I love to bake

I Love To Bake!!!!!!
My favorite thing about baking is the frosting. And decorating. My favorite desert is lemon cream pie.

Baking

Ever since I started watching the Great British Bake Off I have loved to bake. One of my favorites is shown in the picture above. Whoopee Pies. It is a very simple delicacy. A simple chocolate cupcake cut in half topped with a marshmallow frosting. ( Flavor as you like). And topped with any kind of fruit.
 

Growing Up In Prison

I first read about Meena Gul in the New York Times. We were having breakfast and I asked my mom about the little girl in the green shalwar kameez on the front page of the paper.  I was surprised to learn that Meena was only 11 like me. After reading the article, I wrote to the journalist to learn more about Meena. Although Rod Nordland did not write back to me, I kept thinking about Meena. In my letter I had asked Mr. Nordland if journalists ever gave things to the kids they met - I thought Meena needed a real doll and a book of fairy tales. The doll because she created a doll from some cloth and string and a book of fairy tales because she could read them over and over.  I couldn't get a book of fairy tales written in Arabic, but I found a small soft doll with a scarf on her head, that I thought she might like. I mailed it to her. If you want to send something to her or to the other children in prison with her, she is in the women's wing of the Nangarhar provincial prison in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. I used google translate to send her a letter in Arabic. 

11-Year-Old Has Spent Her Life in Jail, a Serial Killer as a Cellmate

By ROD NORDLANDDEC. 3, 2017

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Shirin Gul and her daughter Meena, 11, in the women’s wing of the Nangarhar provincial prison, in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, where Ms. Gul is serving a life sentence. CreditMauricio Lima for The New York Times

JALALABAD, Afghanistan — Meena got chickenpox, measles and the mumps in prison. She was born there, nursed there and weaned there. Now 11 years old, she has spent her entire life in prison and will probably spend the rest of her childhood there as well.

The girl has never committed a crime, but her mother, Shirin Gul, is a convicted serial killer serving a life sentence, and under Afghan prison policy she can keep her daughter with her until she turns 18.

Meena was even conceived in prison, and has never been out, not even for a brief visit. She has never seen a television set, she said, and has no idea what the world outside the walls looks like.

Her plight is extreme, but not unique. In the women’s wing of the Nangarhar provincial prison here, she is one of 36 children jailed with their mothers, among 42 women in all. But none of the other children have spent such a long time in custody; most of their mothers’ sentences are much shorter.

Locking up small children with their mothers is a common practice in Afghanistan, especially when there are no other close relatives, or fathers are absent or estranged. Child advocates estimate that there are hundreds of imprisoned Afghan children whose only crime is having a convicted mother.

Greater Miami Youth Symphony - Concert Competition

Greater Miami Youth Symphony

October 15 at 8:24am · 

CONGRATULATIONS to our 2017 GMYS Concert and Symphony Competition Winners!

Concert Orchestra: Noor Azam
Symphony Orchestra: Sophia Molina

We would like to thank all of the competitions for their participation. A special thanks to teachers, accompanists, parents and our judges: Oliver Diez, Terri Bonelli and Dr. Leo Walz.

Mark your calendars for the winning performance at the Holiday Gala December 9, 2017, 7:30PM at the Wertheim Performing Arts Center at FIU.

Hurricane Holiday

    

I had just finished working with my violin tutor on Bach’s “Gavotte,” when she said, “Florida is due for a hurricane.” My sister and I were stunned, because we were from California and had never experienced extreme weather, and my mom was worried. After stocking up on drinks and canned food, my mom was still worried. Wisely, she decided we should evacuate, so she  bought us plane tickets to Washington D.C. where my grandparents live. While I wouldn’t want to live in D.C., it was a wonderful place to visit. In D.C., we visited the National Gallery, which has beautiful art. We also took a trip to the Virginia Zoo, which we enjoyed.

The National Gallery has beautiful art. When we walked inside, the first thing we saw was a colossal fountain with Cupid on the top. Next, we saw Greek statues. We walked with the other tourists into a room with paintings of dancers by Degas.Throughout the museum, there were a lot of artists concentratedly copying famous paintings because they want to learn the style of famous artists. My sister thought that the artists were going to commit art fraud. We also saw a famous self portrait of Van Gogh. My mom got into deep conversation with one of the artists, because she wanted to know how they so got close to the originals. My dad, who was interested in seeing DC, came too.  If you are looking for beautiful art go to the National Gallery.

        Going to the Virginia Zoo is a very enjoyable (yet expensive) experience.  The reason we wanted to explore the zoo was to stare at a panda named Bao Bao, who was in The New York Times. First, we strolled over to pet an alpaca. Unfortunately, we  couldn't because the farm was under construction. Next, we hurried over to Lion and Tiger Mountain. At the mountain, we observed cute lionesses, but no lion. We also viewed a tiger who looked as bored as a 6th grader writing a paper on going to the zoo in Virginia. One of the pretty pandas was pregnant, so we didn't  glimpse the pandas, because she needed peace and quiet. My sister and I delightly rode on the carousel 2 times. The first time I joyfully rode a  flamingo then I enthusiastically rode an ostrich. If you want to have a fun experience,you should visit the  zoo in Virginia.

At the National Gallery, which was pretty cool, we saw a lot of beautiful art. We also had an amusing time at the Virginia Zoo. While we visited interesting places, that was not the most important part of our trip. Thankfully,my family was able to evacuate Miami before Hurricane Irma hit. We were together. We were happy. We were safe. I will never forget the time we escaped our first hurricane by traveling to Washington, D.C.