My Island School Blog

10 Things I Fear...

2009-11-16T05:49:00.000-08:00

by Juan Emilio

1. Mosquitos-- When they start buzzing around me I go c r a z y and can think of nothing else.

2. People talking about me negatively behind my back

3. Dropping my baby

4. Being out of shape-- Lots of my clothes don't fit me...will it get worse?

5. Life moving too quickly-- Will it be over before I know it?

6. Losing all my hair-- My dad's hairline starts way too high...will mine too?

7. Headaches-- How bad will this one be? Will it last forever?

8. Cold and Flu-- I need energy to be a dad and teacher? I can't get sick!

9. Tight Spaces--

10. Car Sickness-- It's only the first 20 minutes of a two hour car trip and I already feel sick! Will I make it without throwing up?

-----------------

by mikespearsart

In number 9, I mentioned being afraid of tight spaces. Here's why: When I was about seven years old, I was with my family at my Aunt Sara's house. All my cousins were there and I was by far the youngest. They were all teenagers with deep voices and the beginning of whiskers.

Anyhow, we were all gathered in my cousin Freddy's room and there was this huge wooden toy chest. One of my cousin's said, "Louie, why don't you go in there and see if you fit." I did, and boy was it a mistake. As soon as I climbed into the small dark space the lid shut above me and a lock clanked closed. I heard muffled laughter erupt from outside and my stomach dropped.

"Help! Get me out of here! Let me out !" I repeated over and over again. They just continued to laugh. Finally, after I don't know how many minutes, my sister ran out and fetched my parents. My dad came in the room and let me out. But by that time the damage was done. Left in their scared and powerless, I am now permanently scared of tight spaces.

My Future Habitat

2009-11-15T19:02:00.000-08:00

Hey there folks. I am a man who thinks about the future. And in this future, I do not want the world falling apart because we burned to much coal and oil to power all our stuff. Therefore, I created a model of a habitat I'd like to see as I walked down a typical street in New York.

In my habitat the local McDonald's will be powered partly by solar panels on the roof instead of electricity that comes from burning dirty coal.

My habitat will also have a "gas" station next to the McDonald's. Except the "gas" station will actually be pumping out used fry oil piped in from the McDonald's next door. In the future, most cars will have their engines changed so that they can except fry oil instead of gas (actually many cars do that right now!). Also, the McDonald's will be powered by wind turbines which take wind and convert it to energy.

My habitat will also bring more nature into the city. For example, there will be ponds with frogs, moss, and flies on the corner.

greasy pizza

2009-11-05T05:39:00.000-08:00

p i z z a
there's nothing
like it
greasy pepperoni
cheesy delicious
i can't get enough
until i've had enough
and i want to throw up
because i ate too much
grease stains
on my shirt
i wish it were white again
oh well.

Super Size Poster

2009-03-17T19:40:00.001-07:00

Hamburger Brainstorm

2009-01-22T18:27:00.001-08:00

Hugs and Smurfs

2008-12-29T14:58:00.000-08:00

Click HERE for Full Screen version.

Interpreting Smurfs and Hugs

2008-12-27T09:32:00.000-08:00

At first glance, I thought these were two separate dreams. But the more I thought about them, the more I realized that they were connected. My uncle Mel was such an important part of my life. He always helped me to understand the crazy things that would go on in my world and make me feel better about them. He was also the glue that kept my family close. You know who that's like? Papa Smurf. Everytime Gargamel came close to eating all the Smurfs or a magic egg that granted everybody's wish lead to chaos, Papa Smurf brought everything back to normal.

Looking at the dream dictionary, I see that "hugging" in dreams means "closeness". Ever since my uncle mel died, our family hasn't been as close. In the dream I try and hug everyone but the hugs don't feel "real". I tried again, and they still felt fake. Maybe this means that I want to be close to my family, but I don't know how anymore now that he's gone.

The second part of the dream had Papa Smurf teaching a regular Smurf how to play the piano. In the dream dictionary it says that a "piano" means "harmony". The dictionary also says when you dream of a piano out of tune it means you need to "repair a relationship". Returning to my dream, the Smurf played the piano poorly at first, but with the help of Papa Smurf, he began playing beautifully. So beautifully that it began to add to a movie that played above the piano. Maybe the dream means that with Uncle Mel's (Papa Smurf) help, I can begin to get close to my family again and bring my life back into harmony.

My Dream: Hugs and Smurfs

2008-12-25T11:31:00.000-08:00

photo by cheezelsmurf

I dreamed that my family came over to my mom's apartment to visit. There was my cousin Leslie, my cousin Adrian, my aunt Judy and my Uncle Mel (who passed away from lung cancer last year). As I opened the door to greet them, I gave each one a hug. But the hugs didn't feel right. None of them were close family hugs...they felt like the "fake" hugs you give someone you really don't know that well. My uncle Mel said, "those don't feel like real hugs..." So I tried again, but they still felt fake.

Then everything switched and I was watching a TV with an expert on the Smurfs. He looked at me and explained "those aren't the real Smurfs." Suddenly I was in an underground room. It was dusty, but it was a warm and happy place. There was a big cauldron and someone was cooking something. The expert continued, "These are the real Smurfs". I looked and there were a bunch of boring looking animations of guys pretending to be Smurfs. I looked away and then looked back. Now, they looked pretty much like regular Smurfs (although not as cute). Papa Smurf is explaining to another Smurf how to play the piano. The Piano is made of old brown wood and as he plays, the notes are displayed on a big screen TV above. The Smurf is playing horribly and is ready to give up. But Papa Smurf encourages him, "just play A, B, D, A." He hits the notes and it sounds good. The Smurf brightens up and plays it faster. "A B D A." Now, as he plays the screen is showing a scene from a movie and the music the Smurf is playing is part of the movie. Papa Smurf is delighted by the music and says now try "A B A D A A". The Smurf does and it's perfect for the movie-- adding to the suspense...

RBrown's Drama

2008-11-28T18:30:00.000-08:00

Scenes from the book The Host by Stephanie Meyer

2008-11-02T12:23:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, I just finished my comic about one of my favorite books, The Host. Check it out:

My Life as a Farm Worker

2008-10-08T08:46:00.000-07:00

Every day during the harvest I get up before the sun rises. With my
family, I travel to the fields. We might pick strawberries one week
and apples the next. Squatting down in the field all day long makes
my back and knees ache. If it's hot, my skin burns. When it rains, I
have no choice but to get wet. While all my friends are at school,
I'm stuck out here. When I come back, I'm far behind and some times I
feel like I want to give up. I fight with my parents about working,
but if I didn't we wouldn't have enough money to get by. I wish we
could get paid more, work in safer conditions or just get out.

My Picture with Freud

2008-10-02T12:04:00.000-07:00

If I could stand next to anyone in a photo it would be Sigmund Freud. Freud was born in 1856 and died in 1939. He is the most important thinker in the history of psychology. Maybe you’ve never heard of Freud, but I bet you’ve heard of some of the ideas he invented. Ever heard of “ego”? Freud invented that concept to explain the side of humans that reason and have common sense. Ever heard someone say “he’s in denial”, or “she’s acting out”, or “she is suppressing her true feelings”? All those concepts are from Freud! Freud also wrote a lot about how to figure out the meaning of dreams.

If I could ask Freud a question after our photo was taken it would be “why is it that some mornings you remember your dreams and other mornings you have absolutely no idea what you dreamed about?” I think he would reply, “the deepest and most meaningful dreams you have are often too difficult to face, so your mind hides them away.”

My New Song: Pelican

2008-10-02T08:42:00.000-07:00

So a few months ago, I went on vacation with my wife, Mrs. Silverstein, and Mr. Silverstein to Costa Rica. Mr. Silverstein plays the ukulele. I, of course am a rhymer. We thought it would be interesting to make a song that blended our two talents. For a couple of days we sat under a palm tree near the ocean and recorded. Click below to hear the result:

PELICAN

My Life as a Child Laborer

2008-09-24T08:53:00.000-07:00

Every day I get up and my body hurts. Instead of going to school, I take a long walk to my job at a gold mine. All day long I work with other children, sifting through dirt in search of gold. I've been told that gold is what makes people rich, but I'm still poor - the men in charge pay me barely enough to eat. My hands burn from working with mercury all day and many of my friends become sick. When I come home, I am so tired that I go straight to sleep. I dream one day of not having to work, of going to school, learning to read and having a normal childhood.

Talents Galore

2008-09-13T13:24:00.000-07:00

Usually I am a very modest person. But there are times when you just cannot hold back and have to brag a little. This is one of those times. I've got talent baby...LOTS of them. Some of my smaller (but no less important) skills are that I can move my ears individually, make a very loud knocking sound with my mouth, hold my breath for over a minute and a half, and benchpress 175 pounds!

My bigger talents are that I'm a masterful soccer player, I can teach almost any technology, and I am a superb joke-teller. But my biggest talent is I can freestyle. You give me a person, place, or thing and I can go off about it in rhymes. I've been doing it for about 12 years and was in a hip-hop band in college called Dichotomy. We never really hit it big, but we did make and sell an album. My best memory of freestyling was walking in Union Square at night with some friends and there was a cipher with guys freestyling and rhyming. I was a little bit intimidated to enter, but I pushed myself to do it. Some of the guys were super talented, others were garbage. After one of the rhymers had finished, I spoke up and started. All eyes were on me and I knew it. But I just stayed in the zone and kicked my own style. People started bobbing there heads and smiling. After it was over, a bunch of the guys came up to me and gave me props. One guy pulled me aside and said, "Yo! That was incredible...I ain't ever seen anyone rhyme like that." Needless to say, I felt dizzy with happiness. Below is a short clip of me rhyming today. Not my best...but not bad either:

My Summer Vacation

2008-09-04T06:23:00.001-07:00

8 Random Things About Me

2008-09-03T17:40:00.000-07:00

Hello there! This is my first Blog post ever! So that you know who you’re dealing with, here are 8 random facts about llahana188:

1) My favorite dish in the world is pineapple pepperoni pizza.

2) My cat got stuck overnight in my bar-b-q when I was little.

3) When I was in college I won a bet that I could eat a Big Mac in one bite.

4) I am starting to like blue cheese.

5) When I went to school at UC Santa Cruz I was in a hip hop band called Dichotomy.

6) My wife used to work for GQ Magazine.

7) I have an older sister who lives in Oakland California.

8 ) When I was 16 I went to Israel.