Picture the Girl: Young Women Speak Their Minds, Audrey Shehyn, Page 30 of 154. 



Dear Audrey Shehyn,
I was in the library at my school( Chamblee Charter High School) looking for a book that looked intriguing, and just when I was loosing hope I found your book Picture The Girl: Young Women Speak Their Minds! I opened the book and saw that they were stories about different girls, not just one I liked that. I'm a little nosy so the fact that the stories are told as if they were speaking interested me even more. The cover is creative how you have a picture of each girl, showing us how unique each girl is just from the pictures. 
                                                                                           Sincerely, Amelia Pittman.
Dear Characters,
I really enjoyed the characters candor to the reader, not scared of hiding the little details.
Maya: I totally understand exactly where you're coming from when you say "I want to make a mark"(Maya,7) I want to also, I want people to look back and hear my name and think wow, she changed the something. You're an advocate for Woman's Rights I see! My favorite part of your story was the quote" I think I'm beautiful, but sort of flawed, in a good way because you wouldn't want to be perfect." I just live that, it describes just about every teenager girl in America.
Ayelet: Your story reminded me of people at my school that one person that doesn't quite fit into the average teenager mold and is mostly solitary, and people need to understand and accept you for you. Sorry to hear about your parents not accepting you, that must suck! STAY STRONG AND DON'T LET ANYONE RAIN ON YOUR SUNSHINE PARADE!
Peaches: The first sentence of your story slick touched me, " Everyone that I ever really cared about gets taken from me",(Peaches,17). that has happened to me so much and because of that we both have our guards up. The fact that you take care of yourself at 16 is something I could never imagine doing, paying rent, bills, and buying food. I wouldn't know where to begin. That has got to be stressful. It's good to see that you started coming back to school,  because honestly without an education life's gonna be 20x harder.
Charlene: Your a nice combination of ethnicities German and Filipino. Don't worry about the girls that hate on you that will always happen with girls. I've never been sexually harassed  but I can say is stand your ground! Let the guys know that enough is enough!...or just call 911.
Olivia: YOUR BABY IS ADORABLE! "You've got to be prepared to do it on your own,no matter what anybody say", I really like that independence is definitely a huge part in being a women and a mother. The situation with your baby daddy isn't the best, but give him a chance maturity does take longer for others. You having a child put all your dreams on pause, and that's one thing I wouldn't be able to deal with.  Life's so short already and being 16 with a baby is really messing up everything in my opinion. One good thing is the that you can afford to support the baby! Good luck (:
Ginjur: "I try to look out for people. I put myself on the line for somebody else if I think they need help", I do the same exact thing, but sometimes I find they wouldn't do the same for me and I hate that so much. 
                                                                              Sincerely, Amelia Pittman.
 
 
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Part of good digital citizenship is not being a cyber bully. Have you ever been cyber-bullied? What did you do about it? Make a list of hints for students who are being cyber-bullied.  

Cyber is used to describe a person, thing, or idea as part of the computer and information age.Bullying is to use superior strength or influence to intimidate (someone), typically to force him or her to do what one wants. The two words together create, cyber bullying, basically bullying through the internet. Personally, I've never encountered a situation with cyberbullying, but I did watch an ABC Family movie on the topic. I can only imagine, what it's like to come home everyday and read self and self esteem destructing messages.Knowing myself, I would go crazy. I can only hide my emotions for so long.Tome the social networks and technology, is beginning to take over people's persona, sadly. On the internet people create, new versions of themselves that are misleading and in most cases fake.
                                                              The prevention of cyberbullying,is quite simple.Be care what you send to people and who you send it too. And don't do anything stupid! Don't send bad pictures,please girls,please!

 
Olivia and Jordyn were the best of friends. The two girls had known each other from birth, their mom's were bestfriends as well.  Both of the girls grew up in a pretty wealthy environment, in the heart of New York City. The girls were both, only child's so they called each other sisters. Olivia was a brunette with fierce curls that blow in the wind, her hair was never lacking volume. Jordyn had black and auburn kinky hair, she was afro-centric always wearing tribal scarves around her hair. Olivia's mom was a surgeon and Jordyn's mom was prominent detective for the city. Although the girls lived in the big city, they weren't your typical girlly girls, they were rebellious tomboys. The girls were known as partners in crime throughout middle school and high-school. At first it was just an exaggeration, but sure enough the name became reality. In 8th grade the Olivia and Jordyn were suspended for putting toilet paper all over their teacher's classroom. Of course the girls didn't care, their only goal was to have fun and the consequence wasn't a factor. Over time their behavior began to spiral out of control. The girls went from destroying the class w/ tissue to street fighting. By the end of 11th grade, Olivia ans Jordyn had a new "hobby"shoplifting. Olivia tried it once in 10th grade and after a while she had persuaded Jordyn to begin to shoplift with her. Everytime Jordyn shoplifted she always told herself, "This is the last time". 
Walking through the mall one day the Jordyn saw these shoes that immediately caught her eyes, there were black suede pumps with a cute little bow on the top. She only bought $50.00 to the mall and the shoes were $85.00, she was determined to get the shoes, no matter what she had to do. Jordyn's acumen in the art of stealing prompted her to steal the shoes, she whispered to Olivia, dude let's get these". Olivia was confident about the plan, seeing that there was a plethora of people in the store. The plan was for both girls to ask for the same shoe in the same size, Olivia take the left shoe and Jordyn take the left shoe, "Smart enough", Oilvia expressed, "Good plan for a amateur". The plan was in action, Jordyn asked the man for  a size 7 in the black suede bow heels and Olivia did the same. The man went to help another customer and the girls quickly slipped the heels into their bag and walked around the store, as if nothing had happened. Jordyn was ebulliently skipping about the store, she was ecstatic that had managed to get the shoes without getting caught and for free! Jordyn and Olivia were walking out the door, when a lady, undercover security personnel, tapped the girls on the shoulder and bought the girls into a room. The security personnel, Ms. Silvers, had showed the girls actual footage of them stealing the shoes. Their hearts sunk to the end of the earth. For the first time, guilt began to flood them. The had done some stupid stuff, but this by far was the worst, the POLICE was involved. Jordyn's mom was a prominent detective for the city, what would that look like getting around? The girls had to come up with something and quick! The security guard brought in the manager and the girls apologized to him. The manager,Mr.Martin, could tell that the girls had made a mistake weren't bad kids, so he let them off with a warning. In return for the favor, he wanted one thing, for Olivia's mom to"accidently" poison a sick patient. Mr.Martin recalled Olivia saying, "My mom's a surgeon at New Mary Medical Hospital". When he heard that a light went off in his head, "Revenge", Mr.Martin whispered to himself", "Revenge"! About 5 months ago, Mr.Martin's brother had been framed for shooting a cop by J
 
Imagine seeing a 5 year old girl in heels, learning to walk down the cat walk. Cute or Growing up too fast? In America most of us would say growing up too fast, but in Venezuela this a reality happening everyday, transforming girls, as young as 4 years old into modern day beauty queens.
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Growing up too fast? I think so. Beauty pageants are cute and everything, but 4 years old's are too young to worry about," How do I look"?and "Can I walk down the runway like a pro"?. The Gisselle Beauty School in Caracas has girls from 4 to 24 learning how to hold a wine glass to walk in 5 inch heels. The median between the ages is the time in life of puberty, from 11-16. Girls already have so much to worry about school, boys, and appearance is just another stresser. The article was quite disturbing when it mentioned plastic surgery and dental work is necessary for success in the industry. The want/need to look beautiful in Venezuela in my opinion, is too overwhelming for young girls. What suprises me the most is that most Venezuelans see nothing at all wrong with the beauty pagents and in some cases the plastic sugery, but one man did speak out. President Hugo Chavez has spoken out against the culture of plastic surgery in Venezuela, calling breast enlargements a "monstrous thing"Most people in Venezuela accept the fascination because of the culture and history. Is it time for change?!