Family Tuesday Blog

The topic "Family" has had the most impact on me. As I read the chapter and the part about Mitch's brother I related it to myself. Mitch says, "Yet he remained the family favorite. When he visited home, in his wild and funny presence, I often felt stiff and conservative"(95). This reminds me of my younger brother and me. He is always the energetic and likeable one of my family. I too feel very timid around him like how Mitch felt around his brother. A separate way I can relate this to myself is that like Mitch and his brother, my brother and I are opposites. Mitch states,"...I was obedient, he broke the rules..."(95) This is the same for my sibling. This made me think that maybe the ordering of siblings had a thing to do with their behavior and personality. Mostly, these quotes made me relate to my brother and our relationship with each other. 

Another reason why this chapter has had the most impact on me is because it showed me the need for family. It illustrated what it would be like if someone was familyless. When talking about what it would be like if you didn't have a family, Morrie says, "I'm not sure I could do it. Sure, people would come visit, friends, associates, but it's not the same as having someone who will not leave"(92). I wonder what Morrie means when he says that he wouldn't make it. Does this mean that his personality would decay, or that his body would die? However, it does give me some insight on what my own life would be like if I didn't have a family. It makes me grateful for the family that I do have. It also demonstrates the difference between family and friends. Family will never leave you, but friends might. This chapter made me look at my life differently. 

This topic was very important because it spreads the message about the importance for family. Siblings can be your best friend. When Mitch recalls a time his brother and him went sledding he said, "I grin at my brother and we are united with childish pride"(99). This shows that brothers can gave lots of fun together. It also depicts that this was an important part in Mitch's life, so it had to have some meaning to him. He probably remembered this moment because he felt so connected and happy with his brother that it was part of their bonding experience. This kind of relationship can only be possessed through being siblings. 

Bucket List Blog

What are your initial reactions to what you have read in Tuesdays with Morrie thus far?

My initial reactions is that Morrie is a very down to Earth man. Morrie doesn't care about the material things in life and instead grasps the natural beauty of living. The way that Morrie shows that he is a peace with dying, displays how different he is from other people. Most people would be terrified that they know they would die in a short amount of time. However, Morrie embraces it and tries to make the most out of what little time he does have. He knows that during his life he lived it to the fullest he could. Now that he knows he is going to die soon, he barely has any regrets. 

Another reaction that I had was that Mitch is always trying to be something that he is not. Before and after college Mitch tries to portray someone who isn't him. Before college, he tried to look older by working out, wearing baggy clothes, and pretending to smoke. This was all in the effort to fit in. Now after college, he works crazy hours, gets paid a lot, and has a very stable life. This was not his dream when he was younger. He wanted to help the world and make it a better place. Mitch realizes how unsatisfied he is with his life after he visits Morrie again for the first time. Mitch wants to be that person who tries to help people, but instead he is just a regular nine to five guy.

My Bucket List-

• Go skydiving
• Become as educated as I need to
• Live in another country for a while
• Help underdeveloped countries
• Go to a Blue Man Group concert
• Live in a city apartment
• Go to Niagra Falls
• Have a dog
• Invent something
• Go to a Broadway musical in New York City 
• Be alive until 2100

These things that I listed include things that interest me in accomplishing. For example going skydiving has always been something that I wanted to do. I have always wanted to see the world from that angle. The invent something bullet point means that I just want to make something that no one else has. It doesn't have to become famous or make me lots of money I just want to create something of my own. It might not be possible but I would like to make it to the next millennium. It would be so cool to think that I am living in a new time period from when I was a kid. I would only have to be 97 years old to accomplish it.

Small as an Elephant Blog

Summary

The book Small as an Elephant by Jennifer Richard Jacobson is about a boy who was abandoned by his mother at a campsite in Maine. The boy, Jack, is eleven years old, lives in Boston, and is obsessed with elephants. His mother and him go on a camping trip at Acadia National Park for Labor Day weekend. When he wakes up in the morning his mother is not there. This isn't the first time this has happened, he just wishes should wouldn't be gone long. He must survive on his own searching for his mother all over Maine. The story shows Jack's adventure and survival story of a young boy living on his own with only the clothes on his back and a small plastic elephant.

Do you like what you’re reading? Why or why not?

I did like what I read. I enjoyed the book because it was full of adventure and it was relate-able. This poor boy had to live on his own for a week while trying to dodge the police. He had to hide in some very unusual places. One of these places was a garbage bin because the police were looking for him. Jack also was trying to get to a certain destination so he needed some sort of transportation. The book says on page 124, "Before anyone else pulled into the lot, Jack jumped into the back of the truck, scurried under the tarp, and lay there facedown." This shows how he would jump into a complete strangers car in order to get where he wanted to go. He was desperate to not walk the entire way. I liked how he did this because it shows how he wasn't fearful of what might happen to him. This book is relate-able because it is about a boy who is around my age. I can imagine walking in his footsteps and thinking what he thought. 

Is what you are reading believable? Why or why not?

The book is believable. It is believable because there are many mothers who abandon their children. For whatever reasons that they do, it happens a lot. The mother in the story also had an illness so you could imagine that there was something that compelled her to want to leave. It is also believable because a kid can live alone for only a week. In the beginning, Jack collected old cans to get money. The book says, "That meant that he could get five cents for every drink container he took to the store". (57) This knowledge is something that many people know so a kid would probably use it for his advantage. This book is believable in another way because Jack is obsessed with elephants. Many people have something that they absolutely love and think about all the time. His passion for these animals drove him to continue on with his adventure.

3rd Quarter Reflections Blog

The area that I think I made the biggest improvement in is being organized. Before this quarter, I would often forget about homework in other classes and then do them in the morning. Now I list all the homework I have everyday. This helps me visualize what needs to be done so I can see how much time I need to do my homework. By doing this, I now have time to do other things at my house besides schoolwork. It gives me a lot more freedom too. 

Some things that I have accomplished this quarter that I am proud of is my Battle of the Books reading. These last few weeks I have really read a lot more than I have before. I persevered through a 500 page book. I have never read a book that long before. The book that I read was Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan. This book was very interesting in the way that all the stories meshed in with each other. It really captivated me to continue reading even though it was a very long book. Now I am on to my final Battle of the Books novel. 

The most challenging part of the third quarter was learning about the Holocaust. The material that we were exposed to was very brutal and inhumane. When you learn about something that dark and horrible for weeks, it can really take a toll on you. However, I know that we need to learn about these things because the past affects the future. By being educated we can prevent it from happening again. Even though there was all these horrendous things that we researched, I am really interested in it. It is intriguing to know why this happened and who it affected. Also, how we can stop it in the future. 

Life is Beautiful Blog

 

The movie Life is Beautiful and the book Night, are very similar. One of the ways the two pieces are similar is that they both show father-son bonds. In Night the main character is the son and in the movie the main character is the father. In Life is Beautiful if the father died then the little child wouldn't know how to survive in the camp alone. Joshua, the son,  was living there in secret and he thought that it was a game. Unknowing of the real circumstances that he was in, Joshua could have accidentally gotten himself killed. If the father died in the book then Elie wouldn't have a reason to live and continue on. His dad was the lifeboat that kept him afloat. In both pieces they depend on each other to live. Another reason the movie and book were alike was that the concentration camps both worked in a similar way. The men and women were separated into different barracks. Elie lost his mother and sister, while Guido lost his wife. There was also selections that made the old and very young go to the crematoriums. In addition to selections there was physical examinations. Elie had to run, and Guido was looked at. Both Elie and Guido were tattooed their serial number. One of the last things that was similar was that if both the main characters would have stayed at the camp a few days longer, then they would have been free. They both decided to try to run away, but in the end it caused more of a burden. 

The movie and book were also different in a few ways. One thing that was different was the ages of the main characters. Guido was in his 30s or so, and Elie was a teenager. Another thing that was different was how the characters were treated. In Night Elie was beaten and yelled at multiple times. It seemed as if he was treated a lot more cruelly than Guido or Joshua were. There wasn't a lot of detail of the conditions that Guido was in. Life in Life is Beautiful seemed a lot more relax than they did in Night. Another thing that I noticed was different was how there wasn't as much security. In the book it made it appear that someone was always watching them and overseeing their work. However, in the movie Guido and Joshua were always doing something that they weren't supposed to. An example of this was when they were walking at night after Guido was a waiter. They got to their barracks without anyone suspecting or seeing them.

The tone of the movie was a lot more carefree than the book. In the movie Guido is making jokes and laughing with the hopes of cheering up Joshua. He makes it seem like it isn't really a horrible place to live, compared to how Elie made it seem. Joshua's perspective on the camps really affected his experience of his time there. Since he was innocent and didn't know what was happening, the realness of his situation never got to him. For example, when he was hiding in the box at the end he must have been nervous. He was nervous because he thought someone might find him and he would lose the game, not that someone would find him and kill him. If he was Elie, for example, then he would have been terrified waiting in the box. The levels of suspense between the two people are very different.

Even though the movie was based in a concentration camp, there was beauty shown. One of these instances was when Guido talked over the speaker with Joshua. He talked about his dream and that Dora was in it. Dora listened with hope and love. This experience showed her that her family was still alive and well. This also shows beauty because Guido risked his safety to let Dora know their existence. A guard could have walked in at any moment and shot both of them on the spot. Despite these risks, Guido still knew in him that talking on the loudspeaker would help his wife more than anything. Another moment that beauty was shown was when Guido played the song for the entire camp to hear. This one song transported Dora and Guido to a time when live was good. They were in the opera house once again. The song makes them remember how life used to be.

Argumentative Articles Blog

The most pressing argument that I learned today was the children boarder crisis. This was Aine's article and it talked about what steps should be taken to handle the crisis. In her article "How should we handle the children boarder crisis?" the two sides were very different from each other. The Pro side described how the US government would provide visas when necessary, also that they would try to help the kids as much as they could. Of course the children caught would be put into detention centers, but attorneys would act as their lawyers with the case. Attorneys would have to do this because the children weren't considered refugees so they were not provided with a lawyer. The Con side, however, believes that all illegal immigrants should be deported. They didn't want to give them a chance to earn a visa or become a citizen. Beside deportation, the author wanted to close the border all together. The main reason for this was because the author thought that if the government did these actions, then there would be a decrease in drug or human trafficking. These two sides are very controversial because the opinions are completely opposite. I believe that this article is the most pressing because this is a huge topic today in the media. Many people have very straightforward ideas on what should happen to immigrants and the border. 

This argument doesn't personally affect me. I am not an immigrant with the chance of deportation and I am not a person who decides the fate of the children. If there was a law made tomorrow that the border would be closed, my life would pretty much stay the same. Although, I would be emotionally affected by it. Many of my family members had to go through the process of becoming citizens. So to know that other people can't would be very upsetting. Even though I am not really affected by it, many other people are. There would an abundance of children and family members who's lives would change because of it. 

Night Blog

Throughout the book Night by Elie Wiesel, the main character, Elie, loses his faith. In the beginning of the memoir, Elie was very close with God. He prayed all the time and never doubted anything different then what he was taught. During the first pages of the book it says, "By day I studied Talmud and by night I would run to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the Temple.”(Wiesel 3) This shows how dedicated he is to the Jewish religion. However, this is before he is sent to the concentration camps. The horrible events that occur during his time in the concentration camp make him to believe that God is to blame for all the injustice happening in the world. Elie states, "For the first time, I felt anger rising within me. Why should I sanctify His name? The Almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent. What was there to thank him for?”(33). In this quote Elie begins to realize that God isn't going to do anything about saving the lives of all the innocent people. He becomes mad at him, putting all his hate into God. From the beginning of the book Elie goes from being a very pious boy, to a faithless person.

Another way that Elie was changed was through his personality. Being a prisoner for so long made him think of only himself. When his father is slapped in front of Elie he states, "I stood petrified. What had happened to me? My father had just been struck, in front of me, and I had not even blinked. I had watched and kept silent. Only yesterday, I would have dug my nails into this criminal’s flesh. Had I changed this much? So fast?” (39). This shows the difference between Elie's actions in and out of the concentration camp. Before he was placed in Auschwitz Elie had a lot of pride and would defend his father for any sort of punishment. After residing in the camp for only a little amount of time, Elie remains silent. He thinks that if he acts out then he will be punished as well. The fear of being penalized, makes him a different person.

Elie's personality was altered in a similar way. During his time in the camp, Elie has to take care of his father. Most of the time Elie feels like this is the right thing to do. The novel states, "I brought him water. Then I left the block for roll call. But I quickly turned back. I lay down on the bottom bunk. The sick were allowed to stay in the block. So I would be sick. I didn't want to leave my father."(Wiesel 111). This quote shows how devoted he is to taking care of his father. Elie doesn't want to be without him. However, his total devotion changes. After his father is taken to the crematorium, Elie says, "And deep inside me, if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, I might have found something like: Free at last!..."(112). Elie is showing how he really felt about his father. He thought that he was a huge burden that restricted him from an easier life. Before his dad died, Elie would never have been able to admit it. Now, he can say that his father was a hardship.

Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York: Hill and Wang, 2006. Print.