Coming of age post 1

Charlie from The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen chbosky. Is a very interesting character. He has a very relatable life in some ways. Like his family problems, friends, bullies and issues all seem so real rather than carefully thought Charlies life in the perks of being a wallflower just flows nicely and carelessly.

For example when he describes his family holiday gatherings. They seem difficult and flawed meaning something always goes wrong at them and its usually the same thing every single time. But even though they aren’t perfect, they mean a lot to you because they involve your family so it makes the  moments even more special to you no matter how messed up they might be. Also relating to family Charlie cares a lot about his aunt and she taught him a lot of valuable lessons. In coming of age I think there is always one person that inspires you and you want to have qualities like theirs like Charlie loved Aunt Helen so much because she was caring, smart, determined and confident. I feel like that’s mostly what Charlie loved about his aunt, and when ive been reading so far when ever he talks about his family members he always has a more thoughtful description of Aunt Helen. I also find it interesting that even though Aunt Helen is dead Charlie is comforted by aunt Helens grave. Which is not uncommon or unheard of but I think it’s a really meaningful thing.

Charlie seems really naïve sometimes. He acts like he doesn’t know what some things are and how they happen but actually Charlie has heard and witnessed really scary things. Hes been immersed in some really big issues. For example you cant forget why he started writing the letters anyway. Because his Friend Micheal died. Suicide is a huge deal and is very serious. Also Charlie has witnessed a rape and not doing anything about it because he didn’t know what was going on. He also saw his sister being abused by her boyfriend. With all of the scary and tough things that Charlie has seen he still manages to seem so innocent and pure. I think its because of the people he hangs out with are all seniors and hes just a freshman so he is younger than the people around him. The reason why  i think that Stephen chbosky added all of these issues in the book surrounding and in someway involving Charlie was to show that when youre growing up there are alot of things going on around you. That at times may be hard to take in or realize and you may not want to but it only makes you stronger and makes you more mature and aware of the the world around you. 

ELA Test Prep: Break Homework #3

The purpose of the article New Israeli Law Bans Underweight Models In Ads  By the Associated Press, is to show that finally something is being done about unhealthy models giving bad examples of girls. This is important because the measures being taken and that are outlined in this article, will save girls into falling into the trap of an eating disorder

        

First of the purpose of the article New Israeli Law Bans Underweight Models In Ads  is important is because it shows that being super skinny doesn’t mean beautiful. For example: “Milan's fashion week bans models with a BMI below 18.5.” This shows that instead of promoting eating disorders by displaying models with the disorders, the fashion industry is taking a stand, and realizing that its more important to display a healthy lifestyle rather than an unhealthy one. Which I think is extremely important.

        

Lastly the purpose of the article New Israeli Law Bans Underweight Models In Ads .  Is important because it shows that the government is stepping up and protecting young girls from bad body images by creating a law that requires models to be at  a healthy to be allowed to be on ads for example: “A new Israeli law is trying to fight the spread of eating disorders by banning underweight models from local advertising” This quote shows that law is now in the fight against eating disorders and is trying to prevent them. Which is important because day by day people are influenced by magazines and ads of extremely skinny models who are unhealthy, and they decide to mimic what they see, because they believe that is what they are supposed to look like.

        

From this passage I’ve learned that the government in Isreal is helping to prevent eating disorders and the purpose of the article

New Israeli Law Bans Underweight Models In Ads  have great importance.

Article 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=148981568

ELA Test Prep: Break Homework #2

>What did the student do wrong? What could he/she have done to include the source correctly?

What the student did wrong is he or she just copied and pasted works that wasn’t theirs and made it seem like his or her own work. He/she didn’t give the author of the writing get credit for their own work. What he/she could have done differently is citing her source while copying in pasting or he/she could have paraphrased it.

>Write a sentence using the original source correctly; use a quotation or paraphrase. Also, make sure to cite correctly. Consult my post on citing sources.

         I can agree with the quote “This sky keeps the viewer's eyes moving about the painting, following the curves and creating a visual dot to dot with the stars.”("A Brief Understanding of the Starry Night Paintings", Unknown)

Because……………( elaboration)

>What are at least 3 ways to avoid plagiarizing?

             >One way to avoid plagiarizing is to, instead of copying and pasting whole sections of a passage, finding smaller parts that you could quote in your own writing.

           >A second way to avoid plagiarizing is to use the source you are reading as a guide to get ideas and instead of copying the authors ideas, Use their ideas to branch off and come up with new ideas.

          >Lastly, a way to avoid plagiarizing is to instead of just knowingly using someone else’s work and not quote it. JUST CITE THE PASSAGE it doesn’t count as plagiarism if you give credit to the rightful author 

ELA Test Prep: Break Homework #1

One student blog post that I enjoyed reading was Alli’s response to The Morganville Vampires. I enjoyed it for many reasons because it was overall a very good and interesting post. I feel like Alli introduced her post well because she gave a thought provoking opening paragraph about the main topic of life not being fair. She included questions to engage the reader (me). Which I think was an interesting way to start a post. Also in her introduction she gave her opinion on the topic of not always being fair, which brought up some pretty interesting points that I agreed with. The second thing that I liked about Alli’s blog post was her poem. Mostly I liked her format, in every stanza she started off “if life…” and it was kind of like a cause and affect type poem because it explained what life would be like for example if was easy. I thought that was really interesting aspect of her poem. It added creativity into her poem.

Another student blog post that I enjoyed reading was Eliza’s response on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Not only because I’m a huge Harry Potter fan but also because she made me think of Ron and Harry’s relationship in a different way. Eliza brought up how the two friends both have their misfortunes, but they have different misfortunes, like for example Harry has no family and Ron does but Harry is rich and Ron is poor. I knew all of those things but most of the time I never really thought in depth about it. Which Eliza in this blog post. Another thing that I liked about Eliza’s blog post was how she ended off her blog post she communicates with her readers and it sort of like the discussion questions at the end of a book. Which I thought was clever and added a nice touch to her blog post.

By reading Alli’s and Eliza’s blog posts I will improve on my own blog posts by maybe using the technique Alli used by having an introduction paragraph. That includes questions or opinions because it’s a great way to engage your readers. Another way I’m going to try to improve my reading responses is by using the blog post topic that compares and contrasts two different characters. Both Alli& Eliza’s reading responses were thought provoking. In the future I will try to make my blog posts more thought- provoking. 

Favorite Character from Romeo& Juliet

        My favorite character from Romeo and Juliet is the nurse. I don’t think she’s one of the main characters in the book but I do think that she plays an important role in Romeo& Juliet. The reason why the Nurse is my favorite character is because, She really cares about Juliet, She supports Romeo and Juliet’s relationship and she’s really funny.

The first reason why the nurse is my favorite character from

Romeo & Juliet is because she really cares about Juliet. The reason I think this is because the Nurse really wants Juliet to be happy, and she doesn’t try to force her into marriage with the Prince like Lady Capulet does, I feel like the Nurse believes that Juliet is able to make the best decisions for herself. Also I think that the nurse is just a loving person and truly cares for her because she raised Juliet so she’s basically more of a mother to Juliet than Lady Capulet is a mother to Juliet. Also so far from what I’ve read the Nurse is more present in Juliet’s life than lady Capulet is whose never involved in her life the only time is when she’s telling Juliet that she should marry the Prince because he’s handsome and he’s rich.

        

Another reason why the nurse is my favorite character from Romeo& Juliet is because she supports Romeo and Juliet’s relationship. The nurse doesn’t really push the fact that Romeo is not rich, because she also isn’t very wealthy so she doesn’t try to make that a reason because she knows that how much you love a person doesn’t have to do with the amount of money someone has. Also she likes Romeo and can tell that he loves Juliet and everything about her, but she’s still worried about them because she knows that they love each other so much, but conflict will tear the two apart because Juliet is a Capulet and Romeo is a Montague.

        

The last reason why the Nurse is my favorite character from Romeo& Juliet is because she’s funny. I think the nurse is funny because she’s really dramatic and she is good humored she knows how to make Juliet smile and she does things purposefully like prolonging to tell Juliet things just because she thinks its funny.

        

Letter to a friend about Romeo and Juliet

     Recently I’ve begun reading Romeo& Juliet by Shakespeare. I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of if but I’d love to share with you my thoughts so far. I haven’t met all of the characters in Romeo and Juliet so far. But you can obviously realize the hatred the Montague’s and Capulets have for each other. They are two families that have ancient grudges for each other for a really long time. We don’t quite know why the two families are fighting with each other. Though you can predict that the grudge could have started with Capulet and Montague or their fathers and grandfathers. I really like the language in Shakespeare even though I cant always understand all of it, but because understanding is a challenge it makes it more interesting to read. Also it helps expand your knowledge. I also really like the character Mercutio because I think he’s funny and clever and is more realistic than Romeo and he’s mature and even though he’s Romeo’s Cousin he acts like a big brother/ mentor, which is really interesting to me. Some of my classmates inferred that Mercutio is going to be bad and sinister because his name has mercury in it. I have to disagree because I really think Mercutio is the best character and he’ll always be by Romeo’s side to guide.    

     I really think that you should read Romeo& Juliet so we can talk about it more and share our thoughts it is actually a really great book its really funny and like most Shakespeare works it is mixed with three themes: Tragedy, Comedy and love which are so contrasting but they fit perfectly together its almost crazy.

                    Sincerely,

                       Your Friend Gabby <3 

Response on Sonnet 75

So are you to my thoughts as food to life,

Or as sweet seasoned show'rs are to the ground;

And for the peace of you I hold such strife

As ’twixt a miser and his wealth is found;

Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon

Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure;

Now counting best to be with you alone,

Then bettered that the world may see my pleasure;

Sometime all full with feasting on your sight

And by and by clean starvèd for a look;

Possessing or pursuing no delight,

Save what is had or must from you be took.

  Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day,

  Or gluttoning on all, or all away.

         The sonnet that I chose to write about was Shakespeare’s Sonnet 75. I chose this one to write about because I thought it was funny and clever because Shakespeare uses a lot of hyperbole in this sonnet for example he says “Sometime all full with feasting on your sight And by and by clean starved for a look;” He’s saying how he like starves and needs to look at her because she’s so beautiful but he’s not actually starving. Another line that was an example of this is “So are you to my thoughts as food to life” It’s basically showing how desperate he is and how much her beauty amazes him and how much he loves her.

         

           From studying Shakespeare so far I’ve realized that most of his sonnets and screenplays have basically the same topics, which are love, tragedy and comedy. Which I think is a weird but interesting combination because they are all very unique topics but they work so well together. Like How in other Shakespeare sonnets I’ve read they like contrast in weird ways and in one sonnet he talks about how is girlfriend is like ugly and boring and plain but he still loves her so much, which is really funny to think about. Just like this sonnet he’s like desperate for this girl and he’s saying he needs her so much that if he didn’t have her he would die and be miserable.