Captain America Removed as Leader of the Avengers Due to Sexual Misconduct Allegations; Assignment 13-Andrew

NEW YORK-- Former leader of the Avengers, Steve Rogers also known as Captain America, was removed from his position on Wednesday after multiple sexual harassment charges. Thursday morning, Nick Fury, as a representative of S.H.I.E.L.D., released a press statement. "As of yesterday, we received four detailed complaints from different colleagues about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace. After serious scrutiny, we determined them a clear violation our standards at S.H.I.E.L.D. so we moved to terminate him from his position." This comes after a string of allegations against many celebrities including Louis C.K., Kevin Spacey, and Matt Lauer. "We are deeply saddened and shocked by Steve's behavior," said fellow teammate Natasha Romanov/Black Widow, "However, we do not stand by our teammate's actions and stand by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s actions."

The rest of the team declined to comment on the situation.

Assignment 11- Andrew

As of right now, I only sit next to one person in class. Ben Sanner. I've known him for around 6 years now. We met in 6th grade during Percussion class at Hayes Middle School. He's been in every Percussion class I've had since then and multiple other classes throughout my time in school. I've been, at the least, acquaintances with him for the majority of this time. I have learned things about him over the years. He's an avid sports fan who follows different teams from many sports like soccer, football, basketball, and other sports. He's a fan of the Philadelphia Eagles, Kansas University basketball, and Arsenal. I know he watches Game of Thrones and is a fan of other TV shows. He plays soccer for Henry Clay and in an indoor league with other people from school. He is one of the only people who I can discuss soccer with because it seems like no one else cares about it. Although we'll have our differences sometimes, I believe that we can be friends for as longs as we're in high school.

Assignment 14- Andrew Rogers

I've always liked Thanksgiving. It combines three of my favorite things, watching football, spending time with family, and eating. For most of my life, we've celebrated Thanksgiving the same way. Almost all of the extended family on my Dad's side travel to Paris, Kentucky and we all have a large meal for lunch and then continue to eat for the rest of the day. Although the same pattern has occurred every year, our family has gained and lost multiple members, from my cousin's new children to the death of my grandfather. This year was especially different because of his death, namely where we spent Thanksgiving, which was a little disheartening but still exciting nonetheless because of Henry and Sam, my cousin's young children.  Even though we go through changes in how we spend Thanksgiving and the holiday season, the coming together of our family will always be a special event for me.

Assignment 14: Katie Chen

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of year. Not only does it give me an excuse to indulge on some of my favorite foods (mashed potatoes, stuffing, ham) but Thanksgiving is just one step closer to Christmas

.

My family doesn’t do your traditional Thanksgiving. We don’t have any extended family coming to visit and have one large gathering, mainly because we don’t have any extended family in the country. For most of the day, we go to my mom’s friend’s house and celebrate Thanksgiving there. Later that night, we usually set off to do Black Friday shopping, as most stores open their doors Thanksgiving evening.

My dad and I always make it a tradition to go to Best Buy on Black Friday, even if we don’t buy anything. Just strolling around the store and watching people lose their minds over a television is enough entertainment for one night. Other than that, we usually go to Target and Michael's as they always have pretty good sales. 

Assignment 12: Katie Chen

Dear Future College Roommate,

First things first: I like to live in an organized mess. Unlike most people, who need to have everything perfectly spotless all the time, I really don’t mind a mess. Don’t get me wrong, I can appreciate a well-organized room as much as the next person, it’s just that having a mess around doesn’t bother me as much. Not an overly horrendous mess where nothing can be found, but not completely and meticulously organized either. A nice happy medium. For example, on my desk, a quick glance and it looks like a tornado swept across it. However, I have my system. Although papers are strewn all across the surface, there is an order. The middle part of the desk is clear so I have space to do work. The upper left corner is filled with blank pages to do scratch work on, and the upper right corner is stacked with old binders and notebooks. So if that annoys you and you feel the need to constantly pick up after me, apologies in advance.

                                              Yours Truly,

                                                   Katie Chen

   

Assignment 11: Katie Chen

Sam Clark. What a guy. I've known Sam for a little over 5 years now, but this year, might be the most time I've spent around Sam. Because seating charts are usually in alphabetical order in most classes, I sit near Sam Clark in almost every single class.

Overall, Sam is just a really nice guy. He's on the speech and debate team, participates in Model UN as well as KYA. He has this sense of humor that’s ridiculously witty but also makes you question whether he’s serious or not. He spells “woman” with a “y” and likes to remind us of that fact on a daily basis.

In middle school, I never really talked to Sam all that much. In fact, I didn’t even know who he was until seventh grade, when he pulled out a vegetable platter and just started eating it in the middle of class and the teacher called him out for it. Because of that incident, Sam became a local legend around our middle school.

Assignment 15: Awwwwww Geek Out --to the song Freak Out (College)/ Cover Girl

This is a Make UP Blog Post NOT Extra Credit

We all have something that peaks our “Geek-meter.”  That something where time stops and transports you to a state of Zen.   Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

Minimum of 150 words - due Sunday, December 3rd at 11:59 pm

December 3th is the last day to make up blogs 9-15

Assignment 14- Sam Clark

It was a quarter ‘till midnight, and all was not well. The people were rowdy, refusing to quell. And from this chaos, this terror, this fear, my family departed for where they did not tell. I hung back and followed, my heart a’swell, the blood thumping in my head like the liberty bell. Oh, if only I were as clever as Alexander Graham Bell! Then the truth hit me like a bombshell, they were headed to the meadow where all things were swell. I ran, in short, like a gazelle. The meadow then revealed its secrets, mademoiselle, there my family stood, howling like Ronnie Rondell. “What a bizarre tradition,” a thought my mind did expel. I howled with the brood, in fact, I excelled, my form as perfect as a citadel. Despite this, some say my cries sound like those of an infidel. Oh well!

Assignment Thirteen: Sam Clark

Can one satire satire? Or is the satire contained within satire enough to override any earnest (What is earnesty?), satirical feelings derived from an honest interpretation of the satire itself? Or is satire merely a way of communicating ideas and expressions which cannot be communicated honestly (What is honesty?)? What if I end every sentence in this blog post with a question mark? What if, and hang with me on this one, satire is used only by the degenerates, those whose feelings are so atypical and unorthodox that to convey them would be a complete violation of the social contract, to voice those ideas which they completely and honestly believe, and that they’re so calculating that they know, and I mean absolutely know, that our minds, driven by an inability to understand true evil, will automatically assume that what they’re saying isn’t what they believe, isn’t truth? What if it isn’t satire?

Assignment Twelve: Sam Clark

I do not negotiate with terrorists. Never have, never will. End of story. This one fact is all my roommate needs to know about me. It encapsulates my entire being, my raison d’etre. It shows that, if placed in a situation in which I had the opportunity to negotiate with terrorists, I would abstain. It shows that I am the kind of man who looks evil incarnate in the face and says “No, we’ll be having none of that today.” It shows, in short, that I am a man who will stand up for freedom, liberty, and fraternity without exceptions.  Of course, my devotion to all things true may tarnish my relationship with my roommate. If he condones negotiations with terrorists, I cannot tolerate him, for anyone willing to cooperate with a terrorist enables some facets of terrorism to escape into the world. Ergo, the cooperator is a terrorist. Ergo, I cannot negotiate (speak, work with, live with, etc.) with him. In such a fraught political world, it may seem unlikely that I will room with someone who completely agrees with me. Hopefully though, those of us who follow the truth shall be placed together.

Assignment Eleven: Sam Clark

When I first met Katie Marvolo Chen, strife filled the world. The war trickled into our village, slowly saturating our lives with bloodshed and anger. We were nine when the first bombs fell. Ten when the men left. Eleven when the women followed. Twelve when they started drafting children. They picked the strong ones first, then, as fighting became more intense, the weaklings. In our world, no child was free from fear, though Katie managed to cope. She moved into the village just before the conflict became a conflict, when the enemies of foreign extraction hadn’t been extracted yet. We watched together as our families and playmates were slowly dragged away, kicking and screaming. And then they came for her. Our infantile minds fantasized that a great polar bear, the udjuk nanuk, watched over us, a protector from the great evils. When they took her, they shot nanuk, spilling his red, red blood over our his white hide, our childhood innocence.  

Assignment 14: Maggie Anderson

 I enjoy Thanksgiving a great deal. My parents and I drive to Pikeville to spend the day with my paternal grandparents, my aunt, and my two cousins. We head up in the evening the day before and stop for dinner at a Miguel's, a pizza place. about an hour from Lexington, a tradition that is part of any trip to Pikeville. Miguel's is a tiny little building in the woods that exists to serve rock climbers, including a campground behind the restaurant and a collection of gear for sale inside. The pizza is fantastic. We eat in the basement because the main room is always already full, surrounded by climbers wearing hats and puffy coats charging their phones and laptops and talking. There's usually a group speaking what we're pretty sure is German.
  In the past, my parents and I both had separate rooms in my grandparents' house. Two years ago, they moved into assisted living and my family now stays in a hotel. The setting of the dinner has shifted recently too. In the past, my mother would make pies in the morning at my grandparents', then we would go to my aunt's and help with sides all afternoon while my grandmother made the turkey. Around five, we would load up the sides and go to my grandparents' for the dinner.
 Well, two years ago we had the dinner at my aunt's, which we did again this year. We have the turkey, already cut up, on the table along with the rolls, butter, and cranberry sauce. Another table against the wall holds all the sides, including mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli  casserole, stuffing, and macaroni and cheese (a tradition my mother has disdained since it started, before I can remember). We get sparkling grape juice for the occasion and it's the only thing we drink out of a real glass. The plates and water cups are paper and Styrofoam, the napkins and tablecloth are also all disposable, a condition I abhor. In the old days, my grandmother would roll out real place settings for the dinner, but the changes in recent years have ended that.
At the end, we have the pies my mother made, a pumpkin, an apple, and a pecan. At some point, my grandmother will steal some crust from other pieces. Sometimes my mother makes an extra apple, which my grandmother and my cousin split so that the rest of us can have a chance at the other pie. Afterwards, we talk around the table, usually playing a board game or two.

Assignment 12: Maggie Anderson

All my life my father has been telling me that my college roommate will hate me. He has enough reasons to think so. First, I am cranky a great deal of the time. Mostly in the mornings and while at other times I am able to acknowledge the fact that this isn't the fault of the person nearest to me, when I'm cranky, I don't care. It's alright now because that's usually my parents and at this point they're used to it, but it will probably be a problem with someone new. Secondly, I like everything just so. But only when I feel like it. So some days I need everything just so, in the right places and at the right times, but other days I can let all of this fall apart. So even if somebody gets used to my various idiosyncrasies, they'll never know which mood I'm in. This drives my parents crazy, so there's a good chance my father will turn out to be right. I should probably just tell any potential roommates to ignore anything I do or say, continue living their own life around me, and to disregard anything I say to them when I'm in a bad mood. 

Assignment 11: Maggie Anderson

I sit next to Breanna in Mr. Logsdon's class 4th hour. Over the past few months I have had many conversations with her, but as we are in many of the same classes, these conversations center mainly around schoolwork. She is quiet, but has amazing tolerance for listening to me prattle on about whatever I did or saw recently, which is nice, because I like to talk. She is accommodating, particularly when it comes to the vocab, as she often lets me study over her shoulder before the quizzes when I have forgotten to look at the words or my phone won't let me look at them during lunch. We did crew for the school play together and I found out she is very strong, but I'm incredibly weak so that could just be by comparison. She doesn't do many extracurriculars besides the school plays, and spends much time on schoolwork. Though I haven't discussed future plans, I assume that in five years she will be in her fourth year of college.

Assignment Ten- Sam Clark

When zombies attack, men will die. This is for the greater good.

In a world in which man is no longer the dominant, living species, the industrial sector shuts down, ending that rape of the earth we call progress. Agriculture reverts back to a sustainable, highly-local craft, restoring fields lost to modern corporatism. Communities develop again as culture is rediscovered in books. As the earth heals, so too does the ocean. The reefs recover. All endangered species stage a full-scale recovery. The polar ice caps grow back, shrinking sea sizes and temperatures. It is a happy day.  Assuming that most humans convert to the other side (and that those who survive are smart enough not to get eaten), the zombie population dwindles and eventually disappears, negating any negative impact they may have had on local ecosystems. In short, zombies would save humanity. I, for one, embrace their rise.    

Assignment 10: Katie Chen

Now I know I'm supposed to tell this story as if were a ghost story, but in this case, this example of a time when I was fraught with peril is my experience with the supernatural. Everyone has those moments when they think they've seen a ghost. Whether you went a tour of a supposedly haunted asylum or if you just live in an older house, there's always this moment of "wait was that a ghost or am I being paranoid?" This moment was something that I couldn't explain was terrified in the moment.
About two years ago I attended a summer camp at some college in Ohio that I forget the name of. It was an arts camp and included two weeks of living on campus. During our orientation, some of the tour guides (who were current students at the college) told us the college used to be a hospital during the tuberculosis pandemic. Never believing in the supernatural, I thought nothing of it and continued with the camp.
One night I randomly woke up in the middle of the night because I felt someone sitting on my bed. My initial thought was my roommate trying to scare me. But as I rolled over and saw that she was lying in her bed, my stomach dropped. I slowly tilted my head to look down towards the edge of the bed. The end of the bed was dipped down, as if someone was sitting on the edge. Obviously I was terrified and turned to see if my roommate was seeing what I was seeing. I roll over and I see a glowing, mountain-dew colored cross above her bed. It was almost like a light projection, as it was glowing on the wall. I instantly became petrified to the state of being not able to move. I somehow ended up being able to fall asleep later that night.
The next morning, I approached my roommate and told her what I saw the previous night. I was nervous that I was just seeing things and it was all in my head. When I finished my story, my roommate's eyes widened as she told me she saw the cross too.
Of course we both freaked out and, not having any other explanation as to how it happened, we concluded that it was a ghost.

Assignment 9: Katie Chen

When I was eight years old, I wrote a letter to Santa and asked for world peace. I didn't ask for the newest toy or brand new clothes because I genuinely thought we lived in a perfect world with the potential for world peace. Years later, I now realize that our world isn't so perfect after all. Riddled with injustices, threats, and violence, war will always be a possible threat looming over us in our world today.

I do believe that there is an alternative war. I believe that foreign diplomacy should always be tried first when dealing with foreign issues. War should be a last resort to any problem. However, there are times when war in inevitable. In that case, negotiating for days on end will lead to nothing. If one country is set on initiating a war, there's really nothing another country can do to try and avoid war.

Assignment Nine- Sam Clark

Against the earth wages the only true war. Other fights pause. Others pitch. Others stop. Others culminate into a collective bang, a giant whirlwind in which truth and falsehood disappear into the void, mating and unmating, fading in and out of view. Still others simmer, pulsating with the buildup of arms; a hushed whisper, a false start, a stalemate. Others remain primitive, the sting of an arrow, the feeling of a heavy stick, blunt and cold, whacked up against the side of an arm. Or leg. Or head. Others draw on emotion, a war for something, against something, on something. But true war turns the self upon the self, it is the final contradiction. Are we not one with the earth? Do we not eat and drink? Are we not eaten and drunk from? Shall we end our division and satisfy the self, situating it in cooperation with the earth once more. We have no choice. Join or die.

That’s some fineeeee prose. I should be a poet.    

Assignment 9: Olivia Klee

War is one of those subjects that I would rather just hide in a dark corner so I don't have to think about it. Sure, I've read one book about a child soldier and I've raised money for UNICEF before, but what do I really know about war? I've never seen an army, never fled from violence. Actually, I don't even know anyone that has been affected by war. If ignorance is bliss, I've been dancing around in a snow globe my whole life.

But then how do you respond when you hear that children are being killed by explosives while walking to school in Syria? When hundreds of girls are being raped in Sudan? The truth is I don't know. I lament for the victims of all the violence, and I'm especially sad for the children who did nothing to deserve it, but I just don't know that there's much I can do to help.

However, there is one thing that becomes clear in light of all the horrors we hear on CNN; the fortune of living in a safe place. Cliche as it may sound, no one gets to choose where they are born. So even when Trump tweets something ridiculous and public transportation sucks, I'm going to continue to count my lucky stars that I was born in America.

Assignment 3: Olivia Klee

Three years ago I got onto a plane from Cinncinati to Canada, hopped another plane to Tokyo, took another plane to Sapporo, and finally arrived at Shinhidaka by bus. I was fresh out of the eighth grade and beyond excited for my first experience out of the country.

As the bus rolled up to the train station where we were to meet our host families, I checked the time on my phone. It was four in the morning, which meant I had been traveling for over 24 hours. To say I was exhausted would be an understatement.

The first words out of my host mother's mouth were "HELLO! English no, okay?"

Well, shoot.

Rather than going into panic mode like I would usually do, I just got in the car with these complete strangers who spoke no English whatsoever and fell asleep on the ride to my new home. That's how tired I was.

The car finally stopped in front of a cute little house in the Middle of Nowhere, Japan, and my host family led me inside. All I could think about was how badly I wanted to take a shower, but of course, I had no idea how to say that in Japanese. And there was no internet.

So I just took a wild guess at the Japanese word for shower. (And let me just tell you this may have been the luckiest thing that's ever happened to me.)

"Shawa?" I said.

"Hai! Hai! Koko desu."

Apparently "shawa" is the exact word for shower, so not only did I get to take a shower, but my family was immediately impressed with my Japanese. Let's just say my guessing skills came in handy a lot while in Japan.

Assignment 14: Flying Turkeys

The stock image of Thanksgiving involves a lot of people around a nicely decorated table with a large turkey and a ridiculous amount of extra food. This image doesn't always depict the reality of the holiday though.

What does your Thanksgiving look like? Do you enjoy the holiday? What is your strangest or most wonderful memory of the holiday?

OR

What are some of your family traditions in general?  Holiday or otherwise.

Minimum of 150 words - due Sunday, November 26th at 11:59 pm

December 3th is the last day to make up blogs 9-15

Assignment 10: Maggie Anderson

Zombie Apocalypse: Just die so I don't have to deal with it.
What scares me most: Snakes. They're weird little legless lizard freaks that shouldn't exist and you will not convince me otherwise. I used to be fine with snakes. I didn't love them or anything, but I thought they were kind of cool. Then I started to have nightmares about snakes. They were rare, one every few months, but they were enough. In fact, I can only remember one nightmare I've ever had that wasn't snakes. (It was flesh eating slugs and that was my great-uncle's fault.) I would always wake up scared from these dreams and call my mother in to check around my room and at the foot of my bed for snakes, but I still didn't fear snakes in general, just these nightmares. However, as years went by, I steadily began to fear snakes more and more. Now, I can't even look at a picture of one without getting really jumpy and paranoid. At first I thought this was stupid, after all I had been fine with snakes for years, even while having the dreams. But now, I accept that my subconscious is probably right. I haven't had a nightmare in a little while, they've been replaced with a real fear.

Assignment 9: Maggie Anderson

While I believe that war is bad, I think that it is sometimes unavoidable.. I think the best answers are: Let other countries do their own thing. Try diplomacy.
The problem with the former is when the other country is unnecessarily harming either a group within the country or another country. Sometimes, the lesser of two evils is to enter the conflict rather than remain silently complicit. However, diplomacy should always be tried first between the conflicting countries or groups, potentially with other countries or groups in supporting roles.
The problem with diplomacy is when people want war. A country can negotiate all they want but if the other side wants to fight, they will get nowhere. Sometimes this happens because one side knows they won't get what they want in a compromise, other times it is because they simply want war. In The Princess Bride the prince tries to provoke his own country into attacking their neighbor and traditional enemy simply because he thinks war is the right thing to do, even though they don't seem to be doing anything.
War is the wrong choice, but sometimes the only one. Two sides must initiate compromise, but it only takes one to initiate war.  

Assignment 13: Cha Cha Changes!

Think of all of the things and ideas that exist in the world.

Which one bothers you the most?

Think on Jonathan Swift's "Proposal" and write your own satiric solution to your troublesome issue.

First I would spend some time watching and or reading a great deal of satire to get into in the mental mode satire requires.

To Be Absolutely Clear - 

You are writing your own SATIRE, not discussing satire.  Read lots and lots and lots of The Onion or NewCircleCircular before you start!  If you do not write a satire you will not receive credit and you will have to redo the assignment

Minimum of 150 words - due Sunday, November 19th at 11:59 pm

December 3th is the last day to make up blogs 9-15

Assignment 12: I’m not crazy. I promise (College)

How do you “sell” yourself to a stranger?  For most, when you step onto your new academic home you will know no one -- so your roommate is an important safety line.  As such, it’ll be important to pick a good one.  What you would want your future college roommate to know about you?   This question asks you to share something significant about your day-to-day way of being. You can discuss just about anything here! Although you could approach this essay in a somewhat playful manner, do not be tempted to address a topic for its shock value. It’s important that your response is genuine and conveys your personality in an appropriate tone.

Minimum of 150 words - due Sunday, November 12^th at 11:59 pm

December 3th is the last day to make up blogs 9-15