Dear David Intro

" Dear David,

"There are so many days when I feel like giving up- when I feel like when I choose to give myself to God, I loose everyone I ever loved. I was sure you were in his plan for me. I love you and just as I get my life strait, I oose. you. I loose you and fall right back down. It'f funny how things work- when your happy and don't want anything to change, He'll take it all away just to give you a little perspective.

"But for every day I feel like giving up there are two when I'm happy for what we had when you were here. And when I feel like giving up I think of what you would ask me . You'd ask 'Why don't Spartain Women give up?' I'd laugh and say, 'Because we need Spartain Women to give birth to Spatain Men.' So for you Sparta, I'll stay strong. I love you.

"Your devoted sister,
"Beth"

I read the letter one last time, and with a sad smile and tears welling in my eyes, I hand it to the mortition.

"Could you tuck this in his breast pocket?" He nodded solemnly and took the letter from me. And he began to walk away.

Leif Ericson Claymation

For the past month, we have been working on stop frame claymation movies in American Studies class. My movie was about the first European explorer to step foot on North American soil, Leif Ericson, son of famous Viking explorer, Eric the Red. I learned a lot while making my movie and a lot of what I learned had nothing to do with explorers or Leif. I learned a lot about myself while making Leif Ericson: The first North American Exploration. It was a fun and difficult project.
I had a ton of fun making the sets, props, and characters. I’m a right-brained person, so the artistic part of the project really appealed to me. It was interesting to see how we could make our figures stand up straight and be practical, while still making them visually pleasing. My partner, Kelsey, and I had a very different view on what the people should look like. We decided that one of us should make the people, and the other one would make the sets and props. I ended up with making the people, which proved a challenge, as they always fell down! Eventually, we make the sets and characters look as perfect (and be as practical) as they ever would be. I enjoyed that challenge. But the challenge of making the figures was nothing compares with the challenge of working with Kelsey.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Kelsey Crooks to death, but working with her was harder than I’d expected. We fought constantly and it was hard to get anything done. I think that that is why we turned in a few animations late-because we spent so much time arguing and not enough time working to get our project done on time. Though we are the best of friends outside of class, our personalities clash too much to be in the work environment together. Kelsey is very laid back and takes things as they come. I, on the other hand, am very controlling and refused to give her the control and input that she deserved. I think I was a little bit over bearing and lost my temper easily, so that stressed Kelsey out, and as a result, we communicated poorly. I need to let some of that control go and figure out how to be more like Kelsey.
I learned a lot of new things while working on this project, and though I learned a lot about the first Europeans who came to our country, I think I learned more about myself. I learned about my strong points and short comings. I never realized how controlling I could be. I realized that the very thing that made me strong on my own made me feeble in a group setting. On the other hand, I learned that I was good at solving problems. Weather it was problems with Kelsey, problems with our characters, or problems that another group needed help with, I was able to fix it. I think that that made our group stronger. We were able to overcome communication problems and even technical problems due to my problem solving skills.
The stop frame project was a good experience. I had fun doing it and learned more than I’ve ever learned while working on a single project. Technical skills and problem solving are qualities that the students of American Studies class will take with them and use in the future. I’m glad we did this project and hope we do more like it.

Halloween

Hey. Sorry I haven't written in a while. My computer had a virus, so I couldn't get on to blogger.

I had a great time last Wednesday (Halloween!!!!!). I went to my friend Sarahs house after school. I dressed up as Sally from the Nightmare Before Christmas. Sarah was Pocahantus. We went to her church for dinner and they had a haunted house. It was fun. I met alot of new people and her bishop. The Mormons are really nice-I don't agree with alot of what they believe in, but as a people, they are good. The haunted house was really scary!!! This guy named Kip grabbed Sarahs legs and she fell ontop of him and I fell ontop of Sarah. It was dark and we couldn't see anything. I screamed so loud!!!!! Her brother, Nick, grabbed my shoulders and I was so scared, I cried. But all in all it was a good night.