"I Hope You Dance"

"I hope you never lose your sense of wonder

You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger

May you never take one single breath for granted

God forbid love ever leave you empty-handed

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean

Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens

Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance"

Lyrics from the song I Hope You Dance by Lee Ann Womack.

These lyrics have really had a huge impact on my life. I have known the song for several years, since the time it first came out. Although I knew the song, I hadn’t really looked into the lyrics. The reason I looked into the lyrics and have now had the phrase “I hope you dance” tattooed on my foot, is because of my friend Sierra.

In the summer of 2009, my friend Sierra was in a car accident. Her and I weren’t very close friends, but it was still a very shocking experience, especially since some of my friends were very close with her. She was in the back seat of her friend’s car when he turned a residential street corner going 90 MPH. As soon as he turned the corner, he hit a parked car. They bounced off of the parked car, spun about a block down the street, and hit a light pole. Sierra was said to have been ejected from the car due to impact (according to police), but the passenger in the car said that they had pulled her out because they thought that the car was going to explode. When police and paramedics got there, Sierra was laying on a slab of cement about 15 feet away from the car…lifeless. Sierra died that night around 10:08, just minutes after the accident happened. I remember that night so vividly. I had been laying in my bed looking out the window and it had started to rain… as if it were a sign that something had happened. I looked at my phone and it was about 10:15. I was up late for some reason, and I was texting my boyfriend. Around midnight he got the news from another friend of ours, and then texted me with the words “Jess, Sierra’s dead!” I was in complete shock and couldn’t believe what I was reading. When I woke up the next morning I was immediately in tears.

About a week later her wake and funeral were held. It was an open casket wake, which was very eerie and hard to look at. She didn’t look like herself; all of the make-up covering the scars just put a bad last impression of her in my head. As bad as it may sound, I wish I hadn’t went to see her.. I wanted to remember her looking like herself.  As the ceremony went on, they started to play a slideshow of pictures with the song “I Hope You Dance” playing. It fit her so well; being the cheerleader and dancer that she was. It really hit me emotionally, and it played in my head for months. To this day, I sing the song every time it comes on the radio or my iTunes/iPod.

Along with the lyrics tattooed on my food, I got 4 stars; Pink for Sierra, Green for my grandpa (who passed away about a year and a half after Sierra), my aunt Sue (who had died when I was younger), and my hockey coach, Chris Johnson, who died just a little less than a year ago.

Whenever I look down at the tattoo on my foot, I remember that they’re with me and remind me of the words to this song. It reminds me that I can get through anything, because they didn’t get the opportunity to. It reminds me to stay strong.

"The Hunger Games" movie review

Some friends and I went to see the movie “The Hunger Games” on Saturday evening. The movie stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, and many other actors and actresses. I hadn’t read the book before seeing the movie, and, to be honest, I didn’t have any idea what it was even about. Although it wasn’t my favorite type of movie, it was surprisingly very good.

                Although it was good, the whole movie was a little weird to me.  It was pretty good in terms of scenery, but I guess I would have to read the book to completely understand the plot and the concept of the story. There’s a few times where the special effect of fire is seen, which looks very fake and kind of throws the scene off. There is a lot of blood, which I was also not a fan of. The thing that I disliked most about the movie, though, was how the camera was so shaky. During the action scenes, I felt like I had no idea what was going on because of the non-stop camera movements. It was very hard to focus on just one thing at a time when the camera kept moving the way that it did.

Aside from the negative aspects of the movie, the main characters, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), had fantastic acting. They made the struggles and the love aspect of the movie really believable, and honestly kept me interested while the camera and special effects were distracting. The acting was very good overall, but I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to see more of Gale Hawthorne’s (Liam hemsworth) role. At the beginning of the movie, it was kind of led on to believe that he was a huge part of the movie, but, in reality, we only see him for a total of about 15 minutes out of the whole movie. Again, though, I think that I would have had to have read the book to understand the entire meaning behind it.

The costumes and make-up were another thing that really caught my eye. They were put together very well and looked like they had taken a lot of time to get together. I really liked how they made sure of the small details in the make-up matching the outfits of the “leaders”. When the cameras did a close up, the make-up was consistent and flawless. I was pretty surprised on how well they did on this part of the movie.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie and it was worth the money to see. Although I didn’t know much about the movie or the story before I had gone to see it, it turned out to be better than I had expected it to be. There were a few bad aspects to the movie, but all in all, the movie was very good!

"21 Jump Street" movie review.

Recently I went with some friends to see the movie “21 Jump Street”. This movie stars Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, and Brie Larson (along with many others). Overall the movie was a lot better than I expected. It was very funny and kept me interested the whole time.

The movie starts off based in 2007 with two teenagers in high school anticipating the upcoming prom. Schmidt (Jonah Hill) is considered in the “out” group, whereas Jenko (ChanningTatum) is considered to be in the “in” group. Schmidt tries to work up to courage to ask the girl of his dreams out on a date, but then realizes that she is embarrassed to be asked by him, and sees that Jenko and his friends are laughing at it all. Later we see that Jenko is no longer allowed at prom, because of his terrible grades. There is a moment at the end of this scene where they are both are tearing up outside of the school and look at each other, as if they feel each other’s pain.

The movie jumps ahead see Schmidt walking into training for work at the police station (he is older now). He glances up to see Jenko. As they go through the training process they become very close, and become best friends. They get fired from their park patrol job and sent to a program located in a building with the address 21 Jump Street.

Once getting to this building, they get assigned a task together; they are to go back to high school and find the source of drug dealing around the school. They are told to not get in trouble, no hooking up with girls from the school, and to not inform anyone that they are undercover cops. Once at the school they get each other’s schedules; Schmidt gets the easy classes, while Jenko gets the advanced, hard classes.

Eventually they adjust to these friend groups-- the opposites of what they were when they were in high school – and eventually find the dealer of the drugs. Although they find the dealer, they do not find the person making the drug. After getting expelled from the school (because they end up fighting at the school play), they decide to go to prom anyway because they think they have a lead on the case. The dealer then brings them upstairs to a hotel room and shows them the supplier; the high school gym teacher. Eventually they end up making their first arrest and feeling very accomplished

Although this isn’t even half of what happens in the movie, it was very good overall. The only thing that I did not like about the movie was that there was a lot of unnecessary blood during the hotel room/car chase scene. Otherwise, I really suggest going to see this movie!

Baton Twirling

I started twirling baton at the age of 7. I had done gymnastics before I started baton, but decided to try something new and found the program through the local community center. The team/program was called the Suzettes. When I started, I didn’t realize it would become so much a part of me, and I didn’t realize how big of an impact it had on my life until after I wasn’t twirling anymore.

I stared off at the lowest level, by just learning the basics as well as doing some gymnastics and dancing along with it. I stared off doing little things like somersaults, stretching a lot, learning how to simply throw it up and catch it. After about two years of doing that, I joined the team aspect of it. After being on the team for a few months and learning a routine, I went to my first competition.

After the first competition I was hooked; I started doing individual lessons, as well as team, and became close to the girls that were in the program. I continued to do competitions and build up my skill level. It took a while to win one, but I finally did. The feeling I got when I won was unbelievable.

After a few years of being with the program, times got tough.  Out of the two locations, only one was left open (one was located in Crystal, Minnesota and the other in Spring Lake Park, Minnesota. The Crystal one remained open). As well as one location closing, a lot of the girls became old enough to go off to college, so the whole program dwindled down to only a few.

Around the beginning of 2009, (including me) there were a total of six left in the program, whereas before there were around twenty-five. Most of the previous girls had moved, gone off to college or decided that the drive to Crystal wasn’t worth it. Although the numbers were low, though, we stayed alive. Around the same time (in 2009) our head coach had some serious health issues, and decided that she wasn’t healthy enough to coach anymore. So, we were left looking for a new team coach. We found a new coach (who was a previous team member of ours and a previous coach of mine) and competed in a few competitions, but we soon found out that she had become pregnant and wouldn’t be coaching us for much longer, either.

Shortly after finding out the news of our new coach being pregnant, (in 2010) I decided that I needed to choose between hockey and baton twirling. I chose hockey, but I didn’t realize what an impact that would make on my life. The girls continued twirling, but soon a few others dropped out until only about three were left. Looking back now, I wish I had continued on with baton. I was so close to the girls that I twirled with; we had grown up together. I decided to choose hockey, but I know in my heart that I could’ve done both.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about twirling a lot. Luckily, a girl I twirled with (who quit around the same time I did) is attending the U of M as well. We have both talked, and are hoping to get back in the gym and twirl just for fun. And, honestly, I’ve never been so excited to go to the gym.