Columns

Columns

This week we were assigned to read pages 1-14 in the columnists packet. Here are my thoughts and observations from each of columnists:

Mike Lupica: So I immediately recognized Mike Lupica's name from the dozens of sports books that my brother obsesses over. His columns were much longer then the other ones I've read, and I saw how they were more serious than comedic. They are also targeted towards more of the sports fans. He includes dialog and shorter paragraphs. I really liked his column on the Boston Marathon. I know, it must be shocking that a high schooler would actually like any column that has three pages worth of writing. I think it was a great to give recognition to all those who were involved. It was an inspirational piece that I'm sure touched many people who read it when the column came out. 

Robin Givhan: Robin Givhan is a name that I am not very familiar with. His columns were also more serious that comedic. His columns were geared towards people interested in fashion. I noticed how Givahn uses a lot of figurative language and rhetorical questions. He used varying sizes in paragraphs. I personally didn't like these columns as much, but the second one did make me look up what Kate Middleton's wedding dress was...

Dave Barry: Dave Barry's columns were my favorite out of the 3 writers. I liked his more comedic and entertaining style. He uses a lot of figurative language and sarcasm. My favorite column was The mother of all parties.  I thought this one was very funny. My favorite part was when he said, "It's the kind of nightmare you think always happens  to other people, but never to you." when he was talking about another girl having a Little Mermaid themed party. Dave Barry uses longer paragraphs and he throws in a couple of short 1-2 sentence paragraphs. I think his stories are very entertaining a relatable. Who doesn't love a short and sweet, funny piece of writing?

Fahrenheit 451 Theme Handout

Fahrenheit 451 Theme handout

Elise Wexelblatt, Grace Tang, Serena Troung, Shashank Reddy, Olivia Jounge, Elena Polasko

Theme: Individual self-expression is important.

Timeline:

• Montag is solely focused on his job and won’t listen to anyone else
• Montag meets Clarisse and sees how she expresses herself
• Montag begins to see how pointless and meaningless his life is
• He feels trapped in society and wants someone to listen to him
• Montag meets Faber and learns what expression is
• Montag begins to express himself and rebel against the government
• He finds people who will listen and he begins to express himself

Quotes:

• “He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask and there was no way of going to knock on her door and ask for it back.” (Bradbury 9)
• “We must all be alike. Not everyone free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal.” (Bradbury 55)
• “I just want someone to hear what I have to say. And maybe if i talk long enough, it’ll make sense.” (Bradbury 78)
• “He would be Montag-plus-Faber, fire plus water, and then, one day, after everything had mixed and simmered and worked away in silence, there would be neither fire nor water, but wine.” (Bradbury 99)
• “Yes, thought Montag, that’s the one I’ll save for noon.” (Bradbury 158)

How is this theme important to our understanding of the story?

This theme is important because we can see how certain individuals will risk it all to express themselves in a broken society where expression is blocked.

How does this theme connect to modern-day society?

In modern-day society, we have easy access to expressing ourselves, and that expression is an important part of our daily lives.

I Was Here

Book: I Was Here by Gayle Forman

Unfortunately, over the long 10 day weekend, my family did not have a vacation planed... But, while being locked in my house, I managed to read the new book by Gayle Forman, I Was Here. Forman is the author of the If I Stay books. 

I Was Here is about a girl Cody, trying to find her way after her best friend, Meg, commits suicide. When Cody is asked to go clean out Meg's dorm room, she comes across many people and things she had no idea about. Looking deeper into Meg's life, Cody discovers that there might be more to Meg's suicide than she thought. 

I thought this was a good book. It was a great mixture of mystery, tragedy and romance. It was your typical dealing with a loss story, but I still think it was entertaining, a good read and sends out a great message about life. As you can probably assume, it was depressing at times but also funny and uplifting at others.

We see the title of the book come into play closer to the middle of the book. It says, "New stuff was always being scrawled over the old, though one line, Meg's favorite, remained gouged into the metal: I Was Here. She loved that. 'What more can you say, right?' she'd ask." (99) I think that is a great title for the book and really good supporting detail in the story. Although it is a simple statement, it holds a lot of words behind it.

When reading the Author's Notes section at the end of the book, you can see the true meaning of the story come out. Forman explains that she got her inspiration for this story from a girl named Suzy who suffered from depression and committed suicide. She also tells us that,"... majority of people who take their own lives-90 percent or more- had a mental disorder at the time of their deaths." Gayle Forman then reaches out to those who are suffering from depression or going through a dark period in there life. She gives names of multiple websites and numbers for help lines that will help people in need. She also says, "Life can be hard and beautiful and messy, but hopefully, it will be long." I think it is really awesome how she is reaching out to the readers. Although it is just a story, it holds a lot of meaning and reaches out to people in the real world. I Was Here sends out a very inspiring message that allows you to see not only into the lives of the characters, but also into the lives of real people.

Blog Post #2
Continuation of Fahrenheit 451


As Mrs. Phelps walked home from Montag's, she looked up when she heard the the roar of jets from above her. Its melancholy, long withdrawing roar, Retreating, to the breath Of the night-wind... She could not get that poem out of her head. Mrs. Phelps could not stop the constant stream of tears from flowing out. For some reason, she felt worried. And that was not something she did. As she watched the receding lights of the jets, images of Pete kept flashing before her eyes. Mrs. Bowles rubbed her back and whispered reassuring, meaningless words into her ears. But it was as if she wasn't even there. For the first time, Mrs. Phelps realized that she was lonely...

Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain...  "It's all true." Mrs. Phelps whispered. She didn't wan't to be lonely anymore. She didn't wan't to be independent anymore. She didn't want to have a fourth marriage. Mrs. Phelps pushed Mrs. Bowles hand off her back and walked faster.
"I will see you later," she said sternly and went on her way. She couldn't stand all of the fake surrounding her. Why hadn't I realized this before? In desperate need for something real, Mrs. Phelps kicked off her fancy fake heals and started to jog to her house. The unfamiliar burn in her lungs was comforting. As the constant stream of tears slowed to a stop, she realized that her "happiness" was just covering up her sadness.

Mrs. Phelps stumbled into her house panting heavily. The hum of the walls filled the house. She forgot to turn them off before she left that night. She walked into the wall room and turned around as she watched the fake smiles look down at her. She went to the main consul and slammed in on the ground. The people on the walls fizzled out into blackness. "Well, thats a start..." Mrs. Phelps said as she walked out of the room and didn't turn back.

Blog Post #1

Blog Post #1
Current Book: The Selection by Kiera Cass

After a long break from blogging, I have read 3 books. Reading is always best when you are on the beach! I read Paper Towns by John Green, Don't Look Back by Jennifer L. Armentrout, and Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. All of these books were really good, but my favorite was Don't Look Back.

Paper Towns: This book is about a boy, Q, who goes on an adventure to find the girl he loves, after she goes missing. This book is really good, it made me laugh out loud and think about life. You will like this book if you like other John Green books! Also, they are coming out with a movie for Paper Towns, and Nat Wolff (who played Isac in TFIOS) is playing Q.

Don't Look Back: This book is about Sam, who wakes up with no memory of herself or others around her. Her best friend Cassie, is missing. She discovers the person who she was before, discovers the person she really is, and struggles to find out what happened in the accident and find out where Cassie is. This book is realistic fiction, mixed with mystery, thriller and a little bit of romance. This book was really good and impossible to put down! I was hesitant at first to read it, but it was definitely worth reading!

Before I Fall: This book is about Sam, (same name different character ^)  who has the "perfect life." But then she dies coming home from a party one night. She relives her last day 7 times. Through this, she sees the effects of the smallest decisions and learns how to make things right. At first this book really annoyed me because I didn't like the way the characters acted and the way they treated others. But, as the story goes on, we watch Sam discover what is important in life, and it makes for a really good story.
Now I am reading The Selection, by Kiera Cass... for the second time. I guess after watching the Bachelor come back on TV, I really wanted to read it. Plus, it has been a year, and you always miss things the first time you read a book! This book is the perfect mixture of the Bachelor and The Hunger Games. But, unlike The Bachelor on TV, the girls are much less annoying and I actually like the "bachelor," in this case it is Prince Maxon. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in The Bachelor in a Hunger Games type society!

  

 

Semester 1 Reflection

Semester 1 Reflection

This semester I have completed my goal of reading 5 books. I read 3 independent reading books. They were Where She Went, Crown of Midnight and Heir of Fire. I chose to read Where She Went in the beginning of the semester because I had just seen the movie and I was curious to see what happened in the next book. I chose to read Crown of Midnight and Heir of Fire because I had read Throne of Glass (the first book in the series) over the summer. I normally don't read fantasy books, and I was surprised to find myself really liking them. I enjoyed all of the books I read this semester. My favorite was Heir of Fire, the book I just finished. It was very hard to put down and it had great character development. The only thing I don't like is that the series is unfinished and they left me on a cliff hanger! Now I have to wait for the next book to come out.
My blog posts definitely got better as the semester went on. As we got further into the semester, I got
better at using my voice in my blog posts rather than just summarizing what I read. I think I was able to make them more interesting as time went on. I did a good job of including specific textual details and incorporating pictures in my posts. By using them, I was able to more clearly get my point across to the reader. I also think my ideas were focused and engaging. My posts were detailed and shared my thoughts to the reader.
My first goal for blogging over the second semester is to go on Good Reads more.  I only went on this semester after I finished a book, and I could have done a better job at updating more frequently. My second goal is to read more of a variety of books. I think I should try to read books that are not a part of a series, because all the books I read this semester were. Lastly I would like to try and incorporate more links and videos in my blog. I could do a better job of tying in a different sources into my blog posts and comparing my books to other sources. By doing this, I will be able to make my posts more diverse and see other sides to the books I read.

Book: Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

Good News! My book is getting less depressing! The characters are slowly coming out of the darkness and letting go of the depression of the previous events. So for this book, I'm going to talk to you about the set up of this book.

Heir of Fire is set up so that we follow 3 different groups of people, all in different settings. But, these stories all tie together. It alternates stories each chapter.Following three different groups makes the book very interesting. Personally, I like Celaena's chapters better than the others.

One of the stories we follow is Celaena's. We follow her and Rowan as she trains to control her powers, solve a mystery and fulfill the vow she made to Nehemia. We also meet new people like Luca and Emrys as she adjusts to living in a new world with a different lifestyle and different people than she was used to in the castle.
We also follow Chaol and Dorian in the castle. Chaol struggles to get more information from Aideon, a rebel leader, and stall from going back to his home country with his dad. Dorian, starts working with Scorscha, the healer, to gain control of his magic.
Lastly, we follow the 3 witch clans, as they learn to ride the wyverns(dragon/bulls). We mainly follow Manon, the blackbeak clan heir. We see how the king has a very dangerous plan in store, and I am curious to see what happens