First, I am going to tell you about my prom. It was a night I will never forget. For the most part, everyone in my group was on time. We ate at a wonderful restaurant with delicious food and great service. I had fun dancing at prom, even though me and my friend had to avoid getting asked to dance by creepy guys. Everything went smoothly until prom ended and we needed to leave. Two minutes before prom ended, our administrator announced that the city police was doing a surprise inspection of limo driver's paperwork and that they had already arrested 5 drivers and impounded their limos. At first. I called my driver and he assured me everything was all right, but 3 hours later he was in the slammer and my mom had to come and pick us up. Despite everything that happened, I loved every minute of prom from beginning to end. After prom could have been better, but oh well. Here are some pictures:

 

I am a procrastinator. So one of the things I enjoy doing while I'm avoiding doing actual work is going to google images and looking up different places in the world. It's fascinating how much you can learn about a country/city just from pictures. I look at the people. the pollution, the clothes, the level of poverty, the architecture, and so much more. I love looking at pictures of people and places in Uzbekistan, India, Afghanistan, Peru, Mongolia, Bhutan, and Turkey. I will look at many different countries around the world. It's so interesting! Recently, I looked up Kayser, Turkey and the area around it known as Cappadocia.

 

I have spring break a week from this coming monday! Yay! I can't wait... I want pretty spring clothes. I want pretty skirts, playful dresses, comfortable, yet, cute sandals, and pastel cardigans. But, sadly, I have yet to find any cute dresses, skirts, or cardigans to fall in love with. I may have to make a trip to the thrift store. Maybe, I will be more successful in my search there. 

Soon after spring break, Senior Skip Day will be coming! I want to go to six flags. I love roller coasters and during a school day, if they are open, there will be no lines and I can ride Goliath 15 times in a row, if I please. Ahh... glee. 

On to more serious matters, this week one of my friends was a witness in a rape case. She was a witness for the defendant, who I do not personally know, but I do know some of his friends and his sister, plus I he went to the same school as I do, but he graduated when I was in tenth grade. He is not a bad person. He would not rape anyone, ever. The girl claiming that he raped her also went to my school and was a very promiscuous girl. She had a crush on this guy and invited him over to her house when her parents were not home. They then proceeded to make out and eventually have sex. The next day, at school, the girl goes around bragging to all of her friends that she had sex with this guy and giving everyone details about it. This was at the age of 16; three years later, her parents discover that she is sexually active and she proceeds to make up a story that it is because she was raped and now needs the attention of men all the time. This goes to court in a conservative Christian area and even though he had 4 witnesses say that she the sex was consensual and that she was bragging about it at school, he is sentenced to 35 years in prison. The jury and judge are insane. There is no way this would happen in a state-level court. There was no evidence against the defendant. When he appeals, and hopefully the charges are revoked, people are not going to take real rape victims seriously. Some girls blow my mind. How can they completely ruin someone's life like that. And not only did they ruin his life, but, when the truth comes out, rape victims are going to have a hard time getting the help they need. This makes me so angry! 

Speaking of rape, there are many women around the world suffering because rape is being used as a military tactic. Women in Darfur are being senselessly raped and mutilated. It is horrible. They are so strong. They do not have half as much help as rape victims do in other places around the world, yet somehow they find a way to still help other girls and live on and work hard. What happens to them scars them for life. Their tribe no longer respects these women who did not voluntarily have sex with five different men, but they were raped. They were forced and hurt and it is horrible how much they are suffering. They need help, so please people call your governors, your senators, your representatives, and send mail to your president asking them to help the people in Darfur. People said never again, but there are 450,000 people dead in Darfur and 2.5 million people are displaced because of the genocide going on in Darfur, Sudan. There is a wonderful site, savedarfur.org. It has a video that you can download and watch for free. It is heart-tearing to hear these women talk about the situations they've been through, but it gives you lots of information on what is really happening.

 

-keep your hearts and minds open