Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: Last Blog Post of the Year!

            The main protagonist in this book is Oskar Schell. Throughout the book, I have realized that Oskar is a really complicated child. Not only is he complicated, but he is ambitious and driven to do things like finding out the truth about the key. Sometimes I wonder what it is like to be Oskar. He's got everything bundled up and bottled up inside of him. That's unhealthy. I have realized that throughout the book, Oskar goes through many obstacles that even many grown ups haven't gone through. Throughout the book, I have noticed lots of close connections and family ties.

            Oskar has made me thankful for having a fatherly figure in my life. I mean, sure, Oskar has Ron. Ron is his mother's new boyfriend, but Oskar absolutely hates his guts! Having a complete stranger just pop up in your life is not the best case scenario for a child who is 9 and misses his father. Oskar absolutely despises him. I can't exactly connect because this has never happened to me, but this is exactly like hating a girl because she is ridiculously full of herself and snobby. Well, maybe not, but you get what I'm getting at. I feel for him because since Oskar knows about the messages that his father sent on the day of 9/11, he feels that his mom shouldn't be meeting new people. He doesn't want his mother to move on. As a child, I can see how he thinks his mom is trying to forget about his father. He feels as if his mom is trying to replace his dad with another guy.  

            Oskar and his mom have a confusing relationship. I mean sure, they have a normal son and mother relationship, but it is so much more complicated than that. I feel that there's tension every time they talk. For example on page 171, Oskar and his mother have a heart to heart. It gets real intense and personal too. It's about being happy and Dad. Oskar at one point says "I'm not trying to find ways to be happy, and I won't." This line upsets me. I agree that mom shouldn't forget about dad, but as a child, your kind of obligated to grow up. I already know that Oskar is an intelligent child, but some times I wish he saw the brighter sides to things. He gets this thing called "heavy boots," which I think is just a way for him to describe the feeling of being depressed or upset. This death impacts him so much that it causes tension between him and his mom. Soon later on page 173, Oskar writes a reflection that says the following:

                        "... to feel sorry for me (because she should realize how hard things are for me), and to feel terrible (because at least some of it is her fault) and to promise me that she won't die and leave me alone. But she didn't say anything."

At the end of the day, Oskar just wants his mom to remember his father and what he's done. He doesn't want his mom to forget about his dad because he means so much to him. As a child, Oskar has gone through so many things and him reflecting on this makes me realize that Oskar must feel really lonely without his dad.

            I admire Oskar. If I was a nine year old, I wouldn't have a clue to how to react. He's so strong and ambitious for a nine year old. He's so smart to the point that you can't baby him or he'll know that you're babying him. The way Jonathan Safran Foer has created Oskar makes him relatable to people of all ages. Whether you're old or young, everyone goes through tough times especially when you lose someone that means the world to you. This coming of age novel has been complex to understand at times, but I enjoyed reading it so much. It may be unrealistic at times, but all in all, this was a wonderful coming of age book.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close: Coming of Age

          Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Johnathan Safran Foer portrays a nine year old boy named Oskar going through life finding out where his father is. Oskar and his father, Thomas Schell, use to to play these games (i.g. Reconnaissance Expedition, which Thomas gives inklings to Oskar and Oskar has to try to find the thing his father is looking for.) One day, all that happiness is taken away from Oskar when he finds out that his dad died from the attack on 9/11. As a nine year old boy, I can only imagine how hard this is for Oskar to handle and deal with. He's just a kid; these things shouldn't happen.
            Oskar as a child has a lot to learn and adapt to. He does realize that his father died from the 9/11 accident, but he still feels like his father is alive. For example he finds a key inside this vase in his Dad's closet and he believes that finding the lock to the key will lead him to his dad. Oskar goes crazy and has this whole analogy about locks and how he needs to find this special lock. I want to scream at Oskar and just say "STOP." In reality, Thomas is already dead. I know it might not come across as a simple thing to Oskar, but his father is dead and there is simply no way that Oskar can make his dad alive again. Those are the things that you just can't control. Oskar thinks that if he keeps looking for the special lock that he will find his father. It makes me cringe a little. When little Oskar finds out that there is no light at the end of the tunnel, I can already predict that his heart will shatter into pieces cause he won't see his dad at the end of the tunnel.
          Another thing that makes Oskar grow is when he goes on this adventure to all these houses. Why is he traveling to all these houses you say? Well, this special key that he found was placed in an envelope with the word "Black" on the envelope flap. Oskar jumps to the conclusion that his father knew someone with the last name Black. So from these, Oskar goes the distance to find every person with the last name Black. I think this adventure of finding all these people with the last name Black really does change Oskar. It might not be a noticeable change, but he's putting himself out there and as he goes through this process, he hears many stories from these people. He learns and develops as a character and as a child. 
             I can only hope that Oskar finds what he is looking for and when he does, I hope he's happy. I sound like such a debbie-downer, but he is so fragile for his age and children like him get hurt easily.

It Ain't About the Record: Essay

"It Ain't About the Record"
By John Branch
April 14, 2012
"It Ain't About the Record" Article


Essay question: What was the purpose of this article and why was it important?


            The article, "It Ain't About the Record" by John Branch is important because it talks about a troubled girls basketball team of survivors. When reading the article, you see all the troubles that these teenagers go through and how rough their lives are. The main goal that Judge Larry Logan of Carroll County Juvenile Court tries to get through to them is "if you get knocked down, get back up."
            There are many problems with the nine girls on the Lady Jaguars. Many of them don't live with both of their parent's and there is also a huge drug use problem. One of the players even smokes marijuana with their mother and father. Some of the players have even lived in houses with no water, heat, or electricity and only a few of their parents have steady jobs. Some of the girls even have disorders like ADD, bipolar, and/or depression. Many of these troubles have caused these teenagers to be reckless and carefree about their actions.
            With the bad influence of their parent's, their actions affect their children a lot. One example of bad influence from one of the player's family, Destiny, is that her mother "recently gave birth to her fourth child from the three men she had married, at least one whom beat Destiny." This example of bad parenting is why Judge Larry Logan wants to make the nine basketball players survivors. He wants them to thrive in life and not have this influence rub off on the teenagers. These bad influences lead to wrong choices in life; many choices that they will soon regret when they grow up.
            From this article I learned that sometimes the biggest obstacles in the road are what make you stronger as a human being. These tricky situations that knock you down allow you to get back up and try harder. Like many of the players, Destiny has gone through many troubles and she has come out a survivor from the things she experienced. The troubled basketball girls are able to build themselves up and prepare themselves for more troubles to come so that they can survive through the difficulties in life. 

Yikes. Don't Plagiarize!

What did the student do wrong? What could he/she have done to include the source correctly?
            The student plagiarized and used somebody's piece of work as their work. All they did was copy and pasted the work of the author without having any acknowledgement that it was somebody's work. The student literally copied the work word for word, which is how you know that they copy and pasted their work. They could have included the source correctly by doing the block quotation thing or just putting the text in quotations. They also could have just paraphrased the text in their own words.
Write a sentence sing the original source correctly; use a quotation or paraphrase. Also, make sure to cite correctly.
"There is a peaceful essence flowing from the structures. Perhaps the cool dark colors and the fiery windows spark memories of our own warm childhood years filled with imagination of what exists in the night and dark starry skies. The center point of the town is the tall steeple of the church, reigning largely over the smaller buildings. This steeple casts down a sense of stability onto the town, and also creates a sense of size and seclusion.To the left of the painting there is a massive dark structure that develops an even greater sense of size and isolation." (A Breif Understanding of the Starry Night Paintings, unknown author). If the student cited the source like this, they would've gotten full credit.
What are at least three ways to avoid plagiarizing?
1. Paraphrasing the information in your own words.
2. Putting the text away so that you aren't tempted to copy the text word for word.
3. Including quotations and correct citation when you are going to copy something word for word.

Two Student Blog Entries

            Two of the blog entries that I enjoyed reading were Joyce's blog post on The Hunger Games and Eliza's blog entry on Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire. Both entries captured a good jist of what both books were about. Joyce and Eliza both allowed themselves to connect with their readers and the books as well. All in all, both entries were very well written and easy to comprehend.
            Two of the things that I liked about Joyce's post is how she provides her inner thoughts and how she feels about two of the main characters in the book. Joyce also did a great job on keeping things concise and understandable. Since I've read The Hunger Games myself, I found it fairly easy to connect to her thoughts on Peeta and Gale. I like how her descriptions on both Gale and Peeta are so simple, but the simplicity isn't boring. If anything, the simplicity of her thoughts allows her readers to understand her thoughts. All in all, she did a great job elaborating on her thoughts and keeping things concise.
            On the other hand, Eliza has done many things that I liked as well. She has made her blog post easy to connect with and the format of her response was well organized. Her post was easy to connect with because in her concluding paragraph she added in questions like "But what do you say, reader? Do you think it is possible to weigh misfortune?" This makes the readers think. Her introduction was written in a way where it made you think as well. The formatting of Eliza's response is well organized because she does a great job on having four strong body paragraphs. The thing that I liked most about her body paragraphs is how she did this whole compare and contrast thing between Ron and Harry Potter. It reminds me of a venn diagram, which is some what relevant.
            Joyce and Eliza have both inspired me to change up the way I write. Their responses have allowed me to see what I can improve on to become a better book blogger. One thing that I will try to improve on is having concise paragraphs. Sometimes I feel like I have the urge to write more even when it is unnecessary, so that is one of the many things that I can improve on. Another thing that I can improve on is having my responses be more connectable to my audience. Sometimes I don't express my thoughts and it feels like my response to lacking an interesting factor.

Their posts can be found here:
Eliza's reading response
Joyce's reading response

Much Ado About Nothing Review

Dear Friend,
            This week I went to see Much Ado About Nothing, the play. This play was very interesting and very enjoyable. The props, actors/actresses, and etc. were all very appropriate. This play was nothing that I expected it to be.
            The thing that was most interesting for me was the setting. The stage that the actors and actresses performed on was circular. It wasn't the typical stage that we're all use to seeing. It was a different vibe for me. Everything was seen a lot more clearly that way. The props were also very simple. The tables were the main prop, but the actors and actresses were very interactive with the tables. For example Beatrice would hide under the table when Hero and her friends were talking about how Benedict was in love with Beatrice. The same with Benedict, but he hid behind a piano and was interactive with the audience.
          The actors in this play were all very enthusiastic. Whenever one of them said their lives, there was a lot of emotion and feelings. The actors all did a great job emoting how they felt with gestures and not one of them was boring. Whenever the spotlight was on one actor, all the other actors would interact with each other. Not one of them stopped what they were doing. All of the actors stayed in character, which was also another good feature.
            I enjoyed seeing this production and it was very enjoyable to watch. My favorite part was the shadowing part of what happened in Hero's room. It was very original and unlike many plays I've seen. If I saw this production again, I would understand a lot more and I would enjoy it a lot more as well.

The Hunger Games

            I admit it! I gave into reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. At first, I didn't understand the whole hype about The Hunger Games, but now I see why this book is a favorite of many people.The Districts that are in the book are very similar to a dystopia society, where the society you live in is characterized.  Although I haven't finished the book, the characters in this book are very unique and different. I have grown to like many of them.
            My first impression of Katniss Everdeen was that she was a very independent young mature teenager. Katniss still lives up to this impression. All the aspects of Katniss makes her seem so realistic and real. The fact that Katniss doesn't have a father to guide her and gently push her along the way is one of the reasons why she is so independent. I admire her a lot. Her strength and thrive to keep her family alive is what I admire most. "You can't clock out and leave Prim on her own. There's no me now to keep you both alive. It doesn't matter what happens (35)." Katniss gives her mom a pep talk about how her mother has to support herself and Prim.  This part really made me wonder about how Prim and her mom would do on their own. Without Katniss, I think they would have a hard time coping with the things that Katniss did like hunting.
            The second character I got the chance of meeting was Gale. Let me just say, Gale is genuinely a kind boy. He's almost like Katniss's safety blanket because they both have a hunting friendly relationship together. I do feel like there is something more than a friendly relationship, but for now I can only assume that. Gale is the male figure in Katniss's life, even though Gale is slightly older than Katniss. Their friendship is so valuable and real. Gale seems very humble and adventurous. I can't really say much, but when Katniss is saying her goodbyes with Gale at the Justice Building, I can see that Gale really cares about her.
          Lastly, there is Peeta Mellark. From what I've seen so far, Peeta is the kindest boy I've ever met. Although him and Katniss have to "fake" a friendship, I believe that they both care about each other secretly. Since Katniss is some what poor, Peeta once helped Katniss out. "In his arms, he carried two large loaves of bread that must have fallen into the fire because the crusts were scorched black (30)." Peeta was willing to give Katniss bread when she was at the lowest point in her life. It was also mentioned in the book that Peeta was hit for doing such an act because his mother didn't like it when people picked through their trash for food. I find Peeta an amazing guy so far.
          I'm afraid that if I read the book too quickly that I would miss all the details. I truly do love this book so far. Its got me on my toes! I can already sense some kind of love triangle going on later on in the book/series. Ahhh let the games begin!