Before I watched this movie, I was pumped and felt a jolt of excitement. And as I was watching the movie, it was almost everything I had imagined. Filled with depressing moments and characters struggling to survive, the movie had an overall dark tone. I was just as unaware of what was going on as the characters were, and it felt like I was with them, trying to figure out a way out of the mysterious maze. When comparing the Maze Runner to the Hunger Games, both stories involve teens dealing with surviving in a harsh and unfamiliar environment, fighting merciless beasts and even each other, all under a larger supremacy. Even though the Maze Runner was similar in many ways to other post-apocalyptic movie adaptions, such as the Hunger Games series, it still felt very fresh. Furthermore, the performances of the actors were excellent, realistic, and enriched the movie. They were emotional, intense, and exhilarating at the right moments. The ending of the movie will leave you confused, but it serves as a way to bridge the sequel, scheduled for release in September 18, 2015. Yet, I still felt they could’ve pulled off a much stronger ending. This movie truly made me think and reflect on the intriguing story. For those of you who do not enjoy watching a dark story with violent scenes, this movie is not for you, however, I would still recommend giving it a chance. And for those of you who enjoyed the Hunger Games, the Maze Runner is sure to be a fun time. Although the movie had its fair share of some confusing moments that did not totally connect and a mediocre ending, overall, I would give the Maze Runner a B+ rating.
The room is dark, the floor is shifting. As Thomas (portrayed by Dylan O’Brian) realizes where he is, the ceiling opens up, light shines upon him, and all eyes are on him. Thomas is immediately greeted by other boys brought into the isolated field, surrounded by towering walls. After Alby (portrayed by Aml Ameen) shows Thomas around the building society and tells him of its history, Thomas quickly grows curious as to why they were all sent into the maze and attempts to find a way out. No one has any memory of their past life, but their names. No one knows what to do, but escape the maze and return to civilization once more.
Before I watched this movie, I was pumped and felt a jolt of excitement. And as I was watching the movie, it was almost everything I had imagined. Filled with depressing moments and characters struggling to survive, the movie had an overall dark tone. I was just as unaware of what was going on as the characters were, and it felt like I was with them, trying to figure out a way out of the mysterious maze. When comparing the Maze Runner to the Hunger Games, both stories involve teens dealing with surviving in a harsh and unfamiliar environment, fighting merciless beasts and even each other, all under a larger supremacy. Even though the Maze Runner was similar in many ways to other post-apocalyptic movie adaptions, such as the Hunger Games series, it still felt very fresh. Furthermore, the performances of the actors were excellent, realistic, and enriched the movie. They were emotional, intense, and exhilarating at the right moments. The ending of the movie will leave you confused, but it serves as a way to bridge the sequel, scheduled for release in September 18, 2015. Yet, I still felt they could’ve pulled off a much stronger ending. This movie truly made me think and reflect on the intriguing story. For those of you who do not enjoy watching a dark story with violent scenes, this movie is not for you, however, I would still recommend giving it a chance. And for those of you who enjoyed the Hunger Games, the Maze Runner is sure to be a fun time. Although the movie had its fair share of some confusing moments that did not totally connect and a mediocre ending, overall, I would give the Maze Runner a B+ rating.
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Cinder by Marissa Meyer is one of my favorite books of 2014. It is filled with just the right amount of action and suspense and humor that you'll be left sitting at the edge of your seat wanting more. When I was reading it I could never put it down. The story is so good that you can re-read it over and over again without getting bored.
Cinder was based off of the Cinderella fairy tale, but there are a lot twists. Cinder is set in the future, after World War 4, in a place called New Beijing. The character Cinder is a cyborg, one of her stepsisters is nice, and the prince actually has a name. There are also people living on the moon with special powers, an (evil) queen. There is also a deadly disease spreading all across earth. The characters in this story are really fun to read about. They all have different aspects that make them really awesome and easy to connect with. We also have the antagonists. They were really well written, and even though you did still see where they were coming from, though I still didn’t like them very much. Cinder is the first in a 5 book series, including a sequel novel. All the books are based on different fairy tales, but hey all connect into one big story. If you do read Cinder and are not sure if you want to continue or not I highly encourage you too! The story just gets better and better with every book. Being an Edmonds Woodway Warrior can have a different meaning for different people. A senior could say freshmen don’t know what it means to be a Warrior, and they are probably right. Freshmen have only been at EWHS for about a year when seniors have been here for three and a half years, that’s why they win almost every competition between the classes. But the time I’ve spent at EWHS has given me an idea of what it is to be a Warrior, I have learned that taking your academics seriously is a big part to being a EW Warrior, respecting staff and peers, being responsible, and the most fun part showing school spirit at sports games. These are all important parts of being a Woodway Warrior.
Having school spirit is huge at Woodway and you learn that quickly. So dressing up in school spirit gear is never looked down upon because we want our athletes to know that we are there to support them and we believe in them. School spirit is such a easy thing to have too because its fun, like the Friday night football games are my favorite because you can wear the craziest things that are purple and green and no one is going to look at you funny because they will probably look ridiculous too. Another way to show school spirit is participating in spirit weeks. Homecoming spirit week is the best and almost everyone does it! You actually stand out more when you don’t dress up then the people who do dress up because that’s how many people participate. There’s more to being an Edmonds Woodway warrior then just dressing up in spirit gear. Being an EWHS warrior also means being a good student and citizen outside of school. Being respectful to other citizens and staying safe and responsible as possible are good ways to ensure that Woodway students have the good reputation we deserve. I wanted someone else’s view on what it meant to them to be a Warrior, so I asked my friend and fellow student what it meant to her to be a Woodway Warrior. “ To be a Edmonds Woodway Warrior is to be better then meadowdale obviously… to be a good person, balance school, academics, sports, and your life outside of school”. I couldn’t agree more with her, I hope now you have some idea about what it means to be a Warrior. Being a good Edmonds Woodway Warrior is important to me because if you think about how much time we spend at school, we spend a lot of our teenage years here. Why spend them them with anything but pride and fun? I am proud to be a Edmonds Warrior and I hope you are or become one too. Bump, set, spike! Beach volleyball is a sport loved by men and women, boys and girls, and people everywhere. It is my personal favorite and I think it is a great activity. Beach is played with two people to a side, on a 26'3" x 52'6" court. This court is smaller than an indoor court because there are only two players, instead of six. If you are interested in playing beach volleyball or want to watch it over the summer months of June, July, and August, you can go to Alki beach in Seattle and sign up for a tournement or enjoy watching juniors play! The schedule and tournament sign ups will be posted sometime in early June on this website http://psrvb.org/outdoor. Age groups range from 12-18 years old and you can compete in doubles or fours. Cost varies per tournament but it is about $40. I personally love competing each summer with different partners and have been doing it for three years. So if you are bored over the summer and want to try something new, head out to the beach and enjoying a game of beach volleyball!
The sport I really love, motivates me to do even better if I want to achieve any success in the sport. This sport really drives me to be at my one hundred percent playing as an athlete. This sport is loved by millions worldwide. In America this sport is known as soccer but to the rest of the world it is known as futbol.
Soccer to me is a passion of mine that I deeply adore. Day in and day out whenever I have the chance to go out and play I enjoy soccer. Soccer to me has grown over the years. I had played on my first team when I was about fifteen years old. When I always played on the field I would always learn from playing on field with my teammates. I learned several factors from playing soccer with my teammates to be successful such as learning to cooperate with people, being patient when we’re losing can compare to having patience when I have a difficult moment that’s impatient, and I have also learned to be humble when I have a talent playing soccer. I had also learned many personal lesson’s that soccer taught me. When I played soccer it made me increase my intelligence when I came in and out of the field. The biggest impact that soccer had in my life was playing every second in every game I played and gave my best to show out. The atmosphere that I most love about playing in every soccer game would be the competition. The competition that every soccer game felt like was a heated argument between players if we were losing or it would be more positive talk such as motivating teammates on the pitch. The atmosphere of playing a soccer game is going your all out to prove that your worth to stay on the starting squad and winning every game when we can. Every game that I played its atmosphere would be a nerve wreck I’m one of those people who can motivate teammates but I can’t seem to stop that feeling of being really nervous in every game. Whenever I have chances to shine out in a soccer game I do. I like to take those opportunities and show all the people that doubted me for being on a soccer team and prove them wrong that I am worthy enough to say I’m better than other average players. Before every game I like to do a ritual and that’s pray before every game for an advantage. This calms me down so I can play with no worries because I’ll know that I’ll do well in every game when I’m truly focused. Just like every sport out in the world, I just want to motivate every individual that plays a sport that’s feeling bad about themselves. The biggest moments I faced when I played soccer was getting cut from the high school team my sophomore year. The next year after my sophomore year was my junior year and I told myself “I’m going to make the team this year.” I did just that, I proved every one wrong that doubted me, that’s what motivated me I had that capacity by working really hard. I’ve worked harder than others and that’s what drove me to get better and also having that dedication to practice every day. Like every athlete in the world they practice to get better and better to perform at the professional level that they do. I compare myself to an athlete, because of the hard work I put in by performing at my best but when times are rough I motivate myself to get better at a mistake I made in the field. All the hard work that someone puts in at a sport or any activity you like you can motivate yourself by improving like I did and that’s my blog talks about. My message is “Whatever sport or activity you like work hard at it to motivate yourself to improve beyond expectation.” Fascinated by the world of technology? Ever found yourself deeply engaged in science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM)? Then joining the Technology Student Association, otherwise known as TSA, would suit your interests best!
TSA is a great way for anybody to learn and get involved with the rapidly growing tech based future. Having competitive events ranging from entering mock debates or interviews, making your own music or videogame, or even designing and creating your own miniature dragster or bridge, the options can be limitless. With 35 different types of events for individuals to participate in, TSA can be for anyone. TSA is one of the newer clubs at EW; set up this year! Having only a few competitions to show other schools what we got, TSA has competitions at the regional, state, and national level. TSA not only benefits to your technical skills, it helps you learn about career opportunities and it looks great on college applications. While attending the competitions can be costly upfront, the experience makes it worthwhile. Interested in TSA? Follow the link to learn more! http://www.washingtontsa.org/ The following document has ideas for being organized at school that include three ways to organize your binder using every day office supplies!
Given the severity of North Korea’s political prison camps and the multitude of human rights violations committed in the country daily, surprisingly little attention regarding this issue has been shown in the public sphere. Increased awareness and understanding of the human atrocities committed in North Korea will help bring aid to those who need it and hopefully prevent similar situations.
Yet little to none has been done to put an end to these prison camps. We are waiting for others to fix this situation while we turn a blind eye to the victims in the North Korean prison camps. This is not an attitude we should adopt and teach the kids of our future generation. We need to take action and help those who are struggling through depraved living circumstances and grave social injustices. The camps originated after USSR control, when Kim II Sung became president. The purpose of North Korea’s prison camps is to punish those authorities deem as ‘disloyal’. Approximately 200,000 people are known to be held in prison camps. This includes individuals who committed anti-revolutionary acts such as criticizing North Korea’s leadership and/or government, engaging in any form of contact with other countries or even being related or an acquaintance of an individual caught committing such acts (guilt by association), and there are plenty more unfair convictions and most often convicted individuals are not given the opportunity to face trial. The labor camps are organized by two zones; the Total Control Zone and the Revolutionary Zone. Prisoners in the Total Control Zone are given harsher punishments and are never released. Whereas the Revolutionary Zone houses individuals authorities deemed to have committed less severe crimes. North Korean Prison camps commit several appalling human violations. The United Nations Human Rights have reported that North Korea has committed “…crimes against humanity entail extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence, persecution on political, religious, racial and gender grounds, the forcible transfer of populations, the enforced disappearance of persons and the inhumane act of knowingly causing prolonged starvation.” The prisoners living in the labor camps have to endure countless beatings, starvation, insensitive methods of torture, and much more disturbing brutalities. In one case, a 13 year old boy was forced to stay in a cell where he was unable to stand or lie down for eight months because he was being disruptive. Lee Young-guk was a prisoner in the notoriously harsh political camp known as Yodok. He was captured while attempting to ‘defect to South Korea’. He talks about the cruel punishments and living conditions of Yodok including public executions that take place every week. In addition, family members or friends of the sentenced individual who cry at the executions are arrested on the spot and taken into the detention center to be executed. Many prisoners have been killed by execution and that number as far as we know, is steadily rising. In addition to the beatings and torture, prisoners are deprived of sleep and food. In fact, forty percent of prisoners die from malnutrition. Kang Chol-Hwan, now a journalist in South Korea, had spent 10 years in a prison camp. He was sent to the camp at the age of nine because his grandfather ‘fell out of favor with the elite’. He had almost died three times from malnutrition and exhaustion and had to eat mice, insects, and grass in order to stay alive. In another case, a woman who survived one of North Korea’s infamous labor camps had been sent to camp along with her four children and parents for gossiping about the regime’s former leader. She had spent nine years in Yodok, and her parents and 9 year old daughter as well as three sons- the ages 7, 4, and 1 all died from starvation. Kang Chol-Hwan compares Yodok to Auschwitz. "It was like Hitler's Auschwitz concentration camp, not as large and there is a difference in the way people are killed. Hitler gassed people, Kim Jong Il sucked the life out of people through starvation and forced labor." Stalin’s gulags were around half long as North Korea’s prison camps. Nazi concentration camps were 1/12 as long as North Korea’s political prison camps. An escapee named Shin Dong-Hyuk is the only person known to have been born and raised from the Total Control Zone and escaped. His story is revealed in a book called Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West by Blaine Harden. Shin gives outsiders a first-hand description of life inside camp 14. For a long time, Shin believed the world consisted of only prisoners and guards. I am impressed and motivated by Shin’s efforts to persevere and bring attention to the horrors that are currently transpiring in North Korea. What outrages me, is the lack of public awareness and action to help those in the labor camps. The ignorance of the continuation of the prison camps is still ongoing. North Korea’s shroud of secrecy prevents us from recognizing all the horrors and barbarities happening. If we continue to dismiss the human rights violations coming from North Korea, I fear we will one day discover the true horrors occurring and regret not taking action sooner. I have included a petition below to end the prison camps and ask every reader to take a look at it. I urge you to look further into this topic, tell others this information, and support this cause. By increased public awareness, we can then influence the global community to take action for the unconscionable acts committed in North Korea. http://forcechange.com/14528/shut-down-horrific-north-korean-political-prison-camp/ Sources: Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West by Blaine Harden. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/escape-from-camp-14-blaine-harden/1103847959?ean=9780143122913 http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/17/world/asia/north-korea-bodyguard-yodok/ http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/27/world/asia/north-korea-labor-camps-hancocks/index.html http://abcnews.go.com/International/north-korean-prison-camp-atrocities-detailed-report/story?id=22550914 http://www.buzzfeed.com/tasneemnashrulla/watch-former-political-prisoners-detail-the-horrors-of-north#.ckL7oqZQq Heather had started running a little quicker, since she had heard the lightning. When she got to her house, she nearly screamed.
There were foot prints in her lawn leading to a broken window, the drapes waving in the wind. She then saw the mailtruck by her fence. She ran over to take a look inside. The keys were gone, and the mail bag was nearly empty. There was a McDonald’s Egg McMuffin sitting on the passenger seat with a half empty large orange juice in the cup holder. The sandwich was still warm; which meant whoever was there, wasn't there very long before leaving. She ran inside, noticing—and grabbing—the envelope along the way. She closed the door and sat down as she opened the envelope. Heather read the information and began to fill out the information, not knowing that whoever was in her house, actually never left. Mike could hear Heather filling out the information. The adrenaline rush was still strong. His hands were shaking more than they ever had. He was sweating so bad, he looked like he just got out of the shower. Just to add to the issue, he probably smelled pretty gross, considering he was up all night, researching photos or her and downloading Heather’s information. He began to walk slowly down the stairs. Mike knew it was a bad idea, but he wanted to see if he could make it to the door. Her stairs were wooden and creaky. So with each step he took, came more and more fear, adrenaline, and sweat. Unfortunately, Mike had forgotten about his wet shoes, and that was when he slipped and fell eight stairs to the bottom floor, banging against the wall, and knocking down pictures. Once Mike could move again, he looked at the kitchen table. On the table were a cup of coffee, a pen, and the paper. The missing knife in the knife holder was the one thing he didn't see. Heather peaked around the corner and saw someone who looked very familiar to her. She thought for a couple seconds and remembered the mail truck. The thought of him actually in her house frightened her so horribly that she dropped the knife in her hand. The clang of then it hit the wooden floor seemed too loud to go unheard. She could only pray that the man didn't find her. She bent over carefully to pick it up, never losing sight of it. She grabbed it and began to straighten up again. The creepy mailman was standing and staring at her. She screamed at the sudden sight of this man smiling, while staring into her eyes holding a knife. She swung at him with every bit of strength. It was all she had left. Her flying fist was caught by his massive hand, and the knife was ripped from her grasp. The next thing she knew, her hands were on her stomach. She could feel something warm and wet. She looked down to her shirt, horrified by what she saw. Her shirt was red and dripping with her own blood. On her hands, she could feel the sticky liquid slowly making its way down the back of her hand. She attempted to scream, when the yell was cut off, by the feeling of a very fast, and excruciatingly painful slit along her upper neck. That was when everything stopped. The thinking, the feeling, even the struggling. She dropped to the floor, hitting her head on the counter on the way down. Heather didn't even feel a thing. She hit the floor, and the last thing she saw was a brown boot headed, quickly, in her direction. |
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