My Dream Log- Day 1

Part One

Last night I dreamt...

"You're late," the teacher informed me as I walked through the classroom door.

My eyes darted to Will, somehow already seated at his 7th year desk. I don't know how he got there so fast. He purposefully avoided my gaze, knowing full well it was his fault. Instead, he appeared totally fascinated by his whispered conversation with Lily.

He had stopped me about a block from class, calling my name to come over to his hastily constructed stand. A cardboard sign sat on top of it that said, "A kiss for two stones." I rolled my eyes. He was getting so desperate now that he wasn't even assigning any value to his kisses. The worst part was, I knew exactly who this had been set up for. Me, of course. Everyone knew that he had a huge crush on me. I couldn't return his feelings though. He was a jerk to everyone, including me.

With a sigh, I came up to his stand. I didn't want to encourage him, but he was calling my name. Ignoring him felt too rude, even toward him. "Hello, Will. What are you doing?"

Leaning back in his wooden chair, he looked up at me with an expression I assume was supposed to be attractive. "Just making it easy for you to kiss the love of your life," he said in silky tones.

"Thanks, but I'm really not interested," I told him, unimpressed.

For a moment he seemed disappointed. Only for a moment. "But you do admit I'm the love of your life!" he proclaimed with a triumphant laugh.

I held my hands up in mock surrender. "Yep, you caught me. I'm absolutely, madly in love with you. Now, will you please leave me alone?" Not waiting for an answer, I turned and began walking away.

I stopped and looked back as I heard a voice say, "Hey, Will!"

It was Lily, greeting him with her regular enthusiasm as she dropped an armful of rocks in front of him. I watched as she leaned in close and whispered loudly, "I hate you." Then she kissed him hard. They had an odd relationship, if you could call it that.

Clenching my fists, I turned away and kept walking toward class. I wasn't sure why I was jealous, or if that was even what I was feeling.

Part Two

After making the required apology to my teacher, I sat at the desk marked with a large 8. This was my eighth year attending the Institute of Open Minds. It took nine years to graduate from this school, but that didn't seem too long to me. I was the only eighth year in this class.

My desk was covered with these dumb plastic rings, each one proudly displaying the image of some cartoon character. I looked up to see if someone was pulling a prank on me, but every other desk was also filled with random things. Some were filled with clothing, others with portable games, others with jewelry. Mine was the dumbest by far though.

Apparently, since it was almost Christmas break, today we were supposed to have brought some of our unwanted items to trade with the class. I had forgotten, but it didn't matter. I wouldn't have been able to get anything anyway. Someone had to be at the desk at all times while others were wandering around to trade for things, and since I was the only one of my year, I had to stay where I was.

After all the trades were finished, I got up and went over to Sarah to see what she got. In front of her was a blue shirt, folded neatly. I grabbed for it.

"That's mine," she snapped.

I gave her a strange look. "I just want to see it."

"It's mine," she grumbled, but she let me take it.

I unfolded it and held it up. It was lovely, blue with little bits of gold and diamond attached to it in places. "It's very nice," I told her with a smile. She smiled shyly back before snatching it out of my hands.

Part Three

The desks were quickly swept out of the way and our chairs were gathered in a semi-circle facing our teacher. She smiled at us. "Okay, everyone. I want us to go around the circle and say what you're going to get at least one person for Christmas."

They were excited to obey. You could feel the anticipation for winter break building up inside each of them, ready to explode. Some spoke of gifts for their family, others said things they would buy for people in the class. One person said he would get the teacher a frog board, which made her smile.

Then it was Lily's turn. She gave me a big, bright smile. "I'm going to get Will a kiss from Arriah for Christmas!"

That made the whole class laugh as I stared at her. Once the laughter had died down, the next person said, "I'm going to get Will a kiss from Arriah too!"

This time, instead of laughter, everyone in the class began to say they were going to get Will the same. I looked around at everyone in shock, my eyes wide.

...And then I woke up.

How to Write an Essay- Research

I've written some pretty good essays in my time as a student. As writing is my strong point and I take a lot of English classes as electives, I typically get good grades on them. I'm going to be posting a little guide on writing an essay, one piece at a time, whenever I get the time to write up a post. Here's the first one on research:

Research
For me, this has always been the hardest part of writing an academic essay. Not only do I have to find several sources on my topic, but they have to be what the teacher considers reliable as well. This typically means no Wikipedia, .gov/.org/.edu over .com, and fully citable. Often more than one type of source is required, such as book, Internet, and article. These are the things I keep in mind while looking for sources:

1. Finding Sources- When looking for sources, always consider the amount of time you have to work on the project. If you only have a week, a few articles will probably benefit you more than a dozen thick books. Obviously the first places to check for sources are Google (always make sure any Internet sites are reliable and citable; don't just assume that the first link on the list is the best!) and the library (honestly not every book is fully reliable either, but most teachers are far more willing to accept these without a second glance...). Other possible sources change with the topic, but some examples are newspaper articles, scholarly journals, and historical documents. If you find a source that doesn't have enough information or isn't citable, check to see if it has a bibliography that can provide you with more sources.
2. Creative Sources- It's probably a good idea to check with your teacher before you use these, but I don't think they should have a problem with it. These can be fun and add a bit of flare to both your essay and your bibliography. Some ideas are: museums, advertisements, old pictures (these can actually provide a lot of info. Just make sure they aren't fake), interviews, movies, zoos/aquariums, old letters or diary entries, and historical artifacts.
3. Citation- Every teacher will have different requirements on how much information is required to make a source citable. I've had some want only a title and author, while others want that plus publisher, date, location, associated organizations, and link (if available). The first kind is easy, but the latter set can be almost impossible to find on the Internet. Even most government websites, which many of my teachers have considered total wins for my bibliography, will not have that much information available. Books are generally the best option in this case as they provide all the copyright and publishing information. If you're not certain whether you have enough information for your source, either ask your teacher or (if you're turning in a rough draft) just go with it. The teacher will likely mark your lack of information so that you can fix it before you turn in a final copy. I know this sounds like the lazy way, but I generally feel uncomfortable talking to my teachers about such things unless they can be contacted through email, and it's always worked for me.

There are my ideas for finding and citing sources. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at propheciesofshadow@yahoo.com or post a comment on the Arriah Dreamscribe Facebook page. Next time I'll be posting about getting started on the paper. I hope this is helpful!

Breaking News!

It was reported recently that certain school districts will be implementing a new grading method in the upcoming years. The new system: everyone will get A's!

The person in charge of designing the system, Ed O. Hair, stated, "We know that this is an alarming change for some people. People worry about things like progress, like knowing how to improve. Students will get private evaluations from their instructors, ones that no one else is allowed to look at, so they know what they need to work on . . . Overall, we're confident that this will lead to improvement." He looks forward to seeing the changes this inspires, in students, parents, and teachers.

One such change they predict is improved relations between these three groups. Parents will no longer have to scold their children for failing classes, friends feel no more resentment for grade differences, and students will not have to deal with teachers failing them. The expected change in attitude and conduct is expected to be seen within three months after the new system is implemented. "My girl wasn't going to graduate," said Anna D. Woods, mother of sixteen year old Julia. "She just has a hard time with doing work, you know? But now she can get her diploma when she's eighteen! I'm just so grateful." Many students will be feeling the same gratitude come the fall of 2013, when this is going to be put into action.


Teachers are excited for the upcoming change as well. "I used to spend hours pouring over papers to find every little error," Wayne N. O. Moore recalled. "But now I won't have to. They'll all recieve A's, and that will be a big help come final week." Teachers will get to take less time for grading in exchange for more time helping their kids or doing things they actually want to do. Even the students will have many extra hours for social and personal activities.

"We just want everyone to feel like a winner. Everyone should be able to feel good about themselves and their academic life," Ed O. Hair explained.

An official list of the school districts planning to participate has yet to be released. If you are concerned or wish to know more, contact your local school board.

Written by reporter Edward Sillyhands.