Giving Thanks to my Family

Reflecting on them and how they impact me

Text to Podcast:

     Thanksgiving is a time to be grateful for the things you have. That may include certain experiences that you’ve had, things you own, pets you take care of, time off from work, time off from school, or people you are surrounded by. For me, Thanksgiving is about being around family and thinking about how grateful you should be for their support, help, fun and kindness. My family includes my mom, she is the parent who has fun, but lays down the law when she needs to. My dad, he is the one who will support me in sports and play catch with me whenever I want to. My brother, he is the one who will play madden with me, ask me what I did during my day, or gives up the TV in the basement if I want to hang out down there. My sister, she is the goofy one who finds something fun to do with me if I’m bored. And finally my two dogs. First, Lewis is a golden retriever who is extremely lazy except for when he is trying to get a pet from someone. Second, Pepee is an italian greyhound chihuahua mix who lays in bed all day, but when he gets out of bed he loves to speed around the yard and chase his ball while flying at the speed of light. My family is a group of people that I believe lean on each other, and help each other through tough times and encourage each other during the good ones. 

 Dead Time

The worst three hours of the year

Football is like life-it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication, and respect for the authority - Vince Lombardi

    The bye week: a point in time no NFL fan wants to endure. It is a time felt wasted, and a feeling of an incomplete day. This week, the Patriots had their time for the bye week, and I had the surge to watch my favorite team compete against an opponent who would fear the pure success of the Patriots. However, the week had come that I had been dreading for the whole season. Whenever your team doesn’t play, you feel a little empty on the inside, you feel as if the world has flipped upside down, you just feel let down. While I do understand that there are positives to a bye week, such as, resting, game-planing and improving; it just leaves the fans of the teams who aren’t playing in a joyless state of emptiness. Plus, losing a game an extremely personal game to the Titans the week before going into the bye week sucks a lot more than really anything else. You’re just left with the bad feeling that Titans just smoked you, Dion Lewis disrespected you and now you don’t have an immediate chance to redeem yourself. Ultimately, I just want to see some dominant Patriot football again. Whether it be our Offense, Defense or Special Teams; I want to see us play well again, and I hope that's what happens against the Jets in Week 11.

Credit to Image: ESPN

John Kielar

8th Grade English

Team Essay

11-15-18

Tom Sawyer Literary Reflection

A Team Writing Reflection

Tom in the lead, Joe next, and Huck, a ruin of drooping rags, sneaking sheepishly in the rear! They had been hid in the unused gallery listening to their own funeral sermon! Aunt Polly, Mary, and the Harpers threw themselves upon their restored ones, smothered them with kisses and poured out thanksgivings

Mark Twain

     Tom, Joe and Huck all were returning from the island where they had hoped to become pirates and find prove to the world that they didn’t need anyone else. This, of course, was untrue and they had decided to come home on their funeral to surprise everyone and show that he was actually alive. While he was on the island he was promoting the idea of being alone and not needing anyone, but in reality he really missed many people and wanted to be back with them. The sight of Tom brought joy to everyone including Tom’s family and bonded them closer together in the end. In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain, he makes sure to balance Tom and his family affairs, his adventures with his friends, while using his words effectively to place an image in your head that shows you what is happening in the book. 

John Kielar

8th Grade English

The Fenn School

Tom Sawyer Literary Reflection Essay

10-31-18

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

A literary reflection of Tom Sawyer

Your emotions are the slaves to your thoughts, and you are the slave to your emotions.― Elizabeth Gilbert

     Losing control of your emotions isn’t a way to live, yet people seek out for their emotions to be controlled. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain does this almost to perfection. You are basically a doll with strings on your arms, and Mark Twain is controlling you and your emotions. He can zig your emotions or zag your emotions each and every way he wants, and you will have no choice but to comply to his impeccable “doll handling”. Through the entire book I think Mark Twain was trying to make us experience what it felt like to be a reckless twelve year old boy in the 1820’s. Whether Tom was trying to impress Becky, steal a treasure, become a pirate, or explore a cave; you could relate to him and feel what Mark Twain wanted you to feel.