Halloween Time!

Sunday October 31, 2010! Halloween is just around the corner so its about that time you put your costume on and as for the kids, its trick- or- treating time. As for college students, its put your costume on and trick- or- treat to every house that has goodies, goodies that children are not allowed to have. Halloween is a holiday everyone can celebrates to dress up of who they like to be either its funny, scary, a celebrity, a sexy waitress or a super scary Freddy from Nightmare on Elm Street. Halloween is celebrated with carving pumpkins, telling ghost stories, going to haunted houses, going to costume parties, and watching scary movies. But do you ever wonder how Halloween become a holiday on our calendars.

Halloween dates back to "the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain" roughly 2,000 years ago, people known as the Celts were divided throughout modern-day countries United Kingdom, Northern France and Ireland. These people celebrated on November 1, meaning October 31, which was their New Year's Eve. The Celtics believed that the boundary between the worlds of living and the dead became blurred that night. Bonfires and animal sacrifices were common, as for costumes, they consisted of animal heads and skins.When the Romans conquered the Celts, the Samhain was combined with other holidays and when Christianity became powerful, Pope Boniface IV gave another name to what we know as Halloween. He designated November 1 as All Saints Day- day when followers could honor the dead, particularly the saints and martyrs. All Saints Day was also known as "All- Hallows" and Hallow is and Old English word for saint. The night before (Oct. 31) was known as "All- Hallows Eve", then shortened to Hallowe'en and finally to Halloween. 

Did you know that trick- or- treating and the name jack-o'-lanterns comes from Ireland. If not, this is why. Hundreds of years ago, Irish farmers went from houses to houses begging for food in the name of their ancient gods, to be used at the village Hallowe'en celebration. If the people did grant them food, they were promise good luck in the future and made threats to those who refused to give, meaning they would be cursed. One way they used to say, "You treat me, or else I will trick you!" 

And for the name for those harmless lightened pumpkin faces, jack-o'-lanterns actually is an old Irish symbol of a damned soul. Story behind was a man named Jack was unable to reach heaven due to miserliness and was unable to enter hell because he played jokes on the devil. So in results of what he did, he was condemned to wander on earth with his lantern until end of the world. And the light that was placed inside the pumpkin was to scare away evil spirits from the peoples home and wore costumes to disguise themselves.

The Irish, who arrived in America as settlers were responsible for spreading the concept of Halloween, where it eventually grew in popularity. With the advent of modern science and advancement in technology, Halloween in US, as in other parts of the world, became less and less religious and this annual event has now turned into more of a social event.

Halloween is fun for everyone and everyone enjoys have some time for themselves, but I think parents should take a minute or two to tell their children why we have Halloween because really without the history of it, we wouldn't have this exciting and crazy day to celebrate.. But really its just another way to gain another pound or two from all the candy... or for those dang college goodies! wink wink! 

New kid on the Block- Final Draft

Imagine what it feels like to be the new kid. Imagine how it feels to be left out or to be the outcast. Or how about, imagine what it’s like to have no friends and no one to talk to. My emotions went on a wild streak when I knew I had to do this again. I was nervous, scared and upset, I didn’t understand why I had to go to a new school. I went through this in the beginning of my 3rd grade year from when I moved from Wittenberg School, WI, to Bowler School, WI, about 10 miles away. I had to step into new territory of new people, new kids, and new hallways. I knew that I had to start all over again from knowing what classroom to go to, to making new friends, but I had no idea how difficult it would be to be the new kid on the block. 
I had attended school in the same school district, with the same people since pre- school, so I felt comfortable. Wittenberg is a small town where everyone knows everyone. Of course when I got into first and second grade I had all my friends figured out knowing that these friends were going to be my long lasting friends until I graduate. But one day towards the end of second grade, that all changed. When I came home from school after my mother picked me up, my mom told me to take a seat in the living room. I knew right then and there something was wrong, she told me, “Brittany, we are moving and you will be going to a new school, Bowler Elementary.” Like any other little girl would, I ran to my room and cried. I sat in my room for that rest of the night thinking about how was I going to tell my friends that I’m not coming back the following year.
The next day, the sun came along and I got ready for my last day of school, it occurred to me it would also be my last day of school at Wittenberg Elementary. Now every kid was excited because the summer was almost here, and of course it was the last day of the school. When I got to school, everyone was happy, talking about how they couldn’t wait until next year hoping certain friends will be in the same classroom and get longer recesses, everyone except me. How upsetting is that? Recess did eventually come along for us, and at that time I told my friends I was leaving, that I wasn’t going to come back the following year. They all understood and were upset but my closest friend at the time, Alicia, told me, “We’ll still be friends even if you go to a different school,” and happily, we still are. So for the rest of the day I tried to make the best of it and enjoy every last minute.
As the summer days went by, so did the packing and the moving. This new house was white and it was out in the country where it’s quiet and there is barely any traffic, tons of trees and lots of fields. I have a younger sister and a younger brother but my sister was going into kindergarten, and well, my brother was just a little one yet. But we kids got very used to the new surroundings because we got to run everywhere and anywhere and of course hide-n- go- seek in the tall grass. The summer was a huge excitement that year, seeing that everything was finally settled in but as September 2nd, 2000 approached I became more anxious about the new school.
At 7:30 a.m. the bus came, so my sister and I had to be ready by the latest of 7:25 a.m. This was the first time I ever got to ride a bus, because back in Wittenberg, my mother would take me to school. So of course at 7:25 a.m. in the morning, my sister and I were waiting at the end of the driveway for the bus to come along and next thing I knew, the bus stopped in front of me. Nervously, I got on, walk towards the middle of the bus, sat down and watched out of the window the whole way to the new school I was about to see. School normally started at 8:15 a.m., so it took like and half an hour or so before I got there but when we finally arrived at Bowler School, my heart was beating like the wings of a hummingbird. I was scared, what if I didn’t make any friends or what if everyone hates me or doesn’t  like or something, all these thoughts were running through my head. I was scared to walk off the bus, but I knew I had too. I walked off with my head held low, walked into the building and there I was, in middle of nowhere. Where was I suppose to go, what was I supposed to do, I had no idea what to do, my thought to myself was, “ Why did my mom do this to me.” But all of a sudden, a teacher walks up to me and says “ You must be new, what’s your name?” Well of course I answered her saying yes I was new and that my name was Brittany. At Bowler, all the kids go into the gym until the teachers comes in and introduces the childrens names in his/her class, and then they’re all dismissed. I remember my first teacher, Mr. Turner and I remembered him because he was freakishly tall at the time. When he came and got all of us, he took us back to his classroom, and with butterflies in my stomach, we all sat down and right away I could notice everyone had their friends already from the previous year. I was so scared that I wasn’t going to make any friends after what I saw. Telling each other about their summer except for me, there I was in the back row, in the back seat, by myself.
Until this one girl sat down next to me in the back row, Ashley Backes. I knew her when I used to live in Wittenberg. Her grandparents were our neighbors and when Ashley would visit, we would always hang out and play outside and do some kind of adventure that came upon our heads. But we both looked at each other and we both said, “I know you!” Instantly we became the “bestest” of friends throughout Bowler Elementary from 3rd grade to 8th grade when she decided to move to Wittenberg herself. That moment, I was the happiest kid ever because I knew I didn’t have to go through 3rd grade as the lonely kid. I knew then I didn’t have to worry no more and didn’t have to make a big deal about it because it all turned out to be fine at the end. Later after Ashley had moved, I had some other great friends and the one I became best friends with was Danielle Rickert. We stayed the closest of friends and were nominated most inseparable for the yearbook and literally ‘hands in hands’ graduated together. From then and there I knew this wasn’t going to be bad after all, I did start out with a rough start being the new kid, but if you experienced the new kid feeling, you will know exactly what I’m talking about. Seeing that I was friends with her in 3rd grade, I soon then became friends with lots of others too. Now I’m glad to be a Bowler graduate with 26 other friends of Bowler High School, including the friends I kept over the years at Wittenberg High.

Diabetes around the World

Diabetes as most know it as, the original name is Diabetes mellitus. It’s a group of metabolic diseases in which a person has high blood sugar, either because the body does not produce enough insulin, or because cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced (Diabetes- Wikipedia). Insulin is the principle hormone that regulates uptake of glucose (sugar) from the blood into most cells, therefore, the insulin plays a central role in all forms of diabetes mellitus (Diabetes- Wikipedia). And the reason why I’m going to talk about diabetes is because the other day I saw my grandma give herself her own shot, needle and everything into her lower stomach area. And it was to give herself some insulin because, her body does not produce enough insulin. So when her blood sugar is slow, she has to give herself a injection of insulin.


Now tell me, when  you get a shot, it fricken hurts doesn’t it. So I asked my grandma the other day, “ Doesn’t that hurt when you do that?” And guess what she said. “ No, I’m used to it now, at first it did, but now I’m over it.” Wow isn’t she a trooper! Because I know that when I get shots, it brings a tear to my eye, because I cant stand the feeling of a needle getting underneath my skin. 


I didn’t ask her much about it, but I did some research. (The following information is from the website, Diabetes on Wikipedia.) There is three common kinds of diabetes mellitus; Type 1, Type 2, and Gestational Diabetes. Type 1 results from the body’s failure to produce insulin, and presently requires the person to inject insulin. Which I think my grandma possibly has, seeing that she has to give herself injection of insulin. But I didn’t bother to ask because one, she hates when people ask and two, she finds it annoying that when she’s asked, there’s so many questions about it that she just doesn’t care. Anyway, Type 2 results from insulin resistant, a condition in which cells fail to use insulin properly.  Type 2 can lead to a stage that medications are used to improve insulin sensitivity or reduce glucose production . And Gestational Diabetes is when pregnant women, who have never had diabetes before, have a blood glucose (sugar) level during pregnancy. Gestational Diabetes can be treatable but if not treated, it can damage the health of the fetus or even the mother. I found out that in 2008, U.S. found that the number of American women entering pregnancy with preexisting diabetes is increasing which lead to the mother having some kind of diabetes later in the future. Seeing that insulin became available in 1921, all forms of diabetes are treatable. 


As of  2000 at least 171 million people worldwide have diabetes, and Type 2 diabetes is by far most common affecting 90 to 95% of the U.S. diabetes population. Which can lead to another possibility that my grandma could have, seeing its very common. But According to the American Diabetes Association, approximately 18.3% (8.6 million) of Americans age 60 and older have diabetes. Evan though there is no cure for diabetes but there’s plenty of treatments such as medication, dieting, and exercising to control blood sugar and prevent symptoms (All this info. from website on American Diabetes Association- home page).


Now that I know a lot about diabetes maybe I’ll have the guts to ask my grandma about it. But my point is, diabetes can happen to anyone and everyone, like my sister she possibly might have diabetes. Even though she’s all around good kid, plays all sports and does a lot of extra circulars, one day at a doctors appointment and 10 minutes later your told  you might have diabetes. Now isn’t that just something, so it may be genetic or just because of something with your body isn’t doing something right, you possibly might have diabetes later in the future, just maybe.

What do you think?

Ok, the topic I am about to talk about is a controversial subject and is based on my opinion, your views could be completely opposite and you may agree with me. You have your opinion and I have mine but here it goes.


First thought is what do you think about abortion? For those that don’t fully understand what an abortion is, abortion is the intentional termination of a pregnancy after conception. It allows women to put an end to their pregnancies, but involves killing the undeveloped embryo or fetus. To sum it up, its when a women kills her child. Which leads to what I strongly think about this, I believe that no young teen or any women should have an abortion. You were the one who made the decision to have sex, you know the consequences you possibly could get from doing this action that you thought would be alright. Obviously there are ways not to get pregnant such as the pill and of course the use of a condom but the one thing that most girls and women don’t know is a little pin hole in a condom or couple days u forgot to take the pill can lead to the biggest decision that you have to make.


Now this will get you thinking, in the United States the number of abortions per year is about 1.37 million and the number per day in the United States is about 3,700 a day. Now what does that tell you? Another fact I found on the internet, 52% of women obtaining abortions in the U.S. are younger then 25, teenagers obtain 20% and girls under 15 account for 1.2%. Wow, I cant believe how much these percentages have been rising, I mean how can a person possibly kill a child. But there’s one situation that I can understand why to get an abortion, if you had been raped, that gives you every right to get an abortion. Because I’m sure I wouldn’t want to be reminded every time I look at the baby of what that person could possibly look like, would you? But if you’re a young teen that had sex at the wrong time and got pregnant well, damn take care of the child, it has every right to live just like you are right now. 


Here are some thoughts to why I think teens or young women get abortions, one- having a baby would interfere with work, school or other responsibilities, two- they cannot afford a child, and third of all- they don’t want to be a single parent. I mean I don’t want to be rude or anything but these girls and boys need to realize that they need to take responsibility for what they did, there are a lot of girls that regret their decision for what they’ve done and how they could possibly kill such a blessing in the world, but that’s the burden they have to live with now. I mean think of it like this, say you or your girlfriend gets pregnant, and you or she decide to kill it just because you think that you cant handle it, what would you do in this situation? Well here’s what I got to say to that, Abortion is bad and you should take responsibility and take care of it. What if that would have been you, your mother killed you because she couldn’t take on the situation that she got herself into.. There’s other options too such as adoption, because at least your giving the child a chance to have a life. Because if your not ready to be a parent, adoption allows you to do something courageous and compassionate and gives you a second chance to finish growing up yourself.


If I were to be pregnant right now, I would defiantly keep my child, no second guesses. I would take care of it because he/she is mine and I will love him/her till the day I die, even if I do or don’t have my significant other to be here for me and the child. I really do mean every word I say, it just breaks my heart for those that do choose abortion. An abortion is serious and permanent, there’s no turning back, so don’t be pushed or influenced by others, it’s what YOU WANT. 


~ Remember this is what I believe in and this is my opinion on what I think about this. Thank you!