Q4: MY Pop Culture Icon

When I think of the term “pop culture icon,” I think of someone who had a major entrance to Hollywood along with a huge exit from it. Between their entrance and exit, they need to do something drastic that always puts them in the spotlight. Someone that I look up to and is a pop culture icon is none other than Marilyn Monroe. The appeared in Hollywood when she was young. She was always seen modeling and appearing in films. She was married several times. In her later career, she starred in two amazing films, “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and “Some Like it Hot.” Even at the time of “Some Like it Hot,” her career was starting to fall apart. She became hard to work with and wasn’t able to remember her lines; she became a real diva. Her slip out of Hollywood? Death. She was found dead in her home at the young age of 36 from a drug overdose. It may seem like she wasn’t much to look up to, especially at the end of her career. One reason that I see her as an icon is because of her true beauty. She was a pretty face and more. If you were to look at any pictures of her, you can clearly see that she is not stick thin like most other models or actresses during this time period. She had curves and wasn’t afraid of working with them. Not being the skinny little figure really makes me look up to her because she was able to make in the show business despite being difference. She shows young girls, even now, that you don’t need to be stick thin.

Q1: Beach Days

Now that warm weather is upon us and summer is near, the beaches are finally going to be opening up! Most beaches open for the season over Memorial Day weekend. I really enjoy spending a lot of my time at the local beaches over the summer, me and my sister make a whole day trip out of it. We will always leave early in the morning, making a stop for breakfast. It is a long drive to get there, about an hour, which is why we leave so early. The car is packed with everything we could possibly need, drinks and food for lunch, beach towels, tanning lotion and sunglasses. Once we arrive, we instantly find the perfect spot before everyone else starts piling in. With our towels laid out and our tanning lotion applied, we just lay there for hours, rarely stepping foot in the water. I love spending time at the beach and out in the sun. The worst part about the beach is how crowded it gets. Obviously, you don’t want to go on a day that is cloudy and raining. It’s impossible to not be on top of everyone on a nice day because of how crowded it gets, especially with Sunset being a well known beach in the area. Even worse, screaming children. I see the beach as a place to just sit back and relaxingly enjoy myself. It’s hard to do that when there are kids running around screaming with no parental supervision. Even though I spend the entire day just sitting around, being in the sun is rather tiring. By the end of the day I am completely drained from soaking up the sun. But I know I can always look back on the days that I spend on the beach and know it is all worth it. 

Q3: Life Lessons In Novels

It is hard to choose the best book that I have ever read in an English class, I think it’s tied between two. Sophmore year in Mr. Edward’s english class we read To Kill A Mockingbird. I don’t really know what I liked about this book so much. I think that it taught the readers so much without them even realizing it. The main thing I was able to take from the story was acceptance of others, and not to judge people. During the trial, Atticus was looked down upon for defending a black man during a trial. Even though they lost the trial in the end, it taught Jem and Scout that Tom Robinson wasn’t much different than they were. The only major difference was his skin color, which is something that people should not be treated differently because of. Jem and Scout also learned to accept Boo Radley. The learned not to listen to the rumors that people were saying about him and instead, learn for themselves who he really is. The other book that I read in an English class was Tuesdays With Morrie. I read it in my senior English class and she made it the last novel we read in hopes that it would touch our hearts and leave us more open minded as we graduate high school soon. It teaches you the importance of really living your life. Even when Morrie was on his deathbed, he tried making the best of life and passed his messages, or aphorisms, to his former student Mitch. What touched me even more about this novel is that it is a true story. The aphorisms that Morrie mentioned along with all the interviews with Nightline host Ted Koppel were real, not just something made up to patch up any open areas in Mitch Albom’s novel.

Q2: Summer Plans

It feels as if I had so many plans for this summer, but the closer we come to summer, it feels as if not many of them will follow through. My sister is constantly reminding me that this is the shortest summer of my life since I end school in June then start right back up in August, so I intend on making the most of this summer. My best friend will be attending college in Chicago, so we have so many plans for the summer. We are kicking off the summer by going to the Kiss the Summer Hello concert on June 2. We are both really looking forward to seeing artists Carly Rae Jepsen and Sammy Adams. Later on in the summer, we are also going to the Hot Chelle Rae concert that is at the Erie County Fair. I will be attending a ton of country concerts over the summer with my sister. At Darien Lake, we’ll be seeing Toby Keith, Brantley Gilbert, Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan. Concerts are not my only plans for this summer. Before going back to school, my sisters and I plan on taking a couple day trip to Virginia to go to Busch Gardens since we never get to do anything as sisters. I will try to spend as much time as possible at the beach too. I love spending time laying around in the sun and in the water. Even though I plan on keeping myself busy with concerts, vacations and day trips to the beach, I know that my summer will consist of a lot of working. Without my job, I would never be able to afford any plans I make for the summer. I will most likely be spending more of my time working than I will enjoying myself.

P5: 90s Music Recap

Lately, I’ve been reliving a bit of my childhood that I am extremely excited about. While scrolling through the Pandora stations on my phone, I came across a 90s pop station. I decided to take a listen, since that’s when I was really little, a child. As I listened, different artists such as Britney Spears, Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys and N*Sync started playing. I made me reminisce the times that my biggest worry was if I would be able to tie my shoes or not today. Since then, I’ve been drawn to the music on this station. It’s also making me realize how much music has changed since then when in reality, it’s only been just over ten years. Back then, the music seemed so light and carefree. Rarely would you hear an artist say any type of swear word or sing about the things that are sung about now. Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys were only seeing about the problems with love. Now everyone is using every swear word you could possibly think about. Being in love turned into making love. I always remember telling my mom that I’d be listening to these artists for awhile, as if they’d never leave the music scene. I can look back on that and laugh too. Artists are ‘hot’ for a short time. Britney Spears keeps popping up every so often, but whenever she’s in the tabloids, it’s about her latest slip up. She has changed so much, from being so innocent to someone that our generation can look down upon and laugh. I continue listening to her for who she was then, an amazing artist that many little kids looked up to.

P4: Prom Follow Up

As a follow up to last week’s prom blog, I’m excited to say that the day is finally here! With less than twenty four hours until the final preparations begin, prom is starting to become an extremely stressful and expensive event! Anyone who goes in a limo knows that everything with the limo is NOT a piece of cake. There is always drama between those in the limo or what the limo is doing after prom. The limo that I’m in had these exact problems. Being our catty selves, all girls from the limo bickered about every minor and major detail about the limo. We eventually all realized that this is our senior prom, the last big thing other than graduation in which we will all be together. We are all seated at a table together at Salvatore’s so despite the differences we had about the limo, we needed to all compromise on something because our whole night will be spent together. After the limo comes the tux, which I was not happy with either. My dress is a bright yellow, I’m not exactly sure what Tuxedo Junction was thinking when they ordered my date the WRONG color vest. They must’ve thought I was wearing green that night. Along with this problem came waiting in line behind at least ten other students who also had problems. Several trips to Tuxedo Junction later, the problem was fixed. Then finally, there is hair and nails. Every girl gets them done for the big night. Except the prices that I’ll be paying are a bit higher than expected. After thinking about it, I realized that this is the last time that I have to purchase a prom dress or go get my nails or hair done for a high school event. So I realized that you can’t put much of a price tag on any of it!

P3: Teacher Evaluations

I understand that teachers need to be evaluated, but in my opinion, the tests are being taken a little too far. I don’t think that teachers should be evaluated on the tests that their students take. Some students are better learners than others, so how should that affect how good or bad a teacher is? A teacher should be evaluated on the improvement of his or her students. I also disagree with the rankings being released to the public. I understand that parents would like to know how the teachers that are in control of their children during the day are ranking, but they can know by their children’s grades by looking at the report cards. By seeing these rankings, they are practically asking to see how the other students are doing. Teachers are under enough stress being watched by administrators to begin with. Why add the stress to present their findings to the entire public? I think that the each teacher should be presented with the findings of administrators, and be told what they need to improve on or what they did improve on. Teachers also shouldn’t be losing their job over what the student’s capabilities. The students can also choose not to perform well, so why should their teachers job or ranking in a school be based upon those who would rather slack off? If I were a teacher, I wouldn’t want my evaluations being shared with the public. I don’t think it is fair to them at all.