Where I'm From

I'm from the kitchen,

from Barilla

and wooden spoons.

I'm from the oven,

black on the outside,

burning fire on the inside.

I'm from the basil plantations,

the garden where tomatoes grow

to pick the best ones

to make the sauce.

I'm from family dinners,

and Christmas presents,

from Maria and Miguel,

from the Aragon family.

I'm from screaming,

shrieking,

and the tobacco smelling bed-sheets.

From "don't touch that knife"

and "be organized".

I'm from a family

who was forced

to be Christian,

but lets me be what I want,

from seafood pasta and cream,

a forbidden combination.

From the talks in the car

about politics with mom,

the back pains,

and hard-workers.

I'm from that small tree

where each leaf

is a different color,

from that short branch

where my leaf stands there... alone.

CNN Student News

Hi, I'm Carl Azus and this is CNN Student News. I hope you enjoy this new fifteen minute, no commercial headline.

Nobody ever expected such catastrophic disaster to happen to the second most industrial country in Asia.

It happened in Sendai, Japan at 2:36 pm in March 10th, 2011. An 8.9 magnitude earthquake struck the city of Sendai leaving pieces of broken houses, and buildings around the city. Many Japanese people are left homeless by this earthquake and more than ten thousand men and women are reported missing. Family members are felling a pang of fear and preoccupation for the missing loved ones. But that was not the worst part.

A capacious amount of water--that used to be beautiful azure water-- flooded the Northern part of Japan. The tsunami never decelerated, but it flooded the streets with debris, cars, and boats as citizens tried to go on roof tops or find a high level point to be safe from the abhorring water.

This tsunami did not facilitate things for the Japanese rescuers. Every single second is crucial for them to find the missing victims of this atrocious disaster. There is no time to banter around, but the fastidious parts of broken houses and wood make it hard for them to find these people and get them medical help.

Barack Obama knew it was important for the U.S.A. had to help Japan. The Red Cross, SWAT team, and the Ronald Reagan ship (which is deploying food and water supplies to Japan) were sent there to proceed on the rescue for the missing people. The SWAT team used grapples to bring down a group to take the injured victims to a capacious hospital that will assist them as soon as possible.

More adept SWAT teams and soldiers around the world are starting to help Japan to find the trapped victims, but even is the victims are not audible, rescuers from around the world will do everything to find them and save their lives.

I’m Carl Azus and this is CNN Student News. Thank you for watching.

Book Review

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

Girl, Interrupted has the meaning of Susanna’s life being interrupted all of the sudden. She had to go to rehabilitation because of depression and suicidal thoughts, which turned her life around and she discovers things she has never imagined before. One day, Susanna went to Fricks, which was like an art museum, and she notices a painting where this girl was sitting in her music class and her teacher was trying to get her attention, but the girl didn’t want to be in that class.

When Susanna sees this painting, her life is protracted in her mind and she realizes that her life was also interrupted too, when she was seventeen.

The memoir is about Susanna Kaysen, who was sent to a hospital because of her depression and her thoughts of suicide and she tells about her days there.

The memoir is organized in a way that shows how she first got involved in the hospital, then her thoughts about it and why she went there. Then she writes about her experience in the hospital and the people she meets. After that, she writes her thoughts again about the hospital and describes how they have affected her life. Later, in the book, she talks about what she wants to be and decides how her life is going to go in the future and if she wants to get married or be alone. Sometimes, Susanna puts some records and voluntary applications papers that were given to her when she left the hospital.

The memoirist came to realize how she wanted to go on with her life with no one there for her. She was very independent because she felt like nobody understood her and she kept on realizing it when she grew into a woman. Also, she starts to realize how life gets difficult when you have a bigger issue. Her surroundings change as her days pass in the hospital. She meets and sees girls that are crazy, schizophrenic, depressed, etc… Almost all the things she realizes are about how you don’t have freedom, how things are better in a way, and how she wants her life to go.

Lines We Love:

“I needed to be alone, I felt. I wanted to be going on alone to my future.” Pg. 136

“Interrupted at her music: as my life had been, interrupted in the music of being seventeen.” Pg. 167

What I Believe

I believe life is about the money.

It makes the world go round.

I believe there is no difference

between school and a job.

Work has to be done and turned in on time.

I believe school should start in the afternoon.

The morning is for sleeping.

I believe homework is

your worst nightmare.

I believe that listening to music

makes you concentrate more.

I believe twirling my hair

gives me ideas.

I believe Saturday is a Superhero.

It saves you

from five days of stress.

I believe you should have dessert

before dinner.

It makes life sweet.

I believe life is nothing

with an empty refrigerator.

I believe being skinny

makes life easier.

No worries for

clothes size, bikinis, and pants.

So I start today to loose weight,

but yesterday I made a mistake....

I say goodbye

to the big Hershey's kiss

I ate that night.

How the Nutcracker can Crack Your Head

I was walking inside the theater and noticed how all the people were greeting each and every guest. They would stand up and shake hands, but I would just sit down with an abhorring face.

Today was suppose to be the new episode of "Two and a Half Men", but my mother dragged me all the way here to watch "The Nutcracker". My mother and I were having a great dissension, but as always, my mother one the battle. I like to watch a ballet, but as I saw the back stage video of the ballet and saw all these little girls jumping all over the ballet studio, I started to think that this would be a disaster.

The lights dimmed down and the curtains opened. As the ballet start and all the ballerinas assimilated the stage, I started being meticulous about the ballerinas moves. I was hoping for them to fall on the floor because of their ballet shoes, but then I saw all the smiles in each face and how they were having so much fun even if they weren't coordinated. All of them looked adorable even if you were in the back row.

I didn't want the ending to come soon, but because I had so much fun, time flied like birds in the sky. All the little girls came up in front of the stage and bowed with a smile on each face. I stood up and the whole public lionized the ballerinas as if they were movie stars.

The Bosses of My World

I tried to run as fast as I could so I wouldn't be apprehended. I dashed and tried to find my way out into a safe place where no one could see me, so I wouldn't be hit with pillows and teddy bears. Even if they were small, they had already a conspiracy against my rules.

I'm suppose to be the boss of this place. Where my rules have to be followed with no one who would dare to protest. But as the gang of the chocolate chip cookies and "I want to watch Discovery Kids" comes in, my world becomes an anarchy. They become the bosses of what use to be my world. But when eight thirty strikes on the clock that hangs on the wall, the gang drops to the bed and sleep. Thats when peace comes back again.

God, I hate babysitting!

Eggs by Jerry Spinelli

Eggs, is a story written by Jerry Spinelli, which explains how something that you have lost can be found again with a friend that has experienced the same situation before. It is written in David, a nine year old boy, is sent to live with his grandmother after his mother died.

From the state of Minnesota, he moved to a new state in which he starts a new life. His father is the owner of a mall in Minnesota and is obligated to stay there from Monday to Friday and he only gets to see David at the weekends. After the death of David’s mother, his disposition had changed: David has never smiled again, never laughed and always has a serious face, he is never enthusiastic about events. He only has his father to be with and with the miss of his mother; he is the only person he is really close to him.

Then, David meets a girl named Primrose: aggressive, doesn’t let anyone insult her, and has moved from her mother also known as a psychic, but Primrose couldn’t stand her, so she moved to a car and made it her own room. Both these characters start a new friendship and continue their journey as David discovers new things.

This is one of the greatest books I have ever read. Jerry’s description of the characters and the plot makes you feel like you are in the story. Also, you can sense what feeling the character is going through and how you feel related to the character. This story has a great combination of comedy, hate, depression, and love at the same time. Even though the characters are different in many ways and fight a lot about things, they still become friends and still have fun. I have finally understood that even though something’s gone and you can’t see it, it’s actually kept in your heart, where it will stay forever.