The End

Yes, I am a butterfly.
Courtesy of reflectonthis.com

I can’t believe that I was able to make it through my first year of high school. This year has been a rollercoaster, but now the ride is coming to an end. One of the biggest parts of my school years was this blog. My English teacher gave me this assignment at the very beginning of the year, and at first, I had no clue what to write about, I still don’t really know what I write about. Looking back at all of my posts, I’ve noticed a constant theme. I wrote about things that are meaningful to me. Most of my posts are about my friends, family, and, of course, dance. So when I say my blog is about my life, it really is. My life basically consists of those three things.

Our final blog assignment is to kind of review our year and our blogs. Going back and reading my first post, I noticed that my writing was kind of awkward and all over the place. I was a pretty awkward kid at the beginning of the year, but now, I’ve met new people, made new friends, and even lost some. If you haven’t read my blog before, you have a LOT catching up to do, but if you’ve read it, you know that one of my best friends, Lucie, is moving away, so is my other friend, Aysia. I’m not exactly losing them, but it’s pretty hard to keep in touch when you live on the other side of the world.

Over the course of the year, I was able to improve my writing and, as you can tell by my last post, talk about subjects that I wouldn’t normally talk about on a day to day basis. I’m now better at expressing my feelings through writing, without being an awkward little potato. This blog has been a way for me to take a break from my crazy life in order to write about it. I’m glad I chose my life to be the theme of my blog because it allows my to look back on the important moments of my year and remember the good and bad times.

Today, I’m just thinking about the future. I still want to write, just not all of the time. This blog was a lot of work and it’s definitely not what I want to do for the rest of my life. I’ve thought about going to medical school and getting my surgical residency done with, then maybe join the army, but that’s just an option. I want to be able to do something great, like that, in my lifetime. I want to help a bunch of people and leave my mark on the world.

This is my last blog post. My school year ends in a little less than three weeks and this blog will be ending with it. I’m glad I was able to do something new like this that I can add to my list of experiences. “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference.” - Robert Frost

Until next time…

~Rachael

Never Again

Memorial at Dachau Concentration Camp
Courtesy or wikimedia.org

Okay, it’s time to get serious. By the time that I post this, it will probably be Thursday. Thursday, May 5, 2016 is a Jewish holiday. But really, when is it not a Jewish holiday? This holiday, however, is more recent, even though it was created half a century ago. Although it isn’t as well known in the non-Jewish community as Hanukkah or Passover, it is probably one of the most important holidays there is. Yom HaShoah translates to Holocaust Remembrance Day. Like Jews all over the world, this day means so much to me. 

On Friday, last week, I went to see the high school’s spring play. Coincidentally, the play was The Diary of Anne Frank. I originally went to support my friends who were in it, but it ended up reminding me what my people went through. I really loved the show, but at the end, I was bawling. What happened was so terrible and the fact that anyone would every think about hurting a person (let alone six million people) in that way is sickening. I know that the Holocaust is a very touchy subject for a lot of people, but the survivors are a dying generation that soon won't be able to tell their stories.

Several years ago, my family went to Washington D.C. for a conference that my dad had to go to. One of the days, we ended up visiting the National Holocaust Museum. Seeing all of the items that were recovered from the concentration camps and listening to those stories of the survivors really brought the whole ordeal into perspective for me. WWII and the Holocaust were massive parts of my family history and shaping who I am today.

It seems kind of ironic, but I probably wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for World War II. My grandpa is German, but he was born in England after his family fled Germany. Everyday, nearby cities were bombed and destroyed, but he and his family survived. He lived in England until he was three, when they were given the chance to leave. My grandpa, his mom, and sister all packed their things to go to America, but my great-grandpa had to stay and defend England. There were thirteen refugee ships that left England, but only two made it to America. My grandpa died two years ago, but I was lucky enough to hear that story.

Courtesy of wvu.edu

Like I said, the Holocaust is a very sensitive subject, but it is very important to be taught about it. I am a firm believer of the idea that those who don’t learn about history are doomed to repeat it. Genocide is something that I do not want to happen again, that is why, when talking about the Holocaust, you say, “Never again.”

Thank you for bearing with me through this post. I cant express enough how much this topic hits home to me. Just remember no matter your race, religion, or gender, we are all people. Six million people should never again lose their lives just because one person thinks they are different.

Until next time…

~Rachael

Spring Break! (Part Two)

Last post I started to retell my trip to Disneyland, but I only got through the first day. There is so much that happened in such a short period of time that I don’t know how to shorten my story without leaving out leaving out a lot of details, but I’ll try my best.

PCD REPRESENT! Pardon my face

That Saturday was one of the busiest days of my life. The PCD dancers had to be at the Disneyland hotel at about 10:00 for the rehearsal and pictures. We, along with five or six other studios, ran the dance many times before pictures. The Dance the Magic workers told us that we had some of the best energy and we were all together. I think the fact that we went from an elevation of 7,000 feet to sea level in a matter of a day help a lot. We were also able to practice in a street by the studio, when it wasn’t snowing. After that, all sixty-one of us filed into a small room to take pictures. It took a pretty long time to get it all done because there was so many of us, but it was still fun. We were given t-shirts, Disneyland Performing Arts Mickey ears, and VIP dancer lanyards. Needless to say, we looked like total tourists.

Lucie and I then went back to the hotel room to eat lunch and rest up for the parade that afternoon. After touching up our makeup and hair, we made our way over to the studio meet place at Smallworld. Lu and I met up with Val, Sami, Sophie, and Quinn in the line to get in to Disneyland, but we were running a little late. We ended up running through the entire park to get to Smallworld. We made it just as we were about to leave to go backstage. After changing into our costumes, we had to wait in the hot California heat until the Dance the Magic employees told us where to go. They explained to us that because our energy was so amazing and they wanted the parade to start and finish strong, PCD will be the last studio in the parade. Then, they lead the entire parade to the other side of the park. Being in the back, I was able to see how massive this really was. Six hundred dancers from all over the US and from Australia and Japan all came to Disneyland to dance together. It was a once in a lifetime experience that I had the amazing opportunity to be apart of. 

From right: Lucie, Val, Sami, and I in front
 of Sleeping Beauty's castle

The parade, itself, was a blur. As soon as we stepped out on to the street, the energy level in the park skyrocketed. Everyone was cheering and clapping to Hairspray’s “You Can’t Stop The Beat”. The afternoon heat suddenly didn’t matter anymore as I began to dance. One thought just kept circling through my head, “Your dancing at Disneyland! People dream about this and you are actually doing it!” In the crowds of people lining the streets, I could see little girls and boys staring up at me and the other dancers in the parade. The expressions on their faces reminded my of my own face years ago when I watched people dance for the first time. 

After the short twenty minutes, we all walked back to the dressing rooms and change back in to street clothes. The next day we performed a couple dances at the Dance the Magic showcase. We were then free from our crazy dance schedules to just enjoy Disneyland. I finally got over my fear of rollercoasters and finally rode California Screamin’. Lucie and I stayed at the park with Val and Sami, while my family went to a hockey game. We rode a couple rides then ate dinner. Sami had to go, but Val, Lu, and I stayed out longer. We got in line for Space Mountain, which broke down for a while, but we still got to ride it. My family and Lucie spent two days in Santa Monica, then we all went home. All in all, it was an amazing Spring Break that I’ll never forget because what’s cooler than being able to tell your grandkids that you danced at the Happiest Place on Earth?

~Rachael

Spring Break! (Part One)

I know that it's been a couple weeks since Spring Break, but I still want to write about my first visit to the Happiest Place on Earth. As I mentioned in an earlier post, my studio got to participate in a parade in Disneyland. I have to say that this was one of the best experiences of my life. I accomplished so many once-in-a-lifetime things that weekend, not to mention get over my fear of rollercoasters. But for you, my readers, to get the full effect of my time in the happiest place on earth, I have to start from the very beginning…

My studio started rehearsals for the Dance the Magic parade in January. It was optional, yet sixty-one girls from my studio went, including my entire dance group. Rehearsals were fast and furious. we learned half the parade in an hour, then learned each section of our production piece the next hour. For all of you at home that don’t know what a production piece is, it is a dance with a wide range of levels that all get stage time. This piece was choreographed for the entire one hundred-six person academy, so it took quite a long time to adjust. We had to learn the rest of the parade dance at home and have it ready to clean by the next rehearsal.

Lucie, Mikelle, and I at the back of the plane

Before I knew what had happened, it was time to leave for Disneyland. I was hyped because I’ve never been to Disneyland before that day. I know it seems like neglectful parenting to not allow your children to go to Disneyland until they’re fifteen and seventeen, but my dad has a major fear of rollercoasters, so it’s okay. I flew to Anaheim with Lucie and the Volmrichs because my mother and father couldn’t take off work. It was really fun, but Lu and I were in the very last row of the plane, but we got to sit with Mikelle. The Volmrichs are super fancy, so we were picked up from the airport by a limo.

When we got to Disneyland, we went straight to the hotel to change. We had a dance workshop that night, so we had to be ready. The Volmrichs (Taylor and Savannah), Lucie, and I went to California Adventure because that was were the meet place was for the workshop. We had several hours to spare, so we went to go ride some rides. Luckily, Lucie got the app that lists the wait times for all of the rides in both parks. 

The first ride that we went on was the Tower of Terror. I forgot to mention that even though I consider myself an “adrenaline junky”, I don’t do well with rollercoasters. But I forced myself to go on it. Savannah and I were freaked out, and you can tell from our picture that we’d rather be anywhere than on that ride. But the Tower of Terror was so much fun and it was a great start to the trip.

Bottom left row: Savannah, me, Lucie, and Taylor on the Tower of Terror

The second ride of the day was the Grizzly Peak raft ride. This one had a really long wait time, but it ended up being fine. It was fine until we got off the ride, soaked, with about an hour until we had to meet for the workshop. We went to the Pier, but California Screamin’ had too long of a wait time. We walked around the Pier a little bit, finding rides with the shortest wait times, until it was time to go to the workshop.

The workshop was amazing! We got to see a ton of back stage Disneyland along with learn from two incredible performers. Afterwards, Taylor and Savannah’s mom tried to force me to go on California Screamin’ but I was exhausted and I just wanted to eat food, so I chickened out and waited for them at the end. All in all, it was a pretty great first day, but the rest of my trip was even more unforgettable.

To Be Continued…

The Opposite Hemisphere

Lucie feat. Aysia

A couple weeks ago, I wrote a post about the major changes in my life, but there was something that I forgot. I didn’t write about it in that post because it needed an entire one for itself. Way back in December, I found out that one of my closest friends, Lucie, was moving. The fact that she was moving was the worst part, it was the fact that she was moving across the world. At the time, Lucie was going either to Switzerland or Germany, now, we all know that she’s moving to Germany. This post isn’t going to be about me crying about my friend, it’s going to be a little tribute to our relationship. Let’s get started…

I can’t really remember how or when Lucie and I met, it was sort of all of the sudden, we were friends. Lucie used to ski race on the same team as my brother, so I’d see her at races sometimes. But when we really became friends was when we were in the same dance class in sixth grade. Even though that was only almost four years ago, it seems like an eternity. Lucie is one of those people that once you meet them, you feel like you’ve known them forever. Lucie and I bonded immediately after that. However, after that year, we weren’t in the same dance class. She quit skiing and really focused on dance. Now we are in the same class for jazz and tap.

Like most of the girls that I dance with, Lucie is more of a sister than a friend. Unlike everyone else, Our relationship has stayed pretty consistent. We never really fight, but when do, “Lucie Logic” is almost never right, she agrees. Lucie is one of the most open people ever. She says it’s partially because she’s European, partially because she’s a dancer, but mostly because that’s who Lucie is. I don’t have another friend who will loudly comment how great my butt looks  in a quiet room.

Lucie is also one of the kindest, most truthful, and least self-centered people that I have ever met. Whenever I feel like crying, she is my shoulder (so poetic). I can talk to her about anything and she will give her loud, and honest, opinion. Lucie is one of those people who will ALWAYS put her friends before herself. I can’t count the number of times Lucie has asked if she needs to beat someone up for me.

I don’t really know what the future holds, but we do have some fun stuff coming up. In April, Lucie and I are going to dance at Disneyland, then going to Santa Monica together. Then, after she moves to Germany, I’m taking a detour from my trip to Norway to visit her for a week. I’m just excited to eat all of the food she cooks.

I love this girl so much. She is truly one of the greatest people that I’ve ever met. No one will ever comprehend how much I will miss her. I honestly don’t know what I’ll do without you, Lu. Germany is so lucky to have such an outstanding dancer/cook/professional Netflix binge-watcher. I know that you will have an amazing adventure in Europe that will take you all over the world. I just hope that somehow, your journey will find it’s way back to this small town in Utah. 

~Rachael

The Grey’s Anatomy Post

For all of my best friends who know me too well, this post was going to happen at some point. I have and obsession, more like an addiction. Everyone knows that the first step to curing an addiction is to admit that you have a problem. So here we go… I, Rachael Guthery, have a major, life-threatening addiction to Grey’s Anatomy. I can’t help my self! This show is too good. I have a few people to

Christina Yang creds to popkey.com

blame for my addiction (Lucie, Claire B, Claire O, and Josie… you know what you’ve done), mainly Netflix. I have access to eleven seasons of pure joy, right at my finger tips. Satan, himself, created this website and made it into an app that ruins my life. I’m so wrapped up in this show that I call the characters “my friends”, but I’m not crazy, I promise.

Let’s start from the beginning. Just to let everyone know, there will be MAJOR SPOILERS!!!!! Don’t say I didn’t warn you. In the first episode, I wasn’t really hooked. Season one is only nine episodes long, but they are so packed with action and drama that, to quote Jane Austen, “I was in the middle before I knew I had begun.” It’s was crazy! Before I knew what was going on, it was the season two finale, someone died, and another person quit. The seasons have flown by with so many crazy events. The deaths of many main characters, crumbling relationships, a shooting, a hurricane-ish storm, a sink hole, a plane crash, a train crash, several ambulance crashes (so many crashing vehicles), a loose lion, a bomb, and lots and lots of surgeries. I am so used to seeing blood and organs, that I could probably do a simple surgery now.

I started watching Grey’s Anatomy several months ago, and I’m only on season ten. So many characters have come and gone, even some of my favorites. The hard part of watching this show is that when your favorite character dies (they will most likely die at some point). It’s the weirdest feeling; some of the characters that die have been on the show for a while and you are so submersed in the show that you feel sad for the loss.

Now, because there are a lot of deaths in this show, that also means that there are a ton of new characters. Like one of my best friends, Claire, said in her blog post about this, “Even though you’ll hate them at first, they will soon find a way into your heart.” This is so true. I can’t even count the number of times that I have despised a character, but after a short season they are my favorite (April Kepner, Mark Sloan :( , Owen Hunt, Arizona Robbins, to name a few)

All in all, this is an amazing show that has withstood the test of time. It is definitely my favorite show and there probably will never be a show like it. I highly recommend that if you don’t watch it now, there are eleven seasons on Netflix that you can binge. I can honestly say that watching somewhat realistic surgeries from the comfort of my home has really fueled my desire to go into a medical field whether I become a nurse, pediatric doctor, military medic, or even a surgeon. I really hope you enjoyed this post. “I guess we can’t really complain about karma. It’s not unfair. It’s not unexpected. It just evens the score.” -George O’Malley, Grey’s Anatomy. 

Until next time…

~Rachael

WDFKP

I know that most of you are wondering what that acronym stands for, no it’s not some sort of slang. It actually stands for the Will Dance For Kids Project. This is a competition put on by the Utah Food Bank, where all of the proceeds go to feeding impoverished families. Park City Dance has gone to this competition for as long as I can remember. This is one of my favorite competitions, because I love the venue. This competition is at Taylorsville High School in Salt Lake.

Practicing my solo in the dressing room.

This year, I competed four dances: jazz, tap, ballet, and my solo. My solo was contemporary and was choreographed by Michelle Player, who also choreographed my jazz dance. I performed my solo Friday night and the rest of my dances throughout nine hours on Saturday. For all of you non-dancers, there are four main ranks for dances: bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. At certain competitions, there are eight ranks: bronze, hi-bronze, silver, hi-silver, gold, hi-gold, platinum, and ultimate platinum. WDFKP is not one of those. For my solo, I got a gold, but I was a point and a half from getting platinum.

The first dance that we did on Saturday was tap. Our tap dance is to “Happy” by C2C. In the dance, we are all depressed until my friend, Savannah, possesses us and makes us happy. We competed in the advanced teen tap category. We were the only ones in our category, so we won by default with a gold. However, the top 30% of the entire teen advanced category was recognized. since there were over twenty dances in teen advanced, there were seven dances in the top 30%, “Happy” got number five. The funny thing was that no one, except for responsible Faith, was at awards because we had to get ready for our jazz dance right afterwards... and no one knew that awards were happening.

From left: Ali, Lucie, Mikelle, me, and Taylor right before tap.
Photo creds to Mikelle

The next dance we had was “Seven Nation Army,” our jazz dance. It was to a bluesy cover by Haley Reinhart and Post Modern Jukebox. This is one of my favorite dances that I have ever done because of the choreography. The dance is army themed (of course) and super sassy. It was choreographed by Michelle Player, the same lady that did my solo. Michelle has been my teacher for a while now and she is practically my mom. The dance did pretty good, but it could have been better. 

The last dance that we did that night was a ballet piece called “Waltz of the Hours”. It was repertoire from the ballet Coppelia. The dance was rather difficult because it was on pointe. There was also a ton of girls in this dance because a ton of girls are needed. That made it difficult to clean and revise because every girl had issues with different sections. The dance was kind of a disaster. One of the girls lost a part of her costume, so she had to buy a tank top of the same color and strategically pin it to look like the others. We were all stressed out after the tank top incident, so when we got on stage, most of us forgot changes that we made in class that week. We were all very surprised when the dance got gold at awards.

Over all, it was a pretty successful weekend. I always have a ton of fun at competitions. The next big dance-related event that is happening is in April. Part of the studio gets to dance in a parade at Disneyland! I’ll keep you guys updated on rehearsals and when the big day comes. The quote for this week is from C.S. Lewis “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” See ya later.

~Rachael

Changes

Courtesy of www.shwayder.com

“There is nothing permanent except change,” said Heraclitus. My life is constantly changing, but recently, my life has been turned upside down. First of all, in an earlier post I talked about Shwayder Camp. To refresh your memories, I’ve gone to camp for the past five years and this summer will be my last year. Last year it was announced that there would be some major changes being made to the architecture of camp. They’re tearing down the cabins and many of the buildings. This seems like a small problem, except for the fact that many of those buildings have been there since 1948. Also, we sign our names in the cabins at the end of every session, so there are signatures from thousands of people including our former camp director when he was a counselor-in-training. Now, Shwayder will be wiped clean of all of the memories that have made my home so special. 

Secondly, my dance life is going to change drastically. For eighteen years, Park City Dance Academy has been a small-town dance studio that has been gradually growing and improving. The past couple of years have been really big for us because several of our best dancers have gone to compete at YAGP. The Youth American Grand Prix is one of the most prestigious ballet competitions in the world. From there, PCD has caught the attention of Ballet West. Ballet West is a major ballet company, based in Utah. In February, our directors, Sandy and Trish, announced that Park

Courtesy of balletwest.org

City Dance is now one of three satellite programs of Ballet West Academy. I’m stressed because now our ballet program will become more strict. I love ballet, but that is not what I want to do for the rest of my life. You can only go so far as a ballet dancer, but with jazz, tap, and even hip-hop, a dancer could get many different jobs.

There was a meeting that was held with the reps from Ballet West Academy and they said that Nutcracker could be ending after 2016. I’ve grown up with Park City’s Nutcracker and I know that our entire studio would hate to see it go. I’ve talked about Nutcracker in an earlier post, but I didn’t explain how big of a tradition it was. When I was a younger dancer, I always looked up to the Queens: Snow Queen, Waltz Queen, and Angel Queen, that is. Those were the roles given to the most advanced dancers, the best of the best. It was every little girls’ dream at Park City Dance to dance one of those roles. And now, since Nutcracker could be ending, I, along with the other girls in my group, and the extremely talented dancers in the groups below us, will probably never get the chance to dance our dream roles, and that is one of the most heartbreaking changes of all.

Thank you guys for checking in on my blog! I’m really sorry that I haven’t posted in a while. My life is pretty interesting right now, so I promise there will be more posts in the future. I’ll leave you all with a quote from my man, Gary Kubiak, “Life is fair, keep working.” Until next time…

~Rachael

To The Leader of Awkward People

Dear Grace Helbig,

Hey, girl! First things first, you are so amazing, talented, and one of my heroes. It really peeves me when people say that YouTubers are talentless. Obviously, those people haven’t met you. You are one of the most  successful YouTubers and you are an icon to all of the awkward yet kind of confident girls, like me. It’s crazy that ten years ago, you decided to start posting videos to YouTube, and now you have almost three million subscribers, a TV show, a podcast, a hilarious movie, two books, and another movie on the way.

Queen Helbig courtesy of usatoday.com

You also proved that women can be powerful, independent, and can fend for themselves in a field of hundreds of other very successful people. In 2013, you quit your network and started to make your own content again. Luckily, you had a big enough following that your new channel, ItsGrace, flourished. Around the same time, you began to film Camp Takota with the other two-thirds of the Holy Trinity, Mamrie Hart and Hannah Hart.

I started watching your videos in 2011, when your channel was still DailyGrace. You content was hilarious and I was addicted almost immediately. Over the years, I started to watch other YouTubers like Jenna Marbles, Tyler Oakley, Mamrie, and Hannah, but I still watched your videos. These past several years have been very difficult for me and I know that it’s really cliché and annoying for YouTube fans to say this, but your videos truly made me smile when didn’t feel like being happy. I’ve been able to relate to your awkwardness and being able to see your successes has made me believe in myself even more.

When my English teacher asked us all who our ideal readers were, my mind went completely blank. I know that it doesn’t seem like my blog has a theme, but it does. My blog is about me and my life, so my ideal reader needs to be someone that has great impacted my life and has help shape me as a person. Many of my friends may think that that person is some famous dancer, but that person is actually you, Grace Helbig. I know that I’m not as funny as you (and I don’t have your very punctual upload schedule), but I’m trying my best. What we do have in common though is that our content is very personal. We both talk about things that mean a lot to us, and we do it to entertain others. Many people say that the internet is frying kids’ brains and turning them into terrible people, but not you. I know that it is a very small possibility that you will hear about this blog and an even smaller chance that you will read it, but this is my chance to say that you have influenced me for the better. Thank you for everything.

~Rachael

Tuscan Milk: One Gallon 128 Fluid Ounces

Have you ever discovered something that is so absurd, yet so hilarious that the more that you look, the more you are doubled over in pain from laughing? I’ve had that experience many times, but the most recent one was when my dad showed me the reviews for milk on Amazon. This wasn’t just any milk, it was Tuscan Whole Milk: one gallon 128 fluid ounces. What these people did was genius. All of the comments were either dumb complaints, poems, or stories. My family and sat around the table for about an hour, laughing our heads off. A while back, The New York Times wrote an article about crazy commenters, and since then, more ridiculous reviews have been posted. Now, I know that I’m a little late on the Tuscan Milk bandwagon, but it’s never too late to sit and laugh for a while.

Picture courtesy of amazon.com

Some of my favorites are…

“This was by far the freshest milk I have ever tasted. It still had that ‘new milk smell’. I poured some in strategic spots in my house and car, so I can enjoy the smell for weeks to come.”

“This milk worked well when I first got it, but within a few days it wouldn't hold a charge. I called their customer service department and, I don't know if it's in Bangalore or Ireland, but I couldn't understand a word that they said and they began to scream at me.

Finally, though, they sent me another one - but that wouldn't hold a charge, either. I'm beginning to wonder if this is truly meant to be a portable product. I still haven't been able to retrieve my email and the video is murky.

It's a bit heavy, too, to wear on your belt. The good news is that it keeps your hip cool during this sultry summer weather - for a while.”

“I bought this milk a few days ago; it arrived today, and when I opened it, it was a literal explosion of rainbows and kittens. No cows could have made this milk. No, I suspect unicorns.”

“My wife gave birth to our first born in a bathtub filled with Tuscan Whole Milk, she felt no pain at any stage. He is now 5 years old and completing his PhD in quantum bio-mechanics.”

"Doesn't taste a darn thing like a Toucan. I thought "whoa, tropical bird flavor". Boy was I wrong. Returning this immediately.”

If these reviews were able to cheer me up after a crappy day, then someone in this world is doing something right. I know that this post is fairly short, but it has been a long first semester of high school. It’s my pleasure to announce that by the end of Friday, we will be half-way done with the year! My challenge this week is to find a new obsession to laugh at; one that you can tell about to your friends, until they are so sick of it that they want to punch you in the face. My quote today comes from one of the most majestic human beings. Sadly, this truly amazing man just passed away. “I re-invented my image so many times that I’m in denial that I was originally an overweight Korean woman.” -David Bowie

~Rachael

Joy

I wanted to try something a little bit different. Today, I will be writing about a movie. Over the break, I was able to see the movie Joy. Joy starred my personal queen, Jennifer Lawrence. In this movie she played (to much sarcastic surprise) a strong-willed, independent woman, trying to make her way in the world. I can’t think any other movies where she played a character like this… Winters Bone, Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, The Poker House, all of the X-Men movies (after 2011), all of The Hunger Games movies, the list goes on and on.

Picture courtesy of wikipedia.org

Joy is about a woman, named Joy (of course), who lives in a large house with her crazy mom, freshly divorced (for the second time) father, her loving grandma, Columbian ex-husband, conniving step-sister, and her two young children. One day, Joy was laid-off from her job. Unable to provide for her mess of a family, Joy and her daughter design a mop; after Joy had cut her hands mopping up broken glass. This new “miracle mop” was self-wringing, with a detachable/washable head. Joy pitch the idea to her dad’s crazy-rich, new girlfriend, whose lawyer did a patent search (there was a man in China with a similar idea, but he allowed it). Joy was able to hire a cheap manufacturer to build the molds that Joy had drawn up. 

After having trouble selling her new product, Joy got help from a friend of her ex-husband to make an infomercial for her mop. She got the deal, however, when the infomercial aired live, the seller was unable to work the mop. Zero mops were sold. Joy went back to the producer of the commercial, and demanded that she would be the one to sell the product. He agree, but Joy’s first appearance on TV was a disaster, until her best friend phoned in and got Joy talking about the product. The “average housewife” on TV was able to hit record breaking sales. 

However, there was a problem with the manufacturer. They were asking for a lot of money, now that the Miracle Mop was a big success. Joy flew to California to confront the company. They claimed that the molds where their other employer’s idea, a man who Joy had never talked to. Joy had to file for bankruptcy, but not before she flew to Texas to find this mystery employer. This man (supposedly) worked for the guy in China. The man in China had no clue about the molds. Joy sued the mystery employer for fraud, and won the money. Joy and her family moved to a bigger house, and she was able to invent more products that would change the world.

This movie is now one of my favorites. The message of independence and empowerment is so strong. Even though Joy was full of many strong actors, they all did an amazing job and their performances complimented each other really well. Over the weekend, Jennifer Lawrence won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical, for this film. She also reached out to reporters and the public, demanding for equal pay for women. I feel that it is important for children all over to have an idol who is as strong as her, one who doesn’t just portrays strong women.

Thank you for reading this post! Equality of all kinds is something that means so much to me, so seeing a movie like this made me really happy. My challenge for you is the actually the Golden Rule. What people need to understand is, no matter how bad it sounds, people are constantly judging you and it’s not going to stop any time soon. What you need to do is be a good person. Give everyone else something good to judge. “We got here from hard work, patience, and humility. Don't think the world owes you anything because the world owes you nothing.” - Joy Mangano, played by Jennifer Lawrence. Until next time…

~Rachael

Dance All Night (Tour)

For Hanukkah, my mother graciously bought me tickets to see the Dancing with the Stars live tour. Even though ballroom dancing isn’t my forte, I was ecstatic because I’ve watched Dancing with the Stars for as long as I remember. There was a short while when I stopped watching, but thanks to my friend, Claire, I got back on track, making her my DWTS buddy. So when I read that I could bring a friend with me, she was my goto gal.

Picture courtesy of dwtstour.com

The Dancing with the Stars tour actually started in Salt Lake, so that was cool. Many of the pros are from Utah, which was even cooler. After dance, my mom picked up Claire and I, and drove us down to SLC. We ate dinner then went to the arena. OH MY GOD! It was AMAZING! They were all so talented! Not to mention that Val and Artem are much hotter in person. Sadly, Sharna wasn’t there because she had a tragedy in her family.

Even though she was’t there, the show was still so much fun! At one point, Emma and Keo went into the audience and picked two girls and a guy to dance with the pros. The two girls were speechless, probably because they got to dance with Val and Artem, while the guy was just hilarious. Jim, the guy, and Peta danced to “Hips Don’t Lie”. It was supposed to be a samba, but it just turned into him running around the stage shaking his butt.

After the intermission, the best thing happened. The star that went on tour with them, Alek Skarlatos, danced with Emma Slater. To clarify for all of the non-DWTS die-hard fans, Emma and Alek first danced together during the “Switch-up Week”. Alek’s original parter was Lindsay, but it was really clear that he liked Emma. He even ended up admitting that he did, and he chose her to dance with him and Lindsay during the trio week. Lindsay called Alek out, saying she had an early Christmas present for him. Emma appeared onstage, and she and Alek danced the rumba, the dance that they did for the switch-up week.

I was so sad when the show ended, but I was definitely not disappointed. Claire and I were still buzzing from excitement during the drive home. I got home at eleven and was exhausted. When I woke up the next day, I felt dead. My voice was almost gone from screaming and my ears were still ringing from the music. But when I saw Claire at school, a wave of energy hit me, as we reminisced about the night we’d never forget.

That’s my story! I still can’t believe that I got to see some of my idols dance in person. My challenge this week is a challenge for me, too, because we are going back to school on Monday. We only have two weeks left in the first semester, that means that the year is almost half way done! My quote of the week is, “We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don't know.” - W. H. Auden.

~Rachael