Matt Tully's Columns

Today in journalism class, we read some columns by Indianapolis Star columnist Matt Tully. They dealt with a high school in the Indianapolis are called Manual High School. In the first columns we read, Tully gave background information and overwhelming statistics about Manual. These statistics included graduation rate, which was only in the upper 30 percent range, and the fact that the school is at rock bottom compared to other schools in the state in test scores. Tully also explained how many of the students face poverty and many tough situations domestically. I was completely shocked by these horrifying statistics. In the second column, Tully told about a boy named Brent who attends Manual. Brent was separated from his mother when he was an infant because she had a struggle with drugs and other problems. He was taken care of all of his life by his by his mother's friend, but as he got older, he faced disadvantages because of the lack of legal documentation on file. He could not get a driver's license, get a job, or apply for college. After much research, Tully was able to reach Brent's biological mother and reunite them at last. Their meeting was filled with emotion by everyone involved, but everybody was so happy that everything was going to work out in the end. Matt Tully's columns were very good and packed full of great statistics and newsworthy information. I would definitely recommend that people read his columns because they are very moving.

One of the Greatest Movies of All Time

Toy Story 3 is one of the most amazing movies I have seen in my entire life. Pretty much everything about it was great. I think that it can be debated that Toy Story 3 is the best of the 3 Toy Story movies. To tell you the truth, it has been a really long time since I have seen either of the other 2 Toy Stories, but if I remember correctly, I think they were also really good. The main reason why I thought this one is the best is because of how well it wraps up the entire Toy Story series. Another reason I think people would say it is the best is because of how much it plays on your emotions. At the end, Andy goes off to college and donates his toys to a little girl named Bonnie. It is really sad seeing him playing with his toys for the last time before packing up and driving off to college. It is especially emotional for mothers who have or will go through the experience of their kid leaving for college. That is what I think about the greatness of Toy Story 3.

The crazy game

This weekend, my family and I drove down to Bloomington, Indiana for the football game. It was Iowa against Indiana but we were not for the home team. My parents both went to the University of Iowa so we are pretty big fans. Indiana was definitely the underdog team, but they put up a fight all game. It was a tough game to watch as an Iowa fan because there was just a lot of dumb errors. It came down to the final seconds. Indiana had a shot to win the game with 35 seconds left to go. They heaved it into the end zone and everybody had thought he caught it. The Indiana fans were cheering and the Iowa fans were heart-broken. Seconds later, the referee came in and signaled and incomplete pass. The student section for Indiana was still cheering because they did not realize there was an incomplete pass, but when it dawned on them, they were really upset. Luckily for us,  Iowa pulled out the win and still has a chance to win the conference title.

My Last Trip to the Movies

My last trip to the movies was a few Fridays ago. I went to see a move that has a name that I am not sure I can use. Therefore, I am going to use other symbols to refer to the movie as. That movie I saw was called Jack@$$, and it was one of the funniest movies I have seen in a long time. It is different from other movies because it really has no plot or point to it. The whole movie is just a series of pranks and stunts that to most people seem completely insane. My favorite stunt in the movie was when they turned on the jet engine of a giant airplane. They started throwing footballs, tomatoes, and other things into the jet's air stream and let it hit them. The things they were throwing shot out into the distance so fast that it was hard to believe that anyone could possibly want to get in the way of anything that fast. Yet, they did it anyway and got completely pelted by the things coming at them. Pretty much every scene was hilarious, but that just happened to be my favorite one. My recommendation is to see it as soon as possible, but hopefully you don't get any ideas from them. They definitely are not the sharpest tools in the shed.

My Fall Break

I had a really great fall break this year. It started on Thursday when I woke up at about 12 noon. It felt so good to be able to sleep in for so long instead of waking up at 5:30 A.M. Once I was awake, my friend called me to go with him to the field house in Merrillville to play basketball. I thought there was only going to be a few people I knew there, it turned out that a whole bunch of my friends had decided to go on the same day. We played pick-up games for about three hours before everybody left. I went home and didn't do much until I went to sleep. The next day was going to be a long one.

On Friday my family and I woke up bright and early to join a few other families on a trip to Turkey Run State Park in Marshall, Indiana. It was a pretty long drive from my house, but it was well worth it. We spent all day hiking in many different types of terrain. It ranged from forests, to canyons, and to even some small mountains. The scenery was amazing, and it even made me forget how exhausted I was to be hiking for so long. We finished the day with a bonfire at my house. It was really cold that night, but the fire kept me nice and warm.

On Saturday and Sunday, I pretty much did nothing all day. Saturday, I watched college football until I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. Sunday, I watched NFL football up until it was time to trick- or -treat. At first, I was planning not to go trick -or -treating, but a few of my friends changed my mind. I wasn't really dressed as anything in particular, but I got a ton of candy nonetheless. Overall, I really enjoyed my four day weekend.                 

Our fabulous Football Season

This year, our Freshman football team had a really great season. In fact, we did much better than many other teams and even our coaches thought we would do. We started off the season with two wins(over Munster and T.F. North). Unfortunately, we lost our next game to Portage by 7 points. Even after the tough loss, we never quit and ended up winning our next 5 games. With a 7-1 record, we had put ourselves in a position to win at least a share of the conference title as long as we could beat Valpo in our last game. Yet, it did not turn out in our favor as we lost 14-0. Everyone was disappointed in our poor performance that game because we had a shot to be in the record books as one of the only freshman football teams at Lake Central to win conference. Though we lost, a 7-2 record as well as 3-0 "B" team record was definitely a success overall. Hopefully, we can build on that season for the next few years to come.

The Feature of my Summer

The feature story of my summer was definitely on my vacation to Sunset Beach North Carolina. I had been to North Carolina twice before, but I was too small to remember any of it.
My trip really began in Asheville, North Carolina a couple of days before reaching the coast. We had drove all the way there on the first day. That night we went to dinner but got to bed early for the big day ahead of us.
On the following morning, we woke up bright and early to do some whitewater rafting. We drove way up into the mountains, and the scenery was surreal. We got fitted in our gear and left to the entry point of the river on a big bus. The raft ride was about 3 hours long, but it was one of the funnest times of my life. Luckily, we all made it with out suffering any injuries.
The day following, we finally arrived at our house that we rented on the beach. The ocean was amazing and the air had the distinct salty smell you here about from people who have seen the ocean. The first few days were mostly devoted to relaxing on the beach which nobody had a problem with.
On about the fourth day, my dad took my brothers and I deep sea fishing. None of us are particularly fond of fishing, but we decided it would be a cool experience. While it was different, I am not sure that I would enjoy doing something like that again. The boat was filled with 80-100 people, causing the lines to be constantly tangled. On top of that, we hardly caught anything worth keeping. A couple people caught a small shark, but that was about it.
For the rest of the vacation, we laid out on the beach, did some golfing, and tried a variety of new seafood items. All together, my trip to North Carolina was one of my most memorable vacations ever.