I can't think of a name for this post, so think of one yourself.

I'm done with school for the day...I don't have to worry about calculus, physics, government, theology, and literature till tomorrow.

 But what this post is really about is something that happened because of calculus. You see, I'm still reviewing pre-calc and the sheet that I studied today was in my sisters "house" (its like a guest house thing that we built for her once she graduated from college) and I saw in her book-shelf a book called "The Freedom Writers." I watched a movie that is based on the story a couple of months ago, and its a great story, so I picked up the book and started to read.

The movie is about the general story, which is roughly: In the 90's this new high school English teacher in, Long Beach, got a class of all the problem students. And by problem, I mean PROBLEM, as in people on probation, gang-bangers, and ex-juvies. They had no interest whatsoever in education, partly because they ever since they could remember they had been labeled as stupid, potential-less people; and partly because they knew they would be lucky if they lived to be old enough to graduate. She got them to love school through writing dairies, and reading about people who had similar experiences, such as Anne Frank. Its an amazing story. I highly recommend the movie, it is a powerful demonstration of the power of hard work and writing.

The book is composed of the dairies of "the freedom writers," as they dubbed themselves, and the teacher. It is a really interesting and emotionally charged read. And sometimes funny seeing the different students react to the things that their teacher makes them do. It makes me feel so grateful for all the blessings I have received. I recommend the book with a note of caution: It is writings the personal writings of the students and most of them had extremely rough lives. There are some pretty disturbing scenes in it and lots of language. But I think that the overall effect was a good one for me at least. Please read with discretion.

Well, that all for now.

-Thomas, who is extremely surprised that anything good came about from studying calculus.