The Write Moves

Changing Teacher's Status

2011-04-01T09:51:00.000-07:00

I agree with Kati Haycock's declaration to change the status of United States teachers. She proposes that the U.S. must "enrich the rigor and relevance of teaching programs and ratchet up their admission requirements." I think that if a teacher's education is expanded and their requirements for being a teacher are raised, the society will have more respect for teachers. Students, especially, have no respect for teachers. Eavesdropping on my peer's conversations, I hear that they do not like or respect certain teachers because many teachers do not know how to teach and they know absolutely nothing about the subject that they teach. My problem with many of my teachers, is the fact that they are unable to answer a question about the unit that is being studied efficiently and in many thorough ways. Science, for example, is a terribly difficult subject that is hard to grasp. My teacher cannot answer hardly any question because he either does not know anything about the unit or he cannot find different ways to explain the answer to my questions in a way that is easy for me to grasp. If he could explain more thoroughly, I would respect him so much more as a teacher. Some may say that with more required schooling for teachers, there will be less people that would want to be teachers. This is not neccessarily true. As a student that respects teachers and the teaching proffession, there will be more students interested in becoming teachers. With respect, comes interest.

The Great Gatsby Analysis

2011-03-16T10:35:00.000-07:00

Fitzgerald's character's hopeless realization of the book's society's damaging changes from the old world to the new world gives insight to the changes in the real world's society in the 1920 time period. The idea of modernization was taking place during this time period after America was discovered many years before and hundreds of settlers came trying to live the American Dream, but in reality the dream is hard to grasp.

In the passage, the character is thinking of when his world was first discovered, "a fresh, green breast of the new world." He believed in the "green light, the orgastic future..." Why would Fitzgerald use words like "breast" and "orgastic?" Fitzgerald is making a connection to America during a changing time period. During the 1920s, the real world society was making a drastic change in women's status and clothing. Women at this time started wearing revealing clothing, showing more skin, compared to before when their entire bodies were completely covered. Society's greed and desires made this change seem appealing, but as the character points out, the old world is quickly forgotten. Just like trees, beautiful and appealing, but when used as a resourse to the greedy, are gone and quickly forgotten.

"Tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther...And one fine morning---" The character is getting lost in thought of dreams and hope and youth but quickly his thoughts cut off and change into a feeling of hopelessness. Fitzgerald's character also mentions the "vanished trees" that were used to build Gatsby's house. This thought compares to the hope in America's "new world." The dreams that many wished to fulfill and then the sorrow when the stuggle in America's society causes those dreams to vanish because when the trees vanished, the dreams went away with them.

In the last paragraph of the last page, humans are compared to "boats against the current." We are trying to make change and "beat on" but with no success. We can't win. Americans have become so greedy and obsessed with the many desires in life such as trees, land, unessesary resources, that the few trying to fight against the "dark fields of the republic" will simply go nowhere.

Shattered dreams, hopelessness, greed... By using his character and the character's society in The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald emphasizes the horrid changes that the world (America's society in particular) have taken and the strive that many have to go back to the past that has already been forgotten and to accomplish the dreams that they once had.

"My Wood" Response

2011-03-10T10:43:00.000-08:00

In his essay "My Wood," E.M. Forster inputted his belief that property makes a man feel "heavy." Therefore, making the biblical reference that "it was a man of weight who failed to get into the Kingdom of Heaven," Forster seems to be against the owning of property. But, when he mentions that this man was not "wicked," he seems to contradict his first thought. Basically with this contradiction, Forster is saying that the owning of property can be dangerous but not all property is bad, depending on how one deals with that power. I completely agree with this belief. Power affects people in many ways. A strong person can deal with property without always wanting more and believing that the more property he has and the more he does with his property will make him happier. This person is not "a man of weight." On the other hand, there are the weaker beings who worship their property and believe that property is the equivalent to happiness. Along with Forster, I believe that property can be good and bad, depending on how the power is handled.

Reading List

2011-03-10T09:53:00.000-08:00

I read 3 books, the equivalent of 7 books.

Tess of the D'Urbervilles (384)

Dreamland (250)

Eragon (768)

Dreamland was a book that I really enjoyed reading this quarter. Though I feel like the reading was below my level, I enjoyed the break that this book gave me from the more complex books that have been tearing me down this year. Dreamland features a young, highschool girl whos sister ran away from home. Caitlin had always looked up to her sister, Cass, so when Cass left, Caitlin did not know how to go on with life. Then she meets a boy. Isn't that how it always starts? This boy, Rogerson, helped Caitlin climb out of her shell and start her own, dangerous life. As there is in all books, life shifts once again for Caitlin when Rogerson starts hitting her. I enjoyed all of the details that the author included of the events in Caitin's life. I recommend Dreamland to all readers interested in an eventful, emotional book is not stressful for english class.

Consumerism Quote

2011-02-28T11:00:00.000-08:00

Advertising tries to stimulate our sensuous desires, converting luxuries into necessities, but it only intensifies man's inner misery. The business world is bent on creating hungers which its wares never satisfy, and thus it adds to the frustrations and broken minds of our times.

-Archbishop Fulton Sheen (1895-1979), Lift Up Your Heart, 1942

Sheen's powerful words explain our society so well. Today, research has proven that people buy and buy and buy to make themselves happier but in truth, while "converting luxuries into necessities," they are actually intensifying their "inner misery." Businesses strive off of "creating hungers" or making and selling products that will be bought just because another family (the Joneses) bought those products therefore making themselves seem better than everyone else because they have more. Sheen's quote reflects and emphasizes the pain of our societies over consumption but slightly pushes towards the realization that over consumption will not end because of the business world.

Advertising Technique

2011-02-28T10:01:00.000-08:00

Wii has been advertising their games and gaming systems for years now, but with the times getting tough, sales may not be as high as they used to be. In the past few years, family time has become a big part of the American society. The Wii company takes notice. Their newer advertisements mention Wii as being included in family time. This Wii advertisement is a prime example of the way most companies advertise now. I think that this new advertising technique is a clever way for companies to sell their products but is bad for the society because of the American over-consumerism.

2nd 9weeks reading list.

2010-12-14T09:59:00.000-08:00

McMann, Lisa. Wake. New York: Simon Pulse, 2008. Print.

Janie has always had problems in her life. Her mom is a drunk who cannot take care of herself, much less Janie. She has no clue who her father is and has no friends. Oh and in addition to all of the usual problems, she gets sucked into dreams. When Janie gets stuck in a dream, she loses eyesite and her entire body goes numb. The worse the dream is, the worse she is paralyzed. In every dream, Janie is always asked to help but she never knows what she needs to do to help the dreamer or how to pull out of dreams until her senior year when she takes a job at a nursing home and meets an elderly woman who is just like her. Throughout her senior year she also gets involved with Cabel, a loner who has always wanted Janie. Cabel and Janie fall for each other and he learns of her secret dream catching curse. Through her involvement with him, she discovers that her curse can be used for good. With Cabel's help, Janie becomes a narc like Cabe and helps with a large drug case causing them to keep their relationship together a secret to everybody.

McMann, Lisa. Fade. New York: Simon Pulse, 2009. Print.

After Janie and Cabe's first case is cracked, Captain puts Janie on an assignment alone. She is in a lot of danger being stuck in the middle of a rape case but she is in too deep to get out now. Along with the case, Janie's eyesight is getting bad and she soon finds out what is happening to her and what she will become in a few years. The elderly woman from the nursing home, Ms. Stubin, reveals all of her secrets to Janie through a green notebook that she left with Captain when she passed away. With the secrets of her future comes tough choices that will change her life forever.

McMann, Lisa. Gone. New York: Simon Pulse, 2010. Print.

Janie's eyesight is getting much worse. Her sight and feelings are taking longer and longer to come back after each dream. She has come to accept her ugly fate but she does not want to drag Cabe down with her. He tries to convince her that he is okay with her future as a knarled and blind old woman, but dreams don't lie. The only way to keep her vision and not become paralyized is to isolate herself from Cabel and everyone else. She has a tough decision to make. When a stranger comes into her life, her decision becomes easier to make. The hardest thing she has to do is tell Cabe.

Noël, Alyson. Evermore. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2009. Print.

After an awful accident that leaves Ever without a mother, father, sister, and dog, she can see auras, hear people's thoughts, and know a person's life stories just by touch. To block this curse, she becomes a freak that wears a hoodie to school and listens to loud music under her hood. Life sucks for her until Damen finds his way into her life. At first sight, Ever senses recognition, but she does not know the reason for this recognition. Just the sound of his voice silences the whole world. Ever feels like there is something more to Damen, he seems to be able to read her mind. What Ever doesn't know is, he can read her mind.

Noël, Alyson. Blue Moon: a Novel. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2009. Print.

Now that Ever knows that she is an immortal, she knows that she can control everything and that she is more powerful than she thinks. She is eager to learn everything she can about her new abilities and Damen is there to show her the way until someone new in town, Ramon, comes along and changes everything. Damen is growing old and he seems to forget about ever loving Ever. He sees her as the freak that everyone else sees her to be. Ever needs to save him but she is running out of time. Not only is there a time limit for Damen, but Ever is met with a choice between saving Damen or reuniting with her family.

Sarah Palin Running for President?

2010-12-08T10:31:00.000-08:00

While listening to Batesville High School gossip, there was a group of my friends speaking of Sarah Palin's decision to run in the 2012 Presidential Campaign. I have always been interested in politics so I looked further into the discussion and found an article with the title Should Sarah Palin Run for President? Holly Ojalvo, the author of this article, pushed me to believe that Palin does not have the capability and qualifications to become president because of all of the negative facts about Sarah included in her article.

Ojalvo included an interview from another article by Robert Draper with Palin's political advisor to discuss Palin's political moves. Mentioned in this interview were the poll numbers. Palin is obviously not being favored in the political race with only 39% among registered voters seeing her qualified to become president. In Holly's article, is a link to Draper's article with the interview and more in great detail. Draper made a point to add better better on Palin's status but did not succeed in swaying the attention away from negative points about her political qualifications. In Ojalvo's article, she invited young adults to post their opinions on Palin's capability of holding the presidential seat. Most comments regarded Sarah as incapable of being presidents and some added more facts about Palin. From the comments and two articles I read, I have the same opinion as the majority of the young adults that commented on Ojalvo's article. Palin is not qualified to become president.

12 Sentence Story

2010-11-30T10:27:00.000-08:00

Over the summer, I was baby sitting my two little brothers, while laying on the comfy green couch, watching a comedy central movie, and paying absolutely no attention to Jake and Josh. The boys were bored and wanted to go outside and play frisbee, but I would not allow them to go out in the rain and they had no frisbee: they found a license plate in the living room to play with. Jake, an immature six year old with bad aim, tried to throw the license plate towards Josh like he would throw a frisbee. I did not realize that the object was coming towards me until I heard Josh screaming from behind the couch, saw Jake move in front of the television, and, finally, noticed the reflection of the shiny metal moving toward my face. The license plate hit me in the forehead just above the eyebrow. Ouch!! Though the hit hurt, I did not think that the wound was very bad or that my little brothers would make a very big deal of hurting me. Joshua cried like a baby, while Jacob screamed bloody murder. Hurt worse than I had thought, my cut I realized. What steps should I take to fix this mess? I finally called my mom, and settled the boys down, and called my dad, and called my grandfather to come get me and take me to the emergency room. After stopping the bleeding with a lot of painful pressure and cleaning the wound with burning alcohol, for minimal scarring, the nurse stitched my cut.

Opposite Sex Friends While In A Relationship

2010-11-09T11:02:00.000-08:00

Many people in relationships have friends of the opposite sex. The boyfriend has friends who are girls and the girlfriend has friends that are guys. The opposite sex friends might possibly be really close friends. In a blog that I read, the author talks about the debate over whether a person can have close friends of the opposite sex while in a committed relationship.

The author of this blog defends having friends of the opposite sex. I agree with her. The fact that someone is in a closed relationship does not mean that all friends of the opposite sex have to be out of the picture. My best friend actually is a guy, I am in a closed, committed relationship. My boyfriend has no problem with me having guy friends because he trusts me. All of my boyfriend's coworkers are female. This does not bother me because I trust him. If there is no trust in a relationship...then there shouldn't be a relationship, period. Trust is not the only issue on this subject, though, jealousy is a big problem in relationships. People that do not agree with their partner having friends of the opposite sex may trust their partner, but is jealous of the friend. I personally have faced the jealousy problem. Too many friends that are girls, and his opposite sex friends are too pretty and too flirtatious, and he hangs out with them too much. All of those factors have bothered me and made me jealous of those other girls that were his close friends. But once the realization that he chose me as his girl and not them helped me get over that jealousy.

Others disagree and argue that people in relationships should not have opposite sex friends unless those friends are only friends of the couple and not the individual. I can understand this logic but still have a separate opinion. Wouldn't opposite sex friends build the trust in the relationship and help the couple as individuals learn to overcome their jealousy habits?

Three Books I Would Like to Read

2010-10-21T10:58:00.000-07:00

For this nine weeks, I would like to read Mockingjay, Pride and Prejudice, and Burned.

Mockingjay is a the third book in a series of books that I have read before. I really enjoyed the first two books and I have heard that Mockingjay is the best in this series. I would like to find out for myself.

Pride and Prejudice is another book that I have heard good reviews on. Lauren Cambias and Natasha Bray both recommended this book to me. I do not exactly know what the book is exactly about but if these two book lovers say its good, I have to read it.

Burned is another book in a series that I started but have yet to finish. All of the first books in this series have been amazing and have kept me on the edge of my seat wanting more. Burned has also gotten good reviews from many of my classmates.

All of these books are available to me in my english class or friends houses, so I am really excited to start digging into these books for this nine weeks.

Second Quarter Reading

2010-10-19T10:39:00.000-07:00

Reading Reflection

2010-10-15T09:54:00.000-07:00

During the first nine weeks of school, my life has been too crazy to just sit down and read and be able to enjoy what I read. "Your junior year is the hardest year you will have in high school" is a quote that I have heard many times from many different people. When I first heard that, I did not believe that eleventh grade could be so hard. Now I understand.

Throughout all of my school years, I have never been stressed over my grades and my work in school. Starting my first week of school, I was already loaded down with homework and that is how I have spent all of my afternoons since then, doing homework. By the time I am finished with my load of homework, I have no energy to read. Along with homework, there is also extra curricular. Prancers, mma, church, and family events are all factors that take up my time. Because of all that I have going on in my life, I never have the time or energy to read. I love reading and I hope that further into this school year I will be able to read more but first I will have to find a way to keep up with my homework assignments and finish up faster in order to make time.

There are a few instances, though, that I am able to make time to read. Riding in the car with my mom around town, on the bus going to ball games, and while riding in the car taking weekend trips out of town. When I am actually able to read, I got into the habit of trying to analyze what I read. Long, difficult books are the type of books that I enjoy reading. Nineteen Minutes was a book that I read over the first nine weeks that I absolutely loved! Though I have started thinking more deeply about what I read, I still do not particularly enjoy writing down my thoughts on the book. The only time I think to "ink what I think" is when I know that I will have to write about that book and writing down my thoughts is useful then. Other than that, I do not see any need to write about the book.

Hopefully, this school year will slow down some and I will be able to read more often and finish more books. I have heard good reviews on Mockingjay and Pride and Prejudice so I am wanting to get those books in by the end of the semester.

Socratic Seminar Reflection

2010-10-11T10:14:00.001-07:00

The Socratic Seminars that my class participated in gave interesting and deeply discussed thoughts that expanded my understanding on points that were made by Aldous Huxley in his book Brave New World about how technology can have major effects on society. I found these discussions to be very enjoyable and challenging.

When preparing for the seminars, we were told to prepare for dialogue, not debate. The most interesting seminar was done on the first day that we began, Friday, October 8, 2010. This discussion turned into a debate between Natasha, Nelson, Sean, and Sadie about the expression of individuality in Brave New World's futuristic society and if our society will become so advanced in technology and mass production that a persons individuality will become unheard of. Natasha stated that technology, using mass production, will cause us to lose our individuality because everything made by mass production is basically the same. Nelson disagreed with her in pointing out that even though products are made the same and look the same, people can personalize those products to express their individuality. Ipods were the examples that both arguments used to make their points. Natasha said that Ipods are made the same way and look the same and have the same uses. Nelson countered her statement in saying that even though Ipods are made the same way, look the same, and have the same uses, different songs, games, and applications can be downloaded onto them keeping all Ipods from being exactly alike and taking individuality away from the society.

My class is always in a debate about something, so trying to make the Socratic Seminars dialogue was difficult. When debating, the arguments become intense and hardly anyone considers the other side of the argument. Dialogue is more challenging because all points and perspectives are supposed to be considered with an open mind. Speaking in front of my peers was also a challenge. I have always been a quiet person so I was extremely nervous about having to speak for a certain amount of time in front of a crowd while also being evaluated on my presentation. The last challenging aspect of the seminars was the research. When looking through Brave New World to get specific examples from the book to support our points, we not only had to reread many paragraphs of the book, but also had to "think outside of the box" to apply the society in Huxley's book to our society.

These Socratic Seminars were very beneficial to the class with the challenges that they held. I feel like I learned better discussing with the class rather that doing paper work on Brave New World and I would definitely love to practice this type of learning more in the future.

Annotated Reading List

2010-10-11T10:10:00.000-07:00

FIRST 9 WEEKS

Picoult, Jodi. Nineteen Minutes: a Novel. New York: Atria, 2007. Print.

There are bullies everywhere. At school, on sports teams, and even at home. Some people are able to handle being bullied or change themselves to fit in with the "popular" crowd, but others, like Peter Houghton, act against the bullies and cause a tragic catastrophe. Nineteen Minutes tells an interestingly detailed story of how the town of Sterling deals with their tragedy and how bad the bulling had to be to push Peter off the edge.

Peter had been a target for bullies since beginning school. He was targeted because he was small and helpless against his classmates. The bullying started with Peter's lunch box being thrown out the windows of the bus on his way to school to being pushed down in the hallways and being publicly embarrassed all throughout high school until the end of his Junior year when he decided to take action.

March 6, 2007 started out like any other school day. The students going to class and lunch and hanging out in the halls, teachers going through their lessons with their classes, and parents going to work without any worry about their children's safety in school. No body in Sterling expected Peter Houghton to go to school that day with several guns and shoot out the school, which is exactly what he did.

Peter's outburst caused ten deaths and many more injured and he is being held on trial for many accounts of first degree murder throughout most of the book. His trial and actions brought media and attention from everywhere. Sterling went from being unknown to very well known, from a small town where nothing bad ever happens to a town of violence. Peter went from being a kid that had been bullied all of his life to being a person that people were terrified of, from being someone that was nice to everyone and tolerated the bullies to being the bully himself. The entire town of Sterling stood together against Peter and willed him a life in prison, but does that happen?

Nineteen Minutes is an amazing book that I highly recommend to all readers that are interested in a complex book that is more than just a fiction "candy" read but also gives thought to reality and the fact that there are bullied people in this world and it is just a matter of time until they snap like Peter did. (455)

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper Perennial Modern

Classics, 2006. Print.

Is there really such a thing as a Utopian society? Aldous Huxley tried to create one in his book Brave New World. This society is evolved around comfort and stability, but there are outsiders who do not think of this society as being perfect.

John the Savage is brought into this society by Bernard Marx from a reservation that he had grown up on all of his life with the other Indians and Savages. On his reservation, the society was very different from Bernard's. For example, death and pain, and family and emotions are unheard of in Brave New World's society but on the reservation, the society is much like our society with death and pain, and family and emotions. John does not know how to deal with the new accustoms that the people of the "Utopia" have lived with all of their lives and the people do not know how to deal with him and his outbursts from his old world.

By bringing John into Bernard's society, I realized that a having a Utopian society is not possible because along with John, there were others that did not belong and started having feelings like Johns. (259)

Meyer, Stephenie. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: an Eclipse Novella.

New York: Little, Brown and, 2010. Print.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner is based on the Twilight saga. In eclipse, a vampire army is being made by the enemies of the Cullen family to try to kill them. Bree was just an ordinary teenage girl, at one time. Now she can barely remember anything from her first life, before she met Riley and he changed her. As a vampire she has superhuman reflexes, unstoppable physical strength, and powerful senses. Bree, along with the other newborns that Riley created for his army, have no idea why they were chosen to be changed or why. All they know is that they are not the only vampires in the area, they cannot go into the sunlight, they have to have blood, and Riley is their leader. When Riley tells them that their enemy (the Cullens) are going to try to take all of their blood, they train to go into battle. What they don't know is that they have been lied to their entire lives. Riley is actually under the power of Victoria who is wanting revenge on the Cullens for killing her partner in Twilight. This book was not nearly as good as the other Stephenie Meyer books but helped me to understand how the young army thought while going into battle and their reasonings for getting involved in the fight at all. (178)

PÉREZ-PEÑA, Richard, and Marc Santora. "The New York Times." The

New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 13 Feb. 2005.

Web. 09 Oct. 2010.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/13/nyregion/13aids.html.

Lemonick, Michael D., David Bjerklie, Alice Park/New York, and Dick

Thompson/Washington. "Designer Babies - TIME." Breaking News,

Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video,

Tech Reviews - TIME.com. 11 Jan. 1999. Web. 09 Oct. 2010.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989987,00.html.

Sharon BegleyFebruary. "Human Clones: One Step Closer - Newsweek."

Newsweek - National News, World News, Business, Health, Technology,

Entertainment, and More - Newsweek. 3 Feb. 2009. Web. 27 Sept. 2010.

http://www.newsweek.com/blogs/lab-notes/2009/02/03/humanclones-one-step-closer.html

Sherover, Max. "Learn While You Sleep - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs,

News, Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. 2 Feb. 1948. Web. 09 Oct. 2010.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,855919,00.html.

Southall, Ashley. "The New York Times." The New York Times - Breaking News, World New &

Multimedia. 4 May 2010. Web. 09 Oct. 2010.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/05/us/05 marijuana.html.

Dad, Frugal. "Three Keys to Finding True Happiness." Frugal Dad A

Frugal Perspective on Money, Career and Family. 12 May 2008. Web. 14

Oct. 2010.

Syque. "Purpose of Emotions." Changing Minds and Persuasion -

- How We Change What Others Think, Believe, Feel and Do. Web. 10

Oct. 2010.

http://changingminds.org/explanations/emotions/emotion_purpose.htm.

"FDA Approves SOMA(R) (carisoprodol) 250 Mg." Medical News Today:

Health News. 18 Sept.

2007. Web. 13 Oct. 2010

Gerson, Michael. "The Eugenics Temptation." The Washington Post

[Washington D.C.] 24

Oct. 2007. Web. 9 Oct. 2010

In my English class, we were required to look up five articles and explain how they relate to the book Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. After I turned in that assignment I decided that I wanted to look further into how much alike our society already is to Brave New World's. In these articles, our society is changing something, like legalizing drugs, cloning, finding new technology, looking for ways to make people happier... All of these are connected to Brave New World because BNW's society and our society both were very technilogically advanced and changing people's thinking by making things the way they are (clones, drugs, happiness). While reading these articles, the thought "How much longer until our society is like Brave New World's?" kept going through my mind. I honestly do not think that our society will become that corrupt but I do think that we will get very close.

A Whole New Mind

2010-09-12T20:09:00.000-07:00

Pink's contrasting observations from the middle class in the present day and the middle class from the 70's reveal that Americans abundance of material goods has "..brought beautiful things to our lives but..has not necessarily made us happier" and he encourages us to change our abundant and unnecessary ways and seek value in life.

Pink took observation of a toilet brush that he had recently purchased at Target. This particular toilet brush was designed by one of the most renowned product designers in the world. A toilet brush that was endorsed by an expert! Expert designers obviously play a big role in the sell of products. "Only against a backdrop of abundance could so many people seek beautiful toilet brushes," was a statement that Pink put in his observation. The designs of the product also play a big role in the success of the sell of a product. If the product does not look good, a person will not buy it. The cost of Pink's new toilet brush was $5.99. In the 70's a person from the middle class would not buy that product because it was too costly. The cost and function of a product were the only two factors to buying a product in the past, now, along with functioning correctly, the product has to look good and have some kind of expert endorsement to be successfully sold. Pink's overall conclusion of the toilet brush observation from present-day Americans was that "if things are not pleasing to the eye...few will buy them," even with all of the work engineering that goes into making the product work sufficiently.

"Abundance has brought beautiful things to our lives, but that bevy of material goods has not necessarily made us happier," was a comment that Pink made that stuck out to me. I have always thought if I had the most expensive designer products that I would be happier. Pink helped me to realize that I am very wrong. He said that when he is on his deathbed he doubts that he would look back on his life and say, "Well, I've made some mistakes. But at least I snagged one of those Michael Graves toilet brushes..." The toilet brush may have excited him when he first purchased it and saw that it was designer and it looked good...but it did not make him overall happier. Also when he went shopping with his family in the 70's when he was younger, he was just as happy with the small selection of clothes that all middle class people wore as he is now when he goes shopping with his family as an adult many years later and has a much bigger selection of designer clothes that the middle class wears. "Living standards have risen...personal, family, and life satisfaction haven't budged," is a statement that Pink used to try to persuade people to change and to seek value in life. The toilet brush example and the clothing example that Pink used in his argument have helped me realize that I do not have to always use name brand products that have no value, but that I am happy without designer things.

In conclusion, Pink tries to get Americans to realize that there are better things in life that designer goods and that we need to change our abundant ways to be happy because money can't buy happiness.

Ad Analysis: The Truth About Cocaine

2010-08-26T07:06:00.000-07:00

Persuasion is used by many businesses, companies, and governments to lean people certain ways. The most common types of persuasion in ads are ethos, pathos, and logos. In a recent ad about cocaine that I found on the Ads of the World website showed examples of ethos and pathos but no logos.

The Colombian government used a few ethos in the ad. Most ads use celebrities or major reliable companies to endorse their ads as their ethos, but the makers of this ad wanted to put a negative effect on the selected audiences. In the center of the photo of the ad is a well-dressed man with the face of a giant nose showing that he is wealthy and is a cocaine user. The man is also holding a gun giving a sense of fear to the viewers of the ad. The gun gives the viewers an impression that since he is snorting coke, then he is funding the kidnappings, which implies that he may as well have been a kidnapper. The fact that he is a rich party person that funds kidnappings gives the targeted audiences a negative impression on cocaine use. The text in the top left of the ad "Cocaine helps you stay up all night when you're clubbing. It also helps finance terrorist kidnappings..." helps to make viewer want to stay away from cocaine and to keep from being like the man in the ad.

The fact that cocaine users are funding terrorist kidnappings makes the users feel guilty. This is the government using pathos in their ad to give an emotional effect on their audiences. The visual picture of the helpless girl in the closet with the wealthy cocaine user guarding the door with a gun puts a fear on parents about their children being kidnapped. The gun really sticks out to me because I have always thought of a gun as being an object that strikes fear. This ad makes a very good point that Colombians do not want their country destroyed by cocaine. The statement "Cocaine doesn't destroy people, it destroys a country" in the top left side of the ad also strikes fear into the viewer of their country being destroyed.

While studying this ad, I noticed that the ad designer did not put logos in the ad. I started to realize that cocaine users do not care about research that has been done on the use of cocaine, they already know that cocaine is bad for them. So the studies would not persuade a person to quit snorting cocaine. Also if people used logic to decide to snort cocaine or not, they would have never started using cocaine in the first place. Visual pictures have more of an effect on people than reading research. The makers of this ad made a good decision by not using logos in this ad.

The Kaziranga Defender

2010-08-05T08:27:00.000-07:00

In this photo a defender of Kaziranga is bathing before the start of a long day. My first impression of the man was not that he was bathing, I first thought that he was just washing off his feet to keep from tracking dirt into his house. When I realized that he was actually taking a bath, I also realized the poverty in other countries and how many Americans like myself take advantage of our wealth.

When I first started to really study the picture I notice a bar of soap in the man's left hand. If I am just washing off my feet to keep from tracking in dirt, I do not use soap. I just rinse my feet off with a water hose and shower inside my house later. His entire body is wet giving an obvious sign that this man is doing more in the photo than just rinsing his feet.

Most people that I know use a water hose at their house. This man has filled a bucket with water that he got from an old fashioned water pump and uses a cup to pour the water onto his body. Since the water is coming from an old water pump, I doubt that the water is heated. I tried to figure out if my thought on the temperature of the water was correct and scrolled down to the bottom of the picture to find out if there was any text below the picture. The caption below the photo said that the man was in fact using a bucket of cold well water. The water that I use to take a bath is not cold. Like most Americans, I have a hot water heater that gives me the luxury of soaking in hot water.

Shown by the way the man is bathing outside with cold water from a bucket, the Kaziranga defender obviously lives in a life of poverty. The caption below the photograph of this man says that he and other guards like him seldom complain about lack of conveniences. Americans are not the same way. We take advantage of every hot shower we take and do not even think about other people not able to take a nice shower. Analyzing this photo was a real eye opener for me on the poverty of others.

Senseless Tradition

2010-07-23T09:59:00.000-07:00

When I started looking for a short story to read, The Lottery by Shirley Jackson caught my eye. At first I thought that the lottery in the story would be like the lottery that many people play in the United States every year for profit. I was very wrong. The tradition of the lottery in the book does not seem right but the people in the village think that the lottery is what keeps the village running richly. If the village stopped tradition, the villagers would live in poverty.

At approximately the same time each year, the people of a small village of about 300 citizens gathered for their annual lottery. The lottery was overseen each year by Mr. Summers, a jovial but professional and much respected man in the community, who carried out his job with little emotion or regret. He and the other villagers conducted the lottery just as any other social event, such as square dances, the Halloween program and the teenage club. Even the children participated as if it was just an accepted part of everyday life as they gathered stones at the beginning of the story. The fact that the tradition involved the brutal murder of one of their own did not seem to matter because this was something that had been accepted for years as the way things were supposed to be done.

The old tattered black box used during the lottery was in need of repair and needed to be replaced according to Mr. Summers. Each year after the lottery Mr. Summers brought up the subject of building a new box, but the people of the village did not want to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box. They would rather continue to use the same shabby looking box than upset tradition by building a new one.

As tradition went, all of the families of this village would gather, and one by one the head of each household or an approved replacement would draw a slip of paper out of the old black box. The family of the person who drew the winning lottery ticket then had to draw individually to see who would be the winner of the lottery. No one wanted to win this lottery unlike today when everyone wants to win the lottery. Those who drew blank slips of paper showed excitement and relief.

Mr. and Mrs. Adams brought up the fact that other villages had quit the lottery. Perhaps they were hinting that their village should do the same but neither dared to go against tradition. The idea of not having a lottery was quickly put down by Old Man Warner, because there had always been a lottery. He referenced that abolishing the lottery would cause nothing but trouble and the young people who even thought about quitting the lottery were nothing but fools. Even though there were underlying hints of disagreeing with the lottery shown by the reluctance and nervousness of some of the villagers when it was their turn to draw, no one was brave enough to try to go against what had been the tradition for years. They had done the same thing for so long that they only half listened when Mr. Summers gave the directions for drawing names.

The only hint of explanation given for the lottery was a saying repeated by Old Man Warner stating that ‘Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon’ leading me to believe that the lottery is apparently some kind annual sacrifice to ensure healthy corn crops which in this day and time would be totally unbelievable. Nevertheless, the townspeople gathered every year to carry out this barbaric act of sacrifice by stoning, carried out by friends and family of the victim, also known as the winner of the lottery.

Tessie Hutchison, the winner of the lottery, was stoned to death by the very friends and family that she spent time with on a daily basis. Her desperate screams meant nothing to the crowd that was closing in on her. Tradition was more important than the life of one of their friends in this seemingly close knit community. Even those who mentioned quitting the lottery still involved themselves in the stoning. In fact, Steve Adams was a leader in front of the crowd as the stoning was carried out.

It is clear by reading “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson that people do not like or are afraid of change. She uses symbolism of the black box and the nonchalant attitude of many of the villagers to prove this point as the lottery is conducted and the sacrifice of one of the villagers is carried out brutally.

The BP Oil Leak

2010-07-07T09:21:00.000-07:00

Lately, the BP oil spill has been one of the most discussed stories in the news. I have been researching many news sites such as The New York Times, Newsweek, Yahoo! news, and many other sites looking for information on what BP has tried to do to recover from the blowup and stop the leak. BP's drilling on a deep water well caused a major blowup and they have tried in many ways to stop the leak. Unfortunately, all of the attempts to stop the leak have failed. Did BP take enough precaution to keep the leak from happening? Is BP working hard enough to stop the leak and to clean up this huge tragedy? These are just a few of the questions that came to mind when I began researching. I have come to the conclusion that BP has been very irresponsible in caring for their wells and should stop deep water drilling before there is another blowup.

Did BP take enough precaution to keep the leak from happening? "Efforts to activate the well's blowout preventer fail" is what I read from David Cutler's timeline on Yahoo! news. In other words, BP made the precaution to put in a blowout preventer before drilling. They made a precaution but that was obviously not enough. The best way to have prevented the blowout would have been to not drill at all.

Is BP working hard enough to stop the leak and to clean up the big mess? BP has tried many times to stop the leak but the leak still has not been stopped. 'Top Kill' has been the last failed attempt to stop the leak so far.
BP tried to build a containment cap to plug the well before attempting 'Top Kill' and now that 'Top Kill' has failed they are trying to use a containment cap again. "Doug Suttles, BP’s chief operating officer for exploration and production, said at a news conference that the engineers would try once again to solve the problem with a containment cap and that it could take four to seven days for the device to be in place," was part of an interview that I found while researching on The New York Times. Also while researching, I found that the Louisiana government has taken a stand on cleaning up the spill. Newsweek had a story on how the Florida government has also taken a big stand on cleaning up the big mess. BP has not taken the stands that these two governments have on the cleanup.

In conclusion, although BP has tried in many ways to prevent a blowup and stop the leak, have not done enough and should work harder at making the economy safer.

Annotated Photo

2010-06-26T21:03:00.001-07:00

I live. I laugh. I read. I write. Click below to learn more.

Of Mice and Men

2010-05-28T12:03:00.001-07:00

Detail

John Steinbeck uses the first paragraph in the book Of Mice and Men to set up the entire story. He uses parallels to give clues about the characters that come up in the book.

"the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green". This quote means many different things to me. When I think of the word deep, I think strong or something deep in depth like water or words being spoken to me can be deep. George is the deep one in the book because he has a great depth of mind. Green can mean jealous, sickly, or new life. Lennie is the green one because he is sick in the mind. He does not think very deeply.

"slopes curve up to the strong and rocky Gabilan mountains" is another quote that was used as a parallel in the first paragraph. The word strong reminds me of something stable. Rocky reminds me of something rough and unstable like loose boulders that could fall at any time. George is the strong and stable character. He is mentally strong unlike Lennie who is rocky in the mind and can not think for himself.

Another parallel is used in the quote "under the trees leaves lie deep and so crisp". Deep still means strong or great in depth. Also deep can mean stable. If a rod is deep in the ground then it is more stable than if it was closer to the surface. George's mind is deep. He has a very stable mind and his opinions cannot easily be broken. Something crisp like a leaf can be easily broken and ripped apart. Lennie's mind is crisp. He does not have his own opinion about anything. George makes all of the decisions and cannot be put down easily or made to believe something very easily.

In the quote "a path beaten hard by boys coming down from the ranches to swim in the deep pool, and beaten hard by tramps who come wearily down from the highway" there are different people being talked about with the same dream and have a lot of struggles to get to their dream. Lennie, George, and Candy are all completely different people coming from different places with the same dream to own their own land. They have financial problems and struggle to reach their dream.

The last quote that spoke to me with a parallel is "the limb is worn smooth by men who sat on it". A limb that has been sat on many times gets used to being sat on and gets worn smooth. George has taken care of Lennie so long that he has gotten used to being around him and taking care of him that he has a permanent wear.

Point of View

The third person point of view helps me to see the life that the men in the book Of Mice and Men lead.

From a passage on page 68, the quote, "Crooks did not see him...on raising his eyes...a scowl came on his face" shows that Crooks does not like company and that he is more of a loner than a person that likes company. He values his privacy. Since his reaction was a scowl instead of a "hello" or a smile, I assume that Crooks was not looking to find a friend or a relationship of any kind. "Lenny smiled helplessly in an attempt to make friends," shows that Lenny was knowingly walking in on Crooks when he was not supposed to but he went in anyways because he was looking for a friendship. He seems like the type of person that does not like to be alone and needs a relationship.

On page 100, another passage shows how lonely Lenny is and how he does not like to be alone. "And then from out of Lennie's head there came a little fat old woman," shows that when no one is around, Lenny feels so lonely that people come to mind and speak to him to keep him company. "You do bad things," is a quote from Aunt Clara. George or somebody else is always criticising Lennie so he got so used to being yelled at that Aunt Clara comes to his mind to yell at him because he probably feels uncomfortable when he is not being yelled at.

Tone

A devotional and hopeful tone was put in Steinbeck's novel that describe the relationship of two men, Lennie and George.

"No-look! I was jus' foolin', Lennie. 'Cause I want you to stay with me," is a what George says to Lennie on page 13 after they get into a fight. George obviously wants Lennie to stay with him no matter how bad their fights are. George has a devoted relationship to Lennie. On page 72 Crooks is telling Lennie that George could get hurt. Lennie then says, "Ain't nobody goin' to suppose no hurt to George," and " Ain't nobody goin' to talk no hurt to George." These two quotes show Lennie's devotion to George. Not only does he not want George hurt, but he does not want anyone to even talk about George even being able to get hurt. Lennie believes that as long as he is around, no one can hurt George.

Lennie is repeatedly wanting George to tell him of a place that they are going to live on their own. In their words they are going to live on 'the fatta the lan'. When George is giving details on their future home that has rabbits and alfalfa and cows and chickens and more, they both get hopeful and start to think that they could someday have the home that they fantasize about. They get so hopeful that they even make a plan to go after their dream land.

Lange's Photos

2010-05-20T11:38:00.000-07:00

Dorothea Lange took many photos of a migrant mother and her family. Of all of the photographs, one caught my eye the most. In this picture the woman was sitting with her children and her wedding ring stood out.

The photos show obvious financial struggle with the family. The ring on the mother's finger looks like it would be worth a lot. So why does she keep it? Why does she not sell the ring to buy better shelter for her family. My guess is that the ring is her most valuable possesion and that she may possibly be widowed and the ring is the only memory of him that she has. She probably does not want to lose that memory of him unless she has to.

Animal Farm

2010-05-06T11:40:00.001-07:00

George Orwell used the characters in Animal farm to represent the Russian Revolution. The way the characters acted and the way Orwell wrote the book helped me to better understand the Russian Revolution. The use of animals as characters was very effected.

Napoleon, a pig on the farm, represented Stalin. Napoleon was the dictator of Animal Farm just as Stalin was the dictator of Russia. The other animals on the farm listened to what Napoleon said and followed his rules because everything he wanted done seemed right to the other animals. Stalin ruled Russia the same way. The animal characters also made the story more interesting and made the story easier to follow. Orwell made a good effective use of animals as characters to represent the Russian Revolution.

The Giver

2010-04-30T12:43:00.000-07:00

Can you imagine a world where everything is perfect and everyone is the same? That is what Jonas's world is like, but soon after he turns twelve, he realizes a world of perfection and similarity is not entirely good. Lois Lowry's The Giver interested me with its truthful story of how utopia's are not perfect.

In Jonas's community, everyone gets assigned a role at the age of twelve. Nobody gets to choose how they spend the rest of their lives. All of the members of the community are fine with their role including Jonas. Jonas got assigned to reciece special training from the Giver. During his special training, Jonas discovers feelings, colors, and pain, all of which he has never experienced before and noone in his community except him and the Giver can experience. He enjoyed having feelings like love, and see colors like red. The pain that he experienced like war was good to have. Pain made him stronger. Jonas soon finds that the community that he once thought was perfect was in fact not perfect at all. The Giver and Jonas try to find a way that their entire community could have all of the feelings, colors, and pain that they have to make their community better.

Cross Examination

2010-04-20T12:06:00.000-07:00

As a teenager I am being cross examined a lot. Adults refuse to trust me not because I am an untrustworthy person, but because of my age. Apparently a common rule among adults is 'Do not trust teenagers.' On many occasions I have been thoroughly questioned on my passwords.

On my computer and phone I have passwords to all of my applications and folders and I refuse to tell anyone what my passwords are or let anyone into any of my applications and folders. When my mom found out about my passwords she started getting suspicious. She questioned me for hours until I finally told her my passwords and let her go through my computer and phone. I tried telling her that I just like my privacy and that I was not trying to hide anything from her but she just kept saying that I am a teenager and cannot be trusted. I change my passwords all of the time so my mom stays suspicious and questions me many times when she tries to sneak on my computer to go through my folders and finds out that she no longer knows my passwords.

Celebration

2010-04-12T12:27:00.000-07:00

There are many things in life to celebrate. Life itself calls for celebration. When I think of what I have to celebrate, I think of my mother's pregnancy and little Kathryn Danielle inside of her.

My mom is nearly 8 months pregnant. Over the weekend my mom, step-dad, and I traveled to Jackson, Tennessee to visit the family. During our visit, we had a baby shower to celebrate Katie. I am usually not a fan of baby showers because I think that they are boring, but Katie's celebration was fun! When I think of baby showers as being a celebration of life, the more fun the whole get together seems. Kathryn is due at the end of May or beginning of June. I cannot wait!! Her birthday celebrations are going to be awesome!!

What do you have to celebrate?

I Wear the Mask

2010-03-31T11:53:00.000-07:00

The hurt, pain, and sadness concealed,
hiding within the mask.
Showing smiles and laughter in place of sorrow,
hiding behind the mask.
As tears roll down my face I cry,
wiping them away from my eye.
Hiding them so noone can see,
hiding behind the mask.

Walking around in this tough exterior,
just wanting to scream.
My life seems as if it's an abyss,
going nowhere it seems.
I'm falling apart.
Deeper and deeper into the dark.
Behind the mask I am but a lonely girl.
Behind the mask I hide my world.

St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T11:47:00.000-07:00

St. Patrick's Day has never really meant anything to me than just another day. The only difference from a regular day is everything is green and a person can pinch me if I choose not to wear green. A few times I have forgot to wear green and have been pinched by many people. These experiences have made me dislike St. Patrick's Day.

What do you think of this holiday?

Dance

2010-03-14T09:45:00.000-07:00

Dance has always been a major part of my life. There is a dance team at school and a small studio in town but I think Batesville needs another dance program with more dance options.

In town there is a small dance studio that teaches ballet. Ballet is a fun style of dance but it is definitely not for everyone. The school dance team does different dance styles but the members of the team do not get to pick the style. Every year there at least one pom, jazz, and hiphop dance. If someone joins the team hoping to dance a hiphop style dance, he/she has to also dance pom and jazz. Batesville needs more options. There is a dance studio in California that has many types of dance styles in the same building that Batesville should try to have a studio similar to this one. Jazz, ballet, hiphop more styles are taught at Hype Dance Academy. Batesville should get a similar program.

Persuasion

2010-03-08T17:49:00.000-08:00

Persuasion is used everywhere! I use persuasion all of the time to try and get my way.

I am always wanting something. In order to get what I want, asking does not always work. Sometimes people just need a little persuading to give me what I want. I would say that I am pretty good at using persuasion because most times when I use it, I get what I want. My persuasion technique is to put out facts also called using logos. If i did not use persuasion I would rarely get the things I want because people have become pretty good at saying no. Commercials, newspaper ads, and many books and movies use persuasion.

Do you use persuasion very often? Are you any good at persuading people?

Winning

2010-03-08T17:34:00.000-08:00

Does winning always mean recieving a tangible reward? I do not think so. What do you think?

To be a real winner of something, the reward is not a medal or trophy, but the real reward is knowing that you put all of your effort into something. Trying your best always makes you a winner. I am not most proud of winning the trophies that I have obtained throughout the years but I am most proud of winning the trust and respect of my mother. She use to not trust me because I lied a lot and was not worth trusting. I worked hard and tried my best to win back her trust and respect and I succeeded.

So what do you think? Does winning always mean recieving a tangible reward?

Commitment

2010-03-05T12:08:00.000-08:00

To succeed in getting a dance scholarship, I have to put much time and money and training just as the contestants in the Winter Olympics have put a lot of time and money and training into making their way to participate in the Winter Olympics.

For the past four years, I have committed myself to being a dancer. I have worked hard to obtain a spot on the high school dance team. A lot of time and training is needed to be able to keep up with the standards of this dance team. When we go to competition I always try my best to be the best I can be for the team because we are only as strong as our weakest link. Also throughout the years I have helped with an elementary school's dance team. Their dance teacher always appreciates the small work that I do.
The contestants in the Winter Olympics have put great time and many years of commitment to get into the Olympics. To be able to compete, these contestants have spent a lot of time, money, and have trained very hard.

Just as the contestants in the Winter Olympics work hard to go home with a medal, my trophy would be to get a dance scholarship for college. Even if i do not get a scholarship and the Winter Olympics contestants do not get a medal, the entire experience was worth the time and commitment.

I Took a Stand

2010-01-18T19:04:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, many of my friends decided to get involved in drugs, alcohol, and smoking. After a few weeks of smoking and drinking and doing drugs, they tried to get me involved.

I have always been against the activities they were doing so the first few times of refusing to join them was very simple, but after a while, saying no kept getting harder and harder. Even though I stayed strong and always told them no, I never voiced my opinion on how wrong I thought they were for being involved in these activities.

After two months though, I decided to take a stand. I told them that what they were doing was wrong and illegal and that they needed to stop before they got too addicted and got caught and into trouble. At first they got mad at me and told me to mind my own business, but after thinking about my reasoning for taking a stand, most of them decided to stop.

Quitting took many of them a few weeks but we are all glad that they did decide to quit. I felt really good about taking a stand and respect myself more. My friends also respect me for being honest to them and for helping them get out of a bad situation.

My Sister Takes a Stand

2010-01-18T18:35:00.000-08:00

My sister has always had a problem with her weight. She has always been a big girl. In third grade people started to tease her about being big. Every day she would come home very upset about being bullied. After about two weeks of being picked on, my sister decided to take a stand against the bullies.

She first looked the bullies in the eyes and told them that she did not like them constantly teasing her about her weight and that they needed to stop. Then she started working out with me every day after school and started eating healthier. After a few weeks everyone noticed the huge improvement in my sister's weight. She has kept up the good work and is looking very attractive. Bullies have left her alone ever since that day she stood up to them.

My sister taking a stand against bullies made me respect her. That made me realize that nobody deserves to be bullied and everyone should take a stand against bullies.

Tempted - Zoey Takes A Stand

2010-01-10T11:05:00.000-08:00

The House of Night seems to be under a spell made by Neferet and Kalona. Most of the fledglings have turned against Zoey and the goddess Nyx and are choosing to follow Kalona. The few that still follow Zoey are all wounded from fighting against Kalona's children the Raven Mockers. Zoey takes a stand against Kalona to fight for Nyx. P.C. Cast and Kristen Cast's Tempted interested me with Zoey's choice to take a stand to stay good and fight her beliefs.

Zoey and her circle sent Kalona away but they know that the battle is not over but has just began and that Kalona will be back. He still haunts Zoey's dreams and gets inside of her head. She has to fight harder than ever to keep from falling under his love spell. If Zoey falls under Kalona and stands beside him, the world will be destroyed and Kalona will have power over Nyx and will rule.

Kalona and Neferet go to Venice to try and take control of the High Council and the most powerful High Priestesses. Zoey's circle of friends and Zoey decide to track down Kalona before he can put a spell on the Council like he did to her House of Night.

When Zoey meets in front of the Council and Kalona, she has to keep control of herself so that she can tell the Council the truth about Kalona and Neferet. The truth is really hard to tell with Kalona right there watching Zoey. Some of the High Priestesses believe Kalona and some believe Zoey.

Will the vampyres that believe Kalona overrule the vampyres that believe Zoey? Will Zoey break and stand beside Kalona and all of his evil or will she keep strong and continue to stand against him?

I reccommend Tempted to people who like a stand against evil and a fight for good.

What Makes A Leader A True Leader?

2009-12-18T05:26:00.000-08:00

True leaders are people that would do anything to help his followers. Military leaders, teachers, and parents are good examples of true leaders.

Military leaders are the perfect example of true leaders. While in war, military leaders not only lead their troops into battle but they also fight with them. They also make good decisions to bring troops to victory.

School teachers are also good examples. Teachers help students to become successful in life. By teaching about math and science and english, the students obtain knowledge that can help them get a good career and make enough money to support their future family and themselves.

Parents are true leaders. Throughout their children's lifes, parents take care of their children so that they can one day take care of themselves. Parents sacrifice much time into taking care of their children.

Julius Caesar

2009-12-17T12:33:00.000-08:00

Julius Caesar is a tyrant that some people in Rome love, but many hate. Brutus is one of the haters. Shakespeare's Julius Caesar interested me with the shocking actions of the characters that make this book a tragedy.

Many Romans think that Caesar has too much power. The honorable Brutus says he was ambitious. Brutus's followers agreed with Brutus and decided to kill Julius because of his power.

At Caesar's funeral, Mark Antony spoke. Because of Antony's speech, some of the people that were first with Brutus, switched teams and joined Antony. These people start a riot.

What started out being a small riot, turned into a war between Mark Antony and his followers and Brutus and his followers.

I recommend Julius Caesar to people who like tragic stories.

Catching Fire

2009-12-17T12:17:00.000-08:00

Katniss and Peeta are getting married! Unfortunately, this year is also the 75th Hunger Games which means the Quarter Quell is also this year. Suzanne Collins's Catching Fire engrossed me with the way i felt like i was in the story.

Because of the Quarter Quell, the Games have to be special and interesting. When President Snow made the drawing in the Quarter Quell box, the slip that he read ruined everything for Katniss and Peeta. The slip read that the contestants of the 75Th Hunger Games will be previous victors. Peeta and Katniss are going back to the arena.

The arena this year is very difficult to survive. The Capital took the time to make many traps for the contestants to fall into.

Katniss begins to notice that the best players are all wanting to become alliances with her and Peeta. She also notices that everyone is trying to keep her and Peeta alive. Only one person can win the Hunger Games.

I recommend Catching Fire to people who like to feel like they are in the story. I also recommend reading Hunger Games first.

Hunger Games

2009-12-17T11:49:00.000-08:00

Katniss Everdeen has volunteered to be a contestant in the Games. She now has to go to an arena to kill twenty three other contestants, including Peeta Mellmart, to survive. Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games kept me on the edge of my seat with the constant surprise with what happens next.

On the day of the Reaping, all of the children between the ages of twelve and eighteen are praying outside of the Justice Building that their name is not going to be one of the two names drawn to play in the Hunger Games. When Katniss's little sister, Prim, was the first one called because her name has been drawn, Katniss immediately volunteered to take her place. Peeta's name is drawn next.

To Katniss, Peeta's name being drawn is one of the worst things that could have happened. They have never really been friends but after Katniss's dad died, Peeta helped her. When she was looking through the trash for food, Peeta took bread from her father's bakery and gave them to her. Because of that act of kindness from Peeta, Katniss feels like she owes him.

When they arrive in the Capitol to train for the arena, Katniss and Peeta play the role of a couple completely in love. They are instructed to play the part in the arena also. The only problem is only one contestant can be the winner of the Hunger Games. So the two go their separate ways. In the middle of the Games, an announcement is made that two people from the same district could win. This meant Katniss and Peeta could both win together. Soon they find each other and become allies. Unfortunately, other districts have both contestants still alive and they also form alliances.

I recommend Hunger Games to people who like adventure and surprises.

My Name

2009-12-13T17:19:00.000-08:00

Names to many families are very meaningful. There are many reasons that a person has a certain name. To some people a certain name has been passed through the family for many years or a name it thought to be powerful.

My name is Kimberly. My mother did not have a special family reason for giving me the name that she did, she just liked the name. She said that when she was thinking of names that the name Kimberly came to her and she liked it. "Kimberly is a soft sounding name and looks very pretty when written out", is what she told me.

The meaning of Kimberly is ruler. Not the type of ruler that is used for measurements but a ruler as in a king or queen. The name fits me because I am the type of person that likes to be in charge.

I recommend looking up the meaning of your name and why that is your name. The knowledge is very interesting.

Top 10 Reasons for Thanksgiving

2009-11-24T11:58:00.000-08:00

1. Think--Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful. One reason for the season is to give people a break and give them time to think about what to be thankful for.

2. Thank--Visiting family and friends for Thanksgiving gives time to thank people for being there for them.

3. Visit--Many people do not have a chance to see much of their family and friends. Thanksgiving gives people the opportunity to visit.

4. Break--Work and school take up a lot of time these days. Thanksgiving gives people a break from work and school.

5. History--History was made around these times many years ago. This season is a reminder of history.

6. Sleep--The Thanksgiving break allows for people to get more sleep and reenergized after a long time without break.

7. Shopping--People use this break to shop for Christmas.

8. Stores--Gives stores a chance to makes good deals on supplies for Christmas.

9. Reconnect with God--Thanksgiving always helps my family to take the time to give praise and to reconnect with God.

10. Food--The meal for Thanksgiving gives people a chance to eat shamelessly.

Think Win-Win

2009-11-12T17:12:00.000-08:00

The book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey is a book that I recently read for my english class. Habit 4, think win-win, is the habit that I need to work on the most.

I am a very competitive person so I am constantly thinking win-lose. This means that I always have to win and someone else has to lose.

A group of friends and I had a prank war going on a few months ago. Whoever plays the biggest prank on someone else wins the game. During the two months that this game was played, I was so caught up in winning, that i almost lost all of my friends in the process of just getting the small title as the winner. I won the game but my friends, the losers, were all hurt.

If I was not so competitive and thought win-win, we would all have had fun and maybe we would have all won.

Thinking win-win is important in friendships as well as in everything else.

I recommend The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens to all teenagers to help lead a positive life.

Attitudes and Mood Swings

2009-11-02T14:01:00.000-08:00

A persons attitude can be so easily changed. A few examples of some events that easily change a person's attitude are small comments other people make, the attitude of another person, a ball game, a grade, and many other events. For most people (teenagers especially) keeping a good, positive attitude can be difficult.

On most mornings, I start out in a good mood. I get up before anyone else in my family so that I can get ready without interruptions. When my sisters or my mother get up and they do not bother me, I remain in a good mood. But if they start questioning me about random topics or homework that they should have done the night before, my attitude changes swiftly. Or if they wake up on the wrong side of the bed, my good mood fades and a very snotty, teenage attitude takes its place.

Attitudes do not always change just in the mornings. They are changing all the time! I can arrive at school with a great attitude but then get to my first class and hear a rumor that has been going around about me or one of my friends and my attitude is immediately changed from good to bad. First period does not even have to be the class that I hear this rumor and get a major mood swing. This could happen at lunch, last period, or even after school.

Mood swings do not even have to go from good to bad. They can also go from bad to good. On the Saturday morning after a big loss for the Pioneers at a Friday Night Football Game, I wake up in an awful mood. I snap at my mom and sisters all morning because I am upset about losing. Later on a friend calls me and tells me a crazy story that makes me laugh. This little laugh changes my mood for the rest of the day and I have a better attitude towards everyone.

People should maintain a positive attitude every day and not let the small events ruin their moods. Here are some words of encouragement to get and stay in a good mood.

1. If you are in a good mood and you hear a rumor about you or someone makes a rude comment to you, ignore them!! Once people see that the rumors or the comments do not phase you, they will move on from you and stop bothering you.

2. If a person around you has a really bad attitude, do not copy them and get one too. Instead try to cheer that person up! If he or she refuses to get happy, move away from that person and go hang out with people that are in a better mood.

3. If a game goes bad, do not let that put you in a bad mood. Just think "Hey there is always next week!" or if that was the last game of the season, "There is always next year!" Just because that game went bad does not mean that the world is going to end.

4. If you wake up on the wrong side of the bed and start the day in a bad mood, find something or someone that makes you happy and start the day over!

Have a good day and keep a positive attitude!!

The Time Machine

2009-10-08T07:54:00.000-07:00

For a scientist, future technology is the ultimate knowledge to have. The Time Traveller has been building a Time Machine for many years so that he could go into the future and obtain the knowledge of the future. H.G. Wells's The Time Machine fascinated me wit the Time Traveller's interesting journeys through the future.

The Time Traveller has just finished the Time Machine that he has worked very hard for a very long time to complete. The day after he has finished the invention, he decides to try to travel in time. At first he is afraid to go very far so he only travels a few minutes ahead of his present time. When he finds that travelling in time was not as bad as he had thought it would be, he travels decades into the future.

By the time he stops, the Time Traveller is now in the year Eight Hundred and Two Thousand Seven Hundred and One A.D. (802,701). Shortly after landing in this year, he is greeted by a group of small people. These people, called the Eloi, welcomed the Time Traveller with much interest in how he got to them. They were also interested in his clothes, matches, machine, and height. The Time Traveller observed the diet of the Eloi and their daily habits. They ate fruits and vegetables and were only seen in the day.

The next day the Time Traveller was going to his Time Machine, but when he got the the field where the Time Machine was left, his machine was not there. The field was empty. After many hours spent on looking for his invention, he became very tired and decided to search for his machine throughout the rest of the week. He thought that a week would be plenty time to observe the future and find new knowledge.

During this week, the Time Traveller encountered another group of small people. This group was called the Morlocks. The Morlocks, unlike the Eloi, were nocturnal and were carnivores. Their food was the Eloi. The Time Traveller had a lot of trouble with the Morlocks. They were constantly trying to eat him.

After many days of searching, the Time Traveller finally finds his Time Machine. The Morlocks had kept the machine hidden in a dark place so that they could try to capture the Time Traveller. He has to fight with them to make his escape with his invention. Instead of immediately going back to his present time, the Time Traveller decides to go even further ahead into the future.

A few decades after the year 802,701 A.D., he stops again and observes his surroundings without leaving his Time Machine. This far into the future, there is not much left of the Earth. The sun is growing bigger and is getting closer to Earth. He decides to keep travelling further. When he has observed more future dates, he decides to return to his present time.

Back in the present, the Time Traveller cannot wait to tell many people about his journeys. He wonders, though, if anyone will believe him.

I recommend The Time Machine to people who enjoy short science fictional books with a lot of adventure.

Angels in Pink-Kathleen's Story

2009-10-06T08:35:00.000-07:00

Everyone needs some fun every once in a while. Kathleen thinks that she has too
much responsibility at home and doesn't have time for fun or time to volunteer as a
Pink Angel with her friends. Lurlene McDaniel's Angels in Pink (Kathleen's Story)
kept me on the edge of my seat with the constant action and different points of view
by the different characters.

Kathleen McKensie's home life is not the kind of life that anyone would want to
trade theirs for. Her mother, Mary Ellen, has multiple sclerosis (MS) and can
barely take care of herself. Kathleen got put as Mary Ellen's care taker at the age
of five and never has any time to do anything for herself. She has no time to act
like other girls her age do. When Kathleen's two best friends, Holly and Raina,
persuaded her to join a volunteer program at Parker-Sloan General Hospital as a Pink
Angel, Kathleen thought that this was going to be an awful summer and worried a lot
about the health of her mother who was left at home by herself. Later, Kathleen
finds out that this program is just what she needs to break out of her shell and
have a little fun.

Lurlene McDaniel moves from one of the main characters to the next in every
chapter. I like this style of writing because the book is not as boring with all of
the different events going on with each character. The drawback to this style is
the confusion that the reader gets from each chapter. The different chapters
confused me because they didn't seem to fit together until I read on a few more
chapters and the chapters before were all summed up. Lurlene's type of writing is
more serious and realistic than funny. There are a few funny parts in her stories,
but most of her story seems very realistic than comical. When i read Angels in
Pink, it seemed as if i was really in the hospital and at the characters houses
witnessing all of the action because the descriptions of the settings were very
elaborate.

Kathleen didn't like talking about her home life to other people besides Holly
and Raina. Most of the time, though, she didn't want to talk to them about her
situations at home, either. Mary Ellen was my least favorite character because she
was always so needy and complained way to much. She always wanted Kathleen to do
everything for her and Kathleen had to stop everything she was doing to make her
mother happy. If Kathleen came home a little later than planned from the hospital
or from running an errand, Mary Ellen would get very emotional. On Kathleen's first
day at the hospital, the orientation went a little longer than she thought it
would. When she walked in she saw that her mother had been crying. When she saw
Kathleen she said "I was scared. I - I thought something bad had happened to you."
Then she refused to eat unless Kathleen was right there eating beside her.

I recommend this book to people who like books that make the reader feel like
part of the story. Also Angels in Pink is a good book for people who have interests
in personal, realistic books.

The Host

2009-10-06T08:27:00.000-07:00

Earth has been taken over by Souls. There are only a few humans remaining and
they cannot seem to find each other. Melanie has just been captured by the Seekers
to become a Soul but she is fighting to take her body back so she can save the rest
of the humans on Earth. Stephanie Meyer’s The Host interested me with the rough
adventures of Melanie and her Soul, Wanderer.

Before Melanie was captured, she had been hiding with her little brother,
Jamie. They had been in hiding for a total of two years. The Souls have taken over
Earth and the rest of Melanie and Jamie’s family. They think that they are the only
two humans left on Earth. One night on a raid for food, Mel finds that they are
wrong. Looking for food in an empty house, Melanie was scared by a figure that had
jumped out at her and held her down. She thought that this figure was a Seeker that
had found her and was going to take her to get a Soul put in her and then kill her.
The figure turned out to be Jared, another human survivor. After finding Jared,
Melanie and Jamie did not struggle as much for food and shelter. Jared seemed to be
a miracle worker. He gave Mel the hope to believe that more humans had survived.

After a few months with Jared, Melanie got the courage to leave Jamie with
Jared and try to find her cousin that she believed had also survived. Melanie
traveled many days to Chicago where she was then caught by a Seeker. Mel’s body had
a Soul inserted and her memories were supposed to be used to find other humans.
Every other human host had been used for this purpose. The difference with Melanie
was that she did not die during the operation. She was still alive and in her body
when the Soul, Wanderer, was controlling her. Melanie fought to keep her memories
hidden from Wanderer. The main memories that she blocked were those about Jared and
Jamie. A few weeks after the insertion of Wanderer, Melanie began talking to her.
After the first annoying conversations between them they became friends. Mel began
trusting Wanderer with her secrets and broke down the wall that blocked Wanderer
from seeing her memories. When Wanderer saw Jared and Jamie, she fell in love with
them and decided not to reveal them to her assigned Seeker but to go find them and
be with them.

Wanderer began her journey through the desert in her car but had to give up
the luxury because the desert became too rough. She also ran out of gas. The only
hope of finding Jared and Jamie was to follow the lines and landmarks that Melanie’s
crazy Uncle Jeb had given her many years ago. On this long adventure, Wanderer and
Melanie almost die of dehydration.

On the night that they had given up on finding their loved ones and almost
died, they are found by a familiar face from Melanie’s memories. This face belonged
to Uncle Jeb. They had finally found his hideout. When Jeb gets Wanderer into the
caves, she sees many more humans. Jared and Jamie had made it there also. The only
problem was that Melanie’s body now belonged to Wanderer and she is a Soul. Humans
do not trust Souls no matter who their hosts are. The only humans that trusted
Wanderer were Jeb and Jamie. They kept her safe because they had a theory that
Melanie was still alive and was sharing her body with Wanderer. Wanderer just hopes
that these two humans will be enough to keep her safe from the rest of the humans in
the caves and from the angry Seeker that refuses to give up searching for her.

I recommend The Host to people who enjoy long books with a lot of action and
adventure.

619 pages

Organized Chaos

2009-09-09T18:40:00.000-07:00

This Friday is the Batesville-vs.-Searcy football game. The schedule has this game to be an away game but I was just told today that it is now a home game. Searcy’s lights at their field are broken. This is the reason for the change of fields.

I am a prancer at Batesville High School. Prancers only dance at home games. It is a requirement that prancers attend one away game each season and this was not the game we were required to go to this game but now that it is home we have to attend this game and dance!

Since I wasn’t supposed to go to this game, I had plans to go to my grandparents while my mom attended a wedding in Nashville, Tennessee. Thankfully, my coach is a very understanding person so she is not requiring me to attend this game since it was such a short notice on the change in schedule.

So now all of the chaos is taken care of for the most part. The rest of the prancers now have one less person in the formation and have to get a new routine learned and cleaned in only two practices! Searcy needs to get their lights fixed and Batesville needs to play a good game Friday night!