top ten things that I am thankful for

1. I am always thankful for my family and how they support me in everything I do and how they care for me and love me. I know they will always be there for me.

2. My amazing friends!! I don't know how I would survive high school without my friends. They are my second family and they always make my life better!

3. I absolutely am thankful for my passion, and that is skating. Skating keeps me active and is how I show what I am good at. I love my girls on the skating team and we are all very close.

4. I am thankful that I have a nice home to live in because a lot of people are homeless and we take it for granted but we are extremely fortunate to have one.

5. My kitty cat is my best friend ever and after a long day I am so blessed and thankful to have my kitty. I love him SO much and am SO happy to have him! I couldn't even explain what I would do without him!

6. I am thankful that I am healthy and do not have any serious health issues unlike other kids my age suffering from terrible diseases. We should be thankful that we do not have to go through what they are going through.

7. No matter how much they bug me, I am thankful for my parents and that they have taken care for me and have given me almost everything I have.

8. This may sound kind of funny but I am thankful for the food and water we have to eat, drink, and live everyday because some children in places do not have little or no food or water. Sometimes they don't eat or drink for days and suffer malnutrition.

9. Now this may sound really funny, but I am actually thankful for the education and knowledge we receive at school and other places to better our lives. Some kids would kill to go to school and learn so we should value our education because as crazy as it sounds, it actually helps us!

10. Now the thing I am most thankful for in this world, is my life. I thank God everyday for waking up everyday because life is precious and truly is worthy of being thankful for everyday.

Techniques and Messages in Film Making

Film making is a very long and sometimes difficult process as we learned watching The Rabbit-Proof Fence bonus feature on film making and reading the two articles. If I have learned anything, it would be that to get that magic on the screen, it is definitely not as easy as it may look. Philip Noyce, and the rest of the film crew for the movie had a lot of problems to encounter even before they could start filming such as finding the right girls to play the main characters Molly, Gracie, and Daisy. They had to look everywhere to find someone who was convincing, and actually looked the part of an Aborigine half-caste. For example, they traveled to large cities and small villages looking and auditioning for the roles of the girls. When they finally found the girls they wanted, they were not familiar with acting and had to take classes. Instead of going with the safe choice of an experienced actor they went with a convincing and relatable talent of a new actress. It was interesting how much more realistic the movie was when they had the new actresses. They had a sort of innocence about them that made it fantastically real and made the characters lovable and someone people could relate to.

Movie directors can also spread messages through film making to show what is really happening. They can actually teach people lessons through movies and can teach us about cultures, past or present. When Philip Noyce first heard what the movie was about, “The Stolen Generation” he thought it was a rock and roll movie. He probably never would of guessed, like most of us, that it was about the Aborigine people trying to be bred out. Since we do not know the message of the Stolen Generation it was a great idea to spread the message through film. The Rabbit-Proof Fence really opened my eyes to the fact that the Aborigines in Australia were very poorly treated by the government and people back then. Not many people knew about this but because of Molly’s story and the movie it can be spread so that the whole world is aware of this. Movies have spread so many messages in various ways, such as Blood Diamond. But now, thanks to movies these messages can be spread.