fear

those fears
the monster under your bed
that phobia of the dark that can never explains itself
brothers and sisters telling scary stories with the hope of another sleepless night in  your life

then they change

will i be popular 

who's class will i be in next year 

what school can i get into with the horrible grades i have

then...well i'm not quite sure yet...
and that's what scares me the most
what happens after this..?

Writing prompt #11 response

I'm glad i live in a place where a "right of passage" is optional and not mandatory to be respected in society. many of my friends have had bat/bar mitzvah that's the right of passage in Jewish religion. that's not bad but in Australia, the Aborigines rip the finger nails off of their young men. this is done to prove that they can take it and that are men.

What memorable texts (picture books, poems, oral stories, films, etc.) have influenced your definition of growing up?

The book The Giver is a very good example of a child being forced to grow up and mature very quickly. Many of the freedoms that my friends and I have are taken away from  him. Before he is given the job he can hag out with his friends and has many more freedoms but he's very restricted already. But after the job is given to him he has to go start to it and then straight home. This book is probably one of the best books I have every read but it is also a very good example of how your surroundings can effect the way you grow up.

Response to To Kill a Mocking Bird

The book To Kill a Mocking bird is about a young girls growing up in a rural town called Maycomb in Kanas. it's mostly about her "adventures" and the law suit of a black man accused of raping a young woman. in this response I'll be doing a character analysis 

in the beginning of the book it's hard to tell if scout the main character is a girl or boy. she hangs out with her brother a lot. one time in the beginning of the book her brother Jem says to her "scout stop acting like such a girl. the relationship between Jem and scout is very strange. she looks up to him but at the same time she gets angry at him easily. she's always describing him in a loving way and that proves that she loves any way.


another character that scout has a strange relationship with is Jem's best friend Dill. she acts differently towards him then the way she acts toward Jem. she is more friendly to him. scout acts less disrespectfully to Dill. I think she likes Dill more then Jem. 


the last character relationship that scout has that is very interesting is the relationship between Scout and Aticus. aticus is scouts father. she has the most respect for her father. in one chapter scout doesn't want to go to school so she makes a deal with her father who convinces her that she needs to. scout calls him "sir" not father and always calls him by his first name. in one chapter scout almost gets into a fight at school because one of the other kids says to her "your father defends niggers". she has so much respect for him that instead of fighting she walks away because that's what her dad told her to do.


in conclusion the different relationships that scout has with these characters really defines scout as a character

Revised Reading response to Macbeth.

       In drama we are putting on the Tragidy of Macbeth by William Shakespear and i play Ross.


       So the thing that I’m focusing on is the character Ross. Ross is this supporting figure that starts on Macbeth’s side of things in general and then switches over to Macduff’s side of things. He is with Macduff when they discover Duncan’s dead body. He is suspicious of Macbeth from Banquo’s death. Ross is Macduff’s cousin.
    

       Ross always seems to be the bearer of bad news. Like I said he was there when Duncan is murdered. He isn’t in the room when it happens but he’s in the next room when lady Macduff and Macduff’s children are killed and ends up being the one that tells macduff’s family is dead. In the last scene he finds a dead boy while his mom is right there. 

       Ross is interesting because he's the only character that starts on Macbeth's side and switches to Malcolm and Macduff's side. He has no choice some could say that he was forced to switch being that he saw lady Macduff die and had his thoughts about Macbeth from the death of Duncan and also with Banquo. In one scene Macduff and Ross are talking while Macbeth is screaming about "two murders here preformed" so they both have some what of a grip on what's actually going 

romeo and juliet

recently watched the modernized version of Romeo and Juliet. instead of swords they used guns but they used all the same text. I thought it was very interesting and sad of course. Romeo was played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Juliet by Clair Danes. They had some weird takes on things like, I think they tried to make Merqutio gay for Romeo. It was a sad movie. I remember watching it in fifth grade I got so in to the movie. When I watched it again I got the same feeling. Like when romeo walks into her mausoleum and sits next to her and she starts moving and I almost yelled at the screen of my T.V. every time I see this movie. I can see the parallels to other versions, but also there are many differences. 

Reading response to macbeth

I'm reading Macbeth by William Shakespeare. There is this war going on between the king Duncan who is this old oblivious dude and Norway. Macbeth is a soldier for King Duncan. Macbeth is this really strong guy; in the text it says "he cut a man from his chaps to his gullet" which in American means he sliced a guy from his crotch to his neck. Then there's his friend Banquo who is also soldier and they've fought side by side for a long time. Then there is Macduff. Now he is also friends with Macbeth but i don’t really know the deal with him.

So the thing that I’m focusing on is the character Ross. Ross is this supporting figure that starts on Macbeth’s side of things in general and then switches over to Macduff’s side of things. He is with Macduff when they discover Duncan’s dead body. He is suspicious of Macbeth from Banquo’s death. Ross is Macduff’s cousin.

    Ross always seems to be the bearer of bad news. Like I said he was there when Duncan is murdered. He isn’t in the room when it happens but he’s in the next room when lady Macduff and Macduff’s children are killed and ends up being the one that tells macduff’s family is dead. In the last scene he finds a dead boy while his mom is right there.

    This is a little off topic but there is this reoccurring theme of the great chain of being. This was an idea in the mid-evil ages that if you were a slave god wanted you to be a slave, if you were king god wanted you to be king. So when Macbeth kills Duncan everything is going crazy saying that because gods will has been changed. So there is this weird scene where Ross is talking to this old guy and they talk about an eagle getting killed by an owl. So yeah I just wanted to through that in.

    Any way in conclusion Ross is a cool character. He is an interesting person to get into. He is great character to play (I’m ross in dramaJ)and I think he is important because he switches sides

ars poetica

poetry is life
we catch it and write on
paper so we don't

forget what we saw
and we can tell every thing's
story through our eyes

N

personally i
don't like this letter it makes
bad things i don't like

i got two N's ma
what does that mean?
mean's i need to shut up and
keep my mind clean

of anything that would cause me to
laugh, talk, or just straight up be loud
and i gotta get face outta the clouds

i need to work hard
cause now hardly workin'
i need some thin to day so i can't be seen lurkin
in the back of class laughin my ass off
like its no problem
but it is so

i do all work though
and now i know
how not to get an N

"promotion in dout"

dear bortoluzzi's
your son may not graduate
with love board of ed

i wish it were that simple
but it really isn't
i must stride to
provide a satisfying grade
or in middle school fifty one i will stay

for another year
that's not right
I've done what i could
i will not go down with out a fight

so with a pencil as my sword and
note book as my shield
i run on to that endless battle field

with an army of teacher in front
and legion of friends at my back
in to school i charge yell attack

silence

no hugs good night
no " i love you"'s
no words

just a touch on my shoulder
as she walks away with tears in her eyes

them mean guys

one day i was in the park
just talkin with my friends
we were talking about differnet comedians

ever thing seemed cool
and evry thing seemed fine untill
these guys came over that weren't very kind

my friend jean had her back to her bag
when some guy grabbed it ran and yelled
"Fags"

she stop what she was doing
and broke out in tears
this is the part that brings back all those fears

i was holding my phone
and some dude lounge and grabbed
with his a blade he tried to stabb

i was scared but i held on for life
fell over as i was scraped by his knife
i clutched my arms as tears fell from my eyes

i was on the floor
and there it was i laid
i still have those images in my head to this day

READING RESPONSE

I recently finished the book The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and I thought I twas really good. It's about this girl who's sister gets entered into a television event called the hunger games. The hunger games are these events in which children from the ages of twelve to 18 must vie for the title of champion. Basically kids are forced to fight to the death and who ever the last one standing is gets to go home. It takes place in a post apocalyptic North America. So this girl Katnis goes in place of her twelve year old sister. she is also entered with a boy named Petta who has liked her for years. I really liked it. There was a LOT of violence but i mean that was part of what I liked. Like at one point this girl gets her head bashed in by a rock.I'm in the middle of the second one and I like that one to I can't wait to read the third one.

athours note

The incident Rosa parks is probably the most famous example of racism. She was riding the bus and a

white person came along. He told her to move. She refused, the bus driver made her get off the bus

where she was than arrested. This caused an up roar in the black community. People boycotted buses

because of her arrest. This was a big help to the civil right movement.
I see racism every day. I mean people tell racist jokes all the time, but it's not the same. Back then you c

it.ould be arrested (if you were black) for shaking a white guy’s hand. In this book I was trying to portray

racism. You might have gotten a hit of self image in there to some where, but I was mostly going for

racism. I do think that things like this do happen. People think that if your one color or skin tone you can

be better than another person. I hope you can get the same type of experience I got by writing this by

reading

research project 1

when hunger strikes

i don't know what it feels like to be hungry
i don't know what it feels like to starve
i realize that im lucky
but for them it's very hard
for life to be a struggle
every single day
for them to be cling to life
it's heart breaking
in every single way
i'm angry that i can't help
i really don't how
but to spred awareness
i think is enough
for now

making a difference.

in this NBC nightly news segment the nightly news pays homage to thoese people who are truly making a diffeerence in an extrodanary way. like i remeber one about these two women who started up a "sosp kitchen". the reason i put quotaions around soup kitchen  is because they serve more then soup. the place is called love kitchen and every thing is free.


the one i saw that i can remeber best is one about the peace corp. after 15 years of a long civil war in sierra leon, the peace corp has returned. they had to pull out because the war was to much for them to handle. but after 15 years their back to help the people of sierra leon. i think this article is cool because it has alot of information that i didn't know before. i didn't realize there was a civil war in sierra leon. in all i love the segmant in the news.  feel with out it these people who do some much to help others, when they some times themselves don't have alot, wouldn't be known. personally i think these people deserve a meddle of some sort. yeah so i guess that's all i have to say about that for now.

charlotte's

In the book charlotte's web by e.b. white, this idea of wilbur still being a child comes up alot.Like in chapter two there is a picture of Fern pushong wilbur around in a baby cariage. this is back when wilbur was still considered to be a runt and looks like a baby in a cariage.The next time that I saw this come up in was chapter three the escape. In the end of the chapter, after wilbur is put back in his pen, he says, "I'm really too yong to be alone in the world." So, this idea of wilbur still being a child really links into one of the themes in the book birth and new life. Birth and new life is shown in many chapters. in the chapter summer days, seven of goose's eight eggs hatch, in the chapter egg sac, charlotte starts making the egg sac and is coming closer to her death. In the last chapter a warm wind three spiders stay behind and wilbur names them Joy,Nellei,and Arnea. in fact in the end of the book it turns out that wilbur is more of a father figure.

from mother to son

the poem mother to son is truly one of Langston hughs' greatest poems in my opinion. it is great because of the dialect used in it. i love the fact that there is this metaphor that lasts through out. it is the metaphor of life being a stare case this is different for everyone. i like how the mother keeps coming back to this idea of life isn't a crystal. that life has been had for her but she has lasted. i think the poem is kind of a pep talk for Langston. his mother is saying " you can't give up. did you see how hard this was for me. you have no reason to give up.


i love the repetition. the she keeps saying. "now life ain't but you climbin and cralling and working up."

final draft

in the book the giver by Lois Lowery there are many different things that can be focused on for an appreciation essay. there is the idea that the community being a metaphor for Communism. there's the idea of different levels of brain wash in the community. but i don't really understand what is so evil about communism. and i don't really see what it is so extremely cool about brain wash, and i can't really connect to either of those. there is one thing though that i can connect with that isn't necessarily present until mid way through the book. it's the idea of jonas' struggle. his struggle for the truth, during life,and for explanation.

in the beginning of the book Jonas is just like every one else. confused and lied to. he doesn't really care about the truth. he does all the rituals everyone else does. but he still does struggle with every day life. he doesn't really start caring about the truth until the giver starts transmitting the memories to him. the thing is the community doesn't tell it's citizen much. Jonas doesn't know what animals are. the community has a climate controller and so no one in the community has experienced snow. i can't figure out though why the community would do this.

i think through out the book Jonas starts learning about the truth. he learns about colors and about animals. he learns of war and death. he tries to tell his best friend Asher about colors but for some reason Asher can't see them. there is also these things called releases. the community kills people but covers it up and doesn't tell the citizens. the community doctors inject people and some times babies with a poisonous substance. they kill people when they reach a certain age and if babies are not a certain height or weight they "release" said people.

in the final chapter jonas' struggles to face the truth. he realizes there is no reason to stay behind in the community. the gravity of the situation that he been in finally sinks in. he knows if stays behind he will be brought to death. he needs to leave and leave fast.i appreciate the entire final chapter jonas' struggle is totally present. there are planes going after him. he is facing harsh weather conditions he has never faced. with the addition of baby gabriel this is true evidence of jonas' struggle.

in conclusion, this book has many wonderful aspects of it, and is truley one of the only things i remember from fifth grade. i must have read this book so many times, because when i opened it again in eighth grade this year i already knew the first line.i understand jonas' struggle. i can relate, i try to do things right in school, but i just don't and it just starts to pile up. eventually it will fall in the same way it happend to jonas. i really do love this book and i get this feeling every time i open it. thank you for reading this apprecation.

1st Draft Appreciation

  

 In the book The Giver by Lois Lowery the shadow in the book I think is the community. But what I appreciate is that the community is in a way symbolism for Communism.

 In the beginning of the book the main character Jonas, is just like every one else. Confused and lied to. He followed all the rituals the community had. The community to me is very disturbing. There are no personal feelings. They have to talk about dreams, feelings and most thoughts. They really don't have much freedom. And the community didn't tell them anything about the outside world, they just know their small town. I personally like the disturbing undertone of brain wash that flows in and out through the entire book.

 I appreciate that only certain people can see color. It’s like there is no uniqueness in this place and then when someone finds something special about them selves instead of feeling special they feel different. In one point in the book Jonas tries to tell Asher his best friend about colors and he doesn't know how to explain colors. I like the fact that some how the community took out the ability of seeing color. It’s confusing.