Thaler Scholars

Money My Motive

2010-06-10T02:11:00.001-07:00

by WY

One day I was in my room thinking of a way to make some money to buy some red and black Nike Jordans, because my parents were upset with me and wouldn’t buy them. I called my friend, who had the same problem as me. We were talking and thinking of a way to make some money on our own. My friend kept on telling me that the only way we could make some money without breaking the law was to have a job. I said that we were too young to have a job, but he told me that he knew somebody that would offer us something to do so we could make some money. I asked him if it was for illegal things, and he told me no, so I was like, "All right, man, let's do this."

The man that was about to offer the job came to talk to us and he was he was like, “Are you sure y'all can work hard and fast?" I was like, “Man, I'd do anything for some money right now, because I really want those black and red Jordans. Most of my friends already have them." Then he started laughing at me, but I was really serious about it, because I didn’t want to be the only one around my friends without those Jordans.

A week later we met with the man again and started talking about what we (My friend and I) should do to have the job. He told us that we should talk to our parents first. I already knew it wasn't a problem with my parents, but I didn't know about my friend. He gave us a form that we could bring home to let our parents know that we would be working with him for the next three days. When I got home I showed my Dad the form, and he was like, “Mmm, okay, if you really can do it then you have my permission." My friend had a little trouble convincing his parents, but he did, so we were ready for the man to call so we could start the job.

The man called and said that he changed his plans and we had to finish the job in two days instead of three, because he would be out of town for a couple weeks. The first day we started the job my friend and I were really nervous. The job he gave us was to clean up his garage and put the trash outside. We started cleaning the garage by putting all the stuff that he didn't want anymore in the backyard. We had to take a break every 30 minutes, because we were getting tired and thirsty, but that didn't stop us from getting the work done the first day.

The next day we started working on the stuff that he wanted to keep. We had to put them in the house and make sure they were in the right places. I was working faster than my friend because he was a little younger than me, and he kept stopping all the time to start talking or eat snacks. When we were almost done, the man came and he was watching us finish the work. When we got done cleaning the garage and putting all the unwanted stuff outside, the man gave us 200 dollars each.

I was really happy that I would be able to use my job money to buy my new red and black Jordans that I always wanted, since my parents didn't want to buy them for me. The first day I wore them to school was one of my middle school days when I was really happy.

Barbizon!

2010-06-10T02:10:00.001-07:00

by PW

Most of my middle school memories aren’t so exciting, but this one is the best! It all started when I was looking in the back of a magazine. An ad caught my eye. It said, “Barbizon modeling and acting.” I went on their website to check them out and find out where they were located. Barbizon is in San Francisco on Sutter St. I sent them my information to get an appointment, and I did!!! When my mom and I got there it was awesome! Oh my Gosh. The first thing I had to do was sign a paper while my mom watched the “welcome” video. After my audition, tour, and materials it was time for the hard part -- the price. It was around $2500…quite a lot. But my experience was worth it.

The first day came and my stomach was tighter than my mom’s wallet. I went through orientation and was told what was expected, what to wear, and how to act. I was so mad that I had to dress like I was going on a job interview. I thought of Barbizon as if it was my job. I always wanted to become an actress because I enjoy it and it’s the easiest thing to me. Before I joined Barbizon I was so shy in front of people I didn’t know. But if I did know you, I’d be crazy. A lot of famous people graduated from different types of Barbizon schools. One of them, Lindsey Fonseca of Desperate Housewives, had graduated from the San Francisco school, and Nicole Anderson from the Disney Channel show JONAS had graduated from Atlanta Barbizon.

The teachers there were so awesome, just like Ms. Thaler. My favorite teachers were Nigel and Sebastian. They were so funny and unique. Sebastian lived in Oakland and went to Claremont! We learned so many different things such as: improv, personalization, conquering stage fright, callback success skills, and script analysis.

I remember when I had my first audition through Barbizon. It was to try and get an agent. It was very fun because I got to talk with my friends that I met on my first day. I felt kind of weird because I was the only black girl in there. Even though I didn’t get picked, I still felt like a winner! Barbizon has taught me a lot since my first day. I’ve learned how to kill my shyness and nervousness. I learned so many new words like: cold read, pantomiming, and go-sees.

When I was there we did so many awesome games like: mirror exercise and sensory work. The monologues were so funny that people in the audience had tears coming in their eyes. As well as my dramatic one from the movie Romeo Must Die. I learned about the Art of Comedy, how to answer hard interview questions, what to do after you get the job, and skills for acting. Going to Barbizon was the best choice of my life!

P.S. Check it out! www.barbizonmodeling.com!!!

A Guide to Two-Faced Creatures in the Middle School Jungle

2010-06-10T02:09:00.002-07:00

by CW

Okay, so in middle school, there’s those people who are your friends, and people you’re cool with but don’t really chill with. Then you have those certain people who aren’t your friends. The people who you just don’t associate with. Then you have two-faced people, the people that really piss you off! They talk about you behind and in front of you without caring and they call themselves your friend. Ha! I don’t think so! You might as well write, “I’m fake” on your forehead.

Some people need to learn that being fake and two-faced doesn’t make your life any better. Trust me: it’ll get worse throughout their lives but they just don’t know… they don’t know at all! See, what I’m talking about, they’re fake because they’re absent-minded and malicious, and that doesn’t get people anywhere in life.

A time when someone was being two-faced to me was when this one girl was my friend for like a few weeks. Then she asked me to text her boyfriend and ask why he doesn’t bring her flowers, and so I did, and then he asked me why I was I texting him. So, I told him… well… actually, I lied to him for her and said, “Because I think you should bring her flowers.” So then, he basically yelled at me and told me not to bother him or her. Personally, I think he’s hella dumb for that, but whatever! Two nights later, she texted me saying, “My boyfriend doesn’t want us to be friends anymore.” I was just thinking… What the Hell? Is she serious? But then I thought, You know what? It’s not even worth it. I’m not even gonna waste my time with her. So I said, “All right, bye then.” I was mad about it, but I wasn’t going to let her stop me from living my life. I mean, she’s just a girl, right?

I have other things to worry about. I have to focus on my grades, passing the eighth grade, graduating, making it to high school, and much more. At first I was really upset about it, but then I eventually got over it, I guess because I’m not the type of person to hold a grudge. I feel that middle school is a jungle, and in a jungle you have certain creatures that can bother you in many ways; not just physically, but also mentally. Here’s some advice if you ever encounter these kinds of issues: just try to ignore them as best you can, because if you don’t, things can get bad!!! So be cautious. You never know who your friends are these days. Sometimes even your friends can be mean, but not too mean, just a little a few jokes about you here and there. Just don’t take it too seriously, because you have better things to do.

My Middle School Memories

2010-06-10T02:09:00.001-07:00

by BW

6th
My first year at Claremont Middle School was kind of scary because I didn’t know anyone and I did not know what to expect. But then I came to find out that my cousin Jasmine was attending the same school. When I first got there, I was shy, but once I met all of my friends, I became more comfortable. My cousin was in the seventh grade but we still hung together, and at that time we were living right next door to each other, which was very exciting. The main thing I liked about sixth grade was that there was less violence then what there is now. Claremont had a gardening job program that paid $300.00 at the end of the year. Jasmine and I worked together for the gardening program, and then we split the profit. It was a good learning experience for me because now I know what it is like to have a job and get paid for it. Our duties were growing plants, selling products and separating compost, garbage and recycling. That was a fun experience for me.

7th
Going into my seventh grade year, I wasn’t as nervous about meeting new people as I was in the sixth grade, because I was already used to the school and I had a lot of friends. After the first marking period, I unexpectedly ran into my other cousin, Unique. I was shocked because I did not know she was going to be there. I introduced her to some of my friends, we started hanging out, and I ended up having some of the same classes as her, which was pretty cool. A month or two after that, Unique ended up moving in with my mom and me, which was also pretty cool. Seventh grade was a fun year for.

8th
At the beginning of my eighth grade year, I got familiar with my new schedule and noticed that in some of my classes, the boys were separated from girls. Meaning they have an all-boy class and an all-girl class. I personally like the classes better this way, because it seems to me that people are more focused and concentrate more on their work. My eighth grade year is easier than my sixth and seventh grade years, because to me it seems that I am doing better in my classes. My grades are better than what they used to be. The bad thing about this year is that I got suspended too many times, and my attendance is not all that great. That brought my grades down a lot. Another thing that brought my grades down was turning in my work late. Right now I am working very hard to bring my grades up so that I can graduate with the rest of my classmates.

Angelica Walker, 13 Years Old, Finally Going to the 8th Grade!

2010-06-10T02:08:00.000-07:00

by AW

Day one, Claremont Middle School, 8th grade:
I feel pathetic because I had to ask for directions to a class that was right in front of my face. Room number 18 is the art room. I was so terrified to walk in that my knees buckled up under pressure and I couldn’t move from where I stood. I remained in awe, thinking about what I was going to do, right in front of the door, for maybe a minute or two, and then the bell rang. I hopped across the borderline of the class. Most people stopped whatever they were doing and watched me walk as fast as my nervous legs would carry me. It’s actually very ironic, you see; when we drove into my granny’s driveway, I was so overjoyed to start school and now that I’m finally in the classroom, I’m cracking under the pressure. Well, anyway, when I sat down across from a girl who appeared to be in middle school, I was offered a seat at a fuller table. (I later found out that the girl who was by herself was a helper of the teacher’s.) A girl at my table and her friend got me acquainted with the rest of their friends. When I got home, I had too much to tell my mother. I guess you could say I was officially excited about school again.

December 18th, 2009, Claremont Middle School, 8th grade:
OMFG!!!! The new kid is just my type and I’m super happy that we go out!!!! I have no idea what is going to happen with me and my other ex but I hope it turns out for the better. Anyway, I think I am going to hang with my new friends today. I’m not sure if I want to or not. They aren’t anything like the other kids I hung out with. I am not sure what to think. Well whatever is happening, I think it’s going well. Even though some people don’t like me at all, I’m still happy about where I stand with people. I have a good feeling about Claremont Middle School. It may not be Hanshew but it’s better than being a loner and everyone hating my guts. And the plus side is that even though I didn’t win the student council president election, I got into the student council anyway! The principal made me vice president!!! Yay!!!

March 11th, 2010, Claremont Middle School, 8th grade:
It’s my birthday!!! Oh, please forgive me. It’s our birthday!!! Julian and I share the same birthday, but I’m 11 hours older than he is. We both turn 14 today!!! Well, even though it’s our birthday, I am definitely not in the celebrating mood. People just have to find a reason to hate my guts. It’s almost as if the world survives to bring down Angelica Walker. Everyone left and right of me are trying to hurt me. I’m not sure what to do because, like I said, I have never had to deal with this and I have no idea how to approach the situation. I think they should disturb me and act really tough like everyone else does. No!!! I’m going to be me and they can just live the rest of their life to hate me until they forget about me or just find someone else to hate and talk about. I’m praying for people, and yea I pray. Just because I curse up a storm doesn’t mean I don’t have a faith or belief in someone.

Today, Claremont Middle School, 8th grade:
Well, it’s official. I stick out in California like a sore thumb. I am nothing like these California girls. I act weird randomly, and they get serious about stuff a lot more than I would unless I got an attitude. They also joke on people more often. I know I’m smart, but I’m too selfish to use it. I can be really cool and impress all my friends but I choose to impress no one but myself. I’m a Yupik 14 year old from the Togiak tribe in Togiak, Alaska. I am Angelica Walker.

My Bad Adventure

2010-06-10T02:07:00.000-07:00

by JV

Just because something seems like it is easy to get away with, doesn’t always means it is. Hi, I’m Jorell, and this is the story of how I cut school for three weeks straight. It all started halfway through my 7th grade year at Roosevelt Middle School. I wasn’t doing so well; I had bad grades and always got into trouble. Then one day my cousin almost got into a fight so we cut school and went to San Antonio Park. The next day, we cut again. We were in an alley, and then a crackhead started chasing us with a gun. We ran away and he started cussing at us. We ran to the school and stayed there for five minutes, then left again. After that day we always went to San Antonio Park. We would see my friends and my other cousin (by marriage). It was Diana, Kevin, and Chemrhoun, but we just call him Lucky.

After that day, we all just started cutting school day after day. Diana’s mom owned Lee’s Donuts Shop in High street, so she always came to school with like 300 dollars in quarter rolls-- literally. One day we went downtown and my cousins Nadine and Diana went to the bathroom. Diana said, “Can you hold our back packs?” So I said, “Okay.” We took 100 dollars from Diana’s backpack and took the bus to Chinatown. We went to go eat, then we bought stupid thing just to spend all the money. We got back to San Antonio Park around 2. We saw Diana and Nadine there, and Diana said she didn’t care about us taking her money. I went home that day and thought about whether I was going to cut again.

The next we went to Bayfair Mall. It took like three hours to get there. When we got there, they didn’t let us in. We just bought some Jamba Juice and went back to the park. We went to the aquarium and bought some gold fish, then went back to San Antonio Park. There was a drain and we put our goldfish in there and gave them some food. The next week we went to places like Alameda beach and other parks besides San Antonio.
On Wednesday we went to Diamond Park and we went to the trails. It was my cousin Nadine, Diana, Kevin, Lucky, and a girl named Simone, who we called “Squirrel girl,” and me. We were going through the trails, and we had to hop on rocks and climb over things just to get across. It seemed like forever- we were lost in the trail for hours. Kevin and Lucky had to pee, so they went into the trees, and we waited for 20 minutes and they never came back. So it was just all the girls and me. We started running, and then we saw a noose and a chair, and got scared and ran even faster. Eventually we saw a lady that led us out, well at least to the golf course. Then we saw a man, who drove us back to the park, and we took the bus home.

The next day it was Thursday and Nadine, Diana, and I went to Fruitvale Bart Station where we saw my uncle. He called Nadine’s mom to pick us up. We got yelled at and dropped off at school. We were scared to go in the school because it had been two weeks since we’d been, and it was Friday, so we just stayed at San Antonio Park. After school was over, we went back to Roosevelt and saw Nadine’s dad, who checked our attendance. We ran away and didn’t go home for hours. I eventually went home, and Nadine stayed with Diana. I got in big trouble, then Nadine went home and she got in trouble. After this experience I decided I won’t ever cut school again. I guess you should think ahead about the consequences.

When I Broke My Ankle

2010-06-10T02:06:00.002-07:00

by DV

The best thing that happed to me at Claremont was when I broke my foot, because a lot of people were paying attention to me. One cool thing about my ankle being broken was when I got my x –ray, the doctor showed me how I broke my ankle. Then, when I went to the cast room, there were all kinds of colors for casts- any color you can think of! I picked a color that matched the colors in the clothes I was wearing.

When I went back to school, I had no P.E. and I got out of doing the mile run test; that was the best part. I got to be late to all my classes with no consequences, because I had to go slowly on my crutches. Also, I skipped days of school because my mama wanted me to get some rest.

At home, I got special treatment, too. I did not have to clean up my room. My sister had to clean the whole house all by herself. All I had to do was rest and eat healthy. At first, I was really happy that I broke my ankle.

But then I started to miss playing basketball and football and doing other stuff. Those seven weeks of being in a cast were long. When I took my cast off it hurt really bad. I tried to walk, but I could not, because my foot was not used to the ground anymore.

The worst part was when the doctor had to pop my ankle back in place; that really hurt. After I broke my ankle, my aunt broke her ankle in two different places and fractured it in two places. Hers was worse then mine. It must have really hurt. She said she felt really bad, and her foot is not going to heal as fast as mine. Even though I had fun with my broken ankle, I hope it never happens again. It’s a bad feeling.

Ride or Die

2010-06-10T02:06:00.001-07:00

by AT

Damn, I've been through so much at this place called Claremont that I don't even know where to start. From good to bad, happy to sad, these last few years I attended this school have been so wonderful, yet so painful all at the same time. To put all the smiles and tears in only 500 words is going to be kind of difficult because I have so many memories from this school. Three years of drama, relationships, friends, fakes... all of the above! I can write every detail of the things that have happened to me at this school over time, but that would be way too much typing.
☺
Anyway, I remember my first day of sixth grade. The reason I said my first day of sixth grade is because I came about two weeks late (I don't even know why). Haha, but as I was sayin', the first day of sixth grade was so excitin'. I wasn't used to going to different classes every period. It was an adventure for me, but I loved it. I saw a lot of new faces and a lot of old faces. I didn’t think it could get any better that day, but if fact, it did. That day I also met Victoria Edwards, who later would become one of my best friends ever.

Summer goes by, then it’s my seventh grade year. I was hella juiced to not be the youngest at school any more. Even though I wasn't the oldest at school, I was still satisfied with being the second oldest. The first day of seventh grade was hella fun. My best friend Angel was at Claremont this year, plus Victoria was there. We hung out a lot and became the bestest of friends. Haha. I called them my “ride or dies,” which to me meant that they were down for whatever, whenever.

We were kinda inseperable by the end of the year. We would meet each other during every passing period, hang out at lunch every day, and chill during the weekends together. We were true bff's. After seventh grade year passed, it was finally summer! Angel and I saw each other almost every day in the summer. Victoria kinda did her own thing in the summer, but we all stayed in contact. Next thing you know, it's eighth grade year!
At last, our time to shine. Man, eighth grade was finally here! I had been waiting for this year since sixth grade. The beginning of this year was so much fun. Finally bein' the highest grade was the best thing ever. But you how it is when you feel on top of the world, there's always the haters that try to bring you down. What I mean by that is all the fights we got in eighth grade year. I mean, we wasn't trippin' off none of that, but it really affected my grades with the suspensions and drama. People were fightin' us just 'cause they wanted to. But we was still handlin' our business. Me and Vikki stuck together at school even though now Angel wasn't at Claremont any more, she had to go to KIPP.

All that happened to us this year over nonsense, but it's good. Now I'm just tryin' to raise my grades up so I can walk the stage for promotion. I'd really remember Claremont after that. I'm going to miss all the good and bad times I've had at this school. I'm going to miss my friends and enemies, teachers and staff, everything. I might front every now and then and say I can't wait to leave, but deep inside I would actually re-live my whole Claremont Middle School Experience! ☺

Middle School Life

2010-06-10T02:05:00.001-07:00

by AT

Unlike other middle school students, I didn’t start middle school in the U.S. I started in the middle east of Africa, in a country called Morocco. At first it didn’t feel like middle school in the 6th grade, but when I came back to the U.S in the 7th grade, it did feel like middle school.

I didn’t like 7th grade at all. It was my first time getting suspended, and my first time getting really bad grades. I hated half of the teachers, because they didn’t teach me well, which is why I had bad grades. I told my mom, but she wouldn’t believe me that the teachers weren’t teaching well. I tried as hard as I could, but I still got low grades.
The worst part of 7th grade was when I got suspended because of a fight. I didn’t really want to fight, but a boy got me mad and he grabbed me first, and then I defended myself. When we went to the office, he lied to them, telling them I started it. I told them he started it, but they wouldn’t believe either of us, so they suspended me and the other kid. And that’s 7th grade.

8th grade was a little better. I got suspended for one day because of nothing. Someone thought I was the one who spilled milk in the cafeteria on purpose. My grades improved a little bit.

Then there was this incident about a garbage can on fire. They thought I did it, because I was always over there. I was so mad that I missed a lot of work and my grades went down, and now I have to make them up. I’m still mad about it right now. That’s the 8th grade story. I think 7th and 8th grades were the worst grades yet. I hope they’re the worst, but in high school there might be ups and downs too.

In middle school, I learned three things. First: pay attention to who really is your friend, because they might not really like you. Some people just use you. Also, have at least two very smart friends so that you can get help on something you don’t know, like a math problem. Second: always be respectful to teachers who respect you. Third: never ever ever trust anybody in school, because you will always be disrespected.

I’m telling you this because I went through all these steps, and now I think this will help other students if they follow it. I will, when I get to high school. In the ninth grade I will try my best, and when I say my best I mean the best I have ever done before. So in the ninth grade, I will get good grades, I am sure I will. And when I keep it up all through high school, I will get a scholarship to a good college.

Fresh Meat Sixth Grade

2010-06-10T02:03:00.002-07:00

by LT

Ah, the first day of middle school. It was very confusing and embarrassing. It all started off when everybody was in the front of the school looking to see what list they were on. There were advanced and basic classes. I was in 6B ,which was basic, and I thought it was for all the dumb kids.

Once everybody (sixth through eighth graders) got their classes, they went to them. I got lost looking for my first period class, so that was confusing. When I finally got to class, we started on our warm up/do now. I didn’t have a pencil, and when I asked the teacher for a pencil, she yelled at me, which was embarrassing because everybody laughed at me. Then I noticed a girl in my class that I liked. Later on that week I asked her out. We went out for about a month, then I dumped her in Turkish class. After we broke up she held a grudge against me throughout the whole school year.

A week after we broke up, she told all my best friends some dumb lies that I was talking stuff about them, which was very pathetic. So I started to hate that girl a whole lot. Then, in every class, she would talk hecka mess for no reason, and make up dumb lies about me. I just used to not say anything, because it wasn’t worth it, and after a while my friends stopped being mad at me and started to stick up for me. That was very helpful, because I never knew what to say. Every day in P.E. she would always try to punk somebody, so I would just always punk her back.

Then, when I got a new girlfriend, she was hecka jealous, so she would always talk to my girl and tell her lies, like that I was gay and hecka dirty, and she was just a complete hater. So in Turkish class (see the connections?) she broke up with me! Because she thought I was gay! Damn, man, that’s some bull. She basically ruined my 6th grade year. I don’t know what I was thinking when I dated her!! She was the fakest and most two-faced person you can ever meet. She would be your friend one day, and then hate you the next.

Finally, the last day of school, and everybody was outside playing. She called me over toward her, and she was like, “Lawrence, my bad for f^*ing with you this whole year, but you’re still a lil’ b#$*&.” I guess you can say we made up.

Dreaming

2010-06-10T02:03:00.001-07:00

by ZS

You know how a dream can help you find a solution in your life? Well, my dream helped me. I was going through a tough time in my life during middle school. I was very depressed. My dream helped me through some of it. It went a little something like this…

I was running from something I could not see. Every time I looked back, whatever it was seemed to be getting closer and closer. I thought that whatever it was was going to get me. I kept running, though. I ran until I almost forgot what I was running for. I started thinking about all the people in my life, good or bad. People who really mean something to me, and people who don’t. I wasn’t thinking about the thing chasing me; at that moment it was like it didn’t even matter. I turned around and saw nothing. I knew that what I was running from, I couldn’t see, but this time was different, I knew that I was okay. I knew it was gone. I was calm. I was at peace.

In the dream, I recognized everything around me. I saw my old music box, the one that every time you open it, a ballerina pops out and it starts to play music. There was my old Barbie house I used to play with as a kid. I never liked Barbies, but my cousin and I would play with them, because she liked them, and I would have fun.

Another thing in the dream, there was fire. The fire made me remember the time my cousin and I almost burned our grandma’s house down when we were younger. My cousin and I were playing with a lighter in one of the rooms, and we were trying to light things up. We went over to the bed and lit it on fire. In the dream, I smiled at the memories I had. Some of my memories were so silly.

In the dream there were also frogs. I remembered that time my cousins and I went to a swamp and got a whole bunch of frogs. We brought the frogs home to my grandma’s, and let them all loose. They went all over our grandma’s house. We tried to catch them, but they were all over the place.

I thought of all the good things that had happened to me, and the good memories I had. I thought of the good times I had as a kid and the good times I’ve had in middle school. My dream started to become blurry. I was coming out of sleep. Then my alarm went off.

I woke up wishing I didn’t. It was time for me to go to school. I hopped in the shower trying to figure out what my dream was about. I came up with this: it’s okay to stop grieving and be at peace. Nothing’s going to happen to you anymore, and no matter what you’re going through now, everything is going to be all right. I went to school with a big smile that day…

My Lesson Learned

2010-06-10T02:02:00.000-07:00

by LS

Here I was, back at Claremont in the 8th grade. I had just transferred back to Claremont from a school in San Lorenzo. After coming back from that school, I appreciated Claremont a whole lot more! I had missed the yelling and fighting, and the roasting, but most of all I’d missed my friends.

Back in the 7th grade, I didn’t really appreciate anything. I wasn’t really grateful… I didn’t realize how much I had. Back then, my friends and I would make jokes and just laugh all the time. We would always hang out at the same place at lunch and talk about people. Not in a completely bad way but - well - we didn’t really care, as long as it was funny.

We always had insiders, laughs that you couldn’t understand unless you were in on the joke; people thought we were crazy because all we did was laugh for apparently no reason. All we had to do was look at each other and we would all bust out laughing. We would get high off laughter… I think you get the point.

I can remember the conversation that one of my friends and I had in class one day about wanting to leave Claremont.

“Are you going here next year?” asked my friend, KH.
“ I don’t know, I might not,” I responded.
“Me neither… this school is so… I don’t know,” she broke off. I could tell that whatever she was going to say wasn’t anything positive.
“Yeah, I need to get out of here!”
“I can’t take this school anymore,” she agreed.
“I might go to a school by my house,” I remembered.
“I know, me too! If you see how close that school is to my house you would think I’m stupid for coming here,” she laughed.
“When I first met you, I thought you were stupid,” I joked.
“ Shut up, dang!” she said, but she wasn’t really angry. It was a weird conversation between the two of us.

I didn’t really understand what we ‘couldn’t take anymore.’
Was it the good times we had? Or maybe it was the times when we would laugh so hard we couldn’t breathe and our stomach would hurt?

I think we took things for granted. A couple of months later, after going to our new schools for 8th grade, the only way we could keep in touch was the phone. We didn’t see each other every day anymore; we didn’t see each other at all. We would talk about how much we missed Claremont, and how much we hated the schools that we went to now.

I think I’m the one who missed it the most; I went into a deep depression for about four months. I never thought that this school I couldn’t stand at one point would be the thing that I yearned for most.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that you shouldn’t take things for granted, and be grateful for who and what you have, and how good you have it. Just remember: before you decide you have nothing at all, and no matter how crappy you think your school or friends are, just remember: it could be worse.

Being back at Claremont is a new start for me, I guess. I may not have all the same friends I used to have but I’ve made weird, funny, great new ones. You may think I’m crazy when I say that I’m actually very grateful to be walking among the halls of Claremont Middle School, and I know I’m going to miss everyone when I graduate! I hope I leave a footprint behind…

The Band Experience

2010-06-10T02:01:00.000-07:00

by CS

My days at Claremont were stressful. My eighth grade year has been the best of the three, all because I joined band. I learned to play the flute; I’m now good at it, but not that good. I’ve also met new people in band. It was fun because we got to perform at assemblies. They were on Fridays, so we got to miss almost the whole day of school. We would still have to go to 5th or 6th period, but that’s okay because I like 6th period English.

One day- the day before our play-a-thon, which is a big fundraiser concert to raise money for us to go to a contest at Great America- I lost my brand new flute. I was the first person ever to use it. I thought I had left it in one of my classes, but the next day, when I looked for it, I couldn’t find it. None of my teachers had seen it. After school that day I looked all over the school. I could not find it anywhere and I was mad. I was also nervous, because I hadn’t told Ms.Briggs about me losing it. The only reason she didn’t find out during band class was because I borrowed a friend’s flute. Unfortunately, I knew I had to tell her soon, because my brother plays the violin and he would be at the play-a-thon. I couldn’t think of a reason why my brother would be there but I wasn’t, so I knew it would look suspicious.

An hour or so before the concert, I told Ms. Briggs what happened, and she said that someone had come to her and said they found a flute, and she told them to bring to her, but they didn’t. I was wondering if she could remember who it was, or what they looked liked, but I didn’t ask. Ms. Briggs told me to go look for my flute.

My brother said he’d heard that someone had it, so we looked all over the school for that person. We finally found them, but they said someone else had it. I had to go all around the school looking for it again. It was time for the play-a-thon and I still couldn’t find it. So I just went to eat with my friends. Since I couldn’t play in the play-a-thon, I went with some friends who weren’t in band and we went shopping and then to Trader Joe’s to buy some whipped cream. After that, we went back to the play-a-thon to see some of the people in the band and gave them some. The real reason we were there was to pick up my brother at 4:00. Then we had a whipped cream fight. After the fight we went to Dreyer’s for some ice cream and to cool off.

The next day of school, which was a Monday, I didn’t want to go to school because I didn’t want to sit in band doing nothing the whole time. But I went into my class anyway and sat down in my section. When class started, Ms.Briggs told me to go look for my flute again. I was so mad, because I had already looked for it for hours on Friday, with help, but could not find it. I was so mad I was crying. I sat in band with no instrument for a few weeks.

Then I finally got a new flute- at least, it was new to me. I still had a few weeks to learn and practice the songs. Then, one Friday, we had a contest. We played our best and got a good score: an 88. The next week, on Saturday, we went to another contest at Great America, and came in second in both band and orchestra. The orchestra had the highest score they’d gotten in years! They had the same score as the band: an 86. Even though I lost my flute, this year has been a success. Maybe I will continue to play the flute or other instruments.

My Middle School Life

2010-06-10T02:00:00.002-07:00

by LS

My middle school life started off well, but I started to slip off my knowledge game by making new friends and not going after school to get extra credit. My mom always says I’m a good kid, but when I get with my friends I act up. I knew what she meant when I got to the 7th grade. But first let me tell you about my 6th grade year.

When I got out of elementary school, I was so happy. During the summer I asked my mom all day everyday what school was I going to. At the end of the summer she finally told what school I was going to. “Candells College Prep Academy.” I liked that school so much, because for some reason at a small school I get stuff explained easier. Every time we had a spelling test in class I studied the day before. Guess what? I got an A+ on every spelling test. I wish I would have kept that habit.

After school ended for the summer, I went to go to a summer camp for this school that I thought would be wack, but turned out to be cool: Oakland Military Institute. The only way you could get into the school is if you passed summer camp without getting five demerits. I didn’t have any. Instead of getting five demerits I got ten merits, which are good. Demerits are like referrals. And merits are like Caught in the Act dollars.

Since I made it through summer camp, I thought that I would have made it through the regular school year. If you had 40 demerits, you got kicked out the school. There was one time when I had 39 demerits, and my mom had to come to school for a meeting because I was close to getting kicked out of the school. After that meeting, I didn’t get a demerit for two whole weeks. At the end of those two weeks, on Saturday, I had to go to this thing called the demerit declamation. What they do there is have you clean up the whole school. So I made through that school year safely thanks to my mom.

My 8th grade year was rocky, because I talked too much and got on most of my teachers’ nerves. I started my school year at the same school, OMI, because I actually wanted to go there again. But the same thing happened as the last year: my grades started to fall, and I had a lot of demerits. My mom couldn’t help me this time, because there was no declamation, now there was detention. I was being lazy and didn’t want to go to detention, because for every demerit you had, it would be 15 minutes of detention, and at the end of a week I would have like three to five demerits. So being lazy got me kicked out, and now I am at Claremont and my grades are still low but my attitude is way better. Now I have to go to summer school. I kept saying I would go after school to make up work for math class and I never went, again being lazy.

Next year I’ll be at Oakland High. I’m going to do all my work and go after school. I learned that being lazy will not get you anywhere.

Cheerleading Memories

2010-06-10T02:00:00.001-07:00

by AR

My story begins one day at cheerleading practice, which was held in Antioch, at Deer Valley High School. I liked cheerleading a lot until my coach and I got into an argument. It happened like this: one of the cheerleaders had put a girl up in a stunt at the wrong time, and the coach yelled that the whole cheer squad was going to run around the DVHS field. Their field is huge, about three times the size of Oakland Tech’s. I decided not to run. Then, because I didn’t run the laps, the coach made me sit out for the rest or practice.

The next day, I came to practice again. I followed all the instructions until my coach, Brandi, told me to do the cheer moves full-out. Moments later, we did the stunts, but in a lazy way. So, we had to run laps again, this time in the dark! I started to do it, but soon I stopped running and started to walk. My coach saw me and told me to run, and I just kept walking so then I got into an argument with her. She yelled at me, so I walked away with an angry feeling, feeling like I wanted to slap her in her face.

Brandi turned to her dad and him if she could she kick me off the team. I said under my breath, “I don’t care if you kick me off your stupid team, I never wanted to cheerlead anyway!!!” When it was time to go back to practice she made me sit out on the side. So I sat on the side and was on the phone, as usual. Finally, I ended up apologizing.

The next day, at the game, I apologized again and I still had to run more laps than the other cheerleaders. But, when I ran them it was after the game. The lesson I learned was never to talk back in the middle of a punishment, because it can end up worse than other people. I still talk to Brandi because she's my cousin. Of course I would still be mad if I didn't know her, but since that's family I had to get over it. My other coach, Jovanna, the one who always yells at me, I don't talk to her anymore!

My Birthday in 7th Grade

2010-06-10T01:59:00.002-07:00

by AR

Have you ever gone out of the state? I have, and it was so much fun. I went to Seattle, Washington with my auntie over the summer. My birthday is in July. Last year I turned 14 years old, and that was the happiest day of my life at that moment.

First, when I woke up in the morning, I thought that no one had remembered my birthday. Then all of a sudden my aunt walked into the living room and shouted out, “Happy birthday, Sweetheart!” I was happy, but it felt awkward at first, with my aunt calling me sweetheart, but oh well.

Since I was in Seattle, I thought there would be no fun places, like Disneyland and Great America and stuff like that, but I was so wrong. There was this place called Sun Splash. My aunt treated me like an angel. I was so happy.

When I went to Sun Splash, it was awesome. I got on all of the water slides and the water rides. I never wanted to return back to Oakland; I wanted to live and work there forever.

People Talking

2010-06-10T01:59:00.001-07:00

by SR

I get tired of people talking about my personal life. Like what happened yesterday was I was tired in class so I left, but then I did not tell my teacher, which made her worried. I be hating when my mom tells teachers my whole life. My mom asks some of my teachers for help, but they do not help me, which makes me mad because it’s a waste of time. Then my mom asked the school for help, like the people that work in the office, and they put me on a contract for turning in my homework. They just kept checking up on me with my teachers, asking things like how I’m doing in class, do I talk a lot, things like that. They kept talking to me and were strict with me and I did pull my grades up. They told me to work then play. I try my best to pay attention in class but I get bored so I fall asleep or I do not listen. For me the hardest things are not talking and getting good grades on my quizzes.

Even though I did not like Mr. Aqeel’s company, he did help me improve my grades. He would approach me at lunch right after class, taking me back into the classroom. We would look for my teachers to find out what homework I needed to complete. Once given, I would be assigned the homework to be finished during lunch. I felt horrible because I could not kick it with my friends, instead I had to go do my homework. My friends thought I was a nerd, but I knew I was a kid trying to graduate! For this reason I kept doing my work with Mr. Aqeel and I started to put more effort in my schoolwork. I am still lazy about doing work, but I do like that I am doing better.

I am in the process of trying to graduate this year. Earlier this year I got distracted and was too talkative to focus on school. Even though I am still getting into trouble for having an attitude and talking back, I have begun to do some homework. I would like to go to Oakland Technical High School next year, but it depends on how I do this semester.

Two Fridays ago there was an award ceremony that I received recognition at. I was awarded three awards including one for English, History, and Physical Education. I was happy because all my work paid off. My friends were jealous because they did not get any awards, and I did. Even though my friends were jealous, my mother and family were proud, including me. I have been through a lot this year, especially in the end, but I am improving. I have found a lot of help this year. A lot of people have spent a lot of time with me, which makes me feel cared about. I have appreciated all my teachers’ help recently, and I really hope I graduate.

Claremont Roosevelt Claremont

2010-06-10T01:58:00.000-07:00

by JP

Two schools in one year. How did I ever survive? Going to Claremont to Roosevelt and back to Claremont was very stressful. Roosevelt was Hell for many reasons. I had been getting really comfortable with Claremont, until a situation happened and I was forced to leave.

The first day I went to Roosevelt, I wasn’t really nervous, but my stomach was in knots. New people plus new school all equals a fresh new start. The first thing I was looking at was the boys, and I was really impressed because they were finer than chocolate. I was thinking that the people would act as nice as they looked, but I was wrong. I started hanging with T and D. At first, they were nice, but they would talk about people and act like they were the ones who ruled the school.

I was very quiet at Roosevelt. Everyone would ask me why I was so quiet. I would just respond, “I don’t know, I’m just not that comfortable yet.” I couldn’t be my fun-loving self because of the situation at Claremont. I came home complaining every single day because I hated Roosevelt so much. My dad would always tell me “They were only testing you because you are the new girl.” I would go to school every day saying to myself, “Jae, you only have a few more months, you can do this,” but I would still come home complaining. Finally one day I begged my dad not to make me go to school and he said I could stay home. I was shocked because if I were at Claremont, he would have said no, so I knew something was up. Out of nowhere my step mom yelled, “You’re going back to Claremont!” I was so happy because I had a chance to go back to my old school with my old friends!

After spring break I came back to Claremont. Some people were happy that I was back. Some were mad, but I didn’t really care; as long as I was happy, it was good. I know one thing for sure: I was glad to leave Roosevelt.

Some people at Roosevelt asked me why I left. I always tell them I moved or I just didn’t feel like myself at Roosevelt. I didn’t just leave Roosevelt because I was not comfortable. When Ms. Crockett asked my stepmom to ask me if I wanted to go back to Claremont, I said yeah immediately.

Epiphany

2010-06-10T01:57:00.000-07:00

by AP

When I first moved to Oakland, I was only 10 years old. I had just graduated from Cleveland Elementary School, which is in San Francisco. I was born and raised in San Francisco, and everything was there; family, friends, and all that I was used to. I was already making a difficult transition from elementary to middle school, but doing it in a completely different city seemed impossible.

My first day of school was so unreal. Like in the movies, when everyone knows who the new girl is: the outcast, the outsider. Well, I was her, and it was horrible! Everyone was very different from me, their whole lifestyles. The way they dressed, acted, talked was all so advanced. They were dating and going out to parties, while back in San Francisco, my friends and I couldn’t even go to the movies without an adult chaperone. I dressed differently than all of the other girls. They had fake nails, their eyebrows were arched, and their pants were super tight. I just dressed normally, or at least what was normal for a girl my age in San Francisco. I was so different and I didn’t like it. I had never been out of place, ever in my life, and I didn’t really like it. I didn’t know anyone and no one knew me.

Everything was all too overwhelming. I was so overwhelmed that I went to the side of the school and cried. But just like she always has been, my mom was there and let me cry on her shoulder. She told me that everything was all right and that being different from another city was my advantage. She told me that it was okay to be different and I didn’t have to be so mature to fit in, that I could be accepted without being me, or that I didn’t even have to try and fit in. I felt better and went inside.
After that rough start, sixth and seventh grade were a breeze. I made many friends and a few enemies, but hey, that’s middle school. I had two best friends all throughout my two and a half years at MLA. Their names were Juvonna and Eeman. I thought that they were my true best friends, but I soon figured out that they were trying to fit in just as much as I was. One day, all of my friends and I were at second snack having fun and laughing. I don’t exactly remember what happened, but Juvonna’s little sister and I got into an argument, so Juvonna jumped in. Of course she took up for her little sister, so it was those two against me. Even then I didn’t back down, and then Juvonna’s little sister, Jubrille, wanted to fight me. It seemed like everyone traded on me and no one was my friend because everyone was on Jubrilles side; no one wanted to be different and be on my side, because then they would be an outcast too. That’s how things worked at MLA: people did what everyone else was doing, and I can’t even lie, I tried to also. But I was lucky that I had a mom that didn’t let me.

When I got home, I told my mom what had been happening. My mom was so mad that she called Juvonna and Jubrille and told them how mean they were. She wasn’t disrespectful or anything, but she calmly told them not to jump me and that I should fight them individually. I was so mortified. I’d rather be jumped rather than have my mom fight my battles fro me, or at least I thought I would. When I got to school the next morning, everyone was asking me why my mom had yelled at Juvonna and Jubrille. I tried to explain that she hadn’t, but no one believed me and everyone called me scary. I called my mom and told her that Juvonna and Jubrille spread the rumor about her. Even though I refused, my mom ordered me to come home. I was so embarrassed that I went out the back of the school so that no one could see me.

My mom went to the district offices on 21st street and switched my schools. I didn’t go to school for about a month and instead I mainly went to work with my mom. It was fun. I am happy that my mom was there and that she always had my back. I love her for that, and now I see that she was right all along.

Non-reelected

2010-06-10T01:56:00.002-07:00

by SP

It was March of 8th grade when I head the news: Ms. Thaler, my English teacher, was being fired! This couldn’t happen! Though I would still have her until the end of the year, all my 7th grade friends wouldn’t, and that would be horrible! Ms. Thaler was like the best teacher ever! More than that, she was a friend.

I learned that technically, Ms. Thaler wasn’t being fired; she was being “non-reelected,” which meant that not only was she fired, she couldn’t teach in OUSD in the future, and at job interviews, she’d have to tell her prospective employers that she’d been non-reelected. Plus, the administration, led by our principal, Ms. Crockett, wouldn’t have to even give a reason, because Ms. Thaler was “probationary.”

My friend started a petition to get the non-reelectment rescinded, and I made a Facebook group to help organize it. The petition never got anywhere, but the group members showed how much they loved Ms. Thaler by writing comments on the page and writing touching letters of support. As one of the people said, “She was like my fave teacher last year, she was fun & helped me learn, so why in the hell would she be getting fired?”

In April, me, my mom, quite a few friends, and a whole lot of supportive teachers took the letters of support to a school board meeting. We stood at the stand and poured out our hearts for Ms. Thaler. We talked about how she stood up for us, became our friend, helped us improve, and made school fun. Ms. Williams, the other 8th grade English teacher, explained that, despite being a teacher for a lot longer than Ms. Thaler, she was constantly going to Ms. Thaler for help with her teaching. After the meeting, a journalist from Oakland North, a popular online newspaper centered on North Oakland, interviewed us about our case, and we ended up taking up most of the article on the school board meeting. Things seemed pretty darn hopeful that the school board would supersede the administration and de-non-reelect Ms. Thaler.

A few weeks later, the teacher’s union in Oakland decided to hold a one-day strike for better wages, as the city was spending too much on administration and not enough on teachers and students. Some friends and I skipped school and joined the picket line, then took the BART to the rally in front of City Hall. It was wonderful to be a part of it, and the next day, Ms. Thaler was on the front cover of the SF Chronicle, high fiving a student and wearing her union shirt and skirt that she had tailored out of another union shirt.

However, since that meeting, we hadn’t heard anything. Ms. Thaler told me that, whatever the decision, she would probably be leaving Claremont at the end of the year. Then, in mid-May she gave me the news: the school board had decided to let the administration non-reelect her. But despite that, I’m hopeful for Ms. Thaler.
I’m hopeful because I know that a ban from teaching in OUSD and a black mark on her resume won’t stop Ms. Thaler. No matter what it takes, she will find a way to make somebody, somewhere feel a whole lot better. And hey, their grammar might get a bit gooder too.

There Was A Fire?!?!

2010-06-10T01:56:00.001-07:00

by Joey Bagadonuts

When I woke up Wednesday morning, I could feel it in my noggin that it would be an electrifying day. I got out of bed and scarfed down my eggs and toast in a hurry. I ran to school as fast as lightning. I was already down to the last moments before the bell. I was sprinting across the yard and I could see the door closing but I found the last bit of extra energy deep inside me and made it with seconds to spare. I was all set to take my history CST test.

Testing went as I expected. Eyes on your own paper, mark the bubble with a circle, all that jazz. I finished with plenty of time to waste so I decided to take a nap. I awoke to the hustle and bustle of my classmates around me leaving. I figured the test was over. I got up and stretched and went on to my next class. I could still feel that exciting buzz, but I couldn’t figure out why.

When the bell finally rang for lunch, I was going crazy with all that excitement and energy. I mosied on over to the usual hang out to meet Bruno and Stephen like always. Stephen suggested a game of soccer with the seventh graders near the dumpster. It sounded like a good way to release my energy so I accepted. Just before the game began, I could feel the air temperature rising. All of a sudden, someone shouted, “THERE’S A FIRE IN THE DUMPSTER!!” I looked over, and to my amazement, there was! I had no idea what to do. You would think all those fire drills would keep people calm. But can you really expect middle school students to line up and stay quiet while there’s a raging inferno just meters away from them?

When the flames began to grow, I fled the scene like a gazelle running from lions. If I were seen near the blaze, everyone would’ve thought it was me. Meanwhile, others were just starting to notice the fire. People started to run to pull the fire alarm. Once word started spreading, the staff came running over telling people to back up and get out of the way. At this point everyone was going crazy. Everyone was asking the same question, “Who did it?” Somehow still people are asking that question. Who ever it was must have been really slick.

Although that Wednesday was a lot of fun, I still learned something. I learned how important it is to assess the situation around you and decide when it’s a good idea to leave. Even though it was really exciting to see the fire so close, I knew I should get away because things might not turn out very well. If I had stayed and watched the fire and acted immature, I could have gotten injured or in a lot of trouble. I don’t know if this event changed me, but it opened my eyes to what can happen if you’re not careful where you go or what you do during any situation.

My Middle School Years

2010-06-10T01:55:00.002-07:00

by AM

It all started in the 6th grade. My first year at Westlake Middle School. On the first day of school, I was so frightened I thought I was going to pass out. I didn’t think I was going to make friends, but I did, thanks to my cousin Aliyah. She helped me make a lot of friends with 8th graders. On the third day of school, I made friends with a girl named Kenyada. She was my best friend. Everyone thought we were sisters. My grades in the 6th grade were good. I always got a 3.0 or higher. My lowest grades were in math. I always got low grades in math, but who cares? I still went on to the next grade.

7th grade was my best year in middle school! I was back at Westlake. I had lots of friends. Kenyada and I weren’t really best friends anymore, because I found out that she had been talking about me behind my back, so I found new friends: Danielle, my 5th grade best friend; Kayla, a girl I just met; and Cartia, my sister. They were my friends for most of the year. As the year slowly went on, my grades went down. I wasn’t doing any work, and I had detentions everyday. [I was BAD!!] The end of the year was the best. I got in a fight with this girl named Alexis. We fought because she didn’t like me, but I really didn’t care. Oh, and a couple weeks before school ended, me and my play sister Jasmyne and my cousin Destiny pulled the fire alarm…hahaha. It was fun at the time, but I took the blame for it and got in trouble. My mom was pissed.

Well, 8th was okay. It’s not my best year in middle school, but whatever. Things started off okay. I thought some people didn’t like me, and I was hearing rumors, but I wasn’t really trippin’. I hung out with the right people, or at least I tried to. I hung out with my best friends Jaeden, Patricia, Jasmin, and Salvador. I could only really trust those people (ohhh, and Tammy!!!) My grades were horrible!! I had mostly good grades but I always got D’s in math. And now I’m ending my essay with a good-bye to my readers.

Unforgettable

2010-06-10T01:55:00.001-07:00

by MM

You ever have one of those days when everybody at the school gathers in a massive crowd for a simple problem? At Claremont I learned that things like that could happen as frequently as every day or every month. But there are two fights that I will never forget.

So let me start off by telling you that at Claremont, it is always completely chaotic. You see students running down the hallway because they decided to cut class. There are students getting into fights over getting hit with a paper ball. There are people destroying classrooms over lotion. This school is over-the-top crazy. Can you guess what was going to happen next?

The day started out as any other Friday; it was a super long day full of nothing interesting. As I left class I saw everyone start running out to the tree courtyard closest to the school library. I walked out to see everyone in the school in one huge circle. I made my way through the crowd, and next thing I knew, I saw a teacher get slapped. The crowd went into an uproar as three girls got into a fight. One girl took another girl and smashed her head against a bench and immediately everyone went crazy. Then, out of nowhere, someone’s whole head of hair came off and I started to die laughing.

After the fight was broken up, the girl that had lost the fight was extremely angry. I guess it was because she lost a fight in front of the whole school, or maybe it was because her hair was torn off. Then, all of a sudden, Tyrone had picked up the hair cap and started to swing it around like a lasso. My stomach was churning after I was done laughing. Afterwards, Henry did the same thing. My cousin and I heard cop sirens approaching the school. We realized then that it was time to leave. My cousin and I both knew that the memory would last forever. It was a completely unforgettable experience.

After the hype of the huge fight between the eighth graders had settled, it seemed like everything was at peace. Two months later, we got to Ms. Ferrell’s fifth period class. Everything was as usual. A majority of the class was either talking or roasting. Then, out of nowhere, a paper ball flew through the air and hit this girl named Damonea. Damonea was one of those girls that could get set off at any time. So when she got hit, she automatically assumed that it was this girl named Angel. Who, I might add, was sitting right next to me. Damonea got infuriated, and next thing you knew, she and Angel were fighting. The desk tilted and landed on my leg, but I was unharmed. (Thank God!) The fight got wild as it moved from the desk to the front of the room. Everyone was going crazy. Honestly, I was thinking, “Where’s the popcorn?” Then Ms. Ferrell jumped into the ruckus and things got even more chaotic. Somehow she was able to break up the fight but the room looked like a war zone. Everyone in that class had a story to tell.

Nervous

2010-06-10T01:53:00.003-07:00

by HM

Imagine walking onto a stage. There is an enormous flood of light and you are immediately blinded by this immense artificial sun. Then, the second you walk off stage, you run outside and start blowing chunks. That's what it was like for me in my first circus show, "Inspiruption."

When I heard that my circus was going to perform, I was nervous. I had so many anxiety dreams that I started feeling apprehensive about sleeping. I was very nervous.
The weekend of the show came too fast, and we were still making last minute changes. I didn't know what to do. As we sat backstage, my friend Ron would peek out through a small hole in the curtain to tell us the status and size of the audience. The first show went great other then some minor kinks with cues and lighting. Everything went surprisingly smoothly, until the last show.

After our third performance, it was a bright mid-Sunday and just about lunch time. My mom called me to ask if I wanted some food, and I didn't miss my chance. I begged her to go to the Can't Fail Cafe. I ordered my favorite thing off the menu, a chocolate shake, fries, and the mouthwatering, enormous, and cooked to perfection, Mile High Club Sandwich: four stacks of pure awesome piled one on to another.

Without thinking of the show I had to perform in a half an hour, I chowed down and ate the whole thing. Big mistake! As soon as the show started I was already feeling nauseous. I paced in circles trying to calm myself down. I took multiple trips to the restroom in hopes that I'd come back feeling better, but nothing worked. I was in panic. I started to feel a slow rumble in my stomach and my legs started to shake. I ran out the back entrance and puked. Luckily, our second-in-command director, Slater, had some mouthwash. I swished and spit multiple times, and although my mouth was as fresh as a new bar of peppermint soap, my stomach still felt like an acid bath. As much as I didn't want to perform, I knew that the show had to go on. I put on a fake smile and walked onstage just in time for my cue. After the show, when I told everyone what had happened, they completely understood; most of them had been in very similar situations. We went out for gelato, and I even ended up laughing at myself for my nerves. I realized that I always have to be confident. I also realized that I shouldn't eat a monster sandwich with a milkshake and fries right before doing flips in front of an audience.

Ballin'

2010-06-10T01:53:00.001-07:00

by JM

It all started on August 31st on a chilly Monday morning: I started my first day of middle school. I really didn’t want to go, but you know I had to go. My first period class was English. The name of my teacher was Ms. Awolana, and she was really mean. I already knew a lot of people that went to the school. My favorite part of the day was lunch, because that’s when I got to play basketball. As you can tell, basketball is my favorite sport. After lunch I had science. My teacher was Ms. Taylor-White, and she was pretty cool. That’s what most of my sixth grade year was like. Then I tried out for the sixth grade basketball team. I made the team, and so did my patnas, Cris and David. That was probably the most exciting thing that happened in the sixth grade.

In the seventh grade, I met more friends and I got a little taller. My teachers were okay; they could’ve have been better, but you know teachers can’t be perfect. I played for the seventh grade basketball team. We were pretty good. My grades were the same as in sixth, and my mom told me that I wasn’t working up to my abilities. My grades were the same the whole year, which was a 2.0. My mom was right; my grades really could’ve been better. My favorite class was science because my teacher taught me a lot about the human functions. 7th grade was an okay year. The most exciting thing that year was that my baseball buddy Henry came to the school. That’s about it for seventh grade.

Eighth grade, which is this year, has been kind of good and kind of bad. My grades haven’t been that good this year. I played for the basketball team yet again, and we did well this year. I like all my teachers. I need to improve by not getting distracted by other people, paying more attention, and doing my homework. This year I had a lot of friends, some good, and some bad, but they were all cool. Now that I’m going to high school, I’m really excited. I’m going to Oakland Tech, and my teachers are preparing me for high school. I want to thank all my teachers: Ms.Thaler, Ms. Negash, Mr. Smith, and finally, Mr. Barish.

Advice With Experience

2010-06-10T01:52:00.003-07:00

by JL

James Luckett was a boy with little gloom or glee,
though he was good, his life was long and deep.
His days were boring, long, but true,
he learned his days away and always had a clue.
He stuck to his friends day-to-day like glue.
And he never lied; he always told the truth.
My parents interrogated me
and spoke to me as if I were lazy.
"I was getting good grades,” I told them
but they were still driving me crazy.

James Luckett was and is- of course- me,
who had little glee or gloom
and my 8th grade year seemed to be doomed.
People said I was nice and had good hair, which loomed,
though I had cool grades my conscience ruled.
My school year was pretty cool,
but if you don't fit in, it could be really cruel.
I loved Claremont, all my friends in which I hang,
we never did anything bad or anything to bang.
At the end of the 8th we all gave a sorrow bye.
We were brothers, we were close, but couldn't cry.

So here's a little advice about brothers:
once one leaves, it's law to miss each other.
Never get into any fights that are filled with hate,
just keep your cool and you can graduate.
My friends, family, teachers, and staff,
though they yelled my grades were nothing to laugh.
I've graduated, and I know it's your turn as well.
If you don't ,your life will be a living hell.
You'll be by yourself with nothing but an uncomfortable shell,
and a pit of despair.
Don't end your friend’s relationship, move forward with your life.
Don't back step and end your year with strife.
Enjoy your years, learn, read, write, and remember each step.
Step up to graduate. Don't end your rep.
Don't think of anything as hard, but as a challenge,
see your work as a sign of revenge,
as to doing it well and as your grads last defense.
If I finished in a flash then you should have read this as reference.
As I said before, my time is up
so you take the next step on to a life with love.
Don't get angry when it comes to push and shove,
any type of quarrels will end with leave, no future to love.

This passage I've formed is just a little experience and advice.
Get your life together and put it in a vice.
Someone always told me that we we are all kings,
but we can't be so without marriage or many rings.
Kings rule world round
so as your graduation it is your day to be crowned.
This is the end, we are all kings and queens. But only when failure is an option.
So pick up your life and get your grades together, with A's as the option,
twist them and flip them to end with a caption.

New School to New School and Back to Old School

2010-06-10T01:52:00.001-07:00

by ML

6th grade:
In sixth grade I was new to Claremont Middle School. I was nervous and excited at the same time. I didn’t know anybody but my sister Akilah and my neighbor Dequan. I had Ms. Baxter’s math class. We all had to introduce each other and say something about ourselves. Akilah and I were best friends, and then we met a new girl Malieya. We had all the same classes and the same lunch. That year, sixth graders had lunch before the seventh and eighth graders. I was not used to having different classes every period, so sometimes I would get lost. The hallways were so crowded and everyone pushed and shoved each other to get through the hallways, I felt like a pigeon between two crows. I felt like I didn’t matter because the school was so big and everyone just walked past me without acknowledging me. I’m so glad I got through that year.

7th grade:
In the seventh grade I transferred schools. My mom didn’t really like Claremont so she put me in California College Preparatory Academy, also known as Cal Prep. At first I thought it was a school for smart people, but when I got there my thoughts changed. The only thing I was not used to was the uniforms. We had to wear khaki pants and a white collared shirt. I made new friends on the first day. A couple of girls didn’t like me and they didn’t tell me why. I wasn’t going to waste my time worrying about them because they didn’t matter to me. Throughout the year I had been through bad friends and true friends. And I’m glad I had the chance to experience that.

8th grade:
In my eighth grade year I went back to Claremont. I know what you’re thinking, “Why did she switch schools, then go back to Claremont?” Well, that’s the same thing I was thinking. My mom thought it was a good idea for me to leave Cal Prep because there was so much drama. When I came back I saw that a lot of people from my old school went there. I had some of the same friends and I had some new ones. One of my best friends was Aujanee. We were somewhat close and we could tell each other everything. She was one of the only true friends that I had. But now it’s the end of the year, and I’m not really worrying about any friends because I am focusing on my schoolwork. I had some crazy experiences at both of my schools but it was all worth it. I met good friends and bad friends.

Middle School Stories

2010-06-10T01:51:00.001-07:00

by JL

7th grade just ended and I am bored. It’s summer and really hot and I don’t know what to do. I have money, so I call my friend Jamar, and he says I can come over his house. So I’m like okay and we invite our other friend, Caelin. So I have to catch BART all the way to Walnut Creek. Then we go to the movies to see something rated R, but I forgot the name. They wouldn’t let us in, so we bought a ticket to a movie rated E, then snuck in.

Toward the end of the movie, my friend’s sister, Latavia, came inside of the theater with her three friends. They were two twins and a girl named Morgan. Morgan was hideous; her nose was gigantic and she was just horrific.

Later on, towards the middle of the summer, the twins did something that I can’t even put on this paper. After that, Caelin, Jamar, and I weren’t even cool with those girls anymore. Then this kid named Nestor started to like one of the twins, and when Jordan told him about what they did, Nestor wanted to fight me, because I’m the one who told Jordan. What I told him was true, though, so I don’t know why Nestor was doing too much. So Nestor said he and his friend were going to jump me, and I said,” Okay then, ya’ll going to jump me, we are going to see about that!” And then I got my friend.

We met by the library, and Nestor had his friend, but his friend was Caelin, and Caelin wasn’t going to jump me. My friend and I were like, “I thought you was gone jump me!” But Caelin was like, “I wasn’t going to jump you.” I was like, “Nestor, I thought you said you and your friend was going to jump me.” Then Nestor started lying, talking about how they were never going to jump me, he was just going to beat me up. So I dropped my stuff, and I was like, “Nestor, if you gone fight me, fight me, but if you aren’t, I don’t got time for you to be wasting with your talking, ‘cause I’m not in the mood right now! So just f***ing f hit me so I can just f**k you up.” He was like, “Dude, can you please just apologize?” I didn’t know why he wanted me to apologize- what I had said was true!

I was like, “No.” He was like, “Whatever, dude.” Then he left. Later, somebody told him that me and some of my friends were going to jump him, but nobody said that, so I don’t know where he got that from, but whatever. His old paranoid self kept his guard. Then we figured out he was trying to bully my cousin, the 6th grader, so we confronted him about that and he stopped. This went all the way until I got into the 8th grade. What I’ve learned from all this is that people can be really nasty. Also, don’t trust everybody you see, because they can be hella fake.

First Fishing Journey

2010-06-10T01:50:00.000-07:00

by JL

In November of 2008, I went on a camping trip in Bakersfield, at my uncle’s house. My dad and I got on a train for about a six-hour ride. When we arrived, we stayed at the house for one day, then we loaded up the camper and got ready for the next day. We got to the campsite there were lots of people there, and we started to unload the camper. I was so excited about the fishing trip, because it was my first camping trip.

My uncle is a correctional officer, and he treats me like I’m in the army or something, but I don’t have a problem with that. He says thing like “Move out!”

When my cousins got to the campsite, I had lots of fun. We started fishing, and I discovered that I hate putting bait on the fishing pole because it really stinks.
Later on, we started a fire for the s’mores we were making I wasn’t going to eat them because I didn’t like marshmallows, but I found out they’re good with s’mores. When it got real dark, we lit a lantern that was real bright. I got really bored and just sat in the camper for a while thinking about friends at school, even though it was Thanksgiving break. My dad was talking to me, but I was tired, so I wasn’t listening, and then my uncle yelled at me and almost made me cry, but he was kind of drunk. I was getting very tired so I went in the camper and laid down and thought about the Fishing Derby that was coming up the next day. I couldn’t wait.

At about 3am, my uncle was ready to start up the engine so we could get a spot in a long line of people ready to go down to the river for the derby. There was lots of traffic because so many people were going to try to win the one thousand dollar prize. We were there for about two hours, bored, waiting to start. We were setting up everything: our fishing poles, bait, etc.

Time flew and people started catching big fish, and from that point on I knew it was no challenge for us. Later, I asked if we could go, and then we packed everything up and went back to my uncle’s house. My auntie and my cousin Arian were glad to see us. My dad and uncle started drinking, and then we ate dinner and went to sleep. The next morning we got dressed and ready for our train to come back home. The ride was long and boring, but I was taking pictures of things and thinking back on what I did on my long journey of fun.

April Fools

2010-06-10T01:49:00.002-07:00

by JK

It was April 1st and I was walking to school with some friends. We were walking slowly; we didn’t have to be at school for another 20 minutes. Suddenly an idea came to my mind. Why not take a few drinks from Market Hall? It had no cameras that I knew of, and it was always busy enough so that no one would notice, or so I thought. I went in and took a few drinks and went out. It seemed like no one noticed. No one said to stop or to put them back. I quickly crossed the street and gave out the drinks to my friends, saving one for myself. We kept on walking to school, thinking nothing of it.

The first part of the school day went by normally. Then, at the end of P.E., Mr. Lindsay came and talked to me. He said that people from the office were looking for me. I was surprised. I had no idea why they were looking for me. It was as if I forgot everything that happened before school started. I went to my next class thinking about it and wondering why they were looking for me. In my next class, English, we had to do an essay. After the Do Now and a little more explaining about the essay, Ms. Thaler told us to start on it. I had just barely started when Mr. Weekes came in the room and said, “I’m going to need Julian to come with me.” I went numb. I didn’t know what I did to get pulled out of class by the security officer. While we were walking to the office he asked me what I did. I told him that I didn’t do anything. Then he told me that I should just tell the truth to Mr. Taylor and it would all be over with quickly. When I was talking to him it was obvious that he knew I did something, but I was confused because I had no idea what I could have done to have to talk to the vice principal.

This was my first time in the office for doing something wrong. Mr. Taylor asked me if I took some drinks from Market Hall before school started. It was as if he just flipped a switch in my head. I suddenly remembered everything. I told him the truth about what happened while wondering how I could forget all that. He then sent me out of the office and called Ms. Crockett to the office. He also called the owner of Market Hall. When she arrived, she talked with Mr. Taylor and Ms. Crockett. Then I got called back into the office. Ms. Crockett was mad and she told me that I would be suspended for three days and I would have to clean up the storefront for three weeks. I thought that was unfair, because she was suspending me for something that happened outside of school, and she didn’t have the right or the power to try to appoint me to community service without parental consent. Then Ms. Crockett and the owner of Market Hall left the office. Mr. Taylor called my parents. He left a message saying I was suspended and to call him back as soon as they could. They didn’t call back, though, and I spent the rest of the day in Ms. Thaler’s class and left the school. I had no idea what I would tell my mom. For the first time in my life, I didn’t want to go home.

Changed My Life

2010-06-10T01:49:00.001-07:00

by AK

It all started off on a chilly bittersweet morning. That's right, the first day of school that I really didn't want to be a part of. Dragging myself, I made it to Claremont Middle School; a dull school of fish. It's not that I hated school, it's just that school was the same old routine. Sixth grade was a chocolate ice cream cone, but by the time I got to seventh grade it melted into a moppy puddle.

Every class appeared so long and all the exhausting work seemed so pointless. To spend endless hours at my wooden cage just made me angry. We spent all day working on a lesson until we understood it, just to do worksheets on it. As if that's not enough, we then take similar worksheets home for our homework, and prepare ourselves for the upcoming test on said lesson. Why?! Why should we waste so much paper? Can't you just skip all the worksheets and tell me specific details of what kind of math is going to help me in life without chopping down all of mankind's trees? Then we discuss it, you give me an A+, and we all go home happy. That and other angry thoughts cooked in my head, giving me a hot, slow-cooked idea as I stared at the bulletin board that never seemed to make any sense.
The moment of truth sank down on me one Friday afternoon. I was negatively etching my initials into my desk, as my math teacher floated around the class like a cloud. Why the heck was he so happy to pass out quizzes? He did it EVERY day! So I decided to give him a piece of my mind/ share my slow-cooked idea. I waited until he gave me my quiz, then said it. I said a foul word in an appalling sentence that would probably make my grandma flip in her grave a couple of times. {I wouldn't dare repeat it on paper.} The whole classroom roared with laughter, while my teacher gave me a shameful, outraged look. He then immediately sent me to the office with a referral to go home.

I happily grabbed my backpack and walked out of that classroom with a look of triumph. I did it! I let all that anger out. I skipped down that hallway, running my fingers against each locker with a smile from ear to ear. Feeling as if I lifted a boulder off my back, feeling as if I were Jay-Z at the Music Awards. Without a care in the world, I strolled into the office about 30 minutes later, and then my eyes locked onto the furious face of my father.

All those happy feelings: gone. All that's left was a stupid look on my face, completely dumbfounded. His eyes were bugged out, nostrils flared, but he remained silent. We then walked to the car (well, I followed him, terrified) and headed home as I waited for "it.” I was flabbergasted; at sea; lost for words. I just sat there staring at the dashboard, waiting for the immortal silence to end. My dad chose not to relieve me. Instead, he ran a red light and entered the freeway (not the way home). He started driving like a lopsided puppy, jumping lane to lane at 80 mph. That's when "it" started.

“Who do you think you are to talk like that? Is school a game? Did I raise you to speak that way? Huh? Answer me!” The car's speed, his yelling, my brain rushing, it all just spun me around and around.
Then, everything stopped. My dad took a deep breath as he pulled over and began to tell me about himself. How he dropped out to work and support his family, and how he missed his one chance. School is an opportunity, and he missed his chance at it. An education is a priceless value that I shouldn't have taken for granted. His words made perfect sense. If you really think on it, school is a privilege, not an obligation. Then I told him how stupid and hard school was getting, and he spoke an eye-opening phrase.

"Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain."

My view of school and life changed at that exact second. School is not stupid, and I shouldn't look at anything like that. Many teens and kids worldwide don't have school as a option in their lives. I was selfish and I let my parents and teachers down. I apologized to my teacher on Monday and quickly started setting goals for my life. My first is to finish school and be as successful as my father. School is a gateway to adulthood; so I accept it and soak in all the knowledge I can. I hope every other student at Claremont does, too.

My Best Friend

2010-06-10T01:48:00.000-07:00

by MK

WOW! Today is a wonderful day. Our school just got out for New Years break. Right now I’m so excited I really don’t know what to say. I can’t wait to get out to the open air so I can have so much fun. Everything is so exciting, I can’t even stop smiling.

The next day, I called my best friend and asked her if she wanted to hang out. She said she couldn’t wait. She’d been bored ever since she got home from school the day before. Darlisha asked me if I would like to go to the movies on Sunday. I replied by saying I’d have to ask my mom before I said yes. Sometimes she could be a little strict. So, later on that day Darlisha and I went to the store by my grandmother’s house. She bought herself a soda and some chips. I bought just a soda, because I ate before I saw her. After we left the store, I saw another friend that went to my school. Her name was Jasmine Williams. Everybody thought she was the most popular girl in the school, but she didn’t act like that when she was around us. She asked us where we were going. I told her we were just walking around. She asked us if she could come with us. I said it was cool with me, and Darlisha agreed. Later on that day, we got to Emeryville Theater. We were planning to see The Nightmare on Elm Street, but we changed our minds.

Next we looked at all the other movies that were playing. We saw the movies The Backup Plan, The Nightmare on Elm Street, Kickass, Just Wright, and Why Did I Get Married Too? We decided to go see Just Wright because it seemed like the perfect movie to watch at that time of night. So we watched the movie and it ended at 10:00, but we didn’t have to be at home till midnight. So we walked to Baskin Robbins to get some ice cream. I was really surprised that it was still open. We walked inside and we were the first people in line, because nobody else wanted to be getting ice cream at that time of night. We all ordered a large. I ordered Rainbow Sherbet, and it was so good. Jasmine ordered the same thing, because it is her favorite and mine too. Darlisha ordered the Wild n’ Berry because she just likes the flavor. We all walked out of the store eating the ice cream. When we got out, I called my mom to come and get us. She said that she was around the corner. Then we had a sleepover at my house. The next day we woke up and I asked them what they wanted to eat. I decided to cook for them that morning. So they told me that they wanted eggs and bacon with a side croissant.

So we all got dressed and discussed what we were going to do that day. We decided that we would just walk around town. So I went to get my money, when I realized that someone had stolen it. I was so sad I didn’t know what to do. I asked Jasmine if she took it, and she said no, she would never steal from me. Next I asked Darlisha if she took it. She just said no. So I told my mom what happened, and she said, “That’s so sad that someone would steal your money.”

So my friends and I continued with our day. We went to the store down the street from my house. The night before, after we had gotten the ice cream, Darlisha didn’t have any more money left. I knew that, because she had told me. But while Jasmine was buying some candy, Darlisha grabbed some candy, too. Jasmine told her that she didn’t have enough money to buy us anything, so she would share what she was buying. Jasmine and I walked out of the store, and then said to each other, “Where’s Darlisha?” Then we saw Darlisha walk outside with a Pepsi in her hand. We both asked her how she paid for that soda, because we thought she didn’t have any money left. She said she didn’t. I thought to myself, OMG!!! You stole my money. So I told my mom what happened and who stole my money. My mom said, “She’s not allowed over here anymore.” Jasmine went home, because she always cries when I get mad.

Two weeks after the incident, Darlisha was calling me all day long. I finally answered her call and she told me to come to the door. She gave me all my money back and apologized. I accepted her apology, but I told her she would have to earn my trust back. I never thought my best friend would steal from me.

First Place Award, Superior Band

2010-06-10T01:47:00.002-07:00

by NK

Did you know that there are awards you can receive for your talents? One of the best awards that I received for one of my many talents was at Claremont Middle School with the Claremont Symphonic Band. The year 2009 was the best year for the band.

On April 23, 2009, the Claremont band was rehearsing three songs to participate in a bay area school-wide competition. The three songs that we were rehearsing were: “May River March,” “Serengeti Dreams,” and “Glen Canyon Overture.” I played second trumpet and I was fourth chair. After we finished rehearsing, the period ended. I wanted to talk with other students to see if they were excited, so when I left the band room I saw Jack. Jack is a trumpet player as well, but he is better than me. When I saw him walking to second period I beckoned for him to come over and I started a conversation. “Hey, Jack! Do you really care about this competition?” I asked. “No, not really,” he responded, “but I want to go to Great America.” “Well, I have to make it to second period, so I won’t have to deal with Ms. Martin,” I said. “All right then, Noah,” Jack said. “Bye.”

It was the day before the competition, and the class was feeling good about the songs we had rehearsed. We felt prepared to win the competition until Ms. Briggs screamed out loud in class, saying, “There are many schools from Oakland that are participating in the competition! So we need to be on top of our game!" Before class was over, I prayed to myself and asked God to help us through the competition. After I finished praying, class ended and we went our separate ways to finish school for the day.

It was the day of the competition, and we all had to meet at Claremont School to take the charter bus. Everyone was on time and prepared and we soon left the school for Deer High School in Antioch, California. When we made it to Deer High School I saw a lot of people walking around the school wearing their different band uniforms and we were all excited because we were wearing Claremont Band uniforms. After we ate lunch we went to the practice room to rehearse some more before we would go before the judges.

When we walked into the practice room I was prepared to play the three songs until… I realized I’d left my trumpet at the school! As soon as Ms. Briggs noticed that I left my trumpet, she was furious. “Noah, I can’t believe that you left your trumpet at school. I am very disappointed in you because we worked very hard to be prepared for the competition and out of all the people in the band, you decided to leave your trumpet!” She said. “Ms. Briggs, I am sorry for letting the band the down, but could you please do your best to help me find a trumpet to use?” After the conversation ended, Ms. Briggs asked one of the students to help me find a trumpet. When the student found me a trumpet, Ms. Briggs helped me tune up in time for rehearsal.

It was our turn to go into the auditorium to play before the three judges who were seated in the back row, and they were looking very bored. I assumed they were tired of listening to thousands of songs that had probably been played badly. When we played our songs the judges seemed to perk up and were amazed by the way we played them. Their reviews of us were very superior.

After we played for the judges it was time to board the chartered bus and leave Deer High to go to Great America to receive our awards. At Great America we were separated into groups of five. I rode the Demon, the Flight Zone, the Orbit, the Vortex and the Grizzly. Then we went to the theatre at Great America and we saw the other schools from Oakland: Edna Brewer, Roosevelt, Bret Harte and Castlemont High School. There was an announcer who gave away awards for the best bands at Deer High. The bands that won an award with a rating of "excellent" were Edna Brewer and Roosevelt. The band that won an award with a rating of “good” was Castlemont. The best band overall at Deer High School, with a rating of "superior" was Claremont Middle School! After the announcer gave away the awards, everyone who went to Claremont was surprised, happy and excited. Ever since winning the award, the Claremont Band has been unbeatable!

A Sixth-Grade Nothing

2010-06-10T01:47:00.001-07:00

by AK

My sixth grade year was the worst year of my life so far, for so many reasons. I’ll relay it in chronological order, how it happened. On my first day at Beacon Day School, a school for rich kids with problems, I was introduced to all the rich kids and the stuck-up idiots. I already felt extremely out-of-place because all of the people there were prim and pompous. They were selfish and had no empathy to anyone they considered to be less than them on the social scale. I was an outcast from all of them, and was always like this. I was a loner. I groped for even the smallest amount of praise. I hated them.

I got in trouble for being loud and obnoxious, and a few days later I was sent out of class for the first of an infinite number of times. It was also the beginning of my reputation as a trouble doer. The school itself was weird for two reasons. One: we called our teachers by their first names. Two: we had year-round school, with a six- week break during summer. Both of these things, in my eyes, are complete bull. I sincerely hated this school and it was a waste of time.

After being sent out of class for the next few months on an average of twice a week, Christmas break came along. Unlike most sweet Christmases, it wasn’t sweet. My mom died during this Christmas break, January 2nd, 2008. I had turned eleven only two weeks before this. I was not really altered by the experience, it just made me sad. I acted the same at school and at home. I made it look like nothing was wrong, and it wasn’t that hard since I knew she was going to die from cancer. It still makes me wonder, to this day, why there is no cure to cancer. And every day I remember what people have to go through, while others remain uncaring.

Eventually, I ended my time at the school with B’s and C’s by getting expelled for fighting and making death threats and bomb threats. My dad was not sad, if truth be told. He said that I saved him some riches. I said that I saved him some stress. I finished the year’s work at home and then relocated to Oakland. I went to Claremont Middle School, and the rest, they say, is history.

Trip to Sack

2010-06-10T01:46:00.002-07:00

by JJ

My middle school years started in 6th grade, but my experience started in 7th. In 6th grade I didn’t know as much as I know now. Even though back then, I thought I knew everything. In 7th grade I figured out who I really was. I started to dress way better and love myself and who I was.

Well, one day my auntie told me I was going to be going to this leadership class in Sacramento. At first I didn’t want to go, because I thought it would be boring sitting around listening to people tell you “not to do this”, and “not to do that,” but that all changed when I read the schedule. I learned that I wouldn’t be sitting in there all day, only for about two or three hours. I still wasn’t sure though, because none of my friends would be attending this trip with me except my friend Mikkalah.

When we got there, I immediately fell in love with the weather. It was hot, but not hot and sticky, and I love to show off my summer clothes so I was ecstatic about that. We were next to the State Capitol and also the mall. I observed the hotel we would be staying in; it was beautiful, and I was to be staying for four days and three nights. The best part about the trip was that we had our own rooms and room keys- I felt like I was in college! Our curfew was 11:00p.m. Lights out was at 12:oop.m. We also did a lot of various activities such as meet our legislator, go eat at a lot of different restaurants, watch movies, shop and take an old western photo.

One restaurant in particular named Chevy’s I’m going remember for a while. Okay, when we got there we all sat down and ordered what we would like. Everyone’s food had come and everyone was settled when I noticed a bunch of waiters coming up the stairs. I brushed it off thinking that they must have gotten a really big order the way they were rushing. The next thing I know they were placing something on my head and singing this birthday song while putting this brownie with fudge and caramel and ice cream with three candles on it in front of me (I had just turned 13 and it was my birthday week). I was surprised and wondered who told them, but I figured out my auntie was the culprit when I saw the mischievous smile on her face.

The day before we left, our guide (who was a police officer) won the Officer of the Year award. We were supposed to dress up, take a shower, and fix our hair. I wore a black dress with a white stripe going down the middle with some Kenneth Cole Reaction shoes. My officer did my hair in big curls and my bang was out. She did my makeup as well. The food at the awards ceremony was pleasantly proportioned. After the awards ceremony we took pictures and left to get ready for the dance that was after the awards ceremony. When I came back from the trip I felt like a new person. I felt more confident than I did before, and surprisingly, I learned more stuff about social skills. Being around a lot of kids my age also taught me to respect others way more than I had at first.

An Interesting Experience

2010-06-10T01:46:00.001-07:00

Starting Middle school! Those were the horrible words that came from my parents. I didn’t know what was going to happen to me when they mentioned about middle school. Once I started it, I understood what they meant; I was growing up and was about to learn about some truths in the life that I will always have to accept. I went from being a scared 6th grader to a mature and musical 8th grader.

The first year of Middle school was weirdly unexpected. The first day was so complicated and frustrating, because I had to adjust to having multiple classes and not just two classes in one day. My first period was band, which was the class I loved the most. According to some people, I was a musical protégée as soon as I picked up any instrument. It also was the first time I had ever been in jazz band, which was so awesome. I enjoyed only one other class that year, which happens to be the only class I remember. My 2nd period class was science. When I was in 4th grade I knew I wanted to be an astrophysicist, so I did extra credit science work and experiments. Anyway, I loved 6th grade science, and I was in the science fair for the first time, working with Bruno and Keenan, and we won! I don’t remember 6th grade being exciting, although I do remember it going by very fast.

Seventh grade was AMAZING! This is the one year I recall very well. But I only remember the same two classes. My second period class was advanced band. It was the best year of band I have ever had in school. For the first time, I was able to conduct the band at Claremont. It was also the year that our school got the highest contest score in the bay area in Benicia. We also had jazz band again that year, and went to a jazz festival. My 5th period class was life science, which I thought was a very amazing thing. By this time I was considered a nerd. This was one thing that was hard to adjust to. I started to change in this grade. I began to strive for good grades and excel in academics, which was considered nerdy by some people, I must admit. Yes, it kind of is, but calling people names for their “smart” actions is unacceptable. Not everyone is meant to fit in with everyone else, because we have different personalities, and we shouldn’t be judged for our choices.

My wonderful 8th grade year, such an amazing time in my life. This is the year I won’t forget. I got the opportunity this year to teach band and orchestra a lot more than I was able to before. No jazz band, but a very good advanced band and orchestra, woohoo! This year I got the chance to study music at The University of California, Berkeley with the Young Musicians Program; it was an excellent program that I would recommend to any of my students. I was so happy to finally have Ms.Thaler, who is so fun and talented. There is no other teacher like her. She is amazing. But I was called many names still. Physical science was a blast for me. Except, the class I was in was very disruptive. Despite that, we did lots of experiments, which I enjoyed very much.
Sixth grade was confusing. Seventh grade was hectic. Eighth grade was a blast. I believe all these experiences helped to make me the person I am today. Claremont was crazy but I had many funny moments there.

LET’S GO CLAREMONT KNIGHTS!!!!!!

Yosemite

2010-06-10T01:45:00.001-07:00

by MJ

I was in the 7th grade, and my science teacher was talking about going camping. I thought it would be fun to go out and be in ‘the wild,’ but when I asked my mom she thought I was joking. I told her more about it and she just said, “Okay Maya, if you want to go, then okay.” So I told my teacher, and it was okay for me to go on the trip. Two weeks later it was time for me to pack my bags and other things.

On the morning of the trip, I was excited, but nervous about leaving home. I was going to be with my friends for a week, so I was going to be okay I guess… Before I left, my mom gave me some money and a phone. She told me to call her if I needed something, but I wasn’t going to need her until I came back. When I got to the train station I saw Te’Raya, Ivy, Jack, Alex, Cookie, and others.

When we finally got on the train, it felt like for ever! I guess we were on the train for about four or five hours. When we got off, there was a big bus so everyone put their things on, and then we were off to Yosemite!!!

When we got there it was cool, dirty, and…I don’t know, but I was just happy to be there. Before we got to do anything else, we got into our groups. The people in my cabin were Te’Raya , Naomi, Miranda, and me. Two people, Te’Raya and Miranda, got the key to our “little house.” Later that day we played in the snow and had a snowball fight (it was so funny) and after that we got to meet our guide, whose name was Andy. Later we went to eat dinner. The food was okay if you ask me. Then it was time to go to sleep, and do you know what time we had to get up? 7:30!

In the morning, we walked and stopped to talk, and we had lunch, and then we when to a really big tree and we were trying to see how many people could fit in the tree. We fit maybe four or five people, and then we went to a lake. It was like an island in the middle, and we had to walk in the water. The water was so cold that some of us couldn’t feel our feet!

The other days, we just walked and talked about different things, and on the second to last day we hiked up to the Yosemite Falls, which was a long walk. When we came back, I was so tired I thought my legs were going to fall off. At dinner, two people were having an eating contest. It was so nasty! They had different things, and then someone put salt in someone’s else drink. It was funny and it wasn’t.

Friday was the last day at Yosemite. I was going to miss this place. Before we left, we went up to a rocky place and claimed all the way to the top. The view and really nice, and when we were walking back, it started to snow!!!

We went back and started to pack all our things and wait for everyone else. Then we were off to the train station, then on the train, and halfway home, and then the train stopped. No one knew what had happened, and then someone said a guy had gotten hit by the train, so we stayed there for three hours with nothing to do and no one to talk to at all. It was almost time to go, so I called my mother and told her what had happened. I told her we’d be there in an hour or something. When we made it back home my mom was at the train station with my cousin. We dropped Te’Raya off at home, and when I got home I went to sleep. When my sister woke me up the next morning, I couldn’t wait to tell her all about what had happened.

My First Track Meet

2010-06-10T01:44:00.001-07:00

by TH

“Well, here we are. Laney College Track Field,” my dad said when he finished parking the car. We gazed at the oval-shaped track field swarming with kids warming up for the race. Tall adults were running all over the place and taking pictures of their children. It was so loud that, even with the car windows completely rolled up, I could still hear the different conversations as clearly as if the windows weren’t even rolled up. When I opened the door to get out, it was like pressing play on your iPod without knowing that the volume was accidentally set on full blast. I could feel the excitement that was floating in the air through everyone.

As I walked with my dad along the high fence surrounding, the place, and looked at the ridiculously large amount of competitors who were there, it made me feel a bit uneasy. Groups of kids were dressed in professional uniforms, and they all sounded so strong when they yelled out the number of stretches they were doing. Claremont was probably the only team there that didn’t have uniforms, and we looked so disorganized and spiritless compared to the other teams.

When we reached the entrance, we saw Mr. Lee in his bright orange pants. We greeted him, and Mr. Lee told me we had to wait for Abraham, Ivy and Megan to come. He and my dad talked for a few minutes while I zoned out. My chest was heaving up and down faster than normal. My hands started to heat up, and it felt like they were going to explode like a bag of popcorn left in a microwave way too long. I thought to myself that the other Claremont students could’ve forgotten about the track meet today, and were going to leave me here alone without any friend support! Then, I had second thoughts that they were probably just stuck in traffic. Or even worse, what if they were going to come late and miss out on everything?! My pulse was pumping wildly and crazily fast, like a mad cow.

My dad said bye to me, and wished me good luck, because he had to leave for some important work meeting. I was pretty disappointed that he couldn’t stay, but I got over it. Right after he left, Abraham showed up! I began to have hopes that everything was going to be all right and that I shouldn’t be so paranoid. We waited for about another five minutes, and then went inside because Mr. Lee had to fill out some paperwork to confirm what we were going to compete in. Meanwhile, Abraham and I went to the benches where everyone else was, and relaxed.

Mr. Lee came back with numbers and stickers to put on our shirts. I was number eleven and I was going to do the long jump, 800 meter run and the 1,600 meter (or mile) run. We never practiced the long jump at Claremont, and I had no idea what it was. He taught me how to do it right there on the field. He signed me up for it because he just wanted me to gain some experience. The goal of the long jump was to stand in one place and leap as far as you can. About thirty minutes later, Ivy and Megan finally arrived from their soccer game. I gave a huge sigh of relief, and all the icky feelings I had in the beginning flew out like coughing out mucus. I later found out that traffic kept them from coming on time, just as I had imagined.

I heard the intercom call my name, along with the names of other competitors, to walk onto the field for the long jump. I was really excited for this because it looked like fun. While waiting in the really long line for the tries, I made friends with a girl named Rebecca. She told me she was nervous, and it made me felt kind of better to know that I wasn’t the only one freaking out. We were allowed to jump two times; the first one was practice and the second was the real one. My turn came for the practice and I swung my arms back and forth for the jump, but I didn’t go far. I just shrugged my shoulders when I went back to the end of the line, because this was new to me. I was up next for the second try again when I heard Mr. Lee shout my name from the benches. I looked over, and he demonstrated for me how to do it.

I turned my head back to the sand box I was going to jump in and tried really hard to focus. I bent my knees a little and swung my arms harder than before. I flew in the air just a bit like a chicken and landed farther than I did before. Mr. Lee clapped his hands and smiled at me. That was the only time he ever stopped frowning at me, and it felt good to know he was proud of me. I went back to the bench and everyone gave me a high five. Fifteen minutes later, the intercom said, “For the girls’ long jump, the 1st place medal goes to… Tammy Huynh who jumped 5 feet and 5 inches!” I didn’t expect to win, but I did and it was awesome!

Then, I had to do the mile run, which was the most tiring race ever. By the time I did it, the sun was out and it was hot. I was sweating before I was even running. I started out at a very slow and steady pace in the first lap. I picked it up in the second. Mr. Lee and I had a miscommunication during the race, and it ruined my opportunity to win 1st. I don’t blame him that I lost. We just misunderstood each other with the pace when I headed onto my 3rd lap. I thought Mr. Lee said stop, when he really said good job. I was really confused, because I knew we had to run four laps. Then I heard everyone shouting at me to go, so I immediately continued running. The gap between me and my competitors grew smaller than before. On the last lap, I was really tired, but I still managed to stay in front of them. The sprint for first was on the last couple 50 or 100 meters. I got 2nd. This was a pretty disappointing race to me, because I knew I could’ve done better. This race bothered me a lot because of the silly mistake that had happened.

The 800 meter race was the best one. Megan, Ivy and I competed in this together. We played teamwork in this race, and it was fun. We blocked every other girl from coming in front of us. I thought it was pretty funny when they were getting frustrated. On the last lap, we stopped doing that and sprinted for the top three. Megan won 1st, I won 2nd and Ivy won 3rd. Claremont is the BEAST!

Regardless of whether I won or lost, I learned how to have fun when everything seemed so scary and new to me. I enjoyed going to my first track meet. Best of all, I’m glad that I ran track and field for Claremont!

Yosemite

2010-06-10T01:43:00.001-07:00

by AH

In 7th grade, 30 students went to Yosemite to crawl through pitch black caves, hike up huge mountains, sleep in the wilderness, and endure freezing cold rivers. We went on March 30th and arrived back April 3rd. We went with Ms. Martin, Mr. Finch, and Mr. W. Luckily, I was in Ms. Martin's group, because we had the best experience out of any of the groups.

We left at the crack of dawn on March 30th. To get to Yosemite, first there was a six-hour train ride, then a two-hour bus ride. I like trains because you can move around and they're not quite as restricted as buses. That train ride was, as I expected, a whole lot better than the bus ride. We played cards, had snacks, messed around, and were carefree. Once on the bus, we had to stay in our seats, we couldn't have food or drink, and it was hard to play games. It's quite obvious why someone would like a train more than a bus.

Once we got to Yosemite, we had our first taste of snow! We had a snowball fight in a secluded patch of fluffy, white snow that was perfect! After we all got soaking wet from the snow melting, we headed out to find our cabins. It took us a little while to do that because our leader, Ms. Martin, hadn't stayed in those cabins before, so we didn't know which way they were. I liked all the people in my cabin, and we didn't have any problems figuring out our sleeping arrangements.

The next few days were all a blur. I'm not sure if it was the first or second day that we made a bridge, but that was definitely memorable. Our National Parks leader thought it would be a good idea for our group to take a different route from the other groups on our hike, which would lead us across a river! The water was freezing cold, easily below 30 degrees, but because it was moving fast and it was shallow, it wouldn't freeze. We found a huge log and tried to use it to construct a bridge across the river. It took us all morning, and we finally decided that it would be easiest if a few of us just carried everyone else across. I was one of the three people who were big enough to do it. By the time I retreated to the banks of the river, my feet were blood red.

The next memorable thing was the Spider Caves. This was a pitch black cavern that isn't on any maps, and you'll only learn about it through this program. This was fun for me because I was at the front, right behind the “expert,” so I got to guide everyone behind me. The whole thing took our group of about 15 more than 40 minutes. This astonished me because the cave was only about 30 feet long. We made it through the caves and played games for the rest of the day, which was our last day.

The way home was almost as fun as the ride there except for one major difference. On the train, about an hour out of our stop, we hit someone! This stalled us for nearly three hours, and could have delayed the train all night. That day was my birthday, but it was turning out to be a good one, since, as I mentioned before, train rides can be pretty fun. We finally got back at around 12:40 A.M on April 4th. When my dad said happy birthday, I told him that my birthday was yesterday.

All in all, the trip was great. My friendships grew and I even made a few new ones. It was worth all the fundraisers we had to do and the extra work we got over spring break. The only part I regret is not being able to go to the rifle range the next day with the Sea Cadets, but that's a whole other story. Yosemite will always stay in my mind as a great experience from middle school.

My Nephew's Story

2010-06-10T01:42:00.002-07:00

by MH

My nephew is the first grandson of my father. Everyone in my family was expecting him anxiously. When my oldest sister was nine months and one week pregnant, her water broke. It was time for my nephew to be born.

My sister was in the hospital for four days. Then the doctors decided that they had to perform a surgical operation to deliver the baby. They used a lot of medication to soothe my sister's pain during the four days she was in labor. The result was that my nephew's heart became filled with liquids around it.

He was only ten minutes old when he had an operation on his heart to remove the liquids. The operation lasted two hours. Machines were rating his heart’s performance. He was in the hospital for fourteen days before he could come home.

When he did, we welcomed him with a lot of joy. He was given an appointment to return six months later to the hospital. They checked his heart with an ultrasound machine to check if all the liquids were gone. Fortunately, they were, and the doctors have not found any more of it. He is healthy now and has never been operated on again.

My nephew's name is Jayden Yandel Montoya, and he is now 18 months old. He is the craziest and strongest baby I know. Although he gets in a lot of trouble, he is very smart and everyone that meets him says that he is very handsome. I look forward to teaching him new things every day when I come home from school.

Getting Good Grades

2010-06-10T01:42:00.001-07:00

by JH

It started when my parents saw my report card. They were furious; they said that I could do better than that. I had really low grades. The principal said I would go to summer school if I didn’t bring up my grades. I was getting low grades because I hated that school. I thought if I did badly, they would take me out of that school.

When my parents said that I wasn’t leaving that school I was mad. I didn’t talk to anybody. I was antisocial and didn’t go anywhere. I hated that school because it was stupid. We didn’t have P.E.; instead we had art. Also, their discipline and consequences were stupid. I was ready to go to a different school.

My dad and I had a talk. He told me a story about when he was in the same situation as I was. He said, “Just finish this year out, and you can go to a different school next year.” I said, “All right, I’ll do my best.” So during study hall I went to all my teachers’ classes to get makeup work. In science I had a low grade because I didn’t turn in my notebook. When I turned in my notebook I raised my grade to a B+. In math, I wasn’t doing bad; I had an A. In art I had an A, because art was easy. We didn’t have P.E.

I had a month left of school and I was failing only one class. That class was humanities. Humanities is two classes where they teach both history and English. Both classes were my worst.

They started sending stuff about summer school to people who had bad grades. You had to do more then getting a 2.0 to pass, you had to get a C or higher in every class to go to the next grade. My parents said that they were going to Texas over the summer to see our family. I wanted to go too, but I had to pass to the next grade if I was going to go- otherwise, I’d have to go to summer school instead.

All my grades were good. I just had to bring my English grade up. My English teacher told me to do a project. I did the project and raised my grade up to an A. I was happy I could go to Texas now. The teacher wrote me a letter so I could show the principal to let her know I don’t have to go summer school. My parents were happy I had a 3.56. Then I went to Texas to see my family. My hard work paid off in the end.

Jersey Girl Gone So Cali

2010-06-10T01:41:00.003-07:00

by ZH

Cops? Why did that old lady on the street call the cops?! So I’m stuck here on the corner of Lakeshore Avenue and Grand Street in Clifton, New Jersey, crying my eyes out, to the point that they are extremely red. If you’re wondering why, it’s because I was frustrated. I was mad at my mother for ruining my life. At that point I thought I hated my mom, when deep down I knew I really loved her with all my heart.

That past week I was doing horribly in school. My grades dropped an entire level. And fights? Yup, getting into stupid meaningless fights over friendship. What was I thinking…? That’s how it all started.

Couple days after that, my mother told me that my father had come to town from Oakland, California. I hadn’t seen my father since I was in fourth grade, so my mother invited him to dinner. My mother was being very kind. She let me order anything I wanted. She even suggested that we all have dessert. It was strange because normally, she never orders dessert. She then went on talking about how I should have a big sleepover, go shopping, and do all these things she knows I love to do. It was really strange how all my mother’s suggestions were fun events; she was being so nice. From then on, I had a feeling that she was going to do or say something I did not want to know.

Finally, she broke the news. I was going to move in with my dad in Oakland, California! That same second, I couldn’t believe what my own ears just heard. I broke down into tears. My eyes were so red for the second time that week. Many memories and thoughts were going through my head. I was scared, mad, confused, and depressed.
I thought my life was going to change forever. I thought I was going to lose my mother and all my friends. I thought she would never be able to see me grow up and scared that she would not come to my graduations. I had no other choice but to go. I was sick of all of the dramas in New Jersey. I didn’t want to bring any more drama in the house by refusing to go.

A few months later …

Now I attend Claremont Middle School in Oakland. All I have to say is this isn’t the best school, but it’s almost over, so I can bear with it until then. There is so much drama here too. Looks like I really couldn’t escape all the drama after all.

Yet, on the other side, I am doing so much better. I have no distractions; no laptop, phone, and I’m just more focused. I am actually getting A+’s on my report cards. I can truly say I am a nerd now; pretty and educated. The funny thing now is that I am a person that my little brothers and sisters can look up to. Back in New Jersey, I was the baby in the house (I do have to admit I miss that feeling). I am planning on going to high school here in California. So I applied for some good ones.

“Yaaaaaaaay!” I yelled. I just had shuffled through the mail and I got accepted! I just got accepted to Bentley High and Oakland School for the Arts. I was so happy that I got accepted, because I know I didn’t want to go to Oakland Tech High. It’s actually my first time doing very well in school. I can now say that I am proud of myself for once. Things finally pulled together for me, and finally made me realize that California isn’t so bad after all.

Leaving

2010-06-10T01:41:00.001-07:00

by NGW

My life is about to change drastically.
I think it began at the beginning of 7th grade, in November of 2008.
My family was eating dinner when my mother said conversationally, “We’re thinking of spending another year in Germany.”
The way she said those life-changing words in that casual tone shocked me so much that I almost choked. “What?!”
“We’re probably going to spend another year in Berlin,” she said, smiling.
“When?” I demanded.
“Don’t yell, sweetheart,” said my mother, her expression changing briefly to annoyed, and then back to pleasant as she continued. “The Wissenschaftskolleg invited us to study again in a year or two. We’ll be going for either your 8th or your 9th grade year. It’s going to be an adventure for all of us.”
My wide eyes darted between my parents’ beaming faces as I grew steadily more angry, until, in a burst of rage, my fierce thoughts came spilling out the moment the words formed in my mind.
“I – cannot – believe – you!” I yelled, and my parents’ faces fell. “We already spent 3rd grade there! And every summer after that! I already speak German! I’ve been there too much to enjoy it anymore. Now we have to go there again? For another year? I’m fed up with Berlin! What about my school? And my friends?! I hate Berlin!”
I stood up and took in my parents’ expressions. They were both frowning.
“Naomi,” said my dad, “you don’t hate Berlin. You love Berlin …”
“Loved,” I corrected him. “Now I’m just sick of it … I’m sick of the whole damn thing!”
“Don’t yell,” said my mother.
“Are you taking in anything I’m saying?!”
“Yes,” she responded automatically. “You don’t want to go to Berlin.”
“But you don’t care, do you?” I said, my voice cold. It wasn’t a question.
“We care!” said my father. “But this is a wonderful opportunity – we thought you’d be excited –“
I chuckled grimly at the hilarity of his statement.
“Oh, yes,” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. “Leave my friends and my school and go to a German school full of freaky German kids whose parents are Nazis? Sign me up!”
“Naomi!” my father said loudly, harshly. “That’s a huge generalization – you know that not all Germans are Nazis –“
I did know that, but I was determined to make my parents feel as guilty as possible.
“I’m not going.”

Obviously, my parents weren’t going to give in. For the next few months, we continued to argue about my rights as a member of the family and my own say in going to Germany. Eventually my parents were able to come up with a compromise: that I could decide which year – 8th or 9th grade – to leave for Berlin. I chose 9th – obviously – but I’m beginning to wish I’d chosen to go this year because it would be almost over at this point. Now it’s just beginning. I should have known then that I would have to face this sooner or later.

My parents and I still have loud, furious arguments about the matter; even this morning, my mother and I fought about going to Germany for the umpteenth time. My parents are convinced it will be a wonderful experience for me, whereas I cannot find anything positive in the entire situation.

I don’t want to go. I really, really, really don’t want to go. I don’t want to leave my friends and my house, and I don’t want to miss my first year of high school. But I guess I’m just going to have to do it anyway, and I’ll try to live with that. It could be amazing, after all.

My Drinker Days

2010-06-10T01:40:00.001-07:00

One morning in sixth grade, I decided to bring liquor, wine, juice, and strawberry margarita mix to school. It all started with me talking on the phone with my cousin. She was telling me about how fun it was to drink and get drunk. So, being dumb, I decided to take a sip or a gulp of alcohol.

The next day I brought a water bottle filled with alcohol to school, but I didn’t tell anyone or let anyone have any. The day after that I thought I was all cool, and I grabbed some liquor and margarita mix off my mom's liquor counter. Then I mixed it with juice and some other stuff; I thought I was being slick to cover up the margarita mix I took, so I put water in it and shook it up so you couldn’t tell I took any.

So I brought it to school, two bottles of it, and I was drinking it and my friends asked me to have some. I was like, “There is alcohol in here.” My friend Ximora was like, “Ooh, give me some,” so I gave her, Alihah, Gabby, Bri, and Ryan some. We drank the whole first bottle, and ten minutes later we started drinking the second bottle a little bit. My friend Nyerin was like, “Watch, y'all are going to get caught, and Jasmin, you’re going to fall over those steps.” Then the morning bell rang and we were walking to class when the security guard stopped us and said, “Do you have alcohol in that bottle?” I lied and said no and kept it moving. When I went into class I washed the first bottle out and put water in it, but kept the second one (stupid, right?).

A good 15 minutes went by, and the same security guard lady came to my class and made me come out with her. I knew what was happening, and I asked her if she was going to tell my mom. She responded with, “So you knew you were doing wrong?” We kept walking and she pulled out a couple of other girls who were drinking, and we walked to the office. Then she told me to tell her who else was with me. She said, “Don't lie, because I saw other people with you.” I wasn't going to tell until she said that (‘cause I ain't no snitch), but once I knew she knew I had to say something. They got all five of us in there. We all wrote our stories and, after the principal and vice principal got done yelling at me, they called my parents. Next they brought all six of us in to meet and told us what was going to happen Three girls were crying because they were scared of what their parents might do to them, but three of us weren't. I was one of the ones who wasn’t crying. That day we got sent home; the five of them for two days each, and me for a whole two weeks.

Two weeks passed. I was failing classes because I hadn't been to school, and the teachers weren’t very understanding when I got back. The other students were happy to see me. Even though I thought they were going to be pissed at me, they weren't. I was embarrassed when I learned that everyone had found out what happened to me. People kept asking me why I was drinking, and why I would bring it to school. They also told me how dumb I was for doing that, which didn’t made me feel a whole lot better about what happened. I was actually mad at myself because I had ruined the reps of other people, so I couldn't understand why they weren't mad at me. On the other hand, I didn't force them to take the drink, they took it upon themselves to drink it. The punishment I received (other than the two-week suspension) was not being allowed to drink anything outside of the cafeteria, and I also got detention for two weeks straight.

What happened in sixth grade is something that my friends and I have to live with and carry the burden of forever. One good outcome was that now, every time I think about drinking, I think about that and maybe even going to jail next time. Now, instead of doing what I did then, I just draw or write. The consequences aren’t worth it.

Misunderstood Middle Schooler

2010-06-10T01:39:00.000-07:00

by MGR

My 6th grade year wasn’t much different from now, besides the teachers. At that time I was going to KIPP in West Oakland. I was living in East Oakland on East 14th street and International. When I first started school, my first emotion was excitement: where are my friends? My 6th grade classes were all right, but overall they sucked. My best friends through that year were two guys named Mekhi and William. In that year the only embarrassing thing that happened was me getting rejected. Most of the time I was mad at the teachers. My favorite place to go was home. We had to wear a green polo shirt with khaki pants. In this year the most memorable thing was getting a phone and a girl.

Yo, I’m back! Still in this wack a#% school though, you know, KIPP? Have a flashback if you didn’t really pay attention the first time, but anyway, back to the point. In 7th grade my main problem was talking, so I pretty much always got in trouble for it. My friends hadn’t changed at all: still William and Mehki. To be honest those are only two people I trusted besides this other boy called Mesoli. My style didn’t change much besides the color of my shirt; I wore red in 7th grade. I think the biggest thing I celebrated in that year was getting a C in math class. The worst thing that happened to me was getting a referral.

Whoo! I made it- now I’m in the 8th. A lot has changed since the 6th grade. For instance, my amount of girlfriends. I’ve changed a lot since then as well. For example, I’ve gotten more mature. The worst part of the year was me getting a referral. I now get the privilege to walk to my classes now that I’m in 8th. During this year I mainly hung out with Julian Kremer. I hung out with him because he was trustworthy. There was all type of drama this year like fights, roasting, and gang problems. I’m usually the most happy when I’m at home. My nickname is Ghost, or Ghost of Trinidad. I gave myself that name. I haven’t had any major losses in middle school. In the past week I went to a BBQ at my grandmas. Last but not least I’ve learned math since the 6th. So that’s my story and I hope you enjoy it!

Grades

2010-06-10T01:38:00.000-07:00

by DE

My grades at Claremont were up and down. In 6th grade, I had a 1.25, 1.75, and 2.25. They were probably very low in 6th grade because I was still getting used to having GPAs. I never got suspended in 6th grade, but I had a lot of referrals. I wasn’t really worried because I knew I had time to make up for it.

In 7th, that’s when my grades started to improve. I got 3.0s in the first semester of 7th grade. I was proud of myself for having good grades. My Mom and Dad gave me 50 dollars each for my good grades. Then I started to regress back to my old ways. I got a 1.75. I was disappointed, because I wondered how my good grades had gone away. I thought since I had good grades, I didn’t have to do anything. Then, since I had some Fs and then next I had better grades the next marking period, it averaged to a 2.33. I was cool with it because it was passing and it was better than my last grade.

In 8th grade, my grades were up and down. At the beginning of the year, I got a 1.92. I was disappointed because I expected better. When my dad saw my report card, I got in trouble. Then I got serious and got a 3.3. I was juiced. I got 50 dollars for my good grades from my Mom and Dad. I used that money to buy a phone. Then I got another set of bad grades. I started to think that the friends I hang out with influence my grades because when I hang with them, I have bad grades, but when I don’t, I have a 3.0. I thought one day, some days I will hang out with them, and some days I won’t. I can’t ditch them completely, because they’re my homies. Now we hang out every Friday. I won’t hang out with them on weekdays like I would usually do, so my grades aren’t affected.

Finally, it was the 6th marking period of 8th grade, and I had bad grades. It was my last chance to get my grades up. I went to every class to get make-up work. I got at least 20 pages of work to do. I was so mad that I could punch a hole in the wall. It was my fault because if I had done the work on time, I wouldn’t have to do it all at once. Then I started the work. Some of the work was hard. So I got help from kids with better GPAs than me. They helped me with everything.

Now, there are just a couple of weeks left. Graduation is almost here. Now, I have to work extra hard. I got a signature for my math and history teacher, to turn in late work. When I turn in my work, my grades will go up. I just have to do my English work now. I have a 6-page packet to turn in to my English teacher. Oh, I forgot about science. So I stay in an hour after school, and do all of my science work. So now, I did all of my work for science and now, I’m caught up with all of my grades. I’m proud of myself. I can graduate now. I will never forget this moment. In high school, I’m not ever letting my grades go down.

Flowers Don't Lie, Only People Do

2010-06-10T01:37:00.000-07:00

by TD

Though she did me dirty, there’s a girl that I still love. But that’s not the point. The point is that she dumped me and I saw it coming… kinda.

It all started during the summer of 2009. We went to the AMC Movie Theater in Emeryville to hang out and drink smoothies. It was Brandon, her, her cousin Bianca, and me. Everybody knows about Bianca. I ended up going out with Bianca. A week went by. She (the girl that dumped me) and I were texting each other. I told her that I wanted to go out with her. She told me she felt real sparkly inside.

We never ended up going out. We stayed friends. We were as close as two hair follicles. She ended up going out with my friend. But that didn’t stop me from trying. Sorry, Lo.

Then it was May 1, 2010. I was walking her home. We were having a conversation about clothes and fashion. She told me that next year she’s going to step her game up, and I was going to want to go out with her. I told her it was too late, but she didn’t hear me. She gamed me. She told me if I told her, she would tell me a secret. So I told her. She ended up writing me this two-page letter about how I was the guy she always wanted to be with. BULL!

Later that week she and my friend ended up breaking up because Bianca was at his house. That same night she and I were texting each other. She told me that I made her happier than he did. I told her we shouldn’t go out, ‘cause she and my friend just broke up, and that’s hella fake. She told me okay. But then she told me that she didn’t feel like waiting anymore.

As you may already know, I sent her a text saying, “You wanna be my gf?”
She replied, “Hell yea!” So we started going out. We were talking and texting all the time.

Then it was a Thursday. We were supposed to hang out while the teachers were on strike. She didn’t come but I wasn’t really tripping. Then Friday came and my friend told me that she didn’t want to see me and she hated me! So when she walked into school I walked up to her and she dumped me. She said, “Tyrone, it’s over.” There it was. I was single again. All the crap that she me told me was false. Some say that it was a lie. I think so too.

Frenemies to Friends

2010-06-10T01:36:00.002-07:00

by LC

6th grade was when everything started: the drama, fights, arguments, rumors, and the trouble.

It all began the second week of school. I was in Spanish class when this girl named Iyanna asked me for a Spanish book. I gave it to her, then she smacked it out of my hand and said it was messed up and got mad and walked away. So I got up, walked up to her, and start yelling at her. We began arguing and we were about to start fighting when my friend and hers held us back.

After that incident I promised myself not to get angry so fast. So one day, during lunch, I was sitting down eating when this girl Oshanae asked me if I liked this other girl, Kianna. I said, “Yes, she cool with me.” Then Oshanae asked one of my best friends, Brianna, if she liked Kianna. Being herself and trying to be down, Brianna said no. Kianna overheard the conversation and said to Brianna, “What you got a problem with me for?” Brianna stood up and got in her face, and they started arguing.

In an instant Kianna had pushed Brianna into the barred lunchroom window, then punches were flying everywhere. I remember trying to break it up but then getting hit in the face because so many people had jumped in. Brianna was crying but had no scratches or marks on her, but Kianna had scratches all over her face and a busted lip.

After all that I decided to stay out of mess and began hanging with my cousin Kai and my other friends. But it seemed wherever I went, mess followed. Two weeks after that fight happened, I was sitting in history when Iyanna asked me a question. I ignored her and kept writing, then all of a sudden she was up in my face. I pushed her and she ran up on me, then the teacher grabbed her before she could grab hold of me. Everyone was staring at us, but it was like I was in my own world. I spaced out and saw everything in slow motion, and when I snapped out of it, I realized I was being told to go to the office.

As I walked down the hallway I remember my heart was beating fast and I knew that my anger was building up. I had to control myself! I started crying because I was so angry that I was on my way to the office even though I hadn’t done anything, but then I realized that was a good thing, and I went to the office. As it turned out, I didn’t get suspended- instead I went to conflict management. Iyanna and I worked things out. I was finally happy! We started talking a lot and became really close, and soon I was going to her house frequently.

Toward the end of the year everyone started running wild, but I was cool with everybody. Then a tragedy happened: my best friend started smoking and not coming to school. It hurt me a lot because I knew she was a good student and I wanted to help her but didn’t know what to do I tried to talk to her but there was no point. She wouldn’t admit it.

Almost Going to Jail

2010-06-10T01:36:00.001-07:00

by JC

It was a Friday night around 12am. I was nine years old. I was waiting till my parents fell asleep. Every Friday night I used to always sneak out at night with my friends and go “hitting up” aka tagging (doing graffiti). We used to always have a lot of spray paint, caps, markers, and a lot more graffiti supplies.

I still remember when we used to go to the train tracks and cross out the toys. Toys were the weak tags done by taggers that didn't have any skills. They looked like scribbles. For my friends and me, it was cool doing graffiti, because we all had skills. This was when we all created our own tagging cliques so we could get known in the streets. My clique name was wgb, which stands for “we got bars.” Bars means tagging skills. Everyone that was a tagger and was in a graffiti crew had funk with other graffiti crews that didn’t get along.

Crews used to always cross each other out so they could earn more respect and get more known in the streets. Well that night, my parents finally fell asleep, and I climbed out my window. I was scared of getting caught by my parents, but I had done this before and always gotten away with it. My two best friends were waiting for me outside my house. We went to the train tracks and started hitting up, and then we saw another different crew hitting up. We had never encountered anyone else there before, and when we saw them and they saw us we knew there was going to be a battle.

A battle is when two different tagging crews see each other and they do graffiti at the same time and whoever is weak, the other crew crosses their graffiti out. My friends and me had been practicing. We had crisp outlines and good shading, and we won the battle. The other crew gave us all of their Montana spray paint. We felt victorious, like when I won my first soccer game.

Then we left to a different spot so we could go hit up more. We were walking through East Oakland, and a lot of police were passing, but they didn’t stop us because we didn’t look that hot. Hot means when you are bringing a lot of attention to yourself. If you didn’t want to get caught doing graffiti, you had to be cool and walk normally. If you were a tagger you would have to be smart and think before you did something.

Finally, my friends and I arrived to the place we wanted to tag at: the freeway. The freeway was a mission for all of us because we could have gotten run over by a car or something, but if you were a real graffiti writer you wouldn’t be scared of doing it, and you would hit up where other taggers wouldn’t dare. My friends did it, but I stayed off to the side. I didn’t want to get run over. We were so juiced that we had accomplished our mission. We were barely leaving the freeway when we got stopped by the police. They put us all in cuffs, which hurt my wrists. The cops told us, “You all are going to jail.” We had to sit in the back of the cop car while they looked up our records. I was a little bit mad, but mostly scared about going to jail.

Finally, the police came to talk to us. They said that since none of us had a police record, they would give us a chance and let us go. They took us all home and our parents grounded us and I thought that was going to be all of my consequences. Then they called me and told me I had to do 49 hours of community service. That turned out to be cool, because I got to volunteer at the library, and just use the computer all the time.

Even though my consequences weren’t too bad, I realized that doing graffiti could put me in jail. That’s how I stopped doing graffiti.

My Choir at Disneyland!

2010-06-10T01:35:00.001-07:00

by MC

The weekend I had been waiting for had finally arrived! It was my choir’s tour in April of 2008. We were going to compete in this competition called Heritage Festival at Disneyland. We spent three days in four different places. Oakland, Manteca, Fullerton, and Anaheim CA.

When we left, it was around nine in the morning. Our first trip on our tour was to a school named Manteca High in Manteca, CA. There we met their school choir. We sang to them and they sang to us. They told us they had been to the Festival many times. After that they gave us a tour of their school. Their school has so much artwork everywhere. Lastly we did a little dance to a song that we both sang called “You Can’t Stop the Beat,” from the movie and musical called “Hairspray.” They have big bull statue in their courtyard, because it’s their mascot. We all took a big picture in front of their bull. Next was straight to Disneyland!!

We got to Anaheim around 6:00. We weren’t going to make it there on time because our bus broke down as we were going through the mountains. On our way there we saw the Hollywood sign and Magic Mountain. When we finally got there, we went to this seafood restaurant named “Bubba Gump’s.” It is down the street from Disneyland. It was named from the Oscar Winning movie “Forest Gump.” They had a lot of stuff from the movie. We got to play games there after we ate. They had this funny thing we would say to order our food or to get their attention. The food was good and the people there were nice. I bought this cool light-up cup there. After we left there, we went to our hotel where we wood be staying for the next three days. On our way there we acted so crazy!
The hotel that we stayed at is located in Fullerton, CA. After we unpacked, our music teacher said we could go swimming in the pool, but we had to be quiet because it was kind of late and people were going to sleep. I got so mad, my hair got so curly. When I took off my swim cap, my hair looked like Don King hair!!!! My roommate’s mom had to do my hair. It took mostly all night, because I wanted to look nice for the competition the next day.

At our competition, we sang three songs. We were competing in our region. One other group sang one of our songs, but we sang it better. We made our chaperones cry because we were so great! We took pictures outside and in the front of the building. Next we went to Disneyland!!!!!

At Disneyland I got on so many rides. My favorite ride was Space Mountain. It is fast and dark inside. When we were waiting in line for Space Mountain, it took almost an hour to get on the ride. It was worth it, though. Some of us went on this scary ride. It was called “The Haunted Mansion,” from that Disney movie. When we were getting off the ride, we were so creeped out. We started to run, and as we were running out a man was standing right there and scared us. My friend got so scared she fell really hard. Her ankle got twisted. For the rest of the trip there, she had to spend her time in a wheelchair.

Later on that night we saw a fireworks show. People said it was just for us choirs there. After the firework show, we walked to the awards ceremony. The Disney characters did a little performance for all the choirs. When we heard that we won first place, we got up and started screaming and jumping up and down. We got first place out of our region. We got a plaque saying that we came in first place. The next day we were still so happy! We were supposed to go to a church and sing for them, but it was too late. So we just went straight on home. That was the best time I had in my life so far.

There Was a Fire?!?!: The Epic Story of Wednesday

2010-06-10T01:34:00.000-07:00

by BCK

Wednesday was, for lack of a better term, ridiculous. We- meaning the students at my school, not me- started a fire in the dumpster.

The fire started during lunch. I was hanging out by the pull-up bars with my friends and a few annoying people that wouldn’t go away. There was a basketball game to the right, but there were only weak people playing. So I decided to play some soccer with the little sixth and seventh graders away to my left. Eighth graders have a reputation of cheating, mostly because we don’t know how to play, and of being racist, which was Stephen’s fault. So when I went over to talk to them, they yelled in their little kid, high-pitched voices for me to go away. As always, I promised I wouldn’t cheat, and as always, they didn’t buy it. I had just turned away, and was walking back to my friends to tell them to help me steal the soccer ball, when somebody cried, “There’s a fire in the dumpster!”

Everyone that could hear turned around, and amazingly, there were huge flames jumping out of the recycling bin, quickly burning those many papers and other things. Everyone crowded around in a state of frenzied excitement. I looked away to see if the security guard, Mr. Weekes, had noticed. He hadn’t. I looked around and saw people who had heard the news rushing up in waves to the yard. Others continued against the crowd to inform the ignorant of the event. I found Jack and Stephen.
“This is crazy!!” I yelled over the noise
“Whaaaoooah!” yelled Jack back.
“Stephen, what do you think?!!” I screamed
“About what?!” he screamed back.
“THE FIRE!”
“THERE WAS A FIRE?!!?!?!” he exclaimed. This cracked me and Jack up. And we were still laughing when somebody yelled, “It’s gonna blow up!!” Everything went deadly quiet as we pondered the possibility. Then, as a huge crowd, with Jack and me leading, the whole school fled to a safe distance, approximately ten yards away.

“Somebody pull the fire alarm!” someone yelled. At once, several people raced across the yard to the different locations of the fire alarms. We know where they are, given that they get pulled a few times a week. I saw Alex go to the fire alarm in the boys’ locker room, and other people pull the others. Soon the blaring sound of the fire alarm added to the tumult.

By then Mr. Weekes had come over to see what the deal was. He took one look at the fire, and radioed to the principal, Ms. Crockett. She didn’t feel like dealing with it, so Mr. Taylor, the vice principal, arrived. Now, Mr. Taylor is intimidating. He’s about 6’5”, used to play on the NBA, and constantly scowls at potential troublemakers. But he’s a pretty chill guy.

As soon as his head appeared, the cry went around, “Mr. Taylor’s here!” Everyone ran for cover. Mr. Taylor took one look, and radioed the whole staff, and soon everyone working at the school was pushing back the line of students, snatching phones and cameras taking pictures, and interrogating the possible suspects. Eventually they herded us down into the lower part of the yard, where everyone wandered around excitedly, coming up with all sorts of crazy ideas about what was happening, who did it, and whether school would let out early. We commonly have fire drills, where everyone lines up and stays good so you don’t have to listen to Ms. Crockett drone on and on about paying attention. But in that situation, all those fire drills were easily forgotten. People were running around screaming, making jokes, socializing, and being crazy. We were completely unprepared for the blaze that had been ignited in the dumpster.

“Wait! Did anyone here get this on video?!” I exclaimed to Jack and Stephen.
“F*#@&%$!!!” exlaimed Jack.
“Get what on video?” asked Stephen.
“The fire!” Jack and I shouted.
“THERE WAS A FIRE??!?!” yelled Stephen. This cracked us up again.
For the rest of the day, Stephen was constantly yelling, “THERE WAS A FIRE?!?!”

At the end of the day, the joke still hadn’t worn off. It was a great day.

No-No

2010-06-10T01:33:00.002-07:00

by CC

The first game I pitched that day was a humiliating experience; the final score was 14 to 4. But game two was a whole different story. Game two I came confident and strong, full of revenge and ready to strike. I wasn’t ready to be humiliated two times in a row. I was pumped, full of adrenaline. It is a rare feeling that I get, so I knew this game would be a special one. I didn’t mess around in the first inning; three up, three down. The first kid I faced was easy, three fastballs in a row. Next batter I also struck out, but this time I finished his at bat with a nice Uncle Charlie (curveball). Next batter was their third hitter; he ended up grounding out to first.

My team came up to bat, and fortunately, we had good luck. We started off with a walk. Then the next batter hit a blooper to short right. Then I came up to bat. This pitcher was throwing about 80 miles per hour, and it was a bit intimating, but I wasn't scared at all. My coach gave me the bunt sign, and I was willing to do anything for a run. The first two pitches, he came real close to hitting me, which shook me up a bit. Then the next pitch was a hard fastball, right at my butt. I went limping all the way to first base. As I got to first base, my coach put in a pinch runner to run for me. Then one of our smallest hitters on the team came up to bat, and he came through in the clutch. By the end of that inning the score was one to nothing.

As the game went on, I wasn’t really paying attention to what I had done. In my eyes, I was just pitching a good game, and I was determined to keep doing the same thing. Usually I only pitch about three innings a game, so I won’t throw my arm out, but that Sunday, I went the distance. For some reason, I didn’t feel any pain in my arm, like I usually do, so for a long time I was just cruising through the game. It seemed as if I wouldn’t have any problems.

Then in the sixth inning, I got into a small problem, but I knew it would be an easy fix. The first batter I faced, I walked him on four straight fastballs. Then I threw a wild pitch, and the runner took second with ease. I wasn't going to let that run score. The next pitch, the kid hit a high fly ball, and it seemed as if it was going over the fence, but when I turned around, the ball was in the center fielder’s glove. The next play, I twirled around, acted as if I was going to pitch, and got the runner out at third base.

When my team came up to bat in the sixth inning, we scored again. Our fifth hitter came up to bat, and he made good contact, which ended up being a double. Our next hitter hit a line drive to left center, which made the score two to one.

After that I was pulled out of the game, and I went to talk to a longtime friend who had come to see me play. I was telling him how well I pitched, and then the team Mom told me that I threw a no-hitter. At first I really didn't pay much attention to it, but then I realized what she had said: I threw a no hitter! It was the greatest feeling in the world to know that not only had I done that, but that it was to the number three ranking team in the nation! There is no doubt in my mind that that game will go down as one of the best games I’ve ever played in my life.

Learning to Fight

2010-06-10T01:33:00.001-07:00

by TB

On my first day of middle school I was scared of people who were better fighters than me. I thought if I made friends with them, I would be safe from their physical harm to me. I tried to be friends with them, but they kept being mean to me. I was devastated at the fact that they wouldn’t accept me as a friend. I went home and asked my grandmother if I could start training. I took jui-jitsu, Muay Thai, and regular kung-fu. The more I trained, the more I felt powerful enough to fight my foes. I tried to be just like Bruce Lee, but that would take intense training.

One day, I met up with my old friend James and his friends. And if they're his friends, they're mine, too. They told me a lot about my favorite anime show, Naruto. They knew more than I did, and I had thought I was a master at that, but life isn’t all that easy. I realized that I should look into things more to be better than I was. When school was over, I went to my martial arts class to train all the way. I was tired of people thinking they could fight me, even though they didn’t know what I was capable of. I started running 15 laps around my house almost every day. I think all the training paid off when I fought my older cousin.

I fought my cousin at the dojo in Concord. At first, I didn’t know what to do, but when he first hit me my rage overpowered me. He kicked me, then I raised my fist in the air with full force to the jaw. He dodged it and came up with the same uppercut I did, but he was slow with his attack. I kicked him in the shin, then kneed him in the jaw with a powerful force. He was pretty unconscious when I hit him. Lucky it was a practice brawl, or he would have been on his way to the hospital. After that fight I asked for another fight, but no one wanted to fight. Some people were tired from training, so I just left the gym.

I felt like the greatest fighter, but it was my rage that gave me the edge I needed to defeat my opponents. I was so strong that I could fight an army of fighters, but I could not control my power. I could have killed my cousin from that knee to the jaw. I shouldn’t have let my anger get to me. I tried to calm down but it was too much. That day was victorious but frightening.

I won so many times that I could have been an assassin. That day was the best day I could ask for.

There Was A Fire?!?

2010-06-10T01:32:00.000-07:00

by SB

Wednesday was a very exciting day. Bruno, Jack and I were just hanging out at the usual place, preparing to play soccer. Suddenly, the air felt warm. I looked toward the band room and saw that the recycling bin was burning a crimson blaze. Who had done this? We did not know, but we did know that this was the best day of our life. Bruno and I quickly evacuated everyone in the vicinity. Jack took his spare water hose from his life jacket and began to douse the fire. Then a student closed the lid on the bin and Jack, red-faced, fled the scene faster than a Ninjask (the fastest Pokemon ever)! Bruno and I were forced by Mr.Weekes to stop our lifesaving and evacuate ourselves. Alex sprinted to the fire alarm faster than Wilma Rudoph in the 1960 Olympics.

The wicked being who created this fire fled the scene, but within minutes, the fighters of fire had arrived. Mr. Smith claimed he saw the flames reach 15 feet high. The seventh graders scrambled faster than gravy-covered cats in a barn full of bloodhounds. The teachers attempted to keep the children in order but they refused! They repeatedly ran around the yard with their shirts off, screaming “Anarchy!” and “Fire!” and “This is not a drill!” Eventually, Ms.Crockett just started sending people home. The huge meeting in the gym after the fire was really exciting; Ms.Crockett was as angry as an Agron (a Pokemon that gets angry really easily)!

Whoever did this was expelled, she claimed, but no one believed her, for she was soft-hearted. Then, suddenly, we heard a huge explosion, and all the windows shattered. We ran outside screaming. Jack, Bruno and I helped evacuate everybody. Then we ran outside the building, which was now on fire. The explosion was caused by a car driving into the blazing dumpster, causing the sulfuric acid from the car battery to explode.

Ms. Crockett fled faster than a Frosslass (a Pokemon with fast feet)! It was up to the students to put out all the fires. The firefighters had fled, Jack’s life jacket hose had been depleted, and the gym was becoming more and more engulfed in flames! Bruno hopped the fence to the fire department and took a fire hose and began to douse the fire. The day was saved thanks to the Three Musketeers! Ms.Thaler, Mr. Smith and Mr. Finch rewarded us with a great chicken pancake breakfast, a feast fit for a Wailord (the largest Pokemon known to man) and we lived happily ever after. I learned that day that the teachers had no way of saving us during a serious event, and after that I promised myself to never trust a teacher again, because they fled the fire.

The Walking Dead

2010-06-10T01:31:00.000-07:00

by EB

The summer of 2009 was possibly the best summer ever. I found myself shooting zombies, hiding out, and reading lines off a piece of paper. I was the star of a movie my friend Meghan and I made based on our favorite comic book, The Walking Dead. Here’s how it all began.

First, Meghan got me addicted to all the comics she ever read. One day she threw a pile of randomly selected comics on the table, from The Green Lantern to Iron Man to Ghost Rider. I didn’t know which one to read first! Finally I chose one called The Walking Dead: Volume 4.

“Read the first one… it’s best if you start at the beginning.” She scrambled through the books. A horrible cover of zombies and gore caught my eye, blood and rotting flesh everywhere. I was overcome with enjoyment; I couldn’t wait to read it and experience the gore for myself.

I opened it up and read the first page. A police officer named Rick was shooting at some zombies. I couldn’t stop reading. After I got done with the first, I continued… and before I knew it, I was finished with the whole series.

“Meghan, we have to make this into a movie. It’s too good to not be as famous as Iron Man. This is crazy!”
For the next few months, we planned and bought props and wigs and wrote out a script. We came to a bump, though.
“Uh…Erin, do you own a video camera?” Meghan asked.
“No, I assumed you had one.” We quickly looked at each other and called everyone we knew to see if they had a camera. None did.
“What are we going to do now? We can’t just give up!”
“We might have to,” she said to me. Then I realized her mom worked at a camera store, and we could borrow a camera from there.

Now that we had resolved that issue, we could get back to shooting zombies and resolving other problems on set. It took two months to prepare and one month to film. It wasn’t an easy process.

Finally, our movie was complete and ready to burn onto a CD. We went out and bought new CD cases and printed out a paper describing who everyone was. We sold 38 copies for 10 dollars each. You do the math. The day after we sold the 38th copy, we saw a devastating commercial. They are making a Walking Dead TV show in the summer of 2010. We did all that work for nothing! We did so much work, and took up our whole summer, and someone ripped us off. I was so mad. I wanted to break all of the extra CDs over my knee and forget everything that happened.

But then I realized it wasn’t just about that. I’d still created something amazing and had the best summer ever, and that’s the most important thing.

$$$ I've Got Some $$$

2010-06-10T01:30:00.000-07:00

by KB

It was 7:00 in the morning, and I was walking to school with my brother and my two sisters. There was a guy that was walking with this older lady who dropped some money: 173 dollars, to be exact. I ran to it and picked it up, and when I turned around he was just about to turn the corner. So I ran to meet back up with my older sister and my little sister.

“Look, I’ve found some money!”
“Oooowwww! Let me get some!” My older sister said.
“Girl, no, I’m walking back home to tell mama.”
“I’ll walk with you, Kort-Kort,” my little brother said.
“Okay, come on.” We started to walk back home even though we were only two blocks away from school.
“Kortney can I get some money?” my little brother asked.
“Yup, but when we get home.”
“Okay.”

30 minutes later…

Booom, Booom, Boom!!
“Mama, open the door”
“Who is it?”
“UUUUSSS! Your kids? Rob & Kort!”
“What are ya’ll doing back here?”
“I’ve found 500 dollars.” (I was in second grade, I didn’t know how to count. YET!!)
“What, Let me see!

Later that day…

We were at Southland mall, and my mom took me shopping for shoes and outfits. Before we started shopping we went to this massage stand by Macy’s (just before you walked in). We were there for about 30 minutes, and after we were done we were just about to head to the stores when a HUGE altercation ensued. There was a lady and her husband who ran into me because he was trying to fight his wife. I didn’t know what to do because I was inside of a fight, and my mom is crazy over her kids! So my mom jumped in and was pushing the lady and the man. They’ve got mad and started to argue with my mom; apologized, then started to argue where it started again. Finally, we went shopping. I was so happy that I found that money.

The Riot of the Year

2010-06-10T01:29:00.000-07:00

by RB

It started in the 7th grade. We were all doing fine until the last few days of school. Everybody that I didn’t like didn’t like me either. So we all planned to fight on the last day of school. When the day finally came, we all arrived on the baseball field at lunch with bats and chairs.

The next hour went by, then all my patnas jumped in. Mostly all of the student got involved, and then even some of the teachers were in the riot. The principal was hiding in classrooms. They called the police on most of students.

I regret having that riot at school. We shouldn’t have fought. It was kind of stupid to get into such a huge fight over one racist comment. In the end, we all had to do community service for 48 hours.

My life has been crazy since that day. Four days after the riot, my brother Reese died in a car accident. He was in the riot with me, and four days later, he died. When he got into the car accident they let him burn up in the car.

That riot was the first and last riot I will ever be in. I will never be in a riot because that was last thing I did with my brother. I don’t even really like fighting anymore, because it reminds me of him.

Drama

2010-06-10T01:28:00.001-07:00

by AB

In my eighth grade year, everything was great and cool. I would be hanging out with my friends and we would just act stupid and play fight most of the time. It was all great… until some mess started.

One day, at 4th period, it was time for us to get dressed for P.E. One of my friends was just walking around when this other girl, the cousin of another girl at our school, came over trying to smash on her like she’s somebody, even though she’s really not. She went up to her saying, “Is you trying to smash on my cousin, saying that you the real wife of this boy? If I wanted to fight you, I would’ve just said it!” And some other stuff.

So my friend smashed back on her, saying, “Yes I did!” And then we all came over trying to see what the situation was, because it really wasn’t that serious. They were about to fight over a boy. So my friend said, “Well, your cousin need to come over and defend for herself, because it’s between me and her.” The other girl said she didn’t care, and then some other people started coming over to see what was happening. Finally, the other girl walked off, saying, “Oh well, just keep my cousin’s name out your mouth.”

Then her best friend jumped in, and said, “That’s not what she said! All she said is I want to drop the mess!” I tried to calm her best friend down, but then her best friend started smashing, saying, “Oh well, I don’t care. It’s between them two. Let them two handle it, didn’t nobody say you had to jump in it.” After that it was all over.
I was glad it didn’t turn into a fight, because like I said, it really wasn’t that serious. I think if a fight had started, someone would have gotten seriously hurt or killed, and it’s just not worth it for some boy.

My Life

2010-06-10T01:27:00.002-07:00

by RA

My life has a lot going on in it. I get stressed out because I want to be something. It’s hard- I have to work hard in school and get good grades. That’s a lot of hard work to do. I also have my aunt on my back, so I work even harder in school to get good grades, because she is always on me. I am trying for a 3.0 to see if that will get her off my back.

There is a lot I have to go though, because I have lost so many family and friends in the last three years of my life. Writing about it helps me deal with it.
I always think about how much I miss seeing everyone. I also think about how much I miss my sister, who still lives in Seattle, because she is the only one I got left of my mom, brother, sister and me. School is very stressful because I want to do well. I want my family to be proud of me. I want them to know I can get good grades, and that I will make it in life.

I hate to read, and when my teachers try to make me read, I get mad. I think I am not a good reader. And I don’t want anyone talking about me. I can’t read.
I use writing to overcome the bad things that happened to me in my life. The challenges I faced in my life are hard to overcome. When I talk to my sister, she tells me to calm down and just do my best. I try to do what she says, and it helps me. Sometimes I go for a walk so I can get over what’s going on in my head. That’s why I love talking to my sister.

That’s also why I love English this year. I use the writing we do in class to get out my feelings. English helps me write about what’s going on in my life, and helps me clear my head of everything that is happening. That way, I don’t do bad things and get in trouble. I have too much to lose to mess up now. I have to walk the stage. This is my life and what I go through.

What a Surprise!

2010-06-10T01:27:00.001-07:00

by I A-C

It started off like any other Thursday. I had to go to school, then come home and do some homework. By, “some,” I mean “as much as I could finish until I had to go to soccer practice.” The whole week had been so exciting to me, because it was going to be my birthday that Saturday. Usually I hate going to soccer practice, but this time was ok; I was really looking forward to telling people about what I had planned for my birthday. Which was going to be a silly string game, pizza and cake, and Blades of Glory.

I finished my homework, then put on my shorts, shin guards, and cleats. My mom’s friend came through the door just as I was leaving. She had come to help my mom clean the house for her other friend, Mary, who was supposed to come over to have dinner that night. I was happy to get out of the house so I wouldn’t have to help clean. Also, I was eager to do something to get my energy out.

When I got to practice, I had to help my coach carry goals, pinnies, and balls to the field. When we finished, we emptied out the balls and started the practice off with shooting on the goal. That practice, my dad was there to help my coach. When my dad is there I always have so much more fun than when he’s not. Having my dad there is great because he can focus on what I need to fix so I can do my best at my games.

When soccer practice was over I was very sweaty, so I knew that it had been a good practice. When we reached home and went into the building, I got really cold. I was about ten feet away from the door, which was already open. Then my little sister, Chloe, ran out and started to yell, “They’re here, they’re here!” She stopped and ran back into the house. When I got to the doorway I could hear my mom and Mary talking. And then the phone started ringing, so I ran to answer it. Right as I said hello, everyone jumped out from hiding behind a curtain and yelled, “SURPRISE!” I was very confused. The phone call was another one of the ladies wanting to be buzzed in to the building. It was like I was being pulled in four different directions.

The ladies, who have been friends of my family for years, were invited on the premise of sharing their wisdom and wisecracks. All of these ladies have known me and supported me for years, some even before I was born. My mom invited them to celebrate my 14th birthday. It was my mom’s way of celebrating my passage into womanhood. And I must say I was completely surprised.

While I was sitting there listening to the advice they were giving me, I saw my mom start to cry like a faucet that had a permanent leak. Then Chloe’s soccer coach, Beth, said, “I want to be just like Ivy.” Seeing what these awesome ladies thought of me made me realize how lucky I am to have the love and support that’s in my life. When Beth said that, I started to cry along with my mom. No one had ever told me they wanted to be like me before, especially someone who was older.

This party was the best thing that ever happened to me so far. It was amazing to celebrate my birthday with these women. I couldn’t wait to tell everybody about it at school the next day. Thanks to my mom, I’ll have this memory that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

My Eyes

2010-06-10T01:26:00.000-07:00

by SA

A school filled with violence and can't-do attitude. What can I do? I imagine being one of the fortunate people who don't have to come to a school like this, who go to a school that can afford many things we can't, but no. It's just a fantasy. The things that happen in school, especially with the teachers, are unavoidable. Most of the teachers in this school are always on your case and don't leave you alone until they see a dramatic change.

This marking period I have been a bit off, and I know teachers expect more from me because, according to them, “You’re smart, and you used to be an angel and respect the teachers.” All that changed this year, either because I started to hang with the wrong crowd, or the teachers started to expect too much from me, and dealing with my home issues on top of all that was just too much for me to take in at once.

For example, one of the teachers I had a serious problem with was Mr. Smith. Every day, I would purposely try to annoy him by saying rude comments, so he would get mad and frustrated. It worked; he would constantly send me out, and I wouldn't even get mad, I would actually be happy because I would be able to get out of class and go somewhere.

All of my actions changed when one of my summer school directors came to my school and started to insist that I do better in every class. Never in my lifetime had I thought that I had people like this, in school, who cared for me and were willing to take time out of their own busy schedules to help me. Not only academically, but emotionally as well.

I started to slack off and everything started to just go bad and ever since then I'd been going downhill. Only one person—actually, two people I know-- will be there for me when I am down or have any issues.

Middle School Memories

2010-06-10T01:25:00.001-07:00

Our final project for English was to write an autobiographical narrative essay about an important experience in middle school. We put a lot of work into writing these, so we hope you enjoy them!

Have a great summer!

- Ms. Thaler and the Thaler Scholars

Bill the Destroyer!

2010-04-27T09:41:00.000-07:00

by Corporal Afro

There once was a man named Bill
boy he loved to kill
He had bright blond hair
and a wicked yellow snare
and a sword which he called young Jim
One day the king proposed
that he'd kill the flamed-nose dragon
So he traveled and traveled all day and night.

Never at all he had a fear or a fright
Where he was going he did not drive
But in due time the dragon's cave he had arrived
But the dragon was nowhere to be found.

Bill took out a match
And once he got some light
He found a hatch
which made him fall and fall
to his death he fell
but as he did he grabbed a tail
which belonged to the dragon
As they fell to their doom
Bill wondered whom
Would know his story.

My (Non) Epic Story

2010-04-27T09:37:00.000-07:00

by Line Rider

Our story starts
In one short part
With many flows
Alone he goes

He goes to kill the dragon, Shmeer
Who has robbed him of bread and beer
Who killed his wife down where it snows
This is a tale, alone he goes.

Alone he goes o'er plain and hill
To find, and win in one big kill
To find and eat his bread and beer
That clumsy, clucking dragon Shmeer.

Alas he died, he hit a rock
Because he always liked to talk
On his Metro PCS plan
He found and ate poisonous flan*

*Mexican dessert

The Great Gilgadumb

2010-04-27T09:30:00.000-07:00

by Sleepy Karl

Many children, far and fat
Demand the same story to hear a lot.
With this great hero, a man so strong
He had no room for brain
He had nothing but brawn.

This is the story of the great Gilgadumb
Who worked all night and day.
He trampled any man or boy
Who got into his way.

One night as he was walking along
A man from the future came.
He held with him a gun that shot
Bright gold and purple rays.

But Gigadumb was stupid enough
To not be scared or frightened
He killed that future man where he stood
And here is where I stop writin'.

Blinky and the Fooblafoo

2010-04-27T09:23:00.000-07:00

by The Hatter

Blinky was a smallish guy
A little scared, a little shy
Until he faced his fears and fought
The freakish Fooblafoo!

The Fooblafoo would terrorize
His people, and their pleading cries
Would make kind Blinky writhe from rage,
And loathe the vicious beast.

One day, the monster killed a man
As I recall, his name was Stan
That devil took him in her jaws
And chomped him quite in half!

Then Blinky's vision filled with red
He vowed to rip that beast to shreds
He stomped outside, prepared to fight
But then the monster smushed his head.

Now Blinky's not so smallish
Nor so scaredish, nor so shy
A little more depressingly-
He's now a deadish guy.

My Epic Poem

2010-04-27T09:16:00.002-07:00

by WahhBAM

It was dark at night on a Saturday
My mother stood in front of the mirror to look at her reflection
She rubbed her face with her gentle hands
A look of dissatisfaction jumped on her face

"Tammy, would you care to take that filthy thing off my face?"
"There's nothing at all on your face!"
We both glance to the side towards the mirror.

"Oh silly mother! It is the dirty mirror!"

The Journey

2010-04-27T09:16:00.001-07:00

by Milkman

Strolling proudly down the street
Impossible to defeat
From Claremont Middle School he came
Animals would sing his name

Heading home past shops and stores
People stopped, watched, and adored
Day and night, he would move
Leagues disappeared beneath his shoes

His feet grew heavy, but still went on
Trudging 'til the crack of dawn
No longer was he famed and awed
Fell to his knees and called to God

He longed to see the face of death
Suffering ended, laid to rest
It did not happen, he stayed alive
The walk home from school he survived

The Drummer

2010-04-27T09:14:00.000-07:00

by Queen4aDay

He picks it up; in his hand,
The stick that looks at once so grand,
And melancholy, beaten and bruised
From all the times it has been used.

He hoists it aloft, like a blade of heroes elde,
Who went to war, armor shelled.
Its silhouette, in the sky;
A gleam of triumph, in his eye.

He starts to make a motion down
To strike the circle, below, ‘tis round.
His muscles strain, to give it force,
To make the sound his fans endorse.

The stick it swings, a wooden blur.
It makes a noise, like a whir, a purr.
The stick it strikes the drumhead scarred
From strikes like these from the same bard.

The sound that comes from the drum,
Halfway between a hollow thrum,
A gentle tap, a little rap,
And an exceedingly loud snare-driven slap.

The fans all cheer, for he has done it.
The amazing contest; he has won it.
To hit the drum at the right time,
It gives a musical pleasure quite sublime.

But suddenly, the mood is shed.
His stick through his eye, the drummer is dead.

Mock Epics

2010-04-21T15:43:00.000-07:00

Hello, ThalerScholars Readers! Our next round of poems will be mock epics. We read "Casey at the Bat" and loved the way it satirized the epic form. We hope you like reading our own epic tales!

Spring-break Poem

2010-04-19T13:17:00.000-07:00

by AK

I wake up early to school-less freedom,
the trees shiver; April showers have begun.

I will relax till noon, then meet my friends at the mall,
then check my "to-do list" that hangs on the wall.

I feel as light as a feather,
as busy as a bee,
excitement runs through me,
there's so much to see!

Only 1 week to shine,
as bright as the sun,
to ride a slippery boat,
for endless spring fun.

To stay up all night without any fear,
full of excitement, joy, and forever cheer.

No time for hate or anger,
no time to be bummed,
the sky's the limit,
so jump, soar, and run!

This short week of fun, is a precious diamond;
to be soon buried, lost,
a sparkly finding.

I felt like a released prisoner,
wild and free, living up spring break;
as happy as can be.

bored.

2010-04-19T13:14:00.000-07:00

by Ashley

Bored
Sitting on the couch doing nothing but
Watching TV.
Nothing I liked on
But the news.
Sleepy but don't want to sleep,
want to play but don't want to play,
want to get on the computer but don't want to get up and get it,
too lazy to do or get anything.

If I wasn't lazy I would be having fun,
I complain but don't want to do anything about it.

Maybe I should do something.

Bad Writing! ("Poem")

2010-04-19T13:10:00.000-07:00

by Al

On Thursday morning I woke with a smile
at that time the weather was not good for running the mile.
After a pleasant cozy while in the shower
my black and broken heart told me something.
What?!
What was it!?
He said
"Go, go see the girl in white!"
I ran, ran with all of my being
fleeing from the shower!
When I got there
the house of the girl of white
my heart
pounded with joy, love, fear and redemption
it bled inside of me
I could feel the black blood dripping down.
As I walked in I soon discovered
I would obviously be staying there for a while
with a cursed kiss I kissed the world goodbye
and entered to the eternal ditch of darkness and
love and
PAIN.

crash

2010-04-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

by JG

I crash I disturb
I come uninvited I have more fun than anyone else,
I have more fun than you do
cause I crash parties
crashing parties is fun and its what I do

hit a flip
hit a back flip such strength from your legs
pushing you into a powerful spring of rotation.
The Rush of that flip the accomplishment of that movement
the electric feeling of landing in the pool,
water stinging your leg as you hit the water.

Missing Her

2010-04-19T09:31:00.000-07:00

by Prettygurldeija

going to church
having a nice day
learning about Jesus
going a positive way
leaving out the church's double doors
getting caught makes me not be
able to see her anymore

lyrics

2010-04-19T09:27:00.000-07:00

by 6tabdanger

I never knew a lady that would lie to her child
She claims she loves them but
she parties and gets wild
I am a king and they all
love to bow
open the box... WOW!!
My lyrics consist of dead
flowers and an unburnt pile
of words that twined together to make
a towel

Just a test

2010-04-18T22:04:00.000-07:00

by Sage

Hands sweating knees trembling
I'm scared.
I'm a mess.
I'm a nervous wreck I'm playing in my hair
So I look through the lines of words
and I say to myself "Wow, J, you're such a nerd."
And I'm feeling some kind of way down deep inside
because no one gave me any reason why
I'm telling you it's not okay
Man I wish this test was delayed.

Rage

2010-04-18T22:02:00.001-07:00

by Dark Moderator 5

To live my life should be a crime
I feel miserable all the time.
I haven't been pushed over the edge yet
but sometimes I feel major neglect.
I have a little brother that pushes my buttons
When I complain to my mom she acts like he's done nothin
My family events fill me with rage
I am really mean for someone my age.

Lyric Poem

2010-04-18T21:34:00.000-07:00

by The Hatter

At last, the kitchen is sparkling and clean!
All that scrubbing of walls and what's in between.
The dishes are dry and in their proper place
But none of them beam so much as my face!

Lyric Haiku

2010-04-18T21:30:00.002-07:00

by Joey Bagadonuts

Grinning like a fool,
When I see my cousin, yay!
It's been way too long.

Floorpunchers

2010-04-18T21:30:00.001-07:00

by Queen4aDay

They fling their fists,

Like they want to hurt us, cause fear.

Don’t they understand,

We’re all friends here.

We go outside,

To escape the reaches of the fists,

To gripe about it,

To wish they’d understand.

We just want to dance.

Rocks

2010-04-18T21:28:00.000-07:00

by Milkman

A rock
Silent
Still
Gray
Surrounded
By other rocks
Also
Silent
Still
Gray

Spring Break

2010-04-18T21:24:00.000-07:00

by Corporal Afro

It's Friday before break
And my friends are off too
It's like the icing on the cake
Don't know what to do
My stomach is churning
Finally no more learning
My eyeballs are burning,
This was probably the best
part of spring break, not the
break itself but the
Waiting which seemed like forever
No more math, English, science or Ms. Clever
Finally the day was almost over
I felt luckier than a four-leaf clover.
I felt mightier than a great king
Finally could spend some time on the lawn
and then bring...
I was gone.

My bike ride

2010-04-13T08:50:00.001-07:00

by Yung Soup

We went on a bike ride.
It was cold,dark,windy
And there was 5 or6 of us
And we rode to Bay st
We rode as fast as
a nascar in a race

We raced
I was always in front
I was the winner
with a big gold trophy
a Jr whopper
I took the onions off
I don't like onions.

On the ride back
my feet pushed slower
on the pedals
until we got home

Lyric Poems

2010-04-13T08:46:00.000-07:00

by Ms. Thaler

The Thaler Scholars have just started our poetry unit, and the first genre of poetry we studied is lyric poetry. We learned that lyric poems are usually short, don't tell a story, and express a single, strong emotion. We read "Valentine for Ernest Mann" by Naomi Shihab Nye, a lyric poem involving tacos and someone who gave his wife two skunks for Valentine's Day. Then, we wrote our own lyric poems about our spring breaks. We hope you enjoy reading them, and experiencing the emotions we felt last week!

Jimmy: Part 1

2010-03-12T08:40:00.000-08:00

by Milkman

Jimmy woke up late. It was Sunday. He yawned, and glanced at the time. 11:00. He turned over and went back to sleep.

Jimmy woke up around 12:00. He pushed his bed covers off and sat up. His sister was standing just inside the door of his room.

“Oh! I was just about to wake you up. Jerome called a bit ago. He said for you to call him back.”

Jimmy’s sister, Alex, was average height, but with a pretty face, and was generally considered good looking. Jimmy couldn’t tell what guys saw in her. To him she was just annoying and immature. When Alex got her first boyfriend, Jimmy had asked Jerome about it. He had asked Jerome, “You think my sister fine?”

“I-I-I don’t know,” Jerome had stuttered back. “Maybe a little?”

“For real?”

“You just don’t see it cause she your sis. That just don’t happen.”

And that was the end of it.

Jimmy looked at Alex now. She didn’t seem attractive at all, just weird.

“And oh! Jimmy, you owe me five dollas.”

“Say what?”

“I don’t remember! You just asked if you could borrow some money, and I gave you some. You haven’t paid me back yet.”

“Definitely not attractive!” thought Jimmy, “Just annoying.” Then out loud he grumbled, “Okay! Man leave me alone!” He dragged himself out of bed, found his wallet, and threw a crumpled five dollar bill at her.

“Happy now?”

Alex made a face, then picked the money off the floor. “Yes,” she shot back and skipped happily out of his room.

The Monster

2010-03-11T17:22:00.001-08:00

For this journal entry, students were given a photo at random to respond to in writing.

By Da'Vine

My legs are getting sore. The leaves of the bushes are hitting me. I can still see the giant behind me. It’s holding something. I really don’t understand the monster.

It has no eyes. It does have horns and two nostrils. The monster has a cup of some sort in one of his hands. He runs with it like he’s going to do something to me with it.

I had been in the camp and everyone else was still asleep. We had been looking for the rock for 2 days now. We had stopped to sleep and find camp. We had some gutted lizard of just root soup. It was pretty tasty. When I woke up I heard something. I went out of my tent and checked. There he was.

The monster was walking in to camp. Right when I looked at him. His head just turned straight to me. He turns his body to me and starts to walk over. He has that object toward me and I had to run as fast as I could into the jungle.

This is where I found myself in the jungle. Running from something I have no idea what it is. And what it wants but I really don’t want to find out what it is.

I come to a little village. The people are now in the streets already. I come running in and screaming. The people turn to me and stare. Then I think they see that I am being chased.

They look and some smile and some just look puzzled. They make a wall and I’m confused. They stop me and I turn, I’m terrified of the monster. He comes to me and stops and kneels to me and mutters something. All the villagers laugh. I still don’t understand.

Mr. Fantastic

2010-03-11T15:55:00.001-08:00

by Ronald

If I could customize my own super hero he would be very smart. My super hero would wear a fur coat, and everybody loved him. His name was Mr. Fantastic. Mr. Fantastic works alone, but he still has a side kick every once in a while. His side kicks name was fantastic. Super had more powers then Mr. Fantastic but wasn't as smart as him. Mr. Fantastic is good at getting the truth out of people, finding criminals, and giving people the right amount of time in ail. He lived in Atlanta, Georgia. He was 34 years old, but he never will die. He got his powers from his father who gave him to him before he died. When he gets mad he turns invisible and takes his anger out on people in jail. He is a good person until you get on his bad side.

My Dreams

2010-03-11T15:51:00.000-08:00

by Young Soup
My dreams have a lot of different stuff in them. I go to parties and stuff like that. Also, my dreams have people from Seattle and Oakland in them and it's funny that my dreams mix both of my lives together. Sometimes it repeats my life and I do what I did that day in my dream, and sometime I like when it does that because my day was fun and funny.
I have dreams about me being back home in Seattle and sometimes people from Oakland are in them. Also I have dreams with my mom and my brother in them, and me and my brother are doing the stuff we would do together when he was alive. My life was fun when I was in Seattle, and I am happy that I am from Seattle. But its a good thing that I moved, because I was planning on doing something very bad because of my brother being killed. My life got very bad and I hated that my life changed like that. I hate that I wanted to kill someone. He didn't have to kill my brother just because his brother got beat up. My brother shouldn't have said what he said, but thats how it is. I can't change it.
But in my dreams, I can go back to the time before that happened, and be with my mom and brother again.

I Will

2010-03-10T16:09:00.000-08:00

By Stewie and Lady Beatrice

I am the howl in the whistling wind,
the cool
breeze in a hot summer day.
I am the bark in a howling wolf. I belong to no one.

A dog barks
a cat purrs,
a lion roars, but what do I do? where do I belong?

The places I go
The people I see, there is never a person that doesn’t fit in, but when I look at a mirror,
I see no one,
a reflection lost with a crowd of people trying to fit in,
I will be myself, I will believe I will.

Seattle to Oakland

2010-03-09T08:41:00.001-08:00

by Young Soup

I live in Oakland and my life is okay. I have fun sometimes with my friends and family. On the other hand, I don't like living in Oakland because sometimes my family makes me mad. I don't like being around some of them. But that's what happens with family and being a teen. I always think about going home cause I loved being there with my sister, cousins and all my friends i grew up with and had fun with. I will never forget my true home in Seattle WA. I loved being there when it snowed. I also loved going to school because I grew up with most of the kids and we always had fun every day. No matter what, we did what we wanted to do, because we were good in school. I got to leave when I waned, go where I wanted, do what I wanted, have girls over when I wanted, come home when I felt like it. Go to school when felt like it. I went every day unless I had court for something I did a long time a go when I was 10 or 11 years old at the time this stuff happen. I always had money on me. But even though I miss Seattle, I'm starting to realize that life in Oakland isn't so bad.

My dream school

2010-03-05T08:11:00.000-08:00

by Taco123

So, let me tell you about my dream school. The name would be “Taco Burrito.” It would be a middle school. When you first walk in my school, you would see on your left and right Mexican food with their histories, like tacos and burritos. It would say when they were first invented and etc. As you walk, you would see the principal's office. As you continue, you will see 2 paths. One for the 6th graders, and one for the 7th and 8th graders. The 6th are new so they have to be with others that are new. The 8th and 7th graders have been there. So they are cool being together. Then you will go out the doors and see a cafeteria, basketball courts, and a PE area. My school is gonna have a vote on who has lunch with who so it won't be painful for students of the principal's decision. So this is my dream school.

P.S : when I get older, my goal is to really make my dream school come true.

Ba Bump... Ba Bump... Ba Bump

2010-03-04T16:35:00.000-08:00

by Ziggy96

After a long tiring day of ice-skating on December 3rd, I walked up the glossy wooden stairs. I heard my grandfather screaming, he was screaming "Zion HILFE!" (which meant "Zion HELP!" in German) it sounded just like the screeching of nail on a chalkboard. I started to run up the stairs and almost tripped. Once I was upstairs, I knew that there was something wrong with my grandmother.

While I was running up the stairs, I was thinking about what could have happened. At first, I thought I was in trouble but that could not be because I did not do anything wrong. I searched for my grandfather in the bathroom; nobody was there. I checked in the warm and cozy computer room, still no sign of him. I peeked in the bedroom and there he was talking to my grandmother nice and clearly. She could barley talk back and that is when my heart started to beat fast as if I were a drum in a marching band. BOOM BOOM.

My grandmother was mumbling lots of nonsense. At first she called me "Marlene." I thought maybe she was just playing around with me. But it got worse; I cried, "Where do you live Oma?" ("Oma" is German for grandma). She did not even know. I started to cry even more. My grandfather called the police and ambulance. He did not want me seeing my grandmother like that so he asked me to leave the room. I left. He invited some neighbors so they can watch my sister, Kaya, and me. I kept on crying and I just couldn't stop. My tears were running down my face and I tasted the salty teardrops.

When I looked outside to see if the ambulance was coming, I saw the red and white sirens, and heard them as clear as water. My heart stopped for a second. This was a very dramatic evening for me. I was wondering if my grandma would be okay. All of a sudden I saw the E.M.S volunteers come barging in my grandparent's house. They ran up the glossy stair. The swift E.M.S workers put Oma on the gurney and took her out the door. But before that I saw her shaking and she yelled, "don't take me away!" Or something like that.

The day after the tragedy we went to visit my grandmother in the hospital. They told us that she had brain damage and a heart attack. She kind of creped me out at first because she was so pale, I didn't really go near her at all. I was still in major shock from the day before. A few weeks passed and they let her go home. We were all very happy that she is doing well to this day.

Journal Entries

2010-03-04T16:31:00.000-08:00

by Ms. Thaler

Thanks so much to everyone who has been reading our blog and leaving comments! We really appreciate all the positive feedback.

The next group of posts will be excerpts from our weekly writing journals. Every Thursday, we write for twenty minutes while listening to instrumental music. There is always a journal prompt on the board when we write, but writing about the prompt is optional. So, some of the journal entries you see here will be responses to prompts, while other will be free-writes. We hope you enjoy reading them as much as we enjoyed writing them!

-The ThalerScholars

My hero

2010-03-03T07:53:00.000-08:00

By YoungSoup

My brother, Diquan Jones, loved being with his family :my sister, our mom, and me. He was overprotective of all of us, but our mom is what kept us together. My brother always thought that he was my mom's favorite, even though my mom said she didn't have a favorite. My brother always loved having fun. He also taught me how to get girls.

He loved to play sports- basketball, football, and baseball. He was the one who got me to start liking sports, and he's why I love to play sports now. He taught me how to play basketball, and he could hit a baseball, although I never could.

My brother helped me when I needed it, no matter what. He made sure we always went to parties and places to have fun with our cousins. Diquan was also a math person, like me. When I was little he would help me with my math homework . He was a real big brother; he helped me with all my homework that I didn't get.

But in 2006, everything changed for us. Our mom started to get really sick and we didn't know how to take it. We dealt with it by running the streets, doing whatever we wanted. We also made a clique called Hyphy Boyz, and we did stuff that was against the law. We didn't know that we were making our mom sicker.

Eventually, we got kicked out of our house. My brother and I moved in with his dad, and my sister moved in with our grandmother. My brother made sure that we were together. We tried to get back on track. Then the unthinkable happened: our mom died. I didn't know right away, because I was at school. When I got picked up, my family had my brother tell me that mommy had died.

That was when my brother’s life changed. Once that happened, it sent him over the edge. He just didn't care anymore. He went back to his old ways, and got arrested. He went to jail for nine and a half months. When he was in there he called me and told me to stay out of the streets. He also told me to go to school and make something out of myself.

He got out of jail on November 14, 2008. A week later he was in the mall looking for some girls. He saw some people there that he didn't like. They insulted our cousin, who was killed over the summer, and my brother got really mad and beat one of them up. Then that guy’s brother started shooting inside the mall, and my brother got shot and later died. My brother was shot and killed in the mall, November 22, 2008. HE WILL ALWAYS BE LOVED.

Diquan’s birthday was March 3. I wanted to honor his memory by posting this essay about him on his birthday. I know I will think about him on this day every year, and he will always be my hero.

My hero

2010-02-11T08:56:00.000-08:00

By AW

I have an awesome superhero of my own. She may not be very ideal or picturesque to you…yet, but she came just in time to save the day. My hero doesn’t have mind reading powers, but she has so much understanding in her heart that you can never be mis-understood. She can’t go faster than light but she always seems to help out in the nick of time. She doesn’t have the power of knowing everything but she always has an answer for anything. She may not be able to give you everything you want but she won’t fail to deliver everything you need. If you don’t believe me, then keep reading and I’ll tell you how she does it all.

There hasn’t been a single instance when my hero mis-understood something that I’ve said or done so I would be in a bad position. For example, a teacher and I were in a bit of a conflict. My hero made a trip to my school, talked with the teacher and the principal, and saw to it that the conflict was resolved, and that it never happened again. She started working with my schools ever since. Here’s another example.

My hero doesn’t know every answer to every question like bing.com does, but if she knows it, then she’ll tell you. If she doesn’t know it, then she’ll reference you to something or say something that’ll help you to succeed in the most ways possible. If I ask her how to do a math problem, she’ll reference me to my brothers or sisters. If I ask foe some grammar help, she tells me to look it up. If I ask for some ice cream, she asks if I did my homework. I never said her answers would never be a question. I’m almost done so keep reading.

Lastly, my hero doesn’t always give me what I want, but what I need. My hero won’t always give me hamburgers and mac’n’cheese for dinner, but give me healthy food and veggies instead. She won’t let me wear a spaghetti strap under a see through top and some shorts in the winter in Alaska, but bundle me up in a large winter coat, snow pants, and boots. She’s not always going to let me gulp down soda or sugary juice, but every now and then shove milk, water, or fruit juice down my throat. She’ll give you what she sees is necessary, not what you think you need.

My hero doesn’t seem interesting to many children and teens, but she’ll always be a super hero with super powers in my eyes. My super hero saved my life from turmoil and pain, and with some help, turned me to a brighter future. My hero is the one and only, Theresa Walker.

Boring, fun, and frustrating

2010-01-26T16:48:00.000-08:00

by YoungSoup

My winter break was boring, fun, and frustrating. It was boring because all I did was watch TV. It was fun because I spent the night at my cousin's house and went to a party. It was frustrating because my bike got stolen. Here are some more details about my break.

It was boring because I didn't have much to do. All I did when I got bored was watch TV laying down. Sometimes I got so bored I cleaned the house without anyone asking me to. When I was sick of watching TV and cleaning, I would just go to sleep. However, even though most of my break was boring, there was one part that wasn't.

Spending the night at my cousin's house was fun. First, we had a party for New Year's Eve. After everyone else went to sleep, my cousin and I stayed up all night watching TV. In the morning, we all ate breakfast together as a family- eggs, sausage, potatoes, and biscuits. I thought my break was improving, but I was wrong.

My break ended up being frustrating because my bike got stolen. I was at my cousin Greg's house. I left it under the stairs inside the gate because I didn't think anyone would take it, since he lives in an apartment. We went up to play video games, and when we came out, both our bikes were gone. My auntie was really mad, since she just bought it for me for Christmas. When I told her what happened, she said “That's a hundred dollars, wasted.” I realized I hadn't paid attention like I should have, and I had been irresponsible.

So overall, my break was boring, fun, and also frustrating. Not having anything to do at home made the break boring. Spending New Years Eve at my cousin's house was fun. Getting my new bike stolen because of my own actions was definitely very frustrating. To tell you the truth, though, I didn't really want to come back to school when break was over.

Loud, delicious, and sleepy

2010-01-25T17:51:00.001-08:00

By Ashley

My winter break was loud, delicious and sleepy. For it being so loud, delicious, sleepy break it was good. There where other things that could describe my break but those are some of the best words that describe it.

My break was loud because we do things that involve loud stuff and some that don’t. Like cleaning. When my family and I clean the house we turn the music up loud. Another way it was loud was that I went to a raiders game. The fans at the game were screaming and shouting. They did it because they didn’t like a play or what some one did.

It was delicious because of the food I ate. On Christmas we had macaroni & cheese, mash potatoes, turkey, greens, rolls, corn bread and to drink apple cider, soda and water. It was so delicious I was happy and full. Then we had to eat that when ever we got hungry because we had leftovers but I didn’t mind.

My break was also sleepy and that’s because I would stay up until I was barely awake then either would fall asleep on the couch or I would have enough energy to get up and walk to my bed. If I didn’t go to my bed I would not have a pillow or blanket to sleep with. I stayed up watching television. I watched television so I would not get board doing nothing.

So that’s how my break went and it was good while it lasted. That’s my story of my break. Now that you’ve heard my story what is yours.

Cold, painful, and musical

2010-01-25T17:50:00.001-08:00

By CW

My winter break was, cold, painful, and musical. It was cold because the room was freezing. It was painful when I walked to Jack N a Box and my legs cramped up and it was musical because I got to listen to a lot of music.

This winter has been extremely cold. I had to use two blankets because there was no heater. I wore very thin clothes everyday because I was too lazy to put on anything warm. It wasn’t very warm in my house.

It was painful because on Saturday night I went for a walk to go to Jack N a Box and I had to walk five blocks to get there. When I got there I had to wait in a fifteen-minute line for my order. Then, I got my food and walked all the way home and boy was I tired.

My winter break was musical because I listened to a lot of music. I had my radio on all the time. I listened to my mom’s Ipod shuffle also, I went on “youtube”. I put songs on my mom’s Ipod shuffle from itunes and lime wire, it took a while to do because of the Internet connection. It didn’t have any service at times. Lastly, I played songs on my violin like: Hunter’s Chorus”, “Patapan”, “Dance of the Reed Flutes”, and “Celtic Dance”.

So, here is how my winter break was cold, painful, and musical. All of it was pretty enjoyable and even though some of my break was kind of plain, I am thankful to have what I had and I hope you had a great one too!

Fun and exciting

2010-01-25T17:49:00.000-08:00

By DV

My winter break was fun and exciting. First I had a good time with my family on Christmas day. I got clothes ,shoes and a xbox 360 and money for chistmas. And the other days I played my xbox 360 and my favorite game madden 10 I played it for three days straight.

Then I played my brother in madden 10 and I beat him 2 times in a row he can never beat me . And thats what I did for my first week.

My second week I did nothing but spend my week at my cusins house and played more video games with my cusins and stayed over their for half a week and then I went back home and played basketball with my friends and for my last 2 days of my winter break was kinda of fun but I still had a good time with my cusins.

But some of my winter break it got kind of boring to me because I did not do that much for my winter break usually I do more for my winter break like skating and going to the movies.

But thats how I spend my winter break. This winter break was worst winter break I ever had but I had fun.