Tuesdays with Morrie - 4/28/16

Writing Prompt: Which Tuesday had the most impact on you?

          Out of all the Tuesdays, I would say that the Tuesday about death as inspired me most. I say this because that Tuesday really made me think about death and what it means. The words of Morrie have made me rethink my life. It reminded me that all people will die, and nobody knows when.

          One of my favorite aphorisms is in the Tuesday about death. The aphorism is "…once you learn how to die, you learn how to live." (pg 82). This makes me think of the phrase: live your life to the fullest. Morrie's aphorism can have different effects on different people, but for me it makes me think of what I'm doing with my life, and what I would regret if I were to die at this moment. 

          I like this Tuesday because it makes a person have a different view on death. Something that made me think was when Morrie was talking about the bird on his shoulder. On page 81 it says, "'Do what the Buddhists do. Every day, have a little bird on your shoulder that asks, 'Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do? Am I being the person I want to be?'…'Is today the day I die'" Reading this made me think about all those questions and how I would definitely not be ready to die today. This also helps me think about my life and how it could change so that when the bird asks me those questions, I will be satisfied with my answers.

Bucket List blog - 4/20/16

Writing Prompt: What are your initial reactions to what you have read in Tuesday's with Morrie thus far? Write a bucket list of things you want to do/accomplish in your life.

          The first thing I thought while I was reading this book was that it was kind of depressing, but at the same time not. Morrie had ALS and he is at a constant struggle with life, yet he is determined to live his life instead of sitting around and waiting to die. In a way, to me, that is inspirational.

          Another one of my initial thoughts while reading this book was that I couldn't believe the close relationship Mitch has with Morrie, because Morrie was his teacher. Their relationship was so close that Morrie shed actual tears when Mitch left. It also suprised me that Mitch just went along with life without ever talking to Morrie. I wouldn't think that based on the bond they had, and how much Mitch looked up to Morrie. I was very glad when they finally reunited after sixteen long years.

         Thinking about Morrie makes me think of the things I would like to accomplish before I die. When I think about it there are so many things I could think of to write on my Bucket List. So here it is:

Bucket List

Go skydiving

Get married

Graduation Highschool

Graduate college

Meet cast of Walking Dead

Meet all member of One Direction

Meet all members of 5 Seconds of Summer

Become friends with Chadler Riggs

Get a good paying job

Have at least 2 kids

Become famous

Travel Europe and Austrailia

Learn a new language

Go to prom

Become an actress

Get a Ragdoll Cat

Get a Golden Retriever

Live in a house

Get a drivers license

Dye my hair blue

3rd Quarter Reflection - 4/8/16

          I would say that I have made my biggest improvement in my writing. I feel that all the AOW's, Blogs, and essays have helped my me be a better writer. These things have helped me practice my writing skill and have also made it better. Although my writing hasn't changed much, I would say that it is the most important improvement I have made this quarter.

          An accomplishment that I have made this quarter that I am proud of is completing the butterfly project. I am proud of that because I felt that was a very important project, and, in my opinion, I did really well on it. I am proud of the fact that I took a poem and put in a different form, beautifly put together and filled with all kinds of symbolism.

          A challenge that I've faced in 3rd quarter was the Holocaust unit. I wouldn't say that it was hard, but all of the work that had to put into did require lots of effort and focus. We had to read books, write blogs, read articles, write essays, and do projects. All of the work that had to be put into this unit is why I would say that this was a challenge I faced this quarter.

          Learning about different writing techniques, such as introduction, conclusion, and in text citation, have greatly benifited me. Learning about how to write a good introduction and conclusion has helped my writing greatly because those are very important things to have when writing a big piece. Learning about in text citation has helped me because now if I were to do a Reasearch paper, or an essay including evidence from an online source, I will know how properly incorporate the citation into my writing.

The 5th Wave - 3/10/16

Writing Prompt: If the author were here, what would you say and ask him?

If the author, Rick Yancey, were here, I would first ask him where he got the idea for this book. This is my main question because this book is about the alien apocalypse and I want to know how he came up with the story, plot, setting, etc. There are many things that go into creating a story, and I'm wondering where he got the ideas for all the things that go into making a book. Like the character names, character personalities, settings, and different plots and twists.

          I would also ask him what experiences influenced him to write this book. Sometimes experiences are son had goes into their writing, and I'm wondering if that is the case for Yancey. Maybe he was interested in aliens as a kid, and maybe still is. He could possibly have a fascination for different kinds of apocalypses, and he wanted to write about one. I want to know what has happened in his life to make him want to write this book.

          Another thing I would like to know from Rick Yancey is: why did he decide to write this book? I know there are probably many reasons Yancey decided to write and publish his book. Maybe is has always been interested in writing books. Maybe Yancey came up with an idea about a story one day and decided it would be good if it was turned into a book. I would like to know what Yancey was thinking when he thought of making and publishing this book.

The 5th Wave - 3/2/16

Writing Prompt: What special way does the author write? Does that make reading it better or worse? Explain.

I quite like the way the author, Rick Yancey, writes. He starts off with the main character, Cassie, in the present, and he writes as if she is telling a story. As Cassie goes through life, on a quest in this alien apocalyptic world, she starts off by saying something that happened in the past, as if she is starting to tell you a story. Then it goes to a flashback. An example would be when the book says, "Mom died on a Tuesday. Dad buried her in the backyard, in the rose bed." Then Cassie talks about how her dad and her brother acted leading up to the day her mom died, then she talks about the day a little bit. Then after that it goes to a flashback of that day, the moment her mom died.

Another example of this flashback, story telling writing style, is when Cassie starts to talk about her brother. The author writes it as if she is talking to someone, but in reality Cassie is all alone: "I guess I have to talk about Sammy now." The author I writes this and it makes it look like Cassie is writing in book or telling someone this. Once Cassie says this she starts to talk about her situation and how Sammy is the only thing that keeps her going. She then shifts over and starts talking about how they went to a camp. After she talks about it, there is a flashback of a time that they were all in the camp. 

I like that the author writes like this because it shows the differences between the characters in the past and present. I also like it because it shows emotion in the main character as she talks about the things that happened in the past, and how they have effected her life in the present. I also like how the author makes it sound as if Cassie is writing this story for people to read, and how he includes flashbacks after the main character has already told the reader about the time the flashback is going to. 

Another thing the author does is that in some flashbacks, he writes as if Cassie is saying it, and she is talking about it in past tense. An example would be when Cassie is telling a story with dialogue, and she says "I had said to her". This shows that Cassie is saying this as if it was in the last, and she is telling someone what was said.

I think this makes the reading experience better because I find this writing style very interesting. I like how I get to see past and present, and I like how the author writes as if the main character is telling someone this as if it was a story, or as if the main character was writing this down like it was a book or journal. To me, this writing style makes the reading experience more enjoyable.

Life is Beautiful - Night Connections

Writing Prompt:

 1) Based on the Holocaust literature and poetry we have read, what connections can be made between Life is Beautiful and our reading?

2) How is life shown as beautiful throughout the film. Pull out at least two examples from different parts of the film and explain your rationale.

The movie Life is Beautiful and the book Night have some similarities and many differences. One major difference is the fact that the two have a completely different tone and mood attached to it. Night focuses completely on the negative side of the Holocaust and being in a concentration camp. Night talked about how people were tortured, killed, starved, and beat on. Life is Beautiful focuses much less on the negative, and more about love, and even includes many moments of humor. In the beginning the film showed a man named Guido trying to get the women he had fallen in love with. Then they got married and had a child named Joshua. Even once Guido and Joshua were in a concentration camp it didn't focus on the negative things. Instead it focused on Guido trying to protect his son and keep him from finding out what the camp was really like.

Another difference is the way the concentration camp was looked at through the eyes of the child. The author and narrator of Night had arrived in a concentration camp when he was 15, and he lived through the whole experience knowing the kind of place he was in. He knew that these concentration camps were a place of pain and torture. Thanks to his father, Guido, Joshua had no idea the kind of terrors the concentration camp had in store. Guido protected Joshua by telling him that this was all a big game. Guido made up rules for the game that would keep Joshua safe and protected. Unlike Elie, Joshua went through his whole concentration camp experience without knowing what was actually happening around him.

A similarity between the film and the reading is that there is a father and a son. In both movie and book, there is a boy with his father, surviving in a concentration camp. Both boys also  get to stay with their father until near the end, before they were liberated. Although in different ways, in both situations the father dies in the concentration camp.

There are different ways life is shown as beautiful thought the film. One example would be when  the main character, Guido, finds love. Love is something very beautiful and magical, and it was a very wonderful thing that Guido was able to find someone to love, and someone to love him back. Along with that, it was a beautiful thing that they were able to get married and have a son together.

Life is shown as beautiful in the concentration camp during the different times Guido tried to show his wife, Dora, that him and his son were still alive, and that he loved her. One time Guido even risked his life by sneaking into a room and talking to Dora over the speakers that were all over camp. Guido also expressed is love by playing a song very loudly out a window, in hopes Dora would hear it. The song is from they both went to the opera.

Night - 2/24/16

Writing Prompt: How do Elie's experiences during the Holocaust change him as a person?

An effect the Holocaust had on Elie was the way he sees God. In the beginning, Elie has strong religious beliefs. Then in the middle you see Elie's transition as he starts to rebel against God and decide that God no longer exists. Then in the end Elie kind of revisits his previous beliefs as he prays to God once more.

In the beginning Elie has strong religious beliefs. On page one of the book it says, "I believed profoundly. During the day I studied the Talmud, and at night I ran to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the Temple." Then Elie finds a man named Moshe the Beadle who acts as a religious mentor for Elie. On page three the book states, "And Moshe the Beadle, the poor barefoot of Sighet, talked to me for long hours of the revelations and mysteries of the cabbala. It was with him that my initiation began. We would read together, ten times over, the same page of the Zohar. Not to learn by heart, but to extract the divine essence from it." This shows that Elie would work with Moshe for long periods of time as they would practice, and try to understand their religion together.

As the book goes on, Elie begins to question God. On page 31 when Elie and his father are in line for the crematory, Elie writes, "For the first time, I felt revolt rise up in me. Why should I bless his name? The Eternal, Lord of the Universe, the All-Powerful and Terrible, was silent. What had I to thank him for?" This is when Elie first starts to question God. Then, on page 62, Elie sees God as being dead in his eyes: "'Where is God now?’ And I heard a voice within me answer him: ‘Where is He? Here He is—He is hanging here on the gallows…’" Elie continues to question the real justice that God has on page 63 when he writes, "'What are You, my God,’ I thought angrily, ‘ compared to this afflicted crowd, proclaiming to You their faith, their anger, their revolt? What does Your greatness mean, Lord of the universe, in the face of all this weakness, this decomposition, and this decay? Why do You still trouble their sick minds, their crippled bodies?'" Here Elie is thinking about how God has not helped the Jews because he is allowing them to die and get tortured. Elie comes to this full realization and conclusion on page 64: "Why, but why should I blessed Him? In every fiber I rebelled. Because He had had thousands of children burned in His pits? Because he kept six crematories working night and day, on Sundays and feast days? Because in His great might he had created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many factories of death?…Who chose us among the races to be tortured day and night, to see our fathers, our mothers, our brothers, in the crematory?" God has done nothing but allow all these innocent people to die, and for that, Elie has stopped believing in him.

Although Elie no longer believes in God, there is a moment where he allows himself to believe in Him just one more time. After running non stop for several miles, the prisoners are finally allowed to rest. A Rabbi goes around asking if anyone has seen his son, because he lost him in the run. When the Rabbi says that he was falling behind and running towards the end of the line, while he saw his son continue running towards the front, Elie concludes that the Rabbi's son purposely ran away from his father because he felt that he was a burden to him, and he would have a better chance at survival without his father weighing him down. In this moment, Elie prays, something that he thought he would never do: "And, in spite of myself, a prayer rose in my heart, to that God in whom I no longer believed. My God, Lord of the Universe, give me strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahou’s son has done." Elie wanted so badly not to become like the Rabbi's son, and leave his father, that he prayed to God that it would not happen.

The Holocaust had a big effect on Elie. It completely changed his religious views. He went from praying, practicing, and studying his religion constantly, to completely abandoning his views on religion and God. This shows how much of an impact the Holocaust had on people, and how it can completely change a person and the way they live their life. The Holocaust had strong effects on everyone who was involved.