Speak (coming of age) 2nd post

    In the book, Speak, the main character Melinda suffers through many issues . But one most important issue is loneliness. She cannot make friends because of what she did during the summer and then when she makes one friend, her friend hates her and leaves her alone. Loneliness is a big issue because you need to be able to have someone to talk to about boys and overall problems you have at home or at school. You need to express our thoughts to someone. For example, i have two best friends and without them i wouldn't know how to fix problems, and i wouldn't be able to tell my secrets to and help with them. So it is good to have some friends and not be lonely like Melinda.

     One part of the book is when Melinda and Heather( friend that she met) get into a fight and then Heather says that they cant be friends anymore because of Melinda's depression and sad problems.Here is when Melinda's problems become bigger and she has none to help her with her problems. Loneliness is what can cause depression, low grades, and not having friends or not sharing your feelings with friends/family. After this, her grades in every subject except art decrease because she cant handle having all those problems and thoughts inside her head. She cant control all of that, she needs a friend to get it off her back.

      Another part of the book, where it shows how Melinda's loneliness gets involved with other parts of her life is when it is the first day of school and has no one to talk to or to help find classes. She is lonely and then late to almost all of her classes because no one is taking to her because she called the cops at the party and so no one can help her find her class rooms.This makes Melinda late to her classes which gets her to a bad start of the school year. 
     All in all,Melinda has many issues throughout the book like: depression,rape, school grades, friends , family but one big issue that shows up a lot in the book is loneliness. It  gets involved in many different things that affect Melinda's life.   

Speak (coming of age book )

In the book, the main character Melinda, struggles through,any tragedies  that get explained throughout the book. Some tragedies she faced was :being raped by Andy Evans, making friends, everyone hates her for calling the cops at a party and her grades. These things affect her throb out her whole life and they will never be forgotten because they are such big things that have affected her life and she can never grow out of it.

When she first came to the school , she had no friends because of calling the cops at a party . But the truth is that she only called the cops because she was raped by someone and she wanted help . She did not know what was happening or that they can track your call. She was young and didn't know what rape was. I thought that this was very bad and everyone hates her for no reason, she just was hurt and needed help bu no one would listen to her and her feelings. She had trouble making friends and keeping them because of how her feelings were messed up and all over the place. That was one struggle she had.

 Her grades were very bad from all her classes except for art. I think that she had such bad grades in everything other than art was because she had any emotional problems and she was always depressed about everything bu in art she could express her feels and pain in her art. Her pain was put into her artwork and how her teacher let the students make one thing and express themselves into it. That is why i think she struggled with her grades but excedded in her grade in art.

She , Melinda was raped by a guy named Andy Evans . This has affected her life so much, nothing was the same after that.That one thing has happended her life went down. She could and will never forget that , becuase it ( andy ) is making it seem as if she was the mistake and how she wanted it but inside she is feeling pain becuase she was saying NO! but he didnt listen , it all went down after that and it will never change. This one problem was the lead to all the other stuggles and problems.

Essay response on article :)

"Rescuing Animals—With Your Phone" by Zack Jones ( April 5th 2012) 

       In the article " Rescuing Animals-- With Your Phone" by Zack Jones shows how important it can be to save an injured animal. The article talks about how there is this app on your phone called   AnimalHelpNow   , it provides situations and things you might do to help that animal. I think that this article shows that even when your on the road you should still stop and help a wounded animal . That is why i think that this article is great and important for the environment and population of animals. 

         For example in the article it shows how the app asks you questions about the animal that is hurt, and it also provides solutions and places that might help. This app is important and interesting because based on the day , type of day and time and situation it can give you solutions for the problem and help save animals. This app will save alot of animals that are injured and need help quickly . Also it mentions how you wont need internet connections so it can work on any phone, which proves that it is important enough to work anywhere and anytime.   

         Another example, in the article it shows how the app can help by providing locations of vets and wild care centers.The app will basically help provide help so the animal is safe and helped as soon as possible. The app also provides a GPS so that they can find the location of the animal. I can see that this app really shows and cares for the wounded animals because it provides questions , locations , and help so the animal will not die. I find this important for the population of the animals so that it will not decrease.
 

         All in all , i think that the article on the app you can help wounded animals is helping and is important to the population of animals and also so the animals wont die. This aritcle is important to the world and enviorment also saving animals all over the world.

 

Plagarism is a CRIME !!!

What did the student do wrong? What could he/she have done to include the source correctly?
~ The student plagiarized someone else's work. They copied and pasted from a source and then did not include the source. He/she could have made that a quote then included the article and name of author in the response. Or he/she could have tooken the sentence and out it in their own words.


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.
~ " 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 " ( A Brief Understanding of the Starry Night Paintings, unknown author ).





What are at least 3 ways to avoid plagiarizing?
~ to avoid plagiarizing you can :
1. Make sure cite all sources that you took information from
2. take the words and paraphrase them before using the informations and don't forget to site the source when done.
3. Go on a plagiarizing site and put in your response , to see if you plagarized. Then put the words in your own words.

Don't forget plagiarizing is a crime !!!!

My 2 Favorite Blogs

Hello there, Ms.Galang told us to read some blogs on the list.So that's what I did. 2 of my favorite blogs that I read we're : Izzys from class 813 and Eliza's from class 813 . They both talked about things comparing two people.

First I liked Izzys response to Romeo and juliet . She wrote about her opinions for their love. She thought that thief love was fake and had no purpose for it. I liked how izzy wrote about 1 person In one paragraph and the other person in the other paragraph. She separated her characters and talked about each one . I also liked how she included qoutes from the book and the page numbers next to the line. That shows that she used evidence to prove her opinion which is good. Izzys response overall was amazing because of her structure and the writing itself.

The second blog that I picked to write about was Eliza's about the book Harry Potter. In her response she was comparing 2 people. she compared Harry and Ron and seeing whose life is worse. First I liked how she wrote 3 paragraphs and each paragraph was about a different thing.like families, money etc. Then I liked how she at the end of her response she was questioning the reader about who's life is worse and was asking you to comment below. She had a nice overall response with a good conclusion that made the reader think a little. It was also cool how she tallied it up and said it came to a tie. I thought that was funny. That was an amazing response.

While reading those two blog entry's I was thinking of how to make mine better and I thought of a couple of ways to do that . First of, I can make them longer and elaborate. I could make my thoughts deeper and use textual evidence to prove my opinion. I could also make different types of reading responses . I noticed I have been using the same structure and format. Maybe I could write in a letter or compare 2 different things , or maybe write an essay on a book , or so a series of responses of like the Harry potter series. I could also talk to my reader and ask them questions. Maybe that would make my blog entry's better :)

Romeo and Juliet

                              Lately we have been reading Romeo and Juliet in class and since then i have always been wondering what my favorite character would be. I think my favorite character would be Juliet because she speaks for herself. She has respect for other adults around her and because she believes in her own thoughts not her parents. I also like the character Juliet because  she is my age and she gets to find her own love.Even though her parents are like in war with the other group of families.
                      Something I have also thoughts about were the themes that came up when reading Romeo and Juliet. Some themes that came upon the book were anger because the Montagues and Capulet families have been fighting for a long time. Love because Romeo and Juliet love each other and also love because many secrets are of love.Also families is another issue because Romeo and Juliet are from different families and they have to decide weather or not they want to chose families or love. There are many other issues in the book .
     The book is alittle hard to understand but once you read and read it gets better that last time. I think the lanuage is that shaksperean.

Romeo and Juliet

Dear mom,
During this week, in ELA class we have started to read Romeo and Juliet.Would you like to know what its about? Well, i'll tell you ! Some things that i observed in the book so far are:

• Romeo and Juliet are in love, but thier families hae eachother
• Romeo is a Montague
• Juliet is a Capulet
• Sampson and Gregory are best friends

I know that this book will be about viloence and love at the same time. Also in the end i think there will be death. I actually like reading the book because its a new type of reading for me, even though the book is challenging i still think its great that were reading it. Mom, if you read this book, remember to make inferences about what words mean, and also remember that the characters each have different feelings and that this is a play bot a fiction story!

I realized that most of the book people are fighting, why is that ? I also realized that gregory and sampson are really good friends because they talk about things, they are there for eachother. I am happy we are reading, acting, and watching the book :) Hope you consider reading it !
                                                                                        Bye - Justyna

Sarah Kay " If I Should Have a Daughter"

 Sarah Kay : "If I Should Have a  Daughter "
If I should have a daughter, instead of Mom, she's gonna call me Point B, because that way she knows that no matter what happens, at least she can always find her way to me. 
And I'm going to paint solar systems on the backs of her hands, so she has to learn the entire universe before she can say, "Oh, I know that like the back of my hand." 
And she's going to learn that this life will hit you hard in the face, wait for you to get back up just so it can kick you in the stomach. 
But getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air. 
There is hurt here that cannot be fixed by Band-Aids or poetry. 
So the first time she realizes that Wonder Woman isn't coming, I'll make sure she knows she doesn't have to wear the cape all by herself.
Because no matter how wide you stretch your fingers, your hands will always be too small to catch all the pain you want to heal. 
Believe me, I've tried. "And, baby," I'll tell her, don't keep your nose up in the air like that. I know that trick; I've done it a million times. You're just smelling for smoke so you can follow the trail back to a burning house, so you can find the boy who lost everything in the fire to see if you can save him. Or else find the boy who lit the fire in the first place, to see if you can change him." 
But I know she will anyway, so instead I'll always keep an extra supply of chocolate and rain boots nearby, because there is no heartbreak that chocolate can't fix. 
Okay, there's a few heartbreaks that chocolate can't fix. 
But that's what the rain boots are for. 
Because rain will wash away everything, if you let it. 
I want her to look at the world through the underside of a glass-bottom boat, to look through a microscope at the galaxies that exist on the pinpoint of a human mind, because that's the way my mom taught me. 
That there'll be days like this. 
♫ There'll be days like this, my momma said. ♫ 
When you open your hands to catch and wind up with only blisters and bruises; when you step out of the phone booth and try to fly and the very people you want to save are the ones standing on your cape; when your boots will fill with rain, and you'll be up to your knees in disappointment. 
And those are the very days you have all the more reason to say thank you. 
Because there's nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it's swept away. 
You will put the wind in winsome, lose some. 
You will put the star in starting over, and over. 
And no matter how many land mines erupt in a minute, be sure your mind lands on the beauty of this funny place called life. 
And yes, on a scale from one to over-trusting, I am pretty damn naive.
But I want her to know that this world is made out of sugar. 
It can crumble so easily, but don't be afraid to stick your tongue out and taste it. 
"Baby," I'll tell her, "remember, your mama is a worrier, and your papa is a warrior, and you are the girl with small hands and big eyes who never stops asking for more." 
Remember that good things come in threes and so do bad things. 
And always apologize when you've done something wrong. 
But don't you ever apologize for the way your eyes refuse to stop shining. 
Your voice is small, but don't ever stop singing. 
And when they finally hand you heartache, when they slip war and hatred under your door and offer you handouts on street-corners of cynicism and defeat, you tell them that they really ought to meet your mother.



Response: 
         Out of all the poems/ sonnets we read and listened to i have chosen this one because i thought that this poem by Sarah Kay was the one and only that i understood well enough that i know what the author wanted to say to the world.  She wanted to  explain how people should be treated and if they want something that should have it. In this poem Sarah Kay has shown and expressed her voice and feelings.Like the way  she had disagreed with herself that chocolate cant fix a few heartbreaks but rain boots can.And also the part where she had said you will put the wind in winsome, lose some and you will put the star in starting over, and over. This poem really showed what poems should show. It showed feelings, a voice, and most of all what the world should be like and what the world really means.
        This poem , i know most people would say was weird and didn't mean anything. But if you read it over and over again you could really connect to what it has to say.This poem has many quotes that i look foreword to spread because they make people feel good or because they make people feel what Sarah Kay felt when writing this. Courageous.Ready for what the world has for her.This poem is all about how she has no terrified feelings for what the world has to offer.She has no terrified feelings for what the future has to say. She has an answer to everything and everyone in the world.Sarah Kay is one of the writers i look up to not only because she has good poems that i can connect to but she has the answers to the scariest things in life. The point where reality takes over and your imagination has to end. 
        One of the favorite sayings that Sarah Kay mentioned in this poem is " When you open your hands to catch and wind up with only blisters and bruises; when you step out of the phone booth and try to fly and the very people you want to save are the ones standing on your cape; when your boots will fill with rain, and you'll be up to your knees in disappointment." because first of all it has lots of sayings and meanings to it like how when you want to go and save the future and the people in the future they are the ones holding you back.  I  really thought many people could connect to this quote like i can: for example when i was younger i had wanted to be a designer and i had my sewing machine and everything but my friends and family had doubted me and never wanted me to move on with my life and my future.
        One other saying and Quote from this poem that had caught my eye was this one :
"Remember that good things come in threes and so do bad things. 
And always apologize when you've done something wrong. 
But don't you ever apologize for the way your eyes refuse to stop shining. 
Your voice is small, but don't ever stop singing."
This quote had caught my eye because this is one nice thing that i would always say in my mind when i was in doubt or when i was feeling sad and terrified of what the world had to say about me. It would be one of the many things that would keep me out of trouble and still happy with myself. I would always think if you have such an amazing voice why hide it , and if you have such amazing eyes don't stop looking and shining, but if you had done something wrong to hurt someone you shall make it right with them.
       This poem by  Sarah Kay has inspired me and has shown me the true meaning of what the world means to everyone and how wonderful life would be if you only believein yourself not what other people think about you.
        




       

" The Tree " Sonnet

I think I'll write a sonnet of a tree.
The sun dappled to  multi-colored green.
The leaves all rustling slowly in a breeze.
The most amazing sight I think I've seen.

The bark was brown and brittle as dry dirt.
The branches reached out slowly to the sky.
So rooted to the ground, for all it's worth,
Still reaching for the heavens, by and by.

If you can't see the heaven in a tree,
Just find it common, really no big deal,
Then you are tied in knots and are not free.
Instead of always thinking : try to feel.

It was a sight unique in what I've seen.
The sight of sunlight dappled leaves of green.

Poems

 1) What is Dance?
         Dance is a movement that
            expresses feelings our body
                  goes through like happiness
                         or  sadness.
         Dance is
            full of emotions
             feelings
                and personality.

           Dance is self expression
               all the movements are
                    made with the way we
                         want to express ourselves.
 
            Dance is life kicking in using our senses
                  the movements describe the smell
                        and taste that we come to
                          and what we have seen.





     2) What happens to a dream?
 
               Does it come true like all our lies?
               like our nightmares do?
               or go away like a pimple after it sat there and did what it had to ?
              Does it have rough texture like a frog?
           
               Maybe it means and explains -
                  what our life is trying to tell us will happen?

             Or maybe it disappears in the real world and appears in our mind?



        3)  Poem on art

Time
It never ends
its like the clock keeps spinning and
the seconds,minutes,hours,and days
don't pass by.

The clocks melting as if we don't exist
the time stopping as if we want it to
the water, cliff shining bright gold as if
everything was okay.
The ants eating up the center of the clock,
the orange clock
the only one not melting
the only one not drooping
the only different one.

Oh how i feel when the clocks stop spinning
oh how i feel when the time doesn't matter
Salvador Dali oh why
why are the clocks drooping and melting down
it is like time, and life don't exist anymore.

The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali

Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali

      
        The Persistence of Memory is a painting by a famous Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dali.Salvador Dali sometimes referred to his paintings as "hand-painted dream photographs" and The Persistence of Memory is certainly like that.The painting is a collection of ideas, that are to do with the interpretation of dreams, perception of reality,and time.


     The drooping pocket watches points out that when we are asleep  the time does not persist, only memories do.  There are four watches in this painting, three of which appear to be melted, as if made out of cheese. The only watch whose structure doesn't appear to be deformed - unlike other watches is the orange watch  sitting on a desk-like object. The ants seem to have found a point of interest in the center of the orange watch.Another detail that i noticed was that Dali uses light to express the ideas of the painting. There are two tiny rocks sitting in the sand on the beach in the background. The rock to the left is in the shadow, and the one to the right is lit.The ants, the three melted clocks and a fetus-like object all reside in the shade as well. Whereas, the mountains and the water are lit by sunlight.


             The melting clocks are nothing more than cheese left for too long of a period of time on the table on a warm sunny day (as Dali had previously described his inspiration for this painting, this is noted by Dali himself in his book, conveniently titled Diary of a Genius. According to Dali, he was a self-proclaimed genius). But  Dali would often make up ridiculous explanations for his paintings to purposely mislead people.Also the ants that are attacking the orange clock might show the anxiety associated with time.


Sources:
-http://www.dali-gallery.com/
-http://www.duke.edu/web/lit132/dalibio.html

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                                                                             Poem About Art

Time
It never ends
its like the clock keeps spinning and
the seconds,minutes,hours,and days
don't pass by.

The clocks melting as if we don't exist
the time stopping as if we want it to
the water, cliff shining bright gold as if
everything was okay.
The ants eating up the center of the clock,
the orange clock
the only one not melting
the only one not drooping
the only different one.

Oh how i feel when the clocks stop spinning
oh how i feel when the time doesn't matter
Salvador Dali oh why
why are the clocks drooping and melting down
it is like time, and life don't exist anymore.

Eleven by: Lauren Myracle

            A couple of years ago, i had read Eleven by Lauren Myracle and i thought that maybe i would take another look at it, so a couple days ago i had re read that book. In this book Winnie goes through many changes when she turns 11.For example she needs to go shopping for bras , her best friend leaves her for someone else and she has many more hormones. Winnie thought that everything would go right when her birthday comes, but it turns out all wrong! How will Winnie learn that her body is changing and that shes not a baby anymore.

            One of the changes that Winnie goes through is that she needs to go shopping  with her mom for bras.Winnie is very unconformable with this.She thinks that changes are bad and that she will always be the same kind of kid.I can connect to this because my cousin was shy about going shopping for this stuff but then she realized every girl will have to and its just normal. Winnie mom tried to make it better for her by going along but then met Amanda there and she automatically was terrified of it.

           Another change that she went through was that she wanted to be pretty so she tried curling her hair for school and putting makeup on. The makeup got into her eye and gave her pink eye, while curling her hair she burned her neck and everyone made fun of her and then she was late to school and Amanda was hanging out with another girl and she replaced Winnie. This was a important and big moment in the book because at that time Amanda found an new best friend.So then Winnie saw ow looking prettier came with disadvantages.

          All in all, Winnie went through lots of changes when she turned 11. I can connect to her because i also had a hard time with being a older kid and having my body change but obviously i had realized that it is normal and every person goes through it.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

    So I am reading the book Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and i have realized that Harry doesn't get what he wants. His mother and father have died and hes a wizard that goes to Hogwarts . He is stuck living with the Dursleys ( a horrible family that treat Harry like a stranger ) and the dursleys hate magic and anything to do with the school he goes to.I would hate having a life like that , having to hide whats most important to me , and having n one close or nice to talk to at home. Everything is just horrible but Harry is making the best of his life. Maybe it isnt that bad.
     In chapter 1 of the book Harry has been hiding from the Dursleys in the flower bed outside and i still cant figure out why. I mean why would you want to lay in the flowers on a cold hard ground ? I wouldn't. Anyway one reason Harry might be okay with all this is because he has Sirus and his friends at Hogwarts. His friend Ron is very close with him , so are Ron's parents.I couls not imagine how Harry feels living without his parents. I mean Harry is a nice , smart young boy that needs his parents there to support and help protect him because he knows nothing about him and his life.
      I am up to chapter 2 in the book because there are long chapters so i dont really know how else to support the idea i mentioned in paragraph 1 although in the last book he asked the dursleys if he could go to Ron's house fr a few days and the dursleys told him that he should go and stay there for as long as he wants because they would love not to have him in thier life, which i thought was sad.So far i have realized the idea of loneliness, courage, friendship and family problems in the book and books of the series. I guess you may also include school , lack of knowing about himself because he cant remember why he has the lighting scar on his forehead which was important in his life ( it was about his mom ). Also the issue of fighting pops up. That is all i have to say about the book so far since im only on chapeter 2. 

It Happened to Nancy

          I had just finished reading " It happened to Nancy " by  a anonymous teenager and i loved the book. The book is a true diary of the teenagers and it is about her finding true love to a boy named Collin but when she trusts him will her life , he rapes her and leaves her with the HIV virus. As the virus travels throughout her body she pours her deepest thoughts into this book, her diary. This book is sad and very depressing because her thoughts and feelings make me want to cry when i read them.
         When reading the book i had many questions and one was why did he rape her? no one really finds out in the book and maybe he raped her because she loved him and trusted him and all he wanted to do was rape her and then leave her knowing that she has a virus. Nancy is this nice 14 year old that thought she found true love  while Collin is this convincing mean and cruel boy that hurts girls.After she gets raped it gets worst when she doesn't know from him that she has a virus but she was told when she went to the doctor.
          I cannot imagine how i would feel if i was her, i mean being sad and mad and depressed maybe but she had really strong feelings that i coulndt explain. I feel that  if i was in her place i would want to kill myself even though HIV would probably already do that . Anyway i liked the book because it was interesting and true.