Billy W is 14 year old student who loves to write about mostly about sports. He is particularly interested in the NFL, NBA, and the MLB. His writings are well thought out and always contain excellent information.
The article we are featuring here is a touching story about the Wounded Warriors Amputee Softball team.
When you think of America's team, you most likely think of the Dallas Cowboys. However, I recently found out about the Wounded Warriors Amputee Softball Team, whose ranks consist of veterans who sacraficed a limb for his country in Iraq or Afghanistan ater playing either highschool or college baseball. I cannot express the immeasurable gratitude that I and all of our country have for those who fight for our freedom, and these men are the epitome of resilience and strength. They also insist they play only able bodied teams, such as local fire departments and recently the FBI, who they beat 35-10. You may not fully understand the fight and sheer athleticism these young men possess until a baserunner with a prosthetic leg dives headfirst to avoid a tag or a one armed fielder drops his glove and hurls the ball to his cutoff man. Their service has not gone without notice, as Louisville Slugger has donated over $20,000 in equipment, and they have been invited to play at Nationals Stadium later this year. These men are true heroes. The Wounded Warriors Amputee Softball Team is truly America's real team.
Image retrieved from http://www.stripes.com/polopoly_fs/1.142994!/image/1363671873.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_490/1363671873.jpg usage of this image may not be authorized but is not being used for profit, rather for educational purposes of the reader.
Fizzee Rascal is a down to earth blogger whop pretty much writes things as he sees it. He claims to be a part-time submarine washer, who is often found dressed like a Mexican - not sure what he means by that - but if you wish to find out more about this blogger you can check out his blog called "I Didn't Do It"at: http://ididntdoithonest.blogspot.com/
A Story
About 18 months ago, our youngest daughter came home from school and announced that one of her friends' cats was going to have kittens. "Terrific" I thought, "I'm very happy for it". Not being much of a cat person myself, I gave it barely anymore thought until one day she came home and asked if she could have one. Around about this point I was acutely aware of everyones eyes being on me. "Sure, why not?" says I - three little words that produced a moment that a parent will always remember, a look of pure joy on your kid's face. Brilliant.
A few weeks pass, and it turns out that the kitty is to be her Christmas present from her mate. Great, we're all prepared for the new arrival, then she drops the bombshell......."Can I have two?" "Two?" It turns out that no-one wants the last remaining kitten of the litter, a frankly gorgeous little grey cat.
Of course we relent, and are treated to another moment like the one I mentioned above. So, a week or so before Christmas we recieve two kittens, a black one named Patton -after the lead singer of Faith No More- and the grey one, named Dixie -after Everton legend Dixie Dean. I'm guessing you must be wondering what the point of this story is by now, and sadly I'm going to have to tell you.
A couple of days ago it seems Dixie was hit by a car and dragged along by it. He died in our house last night at about half past midnight. My wife and daughter are distraught, and frankly, despite my best efforts to hide it, so am I. You wouldn't believe how long it's taken me to type this.
Kbassil is a young blogger who above all else enjoys techonolgy, politics, humor, current events and art. In today's featured guest writer post Mr. Bassil features three Nintendo games which he reviews as being the best. Check it out.
There's 3 games that stick out to me from my early Nintendo days...
3) Killer Instinct
I know this is a bit old school, but man was it great. Think of an early Mortal Kombat that was just plain awesome. In fact, if you used the right combination of buttons, you could finish off guys with ~50 hit combos.
Now THIS was a game... I remember spending hours and hours on this. Not only was it an awesome shooter (with an awesome local campaign multiplayer), but it PUNISHED you for failing. There were no "continues" or "Try Again"s. If you died, you were starting over from the very, very beginning.
While this sort of electronic gun-to-the-head might be seen as player-unfriendly, I actually found it to bring the best out of the players.
What is there to say. Mario 3 was an epic adventure through diverse environments. The baddies were legit, the music was fun, and the action was insane (but at a good pace). Plus, in true Mario style, there were hidden gems to be found if you knew how/where to look. Compared to this, all other games were just kinda... lame.
Alex is a young poet and writer, in her early teens, who is far beyond her age in intellectuality and scope of vision. This young artist is a peacemaker who wisely prefers drawing and written prose over turmoil and drama. Her drawings (some of which are enhanced with computer effects - in a very good way) are simplistic yet complex with depth and meaning. Her poems (or short essays) describe life oftentimes combining contrasting emotions giving a deeper meaning to the reader and viewer.
Letter to a Ghost is beautifully and soulfully written by Jess. Jess is a talented writer with a vision that takes her inside the psyche (a psyche at times tormented) and into the center of the mind of thoughts and emotions. Her writings often dive into a realm of darkness though somehow she ends up in a place that works. Somewhere between the hard knocks of life and that ever elusive perfection or Garden of Eden. I like Jess' honesty in her writing.
I'm not exactly sure why I'm thinking of you. I know you cross my mind from time to time, but it was never exactly deserved. You were barely a part of my life. You were there briefly at the beginning of my life and I say briefly because I doubt your state of sobriety for those two years. You did see me once or twice while I was still young enough to show any sort of affection towards you, that is if I remembered you. I remember running away to live with you when I was about six. I packed up a little plastic lunch box with a snack and a picture of the two of us. I only made it down the street before I realized I didn't know where you were.
One day in June when I was fifteen, there was a knock at the door. I answered it and saw this strange man standing in front of me. You said hello to me and introduced yourself when you saw the confused look on my face. I didn't believe it was you, back after all these years to see me. You took Brother and I for pizza and talked on and on about the dogs you rescued and I talked on and on about how Mom was there. I was angry that you took in strange dogs and loved them when you didn't love me. I look like you and you were happy to mention it. I've always looked like your family and I've always hated it. I hated looking in the mirror and realizing all the differences in me, knowing who they came from. I looked like the odd one out because the person I resembled was the person who left. Brother and I didn't make an effort with you. We were angry that you abandoned us and you turned around and did it again because we didn't immediately embrace you in loving arms.
It wasn't until October of the year I was nineteen that I received a phone call telling me of your death. I wasn't sure on how to react. Apparently you had died in June and we were only just notified because of the lack of presence you had in our lives. At first I didn't know how to react, how to feel regarding this news. I mean, I barely knew you. You were just a name, a picture, nothing to me. You gave me much of my physical characteristics and many personality traits as I'm learning, but that's about it. You were just the other half that made up my genetic material. I felt nothing from your death and that's what worried me. I felt horrible I didn't care. I knew I should, you died and you were a part of me, but I just didn't care. Nothing in my world would change.
You were a drug addict, an alcoholic, an overall bad person. From the two years you were in my life, I still hold the evidence. I have the scars, the skull indentations, the lasting influences. Mother barely drinks and you drank like a fish. I'm starting to notice how much I enjoy drinking, how much I like the buzz. I'm afraid I'll turn into you. Most of the time I can push that thought out of my mind, but it likes to creep in time to time. I'm afraid I'll be a strung out loser like you and just blame my genes to give myself an easy scapegoat. Whenever I feel myself start to slowly slip into the downward spiral, I hear myself blaming you. It's too easy to blame genetics and childhood conditioning.
I don't know why I'm thinking of you. Although you are a part of me, you weren't a part of my life. But I feel like you made sure I would always remember. I look at the scar on my foot, the scar you caused, and think of you. You put a two year old on a motorcycle bare foot. I burnt my whole foot on the exhaust and instead of cleaning it, you put a sock on it. Do you remember, or were you too wasted? I feel the dents on the right side on my head and think of you. Do you remember how I got these perfect corners in my skull, or were you too stoned? I look at the few photos left of you and me together. Do you remember being happy with us, or were the drugs too important? Sometimes I'm glad you're gone, at least I wouldn't go through more abuse.
Real Monsters - Real Fear - Real Victories reads like a diary page from a person who has experienced some real hardships in life. This blog post is a confession of truth. At some points it is a hard pill to swallow, so I forewarn you the reader if you are faint of heart you may want to skip to another blog and read something more light-hearted.
If you enjoy this post you can check out more by Summer Fey Foovay on her blog called "Dark Obsessions at http://summerfoovay.blogspot.com/
Real Monsters - Real Fear - Real Victories
I read and enjoy werewolf and vampire romances disguised as thrillers or mysteries with spunky little heroines who are as distressed by a broken fingernail or fashion faux pas as they are by an evil vampire attacking. They’re fun. They are what I refer to as “fluff bunny fare”.
But they are not what I write. And they are not even most of what I read. I prefer the dark, gritty, realism of true crime, dark thrillers, books where the monsters are really monsters, not cuddly, or sexy but deadly and yes, out to eat you My Pretty.
I know there are plenty of real monsters in the real world – and they are outwardly perfectly human. The guy next door who gives teen boys their first job and plays the clown for children’s birthday parties. The mother who is a society climber and charity worker outside, and the facilitator who actively allows her husband to rape their daughter daily and who tells her daughter it is her fault and no one will believe her if she tells.
My heroes and heroines are damaged, troubled, survivors who are frightened by the real monsters they face today, as well as the monsters who did their best to break them in the past. They have their doubts. They know that it would be so much easier to be a monster. To give in to their darkest desires. To fall into the abyss of evil. When my heroine looks in the mirror or hears something familiar come out of her mouth and thinks “I am becoming my mother” it is with a depth of horror someone from a nice, if a bit neurotic, family can hardly imagine.
The triumph of the human spirit and compassion and love in everyday people who have proven strong enough to survive the worst the human monsters have to dish out is the victory that makes me proud. The faith, the sure knowledge that in the real world we can face the monsters and win. Whether they are within, or without. That is what gives me hope for this world. That is my feel good literature.
The following post comes from one of my other blogs called Rock Music and More... It's actually two articles on the band Pink Floyd from two separate posts on the blog.
Pink Floyd is one of my favorite bands of all-time and I wanted to share these articles with everyone one more time. If you wish to see some of the articles at rock Music and More you can at: http://rock-music-more.blogspot.com/
Pink Floyd - The Wall
1973's "Dark Side of the Moon" was a turning point for Pink Floyd, both in sales and musical growth. "The Wall" released on November 30, 1979 became a classic upon it's release. This was their crowning moment. It just didn't get any better than this. It went on to become one of the Top 30 biggest selling albums worldwide having sold over 30 million copies to date.
The album delivered a theme of isolation and loneliness in it's songs. Pink Floyd asked Is there anybody out there? Was this a cry for help. In the song "Another Brick In The Wall", the author (Roger Waters) is tormented by his schooling in 1950's Britain. The school was extremely controlling and as Waters said, rebellion was needed. To escape the loneliness Waters built a wall around himself.
"Another Brick In The Wall (Part Two)" was released and the song immediately rose to #1 in more than ten different countries around the world as well as Top 3 in several others. The song brought out a sense of unity as the chorus shouts "we don't need no education". It was a means of speaking out against discipline as a means of control. The North London Islington Green School students provided the school choir type vocals. The choir included 23 kids aged 13 to 15. They were overdubbed 12 times to give them a larger and haunting choral sound.
Two other singles were subsequently released "Run Like Hell" and "Comfortably Numb". Both received heavy airplay while "Comfortably Numb went on to become an all-time classic and has been covered by many acts including radically re-arranged Bee Gees disco styled version which reached #10 in the UK in 2004 by Scissor Sisters.
Roger Waters vision was that of a momentous musical experience. The result was well beyond the band's wildest expectations. The album was one in which multitudes of people felt a type of identification in the philosophical statements in the album. It was a connection with the dark side of loneliness and isolation.
Many musicians from various musical genres participated in the making of the album. Bruce Johnston (Beach Boys and Rip chords), Toni Tennille (Captain and Tennille) both contributed background vocals in a few songs. Lee Ritenour (guitar) and Jeff Porcaro (Toto, drums ) were only a few of many uncredited musicians who participated in the recording of "The Wall".
The double album, Pink Floyd's 11th studio album includes many classic tracks such as "Mother", "Goodbye Blue Sky", "Young Lust", "Hey You", "Is There Anybody Out There" and "In The Flesh".
The album is created to be listened to as an album instead of a set of individual songs - although each song holds up well on it's own strength and as a thematic whole.
In 1982 the spectacular British film, "The Wall", which incorporated live action and animation was released and based on the classic 1979 album "The Wall". All the songs from "The Wall" were featured in the movie with the exception of "Hey You" and "The Show Must Go On".
Pink Floyd - Soundtrack from the film More
Their first full length soundtrack release and their third album. Released on July 27, 1969 Pink Floyd was still in the beginnings of making their mark on the musical landscape.
"More" is one of two Pink Floyd albums to feature David Gilmour as it's sole lead singer, the other is 1987's "A Momentary Lapse of Reason". It was their first album which they produced themselves without any assistance from an outside producer.The album contains several acoustic folk ballads with a few hard rock songs. they also experiment musically on several instrumental tracks. The sole single release "The Nile Song (Europe and Japan release only) did not make any charts. "Green Is The Colour", "Cymbaline" and "Cirrus Minor" are highlights on the album.
