SMILE On!

Miss Lori

“February is Black History month. What do you do in school to acknowledge this month? Is there something else you would like to see happen either in school or in Chicago?”

Abi age 10~
In my school we talk about different people who have made a difference in our country.  I really like Rosa Parks because she didn’t let bad people push her around.

Tess age 9~
We read about famous Black people—this year we haven’t really started, but the last two years we read Harriet’s Underground Railroad in the Sky. I like reading stories.

Arianna age 10~
To celebrate Black history month in school I am creating a project about a famous African American. I decided to do to my project on Laila Ali. I am going to create a collage depicting her greatest achievements as well as her life from youth up until now. I want my project to show how this great woman was able to rise above the challenges in her every day life and prove that she could be someone important no matter what color her skin may be.

Elita age 9~
I read more books about black history. I would like to see more people do the same!

Kyra age 11~
Since I am homeschooled, my school isn’t doing anything, but I went to a Martin Luther King Jr. commemoration service, and my choir is doing a bunch of African American and African songs. I can’t think of anything right off the bat that I would like to see happen, but I do miss the things I did in public school. I can’t wait to do them again.

Ava age 11~
Black History month has started off in a great way with discussions about Martin Luther King Jr. and many other important African Americans like Rosa Parks and Harriet Tubman.  It’s great to talk about these people because of the life changing things they did for for equal rights for all. We are all affected to no matter what color of our skin.

Anaiya age 7~
I am going to be in the Black History Bowl at my school for Black history month. The Black History Bowl is a competition, sort of like Jeopardy, where 4 students from each classroom compete against each other by answering questions about famous and historical African Americans in History. The winning team wins a prize and last year, my team came in first place!

Jaedyn age 6~

In my school we’ve read many books about great African Americans, including Martin Luther King Jr and Harriet Tubman. We even get to do projects. My favorite was about the book Martin’s Big Words. We had to choose words from the book and then draw a picture. I chose “Love is the key to the problems of the World.” I drew a picture of Martin Luther King Jr shaking the hand of a tanned skinned woman. Then I drew the same picture using kids, one white and one black.

Most girls walk around thinking that every single guy is going to like them because they look so hot with their tiny skirts.  I understand where they are coming from because they want to catch a guy’s attention.  However, sometimes guys can be cruel and make fun of a girl because she shows too much all the time.  They might think that the girl is easy and that she isn’t worth their time.

I think it’s funny how girls don’t want perverted old men to look at them when they are hardly even wearing any clothes.  If they don’t want this happening, they should just watch what they wear.  I’m not saying that girls should dress up as nuns but just cover up a little more.

After all, girls shouldn’t have to expose their body like that in order to get guys to like them.  What matters is what’s inside, not outside.  And looks don’t last forever.  Everyone should know that.

Every Monday through Friday, I am forced to roll out of bed before the sun rises, get dressed, brush my teeth, paint makeup onto my face, and try to reason with my hair.  Sound familiar?  This is a proverbial routine for most teenagers, as school is the commanding factor in daily life.  To add even more fluency into the mix, I wear a school uniform.  Every day, I button a blue plaid skirt around my waist, wiggle my fingers into the sleeves of a buttoned sleeved oxford shirt, and dress my feet in black shoes.

There are many arguments for and against school uniforms.  Some say that uniforms aid students in avoiding distractions in school. Others argue that they strip a student of individuality.  It is certain that uniforms take away most distractions.  For example, uniforms are not comfortable.  Tights itch, girls have to be constantly aware of their skirts, shirts must be tucked in, and hair must be neatly polished. There is no room for laziness.  It helps us to sit up straight and stay alert in school, rather than being lulled to sleep by the comfort of a t-shirt and jeans.  Also, trying to pick out an outfit to wear in the morning is absolutely tedious sometimes, and school uniforms eliminate that frustration.

Many believe that students lose the liberation and expression of individuality when being forced to wear a uniform.  On the contrary, a student’s personality can shine brighter when she isn’t wearing the façade of clothing.  People often try to define themselves by the clothes they wear. Clothes are indeed an expression of personality.

However, true identity is found more deeply in how one acts, not what one wears. For example, when I’m at home, I wear comfortable pajamas. When I’m out with friends, I’ll swap those for leggings, a mini dress, lots of rings, and high heels.  In this process, who I am underneath my clothes doesn’t change.  Wearing a school uniform gives more opportunity to express yourself, because when people see you, they just see you, not the clothes you are hiding behind.  You are forced to express yourself beyond means of superficiality.

Of course, there are days that I wish I could strut into school wearing a new outfit.  Other days I want to roll out of bed and sneak into school wearing just my pajamas.   In the end, I know that my knife pleated skirt and white oxford shirt are to my benefit, and I carry much pride in being able to represent my school in excellence.

This problem mostly occurs with the 6th,7th and 8th graders.  They are lacking self respect and not representing themselves too well as human beings.  All they do is shout profanity like they are proud of it!  If I were them I would be a little bit embarassed.  I think they need to knock it off and calm down… all the way!!!!

I hope their parents will one day realize what they’re acting like at school.

Photo Credit:

This is all fine and dandy, but you may find that nobody is on Facebook or that bogus copyright laws have removed all but a few Muse music videos from YouTube.  The fact that these activities have expired themselves is not encouraging you to complete your work anymore than it was before, right? Behold Hulu.

Hulu is a website featuring extensive streaming video of TV shows and movies from the biggest networks.  It epitomizes convenience; there’s no four-minute commercial to sit through every ten minutes. There are only a few commercial breaks that are just 30 seconds or one longer commercial. But it’s shorter than the average commercial break of a TV show and it’s only at the beginning of the video with none following.

The biggest plus about Hulu is that it’s completely legal.  You can log onto www.hulu.com without the fear of a virus infecting your computer every time you click something or that somebody in the federal government knows you’re watching television online.  Networks and companies are working together to bring you these shows and movies, so you can watch, relax, and enjoy.

Taking all of this into account, Hulu embodies the best procrastination tool ever.  It’s convenient, easy, free, legal, and you can waste away as much of your time as you want.  Watch a 30-second clip of Stewie from “Family Guy” calling Lois’s name (the infamous clip: over ten and a half million views on YouTube), or a 22-minute episode of the latest installment of “The Office”.

At this point, this must seem pretty horrible.  Procrastination has been a fundamental pariah of your personality because of the fact that you can’t rid yourself of it, and here I am showing you an easier and more entertaining way to do it.

Before you laugh Hulu off, consider how many hours a week you waste watching TV, on TV.  It’s Monday night, and you have a huge load of bookwork due for Spanish the next day.  You would’ve done it during the weekend, except your teacher assigned it Monday, giving you only one day to do it. This is a pretty common predicament for most of us.  The conundrum tying up the predicament is that by the time you get home from basketball practice, shower, and eat, it’s just about 7PM and “Heroes” is on TV!  You have the choice of watching it, doing all of your homework into the night and getting a less than optimal amount of sleep.  Or, you could skip “Heroes”, do all of your homework and get a good night’s sleep.  The choice to skip the show is possible because you can go on Hulu anytime after it airs on TV and watch it there!

These contradictory arguments are compatible with both sides of the spectrum, meaning Hulu pleases everybody.  However, there are rumors Hulu will start charging for some of its completely free streaming video.  Also, some episodes of high demand shows like “Glee” expire after a certain amount of time.  So hurry up and fall in love with Hulu the way I did.  And use it as you please, whether or not you’re procrastinating.