Response to God Bless Alameda

So I was looking over reader and I found a response that was interesting. This was a response from Rokhsor to Aleah that was talking about Alameda.

I am shocked. If anything, Alameda is the coolest place to be and just because you do not like it here, does not make it dumb or stupid or anything like that. I am tired of people calling Alameda bad names. If you do not like it, then do not talk about it. It is as simple as that. Just because people live in Oakland and it’s where all the “cool people” live, does not make everywhere else dumb...First of all, if Alameda is bootsy, then what are you doing at an Alameda school? I am not trying to sound rude at all but it is the first question that popped up in my head. Since Alameda is bootsy, then you might as well find a good school at Oakland. Oh yeah, since it is so much better than Alameda, then it shouldn’t be that hard to find a good school in Oakland that is offering the same kind of things that ASTI is.

Ok. Before I start, I want others to know that I am not trying to take any sides, this is just my opinion. So, some people might know I live in Oakland, so I probably might be biased towards Oakland.  I have never lived in Alameda so I do not really know how it is. I also do not really hang out in Alameda as much.


 I agree with Rokhsor that Alameda is a nice place that is not stupid or dumb. I like to kid around with Rokhsor saying that Oakland is better, but she does have some points. If Oakland is so cool, why would you go to school to Alameda. This was the thing that always got to me because it is true, why would I go to school in Alameda? I still don't even have a good complete answer for that question. One thing I did not really agree with was this. By the way I read it, you are trying to say that there are no good schools in Oakland. If you are trying to say that, I could differ. There are many schools all over Oakland, and all of them have a different styles of teaching and just a different style overall. All schools are good in their own way, some help more in different ways. 


I love Oakland, but I also like Alameda. Alameda is a nice place to chill and be safe. Even though I like Alameda, there are some things I dislike. From what I heard is that Alameda is turning "ghetto". I thought this was funny because you can not really turn ghetto out of the blue, especially Alameda. Maybe it could, but have some doubts about it. It is more like there are people in Alameda who are ghetto, not Alameda is turning ghetto. Last thought, I would prefer to live in Oakland than Alameda just because I have not really experienced Alameda as much. If I did live there, then maybe it would be the other way around.  Merry Christmas and New Years to everyone. :)

LCD #3 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

So I just finished reading this book and I can say many things about it. First of all, at first I was not really interested in it, but reading a few pages, I was hooked. This book has a writing style that is very unique that hooks you immediately. It was really well written from characters, to the plot, to the conflicts. The main conflict was throughout the whole book. I am happy to say that I feel like I read a book about an autistic kid that overcomes many things and grows to be more matures. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a short engaging book.

Today's discussion was at it's best from the past weeks. We had many more options to talk about in the book since we read the whole book. We talked about a few things. We talked about things we did not really understand. We also discussed about Christopher being with his mother and father. Also since Christopher has had many encounters with the police, we talked about the police. We talked about how police compare and contrast from different countries, cities, regions, years and etc.

One point that was brought up many times in all the the discussions was the comparison with this book and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. If may not know, this book was also great. I recommend Of Mice and Men also. Anyways, some group mates were bringing up this point. They said that two of the main characters are very similar, Lennie and Christopher. Both characters have a certain illness were they act like a kid or do not understand things very well. Some keys things is that they both like dogs. During both book, they get to interact or have a dog, and they both love their dogs.

This discussion was a great one, too bad it is the last one for this book. Last comment of book, buy it, borrow it, anything; just read it. This will be the last post for this book, bye bye book. I am looking forward to another discussion about other books or anything else. Since this might be one of the last posts of the year, I would like to leave with a Happy Christmas and Happy New Years everyone. :)

LCD #2 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

So far, the book has been great. It has been very original and interesting to read. It feels as if it were really written by an autistic kid. I am almost till the end of the book. Many things have happened and finally we found out who the killer of the dog is. By now, I sort of feel like I understand the main character, Christopher, or like as if I know him. this book is very well-written. Almost done with the book. Two thirds finished, one third left to go.

This week's discussion was better from last times I believe. This week, I actually participated some in the discussion. I asked questions, answered some questions and used some quotes. We all participated which made the discussion really interesting and better than last weeks'. Some questions that came up during the discussion were about the plot, characters and about autistic people. These were the main things in our discussion. One example of these questions was," How do police in England deal with autistic kids?" One thing that stood out to me. While we discussed about what was going to happen next into the book, Christian popped in and and claimed something significant. He said," In the beginning, Christopher was talking about mystery novels. He said that the best mystery novels you could find out in the middle of the book. Later on in the book or in the middle of the book, you find out who the killer is." This was very interesting because it was really true.

This discussion brought me to some questions. I still have some questions about autistic people. Before, I did not know that much about autistic kids, but now I am sensing sort of how they are. Also, I have questions about how England is or was during the time in the book. Oh, by the way this is taken place in England. In england there are people that treat Christopher in certain ways that make me question how England is. Overall, I believe this discussion was better than last weeks. The book is great and I would recommend this book to everyone I know who would want to read a book.

Response to Shannon

So I was looking in reader for stuff about Oakland. I found this quote from Shannon that also lives in Oakland. So I thought she can really know how Oakland is. Here is the following quote from Shannon,

I hear that there is some debate on whether or not Oakland is safe or not. Living in the hood for my whole life, I would say Oakland is fine. A lot of people call it a "kill-zone" and say its dangerous. From the parts I've lived in and from my experience its not really dangerous unless you're unlucky and shot as an innocent bystander or you're into some stuff. Most people in Oakland aren't even into stuff. Oakland has actually been very safe for me and lots of other people. There are parts that are very nice like Montclair and the Oakland Hills are all safe as can be...As for the gangs, there are gangs and gang affiliation in Oakland but the difference is its just as much as any other city. Oakland is targeted because of stories that people have heard on the news of people getting shot or stabbed or something. Just as much crime happens elsewhere but Oakland has been targeted.

I can really agree with Shannon. I also live around a "ghetto" neighborhood. Oakland is dangerous for you only if for certain reasons. If you are involved in drug deals, gangs, or maybe in the wrong places at wrong times. Mainly you get into trouble if you are in a gang. Of course there is going to be violence if you are representing a gang because other people represent a different gang. If you are in like a drug deals, this could get into money problems with drug dealers and produce problems.  These are the problems that make cities look bad, or more certainly Oakland look bad.

Do not get me wrong, there is also robbing, jumping (fights), killings, rapers, and all sorts of stuff in Oakland, but this happens everywhere, not just Oakland. I think you have an equal chance of being robbed  in every other city. People just so happen to think Oakland is bad. Also, the news is mainly that makes Oakland look bad, they make it so dramatic and since they only show important things on T.V or news people think its true or bad. Oakland is sometimes a dangerous place, but its is a great place.

Corbally's Short Story: Pearls Before Swine

Kathryn Douglas

Lhadze B.

Jesse Valdez

Luis Alba

Pearls Before Swine

            The silence never sounded as loud when Paul held Abbey’s body in his hands. His eyes widened as he held the bloody ink pen in his hand and watched her cold, lifeless body. The past memories were never so vivid until he was able to see her dead in his arms and panic consumed his face. He knelt over her body and closed his eyes.

            His high school year was the whole reason why he was so violent. Paul and Abbey had been a great couple. Paul loved her; he would do anything for her. He remembered picking her up from her house in his truck and getting out of the car. Abbey came out of her house in her little red dress, nimbly walking over in her heels, putting on the delicate corsage. He was stunned at her amazing grace and beauty. He opened the truck door for her and headed to prom. Paul was nervous and the ride was quiet.

            As they entered the gym where prom was being held, he had a slight feeling someone else was reserving her. Paul and Abbey sat at a table with their friends from high school. They had fun with their friends, but as they left to dance, Abbey and Paul stayed silent. As the night went on, Abbey acted strange. She glanced around as if looking for someone. She suddenly stood up, walked away and never looked back as someone came through the door. She paced towards the other boy with the pig tattoo on his biceps that was standing by the door. Anger boiled in Paul’s stomach. Abbey with no sense of pity kissed the guy with the pig tattoo. Paul jumped in his seat and starred at them. Embarrassment came over him. He got up and left.
            As Paul drove his truck in anger, his mind was still on Abbey and how he witnessed her cheating on him. He started to grimace his malicious thoughts while driving away from the worst night of his life. The guy’s pig tattoo was still fresh in his mind. He wondered who he was, with hatred towards him and Abbey; he repeated slurs to both Abbey and the other guy. While driving, he spotted a pig, and hatred busted inside him. He immediately thought of Abbey and the pain she caused him. Then, on impulse, he made his truck go as fast as it possibly could, and hit the pig. The car shook and swerved. He got out of the truck to see if it was dead, he realized he had imagined it; the pig was merely a hallucination. He wondered why the car had shook if he did not hit the pig. He noticed that he had hit a bopulder that had made the car shake and swerve. A distant bright light came near as he realized what had just happened and released a piercing laughter. A horn sounded and he looked in front of him still laughing, and before he knew it, everything went black.
            After he regained consciousness, he saw a white-walled room. He noticed the numerous amount of wires attached to him. It didn’t take him very long to realize that he was in a hospital. He touched his face and felt his grown facial hair all over. His eyes felt tired and heavy. He looked towards the digital clock. He noticed something strange. The date was 3 years after prom. He did not remember anything that happened between prom night or now. He was about to gasp, but quickly stopped. Something was clamping his jaw shut so that he couldn’t speak. He thought while in pain, I shouldn't have tried to run over the "pig". I shouldn't have lost control like that. In half an hour, some surgeons came in to check and fix whatever was clamping down on his jaw. They noticed it would not take long and began. Paul saw some of surgeons using screws on his teeth. He felt a sharp pain, but it went away in seconds. Soon after his rest and recuperation one of the surgeons got a mirror and asked him what he thought. He saw himself and was shocked. His face was covered with hideous scars. He did not recognize himself.
            Later on, the nurse entered the room and introduced herself. Paul recognized her at the sound of her name, Abbey. Abbey apparently did not recognize who he was, she told him; don’t be so scared, the scars will go away in a while. Paul tried to tell her whom he was, but he was unable to speak because the wires in his jaw caused too much pain. Abbey did not notice that he struggled to say something. She put her hand down on the counter to reach a new pillow for Paul’s head on her tippy toes trying to get higher into the cabinet to grab a new pillow for Paul’s head. She had a ring on her left hand. He shook with fury on his bed when he noticed, and the entire hospital would have heard him scream, if only it weren't for the thing on his jaw. The shiny object on her finger was an engagement ring, with words engraved on it. And Paul knows that it wasn't him that gave it to her. One thing crossed Paul’s mind, his revenge.
            Abbey came in and closed the door. Her white shoes and blue nurse attire annoyed him as His heart beat sped up and face heated. He lifted himself from the hospital bed with sharp pains from every direction engulfing his body. Waiting until she stepped forward, Paul grabbed her and took the pen out of her pocket. He looked Abbey dead in her grey eyes while she stared at him with shock. When he was close to tears he whispered, Abbey. He grabbed her arm and jammed the pen in her wrist, cutting open the flesh. She screamed out for help, but he quickly cupped his hand over her mouth. He said, “Be quiet,” with a murderous tone to his gruff and unrecognizable voice. He caressed her face with malice in his eyes and held the pen up to her neck as she slowly started to lose consciousness. He remembered that horrible heartbreaking day from the past and the crash that ruined him. His heart enflamed and face reddened. The last time he saw her, she was looking at him, deviously giggling and now she was different. Ugly, he thought, that pig man made her ugly, the way she smiled at him, she never smiled like that at me. She could very well be dead to me. Very well be damned to hell dead in my eyes. I want her dead; if I couldn’t have her, neither can that pig. He took a deep breath, forcedly and jammed the pen into Abbey’s soft neck. Her eyes flickered and she was no longer. His hands were soaked with Abbey’s crimson blood. 
            He dropped her and wiped his hands on his hospital gown. Paul looked over her dead body on the floor, dropped the pin and limped to the door. It creaked as he opened it slowly. Once he was outside, he looked both ways of the hall and dashed. Running down the grey halls, memories of the good times flashed into his head and he snickered bitterly. He could see the security guards running towards him, they had heard her desperate cry. He realized that he would not get away and stopped running. The securities tackled him and searched him for weapons. Paul looked up to the ceiling while the guards put the cold cuffs on his wrist and said,” Pearls before swine,” and fell to his knees and hit the floor. Blood spilled out of his mouth and his body was covered in Abbey’s blood. He knew that once he killed her, he had taken a piece of her with him to the fiery pits of hell.

LCD #1 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

To say the truth and not take much credit from the discussion, I did not really participate in this discussion. I have certain reasons for this but I am not here to talk about that. Anyways, the book I am reading is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. So far, this book is really interesting and engaging.  To summarize just a little without giving spoilers, this is how it goes. A neighbor's dog is on lawn dead with a fork stabbed in it. So the main character decides to investigate for its killer. This book had some subjects on to discuss.

During the discussion, we talked about most if not all the character so far into the book. We talked about the main character, and just a few characters that popped out no where. Some characters that we talked about were Christopher (the kid), his dad, Mrs. Shears, Mrs. Alexander (old lady), and some neighbors. We analyzed their actions and tried to describe their personalities from them. Another thing we discussed about what this book reminded us. As Troy stated that this book is like Of Mice and Men. He said this because of the characters in the book. He said that Christopher and Siohbah reminded him of George and Lennie. In my head i agreed with this because it really was like Of Mice and Men. We also predicted about what was going to happen next. This brought some different thoughts from different characters to events. One example of the predictions was a suspected killer. We agreed and disagreed, but I think we all might know who it was.

This discussion brought me to some hypotheses and some questions. One hypothesis is the killer of the dog. I can not tell tell because it is sort of of a spoiler if I were to say. What brought me to this hypothesis were the different perspectives of suspects from my peers or group. One question that came through my mind after this discussion was. Overall, I believe this discussion was pretty good or semi-successful, but the book is too awesome.

Response to Alex

So I searched up Oakland on google reader and this post from Alex came up. This quote is interesting because he is talking about a show that was starred in Oakland. This was sort of like a documentary on gangs in Oakland. Here is the following quote.

This was really pointed out to me the other day when I was flipping through the TV channels and I came upon this show named gang wars. This show caught my attention in particular because it was talking about the gangs and violence in Oakland. The show specifically focused on the cycle of violence. Whenever one act of of violence was committed it would be responded to by another act of violence. It is a sad truth that many people in Oakland have to deal with... It is sad to see teens my age getting caught up in this violence. It sickens me to think that they are just throwing away their lives for what a gun, power, females, toughness.

I have watched this show named Gang Wars: Oakland, but I am not sure that this is all true. I think that this   show was not that accurate or true. First of all, they copied I believe the History channel with Gangland, just thought I should point that out. Next is that they make the police seem like they actually want to help Oakland and make the police look nice. In reality, many policemen are different. Some harass people and believe they are in control. Do not get me wrong, there are many policemen that have their heart in the right place and actually want to help out Oakland. There are also scenes where the police are busting through doors to get into houses, which makes it look like the police do this all over oakland, which they do not. Also the commentator makes it sound like Oakland is a really dramatic place to live at. With his deep serious voice, that is creepy after you listen to it after a while. Like when he said," It is 10,000 gang members versus a group of 11 police officer that are highly trained." Oh and my favorite one," [Police]...all they have is hope." This show made me actually bad about living in Oakland at first, but now it seems as a lot of what they said was just exaggeration. Lesson of the day is... do not believe everything you see on the T.V.!

I agree that there is a lot of violence all over Oakland, If it is either by ethnicity, social class, or gangs. Much of this violence comes from way back in the past. Some of it also comes from dumb decisions from teenage boys and girls.

The Kite Runner Book Review

The Kite Runner

The author of The Kite Runner, Khaled Hossein wrote this amazing book. This book is about a kid named Amir. Amir and his father Baba have a servant named Ali. Ali has a son named Hassan. Hassan and Amir are good friends. Throughout the story, they both go through trouble with a pair of guys with their leader Assef. Time passes by and Amir and Hassan get separated. Amir moves  to America. In America Amir gets his education, wife, and career. Amir returns to his country to settle things. In his old country, he finds everything very different from before. he meets new people there and tries to help a certain some one.

Khaled Hosseini has a very unique style in his writing. His style  He uses plenty of irony, details, and setting. This book is rich with irony. He also puts many detail into the characters and setting. The details that he writes about certain characters gives many feelings towards them. For example, it gives many feelings towards some characters like Hassan and Amir. This makes the book more sentimental and feel like you actually know them. The details towards the setting is amazing. This makes the setting feel like you are there. This is important because it gives a feeling or  mood towards all of Afghanistan. Also, he uses plenty of foreshadowing. the foreshadowing in this book is full of suspense. This makes you want to read more. In many parts, the foreshadowing . He does not exactly write details about the characters, but more describe their personality. This increases the interest into the book. One example of this irony is when Amir is in the hospital in Afghanistan.

The impact had cut your upper lip in two, he had said, clean down the middle. Clean down the middle. Like a harelip.

This is an example of irony. This is irony because Hassan used to  have a harelip in the same spot where Amir now has it. I think this signifies as revenge. Irony plays a big role in this book, there are many more examples.

One key person with many perspectives on him is Amir. Many people have different thought on him. When he was a kid, he stood up for no one and was full of fear. I believe he just wanted to redeem himself to Baba, or just make him proud. Since Amir is trying so hard to redeem himself,he does not care or pay attention much to Hassan. Even though Amir wants to stand up for others and himself, he has a hard time doing it. I do think he is a total selfish not person, but sometimes he is. He thinks about himself first, which at times is not bad but at the same time it is.

This book reminds me of The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. These two books are similar but have some differences. In The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, the setting is based on a reservation for Indians. There, the main character is Arnold. Arnold’s parents were alcoholics and the mom did not stand up for Arnold when his dad was drunk. Arnold is best friends with the toughest guy in the reservation named Rowdy. They both have a great relationship. Arnold then moves to a white school which sort of breaks apart their relationship. In this school, he is picked on because he is the only Indian. He start to fall for one of the girls there. He then joins basketball varsity. He starts to get recognition because of varsity basketball.

One thing that really clicked with the similarities is this. Amir used to read Hassan stories or books to him. Their relationship broke because they moved away from each other.While in The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, it is similar. Arnold used to draw pictures, portraits, and scenes for Rowdy to see or give them to him. The reason they sort of stopped talking was because Arnold moved to a different school and stopped talking to him. In both books, for some reason they had a certain hang out by a tree. In The Kite Runner, the tree spot was were Amir would read Hassan the books or stories. The tree spot in The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian was for Arnold to show Rowdy the drawings or to climb the trees. If i could recall, I believe that Arnold also carved their names on the tree just like Amir. One big similarity in both of these books are the main characters. Amir and Arnold are very alike. They both are fearful. For example, Amir is afraid to stand up for others and himself. Arnold is the same, he was afraid of mainly standing up for himself. They both had a best friend that somehow separated. Amir had Hassan, they both separated. Arnold had Rowdy, but they both separated. Finally, they both depended on their best friends. Amir sort of depended on Hassan to stand up for him when in need, and he did stand up for him. Arnold depended on Rowdy for protection or help in school. The Kite Runner and The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian are very similar books, and I recommend both of them.

This book is intended for different audiences depending on maturity. Since many events happen in this book, some of them are some crucial nasty moments in the book. I think this book is intended for eighth graders or high schools, or any adult. This book is very sentimental into the graphic events. This book is not for kids that are immature or too young. They would not understand and praise the reason of this book. They probably would not recognize the irony, foreshadowing, and graphic events. This book is intended for people who are mature. I say this because the events in this are no laughing matter, which immature people would maybe laugh at.

Overall, this book is great. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for an interesting book. Two thumbs up and a 9.75 out of 10.

The Kite Runner #3

Wow! This book was really what I had not expected. Many saddening events happened that just came out of the blue. I was amazed by all the irony and events in the book. I never knew so much symbolic irony could happen in one book. This book was enjoyable to read, not much other books like this one. Even though the end was sort of dull or an ending I did not like much, it still gave a certain mood or relief towards Amir. My final thoughts have changed about Amir. He used to be a very weak spoiled little kid. But now I think he changed in many good ways. He is now more happy, helpful, courageous, and could recognize his mistakes.

The irony in this book was so juicy. I personally loved the irony in this book, it was my favorite part. Most of the irony comes back from the past in Amir's life. It is either between Hassan, Amir, Baba, and other people and events. For example, one thing that was irony is when Amir was at the hospital and they told him he had a severe cut on his lip, which for me exemplified like Hassan's harelip. Another thing was that Sohrab was a sex slave for Assef, and Hassan was raped by Assef. I could go on and on but I want to keep this somewhat short.

I would definitely recommend this book to everyone I would know, or maybe to people I do not know. If I were a librarian, I would tell people to check this book out. The irony, the events, the feeling, the mood, the the characters, the setting; it is all there. All of these great features come in this great products. Now I sound like I am trying to advertise this book, but I am. Everyone should read this book, read it!! I could go on and on about how much I like this book, which is very unusual for me to like books. My final thought on The Kite Runner, I will never forget this book and it will help me think about how my life is. This book gets a 9.90 out of 10 just because I did not like the ending as much. But overall, great great book.

Daily

Oakland is a great place to live at. If you may not know, I live in Oakland. Oakland is so much fun, so many things to do all day. You can go walking around, play sports, or just hang out with some friends. There are many places where you can go, the park, stores, or just outside. Many people out there say," Ohhhh... Oakland is dangerous, do not go outside or you will get shot." No, this hardly happens where I live, sometimes. Most danger is not during the day, it is during the night. What would you be doing at night all alone anyways. Overall, many stuff are to be done in Oakland and enjoyed, and it is my pleasure to be able to explore this amazing city.

My daily routine is all done in Oakland. First, wake up and get ready for school. Next, go to Alameda or ASTI. Go through all the periods of the day and then head home. Either I do most of my home work or just half. Mainly, my friends and I go to the park or just skate for a while. Sometimes we have those really lazy days and just sit down and watch T.V. or play video games. By the end of the day I would be in a good mood and start to finish up my homework. When I am done, take a shower, watch some T.V. and go to sleep. Most days are like this over the weekdays, but on weekends it is always different.

I do many different things on weekdays. On Saturdays, I would go to different malls, go out to eat, or maybe even do some community service. Yes I said community service. Community service is so much fun when you are with friends. I do community service about every sunday and it is so worth it. On sunday I usually go to church, go to this one class, and theater. Most sundays I go to the Alameda theater with a group of friends. I sort of feel bad for the people who have to sit in the same room when watching the movie. We always are so loud in the theater. We make many comments out loud that make me start to roll with laughter. Even though that is not in Oakland it is near it. hehe

Response to Fermin

So I saw this post from Fermin's blog and I thought it was very interesting. This blog post was about death, or fear of death. I chose this quote because I think many people can relate to this. In the following quote, Fermin is talking about how he is not feeling safe around Oakland.

 I'm not really scared to die. Sooner or later you will die and cant do anything about it. I live in East Oakland and to be honest, I sometime just don't feel safe walking through the streets. If I see a car that is going really fast and filled with guys wearing a common color, I say to my self, "these guys are gang members". If I see that, I just hope that i wont get shot and killed. But,  If that would ever to happen, it is what it is. 

I choose this quote because I can really relate to it. I also live in east Oakland, but not so deep in. I live in a place called Jingle Town. In Jingle Town the sort of gang colors are black and yellow. I also feel the same way Fermin does. Many times, strange cars pass around driving slowly with many guys in it. When I see this I just don't look at the car and mind my own business. When this happens, I feel some fear but at the same time I feel like nothing will happen.

I also am not scared of death. Well, I would not say I am not scared of death, I am just scared of the way I die. For example, I do not want to die from torture or something very painful. I would not mind to die from a gun in the head because that is better than feeling a lot of pain. So many people are afraid of death for some reason. I understand that you do not want to die young, but that does not mean you have to be scared of it. I am scared of growing up too fast and not enjoying life. I might sound like I am trying to brag or looking down on people who are scared, but I am just pointing it out, which is not so good either.

The Kite Runner #2

This section of the book surprised me in many ways. Many events happened throughout this section of the book. In this section it feels like you are going through his life and events. The events are very detailed and mysterious. Some events I did not expect at all to happen in the story, or at least this early into the book. I am not allowed to say any spoilers, so I will not describe any of the events. Also, this section made me think about some predictions that will happen. So far, I am still satisfied about reading this book. It has many epic events that lead to other events.

One quote that really struck me is one from the beginning of the book. The following quote, Baba is talking to Amir about the main sin in life, stealing.

When you kill a man, you steal a life...You steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. Do you see?

This quote sort of convinced me to believing that stealing is the biggest sin. These are very great arguments to making it convincing. One thing that makes me believe that stealing is the biggest sin is that you could say this to anything. For example, if you stand close to someone, they or you could say get away your stealing my air, or something like that. That is what led me to not believe that is the biggest sin. Even though these are great arguments, I still think that there are greater sins in life.

This book has made me realize how other places are. The author makes where he is from sound really bad, but I believe there were also good places during that time. If you may not know, during that time is when where they lived was being invaded by Russians I believe. There was much tension between them and Russians. Also, there are some characters in here that make many people from over there look nice. But also there are people that make it sound a very bad place. One person that makes it sound nice is Rahim Khan. The person that makes it seem very bad is Assef. I believe these two characters give a big role into the feeling or mood of the setting.

Response to David's blog

So I was looking around for an interesting post on google reader and I found this amazing song from David's post. His song made me shake for a while but then I understood it. The song title is B.I.T.C.H or Broken, Ignorant, Tramp, Confused, Hateful. Here is a quote from his analysis of his song,

In each verse, I give a little detail about what it is this person does. In the first verse where it says, "Don't you turn off the switch," she is desperately begging for someone to help her. In the second verse where it says, "I throw your self-esteem in the trash, not the recycling bin," it means she insults people so badly that it scars them for life. The pre-chorus is talking about misunderstanding of why her life sucks. Finally, in the chorus she is completely miserable and does not know what to do, it's like her life turned against her because of how bad she was living it. Btw, the title is an acronym (B.I.T.C.H.)

 When I skimmed through this song I thought it was about something emo (not dissing). After I read this quote or analysis I thought about it for a while. I can see that the inspiration for this song came from someone that David did not dislike but had no respect for her. This song is all about her, how she needs help but can not get it. For example when David stated," I throw your self-esteem in the trash, not the recycling bin," means many things. I thought about it as like how trash never comes back, and recycling does. So her self-esteem is thrown in the trash so it would not come back and form again, keywords here would not come back. I hope this is sort of understood.

This song was very creative. I enjoyed reading this song because it is so unique. It is unique because I have not heard many songs like this that has this type of feeling towards a person. I was surprised when I read this song. If I could rate this song I would give it a high score. But how could I rate a song that came from someone's heart. Oh, and I also liked the title of the song, very creative title. Overall good song, kudos to you David.

Substitutes

Lately we have had many substitutes, which is not bad so far. I have noticed many things about these substitutes. First of all, it is always the same substitute compared to my other school. In my old school we would always have different substitutes for some reason. Also, people from ASTI are very respectful to the substitutes. In my old school, there was little respect for substitutes, do not get me wrong, many people did have respect for the substitutes. Finally, I noticed that the substitutes are very loose, or not as strict. This surprised me because I thought that ASTI would have gotten strict substitutes so we would not get off task.

I hate it when people try and take advantage of substitutes like if they do not even know the rules of the school. In my old school, taking advantage of substitutes continuously happened throughout the year. I admit it I also used to take advantage but sometimes there is a limit. Some people take it too far. Some people try and impress their friends to think that they are hard (as in tough). Kids play tricks on substitutes that makes them look like fools. To me it is funny how some people try and be tough but fail at it. I believe it would be more embarrassing to fail at being tough than being completely quiet. Another thing that I find weird is when a person is concentrated at doing their work so much that they are alone or are not talking. This is weird to me because school is also about having some fun and not work all the time.

The following things are good about having a substitute. We get to chill and not work as hard as usual. We also get to have more fun or be able to talk more, but not always. When we are working, we get to work in our own pace, which is great because if we wanted we can do our classwork as homework. These substitutes have been awesome, and I look forward to met them again.

The Kite Runner #1

So far I am impressed about The Kite Runner. I am usually not a reader, but when a book is interesting like this one I begin to read it. At first, I was not convinced by the intro to keep on reading, but after a while I began to not be able to set down the book. The events, actions, dialogue, and setting seem so realistic. After reading this for a while you can see yourself in that position or compare and contrast. The tragic and expected events seemed to be visualized so easily from a certain style of writing. One big point in this book is the kite fighting, a game where people have to knock down or cut each others kite. The kite fighting took me by suprise because I have never heard of such thing, and the idea of someone trying that makes me giggle (not hating).

This book is in Historical Fiction from Afghanistan and The Bay Area. The main character is Amir and Hassan. Both of these characters get into trouble with others and have conflicts. Amir also has conflicts because of his family’s past. Amir’s father is Baba, he a rich man who does not really recognize Amir. Amir is a sort of spoiled kid compared to the others. Hassan is a younger kid who is a servant with his father of Baba’s family. Even though sometimes Amir does not include Hassan in some activities, Hassan and Amir are good friends. Baba gives some signs that he wishes his son was more like Hassan than Amir. Hassan is strong, somewhat fearless, and loyal. Amir on the other hand is fearful, weak, and disrespectful at times. In short, many small conflicts will turn into a big conflict that will be found later on.

In this book, many unexpected events happen. Unlike many books, I could never guess what would happen next in this book, it makes you question if this could happen to one person. Some of these events were pretty graphic. Spoiler ahead, like when a certain person is raped. The idea of being rapped disgusts me, it is not even human to do that, it should not be human. That is one dislike about the book, the event of rape, it is to graphic for some people.

Reflective Essay

10/29/10

Reflective Essay

Using blogger has been a blast. We have had freedom about writing about any topic, and who to respond to. Writing about any topic helps people, or me in particular, open up if they want to. So far I have not opened up, but later in the year I will. Throughout blogger, I wrote music analysis, response posts, and some controversial topics. The posts were helpful to me to recognize what there are many things to write about. I also learned about news from others post which took me by surprise. I believe that making posts in blogger is a great way to improve on writing. If it is either developing a new process of writing, or a new way to correct your writing. Finally, one big reason I liked blogger was because we did not actually have to pick up a pencil and write, instead we could type at our own pace, kudos to that. For the rest of the years, I will enjoy posting u blogs for people and myself to enjoy and see.

Improvement of writing came from topics of posts and response posts.

One of my blog post that got some recognition was my Graffiti post. I believe that this post got some recognition because the topic is about something modern and urban. A reason that I wrote about this topic is because many people look down at graffiti as a really bad thing, which in my opinion is not. In this blog post, I wrote about how graffiti is not a bad thing. This topic is very controversial, so I decided to write about it. This topic is controversial because many people have different perspective or thoughts of graffiti. I enjoyed writing about this because I myself like to do graffiti so I can relate to the topic, and may know more about it than some people (not all people). This is the first paragraph from my graffiti post,

Some people might say that urban art or “graffiti” is bad for the community and for people... Urban art is not necessarily destruction of property... Most of the property being painted is not even being used. I agree that urban art should not be done on important places such as religious places, cemeteries, and so on... Some rules are like: no tagging on churches or places of worship; no tagging cars or houses; no going over someone who is a lot better than you unless its beef; do not tag your personal property; no tagging over murals or memorials; and do not tag on schools.

Since I am a music fanatic, I decided to make song analysis blog posts. One reason I made music analysis posts is to get deep into a song with and think about them. Another reason I made these post is because most songs nowadays have ridiculous lyrics, and if you were to actually analyze them they would sound really different. Music analysis helps me think about urban songs that have actual good or real lyrics that make sense. For example, one song with no meaning of lyrics is Tik Tok by Kesha, not to go on her in a mean way. An example of a song with great lyrics is He Say She Say by Lupe Fiasco. One of my favorite music analysis post is Time. This was my favorite music post because this is one of my favorite songs, and it talks about a under-thought of time. Here is a following quote from my post,

This song is very symbolic. Some part of the verse that I found was symbolic was when it said," Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain." I found this symbolic to like how many people are staying home to watch T.V or play video games and so on and so forth, instead of being outside with friends. The rain is symbolic for how boring it is and the sunshine is for fun. One thing that I could relate to in this song was when it said,"Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town Waiting for someone or something to show you the way." I can relate to this because sometimes when  I wait for something or someone it never comes, which is a waste of time.

Writing response posts was very helpful. This was very helpful because we got to see others perspectives on different topics. Responding to their ideas helped to build a sort of friendship because the people responding are either agreeing or disagreeing with them, which is a sort of respect. Also, you get to show the person’s post your perspective which helps them open their eyes to new views of something. When someone responded to my post and disagreed with it, I took their ideas into consideration, for me I looked at it as feedback. This feedback helped me somewhat to think about other topics or re establish the following post. Overall, response post are very helpful that helps me and other people.

Even though blogger has been helping me improve, I still need to get better at these following things. My first goal is to improve my punctuation. I would need to work on using commas and semicolons because I use commas very often. This would make my writing better because others would be able to read it correctly, not get the wrong idea out of it. My next goal is to use different words instead of the same ones, use diction. I need to use this because it would make my writing more interesting or make it sound more intelligent. My last goal is to write about different topics. I usually stick with same topics, which is not so bad but I would like to change up my topics to have a variety of different topics. All of these goals would make my writing more interesting. blogger is one of the best ways of doing writing.

Character vs. Self

In the novella Of Mice and Men from John Steinback, is about two men, George and Lennie, who are looking for a job. Lennie has a mental illness that gets him into problems. They have a bad past in another location where they were chased out of there. They arrived at another location with a boss’s son who likes to pick fights with others. George and Lennie are in between the fight throughout most of their time. Lennie gets into problems with boss’s son’s wife, and he runs away, which leads to a shocking ending.

The central conflict in Of Mice and Men is character versus self because Lennie has kiddish urges and characteristics that puts him into trouble.

        Lennie has an urge. His urge is of the softness of a mouse, he likes to pet mice. In the beginning of the book, Lennie is petting a dead mouse. Into the story, George and Lennie are walking around looking for a job. In the following quote George is reminding Lennie of what had happened in Weed.                                                                                                                          Jus’ wanted to feel that girl’s dress-jus’ wanted to pet it like it was a mouse- Well, how the hell did she know you jus’ wanted to feel her dress? She jerks back and you hold on like it was a mouse. She yells and we got to hide in a irrigation ditch all day with guys lookin’ for us, and we got to sneak out in the dark and get outta’ the country. (Pg 11)                                                                                  This quote shows that Lennie had no intentions into harming the little girl, he just wanted to feel her dress. The dress caught his eye and gave him the urge to pet it like a mouse. This is important because he is a sensitive person who has urges that are strong, which can lead to a problem like being chased by a mob of people. This quote also shows that Lennie still acts or thinks like a little kid. I say this because little kids are curious, and so is Lennie. This is important because even if he looks like a grown man he still has characteristics of a kid.
                                                                                                              

By this time into the story, George and Lennie find a new place to work at. In this place there are other workers that are helpful. The boss’s son, Curly, is like a troublemaker that takes care of his wife. From early days, Curly seemed as if he did not like Lennie. The following summary is when Lennie was smiling and Curly thought he was laughing at him.                                                                                                                                       In summary, Curly and Lennie got into a fight. Curly began the fight, when Lennie did not even want to fight. While Curly slugged Lennie, Lennie resisted fighting back. He waited for George’s permission to fight back. When he had the permission, Lennie held one of Curly’s fists and crushed it. After the fight Lennie felt sorry and said,” I didn’t wanta hurt him.”                                                                                            This summary shows that Lennie is not violent. He did not want to fight back and did not want to hurt Curly on purpose. This is important because he never meant to harm Curly so badly as Lennie had stated. Lennie is like a fighter that does not like to fight. Another point this summary demonstrates is that Lennie is loyal to George. I say this because George told Lennie not to get into trouble, therefore Lennie did not want to fight back either. This is important because Lennie respects and looks up to George, and does not want to let him down.

Lennie is very strong, but he does not know his strength. In the story, Lennie had accidentally killed Curley’s wife. He snapped her neck while he was touching her hair. Lennie ran away to the spot George had told him to go if he got into trouble. In the following summary, Lennie is thinking about leaving and not waiting for George to come, to abandon him.                                                                                                                                                In summary, Lennie is hallucinating that his Aunt Clara is with him and telling Lennie how George’s life would be so much better without Lennie. Then he hallucinates a talking rabbit, since Lennie loves rabbits, the rabbits are saying that he will never be able to touch them again.

This summary shows Lennie is hallucinating because he is scared about what is going to happen. This is important because he may have never killed someone which scared him to hallucinate things. Another idea you can get from this is that maybe Aunt Clara may have treated Lennie in a certain way to be able to hallucinate about her. This is important because Aunt Clara may have been strict on Lennie, which changed his life style.

In conclusion, Lennie is versus himself because of these reasons. He has urges and characteristics that puts him into problems that lead up to the final ending. Lennie has an urge to touch things that catch his eye. He also has kiddish and strong characteristics that Lennie is not able to control.

Response to Rokhsor's blog

I was looking through google reader and I found this blog post about money from Rokhsor's blog. This was an interesting blog post because it is about money. Money is an interesting topic because it can be very controversial. Anyways, here is the quote,

People are so obsessed with money that it is slowly taking over the world. Money is nothing but paper so I do not see why we need to ruin our bodies and waste our time trying to bring green sheets home to your family. It is not as if I do not enjoy a bundle of money now and then, but I do not think it is necessary to base our lives on how much of it we have. For example, when your children want to go on a trip somewhere. You base your decision on whether you have enough money or not. You are giving away your child’s happiness because you want to save money? That is stupid and selfish. I know that without money, you cannot do anything or go anywhere but that is just it. That policy needs to change.

 I liked this blog post because it is about money. Money is very controversial subject because some people prefer not to use money even if you have to, and others prefer to use money. Money is used for many things. For things people need, and for what they want. Nowadays more people are spending more money on what they want instead of what they need. For example, many people are buying too much clothes than what they need instead of getting something like a printer for their computer. Money can be used for many things, but many people choose to use it selfishly.

Just like Rokhsor said," It is not as if I do not enjoy a bundle of money now and then, but I do not think it is necessary to base our lives on how much of it we have." This is very true. I think this is true because everyone enjoys having some money now and then, but basing or depending on how much money people have is wrong. For example, some people think they are better just because they have more money. Having more money does not prove much, what I think matters more than money is personality. If you grow up with a great personality and not much money I think you would still live a happy life. Money is a controversial subject.

Wishlist

Today i was going through my iTunes library and i remembered about a song. I remembered about Wishlist by Pearl Jam. It is a very simple song, but deep with meaning. This song talks about a wishlist that is on his mind which is very symbolic if you think about it. This song stood out to me from the repetition of the four words," I wish I was" on about every line. Here are parts of the song that I like,

I wish I was a neutron bomb, for once I could go off.
I wish I was a sacrifice but somehow still lived on.
I wish I was a sentimental ornament you hung on
The christmas tree, I wish I was the star that went on top

I wish I was a messenger, and all the news was good. I wish I was the full moon shining off a camaro's hood. 

I wish I was the souvenir you kept your house key on.
I wish I was the pedal break that you depended on.
I wish I was the verb "to trust", and never let you down.

Like I said before, this song is very symbolic. In some parts it talks about trust. For example, when it says," I wish I was the souvenir you kept your house key on. I wish I was the pedal break that you depended on." This is talking about trust because if you depend on a pedal break, you trust it to work. Also, if you keep your house keys on a souvenir, your trusting that it will stay safe there. My favorite line from the song has to be," I wish I was a messenger, and all the news was good." This makes me think about when a soldier dies, and a person is sent to tell the family about the news. This reminds me of this because nobody wants to be a messenger and tell people the bad news, everyone wants to tell them the good news.

This made me think about wishlists, it made me think about what I want to do before I die. Just like the T.V show The Buried Life which is about a group of guys who made a list of 100 things to do before they die. I wonder how others make or chose 100 wishes out many that everyone has. I think this would be a controversial list. It would be divided by selfishness and unselfishness. Some would help others and some would not. Overall, this song is awesome and should be heard.

Time

Today I was listening to a song. The song was Time by Pink Floyd. This song is about time, like it says in the title of the song. This song goes deep into about how there is not enough time, or how time is being wasted. This song stood out to me from the amazing guitar solo, tone, and mood.This is the first verse from the song,


Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
Fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
And you are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun


This song is very symbolic. Some part of the verse that I found was symbolic was when it said," Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain." I found this symbolic to like how many people are staying home to watch T.V or play video games and so on and so forth, instead of being outside with friends. The rain is symbolic for boringness and the sunshine is for fun. One thing that I could relate to in this song was when it said,"Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town Waiting for someone or something to show you the way." I can relate to this because sometimes when  I wait for something or someone it never comes, which is a waste of time.


This song is very interesting. I think this song is very interesting because it goes deep into the thought of time. In this song, it states to not waste time, use your time wisely because time goes by fast. Time does go by fast, when i reflect back to middle school, all the three school years went by really fast especially 8th grade. It also states that there is always something to do. This is also true because no matter what at all times you can and are doing something.

Q's Characteristics

Q often goes back and forth between prideful arrogance and shame.

Q feels good when he accomplishes things such as winning a fight. By this time in the story of The Dinosaur by Italo Calvino, The species of dinosaurs which Q is has become extinct besides him. Q goes to live with a new species the New Ones. The New Ones do not treat Q fairly. Zahn tries to question or confront Q.

In summary, Q and one of the New Ones named Zahn. They fought over how Q was different from them. Q stood up to him because he was tired of people talking about him in bad ways. So Q challenged Zahn and won the fight and then Q was respected and looked more upon. Q then felt stronger and better.

This summary shows that after Q is prideful about winning the fight and proving to everyone else that he is capable of many things. I think that proving himself to the New Ones is a big step for Q. He is also full of proud because he is more respected now. This is important because as he gets more respect, he might turn more arrogant or will change.

Q is also sometimes shameful. In the story The Aquatic Uncle by Italo Calvino, Q feels embarrassed of his great uncle N’ba N’ga. Meanwhile in the story, Q introduces Lll to his great uncle. Lll is a female that Q likes. N’ba N’ga lives in the water while the others of the family live on the land. Q takes Lll to go meet his great uncle. In the following quote N’ba N’ga and Lll were conversating,

“I thought he would never stop.I huffed impatiently, I tried to interrupt him. But what did saucy Lll do? She encouraged him! ... I could have sunk into the ground from shame.”This quote shows that Q is embarrassed about his great uncle because he still lives in the water. Living in the water in that time was basically considered old school and Q does not like that N’ba N’ga is old school. This is important because he feels even more ashamed introducing him to someone he likes, and who would think his family are some losers including him just because his great uncle is old school.

Q in a few times is ashamed about being a dinosaur (or last dinosaur of his species). By this time into the story, Q’s species have all died out from battles, he is the only dinosaur of his kind left. The New Ones is a new kind of species that arises from somewhere else.  In this quote, one of the New Ones is drinking from a pond and Q drinks water next to her. They spoke for a while,

“...And as one does, when one doesn’t want to be observed, I kept my eyes lowered and coiled my tail, as if to hide it. It was such a strain that when, still smiling, she said good-bye and went on her way.” Also here is another quote, “They gave me a nickname: The Ugly One, because I was different from them, for no other reason.”

This quote shows that Q was embarrassed about being different from the New Ones because he wants to fit in with others, not to be made fun of. When they labeled him as Ugly One he felt even  worse than before because the New Ones are admitting that he is different which is not nice. This is important because Q now feels shameful he does not belong because they are different species.

If I Ruled The World

Today I remembered about a song that made me think about it a while back ago. The song is "If I Ruled The World" by Nas. This made me think about how everyone would have different rules or laws if they ruled the world. I think that this is an important subject because it is interesting to hear what others think, and to debate on what laws or rules they picked. For example, Nas stated in his first verse, 

Imagine smoking weed in the streets without cops harassing 

Imagine going to court with no trial

Lifestyle cruising blue behind my waters

No welfare supporters more conscious of the way we raise our daughters

Days are shorter, nights are colder

Feeling like life is over, these snakes strike like a cobra

The world's hot my son got knocked evidentaly

It's elementary, they want us all gone eventually

Trooping out of state for a plate knowledge

of coke was cooked without the garbage we'd all have the top dollars

Imagine everybody flashing, fashion

Designer clothes, lacing your click up with diamond vogues

Your people holding dough, no parole

No rubbers, go in raw imagine law with no undercovers

Just some thoughts for the mind

I take a glimpse into time 

watch the blimp read "The World Is Mine"

This verse made think about many things. The main point in this verse is that Nas is stating how life would be different if he ruled the world. He wants others to visualize how life would be. In the first line he indicates that he would legalize marijuana so the police would not even bother to control that. I sort of agree with this because he brings up some good points. Like when he said,"It's elementary, they want us all gone eventually." This made me think about how some people do not want others here because of how they are. If it is either skin color, religion, personality, personal preferences.


If I ruled the world, I would make many different laws. One law that I would add is that graffiti is allowed, but not on private property that is being used. I am unsure about many other rules but I am sure about the graffiti. I know it is almost impossible to stop racism or violence, but if I could take that of others minds I would. I would also make sure that everyone has an equal chance of qualifying for something but I do not know how i would do that. This song is awesome, if you read this post you should check that song out.