Weight Lifting Program

32465 R.D 10
Las Animas, CO 81054
26^th October, 2010

 Carl Lindauer
300 Grove Ave.
Las Animas, CO 81054

Dear Mr. Carl Lindauer

 Being a student at Las Animas High School, I recognize the pros and cons of our school system and facilities. You know as well as I do that here at Las Animas, we take our athletics very seriously, and are willing to do whatever it takes in order to be more successful at sports.  So if the weight lifting classes were offered, I would be very appreciative.
Its been proven that simple strength building exercises (such as weight lifting) decreases the number of serious injuries in all sports. Some injuries that can be avoided are ACL tears, muscle strains and muscles tears. Also, if you are doing your proper stretches after weightlifting, you will notice your game improving as you become bigger, faster, and stronger. When you gain more muscle, your speed will increase for track, your vertical will increase in basketball, your strength will enable you to tackle harder and recover faster. But these are not the only benefits of weight lifting.
I know that the school’s budget for hiring new teachers is very low at this point in time, but if a couple of the physical education classes were combined, then the P.E teacher could offer an hour or two of weight lifting classes.  Also if more classes were offered, there would be a greater variety of electives for students to choose from. If more electives were available, then other classes would have a smaller number of students, allowing teachers to teach more effectively.
I want the best for our athletes here at Las Animas, but with a few modifications, our sports programs will see a dramatic effect in the right direction.   

Sincerely,

Taylor Spady

"THE BIRDS"

Taylor Spady

Mr. Armstrong

English 1

12^th, October 2010

MOVIE REVIEW

If you are looking for a movie produced in the 1970’s, that will rise the tension and make you weary when you look up at the sky when you see strange flying creatures above you, then I know the perfect movie.  In the last few days, I was given the opportunity to watch Daphne du Maurier’s “The Birds”.   Alfred Hitchcock (the director of “The Birds”) does a great job with this movie.  He ties in his bazaar and creative ideas to raise suspense and horror of this film.

            Hitchcock did an outstanding job when it comes to picking the right characters to play the roles in this movie. It starts of with Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) at a pet store buying birds in her home town of San Francisco.  Then a young man walks in by the name of Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) walks into the store and starts giving Ms. Daniels a hard time. Mrs. Daniels being mighty clever and all decided to take a pair of love birds to his weekend home at Bodega Bay.

            When she arrives at Bodega Bay, she finds out that Mitch has a little sister named Cathy, so she address the envelope to her instead of Mitch.  Hitchcock does a great job at this part when he has Tippi Hedren portray how anxious Ms. Daniels  is to find the Brenner’s house.   

            After she drops off the love birds and is paddling back to the other side, she is struck by a gull and is bleeding.  The special effects of this movie were top of the line at the time, but watching it now after seeing the movies that were produced lately, you can tell that that the birds are fake. It appears as if someone off the set is throwing the birds at the people, and the blood is too red and looks as if it were sponged on. No matter what type of bird is attacking, they all make the same sounds, which does NOT make the film realistic. 

            Also, the movie “The Birds” was completely different from the book. Some of the differences would be were the movie is based, and the entire story line.  The only things that remained the same in both the movie and the book is that the birds attack in cycles, and they both boarded up the windows and doors.

              I also didn't agree about how Hitchcock ended the movie. Melanie was injured after being attacked by the birds in the attic, but the film suddenly ends when Mr. Brenner and his family are taking her to the hospital in San Francisco. But then again, the book had a terrible ending as well. Over all this is a very good movie and advise you to watch it.