My winter break was a fantastic one. It consisted of many events and fortunately, I managed to get a lot done. This break was a good one because I got to spend it with my amazing friends and family. I also worked a lot and made some money. One thing that I wish I could have done was go to my cabin in Invermere, B.C. I go there every year to go snowboarding but I wasn’t able to go there this break because I had to stay here for work. Speaking of work, I really do enjoy it because I work with people the same age and we always have a good time at work. I also got a chance to watch a couple of movies and almost get through a novel! I also discovered some new music that I really enjoy listening to as well. All in all, this winter break was one I wont forget.

On Christmas, I spent it with my family and we had a fabulous dinner and exchanged gifts. The one thing I love about the holidays is being able to be with my whole family all at once. Some movies that I watched were “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”, “New Years Eve”, “Horrible Bosses”, and “Crazy, Stupid, Love”. I also am in the process of reading “The Girl Who Played With Fire”, which is a novel in “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” series. About a year ago, I watched the first version of “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” which was in Swedish. I’ll admit, it was a fantastic movie but I fell asleep a couple times because I’m not good at having to read subtitles throughout a movie. I was so excited for the English  version to come out and I got a chance to see it. It was such a great movie and it is now one of my favourites. I also saw “New Years Eve” last week. It was a very entertaining movie with a lot of well-known celebrities in it. The underlying message of the movie made me realize that even though the year ends, the memories don’t. Although it seemed to be really hyped up on the whole subject of New Years Eve, I don’t think New Years Eve is really a big deal because you’re starting a new year again anyways so that one night doesn’t have to be perfect. The other few movies I saw were very entertaining and I enjoyed watching them.

My break was very eventful and I’m thankful for the time we all got off from school. Usually I don’t have a lot of time to watch movies or read gigantic novels, but with the break I managed to find time to do that. I highly recommend everyone to watch those movies or even try to read “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” series because it has really grown on me.

  “As Tom Robinson gave his testimony, it came to me that Mayella Ewell must have been the loneliest person in the world. She was even lonelier than Boo Radley, who had not been out of his house in twenty-five years. When Atticus asked had she any friends, she seemed to not know what he meant, then she thought he was making fun of her … Tom Robinson was probably the only person who was ever decent to her.”

From this passage, I find that Scout’s perspective changes on Mayella. Scout says that she is lonelier than Boo Radley, who the children were very interested in. I think Scout almost felt sorry for Mayella because she was so lonely but she knew her father wouldn’t approve of her being acquainted with Tom Robinson since according to society, he was below the Ewells. Mayella knew that if she were to tell the truth, that it was her father who beat her, she would get judged for talking to a person of colour. She lied to protect her father and in the end, she ended up killing a mockingbird. She let Tom Robinson, an innocent man, be accused of raping and beating her just so society would not judge the Ewells.

Mayella’s perspective changes after her father catches her with Tom Robinson because her father does not approve and she was just trying to not be so lonely. I think throughout the trial, Mayella feels guilty for blaming Tom and that is why she starts uncontrollably crying. The jury’s perspective is altered because they want to say that Tom is not guilty but they’re so afraid of being judged that they let an innocent man be convicted of a crime everyone knows he didn’t commit.

They say love is a double edged sword

Yet even with the pain, I cling to every word

Every word you say puts the stars in the sky

With my eyes opened wide

I look to you and know everything will be alright

Every movement through the deep, dark shadows of our love

Filled with passion and lust,

Makes me realize that in you I put my trust

Our love is like the sea, ever shifting, rolling free

Like the waves, with you I’ll be

No wish to ever reach the shore

Even though love, they say, is a double edged sword

As you may of noticed, my poem I wrote was about love. I chose to write my poem about love because no matter what, love is always around us. Love is what makes us feel so complete but uderly broken down at the same time. Love is so powerful that it can start to control the decisions we make on a daily bases. I decided to put the reference of the sea in my poem because love is honestly like the sea, at times it can be calm and beautiful and other times it’s choppy and destructive while being beautiful at the same time. The term “double edged sword” is a reference to something that has both favorable and unfavorable consequences. Love is refered to a double edged sword in my poem because love, is in fact, made up of favorable and unfavorable consequences.

       Time. What is time to you? Is it how much longer you have to accomplish something? Or is it the hours your counting down until the day is over? Time can mean anything to anyone. People say that time can heal any wound, no matter what it is. Time can either make us or break us. Time truly is everything. But if time is everything, why don’t we cherish it?

People go on with their days rushing through everything just to get it done and over with. Students do it with homework and adults do it with work. We don’t take time to cherish the moments given to us and we disregard the possibilities that are right in front of us because we are to concerned and caught up about getting through the day and having it be over. If you weren’t rushing through the streets to get somewhere on time you could have stopped a person being hit by a car, a fire being started to a house, or even a robbery. We don’t take enough time to notice the small things around us. The ironic thing is, people complain about how short of time we have before we die and how short life really is. Maybe if we stopped rushing and started appreciating the copious amounts of time given to us, we would get more accomplished in time. We lie to ourselves all the time by saying we’ll do something when in reality we’ll never even attempt to get it done because we tell ourselves we won‘t have enough time for it. We’re too busy worrying about ourselves to stop and notice our surroundings. We much rather be on time for appointments just to please ourselves and our friends.

If you think back to this day a year ago, do you remember what you did? Do you remember who you talked to and what you did on this day? Probably not. Ninety nine percent of us will never remember exact moments unless something special and worth remembering happens. So take your time when doing things and cherish life’s many ups and downs as you can and remember : time is all you own.

Dear Mrs. Hunniset,

       Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher is a well-written, suspenseful book that I believe you would enjoy. You always talk about in class of your love for reading books and the different varieties of books you read. I’m dedicating my reading letter to you because I truly believe you’ll fall in love with this book and it will change your outlook on the way you treat people and how you go about your day.

       Thirteen Reasons Why is a fiction novel written from a boy named Clay’s point of view. Clay goes to school with a girl named Hannah Baker; a sweet, innocent girl who seems to have a well rounded personality. We learn that Hannah committed suicide and didn’t leave behind any explanation to her parents why she did it. Everyone who knew Hannah was left dumbfounded. Little does Clay know, Hannah did describe the reasons, thirteen of them, on cassette tapes that he received in the mail one day. Clay doesn’t understand what he could have possibly done to cause Hannah to do such a selfish act and we follow Clay along his journey to find out what he did and the other people that caused Hannah to believe life would be better without her. When we learn Hannah’s thoughts we begin to believe that we really should learn to treat people better because one day we could end up like Clay; somebody left confused and dreading that they were unable to do just a few days over to be able to change that person’s mind. I learned from this novel that our actions towards people truly do affect the outcome of their day and depict their thoughts they think of before they fall asleep.

This is an amazing novel that anyone could relate to. I fell in love with it after the first couple pages and knowing how much you love to read, I know you’ll love it as well Mrs. Hunnisett!