Empathy

Have you ever read a book where the author's writing made you feel exactly how the character feels? If the character was sad, you felt his/her sadness. If the character was overjoyed, you felt overjoyed as well. If the character was jealous, you felt his/her jealousy. If the character felt that it wasn't fair, you felt it wasn't fair either. That is called empathy. Writers try to make you feel empathy because otherwise, it would be less interesting to read. Books wouldn't be as good without being able to understand what the characters felt.

For school, we had to read a book called The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis. She was great at making us feel empathy because she's been to Afghanistan before (The Breadwinner is a book about a young girl's life in Afghanistan). She was really good at making us feel sad, happy, angry, etc. One example is when the main character's father gets arrested by the Taliban. The Taliban just barged into the house and took Parvana's father away. We felt that Parvana (the main character) was feeling sad, depressed and angry. The whole classroom was filled with a lot of "whats!" and "that's not fair!"

I read a book called The Lightning Thief just recently. One example of when I felt empathy was when the main character met his father (the Greek god Poseidon) for the first time and Poseidon didn't really care because he has many kids and this one wasn't even supposed to be alive. Percy (the main character) was so excited to meet him, and Poseidon just said: "You did a fine job on your quest but you must go, child. But first know that your mother has returned." No "Nice to meet you son" or "I'm very proud to have you as a son". Percy was hurt because he thought it would be a big thing to meet his father for the first time and he was looking forward to the day he would finally meet him. I understood how he felt because the words the writer used for the dialogue were very well written and described.

To make you feel empathy, authors usually use strong adjectives and descriptive words. So next time you read a book, think about how the character feels and what you would do about it if you were in his/her place and how well the author describes how he/she feels. If you ever write a story, think about how you can write to make people feel empathy.

By the way, I strongly recommend you read The Breadwinner and its sequels.

Women in Afghanistan

Imagine living in Afghanistan and having to wear a burqa ALL THE TIME when you are outside. Imagine if you didn't, the Taliban would beat you up. Imagine every time you go outside, you need a man to escort you everywhere you go. I wouldn't like that. I wouldn't be able to run, shop, play, or hang out with friends. It would almost be impossible for me to live like that.

I'm trying to imagine that I live in Afghanistan and what I do about it. I would             DEFINITELY  do something about it because I'm not going to go around scared that someone would kill me just because I wasn't wearing a burqa. I would run a secret organization to help the women feel more secure and not have to wear burqas. I would run a petition. I would probably get killed doing that, but at least I would be helping my kids and grand kids and everyone else in my family to feel more secure about what gender they are. I find it cruel that women don't get the same rights as men there in Afghanistan, and here, we do. I know some people are trying to stop this but the women and the men (who understand) need to listen and cooperate with the people who are trying to make Afghanistan a better country.

Maybe one day the whole world will be perfect, but right now, if we want the world to be perfect, we need to stand up for ourselves and listen to other people's problems instead of just our own. 

Eva Olsson

Imagine being taken away by soldiers. Imagine walking down the street being led by bullies and people are watching you like you were a Christmas parade and not even bothering to help, just thinking "Look at those idiots walking down the street". Imagine seeing your mom for the last time, not even able to say one last "I love you". Well, yesterday, we had a guest speaker who had gone through all of that. Her name was Eva Olsson.

She was taken away by soldiers just because she was Jewish and they hate Jews. That's how the whole Holocaust began. All because of hate. She was taken away to a camp in Auschwitz. She saw her mother for the last time and then everyone else in her entire family as well for the last time. She went through a lot. I felt extremely sorry for her because after everything she had gone through, she found a husband, but he died a short while after that.

The main message was that you should never hate. You can dislike if you must, but you should NEVER EVER hate. She even taught her grand kids to never use the word hate. It doesn't matter what religion you are, or what colour your skin is, or anything. It just matters about how you deal with it. Never judge people by their religion or skin colour. Just be yourself/

Norval

Yesterday, the whole middle school went to a place called Norval to do team building. We were put into teams and we had to work as a team. We had to walk on wires and it was hard, but fun. We had a bit of trouble, but then we got this idea to do a human chain. At first, it didn't work, but then we got an extra person and it worked. Our team had a couple arguments. We were yelling at each other a lot and we were always trying to tell the team our idea, but then we would all be yelling at each other to shut up so we could say our idea. I think we could have listened to others more than just thinking about what WE wanted to say.  

We had trouble on this one activity where we had to get a tire off a high pole. We tried EVERYTHING we could think of. We even tried lifting Jenny up the pole, and we nearly got it. After that, we tried making stairs so Jenny and Blayne could climb up. Michael had only a bit of Blayne on him, and Jake had Jenny and the other part of Blayne. Jake wasn't complaining, and he had a lot of weight on him, and Michael barely had any, and Michael was like "The pain! Ow! Get off! It hurts!" It was really funny. 

I really had a lot of fun. I also liked the drum circle. I learned a lot and we even didn't even have to do schoolwork! But we still learned important stuff. Some people didn't even want to learn, but that was the reason we were there. I hope we go there again next year!

People are NOT shaped by what they wear-good copy

Are people shaped by what they wear?

I don't think I am shaped by what I wear. I don't think anyone is.

People just automatically think "Omigod! She's wearing Abercrombie, so she's automatically cool!" But actually, she's this rude snob who pretends she's your friend, and then just ditches you. Or "Ewwww she's wearing baggy, cheap clothes" But she turns out to be one of the nicest girls you've ever met. Sometimes, it's not like that. But most of the time it is. You should never judge anyone by what they wear. "Never judge a book by it's cover" is my mother's favourite saying. What if you meet someone who is so nice and kind and loyal, but she's not wearing the same clothes as you would choose? Would you just leave her for someone who is not loyal, unkind and rude that wears something you would wear? Sometimes, you can be lucky enough to find someone who wears the same clothes as you and be your best friend. I'm not one of them. I would hate it if someone wanted to be my friend based on what I wear. I wouldn't want to be their friend.I know I have real good friends who are so nice and they don't wear the same clothes as me. It's all about the attitude. People are shaped by their personality, or what they do.

I once read a book where a girl named Callie was running  to be the student council president at her school. Her best friend was helping her and went around asking people what Callie could do better. A lot of the people thought she should wear different clothes or change her hair and wear makeup. They didn't know her very well, and she was nice, funny and brilliant. They just cared about how she dressed and what she looked like.

Before just judging someone because of how they dress, you should get to know them first. That's why I think people are not shaped by what they wear.

Best Friends

I skated two times today and I went to the rink three times today. I practically live there. I've been skating since I was two and a half years old, but I've been going to the rink for as long as I can remember, because my mom used to coach. My best friends are my skating friends. Even though we're all different ages, we're such good friends. We call ourselves the KEEMs. It's all our first initials put together. I'm so happy I have good friends like that. At my old school, I only had three friends. But the KEEMs helped me along the way. I hope everyone has as good friends as that.

A little bit about ME

I'm in Toronto today, visiting my grandparents. I got my hair cut and now, we're just hanging out waiting for supper. Chinese food! I love chinese food, and I rarely ever get it! I want to be an actress when I grow up. I used to model, but I quit, because I was too busy. I want to start again, though, and I REALLY want to be in a movie. I'd love to be in a TV series too. I'm very dramatic. Everyone knows I'm a drama queen. I'm a figure skater, and I dance, I play tennis, I sing, I ski, and I LOVE playing the piano. I'm extremely acive and talented. I have a good sense of humor (or so they tell me) and I love little children and babies. I have a little sister, too.

That's just a little bit about me.

TGIF!!!

Finally! It's Friday! I've been waiting all week for today!
Every Friday, my family eats a special treat. Fajitas! We call it, Fajita Friday! Since I was little, my family has been doing this. Whenever I have friends or family over, they know what to expect! They purposely come on Friday. Must go enjoy my Fajitas!

Yum!

ME

Hi! I'm Emilie. I love to figure skate! If you do too, tell me!