The joys of public education

I was talking to a friend of mine who lives in California the other day, and we were comparing classes. Now, I go to a good school. I take hard classes. I work hard, and I like working hard. I don't always feel challenged, but I usually enjoy school.
(Well. I hate waking up, but other than that, it's usually okay.)
It's interesting to me to hear about schools in other parts of the country, so I decided to show what a day in the life of a Missouri teen would be.
In . . .
*drumroll please!!*
PUBLIC SCHOOL!

(I really don't know why people I meet online are always so shocked and horrified by this. But hey, whatever. :D)
So. This is a day in my school schedule.

1st hour:
Honors Geometry
.
If you've been reading my blog for a while now, you've probably heard me whine about this class. I don't like math. Therefor, this class is not that fun. Plus, I either feel not challenged at all or pressed for time in this hour. Not a very interesting hour for me.

2nd Hour:
Spanish 2.

I love the teacher. I like the language. I love the culture. However, it is worksheet after worksheet after worksheet. I memorize and then toss away in the corners of my mind. I couldn't even tell y0u last month's vocab.

3rd Hour:
Biology.

Eh. Equations sometimes. Labs often. Lots of notes. Good teacher, but not my favorite class. Right now, we're doing the various phases of Meiosis.

4th Hour:
Honor's English Two. This is my absoloute favorite class. (Yeah. Surprise, right?) I love the people in it, and I love the subject matter. We're writing book reports right now. (Literary Analysis, excuse me.) Mine is over this book:

I loved the book. It's a true and terrible story about humanity, and I probably wouldn't have read it but for the class.
I loved A Separate Peace earlier this year, and I loved poetry. Grammar, not so much. However, I have learned the power of complete sentences. :D Now I just have to make sure and use that power wisely.

5th hour-Study Period. It's a school wide thing. My teacher hates my class. I hate my class. Often I try and escape to another English teacher who I've actually never had, but I kind of love. It's like half an hour. This is the time I stare mindlessly at my Honor's Geometry book and think If I ever join a career where this stuff is actually needed, I will have failed in life.
(Failed in my life. No discrimination against those who enjoy higher math. My own sister finds it fun. It's freaky, but hey.)

6th hour: American History Two.
History is my favorite subject. Unfortunately, there's no Honors class; he tends to do projects that cater to students who don't care as much, and that tend to frustrate those of us who do. My friend and I are currently doing a project of Khmar Rouge. I'm finding it fascinating.

7th Hour: The biggest waste of my time. The most hated hour. The real reason public education gets a bad rap.
Gym.

It's not my gym, but I would still probably hate it.
I find it stupid and inane.
I have no problem working out, but that isn't what you do. You run twice a week, and the rest of the time play pointless games. Boys jockey for the shot, the catch, or the whatever and most girls don't pay attention. If I liked games, it would be one thing. However, I don't. I REALLY don't.
I could be taking Sociology, Mythology, or Economics. Instead, I waste my brain in Gym to fulfill a pointless requirement.

8th Hour: Debate.

Thank goodness. Debate is my life at times. Yes, it's nerdy. However, it's filled with the most entertaining people I know. This includes my couch, who is equal parts hilarious and terrifying. (One of the only people who can say 'I'm disappointed by that' and get a real reaction. Of course, if you told him this, he'd mock you mercilessly.)
This month's topic is whether or not Obama's plan for troops increases is good for America. We're debating in class, and I get to feel superior because I'm relatively good at debating. After gym, it's needed.

Anyway. That's my relatively boring schedule. Next year I get to take all the fun stuff.
Now, I am off to burn my math homework.
I mean . . . Research Khmar Rouge. Or reread A Long Way Gone. Or . . .
Sigh.
I guess I'm going to do my math.
YUCK.

*Edit* Stay tuned for the fabulous Holly Schindler's interview in the next few days!!

Alert, alert!

So, I sent an email to Hollie Schindler, a local Missouri author who's book will be published later this year. She accepted to do an author interview!!
(Enter my squealing.
Enter more squealing.
Okay, I think it's over now.)
I'm probably going to be sending the email with questions late tomorrow.
This is her book.

(Which I am totally loving the cover for.)
And this is her website.
http://hollyschindler.com/
I was wondering: I know a lot of us have questions. What are some you want me to ask?

Accesorize

I've always had a thing for princess's. I blame Disney for that. My heroes when I was younger? Yeah, well. I'd love to tell you I, like Einstein and many other brilliant minds, worshiped political leaders or a murdered saint or something.
Not quite.
After all, they didn't wear pretty dresses. My heroes totally did.

Belle was smart. She knew about books and she got a really cute prince in the end because she wasn't shallow. (Oh, the irony.)


Anastasia was sarcastic and so there for, a kind of goddess. Plus, she hit Dimitri whenever he was being annoying. Of course, you know, that was before I knew all about abuse and how bad it was.
Fine.
I still find it amusing.

Jasmine had a pet tiger. Really, do I need to say more?
Yes? Well, fine. She was smart, too, and she ran away from her palace because she didn't want to get married. She got to ride on a magic carpet, and she yelled at the guards. So, other than the tiger, she was still pretty cool.
Why am I rambling about Disney Princess's, you may ask?
Well, I'm rambling because they are characters that have enchanted little girls for years. What makes us like them? Is it the dresses, the jewelry and the pet tiger? Or is it the other stuff--the smart stuff, the fiesty stuff, all that?
I think it's kind of both. I mean, it's shallow, but the dresses were really attractive to little girls. The dresses and the jewelry and stuff are their accessories.
In books, you don't like characters who have no accessories. I'm not just talking about the sparkly stuff, either. I mean the sort of thing that makes them individuals. People, on some level, can be defined by what they like. You don't define them by that, but it makes them more real.
For instance, Jace from City of Bones.

He's a character that teenage girls across the country seem to adore. Why? Well, he's snarky, he's cool, and he kicks demon butt. Accessories that define him? Just look at the picture! Tattoos, or steles(Knife thingys, for those of you who haven't read it.) These certainly aren't the things that make who he is, but they help round out the character.
Or what about Hermione Granger? (No, I will not tell you what she is from. If you do not know, then shame on you.)

Well, I guess the shame is void, since it's in the picture. . .
But anyway.
She's bookish. She's always defined by books and by good magic. If she didn't always have a book, it wouldn't matted how much you were told she loves to read. It just wouldn't be the same.
It doesn't have to even be material goods, but I think the material things do help flesh out a character.
It isn't even the immortal battle of showing versus telling in writing. It's just making a character seem real. You can use little things, quirks or weird addictions, to make it happen. A hobby even. In Beastly, by Alex Flinn, the main character likes to garden.

That makes it so much easier to find him human. The accessory is enough to make him real, and turning paper to human beings is amazing.
It's also really difficult. In my opinion, one of the hardest things about writing is making a character real. Yes, I am kind of stuck on this lately. It doesn't matter how well you write, though, if people can't see the character. It doesn't even matter if they love them. It just matters that your character comes to life on the page, breathing and reading and kicking demons back into their dimensions.
I loved Disney princesses because they seemed real. They weren't fluffy, candied girls; they seemed like actual people. Belle had her books. Anastasia had a desire to find her family. Jasmine had her tiger and her curiosity. You could actually see it in them. To make real characters, I think you have to write human (of fayrie/elves/vampires/ect) qualities into the people.
Of course, easier said than done.
However, as many a stylist has said . . .
Thank god for accesories.

Checking in

I actually don't really have much to talk about. However, I'm mildly bored, so here goes.
Hmm.
Well. It's another snow day. This time, the phone rang at a reasonable hour so it's a little easier to enjoy.
I'm at the library again. I was actually going to go talk to one of the librarians, but I didn't think I was coming today, so I didn't mention it--and I really don't want to be that terrible person who shows up randomly. Oh well, I still might.
I'm reading this:

Which is actually kind of good. It's not techincally my favorite genre, but I'm weirdly attracted to it.
On another, more random note, I CANNOT WAIT For this movie!!
I'm sitting here watching the movie trailer and it looks
sooooo good. I cannot wait. I love that series.
Greek Mythology is amazing. I love books about it--that really is my favorite sort of genre.
I'm off to go stare at the trailer. The main guy looks remarkably like Zac Efron to me. . .

Blame the morning

Snow days are lovely, right? Yeah. Well, they are, except when the phone ringing to tell you that it's a snow day wakes you up at five and you can't get back to sleep. After all, sleeping in is the highlight of no school.
Oh well. It's pretty.

Of course, it's still too dark to look like that, but maybe we'll get there.
Anyway, that wasn't what I was going to talk about.
Okay. So, for Christmas, I requested a book about writing. I like them. Sometimes, they can actually be really helpful. Gail Carson Levine's is pretty amazing.

It's short, but worth the read.
However, the one I requested is a little different.
It isn't bad. Some of it's helpful, even. But there's one bit that bugs me.
It's a book about writing YA, so a LOT of it is about getting inside the teenager's head. How it's dark and dangerous and a confusing time. It's like walking down a scary, dark road...
Yes, well, it can be. Sure. But if people go into writing thinking we're all angst filled emos who hate the world, the books that would emerge would NOT be pleasant ones. I've read books like that. We probably all have. You get about half way through them, put them down (or throw/drop/beat them against the wall) and think What?!
It isn't a good What?! either. It's a 'I'm seriously disgusted that you have this opinion of the average American Teenager. This is not how we are.'
It goes to what I was saying the other day. If you can't experience it, please have the decency to try and get it right. Maggie put it really well: use the experiences you have and go from there. If you've been a teenager, even a depressed teenager, you can use that. If you have been a bright, bubbly teenager, you can use that. But even depressed kids have bright spots and even bright teenagers go through depressed phases.
Plus, it isn't that hard to research teenagers. I can think of at least eight blogs that I personally know of all written by kids. If you want to get to know something, you research it. Relationships can be hard, yes, but I still think research can get you halfway there.
As far as I know, most kids are a little scared of something. I am personally prone to having bursts of 'I'm only going to apply to Ivy League Universities and then I'll get accepted nowhere, OH MY GOD I AM GOING TO FAIL AT LIFE' moments. (And I'll get accepted and then have no money when I graduate OH MY GOD moments usually follow.) But that isn't a dark and scary road. Sure, it's a road. But it's more this kind than anything else.

Sure, there's tree. Sure, you can't see too far ahead. I'm sure an occasional suicidal squirrel will run in front of your car and make you swerve and there will probably be a few uber obnoxious drivers who try to take both lanes. But it's there and it's mostly just a pretty way to get where you're going.
(Which, by the way, is not a dark, scary castle. Even though that could be kind of cool too.)

Yeah. I would live there.
Anyway, not the point. Blame the morning for my rambles, maybe, but I think this kind of sums up the other day's post. It's an example of not being able to live something but still pulling through. So many adults have written amazing books. Actually, adults pretty much write all the books. (For now. [; )But there are a few that think kids take the dark road and then completely insult all of us in the process.
Plus, in those books, they don't even end up at the dark castle. They end up at this one.

Note the fairies and flying unicorns. Not even a Pegasus; no, a flying unicorn. It's cool, and it's pretty, and it's every eight year old's dream, but it's also unrealistic.
Most of us aren't going to end up at either. Books that say we will look over the different parts of teenagers and even just the different parts of humans in general.
...
*cricket*
...
Okay. I think I have officially rambled myself out. I'm going to go try and fall asleep. Oh, or I could study. Or do my debate homework. Or research Ivy League colleges and how much they cost.
Or I can go live in a pretty castle. Like this one.

I'm done with the castles now. Promise. Maybe.
...
Okay, fine, probably not.

You can only guess so much

I have a question for all you writers out there.
How do you write about things you haven't experienced?
It's the number one thing you hear about when adults say they're glad they didn't really write as teenagers; they simply hadn't experienced enough. On the other spectrum, though, the memories aren't as fresh and age really has nothing to do with the ability to churn words out. Yes, experience at writing helps; it helps a lot. However, I think a teenager who practices a lot can probably write as well as many adults.
Granted, I hope I'm a better writer when I'm twenty than I am now, but the experience I'm gaining can't hurt.
That got off track. What I'm trying to say is that sometimes, in stories, you come to a knotty situation you know nothing about. I'm not talking about magic or anything; I mean the average stuff. You can avoid it, sometimes, but what about the times you can't?
Do you guess? Do you try and imitate what you've heard? I can make things up pretty easy; magic, spells, villians, ectera. I can research drug addiction or a scrapbooking hobby. That isn't hard. The things that are difficult tend to be relations. How can you talk about a relationship you've never had?
For instance, I can pretty honestly say I haven't been in love.
Nope. That has not been me.
I don't even really believe in all the gooey stuff, if you were to ask me. I'm jaded. The only guy I ever really cared about . . . well, that ended badly. I do, however, like to read about relationships that work. Not in romance novels, but in your typical YA fiction. If there's a guy, I like the book better. Why? Well, it gives me hope that guys get better.
(Please, god, please. Lol.)
It's easy to make stuff up and pretend. How do you know when it seems real though?
It isn't rhetorical, I'm really wondering. I can guess. I can people watch. I can listen to my friends talk about guys they love, but then I tend to get cynical when the dude turns out to be a jerk two weeks later. I can write about crushes, about close guy friends, and about watching a friend do something stupid . . . but I haven't experienced it myself.
I think there's a reason why people often tell you to write what you know. There's something exciting about guessing, and pretending, but on another level, getting it wrong could be disastrous and turn your characters flat. It gives you little dolls instead of real, breathing people on your pages.
I don't want this kind of boy in my stories.

I want this one.


It's a picture that says twelve thousand words. T o name a few; dangerous. Beautiful. Cocky.
But you could go deeper and talk about how he was conflicted and strong and such in a story. You could make him come to life. (I have no idea about the real guy in the picture. He is pretty, though.)
Anyway, that's just one example. This wasn't really triggered by anything, I'm just been wondering. I know teenagers can write and write well. We do it all the time. I'm not posting this as some sort of hook for 'Oh, but you write so well! How could you be worried!?' I'm not. I think I do pretty well for guessing. I'm just wondering how other people do it. Even adults have to guess.
So. . .
What are your methods?

Library bound

A couple days ago, my sister bought World Of WarCraft, a game where the girls kill monsters and yet don't have the sensibility to wear real clothes:

However, you cannot play this game at my house. Why? Well, the internet connection just isn't good enough. (Thank god.) So, now, and for the last three hours and the next two hours of my life, I am at the local library.

It's not that I don't love the library. I do. Really. I even read a book.

But after this much time, it's starting to get old.

Of course, I do have a my sister's friend here with me, who happens to be quite lovely. (Yes, she is reading over my shoulder. Hiya, other, older Sam.) She's currently on my phone and looking at epicfail.com

I think I've created an adict.

Anyway. I wanted to thank Kendra for the website that gave me the new background. I really love the site, and I might not stick with this particular background, but I probably will stick with 'Dotty Dot Dot.' :)

That's pretty much it for now. I'm off to wander the library. It's a really great one; it's huge, for one thing, and the windows have these quotes on them inside. The first time I saw them, I kind of sighed. I mean, come on, quotes about reading are wonderful, but they can be kind of . . . Well, cheesy. (I still love them. I just wasn't impressed.)

Then I actually looked at them.

These are a couple.

What you do, the way think, that's what makes you beautiful. --Uglies

Age is foolish and forgetful when it underestimates youth. --Dumbledore

Wise? No, I simply learned to think. --Eldest

It is easier to floss with barbed wire than to admit you like someone in middle school. --Speak.

The last is true in highschool, too.

Anyway, I quite approve. I want those stenciled on my walls. :D

(Sam, if you're reading this, that is NOT an invitation to start using sharpie to draw on my bedroom walls.)

The best part? In the Dumbledore quote, all of the 'i's are dotted with pretty star thingys that are VERY harry potter esque.

Gah. The library just got invaded by loud teenage boys. I'm running away into the booth we snagged earlier.

More later.