Cycle 6

Journals:

Tyler-
A song that tells a story is Bad Day by Asher Roth. It tells a story of a man going through a bad day. It tells about the situtations he is put and the people that he meets. Here are the lyrics from the song:

and it just keeps going and it just keeps..So I'm in the airport getting ready to leave heading to a friends wedding in the NYC but my head has been spinning I'm forgetting to eat, all this jet setting has really been getting to me.

It's already 11:20 and I'm ready to sleep but instead I end up sitting in the 27th seat,an isle seat,
fine by me but the guy that's insides always trying to pee. With a wild child behind that's crying
flipping out and kicking at me while it violently screams

So I silently plead "Oh God, please let there be a hunny sitting 27B" but of course a morbidly obese beastis in the seat that weeses when it breathes is at least three deep and he keeps telling me what is wrong with his knees just need water but for a bottle they charge two dollars
and when I thought that it couldn't be worse, I forgot my iPod.

I'm having a bad day, nothing ever seems to go my way.
Everybody needs to go away, why because I'm having a bad day.

and it just keeps going
and it just keeps... X2

So four hours of turbulence, we land when I'm about to turd in my pants, but the captain is seat belt fastened.So my ass is just passin gas and at last I escape from the plane when I'm minutes away from clinically insane.I make my way towards baggage claim when I hear a high pitched voice scream my name.Some dumb B****, it was a high schooler while shes sweating shes telling me she likes my ___I just smile and think how great it would be if I could just hit this chick with a quick like sweep.So I pick up my LL Bean and b line for the next taxi.In need of weed and boxer briefs but my bags only got maxis.

I'm having a bad day, nothing ever seems to go my way.Everybody needs to go away, why because I'm having a bad day.

and it just keeps going
and it just keeps... X2

I check into my hotel room and I pick up my cell phone to dial the groomTell him I moved and I need some water and food and I'm probably gonna stay in and watch a moviebut the tube has no HBO so anything I want yo I'm paying for but I'm lame and broke so I'm laying in a robewatching that Little People Big Roles show right then there's a knock at the door, it's my last hope for a Spanish _who will change my sheets in exchange for penis "Hi, I've lost my ****, have you seen it?"

Jesus, this day is the worst, at least I can give me a little jerk and then go to sleep healthy and diseaseless I guess it could be worse but I'm justhaving a bad day, nothing ever seems to go my way.Everybody needs to go away, why because I'm having a bad day.

and it just keeps going
and it just keeps... X2

Megan-

A song that tells a story is the song "Fancy" by Reba McEntire. This song tells a story about a young girl who has to become a prostitute to help her family. Her mother is very sick and dying, her father left them, and the baby is also very sick. They live in poverty and the only way for them to make a living is for Fancy to bring in the money by sleeping with the richer well-to-do guys in town. Her mother is the one that encourages this and lets Fancy know that this is the only way to help the family.



Emily-

Whiskey lullaby, a song about a girl who dumps her lover, and he drinks his pain away a little at a time. He never could get drunk enough to get her off his mind, he was so depressed that he killed himself. She blamed herself, so she tried to drink her pain away, and killed herself too. They burried her underneath the willow, next to him. .

Book Jacket -- Cycle Four

Imagine having it all. You are the most popular girl in school and the prettiest. Everyone loves you and it seems like everything is working out just perfectly in your life. Yet, the irony of people dying who are closest to you and your past. Her friends and family are disappearing like the leaves, shedding in a deciduous forest. Whoever this serial killer is, they aren't abstemious when it comes to killing people. There is no such thing as antebellum, the war has already started.

Cycle Four Vocabulary Words:
Abstemious
Antebellum
Deciduous
Irony

Article Cycle 4

A few years ago, Christopher West stated, “God gave us the power to love as He loves, so that we would be able to participate in the divine life and fulfill the very meaning of our being and existence.” Today, it seems like some couples don’t view matrimony the same way as most everyone did thirty years ago. These days, when people say “I do,” they aren’t planning on forever, and most of these couples just jump right into the marriage- knowing they can easily get out of it at any given moment if unhappy. However, what most people don’t understand is that marriage is favorable and honorable in the sight of God and needs to be brought back in today’s society for the sake of security, the child’s life, and respect to the Author and Creator of love.
Need-
I. For a woman, marriage brings a sense of security and a provider.
· According to the writers of Marriage and the Common Good, marriage combats depression, provides particularly high psychological benefits, and lowers the risk of suicide.
· It says in the bible that every person longs to feel desired and cared for. What marriage brings for the woman are a soul mate, a best friend, and someone who should stick by her through anything. When people say “I do,” it means standing beside that person no matter the situation.
· Married women are less likely to suffer long term chronic illnesses than single women. Emotionally and physically, men are stronger human beings and don’t usually need another person to depend on as much as a woman does. Not only do men provide love and compassion for women, but they also provide a chance to bring another human into the world.
Transition-
I have explained why marriage is healthy for a woman, but now I will explain how it is also important for the emotional development of the child.
II. Children lead healthier and longer lives if parents get and stay married.
· Marriage promotes the common good by building families and raising children.
· In the article of Marriage Matters, Maggie Gallagher says that “Children do best when they grow up in married, two-parent families. They're more likely to finish school, have good marriages of their own, and avoid problems such as teenage pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse, and juvenile delinquency.”
· Children are 47% less likely to suffer neglect when they grow up in a two- parent home, and they are 55% less likely to be abused. They need special attention while growing up and it is hard for them to get all the attention they need when they only have one parent raising them.
· More than anything, children who are not raised in a functional house hold are typically more likely to have lower expectations in life, verses children who grew up with parents who maintained their marriage.

Transition-
I have explained why marriage is not only healthy for a woman, but how it affects the child’s development. Now I will tell how marriage is viewed through God’s eyes.
III. Of all the ways God chooses to reveal His life and love in the created world, Paul says that marriage is the most fundamental.
· Marriage according to Webster Dictionary is a social institution under which a man and woman establish their decision to live as husband and wife by legal commitments, religious ceremonies, etc.
· God says that marriage is a sacred bond that is between a man and woman, and when they make that pact- it is meant to last forever through any trials.
· In Chapter 5 of Ephesians, verse 31; Paul says, “For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and cling to his bride, and the two shall become of one flesh.” In many other verses of the bible, we can clearly see that marriage is a holy covenant before God. Yet, in today’s society- tragedy of rape against women and children, STDs, unwed mothers, “fatherless children,” abortion, adultery, plus the general cloud of shame and guilt that hangs over sexual matters, all show the tragedy of our sinfulness and fall from God’s intention for us in the beginning.
· God makes all things new and He wants happiness for His children. Studies show that married adults would rate their life as “excellent or good,” opposed to a single adult who would rate their life as just “average.”


Satisfaction-
As we have seen throughout the past few decades, the divorce rate continues to grow, along with the number of unwed parents. We need to inform people at a younger age of how marriage is important and a healthy part of life. We also need to inform others that they need to fight for their marriage and try working things out before ending it all and getting divorced. Of course there are times where divorce is the only way out, but couples need to analyze the relationship before making such a commitment.
Visualization-
If more people would understand that marriage is a necessity, rather than just a temporary relationship- we would start seeing improvements and positive outcomes in our society. Children would be more well- behaved because they would have grown up in a two parent home- where they are able to take morals and values from each parent. We would start seeing a healthier lifestyle for everyone around us, because each couple would support and provide for one another and their family as a whole. Throughout this whole situation, we would be able to see God’s blessings pouring out over those who persevere and endure the hardships that may come with marriage.
Plan-
We must make it known to couples that marriage is a big step, and a huge commitment that most people aren’t mature enough to handle just yet. Couples need to realize what they are partaking in before saying “I do.”
· High schools should require a life skills course to be taken informing teens the importance of marriage and the responsibilities that come along with making that commitment.
· We need to write a proposal to the government requesting that each couple who files for divorce attend mandatory marriage counseling classes for at least one year before the judge announces the official divorce. That is if the reason for divorce isn’t including the danger of one’s life. In that case, the class wouldn’t be necessary.
Conclusion-
Marriage is a necessity for the fact that each person needs their soul mate and a secured future. Each man and woman needs to find their significant other, the one that God has created specifically for them, and for the purpose of marriage. So as the preacher says, “Marriage is a solemn institution to be held in honor by all, it is the cornerstone of the family and of the community. It requires of those who undertake it a complete and unreserved giving of one's self. It is not to be entered into lightly, as marriage is a sincere and mutual commitment to love one another.” With that said, I urge you all to wait patiently for the one God has created specifically for you, for the purpose of marriage.

Cycle 3 Feature Article

Introduction:
Publius Syrus once stated that the pain of mind is worse than pain of body.

We all catch ourselves sometimes repeating habits over and over like we are lost in a broken record, but for those who struggle with OCD- it is a constant battle.

Today I’m going to inform you of the effects of OCD and how the disorder turned my brother’s life into a whirlwind.


I. The beginning symptoms of OCD are like trying to see the sun shine on a very cloudy day.

A) In the beginning stages of OCD, many people aren’t even aware that they have this disorder.

1. When my brother was 16 years old, he was the normal teenager. Life was going extremely well at this time of his life.

a) He kept God first, he had a great family to support him in everything he did, and he kept straight A’s all throughout the school years. My brother, Mark, was a stand out athlete in every single sport he played. He was extremely confident and had everything going for him. However, around the middle of his junior year- we all started noticing some drastic changes.

2. Mark began to mumble and his anxiety increased dramatically.
b) His insecurities doubled and had become more apparent. This wasn’t the confident person I knew my brother used to be. It was strange to see Mark talking to himself, and even stranger seeing how his personality took a complete 360 degree turn.


a) Nearly 6 million Americans suffer from symptoms of OCD.
b) 10% of Americans will go their whole life untreated.
c) ?
d) ?
e) Obsessive Compulsive Disorder- an anxiety disorder that is characterized by recurrent, unwanted thoughts and/or repetitive behaviors.



II. OCD slowly takes over and we are never prepared for the struggle.

A) After three years, Mark’s obsessions and compulsions were only getting worse- so we had to seek medical help. After many sessions of counseling and doctor visits, we could see that all of this wasn’t enough.

1) The anxiety was at its worst. More tears were shed than I can even remember. He had grown bitterer and the disorder was draining all of our energy. It had become something we had to deal with on a day- to- day basis.
a)His anger tripled and the aggression was being taken out on other people. The disorder began to cause him to even lose his self control.

B) When an individual is diagnosed with OCD, it isn’t rare that they could also develop a case of Tourettes Syndrome. His Tourettes caused him to have motor ticks. When people think of Tourettes, they often think about the verbal ticks- in which curse words often fly out of their mouths. The new disorder made it hard to carry on a conversation with Mark because he was constantly twitching his eyes and wrinkling his forehead.


III. It had all become so consuming that we needed to seek professional help.

A) Mark was now 22 years old and we were looking for something more than just counseling and doctor visits. Kentucky did not have much to offer, so we looked up a place in St. Louis, Missouri. This place was in the Top Ten OCD treatment centers in the United States. We were desperate for the first opening and that’s where we felt like God led us.

1) Being in St. Louis was motivation for us all, and it gave us the hope we needed to keep pushing through.

a) At the clinic, my brother started out with breathing lessons. Then he started working on listening to the words repeatedly that once triggered his OCD. This process was called “Exposure and Response Prevention.” The next step was trying to resist and delay rituals. The last obstacle was conquering his fear of me dying. The task was to walk through a cemetery holding my picture. It sounds weird to us, but we can only imagine how difficult it was for him. He checked out of the clinic after 30 days and was 75% healed of the disorder.


Today, I have explained to everyone how ugly of a wrath OCD really is. The disorder is exactly like quicksand; everything seems normal on the outside, but on the inside there is a huge mess.
At age 16, Mark was displaying his first symptoms of this disorder. We can all see by now just how fast that OCD can take over. It works simply by unwanted thoughts, repetitive activities, and mumbling- turning into multiple panic attacks, thoughts of hopelessness, and even thoughts of suicide. Truly, my brother was lost in a broken record.

Cycle 4 Journals

Megan:
Everyone is away to Washington, D.C. so we basically have a total of ten people in our class. I am apart of the Moo Moo Book Club, but I wasn't as involved as the others who attended this trip. I wish I would have gone to D.C. with everybody because I know we would all have a good time. Lindsey and Stephanie got sick though so I probably wouldn't have had as good as a time as I would've if they went along. All in all I am sad I missed out on this opportunity. Hope everyone is having fun!


Tyler:
I have played football since I was in 3rd grade, which means I have been playing for ten years. It's sad to think that this is my last year as a MCHS football team member. It has been a good experience playing with everyone who has been on the team with me. We all had a good time and I'm sad to be leaving after this year. I will not be playing in college so this is the final year for me. It's difficult to think that I will never be on another football field, running the ball again after our last game. But I wish everyone who are grades below me the best of luck and I would just tell them to enjoy it while they can.


Christian:
I have been playing soccer since I was 3 years old. I moved to Kentucky from California when I was in middle school. The sport wasn't as popular here in KY as it was there. Soccer is my first love and my main focus. I am hoping to attend UK in the fall of next year and play soccer there. After that, I'm hoping to go pro. It has always been a dream of mine and I'm waiting to fulfill it.