Last Blog Post

Doing blog posts over this year has really helped me. I learned a lot about myself. i know a lot more about analyzing characters and finding out whose perspective is missing. creating my blogs really showed me how to think about my book in ways i didn't even knew were possible. I learned a lot over the year.I benefited a lot from this experience of doing a blog every week. it taught me many things for example how to really think about my book. Every week we had to come up on our own or what to talk about our ideas on our book and it made me really think about my book. and that was really helpful to me especially if i didn't understand the book that well, it made me think.

I think writing online is very different in many ways. For instance typing is a lot different because when you make a mistake or just don't like something you say you can just delete it. Also doing a blog is different because its different then looking in a book because you just scroll down instead of turning the pages but i thought it was a goo experience and i like it more then writing in a notebook in some ways.

i think depending on the person people can be real online. It depends on who is seeing what people are posting but if limited people are seeing it people will actually say the truth but if you know that a lot of people are going to see it you don't really want the whole world to know all of your personnel thoughts. But it really depends on the person, some people don't mind. Depending on the persons personality.

i do think that people abuse their freedom and i do think that they would say things so peoples faces they would never say in person. I think people do that because over the internet people say things hat they don't actually mean and they might say things that sound different to another person and people can get mad and say things they don't really want to say to a person and hurt them. Teenagers have taken Facebook and really taken advantage of it. they made it into a place for cyberbullying and being mean without even really trying.

I can imagine myself continuing this blog, it has really helped me this and i actually had one like this before so it is pretty helpful to me and i can imagine doing a lot. Maybe not every week but i can probably do it on my own time and it can really help me understand my book and make me into a better reader.

Burned by Ella Hopkins

The book Burned by Ella Hopkins is extremely interesting. It is about a girl named Pattyn Von Stratten who is going through a rough time in her life. She is a teenager in high school who isn’t exactly the most popular, and if that isn’t hard enough she also has a pretty rough time at her house. She has 6 sisters which is pretty hard to look after especially since she is the oldest. Her mother is pretty worn out and her father is a lush who beats the mom, so overall Pattyn isn’t exactly having the best time right now. After a while she gets fed up and starts acting out and she gets sent to her aunt’s farm for the summer, to set her straight. 

The way this book is written makes the dad seem like the worst human that walked the earth. He is terribly mean and abusive. Especially since the book is in Pattyn’s perspective the father is really mean to her. But the author left out the dad’s perspective. He doesn’t get a say in the book and the author, Ella Hopkins did that on purpose. 

I think the author of Burned really was sending a message by leaving out the dad’s perspective. I mean us as the readers don’t really know the dad as well as we think, we were never in his shoes. I think there is more to him then what Pattyn shares with us. There is always more to a person then we think. Ella Hopkins might have left out the dads voice for many reasons. One being it makes you have more feelings for Pattyn.Without her dad being this awful person the story isn’t as powerful. Her life isn’t as awful, so you don’t feel as bad for her, and you don’t get really attached to her. 

The moral of this is that we don’t really know people until we talk to them, until we spend time with them. We can’t judge a book by its cover and you need the experience to talk to someone and not depend all on one persons opinion.

Romeo and Juliet essay: rash decisions

Why do people make rash decision? A rash decision is an action that is done without putting a lot of thought into the decision. Sometimes no thought is put into the idea. This could also be known as impetuous. People are always making these types of decisions. Something happens that makes someone make a decision that surprises others. People can argue why things happen but there is always a reason. Everyone makes mistakes and there are usually reasons why behind it, but they are not always right. In the play Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare, people are always making rash decisions. It was rash for Romeo and Juliet to get married, it was impetuous of Romeo to kill Tybalt and it was rash of Romeo and Juliet to kill themselves over each other.  

In Romeo and Juliet one of the biggest decisions they make is to get married. They barley know each other, for about two days and yet they are ready to get married right away. People could say it is love at first sight and they were meant to be, but how were they so willing to make such a big life decision so quickly? They don’t even really know anything about each other, little fun facts about the person that you are committed to is important to know. There could be other reasons why they would get married to early. What if Romeo is trying to get over Rosaline? He could have pushed himself to find someone. In act 1 scene 5 lines 59-60, Romeo says, “Foreswear it sight, for I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.” Even though they never spoke and he has only seen her for a short amount of time, he is saying she is the prettiest girl ever. Not that he doesn’t love Juliet but he could possibly want to just love someone else. This all goes back to the point that he is making a rash decision. And Juliet with Paris, what if she was also looking for an excuse to love someone? Even if Romeo and Juliet do love each other, marriage is a huge deal. Some people date for years and still don’t get married. Some people never get married. Not only that but Juliet is not even fourteen she is way too young. In act 1 scene 3 line 71. Lady Capulet asks her daughter about what she  thinks of marriage and she replies “It is an honor I dream not of.” That shows Juliet didn’t even want to get married in the first place. So why would she automatically get married to Romeo when she meets him? Marriage is a theme in Romeo and Juliet, but it all goes back to the theme of people making rash decisions.

Also is Romeo and Juliet it was a decision that was extremely rash when Romeo killed Tybalt. Sure Romeo was beyond angry with Tybalt for killing his best friend Mercutio. But killing Tybalt was not the right answer. He even surprised himself when he did it. He never intended to do it, but if he had spent more time thinking then he wouldn’t have gone into battle with Tybalt and they whole mess would have never happened. He didn’t give himself any time to be sad over Mercutio and calm down. He just went straight into a fight with Tybalt. He was being rash and irresponsible. He wasn’t thinking about the consequences and they ended up being really bad. This was very impetuous because he didn’t think twice about his decision. People need to think before doing something. In act 3 science 1 line 137 When Romeo was about to kill Tybalt he said, “ This shall determine that.” That means he was going to fight him. He was already extremely mad and he should have given a second thought to fighting someone. Especially someone like Tybalt which he knew wouldn’t end well. Also in act 3 scene 1 lines 127-129 before Romeo killed Tybalt he said “ Alive in triumph and Mercutio slain! Away in heaven, respective lenity, and fire-eyed fury be my conduct now” This shows that Romeo was extremely outraged. He was sad that Mercutio was slain and he didn’t know how else to deal with his death. Romeo knew better yet he made a very rash decision to fight and kill Tybalt. He should have spent more time mourning over Mercutio and he would have been able to calm down. Then the whole thing might not have happened and the whole story could have turned out to be different, maybe even happy.

In Romeo and Juliet it was an impetuous and rash decision that Romeo and Juliet committed suicide. Apparently Romeo and Juliet’s love was like nothing before. It was extremely powerful and nothing could pull them away from each other. And even if that is why they killed themselves the truth of the matter is that, they knew each other for two days. It was a rash decision to kill themselves, they just went for it because they thought they were so in love and all they wanted to do was be with each other. They didn’t think about their decision, they just did it. When Romeo is dying in act 5 scene 3 line 120, he says “thy drugs are quick, thus with a kiss I die.” Romeo wasn’t afraid of dying. Saying something like “I die” is pretty scary and the fact he was brave enough so say that shows that he is someone who isn’t afraid of dying, he just thinks he will be with Juliet forever. But if you think about it, maybe they killed themselves for other reasons. Not only the fact that they were in love was an issue with everyone else but themselves, but their lives basically sucked. Their parents didn’t really care about them, there was the fact that Romeo was banished, Tybalt is dead, there is way too much fighting, and they just wanted to get out of all of the insaneness. But the thing is, no one knows what happens after you die. What if they killed themselves to be with each other but that didn’t happen? They never thought about that so therefore, it was rash.

In conclusion, everyone makes a rash decision, especially in the play Romeo and Juliet. Some characters like Romeo and Juliet make decisions without thinking about what could happen, like marrying, killing, and committing suicide. Romeo and Juliet barely even talk to each other, they don’t know each other really and yet they are willing to get married and then kill themselves. Not only that but Romeo gets way too intense with fighting anf doesn’t think about it before killing Tybalt. People make rash decisions it’s just part of life. In real life when people are handed a contract they just sign it without reading sometimes, and that is very rash of them. What would have happened if Romeo and Juliet hadn’t made those decisions? How would the play be different? In a away it was an interesting choice the author (Shakespear) made. The play wouldn’t be as exciting with out it. So yes rash decisions are bad, but they are a part of life.

The History of Love

I just recently started reading a book called The History of Love. It is actually a really good book except it is very challenging. 

I am not far into the book at all but so far is about a old man who lives in the city and he is actually kind of depressed. I think the author chose to write in the point of view of this man for a reason. There is a certain reputations for people that others just kind of assume.

For example, people with a lot of friends are happy and have an exciting life. Or people that are alone are very sad and boring and this book proves that wrong. The man is not that boring. He may be alone but every day he does something even if he just stays in the apartment. 

He even gets a job to be a nude model. i think the author is actually trying to reach out to the readers and saying something. Everyone has a life, feelings, and even if they are alone doesn't mean that they don't have a life. This guy may be a little depressed but he has things that matter. He has a best friend, bruno, he has an apartment and he lives in an amazing city.

This guy thinks he is completely invisible he even goes out sometimes and bumps into people just so that they would know he was there. That is extremely sad but at least he is trying.

Even if this book is extremely hard its also fascinating. And i hope as i go on, this guy can find some happiness, he deserves it. 

Non Fiction Post April

i just read a pretty interesting article on gymnastics. It is about a girl who is my age, 14 years old, and the only thing she wants is to be in the Olympics. She's not that far from it and she is an amazing gymnast. She has been training for this her entire life.

The girls name is Lara G and she is not like most teenage girls. She has to wake up at 5am everyday to go to the gym. And not only does she do ballet but she also does gymnastics. This article is basically just what her life is about.

In the article Lara talks about how she even stopped for six whole months when she was nine years old.  She quit, she gave up. But at the same time she still always played around with doing splits and cartwheels and other simple gymnastics moves. After a while she realized that she wasn't going to just quit. Gymnastics was her entire life. Sure she didn't exactly get to be a normal girl but this was her dream.

I havent done gymnastics for that long, and a girl my age who is already thinking about the Olympics seems pretty insane to me. But she is really inspiring. She shows people that if you really have a dream and something you want so badly, just go for it. You should never give up.

i am currently reading The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. It is a really fantastic book and it is set in the 1960's. It tells the story of a fourteen year old girl named Lily Owens. I am not that far into the book but so far its mostly about how Lily's mom died when she was four years old. Her and her dad have a tough relationship and the mom's death has been extremely rough on the whole family.

Lily has a lot of questions with things like growing up and things that she can only ask her mom. That is where her “step in mother” Rosaleen comes in. This story sets place where there were slaves and black people were treated awful and Rosaleen was black. But she is like a mother to Lily.

I think the author chose to write in first person of Lily’s perspective for a reason. The author chose to leave out other really important people in the story for a reason. Someone’s perspective who is missing is the dad’s. the author makes it seem like the dad is a really bad guy but the dad is also hurting a lot from the Mom’s death just like Lily. The dad is really harsh on Lily and I think they author didn’t put him in the story because it shows how hard Lily’s life is. If the readers knew also how the dad felt they wouldn’t feel as bad for Lily and I think the author wants people to feel bad for her. 

Perfect by Natasha Friend

Over the break i read a really great book called "Perfect" by Natasha Friend. Natasha Friend was also the author of the book "Lush" which was also a really great book and i did a post on.
Perfect is about a girl named Isabelle and she has an eating disorder called bulimia which is a very serious disorder. You throw up on purpose to be skinnier.
Isabelle is only thirteen years old and already she has been through so much. Her dad died and everything turned upside down for her. She started throwing up and it wasn't even supposed to mean something the first time. She was in the bathroom and it just happened. But then she starts doing it more and more and it becomes an addiction and a huge problem.
Isabelles mom makes her go to therapy and everything to make her better but it doesn't exactly work.

Bulimia is really scary and it can damage your body and it can be so bad as it can kill you. Throwing up all the time is not safe and it has side effects like your teeth yellowing.
I think that Isabelle really just needed her dad. she was hurting and she just got all caught up with being skinny and once you are in such a dark place like that we all know that it is extremely hard to get out. When Isabelle was in therapy she met a friend named Ashley that had the same problem and they even ended up doing it together. A lot of people think its stupid and of course you can control yourself but thats not the case at all, it is a serious eating disorder.
When people are bulimic sometimes what they do is eat a lot, like  an abnormal amount of food and then throw it all up.

One line that really stands out for me is, “When you believe in something, stand up for it, even if everyone is sitting.” i think that this line really means a lot like isabelle needs to believe in herself so she can stop throwing up even if she has to do it alone.