College! Yay seniors!  It’s time to make a choice: college or no college?  Well, let’s see… senior Gabriela Bravo stated, “Yes, I am definitly going to college. It’s my next step. Since I don’t feel so ready to go far away from home, I’m planning to go to Metro State.” While some seniors are planning to go to college, others are planning to do something else productive, like joining the army or special forces, as is the case with Samuel Nunez, who said he wanted to join the army before going to college.

Our seniors had their last day of classes on Tuesday May 14th and are about to become more mature and learn how to live in the real world. A few of our seniors left us with some advice to help us on the rest of our journey through high school. Carlos Dominguez offered some encouraging words: “Don’t drop out of school.  Make the best decision that will lead to success in the future.  Arely Velazquez added a similar sentiment, saying, “Do your best in high school– have fun and enjoy!”  With these pieces of advice that the seniors have learned from experience, they have overcome all obstacles throughout their high school careers and have made it to the next level in their lives. Whatever they decide to do is the best choice on their part, because we believe that they know what is right for them.  Congratulations to the class of 2012!

Graduation is this Tuesday, May 22nd, and will be the cherry on the sundae for our JHS seniors!

Even though the 2012 soccer season is finished, there is no doubt that we will remember how amazing our team is and how much good sportsmanship and talent we have.  Even when we didn’t win, we still kept our heads held high and a smile on our face.  The team is proud of its accomplishments, but it also embraces the gained knowledge of experience for the sake of continually building and improving. 

So keep your pride in the Lady Saints!  Next year is bound to be another winning season!

Many people have different ideas about why “A Day Without Hate” is celebrated. Sophomore Amanda Piotrawski exclaims, “I think ’A Day Without Hate’ is celebrated to bring out the peace throughout everyone and to stop the bullying.”  Junior Jay Ryan adds to this idea, saying, “I think ‘A Day Without Hate’ is celebrated to drive out all the hate, not just in people individually, but all around the world!”

So now the question is what does a Day Without Hate mean to you?  “This day to me means there will be no haters that hate on you,” Sophomore Gilbert Poitra shares.  “This day to me means no bullying,” agrees sophomore Cameron Cochran.

A Day Without Hate means a lot to people, but why is it just this day that there is supposed to be no bullying?  There should be no bullying everyday.

A mass amount try to avoid the rain for exactly these reasons.They foolishly trap themselves inside little “shelters” to try and remain “dry.” Tho the the shelters may seem perfect they are still “cracked.” Because nothing is really “waterproof.” After all water can even move trees and dissolve mountains. It corrodes land into canyons. It can drown, freeze, and kill. But is water really the monster we make it out to be?

Or does it just force necessary change to start? Even tho hurricanes and tsunamis kill and destroy many, they also help bring out the best in others. They make people see things in a different light, make them think of others and feel compassion. So even tho water brings pain its for the best,

Just like the snow. Cause even tho winter is the coldest season, its a time full of care and love. People donate to the less fortunate. Even tho its freezing outside peoples hearts are the warmest at this time. It’s like everyone huddling to stay warm from the cold and wet weather. It brings us together. Just like friends sharing the space under an umbrella or lovers sharing the warmth of a coat.

So water in the end forces us to our very limits and sometimes even past that. It makes us see and feel others pain, but even beyond that forces us to see and confront our own. And sometimes it can tear us apart piece by piece, part by part, minute by minute, and second by second. It can make us break, it can make us shatter, but in the end it makes us stronger. Some don’t survive through all of what water brings. Some are even swept away by it and buried in debris of others who did not make it.

But me, I won’t let the tide wash me away. I will never become fully buried. Yes water can hurt me every now and then, and trust me it does. But just like the Sahara Desert, just like people praying for the rain because of drought, I need water. Is it good or bad? Guess it all depends on how a person looks at it. But for most people, including me I guess we’ll never fully figure it out. Even though it causes me some pain, just like everyone else, I cannot live without it. Yes it can destroy me, but it can also save me.

END

This poem was made a long time ago for a friend. Who has always been like water. But lately has became a natural disaster and needs to get back on the right track and maybe slow down a bit to think. Hopefully before they destroy too much of what they care for. I wish them the best tho. Peace and love to everyone who is a “water” and everyone who knows a “water.”

My family situation is kind of complicated. There is no doubt in my mind that the majority of us all love each other. There are relationships that do not work and that should end, but don’t because the people in them don’t realize it. Though I will admit, there are relationships in my family that have no love, only hate. There are people in my family that I don’t even know. I have two sides of family. One that I know and another that is kind of wealthy and distant, that I have never met. I probably shouldn’t call those people family, considering I don’t really know them. They’re more like like strangers, I just happen to share the same DNA with.

When it comes to my family, we’re anything but perfect. Not even close to perfect. But, who has the perfect family? It’s like everyone has something about them that is an identifier to who they are or what they’ve done. There are many ways to describe my family. But ultimately , we are a family of natural disasters. We can be hostile at times. We can be shameless at times. We’re blunt. We can sometimes be jealous and envious of each other. We don’t like to sugarcoat anything. As far as I’m concerned we might as well be tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, tidal waves, tsunamis,etc. Any one of us can appear and cause major destruction without even realizing it. We can hurt each other without even realizing it too.
    You know those movies where the characters walk past a mirror or are placed under a black light, they appear as some kind of otherworldly creature. I wonder if that happened to me and my family, what would we find? Would it show something dark inside one of our souls? Would it show tattoos of secrets, lies, things that others don’t know about? Would the other side of my bloodline show up completely faceless? Would it show someone in the family feels invisible to everyone else? Would one of us be covered by their obsession with being rich and successful? Would one of us be a monster? Would one of us just disappear into a pile of poker chips? Would one of us fall to the ground bleeding drugs? Or would we all just turn to dust and get blown away into a sea of nothingness.

Honestly, even though we all have scars, secrets, flaws, and even another alter ego of ourselves to stand in for who we really are when we’re around each other, we would probably all just clash and turn into a family photo. Even though there are moments where we can’t stand to be in the same room with each other, there is still some love there. Sometimes, we all have a very funny way of showing it. And honestly, I’m glad that my family isn’t perfect. I’d rather have everyone be who they are then be some fake 50’s family that you see on old black and white TV shows. Thats what my definition of family is: People who you are biologically related to. Even when they treat you differently because you’re the youngest, even when they’re not always there for you, and even when they drive you crazy with the things they do or say, deep down you just have to love them. Even through every tornado and hurricane clash we’ve had, and believe me we’ve had them,I still love my perfectly, unperfect, disastrous, family.

Then once you feel like you don’t care what others say, your family starts criticizing you. Trying to make you better in their eyes. I remember when my uncle first got me a softball glove, they all wanted me to be the next Acuna in the family sport of baseball\softball. I wasn’t interested. I didn’t care nor want to play at all, don’t get me wrong I love the game, I just didn’t want to be compared to my older cousin Arriana. I wanted to be seen different to them, like I didn’t need to rely on softball to have something in common with them. Now that I think about it I kind of wish that I would have. Arriana is a straight A student and is perfect in my family’s eyes. I am not. I have done stuff in my past that I don’t regret, but that I am not happy that I have done it. I see it as something that was meant to happen in my life because if it wasn’t, then I wouldn’t have done it. She is the sport star, beautiful, smart, good at whatever she sets her mind to. I am not smart, I don’t try to impress, and I am definitely not her.

 My family makes me feel useless, like I am not good enough, I can’t do what they expect because I’m lazy. In my eyes it’s whatever, I don’t care I never have, and I am not about to start caring. This is just how my personality is, careless, ruthless, and hardheaded. They make me feel like it is pointless to even try. Well I honestly don’t see how it’s such a big deal, I can play music, she can’t to save her life. She can’t do a back walkover if she even tried.

I need to stop lying to myself, I am happy with who I am. Always have and always will be. It’s hard to accept the fact that there is people that want to change you, make you like a perfect little doll, or trash you like your nothing to them. It hard, but in reality doing what you want to is what makes you a Individual. I am a gymnast, musician, artist, and I am a individual.

Why do people listen to the kind of music they do now ? Because it just makes them themselves. The music that makes me, is rap and hip-hop because the lyrical styles and the beats to it. It makes me what I am today. I wouldn’t feel comfortable listening to country or rock or like classical music, I think it’s very odd for me to listen to that.

Rap and hip-hop started in the late 1970s, but it wasn’t that popular.

In the mid 1980s it was really popular by the graffiti and style of the rap and hip-hop art . Like run DMC, Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff , Afrika Bambaataa , DJ Doug Fresh, Slick Rick , and etc .

By the 1990s the raps changed into gangsta rap or maybe put some jazz into it . But it had mostly a lot of conflict with the music like east coast vs. west coast rap . That’s my definition of music , the denotation of music is : an art of music in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony  and color.

The first time I listened to rap was like the summer of 2000, and the first rap song I’ve heard was Hypnotized by Biggie Smalls . I thought it was a catchy and lyrical song , that’s why Biggie is one of my favorite rappers still today.
    I think if I didn’t listen to rap and hip-hop I wouldn’t be like how I am today; Because like i said , music expresses yourself , style, and personality . So hip-hop and rap expresses my style and personality. ^_^

The day I realized how much I needed my sisters in my life was February 7,2012, the day my older sister Alex left for Navy boot camp. It was the day of the super bowl and my uncles birthday so we were having a bbq. It had a big affect on my family, it was extremely hard for us to say bye to her, especially for my mom. For me it was very hard because we were really close, we were like best friends. That day was really hard on my oldest sister too, Ashley, it was one of the only days that I’ve seen her cry. One of the main reasons why it was so hard to say bye to her is because we really didn’t see her that much because she lives with her dad. But for Ashley it was hard because her and Alex stopped talking and didn’t really get along after she moved to live with her dad. For my mom it was even harder because  that is her kid and it was hard for my mom to see her baby leave. She graduates on March 30,2012 and I really hope that they will let her come home before they ship her off.

    In the dictionary it may say that the definition of sisters is being a female and having the same parents or being blood relatives or something like that, but to me sisters mean a totally different thing. To me sisters means being your best friend, being loyal, being there no matter what and loving you no matter what. Sisters can fight and the next day be best friends again. Sisters means being there when needed no matter what, like if you break up with a boyfriend, games, and school. Your sister is your bestfriend because just like your best friend you trust them with everything, but unlike your best friend after a fight you’ll be best friends again. The one person who can love you like a mom, keep secrets like an auntie, be a true friend and beat your butt when needed. Like on Lilo and Stitch “ Ohana means family, family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten”. So basically, spend a lot of time with your sisters because you never know when they’ll leave…….

Good thoughts I never reflected

I would wallow in my own despair

Then you appeared out of nowhere

I didn’t expect it at all

I definately didn’t expect the fall

But I’m happy you came to my rescue

Even more happy that you just somehow knew

How to cheer me up,

Warm my heart.

It was definately a new start.

I was finally starting to smile

And then somehow, you made my life worthwhile

Thank you my angel

Downtown Denver is a hot-spot for poetry slams.  The cafes and popular hangouts downtown are full of live poetry, especially when a woman named Suzi Q. Smith recites her work.  If you haven’t heard of Suzi Q. Smith, look her up and you will find that she is considered one of the world’s top poetry slam artists!

Live poetry has become an exciting trend in youth culture over the past several years, and there’s even a group industry that promotes it and offers insights on the rules and regulations of poetry slams.  They also publish the date and location of upcoming slams. 

Here at Jefferson, the only rule is to have fun!  The school came up with this idea since we study a lot of poetry at JHS, and teachers wanted to do something that would engage students in it more.  The projects that teachers had done before didn’t always engage students, and the original goal of hosting poetry slams was to make the art form relevant to today’s students.  When we asked Ms. McNeirney about the highlights of having the poetry slam the past few years she said, “It usually ends up showcasing kids who aren’t always in the spotlight. It brings out diffrent talents.”  She also said that the feedback of having the poetry slams has been all very positive. The students love it, and the staff that watches love it too. Many students come back to her year after year and ask if we’ll do it again.

Students who want to participate should ask their English teachers about how to get involved.  The poetry slam will be live at Jefferson High School on April 27th, coinciding with the Day Without Hate celebrations!