Track and Field

Track and field season is in full swing at this time of year and that means that there are a lot of meets happening every week. This is both the season of the men's track and field team and the women's track and field team. Thus, there are some coed meets but there are mainly unisex meets, such as men or women only. For men's track and field meets, the order is always the same. The only exception is with coed meets, in which the order gets all crazy and weird. However, for men's track and field meets field events start the meet. Throwing events, such as the discus and shot put, as well as the long jump and high jump all begin before the running events. The running events start later, usually about thirty to forty five to sometimes even one whole hour after the field events begin, all depending on the meets, who is running it and how many teams are present. The track events will always follow the same order, however, for men's track and field meets. It starts with the 3200 meter race, the longest individual race and it is just under two miles long. Then right after that is the four by eight hundred relay race. After that is the shuttle hurdle relay, then the one hundred meter dash. Following that is the four hundred meter dash and after that is the four by two hundred meter relay. Next is the one hundred and ten meter high hurdles and following that is the sixteen hundred meter run or the one mile race. Following that is the two hundred meter open and then the four hundred meter low hurdles race. After that is the sixteen hundred meter medley, with the order of a two hundred then another two hundred then a four hundred then an eight hundred. After that is the eight hundred meter open run and then it is the four by one hundred meter relay. The meet is then going to finish with the four by four hundred meter relay. The events will usually separate junior varsity and varsity and exhibition runners to try and keep the races fair and competitive. The meets can sometimes last for hours as well. All in all track and field meets are very fun and very enjoyable and it is a great thing to be a part of!
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Show Choir Auditions

Show choir auditions are taking place coming up. If you are unfamiliar with what show choir is and stuff like that then I suggest that you read my blog from before this blog that is entitled “Show Choir”. If you are familiar and/or you have read that blog, then continue as you are probably going to understand this content a lot better this way.

Show choir auditions happen once every year with one exception. They occur right about now, in the spring, to decide the various groups for the upcoming year. There are many choirs that take place in Kennedy, and to be in a show choir one must also be in a choir. Thus, the auditions are partly the same. The signing auditions for show choir are the same as the auditions for a choir. However, there is also a dancing audition for show choir because that is another very important component of show choir. There are three different show choirs in Kennedy High School. The show choirs are the freshman show choir that is called Chauneteurs, the junior varsity show choir that is called Protégé, and the varsity show choir that is called Happiness Inc. They all use the same audition process to make it easier to separate who belongs with which group. The process includes singing and dancing, as stated earlier. One day after school for the dancing portion of the audition the students who are auditioning go to the choir room and learn a dance. The dance is very short and simple, although it is something new that they will have to learn. They then practice that dance and perform it for the directors who critique them. This whole process takes a few hours right after school. That, however, is only part of the audition. As stated earlier the students who are applying also have to sing. The singing auditions are that you sign up for a time and go to the choir room and do a bling audition. That means that all the directors are behind something that obstructs their view of you so that they do not know who you are, which is an attempt to eliminate bias in the auditions. The students who are auditioning sing a song of their choice that they have prepared along with the song “My Country Tis of Thee”. This gives a baseline to be able to compare everyone together as well as giving the students a chance to show off their singing skills and abilities.

However, Chaunteurs has an additional audition. Because it is the freshman show choir, they have an additional audition in the fall for the new freshman that might’ve wanted to do show choir but didn’t realize it until then or for anyone else who missed the spring auditions. Thus, the freshman get a second chance at auditioning if they so choose to accept it and if they want to audition and missed the auditioning date in the spring.

Anyway, the auditions for show choir for the 2016-2017 school year is coming up at Kennedy High School so if you want to be in a show choir don’t miss out!

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Show Choir

Every year show choir auditions are a thing that happens. There are many different parts that go into a show choir. There are the singers and the dancers. They are the main component of the group as they are what the audience will see and they are what the audience watches and listens to mainly and mainly hears. It is the main focus of show choir so they are arguably one of the most important pieces, but however every component is very important. There is also the tech crew. The tech crew does the behind the scenes work with bringing the microphones backstage and to the soloists, as well as getting the costume change ready and the various props that are used and making sure that those props are ready. The tech dads also help with this, along with creating the props and set that are needed for the show and performance. The director is present as the director instructs the singers on their singing and dancing, leading practices and basically being their coach. There are also choreographers, sometimes one and sometimes multiple. They come up with the dance moves for each song and they teach the dances to the singers and dancers. Then there is also the combo. The combo is the band of the show choir. They perform behind stage and they provide all the music except for what you hear that comes from the singers. They provide the beat and do all of that stuff.

A lot of people greatly enjoy show choir as it is something that is both physical and mental and it combines with music and singing and dancing and all of that jazz. It is kind of a combination of the south and north ends of Kennedy High School. I say that because of the split of the ends of the school. The south end of Kennedy High School is mainly sports as that is where the two gyms are located as well as both locker rooms and the pool and the sports equipment is stored there and the weight room and wrestling rooms are also there. The track is near there, as well as the varsity fields that are located on campus and other fields to practice on and the tennis courts. Thus, the south end of Kennedy High School is predominantly sports oriented. The north end of Kennedy High School is mainly drama and music oriented. At the north end of the school are where the orchestra department, band department, and choir departments are all located. There is also the two auditoriums in the north end of the building, the bigger and regular auditorium and the smaller room called the black box which is just as it sounds-it is a black box. Those are where activities such as musicals, plays, speech, theatre, show choir and other stuff happens. Thus show choir is popular because it sort of combines both ends of the school together in the physical dancing and the theatre and drama and music related singing.

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Illegal Alien Change in Congress

On April 3^rd, 2016, the United States Congress passed a piece of legislation concerning the topic of illegal aliens. An illegal alien is an alien who has entered into America illegally and is therefore deportable. In the past, Congress has referred to them by means of calling them illegal aliens. However, after a group of illegal aliens fought Congress on the term, Congress voted to then no longer use said term; the term undocumented citizens is to be used instead. This has begged a question that has been argued all across America for the following week after the legislation was passed: with their absence of rights due to no citizenship, should illegal aliens be able to influence government policy in America?

                On April 3^rd, 2016, newspapers across America, such as the Cedar Rapids Gazette and the Los Angeles Times, announced the passed legislation. While it has not been a front page headliner, it has caused a bit of a stir across the nation. With the change of wording from illegal aliens to undocumented citizens in Congress, American citizens have started to question how policy gets changed in their nation.

                As stated in the Los Angeles Times, the topic was brought up to Congress by a group of college students. The group is from Dartmouth College and are known as CoFIRED (Dartmouth Coalition for Immigration Reform, Equality and Dreamers), brought up to Congress how the term illegal alien was a derogatory and offensive term. This then got attention from others in America, who also stated that the term illegal aliens was offensive. They lobbied for Congress to change the policy, and ultimately won as Congress passed the legislation on April 3^rd.

                This, however, caused quite an outrage from American citizens. Various sources of news, such as newspapers, the internet, or news broadcasts, were depictions of citizens protesting the legislation around the nation. Protests out in the streets were common. Signs were used by many of the protestors. They all wanted to voice their opinion about how this legislation should not have been passed. They brought up much evidence to help their viewpoint.

                The Constitution is the law of the land in America, was written by the founding fathers, and it is what all the laws in America is based upon. Congress, when passing legislation, must make sure it is constitutional. The Supreme Court makes sure that laws are constitutional when they are disputed either in lawsuits or when someone broke the law.

                The Frist Amendment of the Constitution grants the Freedom of Speech to the citizens of the United States of America. Some citizens, such as college students, have stated that by banning terms from use such as “illegal alien” is going against the First Amendment of the Constitution by banning their Freedom of Speech (Sokol). At colleges it is important to keep a “safe and productive learning environment”, while still ensuring the “students’ right to freedom of expression”. While this example is from a college, it is still applicable to the legislation in Congress. While Congress needs to keep an environment that restrains from degrading and offending its citizens, such as the safe college environment, Congress still needs to protect the freedom of expression.

                Many people think that the term illegal aliens should not be used as it is offensive to those who are illegal aliens in America. As stated in the Constitution, one citizen cannot exercise his or her rights in order to take away the rights of another citizen. This leads those to believe that the term, illegal aliens, should not be put to use. However, if the Constitution were to be read carefully, then they would notice that the Constitution refers to citizens and the rights that the citizens of America have. If a person is illegally living in America, what gives them the right to be able to gain the rights of the currently legal citizens of America? By doing so shows that the Constitution has no power over the land with the current interpretation, with that interpretation being it belongs and maintains order for America and America alone. Via this interpretation, the Constitution should refer to all of the world; America, however, is not the world’s police. Therefore, even if the illegal aliens believe that the term illegal aliens takes away their rights by means of it being offensive, they have no right nor any power to be able to change American policy.

                However, that is not what happened. Congress interpreted the Constitution in applying to all people, not just citizens of America. While all people have their basic human rights, if they break the law, which they do if they are illegal aliens, then they should not be granted the same rights as others. Via this passing of legislation, Congress has declared that even if someone currently living in America is not an American citizen and is here illegally, therefore breaking the law, which is a crime, they still have just as many rights as those legal American citizens have. That interpretation from Congress has a multitude of flaws, as it could lead to worldly conflicts due to America attempting to be the world police. Therefore, as a person illegally occupying a territory within a nation they are not a citizen of, they should not be granted the same rights as legal citizens of that nation and therefore should not be granted the power to influence policy.

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Smartphones

One form of entertainment is by means of a cellular device. A very common form of a cellular device is a phone, and it is very common in school, such as in Kennedy High School. Many people have phones. A very popular type of phone is the smartphone. Smartphone brands are as follows: there is the IPhone by Apple, there are the Galaxy Phones by Samsung, and there are many more but those are the most popular two. There are smartphones made by Microsoft with windows and there are smartphones made by Googles as well. There are a lot of smartphones to choose from!

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"Black Mass" Historical Review

                The film Black Mass stars Johnny Depp and depicts James “Whitey” Bulger, from the time of his return from his nine year stretch at Alcatraz, up until he left Boston and eventually arrested.

                The plot of the film stuck pretty closely to its historical origins. Whitey came out of Alcatraz, and then went back out onto the street. He made an alliance with the FBI via John Connolly, a friend from his youth, in order to take out the Angiulo Brothers. By helping the FBI, the FBI would take care of the Angiulo Brothers who controlled North Boston and were challenging Whitey. In return, Whitey basically had the freedom to do whatever he pleased. However, once Whitey’s rivals were out of the picture, Whitey started racking up money. He started paying off John Connolly and others, gaining power and growing. However, John Connolly became corrupt and the FBI started to notice. Eventually, they went after Connolly and Whitey. Along the way they also got Stephen Flemmi, who was very close to Whitey.

                The very beginning of the movie showed Kevin Weeks talking to a FBI agent to try and get benefits from talking about Whitey. Kevin was a bouncer outside of one of Whitey’s bars, who Whitey noticed and brought up into the higher ranks. Later in the movie, it showed that Stephen Flemmi also talked to the FBI in regards to Whitey. Both of these instances, according to the movie, happened after Whitey escaped from Boston.

                At the time that the FBI got Connolly and Flemmi, someone tipped off Whitey about the FBI going to arrest him. Due to that tip, he escaped Boston.

                However, Whitey was caught. He escaped to California, where in 2011 a tip was given to the FBI in which he was arrested, about thirty years after he had escaped from Boston.

                Almost everything in the plot of the story was historically accurate. However, there were a few jarring details about how it differed from what really happened. One big jarring difference was that Flemmi also became an FBI consultant. The film did not depict that at all. Instead, the film only depicted Whitey and how he made an alliance with the FBI. The movie also made a big deal of how Whitey hated informats and rats, yet he still became one. There was another big part of the movie in regards to these events, and that is when Whitey told Stephen Flemmi that he was making an alliance with the FBI and explained why, stating that it was for the good of them all by making the FBI do all the dirty work for them.

                All in all I felt as though the plot of the film was more historically accurate that not with regards to Whitey and South Boston, with a few jarring details as described above. The only other thing that stood out was the portrayal of characters. Some of the characters seemed to be a little odd, as in different than that of which I had expected them to be in history. However, the depiction of Whitey seemed pretty accurate with his story arc and how his character changed throughout the movie in response to the changing conditions of his life.

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Parks and Rec now on Netflix

The show Parks and Recreation is currently available to stream on Netflix. It stars Amy Poeler and Nick Offerman and Aziz Anzari and Chris Patterson. It is very similar to the show the Office, as it is a mockumentary show depicting the government office of parks and recreation in the town of Pawnee, Indiana. It is a seven season long show, with twenty two average minute long episodes. It is a good show to watch for anyone looking for a new show to watch on Netflix if they have not watched the said show of Parks and Recreation yet.

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Illegal Alien Debate

On April 3^rd, 2016, the United States Congress passed a legislation which covered the topic of how to refer to illegal aliens. In the past, Congress has referred to them by means of calling them illegal aliens. However, after a group of illegal aliens fought Congress on the term, Congress voted to then no longer use said term; the term undocumented citizens is to be used instead. This has begged a question that has been argued all across America for the following week after the legislation was passed: with their absence or rights due to no citizenship, should illegal aliens be able to influence government policy in America?

                On April 3^rd, 2016, newspapers across America, such as the Cedar Rapids Gazette, announced the passed legislation. While it has not been a front page headliner, it has caused a bit of a stir across the nation. With the change of wording from illegal aliens to undocumented citizens in Congress, American citizens have started to question how policy gets changed in their nation.

                The topic was brought up to Congress by an illegal alien. The illegal alien, a young women currently attending a college in America, brought up to Congress how the term illegal alien was a derogatory and offensive term. This then got attention from other illegal aliens in America, who all stated that the term illegal aliens was offensive towards them. They lobbied for Congress to change the policy, and ultimately won as Congress passed the legislation on April 3^rd.

                This, however, caused quite an outrage from American citizens. Also shown in various sources of news, depictions of citizens protesting the legislation around the nation. Protests out in the streets were common. Signs were used by many of the protestors. They all wanted to voice their opinion about how this legislation should not have been passed. They brought up much evidence to help their viewpoint.

                The Constitution is the law of the land in America, as it is called. The Constitution was written by the founding fathers, and it is what all the laws in America is based upon. Congress, when passing legislation, must make sure it is constitutional. The Supreme Court makes sure that laws are constitutional when they are disputed either in lawsuits or when someone broke the law.

                Many people think that the term illegal aliens should not be used as it is offensive to those who are illegal aliens in America. As stated in the Constitution, one citizens cannot excersize his or her rights in order to take away the rights of another citizen. This leads those to believe that the term, illegal aliens, should therefore not be put to use. However, if the Constitution were to be read carefully, then they would notice that the Constitution refers to citizens and the rights that the citizens of America have. If a person is illegally living in America, what gives them the right to be able to gain the rights of the currently legal citizens of America? By doing so shows that the Constitution has no power over the land with the current interpretation, with that interpretation being it belongs and maintains order for America and America alone. Via this interpretation, the Constitution should refer to all of the world; America, however, is not the world’s police. Therefore, even if the illegal aliens believe that the term illegal aliens takes away their rights by means of it being offensive, they have no right nor any power to be able to change American policy.

                However, that is not what happened. The Constitution was interpreted in order to have it to try and maintain order for everyone everywhere, not just in America and not just American citizens. Via this passing of legislation, Congress has declared that even if someone currently living in America is not an American citizen and is here illegally, therefore breaking the law, which is a crime, they still have just as many rights as those legal American citizens have. That interpretation from Congress has a multitiude of flaws, as it could lead to worldy conflicts due to America attempting to be the world police. Therefore, as a person illegally occupying a territory within a nation they are not a citizen of, they should not be granted the same rights as legal citizens of that nation and therefore should not be granted the power to influence policy.

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2016-2017 SMART lunch

SMART LUNCH backstory, a blog post I posted a while ago, was posted. It presents the backstory for background information about SMART LUNCH at Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids in Iowa in the United States of America. Well, if you have not read that blog then I either suggest you go read it or familiarize yourself with the concept of SMART Lunch and how it is used at Kennedy High School and what occurs during it. Well, here goes with this blog post in regards of SMART Lunch.

Before I get into the meat of SMART Lunch, what does it stand for? SMART Lunch is an acronym, so the s and the m and the a and the r and the t all mean something. The l and the u and the n and the c and the h do not, however, stand for something like all the letters in SMART; it just stands for lunch, as it occurs during lunch. Well, it is a great question to ask someone who knows. I am not the person who knows. Well, here goes.

Anyways, next year the Cedar Rapids Community School District, or the CRCSD, is changing things for high schools. For example, every Friday will be a half day. Also, no more zero hour academic classes; the only zero hour classes will be those of physical education, such as performance pe. However, all the high schools in the district will be doing the same thing. This means that all the schools need to be on the same schedule. Currently, the only school that uses SMART lunch is Kennedy High School. This spells trouble, as it points toward Kennedy loosing Smart Lunch. However, there may be one good thing to come out of it.

There is a class offered at Kenneyd High School. It is a social studies class, and it is AP Psychology. It is helping the debate over SMART lunch this year. It has taken a survey of high school students attending Kennedy High School and how they think smart lunch is doing. They answered questions such as what they do during smart lunch, what they think should be added, wheteher or not it is helpful, and other questions along those lines.

The overall question is whether or not Kennedy will keep SMART Lunch for this next upcoming school year of 2016-2017. However, the question will not be answered until next school year.

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Entertainment Advancement

Entertainment. It has changed. It has become a lot more technology based than it was in the past. However, is that for a good or a bad change? That is upt o you. No one knows because it is a complete opinion-however many people have an opinion on it. Some think yes, it is good as it has advanced society. Some think no, as it has made everyone become disconnected from each other. However, it is everyone’s opinion, which they have a right to, as long as thye can make their opinion and back it up with reasons as to why they think that way.

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SMART LUNCH backstory

School. It is such a big, prominent, and an important part in most young people’s lives today. Today, school has grown much more than school used to be a long time ago, and even from just a few years ago. However, I am only going to be typing today about school as in classes, and the time spent at school from the first class of the day to the last class of the day. More specifically, I will be typing about lunch, and the lunch that I will be typing about is SMART lunch. SMART lunch stands for students managing academics and responsible time, so something like that. Anyway, it has something to do with students being responsible and productive and managing time efficiently I think. Well, here goes.

SMART lunch. I think that what I said it stands for is actually what it stands for, but I am not sure. It is something like that. But anyways SMART lunch is used at John F. Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids Community School District in Iowa of the United States of America in North America which is one of the seven continents on planet earth in the milky way galaxy in the universe. Wow that took up a lot of space. But anyways yes my high school used SMART lunch. It is about seventy minutes or so of lunch, with two tutorials of which you can eat lunch, work on homework, get help in classes, or socialize with friends and enjoy yourself. However, this poses a question: where is the best place to be during SMART lunch? What is the best thing to do during SMART lunch?

The best place to be during SMART lunch is arguably not at school. School lunch does not taste all that good, and it is not good for you. Sorry Michelle Obama, but school lunches are not healthy. Putting it bluntly, school lunches suck. That is why it is better to not be at school during smart lunch because then you can have a tastier and a healthier lunch. Yum!

Also if and when you leave for smart lunch you should do it with friends. It is a fun time and you can socialize and have fun spending time with then, if you are so inclined you can get homework and work done, if you need help you can help each other out for classes, and you can get a better tasting and a healthier lunch. There is no reason to stay at Kennedy for smart lunch except if you have to go to a tutorial for a class and to see a teacher, if you are not supposed to be able to leave during smart lunch, or if you just don’t want to leave. So entertain yourself at smart lunch!

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Springtime Bonfires

It is again spring, as it is every year. spring; why is it called spring? Maybe because we spring ahead. Yes, it is probably that. Daylights Savings time, so we spring ahead. Yes. That makes sense. In all honesty I already knew this I just am trying to make this post even longer, so sorry for anything boring in advance. But as of right now I am only about seventy or so words in, and I need a total of twelve hundred words, so I have a lot to go. Yay. This is so much fun and very entertaining. Hey, that’s a good idea; writing posts being entertaining. Post ception. Blogging ception? I am not sure as to the official ception term to use here, but I am sure that there is one. Alright, back to the topic. What is the topic again? Spring? Daylights Savings Time? This blog? Ah, yes. I remember now. This blog is all about bonfires. Here, let us get back into the post. Bonfires, here we come!

Okay. It has been one hundred and seventy nine, no one hundred and eighty, and no now one hundred and ninety two words. Wow. I am booking, all though not really. Yes that should’ve been although. Alright, bonfire. Bonfires? Well, anyway, here we go. Diving right in. Bonfires here we come. Also, side note, I am just making this post really long on purpose, so have fun reading this if you are. And good for you for sticking through this post so far! So congratulations. I want to award you, to congratulate you for your dedication. I have therefore decided that you need a high five. I am not going to give you a high five. I have absolutely no idea who you are. You are probably in Mrs. Assmussen’s class with me sometime during the day. If so, then you need a high five. I am not going to give you the high five, but you should get one from someday. If you are not in her class, you still deserve a high five.

Back to bonfires! So now that it is spring, the weather is much, much, much warmer than in the winter. This means that it is time for bonfires. So go to a bonfire! Have a bonfire with your friends! That can be a lot of fun. Especially if you do fun stuff with your friends. Here are some things you can do at a bonfire: you can sit around the bonfire and talk. You can listen to music. Some people have a dance party. You can have races. You can make jokes. You guys can look up funny YouTube videos. You can all get under a blanket together just because it is cold, not because it is fun or anything but because it is cold. You can also eat. Eat a lot. Like double stuffed oreos, some popcorn, or even some chips. You can also go inside and play video games together. Some fun video games to play together are on the wii, such as Mario Kart. It can be really fun. Especially with friends. Yep. So go to a bonfire with friends. Have a good time. This has been over five hundred words. To be specific, there have been almost five hundred and fifty words so far in this post. So thank you for this. For reading my post. I am sorry for putting you through this post. It has been a lot of fluff as some would call it. Just to up the word count. This will be an easy next two posts because I have only about six hundred words left. So thank you, and go entertain yourself with a bonfire!

So thus a bonfire in the spring would be a lot of fun. Similar to the bonfires in the fall blogpost I posted in the fall, this post is similar but stating how the Spring also presents good weather for bonfires. Basically just because there is no longer snow. So that is it. Bonfires, yay. Bonfire.

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