Journal        By: Duckboy

   Mr. Hoodhood really only cares about his company. To him, all of the decisions that Holling and Heather make have to help Mr. Hoodhood's company in some way. So, if Heather went to college, it would mean that she wouldn't work at Hoodhood and Associates, which would mean that Mr. Hoodhood wouldn't have a secretary, which would mean that he would have to spend a little money from his overflowing bank account to get one. Not only that, but Heather wanted to go to a school that protests against the war, and "doesn't have any classes" (which it probably does, but I think Mr. Hoodhood was exaggerating when he said that), which Mr. Hoodhood disagrees with.

   I understand why Heather wants to go. She probably wants to get away from working at Hoodhood and Associates, but she probably also wants to help the protest against the war, as well as racism. I agree with her. I mean, why should she have to be a secretary for the rest of her life? Shouldn't she be allowed to be whatever she wants? And if she worked as a secretary at Hoodhood and Associates, it would mean her dad would be paying her, and he'd probably ask for all of the money back, anyway, and make up some excuse, like: "Hey, Heather, I need your salary back. You live in a family, right? So then you're going to have to help out more often, by giving some money!" If I were Mr. Hoodhood, I'd say to Heather: "You go ahead and be a hippie! I mean, they have a bad sense of style, but, hey, they're stopping the war!"

   Usually, it's the other way around for people today. People don't usually encourage their kids to NOT go to college; they usually try to get them to go to college. And, usually, they let their kids decide what they want to be when they get older. But, the setting of the book was in 1967-1968, so I'm guessing that those were pretty messed up times, with lots of pandemonium, due to the war and racism.

   Either way, Mr. Hoodhood always gets what he wants, and I believe that Heather will never get to college, unless there's an incident in which she runs away from home or something. 

                                                                 SUMMARY OF Macbeth    By: Duckboy
   A potion gets brewed by 3 witches, who are using the mixture to discover a prophecy. Macbeth, who had just defeated two armies with his comrade, Banquo, while working for King Duncan of Scotland, is approached by the witches, who alert him that he will first become Thane of Cawdor, and later become the King. The witches also tell Banquo that his son or daughter will also be king, and these two prophecies are believed when King Duncan sends men to tell Macbeth that he has been rewarded as Thane of Cawdor.
   Macbeth invites the King to his castle, and Macbeth's wife convinces him that he must murder the King in order to become King, so while King Duncan is asleep, Macbeth kills him, and kills the King's guards after putting the blame on them. Macbeth is crowned the King of Scotland. But, Macbeth wasn't done killing, because he remembered how Banquo's son or daughter would soon become King of Scotland, and he killed Banquo, though Banquo's son escaped. Soon after, Banquo appears as a ghost in front of Macbeth, driving him insane, and one of his guests, Macduff, sees the insanity as a reason to stop Macbeth from continuing as King.
   Macbeth goes to see the witches, who tell him that no one who is "born of woman" could kill Macbeth, that Macduff is a threat, and that "Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane Castle". Using the witches' warning of Macduff, he sends soldiers to kill Macduff's family and to take his castle. Macbeth's wife eventually kills herself from guilt of killing King Duncan, and Macbeth is driven even more insane, though he still feels out of reach of harm. But, Macduff brings an army to kill Macbeth, carrying Birnam Wood tree branches for protection. Macbeth and Macduff begin to fight, while Macduff explains that he was "untimely ripped" from his mother, so he wasn't actually "born of woman", and then he cuts Macbeth's head off.
   Malcolm, the son of King Duncan, becomes the new King of Scotland, and Banquo's escaped son Fleance becomes King after Malcolm- so all of the witches' prophecies are fulfilled.

 Homework is Not a Waste of Time       By: Duckboy

   A killer hyena shattered my window, glass shards flying everywhere as it busted into my house, its claws shining as they aimed straight at my face. I thought fast, holding my homework over my face, causing the hyena's claws to bounce harmlessly off my homework's indestructible surface. Well, maybe homework can't do THAT, but it has many great purposes aside from that, making it definitely not a waste of time.

   I had almost given up trying to remember, feeling my life float away, just how my memory of my previous school work had, when a miracle flashed through the sky and landed at my fingertips- homework. One of many great uses, homework should continue in existence due to the fact that it helps students to review the work that they had done previously in the day, so that the students cease to forget what they have learned. For example, if someone was trying to memorize a line from a book or something like that, the best way to do that would be to read over the line many times, until it is completely memorized. Quite similar to memorizing school work- it can be done once in class, but for maximum retrospection of the day's work, homework should be completed.

   Of course, all of you parents should gain from our homework, too- and, in fact, you can! For not only do us students think: BONUS! when we receive homework (which, believe it or not, we do, since we know we can't fail if we treat homework as a study sheet), all of you parents learn, too. Though not in the way you might expect- parents learn what we students are accomplishing at school; what our curriculum is, since it is a FACT that the curriculum changes every year, or perhaps ALMOST every year. Parents can also keep in mind how the work is being taught to us students through homework.

   Now that I have homework…I could be UNSTOPPABLE! I will LOSE ALL DEPENDENCE of teachers and classmates! I can RULE the GALAXY! That's… not exactly what homework can do for you, though it helps students to gain independence, losing dependence of other people, like teachers to help them out, and other students to explain to them what to do. So, why is that necessary? Well, when we grow up, we don't have a teacher or other guys to help us out- we have to find our own ways through our careers, like me; when I become a professional snowboarder, lacrosse, and hockey player, who's going to tell me what trick to perform, or when my next game is?

  

   It helps us students to review our work. It helps parents to discover what we kids are learning, as well as helping us to gain independence. Yeah, I think we can all agree on one thing- homework is not a waste of time. 

LENT                By: Duckboy

   As I see it, Lent is a time to ask for forgiveness, as we resist any evil temptations that we may receive- in fact, any temptations altogether. We give up the items that we consider "extremely useful", though they're not- we just think they're cool. The First Lent occurred when Jesus fled to the desert, where he stayed for 40 days and 40 nights praying and fasting. Though the devil approached him, trying to tempt him, He could still withstand the pressure, setting an example for us to also be able to resist all sinning that we may commit. We also must ask for forgiveness from the Lord God, for all the evil sins we have committed, so that we shall ascend into Heaven after we die. And, thanks to our Saviour, Jesus, we may be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven if we beg for forgiveness of our sins from the Lord. And now, in the season of Lent, we mortals must fast to show our abilities to survive without something we like. Also, we must GIVE to others who are in need- anyone who doesn't have all the necessities that we have. For Lent, I'm not exactly sure what to give up, but I might give up candy, or video games, or maybe just cut my time on video games… either way, I still won't be as good a person as Jesus, but it may help me to stop sinning throughout my life. As for the helping others part… I'm not sure what I can do to help people in need… though I can help the others around me, and if I see any poor people, I shall give them some of my own money; not much help, I guess, but I have no idea how else to help them. Not only that, but I shall also pray much more often, ask the Lord for forgiveness for my sins, and ask for help to be more united with Him, and to resist all evil temptations. After I have accomplished all these things and Lent comes to an end, I should become a better person- more connected to God. Yeah, that's what I believe Lent is about, though I'm not quite sure if I'm correct. 

Terrain Park All the Way     By: Duckboy

   Sparks flew as my Liquid snowboard scraped across the rail, screeching with the sound of composite against the rusty iron rail. My board was sliding, but only horizontal to the rail, so that both sides of it hung off the ends of the rails. It was a 50/50 rail boardslide. I maneuvered my board, just as I slid off the end of the rail, and smacked down on the snowy hill surface.

   "That… was… AWESOME!" I called out, and a lame little skier stared at me, his eyes bulging with obvious amazement.  

   Yeah, you probably have no clue what I'm talking about, so let me clear it up for you. Last Friday, when most of you people were at ILAME, I mean… ILITE, My family and I took a stupendous trip to Snow Valley- an amazingly huge ski/snowboard resort in Barrie. Though, I didn't spend any time checking out the rest of the resort- only a fragment of it, the Terrain Park. A Terrain Park is, ultimately, a park where you can perform tricks on. It contains regular ramps, as well as boxes (plastic 3-dimensional shapes, mainly rectangles, laid on the hill that tricks can be done on), and awesome rails, though mostly rails. Altogether, the Terrain Park isn't something to miss.

   My snowboard flew 5 feet into the air with a sudden jolt, and I looked down at the ramp that had just hoisted me up. I swung my board around, the back facing forward, and landed, with a large thud, onto the ground, snowy mist flooding the air. YES! AN 180˚! But that wasn't a great achievement- I had already done an 180˚ about a thousand times before. But on the trip I finally jibbed my first rail- quite an amazing boardslide, indeed. Yeah, I'm just naturally that awesome. What am I talking about? I guess you're wondering that, unless you're secretly some professional boarder. Okay, well, jibs are anything that is meant for doing tricks on, made of anything other than snow. An 180˚ is a trick in which you twist your board 180˚ around in mid air. With that in mind, it doesn't take a genius to discover what a 360˚ is. Anyway, the snow was amazing, and when you're a pro like me, it's not difficult to learn some new tricks. And I did. From 50/50s to 180˚s, my time at the Terrain Park was like two days in heaven.

   A surge of blinding light spewed from the most fantastic item in the world as I approached it- the Burton Blunt Restricted. Regularly, I hate shopping- in fact, I completely despise it. But when I enter a store containing snowboards, well, that changes things. When I was in Barrie, I dropped by Gates and Boards, an extreme snowboarding warehouse. It was packed chock-full of anything and everything snowboard-based, from goggles to hand warmers. It was two-story, and the second story was all snowboards and bindings (straps that secure the foot into the snowboard), so you can easily imagine that I spent all of my time on the second story. But I spotted an amazing artifact that I will never in my life forget: the Burton Blunt Restricted. This snowboard is the most awesome snowboard ever (well, to me, anyway), and it's definitely worth writing an entire paragraph based on it. On the front, it showed a cacophony of different images (though in a good way), like a superhero with blood dripping from his mouth, a psycho drummer, and a variety of different monsters, while the back showed an epic Burton logo wit ha jaguar around it. Yeah, you can imagine it was pretty nice, and I'm going to get that snowboard if it kills me!

   The trip was amazing- an experience I will… keep experiencing throughout my life, since I snowboard pretty much every weekend, though it was still a blizzard of awesomeness- literally. 

The Cameras Just Love Me

  The elevator lurched, and began ascending to the penthouse of the humongous building- five thousand, six thousand, seven thousand feet. I stared through the large window, looking down at the stone floor that lay so far below me, confirming my terrified thoughts that sent me tumbling out that window would result in a sudden, painful death. The elevator screeched to a halt, and the doors swung open. I sprinted down a seemingly endless hall and found myself in a large room where the TV show Zoink'd was soon to be filmed. The judges' stands gleamed in the bright spotlights, where the judges would give the many contestants points, and send them home with $1,000, or a rash from being splashed with goop. The stage where the contestants were to try to impress the judges with their many talents lay empty, and cameras were being set to focus on different people, but especially me. I sat down in the audience and waited for Zoink'd to begin.

   We all patiently awaited the terrors that would soon erupt from the large, bright green chute, aware that the effect that it would cause would be of sheer horror. And then it happened. A thick pool of blue goop exploded from the chute, smashing the unaware victim hovering below. "Heh, heh, sucker!" I said. By now, you're undoubtedly wondering what I'm talking about. Well, when our class went to Zoink'd, a show that is soon coming to YTV, the set was brilliantly planned, with a masterpiece right in the centre- a large green chute that spurted foam shapes, and, my favourite, goo. The set consisted of several fake pipes that emerged from the ground and blew confetti and foam pellets, on a colourful floor where the host and the contestants stood. Cameras lurked everywhere you could think possible, confirming that this layout was meant for a TV show. The judges' stand existed in front of the stage, consisting of four levers for the judges to pull which let the foam and goop break havoc onto the contestants. Bright spotlights lined the ceiling, practically blinding me when I looked up at them, and the set finished with a wall covered in lights behind the stage that brightly separated the stage from the dark rooms behind it. Altogether, the set was an amazing sight to see.

   The sight was terrible- the only word to describe it was "ugly". I quickly tore my eyes away from the dreadful scene, one that would scar me for life. Okay, well, maybe the contestants of Zoink'd weren't that terrible, but some couldn't be described as a sight for sore eyes. Take the "magician" for example- his unoriginal was to put a girl in a box, slip a blanket over the box, and make her "disappear". But not only was this extremely typical, but it was also quite annoying, for you could see the crease in the bottom of the box where the girl was to escape through, with a small compartment where she was to hide in. But one group really struck me as fantastic- A group of hillbillies dancing with jump ropes. Maybe that's not the greatest mixture, but the way they performed caused my jaw to drop to the colourful floor. It was just an entire minute of overalls, hillbilly music, and little jump ropes- lame to the judges, but epic to me. But above all, my favourite part of the contestants was when they got goo splashed onto them from the heavenly, green chute.

   The horrible creature crept stealthily towards me, its fangs gleaming and its claws tightly gripping a small weapon- on wait, that wasn't a weapon, it was a microphone! The host of Zoink'd was strutting in my direction to take his place on the stage where the cameras would soon film him. Like any other show, the host was an adult, though the JUDGES were one thing that separated the characteristics of this talent show from any other regular show. The judges, unlike any other, were kids. But they weren't what you could describe as "superstars". I'M a superstar. These kids seemed to be picked out of a hat for their job, or torn off the street and told to act cool. In other words, they were terrible actors. The host, on the other hand, was pretty cool. Aside from the fact that he was forced to re-do his lines over and over again, he was an amazing actor, with a naturally strong sense of humour. In fact, he was quite nearly as hilarious as me, and that's saying a ton. The judges were, understatedly, unfair. They triggered the goo on all of the amazing acts, claiming that they were too strange, although my understanding was that the acts were meant to be marvellously strange in the first place. In a nutshell, the judges were lame, but the host was epic.

   The spotlights dimmed, and the goo chute stopped inflicting blue substances onto the contestants. The show was coming to an abrupt end. We all sighed and stood up, completely aware that the fun was all over. All the dancing hillbillies, the annoying baby noises, and the bean squirting, it all ended there. But no one will ever forget my beautiful face when it appears on TV, as well as I believe none of us will forget the awesomeness that we experienced at Zoink'd.

 By: Duckboy

Matthew 7: 9-11

Summary

  The Lord God is giving and merciful, as we all know- more giving and merciful than anyone else. So imagine how caring He would be if even the evilest of people still have the slightest room in their darkness to care and give to others. For there are people in this world who do good and give well, though may not always deliberately, so those who ask evil people for favours and receive those favours, our God in Heaven, creator of this Earth, shall give twice as much, for he is the most caring and most willing to give to people who are willing to ask him.

What Jesus meant

   As Jesus spoke this parable, he meant by his words that our Lord God is very giving and loving.  He was describing how the evilest of people would show even the tiniest bit of love and sympathy, and give gifts that would be considered amazing to some people, maybe not intentionally but still good gifts, and how God would reward such gifts to anyone who asks him. But possibly in order to receive such marvelous gifts, one must follow the Lord's will. As well, He is telling us that the Lord is very caring of everyone- we mustn't doubt him, not even once. So Jesus' parable may really lead up to the meaning that God will reward all of us with blessings and gifts as we ask Him through prayer, but under the extremely fair condition that we should follow His  Ten Commandments.

Prayer

    Lord God, help us to be most grateful for all that you have given us, and to realize just how giving and merciful you are. Help us never to doubt you- to believe that you don't care. And help us, always, to stay away from all evil temptations that we will ever experience- and to care for all others, as you care for us.

    Amen.

By: Duckboy

ESSAY

 

Name: Duckboy

DATE: Monday November 28th, 2011

TEACHER: Ms. Babb

 
TEEN RANCH

   Beams of light streamed through the long branches in the deep forest, and my feet crunched as they hit the leaf infested ground. But the light crunching sounds soon became squishing. "Aww, man, that's the third time I've stepped on a turd today!" I announced, staring at the thick brown substance coating my shoe like chocolate icing on a cupcake. But that was only the most annoying part of my trip at Teen Ranch, a camp erupting with completely positive surprises, from unicorns grazing in a grass-abundant field, to a humongous ice rink. This extraordinary camp is definitely the place to be.

As I stared solemnly at the abundant slop that lay motionless on my plate, I wondered just then when it would escape its lifeless stage and transform into a monstrous being, attacking me and swallowing my form. Well, I guess that's exaggerating the meals at Teen Ranch, just a little… The entrees were nothing to rave about, but I don't blame the cooks. If you had 500 mouths to feed, you'd try to make something quick, too. And no, the food didn't turn into a monster- if it did, that would be the best day of my life. Large servings were presented to each student, allowing us to stuff ourselves fat. The cookies turned out to be amazing, though- as gigantic as they were, they still brought out luscious flavour that attacked my taste buds and left them with a chocolaty aftertaste that was absolutely amazing. Otherwise, the rest of the desserts were amazing, and so was the food altogether.

   The sudden knocking on the cabin window sent me hurtling to the floor. The sound was frequent, but evilly toned. As it occurred, I was writing on the window, pictures in the condensation, and I saw the inhuman hand smashing against the glass, causing me to fly back, right onto the floor. Then the door creaked open, and the creature came in- Mr. Leitmann! Hey, what did you think it was going to be, an alien? Yeah, I know, it would be so much cooler if it was extraterrestrial. True story, by the way. It all happened in our cabin- more like a cottage, to me, for it was huge, with carpeted floors, eight black- painted beds, and a pretty nice washroom, or, at least, until certain people were done with it (don't worry, it wasn't me). I shared my cabin with Nick P., Nick Y., Kyle, Justin L., and Ethan- the best cabin ever, especially with me in it. We didn't spend much time in our cabin, but it still seemed to me as the epitome of epic.

   My breath spurted out in wisps of steam, and the only sound echoing across the high walls was the scraping of metal against the cold, bare ice. The rink put "Olympic- sized" in Olympic- sized ice rink. It was so awesome- huge, with scratch free ice and long benches, just like a real hockey rink, though it irked me that we couldn't play hockey. So I pretty much spent my time skating around the rink and stopping in front of people, snow coating them and drenching their clothes. The experience was radical; definitely the best part of the trip.

   The sky darkened, and stars erupted into the enormous atmosphere, shining brightly in the night, as the moon gave off an impressive fluorescent glow, and the nocturnal animals all sprung to life, and so did the people of the camp. It's amazing what can be squashed into 3 nights, from the movie night to the bonfire, but at the ranch, they managed it quite well. The first night, movie night, was, well, a movie night. We saw The Karate Kid,  and our cabin got a pretty sweet deal- front row seats, despite the fact that we didn't get any chairs, for they were all taken. Next came the karaoke/ dance night. It was pretty good, although humiliating- the dance moves given were… how do I put it? Interesting. The last night was the best. A two-in-one experience, it contained a bonfire and a dance. The bonfire was epic- a huge fire, with marshmallows to cook, and I almost burned my pants off, literally. About an hour later, we continued to the basement of the dining hall, where we proceeded with the dance, where I got to show off my amazing dance skills. In a nutshell, the trip was amazing, the night life being a big part of it.

   Teen Ranch was ultimately incredible, a once-in-a lifetime experience. It included great food, followed by marvellous activities, such as skating, with completely liveable cabins, and the night life as fortified with fun as the rest of the trip. I'm sure everyone agreed that it was a shame to have to leave. 

 The biography of John McCrae

"We shall not sleep, though poppies blow, in Flanders Fields."

After years of the sound of guns firing and the horrible screams of the many fighting soldiers as the last breaths escaped their throats, John McCrae finally slept, a deep, permanent sleep,  leaving a life that put him into the history books.

 John McCrae, born in Guelph, Ontario on November 30, 1872, and soon proceeded to his first war, the Boer War, in South Africa. The Boer War was caused when the people of South Africa protested against their country becoming a British colony. John served for Canada and Britain from 1899 to 1900 in that dreadful war, then returned to Canada, studying at the University of Toronto for a Bachelor of Arts, and soon after receiving a degree in pathology from McGill. Then came World War 1. McCrae joined shortly after the war developed, and served as a doctor- healing the wounded soldiers, and even fighting. Time passed, and the trenches became bloodstained, the fields blooming with death-fed poppies, yet the soldiers still fought, and McCrae still healed his fellow soldiers. There, he wrote the poem "In Flanders Fields", inspired horribly by his surroundings- a poem soon to be possibly the greatest poem ever, and still remembered today.  He was soon sent to Boulogne No. 3 General Hospital, the last place he would ever see. John McCrae healer and fighter of 2 horrid wars, and writer of "In Flanders Fields", died a tragic death on January 28, 1918 from pneumonia, although his story still lives today.

By Duckboy