The Best Sister in the World

My Baby Car-Keys turned 21 on Tuesday, December 8. I, being the stupendous brother I am, stayed awake until midnight on Monday so I could be the FIRST to wish her a happy birthday. But this blog is not about my many admirable qualities. They are about Carly's innumerable ones. So, because I couldn't ever think of all the reasons I love Carly I thought of my top seven reasons...

The Top Seven Reasons I Love Carly

1. I mean, because "she's Carly." Need I say more?
2. Carly includes me in her life. She calls and asks my opinion on anything from her writing, what to wear, or whether she should make out with someone or not... lol and generally (because she has such fabulous taste) we agree.
3. We almost always agree because we are SO similar. I loooooove that. We both love: Movies, Musicals, learning, traveling, languages, talking, flirting, GLEE, being social butterflies, and many other things; we both detest: science, dumb/flaky people, and bad friends.
4. Carly is intelligent, independent, and confident. She is proud of who she is and unapologetic for her flaws because that is part of what makes her Carly. She doesn't allow other people to dictate how she acts, and throughout the years I have been able to absorb some of her confidence. For that I am extremely grateful.
5. Carly sympathized with me when I transitioned from home schooling to Gull Lake. She allowed me to vent and be angsty and didn't try to force me to see the wrong that was inside of me. She let me discover that for myself, a far more effective lesson.
6. When Carly finally discovered that science was her antithesis she left wretched KAMSC (and all those WEIRD boys she "dated"- I love weirdness too, but they were just... whew) and she pursued her true talent of writing. Carly is not afraid of trying new things or the prospect of failure. She puts herself out their and that is why she has seen such success.
7. WARNING: May sound cliche, but.... Carly has the most unique relationship with Jesus. Carly is the opposite of legalistic, yet she isn't a hippie. She is tolerant, without being "liberal." But most of all she loves to love. AND THAT is why she is so easy to love.

Sorry this was not posted ON your birthday, but it is still your "birthday week" so it is not technically late. :) All my love, Sissy.

Your boo boo bear

The Puritan's Sex Escapades

I LOVE my AP United States History class. I love me teacher, Mrs. Pelletier, even more. She is so open-minded and she tries to teach her classes from different perspective than has been pounded into our skulls our whole lives. Although at times her socialist/hippie viewpoints shine out, those times are rare. She really focuses on developing writing skills, which is excellent considering the Gull Lake English department sucks. Anyway, like I said she likes to study things from a different viewpoint, so she assigned us to read a paper on "The Puritans and Sex." In response, I had to extract the author's thesis and write about it. Here it is:

"The Puritans and Sex
Puritans have inaccurately acquired the legacy of obedient, abstaining citizens, when in fact, many of them behaved promiscuously and adulterously. Edmund Morgan helped uncover the true Puritanical society and how sex morphed the people. He declared that the Puritans confronted sex practically, and although they tried to prevent inappropriate sexual relationships they had mercy on those who became tangled in the snares of their temptations. Extremely high moral standards set the Puritans up for failure and religious authorities tried to control every part of the Puritan’s lives- including their sexual activities. Sex was expected (even mandated) in the marriage bed, but forbidden elsewhere. If it became apparent that a man was cheating on his wife, it was not uncommon for him to be forced back to his wife “poorer by ten pounds and richer by thirty stripes.” Fornication and adultery “…by far the most numerous class of criminal cases in the records…” ran rampant and sex scandals were common. Corporal punishment was frequently used in the Puritan society of the seventeenth century, and although it was rare, some offenses- sodomy and buggery, for instance- were punished with the death penalty. Many of these offenses occurred because women were far outnumbered by men and people in bondage participated in many sexual interactions out of wedlock. Hence, many illegitimate children were conceived. So much so, that the government devised and enforced child support. Men were forced to pay child support to the mothers of their bastard children, and therefore avoided corporal punishment. Morgan showed the Puritans in a different light then most. They were fallible: humans. The Puritans conceded to their urges and desires and it was their unreachable goals that led to their “failure.” "

I loved it :) It was (at the least) entertaining.

The Official Plea

Who (at the Crookston household) was the first to accept your pet/best friend? Me. Who do you have a rat"like" secret handshake with? Me. Who do you bond with about naming Beyonce's baby, Sasha? Me. Who has taken you on a date in the last three months (that was not your fiance)? Me. Who tricks you into watching "not-so-sad" movies like Steel Magnolias? Me... that one still might be tender :) Who came to Cindy's birthday party... happily? Me. Who has won "Crookston Moment of the Day" countless times? Me. Who is going to cry at your wedding and already knows it? Me. Who is the best "little brother" in the world? Obviously me. Who is tacky enough to ask to be apart of your wedding party via a blog? Me... Does this qualify me to be an usher in your wedding? Why, yes, I would love to think so, but it is up to you. It would be a great honor to be a very small part of one of the happiest days of your life.
Love, Love, Love
Taylor

Columbus' Day Should Be Banned

I have decided to post some of my schoolwork that I like on my blog. This is a history thesis paper. It is not supposed to be super nice and frilly, but factual and strongly worded. I think I did well :)

Howard Zinn Thesis Paragraph
Howard Zinn is an atypical historian. He, unlike most others, showed history through the eyes of the conquered, common people. For example, Zinn preferred to write “the story of the discovery of America from the viewpoint of the Arawaks, of the Constitution from the standpoint of the slaves…” Not only was this approach interesting, it was eye opening. For instance, most students learned about Christopher Columbus as a fearless, ingenious sailor, few learned that he plundered, enslaved, and murdered entire villages of the true “First Americans.” From the first moment that Columbus interacted with the Arawak people of the Bahamas Islands, he thought only of them as stepping-stones on his maniacal quest for gold. Columbus stopped at nothing to find gold and never treated the Natives fairly. When Columbus failed at finding gold, he enslaved 1,500 Arawaks and shipped them back to Spain. The Conquistadors who followed in Columbus’ footsteps continued to treat the Natives inhumanely and forced them to perform dreadful acts such as carrying the Conquistadors on their backs. The Natives began to die by the millions because of disease epidemics and the European’s evil rule. Zinn was correct when he questioned, “Was all this bloodshed and deceit- from Columbus to Cortes, Pizarro, the Puritans- a necessity for the human race to progress from savagery to civilization?” The simple answer was no. When the American settlers nearly annihilated the entire Native American population, social evolution was stunted- or even driven backwards- over a century. For example, in the Iroquois culture, women were treated fairly, had political power, and suffrage- something American women did not receive until 1920. The Iroquois children “were also taught to be independent, not to submit to overbearing authority. They were taught equality in status…” It was not until 1776 that the Americans threw off the oppressive yoke of the English and that they became independent as a people. It is clear that the Native Americans could have greatly and positively influenced the United States, but the founders of the United States were too greedy, prideful, prejudice, and cruel to accept the Natives once they could not be taken advantage of any further.

My Split Personality

Hi, my name is Walter Fey. I am a sixty year old retired man, and I live in Rhode Island. My wife's name is Cheryl and we have two grown children. I love giving horseback riding lessons to young, STUPID (whoops, watch out! Here comes Taylor), ANNOYING girls.

Hi, my name is Taylor Crookston. I a am sixteen year old young man. I really need money, and the idea of making twenty dollars in hour is just splendid. I give basic riding lessons (I loathe the term "horseback riding" and have no idea why) to girls around the age of 7 to 9. But here is the thing: when it comes to horses, I am an anal perfectionist. Frankly, I really cannot understand why a girl can't keep her heel down in her stirrup; I instead repeat myself for thirty-five minutes straight. And outwardly I am having the time of my life, smiling and of course following my critiques always comes some positive reinforcement. Inwardly, however, I morph into Walter- and yes, he is cousins with Tina. Walter loves little girls and never loses his patience. Occasionally he will get distracted thinking about his oldest son, Mark. They don't get along very well, mostly because Walter is devout Catholic and Mark married a Buddhist...


Mhmm, I know I have problems, but this is how I remain patient with my girls and I have to say they are improving greatly. My shy girl will even say hi to me now. We are just growing in leaps and bounds.

My BooBoo

I am going to write because I feel like it. It isn’t a deep part of who I am [writing] I just want to do it. My life is going to be very different than it ever has been before… very soon. I have owned a horse for over two years. His name is Wrigley, and I have been a slave to this precious animal for as long as he has been mine. We have been an absolute success together and I am extremely proud of everything we have accomplished together. But I am selling him. He has sold. I think it is mutual… he would have sold me too. I was an obnoxious, over-zealous, unpredictable, teenage owner. But he was a passionate, intense, hard-working partner and we worked. We worked HARD. I have never put more of myself into something in my entire life. So I am selling a part of myself to a stranger in Marquette (453 miles/8 hours from Kalamazoo). There are many different reasons why, some legit and some not. Either way it feels like the right thing to do. I am going through with it, not without my qualms either (because I am very nervous) but just because. Is that okay? Wrigs is my friend and my "baby boy" too. But he is going to be good for Kathy and it will be good for me to try new things (and new horses). Anyway, I am going to go ride my booboo. It is going to be a good ride.

And this is only one of many changes taking place...................................... eeek