For six years I have been apart of the Te Awamutu school of dance, for my first year I did ballet, and for the later five I have been doing Jazz. This year, Bethany and I were given roles in our end of year concert as Tweedledum and Tweedledee, in Alice In Wonderland. We felt very privileged to gain these roles. On the weekend of the 1st and 2nd of December, our concert was performed. On the Saturday show heaps of my friends came, and it was a real good show. Sunday I was tired, but I still had a great time. I really enjoy dance, and am glad to be able to participate in a show like this.

After winning our school speech competition, I was entered in Inter Intermediate speeches. A competition involving year seven and eight students throughout the Waikato. Speeches had once again managed to drag itself out over a term, and I found it difficult to try and remember my speech ‘Something That Concerns Me’ after such long period between school speeches and inter intermediate speeches. My parents took me to the speech competition, and I was aware of what was happening, as I had been last year as well. It was held Peachgrove Intermediate in Hamilton. I was surprised to find myself completely calm, but talking in front of people I didn’t know or associate with didn’t bother me as much as talking in front of people I see daily. I thought I said my speech well, and the other contestors said I did excellent. Although I didn’t expect to come anywhere, because at our school, props are not allowed, and for full and effective use of props in the inter intermediate speech competition you gained six points, so straight away I was deprived of those very important six  marks. So I was surprised that I got third place. I still strongly believe that the criteria for speeches should be the same for schools all through out the Waikato.

At our school there is a program called Life Education. It has been created to inform children and adolescents about valuable life lessons. As a year seven I learnt about drugs, and the dangers they cause to your body, and when the Life Ed truck came back this year we learnt about the right fuel our body needs to keep us running. It is a great program, and definitely something we always looked forward to. When the teacher for Life Ed, Nicky Wise told us about the sponsors evening, and how she needed some children to talk about their experiences, Jayden and I quickly volunteered ourselves, and were asked to come to the sponsors evening in Cambridge. At the sponsors evening, we said our speech with a great response. We had an article in the newspaper, and we also received a letter of thanks, which was really cool. It was a great experience for both me and Jayden, and I glad I did it.

The week before holidays, (16th of September) A group of twenty-three students went to mount Ruapehu for the T.A.I ski trip. Some of us had been before and were now quite advanced skiers, but for some it was a whole new experience, but each was one us had been counting down the days, and were rearing to be on the slopes. I was real surprised at how quickly the beginners were learning, sure, some were off to a rough start, but quickly regained themselves and were off again. I was also most surprised at myself, because I was able to keep up with all the best skiers in our group. Bethany and Michael noticed this as well, and it was cool for them to tell me how much I improved. Every night we had awards like; wipe out of the day, dork of the day, most improved, personality of the slopes. Laura, got nominated for most improved every night, and on the last night she finally got it, ha-ha. There wasn’t as much snow as last year, but I still had so much fun, and am determined to go every year to improve more and more. I’m sure everyone that went will remember it forever.

Elderly 

Wrinkles may represent an antiqued face, while all it is proving is a life lived to the full. 

A house full of grandchildren may suggest here lives an old couple, but all that lives here is a very popular Gran and Granddad. 

Walls full of photos may illustrate a lengthy existence, but this shows friends, laughter, and memories worth remembering. 

A number may say one thing but a heart can say another.

Then began a time of constant rehearsals, and being reminded practice makes perfect.The tired voices and early bedtimes.Then came the caked faces of makeup, themed costumes and hasty changes.Incredible pressure and being unable to think of anything but The Pirate Queen script.Eyes on me at all times and angry uncontrollable butterflies.And afterwards the many laughs we shared and memories we will cherish,An entirely new sensation of being in the spotlight.

When thinking about a door, you have to think and imagine what or who is behind the door. Whereas a window, you do not have to think, just see. Also, you may have to think about weather to push or pull the door, in order not to make a fool of yourself, for some this provokes more thought than others. And this is why I believe a door provokes more thought than a window.

missBaxter

After coming a surprising 8th in the school cross country I was asked to go to inter intermediate and as I had never done this before I said yes. Everyone was really proud that I had done well in the school cross country, but I think I was the most proud. I was alot less nervous in the school one, as I was racing with my friends and I knew there was quite a few people I could beat. Inter intermediate was packed of what looked like some really good runnners, I made a goal for myself which was to try as hard as I could not to finish near the back. About half way through the 1st lap I was extreemly tired and could not believe I still had so far to run, I felt incredibly unfit, but it seemed as if alot of other girls were too. I came 41st out of around 60 year8 girls. I was really glad when it was over and even more glad I had finished succesfully.

Two blondes were sitting on top of mount Maunganui admiring the beautiful full moon, one turns to the other and asks in confusion “I wonder which is closer, the moon, or the south island”
“Duh” says the other, “can you see the South Island from here? 

Something that concerns me personally is blondes being stereotyped as dumb. What concerns me even more is that girls will act on this statement and make themselves appear even dumber. So I decided to do some research to investigate how this stereotype came to be, what it is that makes blondes blonde. 

The word blonde is describing a colour of hair, in either human or animal. The more blonde you are the less amount of dark pigment you have. The blonde colour ranges from a light brown to pale yellow to platinum.True blondes make up less the 1.8% of the worlds population so they are quite rare. Blonde hair is also the thinnest type of hair. It has the finest strands while black hair has the thickest.   

Before the ice age black hair and dark eyes were a lot more popular in most of the world and there were very few fair haired people.Scientists believe that the number of people with blond hair grew during the last ice age.The journal of evolution and human behavior says that it appears that blonde hair evolved very quickly over the last ice age by means of sexual selection.  

A recent theory was brought about by Canadian anthropologist Peter frost that during this ice age the men went out to hunt and gather food, which lead to a shortage of men, because many got killed hunting. This made it hard for woman to find men to be their partners. The appearance of blond hair and blue eyes in some women made them stand out in competition for scarce males.Because the blondes were chosen as mates, they created more blondes in their children.Little did these women know that some time in the future their ancestors would be stereotyped as dumb. 

The stereotyping of blondes as dumb has only happened recently in our history. Before recent times blondes were considered to be superior. If you think back to the second world war, Adolf Hitler only wanted blond haired and blue eyed people for his ‘master race’. He considered these people as more intelligent with a pure bloodline. 

The stereotyping of blonds emerged with the development of films, television and glossy magazines. It would seem that
Hollywood and actresses such as Marilyn Monroe are responsible. She played a dumb blond in most of her movies even though she was far from dumb. She acted in such a way only for her
Hollywood reputation.Another girl I believe fitted the perfect dumb blonde title was Anna Nicole. She was famous for being ditsy and stupid on her sitcom “the Anna Nicole show”.  

But do people truly believe blondes are dumb? Or is it just a good topic for jokes? Well.. Psychologists at the

University of
Coventry in
Britain did a study to see if people believe that hair colour is associated with intelligence or other characteristics.They asked 60 males and 60 females to observe photos of a female model wearing a platinum blonde, natural blonde, brown and red wigs. They were asked to rate the model for intelligence, shyness, aggressiveness, temperament and popularity.  

The results showed that:                  The platinum blonde was rated as being less intelligent The brunette as being shyer, and The natural blonde as more popular This research shows stereotyping as dumb does exist but more in the terms of the platinum blonde. 

Another stereotype has also been born in weather blondes have more fun. Match.com reported that young blonde woman on online dating websites get a lot more attention from menBut before you jump to conclusion about blondes having better relationships, several studies also showed that men seek out darker-haired women as their wives. Fun is fun, but apparently marriage is a whole different story! 

I don’t believe that you should judge people based on their hair colour just like we shouldn’t judge people on their skin colour. But the stereotype is out there and I guess that ‘blonde’ jokes are going to be around for a lot longer. And we all do have the occasionally blonde moment, like getting our finger stuck into a sewing machine, or walking into a pole.  

A young brunette goes into the doctor’s office
and says that her body hurts wherever she touches it.
“Impossible,” says the doctor. “Show me.”
She takes her finger and pushes her elbow and screams in agony.
She pushes her knee and screams, pushes her ankle and screams,
and so it goes on, everywhere she touches makes her scream.
The doctor says, “You’re not really a brunette, are you?”
She says, “No, I’m really a blonde.”
“I thought so,” he says. “Your finger is broken.” 

missBaxter

Term 3 07 goals.

• This term I would like to tern my main focus to my maths, to help improve my maths before I go to college, I will continue to practise basic facts at home.

• I would also like to try my hardest in cross country this year to ensure that our class keeps the shield. I will run around the farm, this will also keep fit for other sports I wish to participate in.

• I want to get a lot better at factual writing as this is one of my weaknesses in English. I will try to read more factual books instead of always choosing fiction books to read.

• I also want to do well in speeches, as this is the highlight for me, in this term. I will spend a lot of my spare time at home practising and writing my speech.