to engage in war with each other and find more civilized and peaceful ways to interact. But when one country puts the the whole world in danger with weapons of mass destruction, it is just for people to collaborate and combat that country. In present day, Iran has been know to experiment and test nuclear weapons. The United States has not engaged in a war but a controversial political deal has been enacted by President Obama. The Iran deal prohibits Iran from making a nuclear weapon for 10 years. The deal if abided by on both sides would be a peaceful and civilized way to ensure that weapons of mass destruction do not affect civilian and innocent lives. But we can not know if Iran will cheat on the deal or not. To inspect America would have to have clear evidence that they are disregarding the restrictions. If Iran does not play fair It would be just to go to war with them to protect the people of our country and others. It is all the countries responsibilities to keep people int he world safe but war should be the last option.

Assignment #1 Rick Marino

Hoowwwdddyyy ho! Yes I know, this a very late entry. Very late. Currently I have no blog posts done. I checked my grades the other day on infinite campus and stumbled upon 8 zeros, and I thought to myself, "Oh yea....I should probably do those." Anyways, back to the assignment. My is name Frederick Marino, however, everybody knows me by Rick. I would also accept slick rick, if that floats your boat. It goes without saying that I'm junior in the academy at Henry Clay high school. One of my primary goals for this year is to curb my procrastination and forgetfulness regarding school assignment, as you can see I have a problem with.

I kinda smirk at the request to share what "geeks" me. In my circle of friends, we us "geek" as a slang term meaning to make someone laugh. For example, "SpongeBob geeked me as a kid," or "Louis C.K., the comedian, gives me the geeks," or "David Letterman geeks no one." But, in the conventional definition, sports geek me. Particularly basketball. I have an inexplicable passion for the game. I die for ankle-breaking crossovers, ferocious dunks, and splashing three pointers. I watch players like Steph Curry and James Harden in dumbfounded, delighted awe.

Paragraph form is boring me at this point. And because of the informality of this writing, I will finish this post with a compilation of lists:

Favorite Movies (Im a huge movie addict)
Godfather 1 and 2 ( I am part Sicilian, trust me, one is better)
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Taxi Driver
Any Wes Anderson Film
Any Tarintino Film
Star Wars
Napoleon Dynamite

Top Fears
1. Grizzly Bears
2. Shaved Grizzly Bears
3. Possums
4. Heights
5. Steve Buscemi( The Eyes!!)


Favorite Cartoons of All-Time(I have always been captivated by animated shows and I still watch them now)
South Park
SpongeBob
Regular Show
Courage the Cowardly Dog
Tom and Jerry

Favorite 90s Hip-Hop Artists
A Tribe Called Quest
De la Soul
Nas
NWA
Outkast
Wu-Tang Clan

 I have a spunky and eccentric flavor of humor. I often find myself comparing people to nonhuman entities to amuse myself. For example, I would liken J.K. Simmons to an expired raison or Johnny Travolta to a bird of prey.

 My favorite website is You Tube, where is spend many wasted hours. This video displays my odd sense of humor- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbepN4dKLbU

Assignment 9-Cameron Combs

When it comes to initiating war, there is no circumstances under which it should be acceptable. With the excessive amounts of injuries and deaths that result from these, there are never any winners. Any conflict can eventually be resolved through nonviolent interactions, but many people resort to violence as a first option. There are at times no means of avoiding going to war though. At any point when one group is unwilling to compromise, the other group must assert authority over them and war is at many time the next option. Though it is at times unavoidable, avoiding going to war should be first priority for everyone. It is not at all worth trying to prove a point by putting the safety of all of your troops on the line. It is always a much better option to communicate your way to a peaceful resolution as opposed to trying to fight for a victory.

War Hye Jee Kim

War is a difficult topic to discuss. I've never experienced it first hand. The closest I've ever gotten is watching Saving Private Ryan. And although I do sob a little bit at the "earn this" part of the movie, it's no where near approached the physical and emotional trauma of actual combat. So I'm certainly not an expert on this topic. All that I'm going to say is based on my limited knowledge about war and philosophy.

When I was at camp this summer, one of my seminars was on the ethics of war. We talked about Just War Theory, which is made up of jus ad bellum (when is it just to go to war) and jus in bello (what actions are just during war). That seminar is the first time I really thought about war, and the difference between morally just and morally right.

I think there is a time for war. As violent as it is, sometimes it's necessary. If there's an invasion, or a imminent proven threat to the citizens of a nation, a country, in my opinion, is morally justified to start a war as a last resort. If a country does go to war, there should be no other alternatives. War should only happen when all other reasonable efforts have been tried, and have failed. All diplomatic and economic measures should be taken in order to prevent war. Economic sanctions, treaties, the works. If they all don't work, war is morally justified because it is the lesser of two evils. War will never morally right. It will always be evil. But if it's the evil that will cause the least amount of damage to innocent lives, it can be justifiable.

Going to war for humanitarian intervention is hotly debated. On one side, as the world's only superpower, the United States has a responsibility to act as a policing force and intervene where human rights are being violated. On the other side, why should we send American citizens overseas to fight a threat that doesn't directly affect them? To be honest, I see both sides, and I don't know which one I agree with. I think I might agree with the first side, but that may just be because I've seen Hotel Rwanda. War is complicated and messy, and it often thrusts people into a position where they might need to weigh the importance of lives against each other. Is killing this man who orchestrated an attack that killed 50 people just if his elderly grandmother and 5 innocent children will die too? Is it okay to save an American soldier, if it means you have to kill 30 innocent foreign civilians? These decisions are some that I can't make, especially not with my limited knowledge and non-existent experience. Sorry.

Assignment 9 - Emily Sandford

War to me is an unnecessary evil brought into the world because of the ideas of honor and pride. Historically war was seen as an honor to defend your country, and rulers went into war for prideful reasons. There is no honor in killing people because they have different values, there is no pride in killing those whom hurt it. War asserts power, and causes devastation. War shows weakness in the countries that immediately jump into it, and don’t think of sparing a life. War rips apart families, it destroys happiness, and it messes with your mind.

War is a large part of pop culture. Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Divergent, Percy Jackson, Lord of Rings, and Star Wars (war is literally in the name). Many of these wars were caused by revolution, and had no other way except the rage of war. But in real life, there are other ways to advance the plot. We are diplomats, empathic, and smart. We know what war costs and we should be hesitant to start it. War is ONLY acceptable if there is NO other option, if ALL the backups have been exhausted, if YOU are truly ready to carry the burden war places on those involved,

if you are ready to take a life.

Assignment 8 Brian Sato

Fears: Losing my loved ones, crashing my car
Annoyances: Loud chewing, bad drivers
Accomplishments: Haven't stopped playing soccer
Confusions:  The meaning of life
Sorrows: Grounded/not being able to hang out with friends
Dreams: Travel around the world, meet David Beckham
Idiosyncrasies: Camping and fishing
Risks: Speeding
Beloved Possessions: My dog
Problems: Procrastination 

Drivers in Lexington are absolute garbage plain and simple. Whenever I'm driving, I always feel like I'm going to collide with a car since drivers are Lexington are notorious for being bad even without bad road conditions. There are so many idiots that cut into lanes when turning or merge when cars are packed in the lanes. Whenever I look out my window, a majority of the people are on their phones and aren't paying attention to the cars which makes me very anxious when I'm driving next to them. i enjoy driving but it makes me very nervous whenever I am driving in Lexington because you never know what's going to happen.

Week 8 - Emily Sandford

Fears- Being alone, cats, and rear view mirrors

Annoyances- Being rude, not cleaning up after yourself, not using the oxford comma, and not saying thank you when someone holds the door for you.

Accomplishments- When I don’t run into things, and getting my contacts in.

Confusions- YouTube commenters, my dog (she’s a strange one).

Sorrows- Not getting into 4-H earlier, being awkward, and being shy.

Dreams- Disney, Imagineering, Keeping up with my dog during agility.

Idiosyncrasies- Disnerd, referencing everything, being perceptive

Risks- not planning out a routine for Heel-to-Music or Freestyle, and procrastinating (lots of procrastinating).

Beloved Possessions,

Now- Disney Vera, Disney Bows, and anything someone’s given me.

Then- Blueberry, and Green Blankie

Problems- Spiders, communicating efficiently to people I don’t know, remembering the random details, and wanting to read all the books but not having time for reasons like school and life.

Risks

               I participate in the Fayette 4-H County Dog Club, and at the 4-H dog show at the State Fair there are these two competitions known as Freestyle-to-Music, and Heel-to-Music. Which is a fancy way of saying doggy dancing with lots of tricks. Fayette County takes this very seriously, everything is meticulously planned and executed, expect for my routines.

This was my first year doing them, and I’m a procrastinator, so naturally I waited until last minute. The week before rolled around, and I finally chose my music The London Pops Symphony’s version of “The Raiders of The Lost Ark” for H-t-M and “Fireworks” from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for Freestyle. I had not routine planned and I didn’t know what my dog was capable of doing on dirt and cow poo covered ground. So I winged it. A huge risk considering this was the last time these two competitions would be held at state, and if I failed there would be no coming back from it.

State came, I went out there did both my choreographed routines, and didn’t fail. I got first for Freestyle and second for Heel-to-Music, both with a score of 98 out of 100. This shows that risks can be rewarded, and feed my serious problem of procrastinating. 

TV (assignment 5) Hannah Freibert

First off, I need to establish an operational definition for "television". Because god knows there are a million different streaming styles, so I'm going to go ahead and expand this over the entire entity that is television- Cable, Direct TV, Netflix, Hulu... the whole shabang. 

What role does television play in our lives? To begin, information. Don't get me wrong, sifting is required. Sifting through the Keeping Up with the Kardiashians of television. Sifting through the Toddlers and Tiaras. Sifting through the Top Ten Spring Break Destination Countdowns. Even so, its there. It. The information. One cannot argue that tv serves no purpose other than to erode our brains and drop our IQ's.

Assignment 8 Hannah Freibert

Fear- the dark, drowning, kidnapping

Annoyances- coughing in hands (as opposed to in arm), exaggerated sport injuries, slow walking

Accomplishments- survived into year 3 of high school with a 4.0, 20+ alive and happy succulents

Confusions- physics

Sorrows- lack of sleep, regret 

Dreams- success through college and beyond, surrounded by dogs in future

Idiosyncrasies- 

Risks- eating older brother's leftovers when explicitly told not to (very dangerous, but they can't expect me to starve)

Beloved Possessions- childhood dogs (then)

Problems- self control, procrastination

A girl I babysit frequently is terrified of the 10 foot unlighted path between her location on the bed and the bathroom. The extreme fear of the dark that plagues so many tots seems irrational to us now, but no one can say that they are completely and entirely comfortable with the dark, or if you can, I think you're lying. In my opinion, people aren't afraid of the dark, but rather what is in it. The majority of crimes take place during daylight, so what is it about the dark that is so daunting? To put it simply, we can't see. We cannot rely on our vision to know for sure what is rattling 30 ft out from us, even if its only the wind. It's just the uncertainty of what could be there. The same goes for the ocean. If the water was crystal clear, very few would still sheepishly wade in knee deep water.

Assignment 9 Tommy Gardner

Is there a time for war?

If there is a time, is it morally right and just or is is it the lesser of two evils?

If there isn't a time, why not?

Are there certain times when countries have a responsibility to go to war?

 Are there any alternatives? Could they be more effective or less effective?

 

 

There is a time for war, but only if it is completely necessary. We should only go to war if we are attacked first, or if a country is in need of assistance to beat another country. When we do go to war it sometimes is morally right, and other times it is just the lesser of two evils. For example: World War 2 was morally right when we declared war on Germany because of what they were doing to the Jews. To a lesser extent, the declaration of war on Japan was morally right, as Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor without any provocation from the USA. There are times when it is a countries responsibility to go to war. The previous example of the Japanese attacking Pearl Harbor works here as well. The Japanese had killed thousands of American sailors, sunk 15+ ships, and wounded thousands of people. This attack would not have allowed for the USA to simply go on as if nothing happened. This attack required the USA to go to war. As for alternatives, some people might say to just push the big red button, and get on with it. But that won't work these days, because in modern war the enemy is no longer a specific country. Most of the time our enemy is a faction or group of people. Diplomacy doesn't always work because of political divides in countries. Alternatives rarely work, and are rarely more effective.

A necessary evil- Rachel Roberts

I believe that war is one of those necessary evils that has to happen in order for the world to work. Like taxes or traffic, there is no other option sometimes.

Now I don't think we should go around trying to start wars or getting involved in conflicts that we don't have a place in. War should be used as a defensive measure. Like if we were attacked (example: 9/11 and Pearl Harbor), it is then imperative to go to war. If we don't, it makes us look cowardly, like a dog rolling over to show its belly in submission. This just opens the door to more horrific attacks since the enemy knows they can get away with it, leading to more innocent civilian deaths.

Some conflicts can't be solved with just words. Force is necessary when dealing with vicious people who wish to kill a whole nation. We can't always just hold hands, drink tea, and sing Kumbaya with people who want us dead. Its just not possible. The world just doesn't work like that. Sorry. Actions speak louder than words, and this case words aren't loud enough. Many nations go back on diplomatic measures or violate treaty terms, so why try and put something in place that isn't going to work. But then again, in some situations, with more agreeable nations, diplomatic measures will work and in that case war isn't necessary.

Clara McKinley 10

Ask a person what scares them most and you most likely get a mix of answers with "death" "failure" and "dying alone" being overly popular. Although all of those are things I fear, my biggest fear is breaking my phone in anyway. Stupid fear? Very much so. Relevant fear? Even more so. My phone is everything-connection to friends, connection to family, connection to the people who pay me to babysit, distraction when I'm worried or bored, directions to anywhere I go-everything. So when it breaks, along breaks my entire life. I have been through, with much embarrassment, 11 phones, and am very thankful for phone insurance, because even with a gun to their heads, my parents would never dare to buy me that many phones.
I have an issue with dropping things, and trust me, I wish I could tell you why. Walking down the hall somehow my phone just flies out of my hand or even better I manage to drop it while opening the door to my car and with that 3 iPhones have ended up shattered in the trash and I have been left searching for when my next update is and attempting to find a friend with an old one.  And in the process of the search, there I am, missing communication and directions and jobs. So although death and what not are scary thoughts-in the current time period without a working phone I would feel dead.

on mayonnaise and terrible people: rachael gilbert

fears: the dark, death, ants

annoyances: slow walking people, mayonnaise, ketchup, small dogs

accomplishments: all 5s on my ap exams, running a half marathon

confusions: math, people who take advantage of other’s kindness

sorrows: relationship with my sister, grade on last biology test

dreams: writing for a living, learning to swim, moving to a city

idiosyncrasies: (slight) harry potter obsession, dislike of capitalization, active conspiracy theory analyst

risks: crossing the road without looking (i’m so badass), scuba diving license (want)

beloved possessions (then and now): beanie babies (then…i’m so sorry. i’m actually a 85 year old grandmother), copy of the little prince and dog (lupin (now))

problems: lying, basic human interaction

 

i hate a lot of things (including that word). slow walking people, people who try to check out with more than ten items in the express lane (you are the spawn of lucifer himself), small dogs, toothpastes that aren’t mint flavored, all of the condiments except mustard. i also feel like i rant about them quite a lot, but #YOLO (the term “yolo” is also horrifying) i’m going to rant some more.

mayonnaise?

die.

you are literally the sweaty nasty lovechild of butter and sour cream and everyone hates you. you’re weird and uncomfortable and you smell funny. also, you don’t go with anything. what do you make better with your presence? has anyone ever been like;

“hey. this sandwich totally needs to be even more disgusting. let’s add some literal swamp poison on top.”

no they haven’t. only canadians and brits like you. the canadians are too nice to say that they hate you and the brits have no taste (reference beans on toast).

moving on.

people who try to check out with more than ten items in the express lane:

did something happen to you when you were small? were you dropped on your head as a child? is that why you want to watch the world burn? hmmm? because all i want to do is buy some fruit snacks and some chocolate milk. and you just have to come in here with the entire store strapped to your cart like you are the mayor of the universe. get out. 

Spiders and Circles Hye Jee Kim

Fears: spiders (super unique I know), clusters of circles

Annoyances: people who stop in the middle of the hallway, any high pitched noise, people who ask the same question more than 2 times, whoever sits at our table in second lunch have you ever heard of not eating like a drunk orangoutang how are you so messy I don't understand, people who brag about stupid things

Accomplishments: very few in number, getting into GSA, 4.0 GPA, getting a 5 on the comparative test without knowing what austerity is (I know now), wining APUSH jeopardy

Confusions:  why does life even happen, why is John Green so popular, Texas, Jim Webb, the trolley problem

Sorrows: what even am I doing with my life, netflix doesn't work on school wifi, I'm already almost out of data, CKYO

Dreams: go to college on the East Coast, travel a lot, learn Arabic, actually make some sort of difference in the world, see Ramin Karimloo play Phantom, meet Matt Damon, meet 90's Leo.

Idiosyncrasies: love of 90's and early 2000's rom coms, unbelievable knowledge about LOST (seriously ask me anything I know the answer) INK PENS, weekly existential crises

Risks: not going to MSTC and that's actually it. Jumping out of a plane (want)

Beloved Possessions: Then- Mr. Brown Heart, Wii, Copper Now- Each Little Bird That Sings, my dog butt hook, friends, parents (the last two aren't quite possessions but I belove them anyway)

Problems: life, root canal, buffering



Once upon a time, there was a young girl. She was sound asleep in the top bunk, when she felt someone shake her awake. "It's Saturday," she thought, "Why is someone trying to wake me up?" She opened her eyes and saw her older cousin Anna, who was at the ripe old age of 9. "Hey," Anna whispered, "Look up."

(side note: the young girl was in first grade, and had just finished the science unit where they learned about poisonous spiders, including  the Black Widow)

So the young girl looked up. And she saw THIS GIANT SPIDER DANGLING LIKE TWO INCHES AWAY FROM HER FACE AND IT WAS BLACK AND HAD THE RED HOURGLASS AND WAS LIKE THE SIZE OF A SMALL PLANET. And then she died.

The death part might have been just slightly exaggerated, but the rest of the story is 100% real and it happened to me when I was in first grade. After screaming and crying a lot a bit, my cousin dragged me to the couch. Her logic was that a spider couldn't climb the couch because the couch was "bumpy". Ever since then I've been deathly afraid of spiders.

My fear got worse two years later when a brown recluse bit one of my friends on the foot. He needed to get surgery, and a sizable chunk of his right foot was straight up removed. I was less okay with it than he was.

I think it's fair to say that I have a reasonable reason to be scared of spiders. My other fear is pretty irrational. I'm scared of clusters of circles.

But it's only some clusters of circles. Sometimes polka dots will freak me out (Liz has a dress in the 8th grade that I'm scared of), and other times they won't affect me at all. But things like egg sacs, honeycombs, and that one skittles commercial where the guy is covered in the little round candies make me really uncomfortable.

I have goosebumps just writing about them.

My friends, namely one smaller than average curly haired girl, likes to use this to my disadvantage. Every now and then they'll draw clusters of circles on either my stuff or me. If it's something that I can afford to immediately destroy, I will. If it's my hand, then I just suffer until I can scrub it off. It's all in good fun, but actually it's terrible.

If the Earth was filled with spiders that had clusters of circles on them, I would become an astronaut botanist, go to a mission on Mars, get hit by debris during a storm, and then just live up there farming in feces for the rest of my life. Sorry.

Post 7 Clara

On September 24th, 1957 President Dwight Eisenhower ordered the National Guard to enforce racial integration of schools in Little Rock, Arkansas. This was a very important event in history. Racial integration was a very controversial subject and as the government forced it into action, it showed they were determined to make it happened. In all means this was a good event. By forcing the schools to integrate, the government showed their stance on the issue. It is bad in the means the schools could not decide to integrate on their own, but their stance was overrun by the federal government. This was very influential on the Nation, the city of Little Rock, and our very existence. This movement showed the governments stance on no longer allowing segregation making our nation more inclusive of people. The city of little rock was greatly effected in the time as all of their schools became interracial. In the terms of our existence, we are able to live in a nation where race means very little in comparison to the past. It was this event and many more like it that lead to this. I greatly appreciate this event. By the government forcing the integration of schools they were stepping towards a country of no segregation. Although we still face issues defined to be racial discrimination, with the force of school integration helped to make it not as bad.

Man with(out) a plan- Henry Walther

Fears- Loneliness, heights, expectations  

Annoyances- Unevenness, using you're incorrectly, school

Accomplishments- Debate, friendships, knowledge

Confusions- Math, relationships, chicken or the egg

Sorrows- Loss, laziness

Dreams- Making an impact

Idiosyncrasies- Freestyle rapping when excited

Risks- Abusing my very high metabolism for too long, overestimating myself 

Beloved Possessions, Now and Then- Now- Globe from Haiti, Then- Pokemon card collection

Problems- Migraines, lying

I had a plan. Oh a glorious, well thought out plan. Rarely do I ever segment my time efficiently but tonight, tonight would be different. APUSH from 3 to 5, family dinner from 5 to 8:30, walking dead from 9 to 10, blog post from 10 to 10:30. Alas, October 18th, a day that shall live in infamy (no not because of the Japanese). The day on which a migraine struck my brain and incapacitated me for nearly 20 hours. No Rick Grimes, no (hopefully) witty blog post, just hours upon hours of unrelenting pain. Nothing grinds my gears more than hearing people say "oh no I have a migraine! let me put my head down." LIAR. Okay, so that may be a little harsh but it doesn't take away from it being true. No real migraine can be recovered from due to simply putting your head down. After taking enough medication to knock out a rhinoceros and sleeping for 15 hours I still feel like a needle has been thrust into my temple and a group of nefarious kids are jumping on the needle like a trampoline. I currently struggle to see the screen of my laptop because of the auras constantly darting around the edge of my vision. So now I have a late grade for my blog post and I don't even know what caused the noise that drew the walkers off the road. Eh, anyway here's a TED talk I watched over the weekend that is my new favorite, it's pretty cool
 https://www.ted.com/talks/david_eagleman_can_we_create_new_senses_for_humans?language=en   

Assignment 9: What is it good for?

Genocide in Sudan

North Korea testing nuclear weapons

Iran creating nuclear weapons
Egypt
Syria

Terrorism

Injustices and threats surround so many lives in this world. When injustices or threats progress to dangerous and harmful levels though, it seems logical for war to come into play as a way to combat the situation. . .or is it?  The conservative Christian group known as the Mennonites believes that war (violence) is never appropriate.

Is there a time for war?

If there is a time, is it morally right and just or is is it the lesser of two evils?

If there isn't a time, why not?

Are there certain times when countries have a responsibility to go to war?

Are there any alternatives? Could they be more effective or less effective?

Due Sunday, October 25th at 11:59 pm

Assignment 8- Meriwether Carling

Fears: not being good enough, losing someone I care about

Annoyances: people who blame their misfortunes on others, being ungrateful

Accomplishments: being of varsity soccer freshman year

Confusions: life.

Sorrows: drifting apart from one of my best friends since forever

Dreams: graduating veterinary school

Idiosyncrasies: moon walker

Risks: getting into a car with clara driving (sorry clara)

Possessions: my dogs (then and now)

Problems: Procrastination

The fear that everyone has, losing someone they care about. This thought crosses my mind way more than it should. Whenever someone leaves the house, they aren't guaranteed to come back to you safely. We all just hope they do. Freak accidents occur all the time. How do you know that you won't be involved in that "once in a lifetime" event. If not you, someone you know? Your mom? Your dad? Your friend? Fears like this can consume you and every thought that crosses your mind. The trick to living is to not let them. How can one do that though when nothing that happens is in their control? This idea of not having control over a situation terrifies me. I hate not being able to fix a problem or to not have some type of say in it.

Saying all of this, I know I have no control of losing someone I love, I just have to trust that they will be okay and nothing bad will happen to them. Wow, this got deep, soooo I'm just gonna end my spiel here. 

Will Shapiro Assignment 8

Fears: Spiders, being alone

Annoyances: my crap fantasy football team, my dog that pees on the floor while staring me in the eye even though I have told her no 1,000,000 times and even put a shock collar on her to stop this behavior. Acne.

Accomplishments: the academy, grades, and hiking Mt, Whitney.

Confusions: AP Physics.

Sorrows: MY AP Physics grade.

Dreams: Live in NY again, travel the world

Idiosyncrasies. computer builder, indie rock fan, hiker/rock climber.

Risks: leave KY for college (want) rafted the Selway (did).

Beloved Possessions, Now and Then: My computers/ friends (Now) Old friends (Then)

Problems: No job. No money because of prior issue. Don't do enough hiking/climbing.

Alllllllrighty then. I'm gonna go ahead and talk about my love for the outdoors. Even though it may span a couple topics (Accomplishments, Dreams, and Problems) we are just gonna have to deal with it. My love for the outdoors probably started when I went to a sleep away camp when I was around 10. It was just a month in New Hampshire with the strict rule of no electronics (except a camera). While that rule may have seemed harsh at first, and would probably make many people in my grade cringe at the thought of giving up their devices for a whole month, I took it as an opportunity to explore new things. It was  during this time that I discovered my love for the wilderness, specifically hiking and rock climbing. Because the camp lasted for a month, they allowed long trips off campus to nearby mountains or rock climbing sights. The one that stuck with me the most would have to be a week-long trip that I went on that involved long hikes up to the near tops of small mountains, and then climbing up the rest. Now as a ten year old I was probably pretty trash at climbing, but I loved it despite its difficulty. The instructors became sort of role models for me. They inspired me to go out on my own outside of camp and become invested in the outdoors. Even though I can no longer go to the camp due to timing issues between the end of camp and the start of school, My father and I like to take one trip a year to do something fun as well as getting out to the gorge whenever I can.  Over the last couple years I have hiked/climbed Mt. Whitney (tallest mountain in the contiguous United States), and rafted the Selway (50 miles of white water rafting in the middle of a national park). These trips are easily the highlight of every year and weigh more heavily in my mind than Christmas (which is also my birthday). In the years to come I only hope that I can continue to satiate my want for the wilderness as I choose where to go to college and eventually, what I end up wanting to do with my life.

NUMERO 8 mason saunders

Fears- hair in the bottom of the shower
Annoyances- people who chew loudly
Accomplishments- 7th Prestige on MW3
Confusions- females
Sorrows- being grounded
Dreams- graduate med school
Idiosyncrasies- fishing
Risks- speeding
Beloved possessions- my dog
Problems- my dog is getting old

My dream is to be a M.D. After high school I would like to go to attend a four year institution and major in a chemistry or biochemistry as well as minor in some type of premedical study. After completing this I hope to attend medical school and specialize in some sort of emergency medicine. I hope to be accepted into a military program that would finance my medical school and guarantee me a job straight out of medical school that promises excellent experience. Such a program would pay for med school in exchange for 3 or 4 years of service at a military hospital that either serves veterans or serves us soldiers and locals abroad in foreign nations experiencing conflict. This would provide me with a solid career and the ability to pay off any debts from college as well as put me far ahead of most other emergency/trauma doctors when I retire from the military and start working in a hospital/trauma center.

Assignment 8 Tommy Gardner

Fears: Losing control of a car on steep icy hill.

Annoyances: Bad drivers.

Accomplishments: Best driver in defensive driving class.

Confusions: Why do we continue to vote people into office that after their time in office have not done anything?

Sorrows: Pretty short.

Dreams: Work for a company that deals with demolition.

Idiosyncrasies: Quiet, until around friends. Not sure if that works,

Risks: Pilots license which pretty much have.

Beloved Possessions: This is nerdy, but my Lego Star Wars Republic Gunship which I got several years ago.

Problems: Organization

On the way home from Richmond yesterday, I saw an accident and two more almost happen. Two of them were because of bad driving, and the third was because one of the wheels came off the car. The first one was because a black Lexus cut off a pickup truck, when there was not really enough room for the Lexus to change lanes. We came up on the Lexus later and it had a scrape in the paint on the front bumper. The second near accident was with a semi truck that nearly side-swiped the same Lexus from earlier. The Lexus had been weaving in his lane, and the semi truck decided to move into the lane next to him. The truck was one of those that had two trailers attached. So the second trailer swung really close to the Lexus, who had to swerve to avoid it. In conclusion, a lot of drivers just plain suck.

8) Alec Dupont

Fears: exclusion, living an unfulfilled life, heights
Annoyances:tardiness, terrible drivers
Accomplishments: survived middle school, 4.0 gpa (till now)
Confusions: Violence in the world, crickets scoring system(seriously how does that work?)
Sorrows: Poverty, restaurants that don't sell breakfast past 10:30 AM
Dreams: College, working a job I like
Idiosyncrasies: I don't take gifts well
Risks: never taking any risks
Beloved possessions: guitar, phone
Problems: procrastination

Okay, this is going to be a rant about Lexington traffic. Are you ready?

I have to drive thirty minutes to and from school every day, and have been doing so for the last three years. I have especially noticed some of the problems since I started driving myself. There are areas that are consistently bogged down to near undrivability.

Lexington was set up to have New Circle road serve as the main route around the city, allowing for a quick way to get around town. Its a decent concept, if you have city designers who aren't complete bumbling idiots on the job. But apparently Lexington hired a bunch of monkeys to design new circle, and these monkeys decided that half of the road would have stop lights. And we're now left with a road that half of the time, flows fluidly through town; the other half bulges under the slightest rush of people. Half the stop lights on new circle are about as pointless as an ejection seat on a helicopter, leading to pointless side streets. The stoplights as well must have been programmed by a two toed sloth. tell me why half the time I spend waiting at intersections no one is crossing them. It just irritates the $@#% out of me.

Don't even get me started on the drivers themselves. Half the people in this town don't know how to use a turn signal. In my short six months of driving two people have nearly smashed into my car just because they weren't looking before turning. Not to mention that half the people in this city must be colorblind, because everyone runs red lights. This is just a result of the stop lights being so terribly programmed,

Well that ends my rant. tomorrow I'll return to the impossible streets of this town.

Assignment 8- Jessica Sunnenberg

Fears: Clowns, spiders, getting injured
Annoyances: constant clicking, ticking, tapping, mouth noises, sudden loud noises, really bright lights, stupid drivers, moist
Accomplishments: growing closer with my sister, staying healthy
Confusions: why people feel the need to put gluten in EVERYTHING
Sorrows: Broadstone
Dreams: travel the world, success, STATE, college volleyball scholarship
Idiosyncrasies: Sensitivity to light (I have to wear sunglasses outside at all times), I hate ketchup and socks, I won't use a bar of soap that somebody else has used, I peel bananas from the wrong end
Risks: eating Chick-fil-A before games (forbidden by HCVB), never wearing sunscreen
Beloved Possessions: Now- the boys, my car, anything from Broadstone, sunglasses collection, phone, my beloved headband Then- bunny blanket, carebear (a.k.a. herpes bear), many many webkinz, kitty cat sippy cup, snap circuit board
Problems: short attention span, inability to ride a bike without hurting myself, asking for help, waking up in the morning, over scheduling

Beloved Possessions Then

The infamous bunny blanket. You know that commercial where the child spills red stuff on her lamby and the parents have to occupy her with back up lamby to avoid a huge temper tamtrum while frantically working to get the red stuff out of the original lamby? Well that was me with my bunny. It was basically a bunny head with a mini pink silky blanket attached to it. My mom told me that I would sit in front of the washer until she got out and always worry that she was getting dizzy. I treasured this thing. It's still a touchy subject, but bunny got lost at the ripe old age of 4. I replaced bunny with my purple carebear which my parents ever so kindly nicknamed herpes bear. This was followed by my webkinz stage in which I insisted on getting almost every single one, big and small, for about 3 years.

Enough about stuffed animals. Let's get on to the real MVP of my childhood: THE kitty cat sippy cup. Unfortunately, for my mom, it also happened to be my sister's most beloved possession. When I say we fought over this thing, I mean war. It was a battle to determine who got to use it each day. Constant fighting and bickering. I threw a telephone book at her once to delay her just long enough to get to the cup first. And God forbid if my mother forgot to wash it. So what became of the kitty cat sippy cup? Well, my sister ended up breaking it and I still hold that against her to this day.

Assignment #8 - Daniel Kolpek

Fears: failure, being alone, the unknown
Annoyances: the sound when someone scratches a chalkboard
Accomplishments: 4.0 GPA, hiking ~120 miles in ten days
Confusions: the magnitude of our universe
Sorrows: shy, not expressing my opinion most of the time, holding grudges
Dream: accomplishing greater things in my life, going to Italy
Idiosyncrasies: loyalty, keeping my head in bad situations, organization
Risks: jumping off a cliff into water, skydiving (want), swimming with sharks
Beloved Possessions, Now and Then: stuffed animals (then), family and friends (now)
Problems: procrastination, acting before thinking about it

Fears:

 All my life I have wondered about what I can do to make the world better. I've thought about different careers I could go into, things I could invent, diseases I could try to find a cure for. Just something that will leave a mark after I am gone from this world. I don't want my life to be a waste. Failure is something I can't stomach. Whenever I don't do well on something, I get upset. So when I think about my life and the thought of failing to fulfill the purpose for it, I am terrified. You only have one chance at life, and if you fall short its over. It's not like a test or quiz for a grade that barely matters in the bigger picture. If you fail, then there is no turning back and its over. Personally, this is probably one of my greatest fear, my life being in vain. I know this is really deep stuff but I figured I might as well write about it.

Assignmnet 8- Noah Tapp

Fears: Not worthy of living, having no friends, succeeding at nothing, not knowing what I want to do in life.
Annoyances: People trying to be someone that they are not.
Confusions: What choices I want to make and what values to abide by.
Dreams: weird things about the people I associate with (even random people).
Risks: Living in the Chevy Chase neighborhood where trees can randomly fall and destroy houses.
Possessions: my friends, family, and my loyalty to the best sports teams: all University of Kentucky Sports, Cincinnati Bengals, and  Cincinnati Reds.
Difficulties. Controlling time.

 A topic I would like to expand on is making choices. Making choices goes with my confusion and difficulties. Every decision we make from what do to do on Saturday night to what colleges we apply to affect us . With so many things to choose to do its often difficult for me to decide how to spend my time. It is not that I have a difficult knowing how to make make choices, but I have a difficult time knowing what to choose. I don't have a problem telling my friends I can't hangout  or waking myself up to play tennis at 6 AM. But I do have a problem with actually deciding what to do. There are so many things that I have to do and want to do. Its challenging balancing it all and I often find myself spending more time thinking about what I should do rather than actually doing.

Assignment #8: Liz Graves

Fears: heights, public embarrassment, spiders

Annoyances: pencil clicking/tapping/squeaking, chewing with your mouth open

Accomplishments: potty-training my dog, illegally streaming shows without getting computer viruses (knock on wood)

Confusions: AP Physics, driving stick-shift

Sorrows: envy, Graeter's Coffee ice-cream (they discontinued it...)

Dreams: Travel to at least 10 different countries, go to bed before 12 a.m. on a school night

Idiosyncrasies: bookstore junkie, love the smell of kids' plastic sandals 

Risks: watched Insidious Chapter 2 (didn't sleep the entire month of January), flip off the high-dive (maybe someday)

Beloved Possessions, Now and Then: Beauty and the Beast VCR Tape (then), baby-blue nail polish (now)

Problems: procrastination

I’ve grown up in the country, where if you get a little dirt in your mouth “it’s good protein.” I shouldn’t be afraid of spiders, and I wasn’t, until one fateful incident in the summer before 5th grade. 

I’m the first of four kids, so my mother feels a little more strongly about all of my child-hood firsts than my youngest sister’s. Consequently, she put off my first haircut a little too long. By the time I was in 4th grade, the single braid down the middle of my back, which had been my uniform for so many years, reached down to my hips. But what does this have to do with my fear of spiders? Well, as anyone with long hair knows, a singly loose strand of hair is not uncommon. Unfortunately, it feels exactly like a bug tickling the nerve endings on your skin. At the age of 9, I’d had my fair share of the hair-that-cried-wolf-stories, where I was positive one of the little beasts was crawling on my arm, shoulder, or leg, but upon further investigation it was only a rouge strand of hair. One hot summer day, however, I was playing in the grass outside and I felt the tell-tale tickle on my neck. It was my stupid hair again, I thought, quite literally pushing the thought aside. Still, the sensation wouldn’t go away, so I ventured a glance over my shoulder to see if a leaf or blade of grass had blown onto my back. Staring back at me were the eight jet-black legs and eyes of a gigantic Daddy-Long-Leg. I shrieked and swiped my hand across my shoulder, and watched the devil sail through the air. The image still haunts me. Even as I write this, I keep scratching my arms and shoulders. I actually have to step away from this. It still can’t talk about it. Moral of the story: spiders are horrible, god-forsaken, space-violating creatures birthed in the depths of hell.