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.

        

An Unstill Mirror

As I look into the mirror I see

Layers of self forever unfolding

Me is not at all what I used to be

A newer me always to be molding

As I look I see a me. Five or six

With dark curled tresses so wild and free

Like how an antelope prances and skips

Who doesn’t speak to anyone but me

Then in a quick glance the image has changed

A girl of ten who’s developed a way

To find interest in things in every range

Who promises that it will never decay

 Me at fourteen feels so very surreal

The changes wont stop they will never seal

Auburn Cloud

Dancing in the clouds of jealousy

Of auburn and dashes of brown

Frolicking in the world of fame and stardom

Where everyone knows  who

And why you’re so important

Shining in beauty and poise

Of what only a dancer can posses

As you pirouette into the pupils of

Your viewer who admire the skill

and Jete with a point of focus in to the dark hole

of the less fortune

less talented

less you

The abyss where the others scowl at your beauty

Instead of imitate the beauty the poise

The you

They fuss over what they will only dream of becoming one day

Sometime

In their cloud of blue want and struggle

                                                                                                                                                                                                            

What happens to a broken heart?

Is it forgot, and left to fight for hope?

Does it crumble and crush, so that all that’s left is

Rubble?

Or maybe it cries like an infant with hunger?

Or is it a broken window, that only with a skilled hand

Can it be mended?

Does it cry out but can’t be heard, like a fallen tree in an

empty forest?

Does it blue and black like a bruise?

Or Does it just snooze?

Because it feels the blues?

Or maybe it gropes

In the hope.

Of one day being fixed.                         

What is Poetry

Thoughts which are strung

From the brain to the tongue

From the pen the page

In dark marks of emotion

Decorating a writers canvas

Sashaying across an open space

In beautiful whirls of wisdom

Waiting to be__

Soaked up by the brain of a hungry reader

Whose mind craves the stanzas

Painted by an artist of words 

Auburn Clouds of Jealousy: Artwork emmers

            The famous painter that I chose to study was Edgar Degas. He was born is Paris, France in 1834 to a musical family. His mother was an opera singer and his father liked to arrange home recitals his father was also an art lover and was encouraged by his father to start painting. He went to Lycée Louis-le-Grand School. His mother died when he was 13 and he kept his moms wedding dress. Edgar Degas’ first paintings were called “copies” because he copied the masterpieces of other great artists as practice; most of the paintings he copied were classical paintings. Then he went to Ecole Des Beaux-Art in Paris but he only stayed for a year and he left and decided to visit Italy to study there. Also he copied many Da Vinci and Michelangelo paintings. Then he decided that he wanted to paint things that were more modern and different. He spent a lot of his time painting and sculpting and photographic horses, Dancers and naked women bathing.

 

         The painting I chose to observe is called “ Le Pas Battu” the painting has two ballerinas in it: one is smiling and her tutu’s fuller than the other dancer and her arms are in 5^th high there’s this auburn color in the background near her that reminds me of fire, the other dancer has her hands on her hips, with a scowl, she’s background in blue and black and colors in this painting are very contrasting its almost like its on fire in have of the drawing but in a small corner there are cooler colors as if its water putting out a fire which I think is interesting, because being a dancer sometimes when your on stage its like you’re the star and your burning hot with adrenaline simply just enjoying yourself , caught in the moment. Like the dancer who is elaborately dressed in flowers. Who’s the one is “ on fire” and there’s always some one there to “ cool you off” because the moment got too intense.         

What I can interpret from this painting is this fiery scene is being cooled down by the dancer with the scowl while the other is enjoying the feeling of the fire.

I think this painting could be a symbol of jealousy. Because some of Edgar Degas’ quotes mentioned a star, and he always focused on the star of the performance in most of his dance paintings most of the other dancers that weren’t in spotlight were blocked out by the auburn clouds of jealousy that Degas painted with oil pastel. The only twist in this painting is that this one has the auburn color around what seems to be the star and the bluefish more calm color is around someone who might be one of the girls who are jealous. Another interpretation that I made was maybe since in other paintings other dancers are hidden between the orange like color it could symbolize a dancer who usually doesn’t get to be the star bursts through the barrier between stardom and background and is finally the star and the second dancer could be the star getting pushed of her pedestal.

I really can’t choose a solid meaning of this painting because there are so many possibilities. The situation could be portrayed in away really the only thing that I can make stand for something are the colors I just don’t know what the actual scene is depicting but all I can conclude is that Degas created a mind boggler. 


Source: Loumaye, Jacqueline, Edgar Degas, and Nadine Massart. "Pg 11-3." Degas: The Painted Gesture. New York: Chelsea House, 1994. Print.

Virgin Suicides

The book that I’ve been reading is Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides. It starts of in the perspective of a group of boys who live across the street from the 5 Lisbon girls who are beautiful and mysterious which the boys have a facination for. The girls are cooped up in their house because they have extremely strict parents and their nt allowed to communicate with boys or anybody really because their parents are always watching them and it doesn’t help that their father works at the same school that they go to. The first part of the book focuses on Cecilia’s first suicide attempt where she cuts her wrists and lays in a tub of hot water until someone walks in and saves her, not that she wanted to be saved.

         The main topic in the book is depression so far. I can tell that this is the main topic because the title refers to suicide, and the book starts of by somebody attempting suicide and the leading cause of suicide is depression. I think that Cecilia is the most depressed girl out of the Libson daughters because she shows the most symptoms what I mean by this is shes the most anti social, and by the way she talks and is described in the book she has barely any expression and it seems as if she doesn’t really have any hope and she doesn’t feel anything. Which really makes me think that her depression could affect and influence the way her sisters are, because who would want to have to see their sibling feeling like she’s worthless and not wanting to be alive so badly that she’d decided to end her life, that would have to effect the other your sisters because it would be hard to see and not change a bit.

         Cecilia so far is the only character that we know the most about because we even know that she wears a vintage 20’s wedding dress all the time and that shes short and we even know who she liked. Which is a lot different than what we know about the other sisters because all we really know about the others is that their blonde and each one year apart, we don’t know what they feel and we aren’t able to determine weather or not their depressed or not because their personalities aren’t really expressed.

I think maybe Jeffery Eugenides might have did this on purpose so that the reader can create a personality that they see fit for each character to enhance the reading experience.

The relationship of a time traveler and his destined love

I've recently started the book The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I'm not that well into the book yet but from what I can tell you is the time travelers wife is about this guy named Henry who's a time traveler and he can't tell a lot of people about his power because no one would believe that it's true and if they did believe the time traveling world would be too congested with people. With his ability he's able to know his future and the people he'll meet. One time he met his wife Clare who is another character In the book. The first time they met was when she was 6 and Henry was much older than her. Whenever Henry time traveled he ended up with no clothes so the first time they met he was naked with a little girl right there. The thing is that Henry always sees Clare when he's a different age usually it's when Clare is much Younger. I think that the age difference will be an issue in this book and it could possibly affect thier relationship and they could end up not married and that could change the future.
I think that the age difference between Clare is going to be a problem because since not everyone is a time traveler nobody who isn't would believe that he's not just a crazy person who ends up in random places without any clothes on. For example henry says "I'm in the back of the police car in Zion,Illinois. I am wearing handcuffs and not much else."(pg. 58) And also" Also I refuse to talk to them,so they still don't know who I am, or where I live. The day They find out I'm toast because there are several outstanding warrants for my arrest:breaking and entering, shoplifting, resisting arrest,
trespassing,indecent exposure, indecent exposure"(pg 59) Henry wouldnt look good hanging around a 6 year old with that kind of record and the police would suspect him to be some type of creep especially since he was charged with indecent exposure so thier relationship will be affected by the age difference as well as his criminal record.

The Glass Shatters.

Drug addiction changes your life and the lives of your loved ones, It is something that a lot of people struggle with. In Glass by Ellen Hopkins. The most important social issue is drug addiction .Kristina’s life changes and heads more downhill because of her addiction to crystal meth. Her relationships with her family and friends change especially with her baby hunter. Her addiction also changes her personality.

         

          Kristina’s Relationship with her family changes mostly in crank the first book of the crank series when she has to go visit her dad over the summer. This causes a drastic change because her dad was a drug addict and he gave her access to meth giving her the opportunity to get hooked on it. Also when she got back from her summer with her dad she was more distant  with her mom and her stepdad and siblings. In Glass however after she has a baby, she thinks that she is done with drugs but she gets pulled back into the addiction and her mom finds out so she gets kicked out of the house. When Kristina got kicked out she didn’t show the want to be living with her family again, which I find is strange because her mom wouldn’t allow her to take Hunter(her baby) because she knew that Kristina was unstable and would probably harm him. During Christmas her mom tried to reach out for her but she kept her distance for example:

“Tomorrow? Christmas. Presents and dinner with the family. And family. And Hunter. [He’s too little to care this year, anyway]”(pg 412)  This shows how out of the people in her family she mostly cares about hunter but not enough to sacrifice her conflicts with her parents to see her baby that she barely sees, before she got addicted it was weird for her not being there with hunter when she went to work, and Kristina acted like a mother and cared for her son.

         

            Kristinas personality changed because of the addiction to meth. Kristina has an alter ego and her name is bree, shes the more dangerous, daring, ruthless part of her and when she wants to refrain from meth bree pushes her toward it. In the book glass Bree kind of takes over Kristina and speaks for her. The scary thing is Kristina doesn’t have enough strength to not let bree take over her for example “ The small part, the kristina part, keeps whispering the other Bree part, is. ‘Not only were you stupid to sneak back to the monster,’  she mumbles, ‘but ten to one you’re going to get caught. Mom and Scott will know.’ The Bree part just stares contentedly at the ceiling, really comfortable for the first time in too many months. Meth. Tobacco.”(pg 111-112)  What Kristina is making clear is that her real self is the smallest part and she is worried about getting caught and she thinks that going back to the “monster” which is meth  is stupid, but Bree doesn’t really care about anything, but when she’s high Bree is the dominant voice that Kristina has so she doesn’t really care about getting caught all she wants to do is enjoy what’s going to end up ruining Kristinas life.

         

           I think Glass really represents the issue of drug addiction and how it can change a persons life because of Kristinas experience and struggles with meth. I think Ellen Hopkins wanted to really show her readers how dangerous drugs not only the known health affect it has but the affect on your family and the way you act. She really wants her readers to be aware of all of the struggles that somebody with a serious drug problem has to face. By choosing a character that faced it all. She wants us to know our Clear Glass life can be shattered by a serious drug addiction.