Volume I No. 14

Extra News!
Gingerbread Weekly News has extra news this week! If you would like to add your news to GWN, send to: GingerbreadWklyNews@gmail.com

Table of Contents
New News
Debate Time
Mail Pail

Debate Time

GWN Blog Site
Should Gingerbread Weekly News have a blog site?

Diane Zhou's dad thinks Gingerbread Weekly News should have a blog for everyone to see GWN issues. We already have a website but it is hard to update. Should GWN have a blog instead?

Send all answers to: GingerbreadWklyNews@gmail.com

Yes!

It's easy to update and now everyone uses the Internet! GWN should create a blog to be up-to-date now that everyone has blogs. GWN can then save more paper and money.

No!

Blogs aren't used that much. It takes time to make good blogs and that's what GWN editors don't have much of. It takes electricity too. It would take a lot of time to make and update a blog and do GWN issues on a writer than just make GWN issues on a writer without a blog. No!

New News

Lunar Eclipse

Did anyone see the lunar eclipse on February 20th? Our GWN editor, Diane Zhou, saw it with her astronomer dad. It was cloudy, but it was visible.

“It was my 2nd time seeing a lunar eclipse, but it was still cool seeing one. It also marked the full moon date, meaning the next day would be the last day of Chinese New Year,” Diane told GWN.
Alex says, “Cool! A 'moon' eclipse! I never saw one. But too bad I had to eat white balls in soup again the next day.”

February Birthdays!
From now on, Gingerbread Weekly News will add birthdays at the end of each month. Here are February Birthdays:

• Gingy: February 16th - Happy 1st birthday to our gingerbread!

• Alonda: February 23rd - Happy 1st birthday to Gingy's bear friend!

Happy Chinese New Year!

The Chinese New Year celebration just ended! It started on February 7th and ended on February 21st. Diane Zhou's family ate white balls in clear soup on both days. She loves it, though her brother, Alex, hates it. Both of them got red envelopes under their pillows! Yay!
Diane was excited. She told GWN, “It's finally the year of the rat, which was the year I was born (1996)! I'm finally, in Chinese years, 13 years old! A teenager! In China, you are one year old when you are born, and then everyone grows a year together during the Chinese New Year. That way, since I'm 11, in China I'm 13!”
Alex wasn't as excited. He told GWN, “Yay! I get money! But yuck! White balls in soup! I'd rather have muffins. I am so jealous that it's my sister's year. It'll be my year in the dragon.”

Events:

• February 23rd: Gingy's friend, Alonda's, birthday! Just like Gingy's birthday, send any Happy Birthday presents or quotes to Alonda. Happy Birthday, Alonda!

• February 26th: Diane Zhou's CM piano theory test. Good luck, Diane!
• February 26th - 29th: Green Grass Education Center's Chinese presentation, writing, penmanship, and character recognition; math; and drawing. Good luck to our GWN editors who go to Green Grass: Diane Zhou and Amanda Chang! Good luck also to their brothers: Alex Zhou and Andrew Chang.
• February 29th: Comes only once every four years! Sadly, Diane's dad has a dentist appointment!!!
• March 2nd: Amanda Chang and her friend, Grace Ching's, CM test date. Good luck Amanda and Grace!
• March 6th and 7th: Fremont Unified School District (FUSD) writing test dates. Practice, practice, practice everyone! Good luck!
• March 16th: Diane's CM piano playing part test. Good luck, once again, Diane! Also could be Diane's ice skating test date. Good luck, for the third time, Diane!

Mail Pail

Here's all the mail GWN received this week:

Debate Time (Should violence be in video games?):
“If you have violence then, kids may think it is real. Sometimes parents try to handle kids but they don't listen! It is the kid's fault! NO VIOLENCE!” Chloris Li, 5th grade
“I think there should not be violence in video games because it makes the players get interested in violence and then bad things happen. Also, if you're addicted to those kinds of video games, your parents might not let you play them (because they always want the best for you...right?) and life will be really hard!” Sara Ye, 4th grade
Violence in video games? Yes! The video game will be no fun without any violence at all.” Cynthia Yao, 5th grade
“No violence! You see, kids like to follow games' rules, but do they listen to parents' rules? No. Basically, games are their role model. If there is violence in their role models, they will like violence. So, NO VIOLENCE IN VIDEO GAMES!!!” Carol Zhang, adult
“Yes, because there wouldn't be any fun.” Emily Wang, 4th grade

Happy Birthday, Gingy!:
“Happy 'Early Bird' Birthday, Gingy! Here's a gift (a token for Gingy, thank you Amanda)!” Amanda Chang, 5th Grade, 2/15/08
“Happy Birthday, Gingy! I made a book just for you!” Diane Zhou, 5th grade, 2/16/08
“Happy 'Belated' Birthday!” Deanna Wong, 5th grade
“Tell Gingy I said 'Happy Late Birthday!'” Grace Ching, 5th grade

Volume I No. 13

A Winter Trip to China

For winter break (or Christmas break as some people call it), Amanda Chang went to China. Let's hear about this exciting trip in this GWN issue!

Table of Contents
Cover Story
New News
Debate Time
Mail Pail

Debate Time

Video Games & Violence
Should there be violence in video games?

Should violence be in video games? Is it appropriate? How does it affect kids and their future? How does it affect our community?

Send all answers to: GingerbreadWklyNews@gmail.com

Yes!

Games are for enjoying, right? Some people enjoy violence. So violence should be in video games. Parents can be responsible for teaching kids right and wrong. Enjoy, but don't use it in life. Simple as that!

No!

Are you kidding? Violence in video games? No way! Little kids can use what they see in real life. Parents can be busy or irresponsible. Who wants violence on the streets? Is violence the only topic for video games? What about peaceful movie or story scenes, cooking, learning games, pet games, etc.? Can't those be fun? NO VIOLENCE!!!

Cover Story

A Winter Trip to China

On the first Sunday of Winter Break, my family headed on the airplane to China. It was a long and boring ride. When we finally arrived, my dad's old co-worker and my cousin picked us up. My cousin is 22 years old and sells used cars in Beijing. I didn't eat much at dinner since I was very drowsy. We stayed at my dad's co-worker's apartment. Throughout our stay in Beijing, we visited the Great Wall and the Summer Palace with my cousin and The Forbidden City without my cousin. Every night, we would go out to dinner in a reserved room with my parent's old classmates. Some of my dad's classmates were very rich and they invited us to a restaurant where they treated us like the royal family. They would open doors for you and stuff like that. It was a nice experience.
In my mom's hometown, Chongqing, we stayed at my uncle's house. My aunt's sister had a cute dog named Dudu and she let us keep her for the week. In Chongqing, we went Karoke, washed our feet (massage), visited my grandpa and great grandma in the cemetery, and went out to many more dinners. We mostly played with Dudu, though. In the mornings, Dudu would lick us all over and be very active.
In my dad's hometown, Hefei, we lived at my uncle's house. There we visited many places as well. I forgot some of their names. We even went to a place where you eat and take a bath. It felt very awkward. In Hefei, I found out that I have an aunt younger than me! That aunt is my great-grandpa's sister's granddaughter. On the last few days, somebody gave my uncle's family a brown-spotted dog too. She was really cute as well as Dudu. Her name was Huanhuan. The next few days, we took her to take shots, buy her food, etc. Finally, on our last day, we said farewell to China and went back home.

New News

It's a New Year!!!

It's a new year...already! 2008! What are some of your resolutions? Share them with everyone by telling Gingerbread Weekly News. Email to:

gingerbreadwklynews@gmail.com

Gingerbread Weekly News has resolutions too. We will try to make issues every week, unlike the end of last year. We will also list upcoming events in the “New News” section. Debate will go with the holidays, seasons, events, etc. Tell Gingerbread Weekly News if you like it this way. Send to the email above. Also tell Gingerbread Weekly News any ways to make our magazine better than ever!
Diane Zhou's father says much local news is becoming national or world-wide news because companies are being bought by chain companies like McDonald's. He supports having Gingerbread Weekly News because it talks mostly about Fremont and the Bay Area, about what is happening with people here, not all over the place. You can send your opinion about this too.

Upcoming Events:

• Valentine's Day, February 14th: Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

• Gingy's birthday, February 16th: Happy birthday, Gingy! Send presents to Gingy if you'd like to. Gingy would be happy!
• Testing, Testing, and Testing! March is the testing month! STAR testing and writing test in school, and CM piano tests for some fantastic pianists in our neighborhood (including two of our editors!). Contests in Green Grass Education Center and a spelling bee in Ardenwood School. Be prepared and good luck to all!

Mail Pail

Here's all the mail Gingerbread Weekly News received from last time's issue:
“Ummm...oh! Christmas, 10! Of course!” Alex Zhou, 7
“I like Halloween, 7.” Nicole Sun, 10
“Holidays aren't my favorite, I like plain weekends...because I LOVE to sleep! Any old holiday, I like them 4.” Carol Zhang, adult
“Holidays are okay, but weekends are the times you get to SLEEP! Sleep is great! Holidays I'd say are 2...” Shudong Zhou, adult