My Ideal World

May29

In our Language Arts class, we read the book The Last Cuentista. After reading we thought about what our ideal world would look like and be like. In the end, we made handmade books. During this time we worked with the local artist Peg Gignoux. Our whole class made botanical prints using Akua ink and wrote stories about our ideal worlds.

2080

I step out of the ship. My stomach feels like it might just flow out; I’m so excited. I close my eyes. “You deserve this,” I inhale, exhale, repeating this in my mind. I brush my fingers past my legs, getting ready to step onto a new planet. The Lost Planet. This step is not just me going to another part of land. I am stepping onto the first stone on a walkway that lasts for eternity. I look at the landscape. The lush green jungle floats off in the distance. The towering mountains with a shaded side of untouched land glistens with snow shining. A large grassland with acres of land with a new texture I want to discover surrounds me. A lake the color of the water on resort magazines reflects the ship. Its long metal plates with corners so sharp they could cut you is wrapped around the long walkway out. “Just inhale, exhale,” I’m still repeating. I reach out my foot; I’m on The Lost Planet.

2095

I roll over the soft bedding of my leaf bed. My clock rings as I lift my head. I roll my head over. 7:50. “Wake up!” my mom shouts from downstairs. I get up and put on my uniform for school. I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since my family arrived. Though it’s hard to call it home, I guess it’s okay. As I walk downstairs, the soft smell of kacinarce [the first official free meal of the day] wakes me up. Today, it’s huscaberry muffins and wafa space cakes. Every time I eat huscaberries, it reminds me of the blueberries from Earth. I realize it’s time to go.

“Bye!” I call out to my mom.

“Don’t get lost again!” she shouts back as I step out the door. With a “thunk,” the door closes shut.

As soon as I walk out the door, a familiar voice chimes, breaking my thoughts. “What’s up, Em?” I spin in a 180 just to see her right before me, my aunt. She lives in the sarbin (house) next to me. I have four aunts, each with their own family. All of us live in the same propinqua (neighborhood) and all of my friends and I live in the same sector (village). My school is also in the same sector. Every day, I take the space bus to school. I know, it’s pretty cool!

“Gotta go to school,” I yell and glance back.

“Have fun!” my aunt says as her voice flows off in the distance.

A “vroom vroom” blares. The shield blocking me opens, letting me into the bus. The people on this space bus are different. Usually, they are just the same people every day. I don’t take this as a problem or threat. I take my seat right behind the person who drinks a coffee and reads the hyperpaper every day. I place my feet on the treadmill and then push forward. I jerk back. It’s moving. My feet go forward then back, forward then back, forward then back. I look over. The woman next to me has a giant bag. A notebook sticks out with the word RETAW written. I have no idea what that means, and I don’t ponder it at all. I have no energy.

Once I arrived at the terikauwa (teri-Q-WA), my friend Marsha waves. “Hi!” she happily delivers. “I haven’t seen you since the break! Where did you go?”

“I went to Reschesal,” I replied. (Reschesal: Re-CHESS-sal).

“Oh, is that the underwater city?”

“Yea!”

Ding Dong

“Bye,”

First, I have science. When I arrive on the blackboard, it says, “Type of electricity we use and plastic.” I remember what plastic is from Earth. It was very cheap and was everywhere. All over the roads and ground. Till.. the…the…the accident. Fire. Explosions. Crying. Broken. There was a malfunction with the plastic machines and the Earth broke. Split in half. Humans left once the rocket was ready. It took a long time, but everyone got here. Mr. Calfore wrote more on the board. “We use hydro energy,” I remember that. It’s a type of energy from a dam. “Class, get your books,” he says. My mind fills with science thoughts and questions.

Sooner or later, school is over and I have my enrichment for flying in space. It’s in a big space with little space pods. Every student gets one, and the instructor tells us what to do. Inside the panel is a collage of colorful buttons, triggers, and switches—a rainbow of powerful, life-defining knobs. And I have all the power. I press one, and a “sshhhooommm” blares. It lifts off. Energy flows through me. I press another button, forward, back, back, forward. I must get down, flip, press, turn, twist, spin. Nothing works. The instructor flies over. He shuts it down and then gets me out. That’s enough for me for today.

On my way home, I see the sun fading through the mountains. I had never before embraced the beauty of TLP (The Last Planet). Green grass gets darker and darker, sunlight changes colors, and lakes shimmer all around. My skin, as if my mom was hugging me, tingles and vibrates. The sun is very powerful here. My house in the distance has never seemed so welcoming. This is my new home, my new life.

Wisdom Tales

Jan5

Do you know what a wisdom tale is? A wisdom tale can be many things. A fable/apologue, parable, fairy tale, tall tale, legend, myth, or saga. There is one thing that is necessary to a wisdom tale, a moral. No matter where the tale is from, it needs a moral. These morals can be applied to everyday life. They will make you a better person if you use them. In my language arts class we made comics. I chose Echo and Narcissus. After I first read it I was like, “WOW!” That’s why echos are called echos and now I know why there is a narcissus flower and type of person. The moral for my story is be humble. It will always do you good. Where’s the comic part? Well, even though wisdom tales are written, I needed to also have drawings. What if I told you that you have to draw a comic? I bet some of you are thinking “I’m a horrible drawer.” When you’re really not. I know that you can draw a circle; head. Triangle; body. Line; arms & legs. Dots; eyes. Half circle; mouth. It’s that simple. My grade had an artist come and talk about drawing tips. If you look at my comic you could see that it really is not that detailed and that my drawings are simple. In my opinion, online drawing is easier than drawing on paper. There are good apps for drawing such as: Sketchbook, Paper by Fifty Three, or Adobe Fresco. We also used a good organizing workspace to put everything together. One is Comic Life 3. I loved making comics! If you were to write a wisdom tale what would it be about?

Daily Habits

Jan4

Habits can be hard to start, especially when creating a habit you want to start with a smaller number than what you think you can do. My class started with 30 seconds then over seven weeks we built up to 2:15. Even if you only add five seconds the habit will build up so that a minute long plank doesn’t seem so bad. Part of making a habit is doing the habit. I recommend having a reminder because when you miss one day it sets you back to where you started. Maybe have a parent, sibling, or friend do this habit with you so that there can be distractions. Habits can be small. I know a few habits that you may not even notice you do. Brushing your teeth, putting on your shoes, drinking water, even eating food are habits. I’m starting a new daily habit. I will be doing burpees. I will start at five and add five more every day. Have you ever heard of the book Atomic Habits by James Clear? He has a lot of good motivational quotes that really caught my attention.

“Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress.”

– James Clear

I believe if you put your mind to it, you can make a new habit.

Black Out Poem

Nov29

Trouble

For Themselves

Alarm

Suffering

Assemble

Watchers

Curiously

Suspected

Happened

Impeccably

Crazed

Judged Responsible For Their

The Long Line of Readers

Nov9

Thank you Unspash for the photo!

I come from a long line of readers. My great-grandmother was a reader, my grandfather is a reader, my mom is a reader, I’m a reader, my brother is in a rebellious phase, and my sister likes Unicorn Diaries. I wasn’t always a reader. I remember in first grade begging not to read. I didn’t find good books where everything in the outside world fades and you’re wrapped in a scary, magical, “normal”, or adventurous world. I enjoy reading. I enjoy learning about other peoples’ troubles while letting mine fall into a cave of distant memories, while the words sink into my soul.

Though the only way for this to happen is if you are in a space unique to the way you concentrate. The only way I can concentrate on reading is when I’m in a quiet environment and it’s just me and the book. Also it needs to be dark. Other people like to be surrounded by background noise or what they call “sweet sounds”. This is bizarre to me, but some people like so much noise around them when reading that it could be a concert. I would get a headache. Wherever you read should be a place that you could be sucked into the book right next to a character.

Most people think you don’t have to think when reading. That’s wrong. When you’re reading you don’t notice but your brain is doing many different things at a time, like taking a little piece of the puzzle and figuring out the right place to put it with every sentence. Your brain could be drawing an illustration of the scene, maybe figuring out the plot, or finalizing your conclusion. No, you do think. But what if you could step up your reading by finding out other pieces of the puzzle you thought weren’t needed. Try analyzing your thinking. Before closing your book, make connections to recent chapters with ones you’re reading now. When you analyze your reading it helps your understanding of the book.

I prefer shorter books. It’s not like I think I don’t have enough stamina to read a long book, it’s just that some parts in a long book get dull like you’re getting to the end of your pencil. Then it picks up and your pencil is in the sharpener. You finally sit down in place, press the pencil to the paper and it breaks. The character is back to its status quo. I get that a lot. It can also be overwhelming when you open up a book and a sea of words flow out in front of you as if it was a full closet pouring out every time you open the door. Does that happen to you? Comment below what length of books you like?

Window or Mirror ~ Olive’s Ocean

Oct27

Thank you beanstack for the photo!

I recently read a book called Olive’s Ocean by Kevin Henkes. Olive’s Ocean is a realistic fiction book (highly recommended). Why I chose this book is because I was just reading The Selection and I wanted a book a bit like it. This book was a window book for me. A window book is a book that you can’t really relate to. The opposite of a window book is a mirror book and that is a book that you can highly relate to. If you decide to read this book don’t be discouraged by the front page. It is a little dark. When I read the first page I almost stopped but then I wouldn’t have read it. This book is filled with adventure, sadness, romance, heartbreak, and a fulfilling ending.

Why is this book a window? The window part of this book was how this girl named Martha has a classmate who died from being hit by a car. Martha has had a very hard time releasing the thoughts of Olive. While having some regrets of pursuing the dreams of Olive Martha learned from a piece of paper Olive wrote in her diary. It said that she “always wanted to be a friend to Martha.” Also, “Martha is the nicest girl at school.” Martha went to her grandmother’s beach. She met a boy and I’ll leave the rest of the story a mystery. I would say I have never had as strong thoughts as Martha.

Thank you for reading my Emmy’s Extraordinary Life!

My Summer in Maine

Oct12

Maine is my favorite state because it has good food, nice places, and my family lives there. I have ten cousins but eight of them live in New England. Miles (0), Crew (1), Charlie (3), Jack (3), Drake (3), Sawyer (5), Peyton (5), and Everett (9). That’s not including my siblings and me. I’m the oldest and have always taken care of them. My mom has three sisters and each of them have at least one kid. There are the Perkins who live in Massachusetts Rob, Elisabeth, Everett, Sawyer, and Drake. The Farrells Nick, Courtney, Peyton, Jack, and Crew. Finally the Robinsons Will, Virginia, Charlie, and Miles. There’s also my grandfather David. When I stay in Maine I stay at my grandfather’s house with my family.

Some activities that we do in Maine are that we go to a store down the street from my grandfather’s house. It’s called Town Landing. In the store there are good sandwiches (breakfast and lunch), groceries, and 50 cent candy. The store is not like Target. It is basically an old home. There are people that sit on the porch with a coffee and a newspaper every day. Behind Town Landing there is a small marina and rocks that you can sit on and eat. My cousins and I like to sing inside the little snails to make them come out. Another place is a putt putt and the Desert of Maine. At this park there is a putt putt course, gem village, train, food shack, tree house, and mini desert. It’s so much fun and the putt putt course is really nice. Near downtown there’s a playground that is really nice because its near the water. Finally there is a farm called Smiling Hill Farm. There are goats, chickens, sheep, bunnies and almost every farm animal. The best part is you can go into a giant pen with tons of goats and sheep. Though it can be overwhelming when you walk in and since you have food they all come running fast and corner you.

Some good restaurants in Portland Maine are Amoto’s sandwiches. They are so good. My aunt thinks the Portland Amoto’s is better than the Falmouth Amoto’s. Another good restaurant is The Lobster Shack where they have a little ordering window with picnic tables outside. Near the picnic tables there are a bunch of rocks near the water where you can go climbing. My cousin and I walked across a ton of rocks and it was so much fun! There is a restaurant named The Barn. The inside is really cool and is an old barn that they turned into a restaurant. They have Christmas lights swinging across the hayloft. On the side there is a pizza oven where you can watch them make pizza. On the other side there is a pen with goats. There are only two. When my family went there was a live singer. She invited my cousins up to sing. Their last restaurant is Royal River Grill. It’s a pretty nice restaurant that is very fancy. They are famous for their seafood.

I love Maine and hope you will go someday.

Camp Kirkwood

Sep27

It was 8:30 am Wednesday and everyone was dragging their stuff over to the end of a bus to get packed. I hopped onto the bus and immediately heard about 20 peoples’ voices. Then I sat down in a seat next to Maya. “Hi!” she said. The bus started moving. We were headed to Watha, NC in the middle of a hurricane. Maya and I were talking and were using putty to do our nails. A few minutes before we pulled into Kirkwood we started singing Taylor Swift songs on the way there. We pulled in and it was raining. We all grabbed our stuff and headed to the dining hall. For lunch that day we had ham and cheese sandwiches. Then we headed into our groups. My group went to the pool first. It was really fun! Then we went to Kanga jump and it was fun. We played a game called colors. For the last activity for that day, we had games in the field. After that we went back to our cabins to take showers and get ready for dinner. When I got back to my cabin there was water touching the back of our cabin!

Dinner was spaghetti and garlic bread. It was my birthday meal. After dinner we headed back to our cabins for a few minutes. Everyone had a choice to play battle ball or watch The Lorax. I chose battle ball. It was really fun. Then a group of people were allowed to go into the dining hall and get shaved ice. I was in the last group to go in and get shaved ice. Then it started raining really hard and we went inside to watch the movie. People that were playing battle ball only got to watch the movie for a few minutes. We were all sent back to our cabins and when we got there it was free time! All the girls in my cabin were playing light as a feather stiff as a board. At about 9:50 I decided to hop in bed. Then I read for a few minutes and fell asleep.

I woke up hearing girls whispering. Then I got dressed and went to breakfast. For breakfast it was eggs and ham. After we finished the staff told us the activities for today were pool, treeology, and Kanga jump. First my group had Kanga jump! It was more fun because it wasn’t raining. After that we had treeology where we learned about trees. It was very hot so I was glad we had the pool next. For lunch we had chili dogs. After that we had V swing! Which was so much fun! What you do is your classmates pull you up. Then you unhook yourself and swing across. Next was orienteering. Orienteering is using a compass. Later it was hanging out with our group playing board games. Before we knew it, it was almost dinner time. So we headed back to our cabins to get ready. For dinner it was barbecue chicken wings and mac & cheese. After we had birthday cake. That night we walked to a special campfire and had s’mores. I was tired on the walk back so when I got back to my cabin I read then went right to sleep.

The next and last day at Camp Kirkwood we had waffles for breakfast which was one of my favorite meals. After breakfast we had canoeing and a zipline. In my canoe there was a spider and a leak so we were sitting in an inch of water. The zipline was also super fun. Then we had pizza for lunch. Before we knew it, it was time to go. I had so much fun at Camp Kirkwood and would go again.

2030 Emmy’s Extraordinary Life

Be Brave