Disclaimer: This newsletter contains explicit language and adult situations, and is sent to over twenty-five subscribers with great hair, fresh breath, and winning personalities. If you would like to stop receiving this newsletter, email my new address, SpunkyCatA2@aol.com, because it's lonely. In this issue:
Cat's Official Week
Topic 1) The Populars
Topic 2) Eine Katastrophe ist passiert
Topic 3) Dr. Seuss for Bin Laden
Topic 4) Song of the Week
Topic 5) Webpage of the Week
Topic 6) Quote of the Week Cat's Official Week:
Spirit Week! That means ties on Monday, mismatched clothing on Tuesday, twins on Wednesday, time-travelling Thursday, and of course black and gold on Friday (minus Senior crowns??). Topic 1) The Populars: - By Me (Cat)
As most of you know, I've been spending some time lately working on our class float. Last week, I attended a few meetings at a certain someone's house with other members of the senior class. (I have to be sketchy here to prevent junior-induced vandalistic acts involving water balloons.) Well, for the time spent working on this float, I felt like I was in a different world completely. My first observation was that almost everyone there was a girl. That didn't really bother me. My second glance told me that no one there was in band, which I apparently spend a lot more time with than I realized. It was actually a nice break from all that. (No offense to the band, you're all still cool. Well, some of you, anyway...) Something else I took notice of was that these girls are, um, what's the word, popular. These are the girls that the newspaper staff interviews and that the freshman football team wants to date.
And the funny thing is, I don't think that the footballers are complete idiots for that. I actually found these girls pretty likable. These are the "prep" girls that I don't really hang out with much, but being the friendly and charismatic person I am, I talk to them in class and try not to talk badly about them behind their backs. Something that would surprise my uppity AP classmates: they didn't talk incessantly about guys for the entire duration. (In fact, they hardly mentioned them...perhaps because they all have boyfriends or something, but I don't really know.) They actually talked about school and how much they have to study and stuff like college and their futures.
I began to feel like a curious child looking in through a window and seeing a different lifestyle. This isn't a bad thing, though. It's just a different perspective. I mean, sure, they take a lot of pictures, because I noticed that they put their friends before anything. I think they have a lot more freedom than a lot of people I hang out with, but they don't do anything to abuse it. And of course, they all had cell phones, but who am I to talk? (Mom makes me have it in the car with me.) I even learned about how some of them were getting together that Thursday night to have a "Friends" party, where they planned to watch the season premiere of the show. That actually sounds like a lot of fun, I thought.
I know some of my AP classmates really dislike the popular girls, for whatever reasons. But these "preps," with their bubbly personalities and flirty southern accents, tolerate me. Even more so than some of the AP clowns. I mean, no one on Senior Cabinet really seemed to care that I have chopstick antennae shooting out of my head in the yearbook picture. Yeah, they could be saying something behind my back, but I didn't hear them talking about any of my friends like that, so I doubt it. Topic 2) Eine Katastrophe ist passiert: - By Jérôme
I want to tell you how all that horror has been lived through here in Germany and in Europe.
Last Tuesday, I was getting back from Tennis when my father picked me up and jumping in the car he looked in my eyes and said with a calm voice..."Eine Katastrophe ist passiert, das World Trade Center brennt.." I couldn't believe it, so I turned on the radio where all the usual programs were stopped and everywhere they talked about two planes crashing into the WTC, terrorists and so on.. I had a weird feeling in me, first I thought it was an accident.. But when I was home all the TV channels showed these pictures and were reporting, I just couldn't believe it. My family was grouped in front of the TV stations and were watching with heads full of questions. This day I had to work on 2 important one-hour reports, however I kept on watching the news until 2 in the morning (that means 8am for you in America) and I didn't do my reports, in fact I couldn't even sleep that night. That day I called my girlfriend, and I told her about New York.. All her life, her dream was New York, all her dreams were symbolized in one city...New York. In her room all the walls are full of New York and so is her heart. On the phone she couldn't talk and cried. At school the next day everything was so strange, the people I know so happy and funny were so sad suddenly. Everybody knew it, some shared with others their pain. My first class was history and my teacher is a very smart person... You could see the deep sadness in his eyes; he talked about Terrorism all the two hours of class, and our school director called out a prayer by all students in memory of the victims.. So we joined together for 5 minutes of silence. These 5 minutes were so hard ... all that horror came back to us. The other classes were the same... My girlfriend left school after 3 hours, because she just didn't feel like staying. The next day at 10am everybody in Germany, all professions and all students, stopped their business for 5 minutes and joined together for a nationwide moment of silence... The day after that, at 12am the same was done for all Europe.... Indeed, all these moments of solidarity remind us of the victims and this time of sadness...We want to share it with you. Because we think that everybody is concerned...
It's now one week ago that that all happened; life is going on...Here in Europe and especially here in Germany, this past week was so strange. All the parties that were planned for that weekend were canceled in respect of the victims. All the big things, like soccer games or concerts, but even little meetings were canceled, or birthday parties of friends...and I think it was right ... how can we have fun and party if all this just happened? TV programs are changed, all the churches hold extra messes for the victims, so many little schools, organizations try to help and express their solidarity. This past week "we were all Americans" (as a French editorial wrote) and we felt with you the sadness. We're not only sad because 200 Germans died in the World Trade Center, but because every single person who was killed that day will be held in memory. That day, we were all Americans! My history teacher appealed to us that in the case of war we should go with you Americans side by side. America is our friend, as the history showed us and now we have to help our friend. Our country (and most of the European countries) are willing to help you, but unfortunately there are some voices here that don't want "to send military." I think that if we show you our solidarity then we should also stand aside you in this war. This act of terrorism was, like the NATO said, a declaration of war against ALL the NATO countries, so we should help you. In the same time I hope that we don't fight the wrong enemy.
Afghanistan can't be generalized as a country of terrorism, in fact, the poorest people in the world live there and are dying in famine. We have to fight the terrorists.
France, on one side, wants to help you too, and they are extremely shocked and solidaire but on the other side, France has the largest population of Arabs in Europe and many Arabian countries are French. We will be in a huge dilemma because we in Europe (in Germany we have up to 5 millions of Moslems), we are afraid that a cultural war would be a social danger...We worked many years to establish a society where Moslems and Germans get along with each other and are totally respecting each other...We are afraid of losing that.
.. Every day I'm watching the news about it because we are all really concerned... worried ...And of course full of anger.
We in Europe are extremely solidaire with you ... we are aimed by that act of terrorism as well as you are.
Love you all....
Jérôme from Germany Topic 3) Dr. Seuss for Bin Laden: - Submitted by LauraI don't know who wrote this. Hope it adds some spirit to your day.
(I heard this on the radio the other morning. --Cat)Every U down in U-ville liked U.S. a lot,
But the Binch, who lived Far East of U-ville, did not.
The Binch hated U.S.! The whole U.S. way!
Now don't ask me why, for nobody can say,
It could be his turban was screwed on too tight.
Or the sun from the desert had beaten too bright
But I think that the most likely reason of all
May have been that his heart was two sizes too small.But, Whatever the reason, his heart or his turban,
He stood facing U-ville, the part that was urban.
"They're doing their business," he snarled from his perch.
"They're raising their families! They're going to church!
They're leading the world, and their empire is thriving,
I MUST keep the S's and U's from surviving!"Tomorrow, he knew, all the U's and the S's,
Would put on their pants and their shirts and their dresses,
They'd go to their offices, playgrounds and schools,
And abide by their U and S values and rules,And then they'd do something he liked least of all,
Every U down in U-ville, the tall and the small,
Would stand all united, each U and each S,
And they'd sing U-ville's anthem, "God bless us! God bless!"
All around their Twin Towers of U-ville, they'd stand,
and their voices would drown every sound in the land."I must stop that singing," Binch said with a smirk,
And he had an idea--an idea that might work!
The Binch stole some U airplanes in U morning hours,
And crashed them right into the U-ville Twin Towers.
"They'll wake to disaster!" he snickered, so sour!
"And how can they sing when they can't find a tower?"The Binch cocked his ear as they woke from their sleeping,
All set to enjoy their U-wailing and weeping,
Instead he heard something that started quite low, v And it built up quite slow, but it started to grow --
And the Binch heard the most unpredictable thing...
And he couldn't believe it--they started to sing!He stared down at U-ville, not trusting his eyes,
What he saw was a shocking, disgusting surprise!
Every U down in U-ville, the tall and the small,
Was singing! Without any towers at all!
He HADN'T stopped U-ville from singing! It sung!
For down deep in the hearts of the old and the young,
Those Twin Towers were standing, called Hope and called Pride,
And you can't smash the towers we hold deep inside.So we circle the sites where our heroes did fall,
With a hand in each hand of the tall and the small,
And we mourn for our losses while knowing we'll cope,
For we still have inside that U-Pride and U-Hope.For America means a bit more than tall towers,
Topic 4) Cat's Song of the Week:
It means more than wealth or political powers,
It's more than our enemies ever could guess,
So may God bless America! Bless us! God bless!
"Video" by India.Arie, who has the most awesome biceps (and the lyrics are good, too!). Topic 5) Webpage of the Week: Grant's page: http://www.dork.com/shaggy02/ Look at the cursor! It's cool! And sign his wall and tell him how cool I am for sending you there, because he'll agree. Topic 6) Quote of the Week:
"If you disrespect me in a dream, you better wake up and apologize." --Daniel DaPonte, who I haven't talked to in forever. But he sent me this quote, and it's been sitting in my inbox for three weeks, so I thought it was time I used it. Closing:
Whew! That was a long one! I still have no idea what Jérôme meant by the term "solidaire" (which isn't exactly a real word), so I just left it instead of finding a synonym. Hope y'all have a great week. It's Homecoming! Yee-ha!Previous Edition | Next Edition [ Get Involved | Home | Songs | Archives | Quotes | Websites ]
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