world geography

7th Topic - A Place To Go

2010-05-08T08:37:00.000-07:00

If I had to go to a foreign place that we have studied this year it would have to be Fiji or one of the other Pacific islands. I would go there for a number of reasons including culture and the physical attributes. As I learned, these countries are made up of rainforest's and coral reefs, both have been fascinating to me since I was very young. Along with there culture, its a mixture of undiscovered and not understood land. The culture is, within its self, is a wonder to those who in counter it. As I read in one of the articles I used to complete my Fiji project, I found out that the first settlers were in confusion when the native tribes welcomed them with gifts and ceremonies. It is said that some of the island people are among the nicest in the world. Its also the fact that there culture is so old, that intrigues me. Its the discipline that these people have to pass down what they know and what they have learned to future generations, and that the "little ones" care and respect the elders. This maybe due to them not seeing other cultures, but even though you see it every so often in today's society its not like the respect in other places. These people also live one with nature. They respect the habitat that there in and care for it. I want to grow to be a marine biologist and to here about a place where the water is so clear do to no pollutants, it seems unreal.

This last week I got to go on a Biology feild-trip with all of the Pre-AP classes. It was alot of fun to be with all my friends and learning something to. I think that I will propbably do service out at the glass bottom boats place. It seems to be a great place to be and experience the unique wildlife. I have 2 soccer games this weekend, against Lady Lions and Classic Elite. Both should be good games, although one of is a 530 game on sunday in San Antoino!!! The soccer board has officaily lost their minds. Its wonderful to do homework in the car! This just so happens to be my last blog ever so if I live through this weekend and next week I wont be able to tellso....peace out girl scouts and wish me luck.

5th Topic Time capsule

2010-04-25T19:00:00.000-07:00

If I had to chose one thing to put in a time capsule from the 21st century for future generations I would put in an ipod. Almost every one I know has some sort of ipod. The ipod has revolutionized the way people listen to music and use sound technology. 30 to 40 years ago people had to buy whole albums to listen to there favorite song or band, now kids and adults can chose a song to buy with a click of a button. What apple has done with itunes, music is easier to purchase and listen to, and because of this virtually everyone has some shape or form of the ipod. The significance of this is now that everone has some form of music it has become a universal trait that everyone shares. Because of this music has become apart of everyone and each person has there own personal connection to it. Music represents this generation because it is what this generation has been built apon. Living in the shadows of Elvis and the Beatles, this generation has put its own spin on it. Musicans are now everywhere, from street corners to live concerts, musicans are given more respect and credit. Music has become a popular escape for this generation. More and more kids play an instrument as an escape. Music is constantly changing and evolving into to new and greater sounds. Thats why it represents this generation so well, because as we develop new technology and medicine, our species moves forward. So does our music.

Last week my soccer team played the Lonestar red team, we played a hard fought game and lost 1-0. While this is a loss it is a major accomplishment for our team. By playing such a good game our team has now caught the eye of many new college coaches, giving us alot more publicity. This week I was lucky enough to fracture my shin. I've decided not to get a cast because it would still hurt and I wouldnt be able to play. So in our soccer game yesterday even though my shin was less than feeling good, I stopped a goal and we won 5-0.

6th topic over population

2010-04-25T15:50:00.000-07:00

Over population has been a big issue in the world. Countries like Japan have accomidated there over population by building really really tall sky scrapers with itty bitty rooms in them. This allows them to hold alot more people in a smaller space. India on the other hand has developed special ninja rice that can feed a lot more people and grows a really fast. Most of India's population also starve to death from malnutrition and die. In China they have inacted the one child per couple law. While this has helped a lot of coulpes and still a lot of babies. My idea for stopping over population is to export all the illegal immigrants back to there own countries and have their own governments deal with them, by any means nessecary. I think this would be very effective in dealing with this problem. If you didn't have legal papers permitting your entrance into the country the goverenment would escort you out. The government could use any way they want to escort these people out of the country. The government would have a secret police to go around and ask everyone if they had there papers and if you refused they would use there plasma ray guns to persuade you. Plasma guns are nothing to play with mind you.

My last 2 weeks have been boring. I had soccer and I won. I had basketball practice and we sucked. Then we had a tournament and sucked some more. Then I hung out with friends and got into trouble.....a lot of trouble. This week I'm going to kid-nap the president and hold him hostage for one dollar and a bag of skittles. Do not expose my plan or me and my plasma ray gun will come and find you. That is all have a good day :)

Culture

2010-03-27T10:55:00.000-07:00

The region I have enjoyed the most this year is Sub-Saharn Africa. The reason I like this region the best because its a part of the world that holds a significant portion of the worlds population and there is not much known about it. I have always wanted to go there and explore the wildlife and the unique cultures that thrive there. I have always thought that the savannas of the world, no matter where they are, are one of gods true natural wonders. The ones in Africa are among the largest and the most covered in exotic wildlife. Probably one of my favorite things about the cultures in Africa is the beliefs of the individual tribes. The history of the tribal beliefs and what they mean has always been amazing to me. The heritage and the history has always been astounding to me. The faith and trust they put into their history and elders is above that of an average persons faith. I guess why Im truly amazed about this is that its so different from the religons that I get to come in contact with on a daily basis. I also like learning about the markings that are used for different ceromonies.

Last 2 weeks have been some what exciting because they have included the much a waited for spring break. I got to go to the beach with a good friend of mine for 3 days and while we were there we saw alot of people we knew in the process. I unfortunatly I have had quite the amount of homework. I have a major geometry test coming up so any one whos looking to teach a stupid person geometry give me a call!!!

Romeo and Juliet

2010-03-27T10:31:00.000-07:00

I think its better to fall into love than to learn to love because its better to have a personal relationship with love than to try and force yourself to. When Juliets father told Paris he needed to wait before he married Juliet because she was to young it made it seem as though the he cared about Juliets well being, but when he tells Juliet to marry Paris when she has expressed that she doesnt like him at all. We can see that he doesnt care about her wishes, so then Juliet takes her life in stead of trying to learn to love some stranger. The reason I think that she took her life is because she loved Romeo because she fell in love with him, instead of being forced. Love is about the personal conection you have with one individual that you dont have with any one else, thats what makes it special. When you get to chose who you fall in love with it makes it more special. The act of being forced to love is very different than falling in love. In this case I think that Juliet chose the right way to handel the situation.

The last 2 weeks have been mostly like the others...soccer practice and games as well as basketball and diving, intermixed with church youth group and community services activities. I had tryouts for the wildcats the selcet basketball team I played for last year and that went really well. I think I got a spot on their varsity team, but Im still waiting to hear.

Free Topic

2010-03-06T11:25:00.000-08:00

Well I dont really have anything to talk about so i guess i'll just talk about the olympics. These past couple of days and days to come the worlds best winter athletes will be competing in Vancouver. I really enjoy watching the olypics and watching the athletes give it there all. One of my favorite parts is the opening ceromony! Its always been interesting to me to see all the different countries march in and who is carrying there flag. If I was ever in the olypics, I'm trying for a spot on the 2016 US soccer team, I would love to be the flag carrier. To me it represents the most respectable person in the group and one that is widely looked up at. One of my other favorite things is when athletes break world records. Thats always been really cool to watch! Although the winter olypics is exciting I would much rather watch the summer games. I myself is a very big fan of hot weather and the summer time. I also enjoy watching those sports more because I compete in most of them, so watching someone break a record in the summer games means alot more to me.

These last few weeks have been rough. I've had some really hard test and a rough time with my asthma. Last Monday I had a major attack so I've been trying to recover from that as well as trying to keep from failing geometry. Any of you who are in algerbra right now if you get stuck with Mrs. Girardot get out of her class IMMEDIATLY!!

Technology Spring Topic 1

2010-02-06T09:20:00.000-08:00

Technology has become a dominant and daily part of our lives. In school we have and use televison, computers, overheads, and video cameras. These things are now things that we expect to see around school and other places we go. For my personal enjoyment I'm lucky enough to have a ceel phone and and itouch. Now while many people have these things they have almost become apart of our lives that we cant live with out. Back when our parents were kids these things where what they dreamt about. They have drasticly changed my life in a number of ways. First of all information and news are alot easier to access. It has also changed what the news is about. With it being so easy to get a hold of and so many people looking at the news, the subjects of news are changing to things like what the movie stars wear last night instead of what is happening in Iraq. While this may be a negetive effect there are some postitive. When I forget to write my homework down or if i dont know when a paper is due I get on the internet and check my teachers website and find out with in a couple of minutes. I think that one of the most significant and most important inventions was the computer/microchip. They have drastically changed everyones lifes. They have opened a new portal, so to speak, to the insite of technology. The microchip will go down in the history books as one of those inventions that is comparable to electricity and fire.

The last 2 weeks have been very hectic, as usual. I have had my first 11-dive meet, which was ASID districts. It was very nerve racking but a great experience! It tought me to never under estimate your capabilities. Then that weekend I had my first soccer tournament for the spring season. It was alot of fun and it felt great to meet back up with the girls and play as a team again. It was a national tournament and we placed 2nd. Even though we didnt come out on top we got a cool medal and had great fun. Then through all of this I have had 4 basketball games and we have lost all of them. The best thing I can say is that its almost over. Then at the debate tournament I made it to seim-finals which is great for my first varsity tournament. Tomorrow is the super bowl! GO SAINTS!!!

8th Topic Darfur

2009-12-04T15:41:00.000-08:00

I think that the Rwandan goverenment is the worst because they knowingly sacrificed their people to a civil war that could have been stopped. Although both the chinesses government and the militant suppress their peolpe it wasn't to the extent of the Rwandan government. The Rwandan government could have stepped in at a number of times and didnt. I think that on of the main points where they could step in was directly after the murder of the Rwandan president. I think that the international community and what was left of the Rwandan could have taken more affermitive action to separate the hutu's and the tutie's extremist. Another major part of the Rwandan government failing was the fact that the international community didn't step in and help solve the problem. By stepping in and supporting the government this diaster might have been avoided.

The last 2 weeks of my life have been hectic. As finals are approching my parents put more and more stress on me to keep up my grades and to study harder. As for soccer we have last minute games getting schedualed for saturday and sunday. One of them is against our major rivals the lonestar blue team. So it should turn out to be a very interesting game. As for basketball we are doing ok we haven't one our last games but hopefully we will all improve soon and start winning games again. This week we start district play and our first game is against Akins which should prove to be a good game. As for diving its going alright im preparing for districts in January and its proving to be quite a task. Also this weekend I have the pleasure of going to the Big 12 game in the new Dallas stadium and its the Longhorns vs. Nebraska.

7th Topic FREE

2009-11-21T19:04:00.000-08:00

So I have decided that I'm going to write about soccer. For many of you this is no surprise, but for those who don't know me it's going to be a learning experience. Many of you know the ligest of soccer but I'm going to give you the inside scoop......hahaha sike! I'm just going to explain it to you and how I play and what I do. Those of you who have heard this suck it up, your hearing it again. Soccer, at my level, is made up of 11 players. There are 3 main positions, defender, midfielder, and attacker/forward. I'm the left center defender on my select team and outside forward for Anderson. As a defender I have many important jobs. I'm the eyes and ears for my team. As I am also a captain I have to make sure that everything my coach says gets around to all the girls on the Field. Being in the back of the field also means that I have the best over all view of the Field and play. This is where being loud comes in handy, I have to shout to let my team know where pressure is and if they can turn, so one and so forth. Those of you who are lost right now I'm the big scary person people run into and I'm the one who can kick the ball really far! I have been playing since i was 3 so I have had my fare share of experiences in the game. Right now I'm on the Dallas Texans 95G Red team Premier, which is equivalent to the Lonestar Red if you know that better. There are 5 division in soccer, division 3, division 2, super 2, division 1 and premier. Division 3 is the lowest you can play at and premier is the elite/best. The Texans are the best club in the southwestern United States, the main location is in Dallas, hints the name. The team I am playing for is pretty good. We have been to state 5 years in a row, and win every time. We have played all around the country and nationally ranked. This is the jest of what I do and how I play but if you would like to know anything more just let me know!

The past 2 weeks have been ok. I still hate geometry with a passion because Mrs. Girardot is retarded and can't teach. But it's ok you can't always get what you want, so I'm just working through it. Our soccer season is over for know and basketball is in full swing. We have had 2 games and a tournament. Honestly I cant remember how we did in the games last week but we got 3rd in our tournament this weekend! The longhorns are beating Kansas so that's always good! My moms currently yelling at me to get off the computer so I have to go.

6th Topic Frida Kalo

2009-11-08T09:06:00.000-08:00

Fria Kalo was a Latin American artist. She was of a Hispanic background. She was known for for self-portraits, which most of the time depicted her suffering as a child. She had polio and through out her life suffered chronic pain. Her paintings were known for her use of vibrant colors. All of her paintings where based on events of her life. When she was older she married another famous Latin American artist, Diego Rivera. I chose this picture to represent Latin America for many reasons. One of them is to represent the influence of Spain in Latin America. Although the Spanish weren't the only influence in Latin America, England and France were some of the other big influences, they have a huge cultural and ethnic presence throughout Latin America. Also this picture, despite the bright colors, depicts sadness. Through out all of Latin America there have been many conflicts and controversies. Also, its ironic, women didn't have alot of rights in Latin America. During specific time periods, certain women fought through their rights through art work. This was a major movement through out Latin America, which is significant.

The past 2 weeks of my life have been normal, for me. For most people who know me, my definition of normal is the farthest thing from. My schedule has been packed full of things to do and places to be. I'm happy to say that through it all I love doing all of it....minus geometry homework. To keep you up to date I had my last soccer game for the first round, and we won 3-0. This not only let us qualify to go premier in the spring but we are also seated #1 in our bracket for the second round of games! In diving this past week we had a meet I did really well, but i pulled my back and possibly re-opened some of the fractures in it. This could be a minor set back but I still be competing in my first AHS basketball game this Tuesday as a starter on the Freshman A team. In speech and debate we had another tournament, which I didn't officially compete in but I prepped and gave speeches all through out the week. As for all the other sports I do most of them are in off-season right now, and I'm still training for them. The good news is it's a 3 DAY WEEKEND!!!!! I actually don't have a soccer game this weekend, a miracle, because 2nd round games are getting scheduled.

5th Topic Quote

2009-10-21T19:23:00.000-07:00

The quote I chose was "In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught."-Baba Dioum, SEnegalese conservationist
This quote means so much, it's saying that we are only going to beleive what we are told and what we value most will be what other people tell us to value. This quote is also showing the value of individualism. It's also showing that the world is becoming lazy. By only listening to what people tell you are not talking the time to revise the statement and challenge it against what you belive in. This quote could also be forshadowing the future as well. It seems as though education well become biased and censore. The reason we have stories and history is so we can learn from the past and not make the same mistakes twice. History can also influence your individualism as well. Different believe different things and interpret things different as well. This quote is also insulting the human race of who ever this was directed at. It's saying that we as a people will not be able to sustain the capability of thinking for ourselves, therefor calling us stupid. Thats how I'm interprating this quote but just by reading over it again I can see where many more arguments could be brought up and disscussed.

This past week I went to yet another diving meet and improved apon my place standings and i scored more points for the team. Concidering that our team only won by 3 points and i scored 2 by myself, I think that those points could have possibly helped. That was on Saturday, but on Sunday after church I went to intersection with my youth group. It's always nice for me to be able to take a break from school drama and people I see everyday and be able to hang out with kids I dont normally get to see. We went to play football at a park downtown and we successfully entertained a small crowd that ened up watching us play. Since we had a 3 day weekend I had Monday off!!! Which in it self was one of the highlights of my weekend but I went to the House of Torment! It was me and Cody and some other freshman but it was so much fun!
Besides being scared out of my mind and screaming like a 5 year old, I had a blast.

4th Topic Immigration

2009-10-17T20:43:00.000-07:00

The U.S has illeagal immigrants coming into it everyday. Also living in Texas we have many immigrants coming across the border from Mexico. Many people come for work and for freedom. There are many freedoms in the United States that other countries dont offer, there for making the United States a place where many want to live. Some of these freedoms include religous freedom, the freedom of speach, and the freedom of the press. These freedoms are valued by many to be worth dying for. For those of us who have these freedoms we take them for granted, but for those who don't they are worth life to have. Living in a surppressed world is unimagineable for those of us who don't live in one. Often though when it does come to getting these freedoms people do try to get them illegaly. For those who do make it illeagaly there come some hardships to face before reciveing their freedom. With out a greencard there are many jobs that you can't recive. There is also a fines to pay and there are certain requirements to which the person must fufill. To gain a green card there are certain age and education requirements. So as you can see our country has a very specific way of dealing with these kinds of issues.

The past 2 weeks of my life have been less stressful than those of the previous weeks. I have been settleing more and more into the very high strung way of high school. As the weeks do go by I realize how my teachers want things done and how I should use my time. But I'm still learning the ropes to some degree. This past weekend i had my very first diving meet. I have been a diver for only about 2 weeks now. It was even more stressfull being i was the only one being added to the team and that all the other divers have been diving for at least 3 years some as many as 10. Even despite the odds I'm continuing to amaze myself as to how I am improving. In my first meet i placed 6th out of 7 witch for me was unbelievable. Not only for me to go through with one of the most nerve racking things of my life but i also didn't score last place. I have another diving meet this weekend so i will be sure to say how it goes!

3rd blog Culture

2009-09-26T09:32:00.000-07:00

Culture. It influence can be seen in almost every aspect of life. One of the aspects of culture that impacts me the most is music. The music I listen to influences my mood for the day or the moment. I listen to a variety of music but i listen to to main genres new age rock and country. I know they seem like an unlikely pair to be matched together but its what fits my tastes. When it comes to new age I listen to mostly Kings of Leon, Foo Fighters, Beck and Red Hot Chilly Peppers. These bands have a variety of styles from really up beat to slow and slightly depressive but all in all the lyrics of some of their songs are what really get me. Just as much as the new age stuff country is a HUGE part of my play lists. I have listened to country for my whole life! I have been to countless country concerts so far George Straight has been my favorite in a close second is Sugarland. George Straight, Pat Green, Blake Shelton, and Sugarland are my favorites. They all have music that I can relate too. There lyrics as much as any others mean something and i can always relate in someway or another.

Wow so these past 2 weeks have been some of the most exciting for me! The big talk around Anderson for last couple of weeks has been about homecoming. Its all about who you are going with, or what your doing before and after. Well I met a sophomore over the summer and he goes to Anderson and we talk all the time and we have ever since we met. So this last week Cody, the guy, has asked me to homecoming! So it's going to be so much fun and i can't wait!! I'll be sure to blog about it next time so everyone can know how it went.

2nd Topic 5 themes of geography

2009-09-19T19:56:00.000-07:00

The 5 themes of geography have a big presense in Austin. Our location, movement, region, human environmental interaction, and place are very uniqe to our area. There are 2 types of location, relative and absolute. Our relative loction is that Austin is in the heart of Texas we are south of Dallas, west of Houston, and northeast of San Antonio. Our absolute location is 30N 97W. The movement of our area is very diverse. We have trains, planes, and cars. We are also working to build a railway system. Our region is also arrguably the most diversion in Texas and possibly whole southwestern United States. Austin is in a individual region due to the fact that we are in a specific area where 3 diverse regions meet. These regions are the rolling hills of the hill country, the lush trees of the eastern texas forest, and the plains of the panhandel. The human environmental interaction is also individual to this area. With the expanding population we are having to adapt and we are doing this in many ways such as, paving the new roads, creating stronger bridges and building taller towers. Place is plants in animals in the area. There are many plants are in Austin some of the main are live oak trees, oak trees, cedar trees, and short grasses. Our animals also range in types and sizes, such as white tailed deer, armidilos, hawks, coyotes, as well as many more.

Now for the last 2 week of my life. Well the weekend after the soccer tournament i went to the Austin Syphony League Ball. This was alot of fun. I was with all my friends and we danced the whole time! Oh and also it rainded the whole weekend and for half of the week! I played in the rain everytime it came down. This last weekend has been one of new experiences for me. As, you might know im on the AHS speech and debate team well this past week was our first tournament. I competed in NX which is beginner extemp and i got 3rd! This is a major accomplishment for a beginner concidering this was my first tournament and that there were 30 other kids competing agaist me! My seclect soccer season also started today and we got off to a great start by beating DTSA (Dallas Texans San Antonio) 3-1.

1st Blog Introducing ME!

2009-09-11T09:30:00.000-07:00

My name is Becca Butler im a student in the 9th grade at AHS. I'm in Mrs. Hollrah's 4th period class. I do many things at Anderson, I'm on the Anderson Speech and Debate team and I'm on the basketball,soccer, diving and track teams. I play on Dallas Texans 95G red soccer team and we are the 09-10 Texas state champions for divison 1 soccer. I also play on the Austin Wildcats basketball team. I'm a extemp. speaker for our Speech and Debate team and I'm scared to death of it!

The last 2 weeks of my life could have very well been the busiest of my life! I have been trying to not get lost at Anderson while I have been preparing for a national soccer tournament in Dallas. It's been very stressfull but very fun and interesting. Well at the Dallas tournament I had 6 games and we tied 4 and won 2. This is really good concidering we played some of the best teams in the nation. Thanks to this tournament we will be advancing to premier in soccer, which is the highest level you can play at! The week before the soccer tournament my family and I went to Port A for the weekend. The beach is my favorite place in the world! I have been to many beaches around the country and some out of the country and so far Couzumel and San Deigo have my favorite spots. I the water and the sun, to me its such a relaxing place to be. The only down side is that I tend to get WAY sunburned which happened that weekend. I looked like a tomatoe.....literaly! I was so red hahaha but it was worth it. Thats it for now!