Dakota

__I BELIEVE __
 * 1) I believe in sports
 * 2) I believe in friend[[image:dakota-summerschool-2011-semester2-.jpg width="448" height="295" align="right" caption="Dakota is ready to thrive in summer school!"]]s
 * 3) I believe that friends should be there for you when you need help
 * 4) I believe in France
 * 5) I believe France is the best European country
 * 6) I believe in family
 * 7) I believe that your family will be there with you even through your hardest times
 * 8) I believe in the New York Yankees
 * 9) I believe in Squirrels
 * 10) I believe that school starts too early
 * 11) I [[image:chuck_norris_dog.jpg align="right" caption="Chuck Norris rules!"]]that the Phoenix Suns have the best mascot in the whole NBA
 * 12) I believe BHS is way better than VHS
 * 13) I believe haters gonna hate
 * 14) I believe in being a good friend
 * 15) I believe in smiling
 * 16) <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">I believe that it’s easier to smile than too frown
 * 17) <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">I believe that Steve Nash and Chris Bosh are my favorite NBA players
 * 18) <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">I believe that I am a St.Louis Rams and a Baltimore Ravens fan
 * 19) <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">I believe Chuck Norris has another fist underneath his beard not a chin
 * 20) <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">I believe soccer is the most boring sport to watch on TV

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Berlin Sans FB Demi',sans-serif; font-size: 29px; text-align: center;">My life

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">I know what it’s like to have a difficult life. I was born on June 11, 1995. I am the youngest of three boys, my brother Brad is 25 and my brother James is 28. They always seemed to be getting in trouble at school and with my parents when I was real little. My parents names are Ken(who is 42) and Michele(who is 35), they also were getting in trouble when I was a baby going on to being a child. My dad was always getting accused of false crimes ,from his ex-wife trying to get custody of my brothers. She never had enough evidence to support any of her allegations.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">My first year in life I lived in a van with my family, we were very poor back then. But one day my dad had saved up enough money to buy a house in Santa Paula. We lived there for about 7 years, and they certainly were not the greatest years. I remember when I was 2 years old my parents bought me to cats: Harley and Hercules, the next year my brother opened the door to go to school, and Hercules ran out and into the street, and got ran over by a car right in front of my eyes. It’s something I remember to this day.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">My parents then got a dog: Zena, she was a puppy when we got her. We had her for about 4 years, but one day she somehow hopped over a 6ft. brick wall ran over to the neighbor’s yard and killed their dog ( a chow-chow). We had to put Zena down. When I was 8 we moved to another house in Saticoy, on the first month of living there my dad and I were driving and a car ran a red light and T-Boned the side of my dad’s truck my dad got a broken wrist, and got cuts all over his body. And I got got a broken leg, fractured ankle, and fractured foot. I had to go and stay in the hospital for 1 month and 10days. The next year my cousin was riding his sport bike and a car ran a red light and rammed him in a hummer he died on March 7, 2005

**<span style="font-family: 'Berlin Sans FB Demi','sans-serif'; font-size: 29px;">Who’s at Fault? **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Who do you think is to blame of the tragic death of Larry King? This showed his sexual interest in boys including Brandon McInerney to a point where he used his sexuality as a weapon. But, that gives him no right to die. Larry chose to like Brandon, a boy who had a troubled past his dad, was a major alcoholic who shot his mom, and his mom was a crystal meth addict. __That’s why I believe Larry King was the most to blame.__

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">First, the School Administration did play a role in Larry’s death, but was definitely not the biggest. Some people claim that Joy Epstein protected Larry which seemed to make him more disruptive in class. They also said you can be a guy and dress like a girl, but they could have told Larry to tone down his feminine side, but they didn’t. They say school has the duty to keep you safe in school, they didn’t restrict what Larry did. So now he’s dead.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Next, alright you’re right the person who shot the gun and murdered somebody should get the most blame, I don’t think so. Larry did provoke Brandon to do this to him. Brandon did choose to kill Larry pre-meditated, and he could of handled the situation way differently. He failed to use the school officials for help. But, this is what probably would happen if you humiliate someone who grew up In a childhood, of a major alcoholic for a dad, and his mom being a crystal meth addict. Plus, Brandon’s dad shot his mom in the arm with a gun. So Brandon had a lot of violence in his past. If Larry picked to like someone else he wouldn’t have died, he put this on himself.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Then, alright the person who is most to blame for the death of Larry King is… Larry King himself. Yes Larry caused this and was the one who got punished. He used his sexuality as a weapon. He would try to flirt with guys in the locker room by calling them hot. He would dress in clothes that most girls wouldn’t wear. He wore stiletto shoes & Knee high pink boots! And he was sexual harassing Brandon trying to blackmail Brandon to be nice to him or he would tell the whole school they were going out he also humiliated Brandon, by going up to him in front of all of his friends and asked him to be his Valentine. That’s what provoked Brandon. None of this would of happened if Larry kept his mouth shut. That’s why its Larry’s fault.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Finally, this whole murder ended up in a mess of whose fault it is. People could say its Brandon’s fault because he killed him. But, I say again” if Larry just would keep it to himself nothing would of gone this far”. __That’s why I believe Larry King’s death was caused from his action!__

**<span style="font-family: 'Centaur','serif'; font-size: 24px;">My 31 things I want to do before I’m 30 **
 * 1) Finish High School
 * 2) Go to college
 * 3) Have a career in Law Enforcement
 * 4) Meet Jim Carrey
 * 5) Have 2 kids(Noah & Scarlet)
 * 6) Have their names tattoed under my forearms
 * 7) Go bungee-jumping
 * 8) Get everything I want before I have kids
 * 9) Bring my whole family on a cruise across the pacific ocean
 * 10) Get invisiline
 * 11) Leave Ventura & California
 * 12) Move to Texas or New York
 * 13) Have a great wife that I truly love
 * 14) Become general manager of the Phoenix Suns\
 * 15) Go to Hawaii
 * 16) Pimp-Slap Chuck Norris
 * 17) Stay a Ravens & Rams fan
 * 18) Go to LSU(Louisiana State University)
 * 19) Own a 3 story house
 * 20) Have an elevator in my house
 * 21) Become rich
 * 22) Own 3 cats & 2 dogs
 * 23) Meet Mr.T
 * 24) Stay a Hater to the Lakers
 * 25) For my free time Snowboard
 * 26) Have an autograph from Shaun White
 * 27) Learn how to cat daddy
 * 28) Be an actor in a movie
 * 29) Keep a surfer haircut my whole life
 * 30) Own a yacht
 * 31) Donate money to the poor

** Where should Brandon go? ** Brandon McInerney is about to be charged with 1st degree murder for killing fellow classmate Larry King. He was 14 when he did this crime. They are charging him as an adult even though he is a child right now. They say he planned it out (pre-meditated) when they have no proof that he did__. I believe that Brandon McInerney should be tried as a juvenile.__ Next, Larry King humiliated Brandon in front of all of his friends. Brandon was done with how much he was being bullied by Larry. He has the brain of a child and he lost his cool. I doubt that he went home and planned out how he was going to kill Larry. He could of just picked up the gun and thought he was going to scare him, we have no clue. He killed Larry King because he was enraged in the moment. He was not thinking what would happen to him after the crime. Then, Brandon can be a kid who can be changed. There are other people in the world who come from the same and even worse backgrounds than Brandon, and they still come out of prison wanting to turn their life around. Brandon still can be rehabilitated. He is only 17, I guarantee he doesn’t want to spend the rest of his life rotting in jail. He wants to get out at age 25 and get his life started. 8 years of rehabilitation is plenty of time for someone to get their life on track. If I was the judge of this court this would be a tough case. I think Brandon McInerney was in the heap of the moment, and didn’t think what would happen to him after this was done. He is a child. Only a child would attempt a murder like this. That’s why I believe Brandon should be released at age 25 as a juvenile. He should be able to have a chance to turn his life around. Brandon McInerney is a boy who committed a terrible crime. Brandon murdered Larry King because Larry humiliated Brandon in front of all of his friends. Enraged, Brandon killed Larry without thinking of a result. He was thinking like a child because that’s what he is__. That’s why I believe Brandon McInerney should be charged in juvenile court.__

**<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 24px;">Photo or Text ** <span style="font-family: 'Britannic Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Susan Sontag’s statements about photos are negative. Photography is a way of art, it helps people realize how much more real things are. Sontag does love to write, so that’s probably why she thinks it’s more dominant. I disagree my opinion is that Photography is important in our culture today. You learn a lot by examining photography. <span style="font-family: 'Britannic Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">First, Susan Sontag does have a point about writing. Our would be devastated if we didn’t have the ability to write. Without photos our world wouldn’t be devastated. I think writing is really important in its own ways. But, writing doesn’t have description as well as photos. Writing though tells you the whole story. It tells you what happened before, middle, and after in the event, 1 single photo doesn’t. Sontag states strictly speaking one never understands anything from a photograph. <span style="font-family: 'Britannic Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Some people disregard photos as useless. They aren’t useless, they help show emot <span style="font-family: 'Britannic Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">ions in people and animals. Also photos show description in a better way than text can. Photos have been around for 12,000, that’s about three times as long as text. Plus photos capture a slice of reality. Something photography can do is recognize a photo and take in its message, text can’t do that. <span style="font-family: 'Britannic Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Photography is another form of art, it produces: movies, videos, portraits etc. without th <span style="font-family: 'Britannic Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">em most of people’s lives would be dull. All they can do is check out a library book, that sounds like fun. One great movie that shows realistic features because of photography is “Saving Pvt. Ryan” that is the closest you could get to watching the war in the movies. Everything looks so real you can see the bloo dshed, the pain in their eyes, and you can see that they are scared. A lot of people enjoy looking and admiring art masterpieces than a book full of scribbles. <span style="font-family: 'Britannic Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Text is really important in this world. But, photography today is a way of life. You can’t just say negative things when there is so many positive things that it would counter-act it. That’s exactly my reason why I don’t agree with what Sontag said. Photography IS important in our culture today!

**<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Black','sans-serif'; font-size: 29px;">Ch ****<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Black','sans-serif'; font-size: 29px;">e ****<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Black','sans-serif'; font-size: 29px;">mic ****<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Black','sans-serif'; font-size: 29px;">a ****<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Black','sans-serif'; font-size: 29px;">ls ** <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Saying chemicals is everything is totally untrue. We weren’t made to have feelings, and say their chemicals. We want to feel, we aren’t robots. We are humans we feel everything, everything was made for a reason, chemicals did make us, but that doesn’t mean we are them. __ I believe chemicals may have made us but we are individual, that’s why I don’t believe chemicals are everything. __ <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">First, Dopamine is a hormone that is released when you’re supposedly in love. But dopamine is also released when you skydive or do something really exciting. The bad thing though is that dopamine is also released when you smoke crystal meth, or shoot up heroin. Every man comes from the primate age. We get some of our classic traditions from the primates. When you have a wife and a child, you protect her that’s the man’s job. Oxytocine makes you feel in the relationship protective and more outgoing to help people. It is released when your body knows you have a good life. And serotonin is released when you are content with your life. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Next, Love is one of the most special emotions in the world in every human being and animal. Love is when you meet some and/or of the opposite sex that you wanted to be with for the rest of your life. If you find somebody that you love, you will do anything to please them. You want them to be with you forever, it sometimes only happens to people once in a lifetime. From that I believe you need love to live life to the best of its abilities. Romeo and Juliet, they wouldn’t have gone through all that trouble if they didn’t love each other. Dante and Patrick each loved a girl for 50 years. They never talked to her; all they did was admiring her. That’s what true love is. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Then, the lives of children growing up released those chemicals letting your body know that you’re ready to proceed on with life. If you live a healthy life there is a very good chance that you will get all the things you need in your life. Men offer protection, and women offer being able to have the baby and carry on the generation. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Finally, Chemicals may have constructed everything in the universe, but that doesn’t mean that they are every little thing in the universe. Every different person and animal is not a certain type of chemical. Every different person, animal, bug, tree is unique. You can’t believe we are just some lab experiment that scientists are playing with__. That’s why I believe we aren’t chemicals, chemicals aren’t everything. __

** One Thing? ** <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Something that is really important to me is my golden chain. This golden chain has been with me my entire life. This item is really precious to me and my entire family. I will keep this chain and care for it until I have my first child. I believe that this golden chain is my most prized possession. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">First, I got this chain the day I was born, June 11, 1995. Also my dad had it his entire life before he gave it to me. This chain was formerly my great-grandfather’s that he made when he was in World War II. This chain is pure gold and has been in my family for a few generations now. And I want to keep it going. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Next, this golden chain is important to me in a number of ways. This golden chain symbolizes victory because when my great-grandfather knew they defeated the Nazis in WWII, he took the chain and raised it towards the sky. The chain also symbolizes compassion from how my family wants to keep the tradition going forever. Or until we have something else to pass down with it. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Finally, this chain has been through some historical events in the whole world. And I’m glad that I’m able to have it right now. I’m proud to be a part of this family, and being able to own such a prized possession. If you think about it, it makes you feel really special. From that, I believe that my most prized possession is my pure golden chain. THE END

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';">Romantic or Arranged marriages? ** <span style="font-family: 'Berlin Sans FB','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">There has been debate all around the world deciding if marriages should be chosen free of choice or by the parents deciding. These are both used all over the world. There are both good and bad things about both of these. But, in my opinion, __I believe marriages should be chosen freely.__ People should be able to marry the people they are in love with. <span style="font-family: 'Berlin Sans FB','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">First, some people say this discussion is easy saying parents should arrange the marriages. They are right though, if your parents arrange a marriage the divorce chances are really low. It’s way easier for them to do that and you don’t have to go out and find someone that you love. It must be a better marriage because the parents are much wiser. <span style="font-family: 'Berlin Sans FB','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Next, I would say more people lean toward picking marriages free of choice. You can’t be happy unless your with someone that you love. Also you should marry the person that you love, and you’re in a marriage without passion it’s sad. And what if your parents make a bad mistake for your wife/husband you know who gets punished for it … you get punished for it. <span style="font-family: 'Berlin Sans FB','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Then, these two arguments make sense for why they have been argued for such a long time. But, I’m going to stick with what I said before. You should be able to marry your heart’s desire. What if your parents decide that you’re going to marry a girl you don’t even know, when I hear that I believe that you’re outright lazy. And if you get married to a random person that you don’t even know who they are you will always have the thought “I wonder who I would of married if I chose for myself?” And if you choose to marry someone you are truly in love with, you wouldn’t wonder how your life would be if your parents chose for you. <span style="font-family: 'Berlin Sans FB','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Finally, I explained a lot about the good and the bad about the both of these. I feel I have convinced enough to convince some people to realize the truth. I’m just saying if you love somebody that is the most important thing. From what I have explained in the following paragraphs, __I believe being able to choose your own marriage with your heart is the most important in the world.__