Crank by Ellen Hopkins is a good book. It is written in poetic structure, wich has its ups and downs. In the book there is a lot of complicated emotion, between Kristina and her other personality Bree.
The poetic structure in Crank is intresting. At first it reads a little choppy, but than you can get settled in and it starts to be a advantage. Ellen Hopkins makes many creative shapes with her poetic structure. There is also a recurring poetic structure theme in the book. Where there is a line of text and than a word at the end of it. Like this:
"there was a
whole lot
more
to the story,
of course.
But I'd never
told her
secrets," page 234
She has this structure so much because what she is doing is isolating that one word and making it stand out more than the others. This must be the poetic structure in 30% of the book. It's used so much because it has a simple purpose, (to isolate on word and make it stand out), and it has simple poetic structure, which is what Hopkins does for most of the book. There are also lots of shapes of text throughout the book, but this theme is more important because it is so popular in the book.
Kristina, or Bree have a lot of inner conflicts in the book. She struggles with drug addiction (the monster), boy problems, family problems, normal teenage problems, and most importantly her second personality: Bree. The two most important are her drug addiction, and Bree. They go hand in hand, the drugs fuel Bree, and Bree fuels the drugs. They are a endless circle of death. When Kristina went to her dads house, she showed Bree to Adam. Bree had always been there, but she had never emerged. At the beginning of the trip Kristina and Bree were the same person, but sense Bree was the one with Adam, she was the one who got hooked on drugs. This made Bree spiral out of control, and become much worse than Kristina. Once Bree was hooked on drugs, Kristina got hooked on Bree.
One of the main conflicts with this book as a book is, in some places it has gotten banned. The book got banned because it has some heavy topics that authority figures may have a problem with their kids reading.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Monday, May 28, 2012
coa post: tom sawyer and Imagination
Tom Sawyer is a great book, but I heard a lot of people (most of them girls) say they don't like it. It's a great read and any boy from 8 to 18 should read it, and try to learn from it. This book has some great morals, that apply to everyday life, and are not just for teen boys but everyone of all ages who choses to appreciate the book.
This book is great because it depicts that classic growing up boy experience. As society gets more and more urban, it's harder for kids to spend their days outside, playing tricks on people and having fun. For people who can't have this experience, it's fun for them to imagine what it would be like by reading this book. It encourages people to stop playing video games and get outside. This is important because as America gets bigger and bigger (weight wise), kids should learn to get outside and enjoy the world around them, and not a virtual one, that only exists on a computer screen. This point does not only have to do with being outside, or getting exercise, but also doing productive things like writing, crafts, hobbies, or ever running a business. Having your brain active is as important or more than having your body active and healthy.
Tom is a very sneaky kid, he is very good at tricking people. Reading this book can teach the advantages, and disadvantages, of manipulating people. When Tom uses people for his own good or when he tries to get them to think what he wants, it either goes two ways: nobody suspects anything wrong or suspicious and everything goes Tom's way, or people figure out that tom is trying to manipulate them and he is figured out and punished. One example of this is when he is tricking people into whitewashing that fence, no one is really at their loss, they are giving Tom something they don't care much about in exchange to do something that isn't in their normal everyday routine. But in a situation where Tom is trying to trick/convince the father of the girl he likes that he is a good hearted and religious kid, he is found out and the father gets mad at him. this situation is different because he is doing something where he is trying to be something he is not, or something that might offend people, which allows for more opportunity of getting caught or hurting other people's feelings. Messing with people, or pulling pranks on people is fine, but when you get into deeper situations, it gets messy and there is where people need to stop this type of thing.
Living in the city myself, it's hard to leave the house and go have genuine boy experiences that I feel I would enjoy. Although I grew up in the city, I enjoy things like camping, hiking, etc. Unlike most boys, I've read through the dangerous book for boys and enjoyed it. What I am trying to say here is that sense I have not grown up in the right time/place to have adventures like Tom, and doing things like reading this book or imagining my own adventures will help me stay sane and feed my brain of memories that are not my own. This is the topic I am doing my COA project on, and I feel that having adventures in your mind is important to not just be focused on what is happening now at hand, but also what you can imagine. This is also why I feel connected to the character "Abed" on Community, because we appreciate not what is just happing now in the world, but what the world has imagined hence, movies, tv, and our own imaginations. This all connects back to Tom Sawyer because he has time to do what he wants, outdoors, and in his own imagination. The morals in this book are to live by, not only to keep on track, but to have a happy, imaginative, and fulfilled life.
This book is great because it depicts that classic growing up boy experience. As society gets more and more urban, it's harder for kids to spend their days outside, playing tricks on people and having fun. For people who can't have this experience, it's fun for them to imagine what it would be like by reading this book. It encourages people to stop playing video games and get outside. This is important because as America gets bigger and bigger (weight wise), kids should learn to get outside and enjoy the world around them, and not a virtual one, that only exists on a computer screen. This point does not only have to do with being outside, or getting exercise, but also doing productive things like writing, crafts, hobbies, or ever running a business. Having your brain active is as important or more than having your body active and healthy.
Tom is a very sneaky kid, he is very good at tricking people. Reading this book can teach the advantages, and disadvantages, of manipulating people. When Tom uses people for his own good or when he tries to get them to think what he wants, it either goes two ways: nobody suspects anything wrong or suspicious and everything goes Tom's way, or people figure out that tom is trying to manipulate them and he is figured out and punished. One example of this is when he is tricking people into whitewashing that fence, no one is really at their loss, they are giving Tom something they don't care much about in exchange to do something that isn't in their normal everyday routine. But in a situation where Tom is trying to trick/convince the father of the girl he likes that he is a good hearted and religious kid, he is found out and the father gets mad at him. this situation is different because he is doing something where he is trying to be something he is not, or something that might offend people, which allows for more opportunity of getting caught or hurting other people's feelings. Messing with people, or pulling pranks on people is fine, but when you get into deeper situations, it gets messy and there is where people need to stop this type of thing.
Living in the city myself, it's hard to leave the house and go have genuine boy experiences that I feel I would enjoy. Although I grew up in the city, I enjoy things like camping, hiking, etc. Unlike most boys, I've read through the dangerous book for boys and enjoyed it. What I am trying to say here is that sense I have not grown up in the right time/place to have adventures like Tom, and doing things like reading this book or imagining my own adventures will help me stay sane and feed my brain of memories that are not my own. This is the topic I am doing my COA project on, and I feel that having adventures in your mind is important to not just be focused on what is happening now at hand, but also what you can imagine. This is also why I feel connected to the character "Abed" on Community, because we appreciate not what is just happing now in the world, but what the world has imagined hence, movies, tv, and our own imaginations. This all connects back to Tom Sawyer because he has time to do what he wants, outdoors, and in his own imagination. The morals in this book are to live by, not only to keep on track, but to have a happy, imaginative, and fulfilled life.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Blog post Fredrick Douglass
http://www.good.is/post/a-13-year-old-s-slavery-analogy-raises-some-uncomfortable-truths-in-school/?fb_ref=rightrail
This article was about how a 13 year old girl read a essay about Fredrick Douglass and wrote a very strange response. He statement was that her public school experience is similar to a young Fredrick Douglass's as a slave. This statement is untrue and extremely ridiculous.
In Mr. Douglass's essay, he talks about how his masters wife was cought teaching Fredrick to read and write. "If you teach that nigger how to read, there will be no keeping him," Auld says. "It will forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master." The girl said that this is close to her school experience because: the overcrowded, poorly managed classrooms prevent real learning from happening and thus produces the same results as Mr. Auld's outright ban. She wrote that her white teachers—the vast majority of Rochester students are black and Hispanic, but very few teachers are people of color—are in a "position of power to dictate what I can, cannot, and will learn, only desiring that I may get bored because of the inconsistency and the mismanagement of the classroom." This is ridiculous because if this was true this would be a much more public issue. What this girl is saying is not anywhere near the reality. The truth has to be so twisted to be like what this girl is saying and it's crazy that she is comparing this to slavery.
The other reason why this assumption is crazy is because this girl is obviously daloutional. Anyone who thinks that slavery is like Public school is crazy. I think it was wrong of the school to give her a award for her disloutional essay. At most she should of mentioned something about school, and she should of wrote a essay about how the morals of slavery still exist or something. This article reminds me of a video I saw of a girl who had a mental breakdown in her science class screaming about how evolution kills black people and she started threatning everyones lives.
I think things like this happen because people hear about the past of their people and as the issues start to fade away. They act out and make these crazy assumptions to try to remind everyone of what happened cause they think people are forgetting.
This article was about how a 13 year old girl read a essay about Fredrick Douglass and wrote a very strange response. He statement was that her public school experience is similar to a young Fredrick Douglass's as a slave. This statement is untrue and extremely ridiculous.
In Mr. Douglass's essay, he talks about how his masters wife was cought teaching Fredrick to read and write. "If you teach that nigger how to read, there will be no keeping him," Auld says. "It will forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master." The girl said that this is close to her school experience because: the overcrowded, poorly managed classrooms prevent real learning from happening and thus produces the same results as Mr. Auld's outright ban. She wrote that her white teachers—the vast majority of Rochester students are black and Hispanic, but very few teachers are people of color—are in a "position of power to dictate what I can, cannot, and will learn, only desiring that I may get bored because of the inconsistency and the mismanagement of the classroom." This is ridiculous because if this was true this would be a much more public issue. What this girl is saying is not anywhere near the reality. The truth has to be so twisted to be like what this girl is saying and it's crazy that she is comparing this to slavery.
The other reason why this assumption is crazy is because this girl is obviously daloutional. Anyone who thinks that slavery is like Public school is crazy. I think it was wrong of the school to give her a award for her disloutional essay. At most she should of mentioned something about school, and she should of wrote a essay about how the morals of slavery still exist or something. This article reminds me of a video I saw of a girl who had a mental breakdown in her science class screaming about how evolution kills black people and she started threatning everyones lives.
I think things like this happen because people hear about the past of their people and as the issues start to fade away. They act out and make these crazy assumptions to try to remind everyone of what happened cause they think people are forgetting.
Chance poem response
This poem is called 'Old men' by Ogden Nash. It goes like this:
"People expect old men to die,
They do not really mourn old men.
Old men are different. People look
At them with eyes that wonder when...
People watch with unshocked eyes;
But the old men know when an old man dies."
They do not really mourn old men.
Old men are different. People look
At them with eyes that wonder when...
People watch with unshocked eyes;
But the old men know when an old man dies."
I like this poem because it is meant to be jokey but it has a serous meaning to it. People gain knowledge from just living and that is why old people are so wise is because they know the mistakes they have made and they know how other people can avoid those mistakes in their life; and so they do not morn death.
The part where he said "they do not really morn old men." shows that old men are too wise to morn and they know how to spend their time better sense they are dying and have so much knowledge. It is important for people to listen to old people because they know what is best for everyone. People say that we learn history so we know not to repeat it. Well the old men are the history.
This connects to real life because although most people will grow old, everyone will experience death, and experice people dying around them.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
KONY2012?
This post is to try to encourage people NOT to participate in the KONY2012 movement. Before you read this, go watch the actual KONY 2012 video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc
After watching that video you were probably thinking you were going to go out and buy a action kit and on april 20th you were going to go out and "cover the night." Here are some reasons why not to:
The first reason is because the organization, Invidiblechildren, is very shady and does not have much of their money actually going to the cause. Only 33% of it actually goes to helping the kids in africa. the rest of the money goes to either film production or salaries etc. This shows that the organization can not be trusted, and by donating to them, only a third of your money would be going to the cause.
The second reason is because Joseph Kony himself is not a issue anymore. The LRA and Kony are not in uganda anymore, and there has not been a attack from him sense 2003. The issue of child soldiers is still very much around but the Kony2012 movement is mostly focusing on just one person and not the issue of child soldiers as a whole, this is another reason why Kony 2012 is not to be trusted.
The final reason is because the only reason the movement is so popular is because of little brats saw the video and freaked out because they did not know the were bad people who do bad things in the world. They just watched the video and did not go anywhere else for information. This really irritates me because people can be persuaded by social media so easily and they will just listen to any crap that is thrown at them.
There are many more reasons why this movement should not be supported but if feel those are the main ones.
After watching that video you were probably thinking you were going to go out and buy a action kit and on april 20th you were going to go out and "cover the night." Here are some reasons why not to:
The first reason is because the organization, Invidiblechildren, is very shady and does not have much of their money actually going to the cause. Only 33% of it actually goes to helping the kids in africa. the rest of the money goes to either film production or salaries etc. This shows that the organization can not be trusted, and by donating to them, only a third of your money would be going to the cause.
The second reason is because Joseph Kony himself is not a issue anymore. The LRA and Kony are not in uganda anymore, and there has not been a attack from him sense 2003. The issue of child soldiers is still very much around but the Kony2012 movement is mostly focusing on just one person and not the issue of child soldiers as a whole, this is another reason why Kony 2012 is not to be trusted.
The final reason is because the only reason the movement is so popular is because of little brats saw the video and freaked out because they did not know the were bad people who do bad things in the world. They just watched the video and did not go anywhere else for information. This really irritates me because people can be persuaded by social media so easily and they will just listen to any crap that is thrown at them.
There are many more reasons why this movement should not be supported but if feel those are the main ones.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
The Killing Joke
In Allan Moore's The killing joke, He is trying to say that: regular people can be turned into psychopaths.
Throughout the book Alan Moore scatters various flashbacks of the Jokers life before he was "the Joker". He was a pretty normal guy, struggling with a job that does not pay and a wife at home with a baby on the way. This shows that the Joker was a psychopath, or evil, he became that way.
There are 2 incidents that cause Joker to become the way he is now. The first incident is when he finds out that his wife has died, his wife and his baby were all he has had, and he lost them. The 2 guys who where forcing him to do this red hood job were not sympathetic at all and didn't give him time to morn.
Than when he was doing the red hood job, batman was chasing him, he fell over and into a vat of acid. This was the tipping point to joker being insane. Obviously this would make a person crazy, but the real deciding factor was that he did not really have a will to live anymore. Sense he was fixed on the fact that his life was a joke (he said: "It's all a big joke to me.") before when he was talking to his wife means this was not just some random occurrence of falling into acid and being crazy, it means it was because of a deep personal event that happened to him. When he fell into the acid just sewed the pieces together.
All of these are good reasons why a regular person can be turned into a psychopath, and why the killing joke is a complex and amazing book.
Throughout the book Alan Moore scatters various flashbacks of the Jokers life before he was "the Joker". He was a pretty normal guy, struggling with a job that does not pay and a wife at home with a baby on the way. This shows that the Joker was a psychopath, or evil, he became that way.
There are 2 incidents that cause Joker to become the way he is now. The first incident is when he finds out that his wife has died, his wife and his baby were all he has had, and he lost them. The 2 guys who where forcing him to do this red hood job were not sympathetic at all and didn't give him time to morn.
Than when he was doing the red hood job, batman was chasing him, he fell over and into a vat of acid. This was the tipping point to joker being insane. Obviously this would make a person crazy, but the real deciding factor was that he did not really have a will to live anymore. Sense he was fixed on the fact that his life was a joke (he said: "It's all a big joke to me.") before when he was talking to his wife means this was not just some random occurrence of falling into acid and being crazy, it means it was because of a deep personal event that happened to him. When he fell into the acid just sewed the pieces together.
All of these are good reasons why a regular person can be turned into a psychopath, and why the killing joke is a complex and amazing book.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Born racist? (the Help)
The book I am reading currently, the help, is mainly about raceisim. It takes place in the 1950's, when racisim and segregation are very real issues. People who are born don't have their personalty imbedded in their genes, that's why People are not born racist. If ones parents are racist, it is more likely that the kid will be because they have a influence on them from a young age. But mabie if there was a kid who was born to racist parents and adopted by nice non judgemental parents, kid would be a non racest.
In the help, the little boy named Mae mobely is born with a absent and mean mother so the maid takes care of him, sence the maid is raising the boy, he will probaly think of the maid as more of a mother figure than the actual mom.
In the book it talkes about how the maid would see red hand marks on the back of mae's legs from the mom. This is another reason why the baby would grow away from the mom and testes the main character.
I can't wait to find out how these issues will be resolved. I will come back to this topic once I have more textual evidence to support my thesis.
In the help, the little boy named Mae mobely is born with a absent and mean mother so the maid takes care of him, sence the maid is raising the boy, he will probaly think of the maid as more of a mother figure than the actual mom.
In the book it talkes about how the maid would see red hand marks on the back of mae's legs from the mom. This is another reason why the baby would grow away from the mom and testes the main character.
I can't wait to find out how these issues will be resolved. I will come back to this topic once I have more textual evidence to support my thesis.
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