Conflict in Rwanda

My opinion on the conflict in Rwanda its not just one group responsible for the start of this war but all have contributed. Some groups, such as the interahamwe, have contributed more then others but are all a cause to the start of this bloody conflict.

Belgium is deffinatly a big impact on this problem. If they didn't go into Rwanda and split up the 2 main groups the Hutus and the Tutsis and give out indentity cards. The made it so the Tutsis had more power which greatly upsetted the Hutus and staarted this conflict.

Another big impact is the Interahamwe group. They were led by Juvenal who was killed in a plane crash in 1994. THis crash could have been caused by the RPF. This event also started up alot of contiversy in this country. Juvenal raised the Interahamwe an motivated their killing of the Tutsis by money land, being brainwashed and sparing their own lives. It is a fact that this group is responsible for most of the deaths in Rwanda.

The United States also caused many deaths even though they were are far away from Rwanda. Us not getting involved concluded in a huge amount of deaths. If our military woulg get over the little embarassment we experienced in somolia and put thesesuffering people ahead of ourselves then many innocent lives would be spared because of our strong military.

Therefore, this war in Rwanda is not just one group or persons responsbility but many. Every major group in Rwanda and even around the world all impact the deaths in this country.

In our classs discussion about the Rwandan conflict it was very difficult for me to support the Interahamwe because of their unncassary killing.

In character (memeber of Interahamwe) the fault was put on Juvenal and somewhat the RPF. Juvenal brainwashed, forced and threatened us to perform these killings. If we stayed as moderate Hutus in this war we would not have survived the slaughtering by the RPF. It was either kill or be killed for us. And we sometimes had to kill pregnant women and children because they were being raised into RPF soldiers and would continue the killing of the Hutus.

I have learned so much about this conflict. Before our discussion i knew almot nothing about this event and afterwards i can answer almoat any question about it. This discussion made it possible for me to lookj a t this conflict from different peoples points of view. And if certain events were done differently or never happened then it would impact the war greatly and things could happen much differently.

American Scholar

Emerson's argument in "The American Scholar" about American society still holds true today.

One reason Emerson's argument still hold true today is because once you go to college you focus on one career path for the future. In college your educaion and classes are all focused on teaching if you want to be a teacher or engineering if you want to be an engineer. We widen our knowledge on a variety of things not just one.

In the article Emerson states, "Man is not a farmer, or a professor, or an enigineer but he is all." He is saying this is not how America is today and it needs to be this way in the near future. He is saying people become the job they perform and nothing else and we need to keep our lives open to all jobs and skills and not focus on one to put a complete stable society into existence.

Halloween

Almost all the orange, red and yellow leaves have fallen from the tree branches. Children wonder from house to house dreesed as all sorts of creatures. They carry a large bag of candy upon their shoulders anxious to dig in. These are just some of the reasons why Halloween is my favorite holiday.

Every year my friends and I Trick-or-Treat in the neighborhood, Coventry Gardens. This neighborhood, in my opinion, is the biggest in Livonia and has all the best candy. After we have visited almost every house in Coventry Gardens, we all go to my friend Julia's house (in Coventry Gardens) to trade, sort and eat our candy. After the long procees of organizing our candy we go to the neighborhood bonfire. This bonfire is no ordinary bonfire though, it is the largest bonfire you would ever see. Piles and piles of wood are stacked up high to probably about 15 feet or more.

This year was a tough year to decide on a costume. But finally with two days before Halloween my friend and I have decided to be cells. Although this is a very different costume then most ordinary people would wear we are excited and confident that the candy passer-outers will think it's a creative costume and give us extra candy and maybe we'll even get extra credit for science class.

This year our traditions have changed, however. After trick-or-treating and after the bonfire, we won't immeidiately be heading back to Julia's house. Before sleeping over at her house, Julia's sister is going to drive us to our friend, Cortney's house where she is having a Halloween party. We are going to eat and trade our candy there and play pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey but a jack-o-lantern version.

Corn Maze

It was finally the night every high school student lives for, Friday night. There was always an exciting event to look forward to, if it wasnt a dance it was a football game, or just a good time with your closest friends.

It was a perfect fall Friday night with no footall game, dance or any other extracurricular activities to participate in. I gazed out the window observing the yellow, red and orange leaves of the trees. I could smell the scents of fall through my cracked window. These characteristics of this beautiful fall season tempted me to embrace the outdoors therefore tonight would be a trip to the cider mill. I called my two closest friends and put on my warmest sweater.

We had finally arrived after a long impatient drive. We were welcomed by a scene that consisted of hay rides, a pumpkin patch, cows, a donut hut and a massive cornmaze. As expected, we immediatly went to the donut hut for those delicious homemade sugared donuts and fresh cider.

After 3 donuts each we went to visit the cows and take pictures of them. When we finished taking what seemed to be a hundred meaningless pictures of cows we decided we would take on the difficult challenge of the corn maze.

We impatiently waited in line for the hay ride that would take us out to the corn maze. We passed bonfires surronded by families and a large overpicked pumpkin patch to arrive to the massive complicated corn maze that mos people would think to be impossible to finish, escpecially because when it was Rebecca, Julia and I wondering this difficult cornmaze.

We entered the tall corn stalks not sure of which direction to explore. Left, right or straight, was always the question that came to mind whenever we entered a fork in the path. It had almost beem an hour when we found the first cedar tree and we were about ready to give up. On our way out of the maze we got lost a couple times but surprisingly managed to find the two other trees while we were lost.

The bright lights towards the front of the maze guided us towards the exit. The hay ride trailor waited for us as the driver saw us approaching. The bumpy ride led us away from our great adventures in the cornmaze. We took a quick stop at the cider mill store for fall candy and headed back home.

An ordinary Friday night became an excelent fall adventure for the three of us!

A couple weeks ago a small amount of water was found on the moon. This exciting new discovery inspired scientists and organizations all over the world, to conduct new experiments that would lead to the finding of more water or possibly a living species ont the moon.



NASA is the first to take action and have decided to crash two probes into the moon. This will remove the first layer of the moon's surface so we can see if their is any water beneath the ground



This experiment will cost millions in tax dollars for american citizens and most people will ask, is it really worth it? What if water isnt even found on the moon then all that money and effort will be a waste. And if water is found on the moon, how will this effect us? Won't it just encourage Obama to spend more money for research on the moon when the country is trillions of dollars in debt without blowing huge amounts of money on space projects?

Personally, I think that the discovery of an amount of water on the moon is huge, but at the moment, I think there are more important things to spend money on, or maybe just not spending money, and pay back our trillion dollar debt. Our country has an extremely low employment rate, so instead of putting millions of dollars into trying to find water on the moon, we should spend money on creating more jobs for americans, which more directly effecs the majority of the country. I think we should save the water-on-moon project for a time when money isn't as tight. Or, if scientists push to do the project right now, they should do it with NASA's money instead of peoples tax dollars. I highly doubt that people would want their money spent on trying to find water on the moon at the moment.

New Adventures New Blunders

Alexi Kliza

6th hour

New Adventures New Blunders

I eagerly watched the clock as the minute hand ticked closer and closer to 11:39.

"Lunch time", Frau Rom announced.


Yes finally! I jumped out of my seat and scurried towards the exit struggling to

squeeze past my classmates. We were like a heard of animals pushing, shoving and racing to

obtain our prey, or in students' terms, lunch time. As I meandered through the crowded

hallway, my stomach growled so loud it could be heard from the end of D hall.

I quickly turned the dial of the locker, right, left then right again.

"Come on Lexi hurry up", my friend nagged as I shuffled through loose papers and

note books to find my backpack. I couldn't understand how I could possibly be this unorganized

already. I quickly pried my new American Eagle bag from the bottom of my locker, searching

the blue interior finding nothing but my math book. I began to panic; it couldn't be, no lunch on

the first day!

I gloomily dragged behind my friends, lunch less, to the cafeteria. The aroma of pizza

immediately filled the air as we approached the lunch room. We scanned the cafeteria searching

for open seats. Nothing was available, considering it was as crowded as Target on Black Friday.

After spending over half the lunchtime traveling back and forth from north cafeteria

to south cafeteria, we finally managed to squeeze myself and my four friends on only two seats.

I spent the rest of lunch mooching food off of my friends.

Even though this first day of lunch was somewhat terrible I learned from the experience

just like we will learn from the many mistakes that will be made in high school and the future.

That day I learned to always have a backup plan in case I ever forget my lunch again.

The vigorous speed and agility and sacrifice of parties and time with friends for practice would be put to the test for the Midewest Regional Tournament in Sioux Falls South Dakota. Our convidence was as high as ever after we were crowned champions of the State Cup and were appointed a new title, the best u13 girls soccer team in michigan, and this was quite the title to hold.



The Regional tournament is held every year in during summer for both boys and girls, ages u13 to u18 All the regions in the country hold this tournament. The State Cup champion of each state in the midwest region attends this tournament, so it contains some very difficult competition. If you win regionals all the ages above u13 conyinue onto the National Tournament.



We began our season very poorly and were known to many teams as the underdog. We would never be thought as state cup finalists or much less even make it make it to regionals. But when we played in the quarter,semis and finals our performance surprised all spectators and shocked everyone when they heard the news of our victories.



Two weeks beforebregionals we worked as hard as ever to get to our highest fitness and skill so we would be ready to face our competition.



It was two days before regionals and we began the long dreadful trip to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. we drove hours and hours with a view of nothing but farms. Finally we entered a small town outside of Sioux Falls where our motel was. We enterd the motel parking lot seeing a semi truck in almost every parking space. Our room was nice for a motel but not even close to our usual standard. The little island that laid in the middle of the parking lot was where we would play games, eat and have meetings.



The next day we began our games. Our first two oponents were Kentucky and Nebraska, we resulted in victory for each of these games. We had only one more game in the preliminary round against South Dakota, if we were victorious of this game we would continue on to the semis. The last seconds of the game passed by and the whistle blew as we screamed in excitement, "semis here we come".



Game day was here and we were warmed up and focused on a win. The team we faced were the Chicago Eclipse, a very good aggressive team. We all worked hard the whole game , it was close but losing was not an option for us.



We now had made it to the finals, all of us sore and tired, but ready. We faced Carmel from Indiana, who in my opinion was the best team I have ever played. I could feel the extra practices and difficult sprints working to our advantage and all the hard practice sessions would deffinatly be worth it in the end. It was 2-1 when the whistle blew and I experienced the greates feeling possible.



That day our team, the Michigan Hawks, were crowned the best in the midwest.

A,B,C's

A-Apple Strudel, this german treat is one of my favorites because of it's sweet apple filling and flakey crust. My grandma makes this delicious dessert every Sunday and hers is deffinatly the best since she is from germany so she knows the traditional recipe.
Athletic, I love to play sports. Exercising is an important key to a healthy life and I make sure that I do physical activity everyday. Staying fit and active is a top priority in my life and i think more americans should consider exerdise in their everyday life.

B-Believe, my opinion on this word "believe" is if you believe in yourself and others you can accomplish almost anything. If you convince yourself you can get an A in science and really believe and work hard there is a very likely chance that you will suceed at this. So my advice for anyone who is struggling with something in your life, whether its sports or school, just believe in your self.
Barbie Dolls, this toy was unbelievably popular during my toddler years. I remeber being so anxious on christmas eve nights to play with my new barbie I would recieve on christmas morning.

C-Crew, this is a soccer team or better known to the Hawks(my soccer team) as our rival team. We faced the crew many times throughout the season inconsistently resulting in either a win or a loss. Then we faced the Crew in, too many the most important game of our lives, the State Cup Finals.

D-Dessert, my most favorite meal of the day! I love all types of dessert, chocolate, cake, ice cream and all others you can think of. I eat sweets everyday and usaully more then once. :)

E- Ego Waffles, these, along with strawberries and bacon, is my ideal breakfast on Saturday mornings.
Eager,I am always in a rush everywhere I go. Eager to get here eager to get there i have to make everything on time no matter what the consquences are.

F-Friends have such a big impact on my life. How I talk, what activities I'm involved in can both be influenced by the friends i have. Sometimes a certain group of friends can have a negative impact in your life and pressure you into doing the wrong actions. These are the kind of friends you should deffinatly stay clear of.

G-Goalie,my goalie career for soccer lasted about 1 year and never again will I play this position. I was probably the worst goalie any coach has seen in their career and to make matters worse i was scared of the ball to so I would dodge out of the way of every shot.

H-Heat, I love hot summer afternoons by the pool. Hot weather is by far my favorite over cool fall evenings and freezing winter mornings. I love the sun beating down on you and the feeling of a possible sunburn approaching.

I- Igloo, when I was younger, my neighbors and I built an igloo out of the snow every winter. This was what I always looked forward to during the cold days of fall when I was missing the summer.

J- Justin Timberlake, one of my most favorite R&B singers. I love most of his songs because they are so original and different from the mojority of the other R&B songs that are popular amongst teenagers today.

K-Kliza, My family name passed down from many generations. A German name passed from my great great grandfather to my grandfather to my dad. Unfortunatly this name will not be continued to be passed down because the rest of my family consists of girls.

L-Laugh, I say its contageous. You start laughing then all of a sudden the whole room is in an uproar of giggles and smiles. Without laughter what would this world come to?

M-Magic, is there such a thing? I dont believe so. I wanted to be a magcisian when i was five but when i discovered that the quarter trick was just an illusion i was really upset. Now as a teenager I wish there was still a little magic in my life.

N-Nature, I remember adventures through the forest trails in my backyard. My neighbors and I acted as Indians and explorers, examining the different specias of trees and flowers.O

O-Olympics, My dream I have been constantly working to suceed at. Since i forst watched the olympics i wanted to be satnding at the tallest podium proudly holding the gold metal aroung my neck as the champion of the the world for soccer.

P-Presenting, the thing I am most fearful of. Standing in front of all those people staring up at you, I always seem to choke on words and stutter when the nerves come along. But after practicing and memorizing my presentation i gain confidence and may even result in doing well.

Q-Professor Quirrel, my least favorite character in my very favorite movie, Harry Potter. Harry and every other Hogwarts student and professer were completly oblivious to his true identity. It was a surprise to everyone when he unraveled his turbon and revealed Voldemort.

R-Running,I absolutely despise this type of physical exercise. Although it keeps you in shape quite well, it is pretty hard ecspecially when you are running competitivly.

S-Swings, a vital part of my childhood. Many competitions were invented on swings. How high can you swing, how far can you jump off and dont touch the ground. Underdogs were a very hard skill to master with the swings.

T-Teddy Bears, a childhood friend for many kids including myself. I couldnt wait for trips to Build a Bear to create a new friend with just the exact characteristics I would want for it to have. I could pick its clothes and accesories just to match its personality.

U-Umbrella, very useful on a rainy day. Occasionally rainy days are nice, but if it is constantly raining for many days the gloomy gray clouds and dampness of the air is just too much. But iI must admit it is always fun to dance in the rain!

V-Vacume Cleaning a chore that is pretty easy for me unless it is my basement which is a riduculously large area to vacume. It takes forever and my dad makes sure every speck of dust is gone before the task is over.

W- Waterfalls, my favorite physical feature on feature on earth. When I went to see the Sioux Falls in South Carolina, it was one of the most breathtaking scenery I could imagine. The water spilling over the rocks and into the pool below it just amazes me.

X-Xylophone, an instrument that my grandma has. I would always play the rainbow colored keys and would try to make a rythym which I was usually successful because i played the piano.

Y- Yellow, my favorite color because of its brightness adn light shade. This also reminds of summer because of the yellow dandelions which overtake the green lawn during this season.

Z-Zebras, deffinatly my favorite animal in the zoo. I love their white and black colored patterns.
They loook very similiar to me but according to the zoo instructor they all have different patterns.

High school has consisted of many mixed emotions, nerves excitment. But were all of these sleepless nights spent worrying really worth it? It is just like any other ordinary day of middle
school but with more homework, longer walks to class and a lot more people crowding the halls.


But the amount of homework that has been givens is an unbelievable amount compared to how much was assigned in middle school. During these first couple weeks of school I have already had 4 tests and homework every night. I even had homework on the first day of school. At that point I realized that high school is alot of work and will prabably take up alot of my socal life but it could also make my social life.


High school has not only come with school work but so many social activities too. This is the enjoyable part of highschool. There seems to be something to do every day if its not soccer, hockey and football games its clubs dances and fundraisers. I have met so many new friends and aqautiences through these activites.


Getting to classes on time is just about the hardest thing to accomplish in my opinion. My locker is all the way at the end of B hall and it is so far away from all my classes. Its the worst when big bobs of people decide to have a chat session n the midle ogf the hall blocking everyones path and somehow I have to manage to squeeze through them. This takes up about half of passing time. I finally get to my locker shuufling through all my books trying to findthe right one . I look so quickly I always feel like im forgetting something. But I run off to class quickly while theres a minute left on the clock. I barely make it, I always walk in right as the bell rings. I believe passing time troubles students the most during school.


These first weeks of high school have come with so many new good and bad experiences and i am excited for what else will come in the future.