Halloween Themed Story

 You open your eyes and it is completely dark. The only thing you remember is driving to the store to get groceries, but before you got into the store something happened. When you realize you're hanging upside down with your feet tied together, you hear something breathing. You don't know what to do, at first you stay still and silent. As you start to say something, it asks what you were doing. Its voice is deep, dark, and scratchy. It grabs your head and laughs in your face. Your body starts to go numb and suddenly it cuts the tight ropes around your legs to let you down. When the last thread of the rope breaks, you fall 5 feet to the floor.

Old Photos

Jessie Fraser is a young girl from Springfield Missouri. She was born on December 21, 1937. She goes to school every day and loves to practice dance, ride her bike, and play sports with her family. She has always wanted to be a professional dancer since she knew what dancing was really. She goes and watches people dance any chance she gets so she can try their moves and make herself better. She does have a fear of not being able to become the dancer she wants to be. She is also scared that their family could not have everything they need in the future. Her dad is off to World War 2 so her fears are at their highest right now. She misses her father to death and is starting to have a hard time at home while he is gone. Her mother tries to help her in every way she can but she misses him so much that it hurts her. Her mom helps her push through this to keep dancing and become the dancer she wants to be. A couple years later, her dad ends up getting home. She has improved so much since he was gone that he almost can't believe it. Finally their family is together and she is going to have even more support to become what she dreams to be.

Photo Scavenger Hunt

This round wood table was found in the library.  I like the wood grain texture and the setting for doing research or other school work.

This yellow square table was also found in the library. I personally don't enjoy the color very much to study or do work. But it is a happy color so maybe it could work. 

I think a little kid would notice these toy dolls and want to play with them.  I found these in the library on top of book shelves as student work being displayed. I like the simple circle head shapes and body with the very detailed painting.

This football with jerseys and jersey numbers on it was a student work on display. There is a notecard with it explaining what it represents and why they chose that object. It reminds me of the objects we brought in at the beginning of this class.

The library courtyard. Last year in Mr. Ryan's class we came out here a few times and it always reminds me of that when I see the courtyard through the windows. I really enjoyed his class and the times spent out there so being reminded of those times is nice.

These three cameras and ceiling tile make a funny looking smiley face to me. It was fun to look for faces in random things because I ended up finding a few. It interests me to see all of the random, crazy faces people find everyday.

The school bathrooms, something that seems to annoy everyone in school. The sinks are all different, and most don't even work. A lot of the toilet seats are weird and messed up. I remember my middle school bathrooms being so much more nice than the ones at kickapoo.

This rock was found in the science wing. I really like whatever material makes it have that sparkle effect. It is crazy to think these kinds of things are just randomly found in nature.

I took this picture of books outside of Mr. Arredondo's room. It reminded me of freshman year and taking physics with him.

During the photo hunt we ran into my friend Hayden in the commons. We have a lot of fun times and memories from he past years and summers. I love spending time with my friends, laughing, and doing random things having fun.

Gas by Hopper

Gas by Hopper is my favorite painting by him. I really like how it is dark out yet well lit by the gas station. I like the deep, darkness in the right of the painting that shows how dark it is in the night, it is a little bit eerie but I really enjoy it. This dark alleyway in the back also reminds me of the "Hash Slinging Slasher" from SpongeBob. It looks like the man working at the station is messing with the gas pump maybe fixing it or taking out the money. This makes me think they used to use coins for gasoline because we didn't have credit cards, that would be strange now to see someone using change to pay for our gas. I really enjoy the feeling of this painting even though it could be a little spooky in a way. I could see this being used as a beginning of a scary movie. While he is messing with the machine or taking money out he hears something far out in the woods getting closer, rustling through the leaves. While the man is back inside the station, after a lonesome car stops for some gas, he sees this thing in the woods and it keeps coming closer.

Window Poems

Straight ahead is a field sitting next to the library center
To the left is a Denny's
and past that you can see Weaver Road
Today it gets cooler, and darker sooner
Sometimes I am happy to stay others I am ready to be in my bed
The sun starts to set
I know it's getting closer to closing
I can barely see the Library
Behind that I know there is SAM's Club, Academy, and Walmart. I am sitting in my cozy little place right near my house and everywhere I go.

Art Walk

There are red flowers using swirls of paint. To the side of that, there are green swirls and mark just making a circle shape. Contrasting marks of color making small plant parts are coming out of that. The background is a grayish and then tan color blending together with a rigid edge. Also next to the red flower shape is an off white paint using small marks to make a circle. It makes me feel calm, cozy, and relaxed. It is a very peaceful piece. It reminds me of spending time in nature looking at wild life and different plants. There are two trails in the bottom of my neighborhood where the pool and tennis courts are that I have always loved to explore and spend time in. It is very relaxing to walk down a trail by yourself or with friends in nature just enjoying, doing whatever. I love the smells of the seasons and being outdoors really brings the season close and leaves great memories. It would be really relaxing for an artist to sit out in those woods next to the creek painting a still life portrait. I think paintings can be very amazing because it gives plenty of detail but with a brush and liquid that you wouldn't think could become a beautiful painting, it takes a lot of skill and practice. I love drawing and making art using graphic design, I think it would be awesome to be able to paint like this.

Contrasting flowers

Red flower made of swirling paint

Makes me feel at peace

Paintings by Renoir

Luncheon of the Boating Party -Pierre Auguste Renoir

  This painting is calm and relaxing to me and reminds me of a bunch of different events I have been to. I could imagine them all near the lake where they have their boats, docks, and jet skis. Then they
enjoy having conversation with some wine. They go inside and start cooking the steak, potatoes, and vegetables. They enjoy their weekend together and the time away from working. They dance, drink wine, and spend time on their boats until the sun sets.  I like the amount of detail used in this painting and the style of it. The light coming in is really nice looking and a lot of his paintings seem to have this nice warm light coming in from one side. It definitely takes a lot of skill to have this kind of detail and lighting coming through. I love the feeling this piece brings and how it reminds me of certain times like being at weddings as a kid, and being at the lake. Most of Renoir's other paintings seem to also have this detail style which I really enjoy seeing.

Woman in a Landscape -Pierre Auguste Renoir

This painting is a woman and 2 or 3 people(it's hard to tell) in a field. The woman is sitting looking like she is watching the people. One is on their knees appearing to be doing plant work. I could imagine her being the wife of a husband who owns land and has multiple jobs he does. She is watching the workers to make sure they are placing some new decorative plants in the right spots. She walks around the yard thinking and reminiscing times, wishing her husband were home right there by her side. She makes lunch, cleans some, and does everything she usually does on the days her husband is gone. I really enjoy the soft detail in this painting like the other one I chose and many others Renoir has done. The front landscape in the bottom of the painting is very interesting and pleasing to look at because of the colors blending. I really like the overall layout of the landscape, the small amount of sky showing through the trees, and the small piece of land showing where the people  look like they are working.

Artist Bio

My name is Keaton

My artist's name is Pierre Auguste Renoir

He was born in February, 1841, and died in 1919. He was the son to a tailor and seamstress in Limoges, France. He had 3 siblings, and attended free drawing classes and was the apprentice to a porcelain painter. Lise Trehot had his child but he didn't recognize it much during his life. 

5 Major Events

War ends in 1871

American Civil War

Telephone is invented

Abraham Lincoln assassination

First movie ever is developed

Three struggles Renoir faces were arthritis which made it hurt to paint, curling of his fingers permanently also made is difficult to paint. He also had a stroke in 1912 leaving him in a wheelchair.

The artist mostly worked wish bright paints. He was associated with the Impressionism Era and 3 of his famous works include Madame Charpentier and her children, Dance in the Country, and Dance at Bougar. Two pieces by this artist I like are Luncheon of the Boating Party, and Woman in a Landscape. I like these because of the detail, but not super intricate brush strokes or anything. I love the way they make me feel and the colors used.

Comments

Nice work, Will. I like how you had your first and last sentence highlighted. I think that style can make a lot of strong pieces.
Good job Will, I like how with just that part of a memorable passage you were able to elaborate that much about yourself.
Nice thoughts Will, I also like fiction for some of the same reasons you mentioned. I also read Crazy European Chick and thought it was a really good book.


Good work Katelynn, I also enjoyed this book a lot. I like the connection you made with your passage and the reason it is close to you.
 Nice job Katelynn, I agree that we can be trapped by mental and physical things like you mentioned. I like how your short story actually explains a lot.
Great work Katelynn! I enjoyed the short, touching story. I like how that all came from the idea of the camping ad.

Newspaper Inspired Piece

The first newspaper blackout I did talks about young Americans likeliness to encounter police vs adults. While younger Americans are about equally likely to say they've had an encounter with police, young black adults are much more likely than whites to say they've been arrested or harassed. Twenty eight percent of blacks say they have been arrested after encounters with law enforcement, 24 percent say they have been personally harassed by police, and 53 percent say they know someone who has. This statistic really makes me think, are police really that racially biased, do they commit that much more crime, or do they just get caught more often than whites because of the racial bias? This issue has risen up a ton in the last few years in places like Ferguson. In short, it is a huge controversy as to wether or not white police are being racially biased in some of these cases. I personally have thought it is a little bit annoying constantly hearing about those things. I think as long as people are being treated equal by police, there is no complaining we can do, but I don't know everything about these stories. I do know that, no matter the race of the person, if they have a gun and seem threatening to you as a police officer, you should take care of the situation properly. I think in close to all of these cases, if not all, the police are just reacting to the situation the best they can. They only have a split second before making the decision on how to handle these types of situations, so I don't think it is right for people to be automatically assuming anything just because the suspect happened to be black. We need to think about the fact that they are doing their job and reacting to scary situations fast, and every once in a while they may make the wrong decision.

Six Word Memoirs

Pursue happiness so it can come
Adventure nature, keep your mind traveling
Do things that bring you happiness
Missing the times of being together
Laughing, tubing across the wavy lake
We will miss this family time
Your work helps enjoy the day