Sunday, 24 April 2011

Eggs, Eggs and more Eggs!

Hey there, guess what? Easter is this weekend!, but I am sure all of you knew that, ha.
Something that my family loves to do for Easter is make colorful Easter egg.
Here are the steps on how to make an Easter egg:
Items:
Eggs
Paint
Paint brushes
Newspaper 
The Actual Steps:
  1. Hard boil the eggs
  2. Use blown eggs (to be able to keep your creations forever):
    1. Poke a small hole at each end of the egg
    2. Break up the yolk inside with a sharp object
    3. Gently blow into one end of the egg to allow its contents to come out; you can use:
    4. Wash the inside of the egg out with water
    5. Let the egg dry for a little bit
    6. Start paintint!
    7. Let it dry for a while
      And there you go! Your end result is a colorful Easter Egg!
    I sure hope your egg turned out looking better then mine did!
This is a cool looking Easter Egg:(photo taken from here)
-MP

Friday, 22 April 2011

Happy Earth Day

Today, April 22nd, is Earth Day. This holiday originated in 1977 and has been held on every April 22nd since. It is now celebrated in more than 150 countries worldwide. The point of it is to create awareness and inspire action to protect Earth, as well as to just celebrate nature.

There's an endless array of possibilities for how you could spend your Earth Day honoring our planet. Here are just a few.

-Plant a tree
-Or just plant some plants
-Cut down on the animal products you consume. You don't have to go vegan, or even vegetarian, but just eating a little less could make all the difference
-Speaking of food...try buying more local things. Farmer's market, anyone?
-Turn off the lights when you leave a room
-Donate money to environment causes
-Pick trash somewhere outside, like a park
-Ride your bike or walk somewhere (or take the bus!) instead of using a polluting car
-Recycle things (that's what those big blue bins are for :P)
-Just spend time outside, enjoying nature. You could go outside and play soccer, or go swimming, or have a picnic with your friends or family (things that I would totally do if I wasn't sick right now...)

I could go on and on...there are lots of things you could do...but I'll spare you right now.

Also, if you have nothing better to do, you should take this quiz from the Earth Day website to find out about your personal environmental impact on the Earth. I took it, and let's just say I'm not as green as I could be... How green are you?

Plant a tree, like this one, planted a few years ago, and the tiny one behind it that we planted a few months ago. (It has leaves now!) 
Happy Earth Day, everyone!

-KG

Thursday, 21 April 2011

The Beastie Boys are back

Yep. The Beastie Boys, one of hip-hop's most influential rap groups of all time, have just recently released a mini-movie that retells the musical history of the group. This will also be followed by their new album, which is set to be released on May 3rd of this year. The movie itself, named "Fight For Your Right Revisited," features a lot of well-known celebrities, like Jack Black and Will Ferrell.
The Beastie Boys themselves, and yes, they are white.
I know that most of the people who read this blog aren't really into hip-hop and rap, but I'm pretty interested in this. I always figured that the Beastie Boys had faded away from the hip-hop scene, like most of the other rappers and rap groups from the 80s, but apparently not. Looks like age means nothing to them, seeing as how they're all around 45 years old now. I can't wait to see how their new album turns out.

For anyone interested, see the mini-movie here.

-ACM

Bored

Ten ways you know some one is bored

1. They dont care what they do.
2.they appear quiet
3 their careless at times
4. their not engaged
5. they sleep
6. they say their bored "duhh"
7. they talk to other people instead
8. they have no life
9. they do their minimum
10. they lack energy

Monday, 11 April 2011

ack, feature leads

I'm not finished! Please excuse the mess that is my feature leads.

1. Compare//Contrast
For most Americans, a trip to a grocery store is nothing interesting. The same old aisles lined with flashy colored boxes of over-processed food don’t offer much in the ways of excitement. But for fourteen-year-old Clarissa T., who lives in Belgrade, Serbia,  the experience can be astounding.

“Walking into an American grocery store is mind-blowing for me,” Clarissa said. “There’s so many options, it’s insane!”

2. Descriptive-ish  
She’s lived in Washington D.C., Moscow, Berlin, San Francisco and now Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. She’s visited four continents and more countries than she can remember. She speaks two languages fluently and several others partially.


3. Narrative//Descriptive
Clarissa T. has moved countless times, from country to country, across continents. By now she's used to the flying, the packing, the different cultures. But there are some things that you never really get used to, like leaving the people you'll never see again.

-Kendall

Feature Story Leads- ACM

  1. Lead #1 (Narrative)- Coach McNeil isn’t your average Geometry teacher. He’s far from it, actually. With 23 years of coaching experience, and many years of playing sports before that, sports have had a major influence in his life.
  2. Lead #2 (Descriptive)- As he looks at his football team playing out in the field, Coach McNeil gets a look in his eyes that shows his passion for sports and also shows that he loves doing what he does.
  3. Lead #3- “I spend part of my day, everyday, around sports, whether it be playing it or coaching it,” says Coach McNeil. “Honestly, I love sports. They allow you to learn things that you otherwise probably would have never learned.”

Little Miss Kickball Leads

“strike one, strike two, strike 3 kickers out” the umpire had called. As monesia slowly walked to the dug out in shame of letting her team down, she stumbled over a lost of hope. She just knew that she would be singled out by the best.


The  strive for success, the encouragement to do her best , as the time begins to narrow she kicks the dirt off the base  and stare into mid space. The cheers and laughter were great but it just may be too late.

"Whoa, i dont know if i want to go to the kickball game or run track... i'm confused on what to do."

Miguel P. Leads

Descriptive:
He started out as an average child. He owned a piano that he occasionally liked to bang on. The banging slowly evolved into an interest in playing piano. As a teenager, his stepfather’s best friend had inspired him to learn saxophone, which opened up many doors. Who is this man? None other then the LBJ Jazz Band Director, Ponder East.

Compare and Contrast: Being in a musical family, one is automatically signed up to play instruments and have some sort of talent. For some this might be an age full of misery, but or Ponder East it was what got him to where he is now. From a young age he learned how to bang the keys of a piano and make it sound, to him, that the angels were singing. He was no child prodigy, of course, but living in the shadow of musically inclined parents and enjoying it led him on the path of his choice career now.

Direct Quote:Some people might ask, “why bother teaching?” Ponder East replies with “I have gotten to be creative in ways that I don't think I would be able to be in another environment”. Ponder East is a person who followed there dreams and became a Jazz director at LBJ High School.

Friday, 8 April 2011

can you grow from sports???

Not physically but mentally, can you actually grow from playing sports??? yes you can i believe, when your playing a sport you gain the opportunity to learn how to work with others, to accept them for who they may be, to have fun, and to becaome active. I play two sports now and have been playing sports since i was the age of three, i have learned how to communicate betters with others and it has made me grow in a different yet original way. Now i know how to communicate better when im at school doing a project and/or when im getting interviewed by an individual the sports can help you grow and have fun doing what you love at the same time.

Thursday, 7 April 2011

My interview experience

So this week, I had my interview for my feature story. The person that I decided to interview was Coach McNeil, who some of you may know as the Geometry teacher here at LASA. Overall, I think that my interviewing experience went well. I didn't really have much trouble trying to schedule a time to interview him, and there weren't really any awkward moments. I will admit though, that I was a bit sick during the interview, so I imagine that I sounded really unenthusiastic and also noticed that I had trouble trying to say what I wanted to ask. He was still able to understand what I was asking though, and gave some really good answers and quotes that I could use in writing my piece. My feature piece itself is going to be about him, and his experiences that he's had with sports throughout his entire life (he apparently has had a lot of experience, seeing as he's a coach here at the school). So, overall, I think the interview went pretty smoothly.

Also, just so that this post doesn't seem to boring, there was a man who drove around a car with some friends in New Mexico. Thing is, he apparently didn't know that one friend was dead the entire time, since he thought that she was just sleeping. His other friends in the car seemed to notice, but he didn't. That must've been awkward for his friends.

-ACM

Teens go gaga for Gaga

First of all, I would just like to talk about my interviewing experience for a little while. I interviewed the Jazz Band Director from LBJ, Mr. East. Band is one of my primary interests and it just made interviewing Mr. East even more fun. Getting a hold of Mr. East was difficult even if he does teach at the same school that I go to...It's difficult to get a hold of him mainly because he is always coming and leaving the school. When I had finally gotten a chance to interview Mr. East, the interview started a little awkward, but as we progressed through, the awkwardness slowly started going away. This whole process was actually pretty fun and I hope to do it again sometime in the future 

Secondly,
      My feature story is about the LBJ Jazz director and how he came to get his job at LBJ. My feature will be in a way, a sort of Biography of his musical life. Beginning from when he first started playing Piano as a child to now, where he performs at various places and still manages to teach and how he gets paid for doing something he truly loves to do.

Thirdly,
     Lady Gaga came into town yesterday (Wednesday April 6) and performed at the Frank Irwin Center. Isn't that pretty cool??? Although I was not able to attend the concert, I heard it was pretty awesome. As a matter of fact, I had completely forgotten she was going to perform here in Austin, until I realized late at night that the radio had been playing lots of songs by Lady Gaga. Born This Way being played about every 30 minutes or so along with some of her other top hits. It also helped that lots of people were posting it as there status on Facebook.

    What makes Lady Gage is pretty  much known for her wardrobe...and her very interesting...music videos. Each new video somehow manages to be even stranger then the last one that just came out. In my opinion, she's one of those artists' whose work is always being criticized, but I mean at least her songs in a way have messages in them and don't teach us about the week...shall I remind you about my "Friday" post?
That is in Fact Lady Gaga in an egg

-MP

my interviewing experience

This is a Post about my Feature Story Interviewing Experience. Don't let the capital letters fool you... It's really not all that exciting. In fact, it was pretty normal. I mean, I've interviewed people before for Newspaper so I knew what was going to happen. Plus this was someone I knew so that made it a lot easier.

I interviewed my cousin Clarissa. Clarissa and her family live in Belgrade, Serbia (a thousand points to you if you  know where that is... I didn't before they moved there). I thought it would be interesting to write my feature story about her experiences moving around a lot and living in a foreign country. She's lived in four different countries throughout her life (she's fourteen, my age) and visited upwards of 30 countries (she can't even remember). Anyway, she's pretty easy to contact and has a pretty interesting life so that is how I chose my topic.

I emailed her to ask if I could interview her and then I sent my questions.
She responded...from Poland.
And then the next day I asked her a few more questions.
And she responded....from Paris.

True story.

Anyway. This is probably already too long and ramble-y, so toodles!

~KRG

Thursday, 31 March 2011

The Day of The Prank

     So while sitting in ezine today, I thought to myself, what is so special about April (besides any religious dates) and it took me until I got home to realize that tomorrow was April 1st A.K.A. April Fools Day! April Fools Day is one of my personal favorite "holidays" because one is able to play so many jokes on other people. Here is a list of some funny pranks that have been played on the public.
      While April fools can be pretty funny, it does get rather annoying after a while, especially when people prank you specifically to annoy you. There is also the case where people take pranks too personally and get mad at the pranker. How you spend your April fools day really only depends on the group of people you hang out with. The day can be funny, annoying, or some people might not even realize that it is April fools.
     I personally have some jokes that I am patiently waiting to accomplish. I am really looking forward to tomorrow and seeing everyone's pranks! Happy soon to be April Fools Day!

 -MP

Tweeting Cobra

A "Missing Person" sign that someone made for the cobra.
So it turns out that the cobra that had escaped from the Bronx Zoo about a week ago was finally found and was safely returned back to its cage. It reportedly took a lot of patience in order to return it back to its cage without getting anyone hurt. Zookeepers didn't really expect for the cobra to hurt someone (which it didn't), but they also didn't expect anyone to make a Twitter account for the missing cobra either.The cobra "official" Twitter account was made shortly after news of its escape was found out, and apparently quickly got 200,000 followers. One of its tweets read, "If you see a bag of peanuts inexplicably moving along the ground at Yankee Stadium today, just ignore it. It's probably nothing." While it is nice to hear that the cobra is safely back in its cage, I think it's pretty funny that someone took the time to make a Twitter account for it and updated it. 


More information on the story can be found here, and in case anyone actually wants to follow the cobra, its Twitter account is @BronxZoosCobra. I don't know if it still makes tweets though.


-ACM

pictures from Haiti

My grandpa recently got back from a short trip to Haiti. He went to volunteer with my dad's cousin who is a doctor. Though it has been more than a year since the devastating 7.0 earthquake shook this country, and people are more focused on other disasters, like that in Japan, not everybody has recovered. The quake left about 1.3 million people homeless and lots of those people still are living in makeshift tents or other temporary  shelters.

Anyway, here are some pictures my grandpa brought back of his trip. I think it's beautiful and sad at the same time; the scenery is pretty until you stop and think about all the terrible things that have happened to this country and its people.

I like the look of the houses on the slope.



And here is a street! I like the houses in the background again and the people walking away. The roads aren't in the best condition, as you can tell.


Here are some human people. I'm not sure entirely what they're doing or where they are. Any guesses?

Here's another street scene.


I've noticed a lot of people carrying things on their heads...Just an observation. What else do I see? Well, I spy a Texaco gas station, a police car and a sign in French.

All pictures belong to my grandpa or whoever took them. Either way, they're not mine. For more information about Haiti, I suggest this website: Haiti, One Year On.

So, that concludes my post. I haven't had the chance to talk to my grandpa about his trip yet so most of what I know is taken from these pictures. Still, a picture is worth a thousand words.....

~KRG

Mariah and Nick Cannon babieS? born?

Unfortunately for the couple the babies have not came yet... =( although the scare for them almost coming was shocking yet exciting. The big singer Mariah Carey had begun to have contractions and her husband nick cannon was nervous although excited. The singer had went to the hospital on March 27th to hear the news that its not time quite yet. Since the singer is having twins it is important that they stay in the "incubator" as long as possible the official due date although has been confirmed to be on the 14th of may. (so soon!!!) Her husband Nick Cannon said that the trip and situation of the twins almost coming was "nerves- wrecking" for him. He had also laughed around and mentioned with thanks for all the stuff animals and different items received for when the twins come. he had mentioned that " with all the animals they have received it looks like Noahs ARc" -Tehehe lol!!! =) very funny. cant wait till the little ones come, who knows??? they may become big stars like their parents. (willow and jayden did that will they also???)

The Top Hip Brands of Clothing

In this modern world today the clothing that one wears often reflect their character, personality and/or style. Clothes to me are a part of me they are a portion of who i am. The list below is the Top hip brands that there is as of now but there are always new fashion and trends. Dress yourself, where the clothing you wear give a person first impression a story about you.

COOGI: Is one of the latest brands that has been out it is mostly attractive due to the different bright colors used within. When one wears this clothing it makes them stand out within the crowd and catch peoples attention ecspecially since the brand is a new expensive and colorful style.

Sean JOHN: Sean John was a style that has been out for approximately 12 years and is still a big  hip brand of clothing for one to wear. the style of his clothing makes something so original stand out. Sean John was originated by Sean "Diddy" the singer, he has created many of styles for women and for men. When one wears his clothing they usually get peek a boo eyes around them (meaning people will watch them as they walk with their clothing or pass by them.) watching. It is a style that has been out for awhile although still gets people attention, rarely seen worn these days whic makes it even more attentioned when worn.

Baby Phat: is a brand that was created by kimora lee simons and is todays most popular clothing. The style of this brand is the cat and the name baby phat printed on the clothing. this brand is very stylish and is interested by many.

Apple Bottoms: Is a brand that was created by nelly and is another stylish casual wear that has been worn by oprah and vivica fox and etc. The name was original created to state "you dont fit the clothes, just let the clothes fit you." The name of the brand has made the style different. The apple of the clothign is the most eye catching item for its a fruit and it was a different way of putting a swagg out in the modern world style. This Brand was created for women to have the attention around by letting the clothes fit them but not them buying sizes too small or big for the perfect fit they were looking for.

Dereon: The dereon industry was created by Beyonce and her sister and mom. The name "DEREON" had came from their grandmothers name. the Style of clothing i believe is a touch of their swagg that is shared with soceity. The swagg for this brand often changes to different styles every now and then to perk the flavor of ones interest.

Thursday, 24 March 2011

The Return of Japan

Picture of the Japanese flag.
A few days ago, the Sports section of the International Business Times reported that Japan's soccer league, the J-League, is set to return to playing matches on April 23rd. Currently, most of the Japanese soccer stadiums are being repaired, but some matches have already been rescheduled. Others have yet to be rescheduled, and one tournament is still temporarily on pause. While I do think it's great that the Japanese are acting fast towards being able to play soccer again, I also think that they're also acting too fast. The country is still facing problems from the tsunami/earthquake, and I think that the country should first try to fix those major problems first before trying to get sports in the country up and running again. That's just my opinion though.

Friday? Are We Really Ready for this Weekend?

     So I can pretty much say that the song "Friday" by "upcoming" artist Rebecca Black, is one of the worst songs I have ever listened to it. Not just because of the awful lyrics, but because she has an awful voice. The worst part about this song is that is catchy! While walking through the halls of LASA, I can hear people singing the chorus of the song which is "its' Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday".

     Even during lunch I hear people discussing how awful the song is. As a matter of fact, tonight I started talking to my friend Madisen D. about the song and she said "I hate that song. With a passion." This is coming from a person who is very open about listening to different kinds of music. One must wonder why this song is suddenly so popular. The answer may or may not be the catchy tune or just the surprise on how one can get so famous for a terrible piece of work. This may just be an opinion, but you should check it out and tell me what you think.


-MP

intelligent creatures

Because everybody likes cute furry animals. (Most of the time.)


I don't know about you, but I think polar bears are rather adorable. So when I saw these pictures, along with this article, it made me smile. I thought I would share it here.

The story is this: A director who was making a documentary on polar bears disguised his remote-controlled cameras as snowballs, in the hopes that they would blend in with the icy tundra. He captured some cool photos this way, but only before being out-smarted by some polar bears. The playful bears ended up destroying more than $200,000 worth of equipment, but at least they got these pictures first.

 There were a few different kinds of cameras: the snowball cam (the spherical one in the second picture below), the drift cam, the blizzard cam and the iceberg cam, which was for above and below water filming. Here are the bears "playing" with the cameras.


How cute is that? One (okay, two) more:


I thought it was very interesting how the bears responded to these. They are pretty intelligent creatures, are they not?

The documentary was for the BBC and it was called Polar Bear: Spy on Ice. It was broadcast in December but if you want to watch a little, there's also a really cute video {well, I think it's cute} you can watch here.

(The photos are from here and here.)

~KG

Monday, 21 March 2011

Kickball is a real sport!!!

State championship we won once again, it is so much fun playing kickball!!! too bad that it is not national.
Most people associate kickball as an activity played only in school or just for fun. Although what they do not know is that kickball has an organization designed for young ladies (little miss) to be active and enjoy playing a game they love. the organization little miss kickball have girls from ages 4-18 playing. There are 5 different levels/sections that the young girls are divided into based on their ages. although it seems as if we just play the sport we have tournament state tournament and also allstars meaning the best of the best compete against other teams that play within the main league of little miss kickball. I personally play with a league known as UHO and have competed in allstars all my years and experience two allstar state champions wins and made MVP every year, i advise all young ladies to get active and enjoy playing sports, even if it is not national. although kickball should be national and there should be a change, for we work as hard as softball and baseball players with the same rules almost just that we kick a large ball instead of swinging at a small one.
how come kickball is not a national sport like baseball and sofball???

Thursday, 10 March 2011

Rising Artist

     While roaming through the “ReadyMade magazine” online, I came across an article/gallery of pictures that I really enjoyed. This article/gallery talks about a man named Jay Nelson who used to make skateboards and surfboards. Nelson was also a painter, so he wasn't completely new to art. By combining his fabrication background with his painting skills, he was able to create this new form of art. He now makes art that comes in the shape of scooters and pods and other vehicle-related objects. How cool is that? This form of art is relatively new and interesting. He started out by making the original Car Camper (2007), which was a car with a mini-shed like room attached to the back on the car. His art has expanded so much that he now creates boats that can actually float in water! He also does paintings and sketches that look really awesome. Nelson seems to like to sketch a lot of landscapes. Landscapes are drawings that involve the environment such as trees, foliage, rivers, and mountains.
This is a picture of one of his piece's that he calls "The Golden Gate 1"
    
     Nelson is very young (only 31) and I am truly looking forward to seeing some of his art later in the future. Nelson has talent and his career has only just begun.
-Miguel P.

The Gold Cup

A few days ago, CONCACAF (the official soccer organization for North AmericaCentral America and the Caribbean), announced that the semifinals to the Gold Cup would be held in the Reliant Stadium, located in Houston. The semifinal is set to be played on June 22. The Gold Cup, for those who don't know, is the official tournament held by the CONCACAF between the teams that make up the organization. 
Picture of Reliant Stadium, located in Houston.
The first match for the Gold Cup is set to occur on June 5th, with Costa Rica vs. Cuba, and the second match will be Mexico vs. El Salvador shortly afterwards. Both matches will take place in Arlington, Texas, as the United States is hosting the Cup this year. The tournament is set to last about 3 weeks, with the final match being played in Pasadena, California. Along with this, the CONCACAF also announced the groups of teams. There are 3 groups, with 4 teams in each group. Group A consists of Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Cuba. Group B consists of Honduras, Guatemala, Jamaica, and Grenada. Group C consists of USA, Canada, Panamá, and Guadeloupe. It looks like the Gold Cup will be interesting this year, since the 3 big countries aren't all in the same group.


All the schedules for matches, and where they will be played at, along with all the information listed here, can be found at CONCACAF's official website.


-ACM

books

Hello! It's Kendall. Today I'm going to post some pictures I took for my opinion layout, which is about the importance of libraries.


Have a great day!

Wednesday, 9 March 2011

Do you have jordans Game instead of shoe game??? =)


   Now days, most people associate a person of having "shoe game" if they have
a) alot of jordans
b) have the latest jordans that had came out
  I personally feel you may have "shoe game" if the shoes you wear appear fascinating, interesting and styling to most. if they know how to chose other brand types of shoes that are just as stylish as jordans, and different. Yes indeed a lot of people have jordans and think they are the most styling shoe there is out there; however, how is one associated with "shoe game" if the only part of the shoe game is jordans. A better name for the reasoning would be "J game" not shoe, because there are more individuals out there that have all types of brand name shoes and more that are fascinating, interesting and styling to most but is not associated with the "shoe game". To those whom are out there who knows how to "rock" all types of shoes and look stylish koodos to you, for you are the real people with the "shoe game". !!!

Tuesday, 15 February 2011

Tuesday, 8 February 2011

Opinion Leads- ACM

Opinion Lead #1 (Descriptive Lead)
The year is 1970, the location is Mexico City. It is the World Cup semifinal game between Italy and West Germany. At the end of the 90 minutes of game time, the 2 teams are tied 1-1. In overtime, West Germany scores in the 94th minute. However, Italy quickly responds, scoring 2 goals shortly after, before going into the 2nd period of overtime. During the 2nd period, West Germany scores another goal to tie it up. The Italians follow up with a goal a minute later and are able to keep the lead to win the game. However, had the golden goal rule been in effect during overtime, then West Germany would’ve won quickly, ending the game and would’ve led to the absence of the intense 30 minutes of overtime.

Opinion Lead #2 (Rhetorical Question)
Does the golden goal rule in soccer really emphasize going on the offense to score a goal? Or rather, does it emphasize simply staying on the defense, leading to dull gameplay?

Opinion Lead #3 (Narrative/Anecdote Lead)
It is a quarter-final match in a tournament. The game is between the team that most people are rooting for, and a team that managed to get in due to weak opponents in the group stage. The golden goal rule is in effect for the tournament. The weak team manages to hold back the opposing team at the end of full time, 0-0. In overtime, the weak team manages to get past the other team’s defense and has a chance for a goal. The defense then gets possession of the ball and attempts to clear it. However, the ball bounces off of another player and is headed towards the goal. The goalie, unaware of this, lets the ball go in. Due to the golden goal rule, the weak team wins and goes on to the final, all because of a fluke.

Opinion Leads-MAP

Opinion Lead 1
Rhetorical Question:
Is marching band really worth it? Do all those long hours pay off? Do your social skills really improve? The only true way to find out the answer to all of these questions is by joining marching band and actually experiencing the activity yourself.

Twist:

People outside of marching band say that it takes up too much time and makes a student struggle in school. LBJ marching band students and band directors disagree. They actually say that it helps a child stay organized and it helps the student in school.

Opinion Lead 3
Compare and Contrast:

A few years ago the LBJ marching band used to be one of the “lame-est” activities to be involved in, that is until band director Don Haynes showed up and completely turned the program around. Mr.Haynes made people passionate about marching band and music in general. Marching band is now one of the most popular and fun activities at the school.

Opinion Leads--Kendall

#1. Rhetorical Question
Where do you go when you need to look for books for a school project? When you need to use the Internet but don’t have access at home? When you just want a place where you can escape from everything loud and noisy and chaotic? The answer to all of these is, of course, the public library, an invaluable resource whose future is uncertain.

#2. Startling statement
Despite an upward trend in attendance, Texas still ranks 48th nationwide in state funding for libraries.

#3. Contrast and Compare (then and now)
For decades, public libraries have been a haven for students and businesspeople alike, providing research materials, quiet work spaces, and good books for those who needed them. Now, however, many libraries’ futures are in jeopardy due to loss of funding.
Kebriana Nash Opinion lead:

        Compare/contrast lead:
   When i was a kid the educational shows such as reading rainbow was very entertaining and helpful for me as a young reader. The show had showed me the true meaning for picking a book up and reading the story. Now days the educational shows has either been replaced or removed from broadcast. It is less fortunate for the new incoming generation for they would not get the chance to learn from the great experience of reading. The main concern of this is would your child or any incoming generation of children be inspired to read and be interested in it?
       Direct address lead:
   when your a kid you usually watch television a lot because it is interesting, but you never notice how educational a show may be, until you start remembering word from word. The show reading rainbow was that show where your child may have watched and enjoyed without noticing how educational it may had been for them it had caused for them to become interested in books and reading. To loose a show like this is a huge disadvantage for those kids who had actually watched and learned without even noticing.
          Narrative lead:
     On the day that the report cards had came in telling what reading level your child may be on, little johnny had became attached to reading. little johnny report card was not near the grade average reading level that he should have been on. His parents had tried to teach and tutor him how to read but little johnny already knew how to do that.  Little Johnny’s parents were becoming very disturb on why their son was not on the correct reading level as needed if he knows how to read. Until one day they had seen little johnny watching a show that introduced little johnny to the meaning of actually reading a book. The next report card had came in and little johnny ha improve within his reading level he had actually became interested into reading.