Empire of Dirt

Something about Johnny Cash makes anything he does sound incredibly urgent. Over the ten year period before his death, he recorded several albums covering songs by bands like Nine Inch Nails and The Beatles and U2.
And without effort he tops every single one of them, just by strumming a guitar and lazily mumbling the vocals in that distinctively deep voice of his.

Two of the highlights from the series of six albums are "Wayfaring Stranger" and "One", the latter by U2. Let's just say this eighty year old man had a knack for making you cry - every song sounds like he died right after he recorded it and every song makes a pretty convincing epitaph. Guy's got like fifty epitaphs. Some look back on life satisfied and accomplished, some look back dejected and alone. Even though the songs weren't originally written about death, Cash makes them about death.

It's terrifyingly affecting, and it puts everything in perspective. Johnny Cash is gone forever, and someday I will be too - just without any kind of legacy.
In Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt", Cash wallows in his sense of the meaninglessness of all his accomplishment. "You can have it all," he promises. "My empire of dirt."

The teacher of my life

Today at the academic assembly, there were a lot of awards given, but one stood above the rest. The award for "teacher of the year" went to Coach Rennie Atkinson, who handles all the A.P. European History classes. Last year, I had the wonderful privilege of taking his class, and it turned out to be the class with the single most effect on my academic career.

When Coach A. gave his short speech, he was brought to tears as he called it "the greatest award of my career." I have never clapped so fervently in my life. A standing ovation and the classic "clap.........clap.......clap.....clap...clap..clap.clapclap" were totally deserved, and I wish there was even more the student body could do to honor him. I'm sure he makes a great football coach, but first and foremost, he is an outstanding teacher. When you are in Coach A's class it's hard to care about any of your others. He is a hilarious man, and he motivates his students to work hard - getting a good score on one of his essays was incredibly satisfying. You wanted to do well because Coach A wanted you to, and if you didn't you knew you were letting him down. Letting Coach A down was something I would not let myself do.

How great the man is can only be understood by taking his class. It was my first AP class, and, thus far, my best. (That is in no way a slight to my other great teachers like Dr. Carreker and Mrs. Taylor!) I don't really have much of a personal relationship with the guy, but I think everyone should know how much of a blessing his class is to FPD. And maybe, just maybe, he'll be shown this blog and know how much his life has affected my life. The award he recieved today only showed the huge amount of people who appreciate him. Coach A, you are a huge part of what makes FPD.

My only regret is I only made a 4 on the exam, not a 5.

J. C. Pow

The thing about taking journalism is you have to deal with Mr. Powell. This guy has his pros and cons. First off, he's a big gossiper. He'll always talk about people in the class who aren't there. I can only imagine the mean stuff he's said about me. He's a very casual teacher who jokes with students and texts them on weekends. He always posts amusing in-depth Facebook statuses. I think he uses Facebook to replace how he used to write witty columns in newspapers.

What really makes Mr. Powell's class worth taking, though, is how he really does care about his students, but even more so how he really cares about newspapers and writing. He makes sure the finished product is as good as it can be, and he encourages us when we aren't so sure about the quality of our work. He isn't afraid to cut stories that aren't up to par, like that time I wrote a dull piece on indoor soccer. He's honest, so a compliment from him means a lot. Journalism has become the class I look forward to: it's a laid-back environment, but you do have to do work. But the work is always rewarded. The satisfaction of seeing your writing read by others is rarely topped in this life, and I'd like to thank Mr. Cal for helping me see that.

Colby

It was raining. Colby had this shiny comic book that she borrowed from a friend. Of course I volunteered to help her get it safely to the car. So then we ran through the tsunami, umbrellaless, all the way to her car. "OPEN THE DOOR COLBY!!!" "AHHH I'M TRYING!!!" Finally, we got inside, soaked. My sweater vest fused to my tie, my hair got a slick new style. Thanks, Colby, thanks.

Colby is not boring. She said "I'm boring" and I was like "No way! You are so not boring." Today, she is wearing these really cool earrings that are pink and blue - they match her shirt quite nicely. Right now, we are both blogging at the same time - imagine that. She is a very nice person, and she pretends to care about what you are talking about even when she doesn't know what you are talking about. She comes to all these concerts with me - pretty soon we're going to see Relient K and Copeland. She sticks it out just to show she cares. A great listener, Colby is always someone you can tell anything. She laughs at my jokes, and she has awesome hair every single day.

Adriana

I might say that Adriana was a cool person, but I won't. She can sing; I remember one time I was in this play called Starmites and she sang a duet with Anne Strickland and it was really something beautiful. She is short, and she used to have braces on her bottom teeth. A very encouraging person, she'll come up to me in the hallway just to tell me to have a good day. One time, she gave me a flower and I ate it. She can play that Panic! At The Disco song on the piano and she loves the music from the Windwaker. Her spanglish is hysterical, but walking to her house might give you pneuomonia.

David Darnell says I should explain all the these inside jokes, so I will. One time, Adriana had braces on her bottom teeth and I made fun of her, and now if I make fun of her I say "at least you don't have braces on your bottom teeth." The flower thing is a true story. The Windwaker is a video game and the Panic! song is called "I Write Sins Not Tragedies". Oh, and, on the phone with her mom she mixes Spanish and English together in a truly hilarious way. Also, this girl named Colby got pneumonia just because she walked to Adriana's house. Thanks, Adriana. At least you don't have braces on your bottom teeth.