Selma Jane was aware she was not the most attractive girl in her class. Not by far. As a sunflower nosed mole, Selma’s nose was big and odd-looking, with tiny pink tendrils eruption from its center, and this would have been bad enough without her chunky square glasses and the braces that lined her yellowed teeth. Even her clothiers were frumpy and plain, hanging loosely around her stout form. No, Selma wasn’t pretty, not one bit.
Category Archives: Language Arts
How to Make Olivia’s Chocolate Science Cake
What you will need:
3 large bowls
1 electric mixer (recommended, but optional)
2 9″ round cake pans
4 tbsp solid vegetable shortening (can be replaced with butter or margarine)
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup softened unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup olive oil
2 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup whole milk
1 cup cream
1 cup hot coffee
1/8 cup hot chocolate liqueur
4 oz baking chocolate, melted
A good chocolate cake recipe is hard to come by. One that actually explains in depth how to make the cake, as well as everything you’ll need to do so is even more evasive. Luckily, you need not look any further! This is a recipe I guarantee will satisfy your cake needs and answer all your questions. Put on your apron, clear off a kitchen counter, and let’s get baking!
1. You’d think your first step in baking pretty much anything would be to preheat the oven. If you’d prefer to do so now, go ahead and preheat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and move the rack you’re using to middle of your oven. However, I personally find that preheating at the beginning of a recipe heats up the kitchen more than is comfortable, especially in summer, so I’d suggest preheating near the end of the recipe–I’ll let you know when. Next, grease your pans with solid vegetable shortening or one of the alternatives I mentioned and dust them with 1/4 cup cocoa or flour. Shake out any excess cocoa/flour over your sink. Set the pans aside.
2. Now it’s time to make your first mixture. In a large bowl, combine your remaining 3/4 cup cocoa with your cake flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set this mixture aside. In another large bowl, beat your softened butter with an electric mixer. Now, add in you white and brown sugar, and beat them with the butter with a large spoon–in case the way someone would go about this process is somewhat confusing, you’re basically just going to mash the sugar and butter with your spoon until it’s all one big sugary, buttery mess (yum!). Now you’re going to set this mixture aside and–you guessed it–get out your last large bowl. In this one, combine your eggs, yolks, olive oil, vanilla, milk, and cream. Once these are sufficiently mixed to the point where your mixture is consistent, stir in your hot coffee, hot coffee liqueur, and melted baking chocolate (I’d suggest melting/heating these in the microwave).
3. Okay, wow! Lots of steps. Finally, you’re going to combine your dry mixture, your butter-sugar mixture, and your egg-coffee mixture–quickly, so the coffee and chocolate liqueur stay hot. Pour the final batter into the prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes. After your cakes are completely cool, you can serve them plain, dusted with powdered sugar, or frosted (if you serve them frosted as a layer cake, be sure to slice off the rounded top of the bottom cake). Enjoy!
The Easy Part
We watch the Amanda Todd video, huddled. We see
the cruel comments, the hatertrolls who scour the worldwide wireless web of lies to pollute
We say, that’s so sad if only I had been there I would have helped you Amanda.”
We learn about Rwanda. We giggle nervously about the silly names, “Tutsis?” We snap
off our laughing when they tell us about those hatertrolls who scoured the land with their machetes
We say, “I never knew if only I had been there I would have stopped it.” Against Machetes?
We read Ballad of Birmingham. Jamie Colt says “well it was only four that’s not like a genocide.”
Mandy Sims asks what a genocide is. So Jamie tells her about
The Holocaust
and
Rwanda which Mandy was absent for
and he recommends some movies
at which point Mandy bursts into tears and runs out of the room.
And I bet you that Chrissie Kowalski, who is black and whose parents don’t let her talk about segregation, would have been close behind had she been here and you know if I was her I’d do that too
But hey I’m just plain old white so I guess it’s not the same.
Mandy Sims went home early that day. At which point Jamie stopped meeting her gaze
And we all were careful when we talked about the things we had read in magazines and the paper like
Caylee Anthony
and
September 11th, 2001
And we never ever mentioned Sandy Hook because after that day our teacher told us that Mandy’s sister was killed in a shooting at her school
And I barely mentioned it anyway but after that day I was extra careful not to talk about how everyone in my family does drugs except me and how sometimes
I see things that aren’t there
And how I can’t sleep and my mom won’t leave my brother’s room since he got blown up in Iraq, and
I see all the the problems I pretend not to and
sometimes I wonder if they do too…
…
…but most days
I just live through these things and
wonder why they happen, briefly
and then continue on my way, you know
just in case Mandy Sims happens to be walking by and she understands why I pause.
Ode to General Smith
Behind you, without question
Through a bloody, foreign war
I lived in your oppression
It was you who I fought for.
Throughout the bitter winter
And beat down on by the sun
The blisters, scars, and splinters
I risked it all for one.
You used me, scarred me, ripped apart
A kid who I once knew
Yet, in the corners of my heart
I’d trade it all for you.
You are the reason I still live in loneliness and fear
But even though I hate you, you’re the reason I’m still here.
Meh
This book was written by a Nobel Prize winner. She
crawled out of an oyster and into out world of civilized literature
Happy to be here, I bet
Pleased to make the world’s acquaintance.
There is a boy. I do not know
who he is, perhaps a son?
I think the one who stands next to him, towers above him is
a girl; maybe a daughter?
And she is next to flowers, and duh, those are
butterflies.
Yeah, this cover makes no
sense. Where are my main characters? Where is
the earth that sustained them?
It’s not like I enjoyed this book, but
I take this very personally. Hey,
you know who else would feel this way?
Wang Lung, rolling over in his grave!
Haikus
How to Read Boys
I read between the lines
He says it’s not working out
He means he hates me
How I Broke
Watch, she is dancing
Cha-cha, mambo, foxtrot, waltz
She snaps, a clean break.
How to grow
I did love flowers
Before I aged unloving
Withered, skinny soul
She’s Like the Wind: an Analysis
Love songs are my favorites. As a die-hard romantic, I go crazy for everything that’s corny, cheesy, oozing sap, or despicably cliche. That’s why I love the song She’s Like the Wind by Patrick Swayze. It’s so intense, romantically! Well, it doesn’t hurt that the song was featured in Dirty Dancing, which is the best movie ever and also stars Patrick Swayze. Of course, that’s a bit off topic, as the song actually came before Dirty Dancing, and the themes of the song and the movie can only be compared very loosely. I won’t go on any more about spectacular movies, though. The message of the song is what’s important right now. The speaker is talking about the girl he’s in love with. It’s a sad song, because he is singing about how he doesn’t think he’s good enough for her, and I have to say, there’s nothing like good, solid tragedy portrayed in the crooning voice of Patrick Swayze to make a girl swoon. Or want to watch Dirty Dancing until her brain rots and oozes out of her ears in slimy, quivering globules of romance-fried jello. Either one.
Current Event Write Up: Divergent Interview
The stars of Divergent, a new movie, have given their testimonials on general life decisions, including the choice to be in Divergent. Theo James says he thinks it is “pointless to conceptualize [what it will be like to play a role].” He and Shailene Woodley say they are not dating, but they are good friends. They talk about trying to make big decisions as well. James says he thinks his sense of self helps him make such decisions. Woodley talks a lot about how she wants to conserve water, and how she really likes camping after learning a lot about indigenous cultures.
I think that Theo James does not seem intelligent. At all. He actually seems kind of full of it to me, although I guess that’s presumptuous, as I wasn’t at the interview. Also, Shailene Woodley’s attempt to preserve water and live natural is really cool. Also, the movie looks really bad. Jesse thinks that movie stars starring in a book film can get really full of themselves. The interviewer seemed to like both of the stars, although it is hard to tell, because, could she really say if she didn’t?
Creative Writing: Delayed Adjective
Rachel stared at her ruined doll, miserable. As a young child, she had played with Lissie every day. Her parents had given her other toys, of course, but she had always loved her Lissie the best. Her face wet with tears, she scooped up the broken toy, feeling vulnerable and alone. Glassy-eyed and pale, the doll lay there in her arms, her tragic face cracked now, and with harsh, jerky movements, Rachel wiped away her tears. If Mommy was here, she would get mad and say Rachel was weak for crying, that no man would ever want such an emotional girl…she would get more toys, wouldn’t she? Of course…Rachel knew that, but nothing could truly replace her friend. She was weak…so weak…so unlovable…
Suddenly, in a fit of rage, Rachel hurtled Lissie across the room with the kind of shriek one hears on a battlefield and watched her doll smash apart. A deranged giggle escaped her lips. They would pay for what they had done to Lissie, they would all pay…They were going to be sorry…just like they broke Lissie, she would break them…
Grabbing the kitchen knife, Rachel ran her finger along the edge and smiled at the pain, the sheer power she now possessed coursing through her veins, and donning a maniacal grin and a blood red dress just like Lissie’s, Rachel…no, Lissie…strode out the door, ready to play…
Creative Writing: Delayed Adverb
The great war was over, finally. Both sides had lost many. Simba and Nala were dead, as were Shere Khan and Rajah. Tigger had lost his spring. Richard Parker had gone back to just being…Thirsty. Pride Rock was red with blood, lion and tiger alike. Everyone had scars now.
Kiara limped across the battlefield, observing the ruin all around her. They had won the war, but no one would know it from the looks of things on their side. White rocks that were black with dirt marked graves as far as the eye could see. Fire had turned the ground to soot. Lions lay on the ground, exhausted from years of fighting. Even Kovu had no strength left in him and was collapsed in a heap on the ground. Of course, he hadn’t been the Kovu she had fallen in love with for a long, long time.
After a time, Kiara saw what she had been searching for, and she limped over to the huge baobab tree that the lions had nicknamed the “Tree of Death” years ago, when the tigers had torched it. Being careful not to put pressure on her bad leg, she settled down in front of the five graves lined up in front of her, the resting places of her friends and family. A numbness spread through her at the thought of their awful deaths. Timon and Pumbaa, whose bodies were found ripped to shreds just outside of Pride Rock’s entrance, NO TRUCE scrawled on the stone in their blood. Rafiki, who had just withered away, a little more every day, when his tree died. Her parents, who had both received fatal wounds on the front line. She tried to conjure up something, anything for them, but all she couldn’t feel anything. Emotions had left Kiara’s life long ago, replaced by the mere unnerving sensation one gets when one loses a tooth, that there used to be something where there was now just emptiness.
Sometimes Kiara wanted to stay lying there with them forever. And why couldn’t she now? The war was over. She no longer had a responsibility to the pride. Kovu could lead them, couldn’t he? He would make a good leader, always putting the pride first. Kiara closed her eyes. She could just fade away here…
“Kiara?”
Reluctantly, Kiara lifted her drooping eyelids. Kovu was standing next to her with a hard look on his face. “The troops are asking about you,” he said. “They need you to tell them what’s happening.”
Kiara let her eyes close again. “I’m done with being needed, Kovu,” she said in a voice barely above a whisper. “You can speak to them.”
“And say what? That you won’t see them because you’re busy moping?” He sounded disgusted. “Get up. We’re going.” Kiara didn’t answer. “Kiara,” he said, his voice a warning, “Get. Up.”
Kiara shifted away from him. “Go away, Kovu. I’m done.”
“You can’t just be done. You’re their leader.” Suddenly, she heard his voice soften. “It’s a new day, K.” Here eyes snapped open. Kovu hadn’t called her K since…since before the war. “The hard part is over now, baby. You can’t give up now.”
Kiara gasped and felt a single tear escape her eye. “It’s just so hard,” she whispered.
She felt a weight next to her and turned her face into Kovu’s shoulder. “I know that,” he said, his voice choked with tears. “It’s hard for all of us, baby. But you can’t lose hope.”
Then a torrent of tears escaped from her, and Kovu held her while she sobbed for what seemed like hours. “I’m sorry,” she finally got out, her voice still clogged with tears. “I’m so sorry, Kovu.”
He shushed her. “It’s okay, baby. Everything’s okay.”
They lay there for a long time, Kiara crying softly. Finally, Kovu shifted away from her and stood up. “Are you ready for this?”
Kiara wiped her eyes with her paws and slowly got to her feet. ” Yeah,” she said. “I’m ready.” And together, they walked off toward Pride Rock, ready for a new life.