SUMMER ASSIGNMENT: Entry one

 Looking for Alaska by John Green tells a great story of a group of friends who all share the same traumatic experience but comprehend it in their own differents ways. It begins in Florida with the main character Miles, who later get renamed Pudge, as he prepares to go off to boarding school. The rest takes place at Culver Creek boarding school in Alabama where he then meets his soon-to-be best friends Chip Martin (aka coloniel) and Alaska. Pudge comes to this school in search of "A Great Perhaps" or in other words, some sort of meaning to his life. This becomes an internal conflict for him as he begins his endless earch. All throughout their time at this school, they begin to learn a lot about each other's past lives which unravels one of Alaska's internal conflicts. Her mother died when she was at a very young age but something about her mother's death had caused Alaska to carry a lot of guilt with her throughout her entire life. She had noticed her mother had fallen over one day and she just sat by her mother's side not knowing what to do and didn't think to cal 9-1-1 until it was too late; her mother had died of an aneurysm. This guilt later pushes Alaska to do something which creates the major conflict of the book. On the day of her mother's death, Alaska had gotten terribly drunk and had forgotten that she always puts flowers on her mother's grave. She then becomes angry with herself and decides to leave the school late at night driving as fast as she could. Pudge and the Coloniel later find out that Alaska is dead. Both characters along with several others begin to struggle with the idea that she is dead. They cannot figure out if Alaska simply just crashed, or succeeded with a plan of suicide. One question I have is how will Pudge's interest in last words play a part in the book? Will this story have a happy ending after Alaska's death?

3rd Quarter Independent Reading Reflection

• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (323 pages)

• This Present Darkness by Frank E. Pieretti (376 pages)

• Portrait of a Killer by Patricia Cornwrll (361 pages)

• Extreme Measures  by Michael Palmer (343 pages)

• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (158 pages)

This quarter I really did not meet my goals in reading. I had planned on reading at least one romance novel and completing 6 books. This quarter I did not read any romance novels and I also only finished 5 books. I was more focused on really challenging myself last quarter and reading more rigorous books then I might usually read on a regular basis. I feel like this is why I was not able to get through 6 books for the 3rd quarter. As for the romance novel, I was focusing on reading classics this quarter and got sidetracked from accomplishing this goal. I do feel like I accomplished a lot more reading this quarter and really took a step up by completing several challenging books. As for 4th quarter, I would like to read two more books than I did this quarter because I think 7 books will be a good way for me to continue with my reading schedule and staying on top of it. I would also like to read a historical fiction book because this is a genre I rarely ever read so I think it would be good to experiment with it. 

Point of View-Sheila Moss

Sheila Moss has her own unique style of writing. She has a very humorous point of view. Several of her columns are about modern day things and her critiques on them (since she’s an old lady). Her columns often have a funny/intriguing title. For example, some of her columns are, “Speaking of Starbucks”, “Confessions of a Couch Potato” and “OED says OMG, FYI, LOL OK”. Just by reading Moss’ titles, you can tell that her pieces will be humorous and interesting as well, which gives her her unique humor point of view.

In two of Moss’ pieces, “Speaking of Starbucks” and “OED says OMG, FYI, LOL OK” she uses
exaggeration and sarcasm to enhance her humorous point of view. She writes about small subjects in a funny way. In her “Starbucks” column”, Moss describes her first experience drinking coffee from this joint and says, “Oh!My!Gosh! The caffeine hit my veins with a jolt! My eyes may never close again. Wow! That’s some powerful stuff. I won’t sleep for a month! Maybe never!” The use of exaggeration here adds to the column by making it funny in the sense that an old woman thinks she may never sleep for a month because of her cappuccino from starbucks. In “OED says OMG”, Moss uses the same technique. When critiquing the Oxford English Dictionary for allowing texting language to be actual words she says, “BTW (by the way), Google is both a proper noun and a verb these these days. Pretty soon it will probably be an adjective or an expletive.” This too, adds to Sheila’s humorous point of view in her columns because one, throughout her column, she uses texting abbreviations and at the same time she’s also critiquing them. And two, she makes a sarcastic comment on how maybe google will soon be not only a proper noun and a verb, but an adjective and expletive too.   Both Moss’ sarcasm and exaggeration add to the overall humor to her columns and make them enjoyable reads.

Things I learned Last Year(:

Anyone can run for president,

even Donald Trump.

 

Coloring for 20 minutes before bed

can relieve stress.

 

A movie director, somewhere in the US,

can make thousands of dollars

off of a horror movie about

a trip to your grandparents house.

 

It's true, Miley Cyrus

could in fact get crazier.

 

Insomnia certainly

does not suit me

 

It is possible for

the person you thought of as

your best friend

to drift apart from you

 

Nobody can say Hello,

What do you mean or Sorry

without singing the song.

 

 

While I was writing this I related it to William Stafford's version as closely as I could. I followed the same 2,2,4,2,2,4,3 pattern and also tried to make the subject matters the same in each stanza. In my poem, the first stanza is not an intriguing nature fact like Stafford's is. Instead, I chose to have it as something with a sarcastic tone. For the second stanza, just like Stafford's version, I made this a life fact/life hack. As for stanza 3 and stanza 7, I made these have a more sarcastic tone just like in Stafford's version. William Stafford makes references to famous people and also random people so, in my own poem, I did the same in the correlated stanza. Overall, this poem has a more sarcastic tone but the content varies and could be considered as a very random piece of writing. 

Second Quarter Independent Reading Reflection

This quarter, I read and completed 4 books. All That Remains by Patricia Cornwell, The Color of Water by James McBride, The Death of Bees by Lisa O'Donnell and lastly, Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt. Compared to last quarter, I have really picked up the pace on my reading. I completed 2 more books than I did last year that were longer and I feel were more challenging reads. The hardest book I read this quarter was probably Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt. It's written in a way I hadn't experienced before and was definitely hard to get used to at first.. But I think this quarter I read more challenging books that were different and new for me. I chose these types of books because I wanted to try something new in my independent reading. The Death of Bees by Lisa O'Donnell was the most interesting but certainly the best book I read this quarter. I liked how each chapter was written in the perspective of a different character. The storyline I thought was very intense but it kept me engaged from cover to cover. Just from the reading I've gotten done this semester, I've realized the I enjoy more intense stories where a lot is going on at once. It keeps me engaged and helps me not to get bored while reading the story.

Last semester, my goals were to read at least 2-3 books that were out of my comfort zone and to also read at least one book that could be considered "spiritual reading". This quarter, I did meet my first goal of reading at least 2-3 books that were different for me. I ended up reading 4 books instead of 3, all of which were either a different genre or were written in a certain way I had never experienced before. By doin this, I think I expanded my reading preferences and for the third quarter will consider trying even more that could be considered out of my comfort zone. My second goal on the other hand, I do not think I met. Beween all 4 books, I do not believe any of them took me to that "deeper place" and this is somethjing else I will also consider doing for the third quarter.

GOALS:
-I want to read 6 books third quarter to really challenge myself with my reading
-I would like to try a romance books because I usually don't read books like that

Theater Now Open!

Brand new theater is now open! After just recently being built and finished in 1599, the globe theater is ready for Shakespeare's written plays to be performed. Located along the banks on London's River Thames, this large, open-aired theater is the ideal location for a performance. It seats up to 3,000 spectators in it's 100 foot diameter so that all of London can come to enjoy the shows. At the base of the stage, there's an area called "the pit" where you only have to pay a penny to stand and watch a play. For another penny, you could be seated right along the benches by the pit. At three pennies cost, you are given a cushion to sit on. The most expensive seats are located in the "Lord's Rooms" with a cost of six pence. Color coded flags are put up to inform you what type of play will be showing.

Red- History play

White- Comedy play

Black- Tragedy play

ALL MEN AND WOMEN ARE INVITED!

Those of you who would like to be in the plays can audition. MEN ONLY. No women are permitted legally to perform in any of the globe theater productions. The acting profession is not credible and is unthinkable that any woman would appear in a play. Female roles will be given to men between the ages 13 and 19 who's voices are still high and muscles are not yet fully developed.

 

 

 

www.shakespearesglobe.com/uploads/files/2014/01/audiences.pdf

www.bardstage.org/globe-theatre-female-roles.htm

www.nosweatshakespeare.com/reasources/shakepeares-theaters/shakpeare-globe-facts/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Picture This 

In Angela's Ashes, Frank (the main character) is constantly asking his parents questions. Since he's a little kid and isn't very educated, he's very curious about a lot of things that go on or about something his parents may say. As shown in my symbol, Frank is depicted in the bottom left corner with many questions on his mind. His parents are depicted in the top right hand corner with the response he always gets when he asks them something. "Just go play outside Frank." 

"There's no use asking more questions. If you ask a question they tell you it's a mystery, you'll understand when you grow up, be a good boy, ask your mother, ask your father, for the love o'Jesus leave me alone, go out and play. (McCourt 133)" 

This quote clearly goes along with my symbol because of what's going on in both. Frank is always asking questions but never gets an answer to them. So he feels as though there is no point in asking them anything anymore. I think this will be an important detail that leads to the message of the story because it's brought up a lot throughout the book.