A Weekly Update

With the marking period coming to an end, this past week has been a crazy buzz of activity. All the students were cramming in late work in order to fix their lacking grades, and teachers had enormous stacks of everything to grade. It cracks me up how they advocate so devoutly for us to keep on top of our work when they themselves get just as behind on entering grades. "You guys need to turn your homework in on time, I will not enter grades of late papers." It doesn't seem like they enter any grades until the last minute anyways.

On a more pleasant note, the lineup for Lollapalooza 2015 was finally released yesterday! I am particularly excited about this year's schedule in essence to the variety of music genres that are going to be featured. Some artists that will be there include Paul McCartney, Sam Smith, Bassnectar, Of Monsters and Men, Odesza, Carnage, The Chainsmokers, The Weekend, Walk the Moon, Marina and the Diamonds, and even Kid Cudi. (There are plenty more of course, these artists are just who I consider to be some of the headliners). So yes, this year will be crazy and I am really hoping to make it out there for at least one of the days. Per usual, Lollapalooza will be held the weekend of July 31-August 2 in Chicago's very own Grant Park. Ticket prices can be expensive and hard to acquire, but totally worth it in my opinion. Unfortunately, I missed my all time favorite band last year, Imagine Dragons, but I think I'm ready to redeem myself and go see some of my favorites from this year, like Odesza and Of Monsters and Men.

Besides fantastic news in regards to summer music festivals, there is more going on in today's world of current events. Recently, a German plane carrying 150 passengers, including a class of 16 adolescents and their two teachers, crashed into the French Alps leaving no known survivors or cause of the crash. In Florida of 2012, a Cuban resident, Jose Lantigua, fabricated a heart attack causing a fake death in order to scam insurance companies of almost $8 million. Lantigua has been hiding out since his "death" and has just been arrested on several accounts of fraud and will be convicted for a 30-year sentence. In the science realm, an American astronaut and Russian cosmonaut will be leaving earth this week and will live in the International Space Station for a year as guinea pigs for research on how the human body adapts to space life. Doctors and scientists will conduct medical experiments on the two space travelers in order to determine what protocol NASA will need to take for the upcoming mission to Mars to be successful. In a New Jersey home, a dog somehow managed to get his paw stuck in a fixed treadmill; the dog was able to free itself. As for sports, I am uneducated. I do know that Michigan State has beat the number two ranked team, Virginia, in a victorious win of 60-54. MSU is hoping for their next win this Friday against Oklahoma University. And that's a wrap for our wordly update.

This also conclude my first real blog post: another exciting accomplishment.
Until next time, Hannah

Adolescence

Adolescent minds are clouded by the smoke billowing slowly from the mouths of authority

It's intoxicating to watch.

Seeing the congregations smoking their holy pages,

Remembering politicians blowing dragons out their noses.

Through our journey we discover what makes us teenagers: the disagreements between wild youth and grounded adults. 

But we realize that parents saw the ends of bowls,

Society sips liquor from deep glasses.

They say to breathe deeply and you will be rewarded for success, punished for failure. 

Our adolescent minds get so clouded by the smoke, that it becomes easy to forget how the prosperity of one, will differ from the next. 

And the smoke

the drinks

the medications

Affect the minds in different ways. 

Because difference is key to living successfully

And expanding our narrowing visions,

Clearing out the vapors

Must be completed by accepting ourselves for who we are

And smoking

drinking

medicating

In the confines of our own adolescent minds. 

Whispering Words of Destruction

Because the spherical dimensions of the planet do not allow us to speak any louder than necessary. In that precise moment of time, the planets aligned with the stars and the animals became peaceful within the harmonious independence. Human nature forced us to synchronize with the eternal being of mother nature. Human nature forced us to recognize that in that moment there was a peaceful silence. A silence so loud with life that every creature could listen to each other and the necessities of others. In that moment, though we wanted, desired, pleaded with mother nature to relieve us the tension. To save us from ourselves. To grant us the dying honor of screaming, croaking, exploding out from our parched lips. We needed to say this phrase to live, to evolve out from our madness. But no, not live. To experience the profound discovery of acceptance. Mother nature, our saving grace recognized that. And while our temptations grew stronger, our desire was revolutionized. So, in that moment of harmony, when the planets had aligned with the stars, and with the animals listening to each other think, mother nature let us leave our mark on her dear planet earth. She drew forth, not a forced whisper, but a flowing breeze into the patiently, peacefully waiting ears of the animals. Out came the simple phrase, with finality "I don't want to be all by myself anymore" And when anymore was whispered last. No not whispered, lifted. Lifted off my tongue. I could see it roll off. Roll off like the smoke that permeates in our delicate minds. The smoke that desires to scream and rebel and discover and destroy. The destruction of a perfect moment with a fleeting scream of all by myself. The room exploded. They exploded in a burst of flames. Flames. Burning, screaming, yearning for air. We can't live like this! We can't live like this! The harmony was broken. The peacefulness gone. Life had been sucked out of the air as if a vacuum had enveloped us. That simple phrase that ended humanity, life as we know it. The whispering, breathing of a simple phrase spreading chaos like the flames of a wildfire. Selfishness greed jealousy. We whisper, breathe, utter those types of phrases to ourselves, destroying our psych setting fire to the world we were opportuned with. We don't deserve anything. Our species race ethnicity culture has died. Replaced, was greed and destruction. And with finality, the paranoia remains.