thINK #2

12 Sentence Short Story

First Amendment Rights?

As I was glancing over the day's news on MSNBC, one article definitely caught my attention. This article discussed the rising controversy surrounding Amazon's selling of a book called The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-lover's Code of Conduct. The controversy rests in the fact that legally, through the 1st Amendment, Amazon has the right to keep any book they want on their website and the author has the right to sell it. Morally, most people would agree that keeping this book readily available is absolutely wrong.

According to this article, Amazon defended its right to sell the book until they lost a large amount of customers. What I don't understand is how someone could defend a book teaching pedophiles how to deal with being criticized and targeted because of their "sexuality." The author of the book says that the protesters are "free to think whatever they want to think about the book." He justifies writing the book by stating "everytime you see (pedophiles) on television, they are either murderers, rapists, or kidnappers" and by letting you know, "that's just not an accurate representation of that particular sexuality." But when MSNBC purchased the book for reviewing purposes, they stated that the two sexually graphic stories "presented as an adult's recollection of his youthful experience" could be interpreted as thinly veiled examples of pedophilic-themed erotica.

Do we really want "pedophilic-themed erotica" in the hands of those twisted people obsessed with our children and little brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews and grandchildren? I would say that we should definitely make sure these kinds of books are kept away from the rapists and kidnappers of the world. Amazon took the book off its website only when they realized they were losing many potential customers through protests and anti-Amazon Facebook groups. What kind of world do we live in where big business overpowers morality and a person's sense of right and wrong?

What am I Reading This Quarter?

One book I plan on reading this quarter is Deception Point. Dan Brown has quickly become one of my favorite authors and since I've read the Robert Langdon series, I figured I should check out some of his other books.

Same goes for Digital Fortress. Its another Dan Brown book that I figured I should give a look at since I enjoy his style of writing.

Another book I want to read is The Hunger Games. Many of my friends have recommended this book and said that the whole series was awesome, so I might as well give it a try! :)

2nd Quarter Annotated Reading List

Reading Reflection

Over the past nine weeks I have been introduced to many radical thoughts through the books I have read not only on my own time, but for class. Aldous Huxley's Brave New World opened my eyes to the fact that our society today is quickly spiraling downward into a valueless abyss much like that portayed in BNW. By pointing this truth out to me, Huxley's book has helped me to notice every instance of traditional values being stripped from the media. Dan Brown's Angels and Demons not only introduced me to many artworks and destinations previously unknown, but also thrilled me with the way it weaved historical significance into every twist and turn in the story.

Although I found "inking my thinking" difficult, I have to admit that I came to a better understanding of the underlying meanings of the stories I read by coming up with information and questions to write in my journal. I will definitely use the skills I learned by "inking my thinking" in the future.

In the future I plan to expand on my historical knowledge by reading other works by Dan Brown as well as having a good mixture of other reads by various authors.

Socratic Seminar Reflection

1st Quarter Annotated Reading List

Brown, Dan. Angels and Demons. London: Corgi, 2009. Print.

Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbologist, receives a mysterious phone call along with a fax picturing a gruesome murder of an important scientist, Leonardo Vetra. Upon agreeing to use his knowledge to assist in solving the murder, Langdon is flown to a scientific haven, CERN, in Switzerland. As Langdon examines a brand burned into Vetra's chest, he soon sees the ambigram of the ancient secret society, the Illuminati. After a trip to Vetra's lab accompanied by Vetra's daughter, Vittoria and CERN's director, Maximilian Kohler, Langdon learns that he's in for much more than a simple murder mystery. Vetra's work on antimatter, an extremely explosive nuclear power, has put Vatican City in extreme danger. When Robert and Vittoria arrive in Vatican City to retrieve the antimatter, they're suddenly sucked into a whirlwind of kidnapped Cardinals, broken traditions, and ancient secret societies coming back with a vengeance. (3 books)

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006. Print

Huxley's Brave New World gives a thrilling sneak peek into the future of humanity in Huxley's own mind. With a society insistent on ubiquitous pleasure and a savage reservation based on a mixture of "old world" religions, Huxley's depiction of the inevitable future is grim and hopeless. However, there are rare individualistic souls in the society that intends to turn their unethical culture around. (2 books)

BNW articles on tab=1 book

Ad Analysis

The ad I chose is a Smart Water ad starring New England Patriots quaterback Tom Brady. By having Tom Brady endorse Smart Water, the company intends to persuade viewers, most likely those who find Tom Brady attractive or who idolize him as a great football player, to drink Smart Water. This ad utilizes the rhetorical tools of ethos, pathos and logos to persuade people to buy Smart Water.

At first glance, the viewer may not notice the scenery of the football field or may not even see the giant helicopter hovering in the background. The first thing noticed by most women is a well-dressed Tom Brady running with a briefcase in his hand. This is a play on the emotions of most women who find hunky quarterbacks attractive. The company who makes Smart Water knew that by putting someone as attractive to women as Tom Brady, the ad would attract the attention of the women and keep them interested in what Tom Brady wants them to buy. But the sexual appeal of the athlete is just the beginning of the effect of pathos in this ad.

Men who believe Tom Brady to be an excellent football player may feel envy and jealousy towards the athlete. The makers of Smart Water intended for the viewer to think, If Tom Brady is an amazing athlete and drinks Smart Water, that must mean that if I drink Smart Water I'll be a great athelte too! By choosing an active, famous athlete to endorse their water rather than some television star or supermodel, the company pushed for the viewers to think that Smart Water will keep you as healthy as an NFL quaterback rather than the water making you a good actor. Tom Brady's clothing is a hint toward the fact that he believes that the Smart Water helps him in everyday life as well as on the field. This appeals to the everyday person because not every person who views this ad is going to be an athlete, they're going to be everyday working-class people.

Pride and Prejudice...And Vampires?

From the very beginning, the similarities between Pride and Prejudice and Twilight are impossible to miss. Although they were written about two hundred years apart, the resemblances between the two are nearly impervious to overlook. In fact, Stephenie Meyer, the writer of the Twilight Saga,

Selfishness Comes With a Cost

As I read Guy de Maupassant's The Necklace, I couldn't help but notice how greedy Madame Loisel was being about her financial situation. Although she was not born into an overly wealthy family, she was not born into a dirt-poor family either. And despite her husband's efforts to make her happy, nothing was ever good enough for her. She was convinced that she deserved the finest of everything and that she was "born for every delicacy and luxury." Although her selfishness may have bought her a night of admiration, her rush to escape before being seen in the modest clothes of her everyday life proved to put a damper on her capability of acquiring the luxurious items she desired. I believe the lesson this story strives to teach is to be happy with the life you have, because it could always be worse.

Madame Loisel spent her days at home wallowing in self-pity. She was insulted and embarrassed by her poor house, her ugly curtains, worn chairs, and unsatisfactory furniture. Tortured by the displeasing features of her own home, Madame Loisel fantasizes about a fancier house. Having a richer friend, Madame Forestier, from her old school days, Madame Loisel knows how a proper home should look, but is too embarrassed to ever visit her dear friend.

When her husband brings home an invitation to a ball, Madame Loisel is not as pleased as her husband hoped she would be. "I haven't a dress and so I can't go to this party. Give your invitation to some friend of yours whose wife will be turned out better than I shall," Madame Loisel tells her husband. And when she finally gets an appropriate dress, her next dilemma is being "utterly miserable at not having any jewels, not a single stone, to wear." Given the idea to borrow some from Madame Forestier, Madame Loisel rushes to her friend and leaves with a beautiful diamond necklace.

In her rush to leave the ball before any of the rich men and women saw her in her everyday clothes, Madame Loisel loses the diamond necklace. After searching for days, Monsieur and Madame Loisel are forced to go into debt to buy Madame Forestier an exact look-alike necklace worth four thousand francs. Madame Loisel was forced to live the life of a poor woman rather than living the life of an average woman as she had before. She was made to give up many of the luxuries of her life before to be sure that she and her husband had enough money to pay back their debts.

After ten years, the debt is finally paid off and Madame Loisel decides to tell Madame Forestier of the hardships she had to endure just to make sure that she got the necklace back. I'm sure Madame Loisel was quite surprised to learn that the original borrowed necklace was only imitation and worth five hundred francs at the most.

The selfishness Madame Loisel showed throughout the story reminded me a lot of how many people today are. In the world today, most people make a living the best way they can, but are never fully happy with the results of their hard work. No matter how much money they make, no matter how nice the clothes or furniture they buy, there is always someone with nicer things than them. And so there is a never-ending cycle of people constantly trying to "keep up with the Joneses."

After reading the ending of the story, I decided that it's better to be happy with what you are blessed to have than to make yourself miserable by wanting a life you can never have. I'm sure Madame Loisel would much prefer to have her life of blandness and modesty over the life she had inevitably inherited because of her greedy and selfish ways.

Annotated Picture

This is real. This is me. Click to learn more.

Of Mice and Men

Analysis of Detail

Throughout his book Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck foreshadows the events of the story in the little details he uses to describe qualities of the scenes he sets. Though they may appear to be simple descriptions of the surroundings of the men, his choice of words tell us many details of the storyline. The quote "the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green" is a perfect example of this. The words "deep" and "green" that he uses to describe the river can also be seen as a parallel to the two main characters of the story, George and Lennie. The word "deep" is commonly thought to mean strong and powerful. Though this could be seen as a parallel to Lennie because of his massive strength, it could also be seen as a parallel to George. George's thought process is much deeper than Lennie's, simply because he is more mature than Lennie. George tends to think deeply and his mind and the thought behind his actions seem to have much more meaning put into them than Lennie would have put into them. As a contrast to this, Steinbeck's choice of the word "green" is usually associated with thoughts of youth, freshness, and nature. In this way, Lennie is "green" also. Lennie is young at heart and George sees him as an equal to a child. His thought process is not as complex as a normal man of his age, and although he appears to be a grown man on the outside, his brain has the capacity and the maturity of a young child.

Another great example of Steinbeck's foreshadowing through descriptive words is in the quote "a path beaten hard by boys coming down from the ranches to swim in the deep pool, and beaten hard by tramps who come wearily down the highway." The key words in this quote are "beaten", "deep", and "wearily." The word "beaten" is usually associated with thoughts and feelings of being exhausted and worn down. This single word parallels to George and Lennie in the story. Because of Lennie's childlike behavior, he usually gets into trouble doing things that he sees as harmless. As a result, George and Lennie are constantly on the move from town to town looking for work. In this way, George and Lennie's hopes and spirits are "beaten" like the path spoken of at the beginning of the story. Again, the word "deep" can be thought to mean powerful, but it could also mean difficult to understand. Like the deep pool Steinbeck describes, Lennie is powerful but also difficult to understand. His childlike behavior makes him transparent yet intricate on many levels. The word "wearily" generally gives off a feeling of being exhausted or tired. Like the tramps who come "wearily" down the highway, George "wearily" moves from town to town with Lennie, knowing that work could be a hard thing to find. He is continually looking out for Lennie as well as himself and making sure that they always have what they need to survive.

Analysis of Point of View

The third person objective point of view aids in showing how Lennie is unable to make decisions for himself and looks to George for support, and how George is more than willing to give up what he has to make sure that Lennie can have what he needs.

On pages 21 and 22, the quotes "Lennie nodded to show that he understood...In a panic, Lennie looked to George for help," demonstrate how Lennie was unsure how to answer because he knew that George had told him not to say anything, and he nearly always follows George's orders. It also illustrates how childlike Lennie is because he is so unsure of how to answer to the boss when he is spoken directly to. Lennie is so accustomed to following George's lead that he cannot answer for himself when spoken to.

The quotations, "Listen, Small! What can you do?...He can do anything you tell him to do...Then why don't you let him answer?...Say what you selling'?...Why you think I'm selling' him out?", exhibits George's compelling need to protect Lennie and make sure that he keeps his job, even if it means losing the job himself. George acts as a father to Lennie and attempts to shield him from potentially bad situations to keep him out of trouble.

Analysis of Tone

Steinbeck uses contrasting tones of pleasure and joy and of melancholy and depressive to exaggerate the apparent contrast between George and Lennie. In one scene of the story, the quotes, "Lennie cried in triumph." " 'For the rabbits,' Lennie shouted." and "Lennie giggled with happiness." Each of these plainly show the sheer joy Lennie experiences in those brief moments and appear to almost radiate a cheerful tone. In contrast, Steinbeck also uses quotes like "George was quiet for a moment." "He said shakily..." "George shivered and looked at the gun..." "But George sat stiffly on the bank and looked at his right hand that had thrown the gun away." "George's voice was almost a whisper." and "Yeah, a drink" in a serious and down tone. His unsteadiness and shakiness before shooting Lennie shows that he is unsure about the deed he was about to perform and also shows that he knew what he would feel after he shot Lennie, grief and sadness. After shooting Lennie, George is in shock at his own courage to do what he knew had to be done in order to save Lennie a lifetime of trouble and pain, or being shot by Curley. Distracted and fascinated by his feelings of anguish and sorrow, he is oblivious to everything going on around him and agrees subconsciously to a drink with Slim. The contrast between Lennie's cheerful personality and George's obvious worry is made painfully obvious in these last few pages of the book.

Analysis of Theme

Though Steinbeck embeds many themes and morals throughout Of Mice and Men, the theme of one being his "brother's keeper" is an obvious point justified in nearly every chapter of the story. George and Lennie share a bond and that makes George feel like he needs to look out for Lennie.

For example, when George and Lennie are attempting to get a job, George tries intently to make sure that Lennie is taken care of and gets a job, too. When George is asked why he does this for Lennie, he simply replies, "I told his old lady I'd take care of him." (p. 21) George feels compelled to take Lennie under his wing and be his "keeper." Although George would have been much better off if he had never taken Lennie in, because of Lennie constantly getting into accidental trouble, George cares enough about Lennie to make sure that he is going to be okay. In this way, George demonstrates the apparent theme throughout the book of being his brother's "keeper."

Another example of George and Lennie's strong, brother-like bond is voiced in the saying they had together, "But not us! And why? Because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why." (p. 13-14) This shows how George and Lennie intended on staying together, getting a place of their own and looking after each other. When George says, "when his Aunt Clara died, Lennie just came along with me out working." (p. 40) he buries inside the words his pull to take care of Lennie because he has nobody else.

Great Depression Pictures

Upon looking at Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother photographs, many emotions and thoughts swarmed me all at once. First off, seeing the makeshift home they made out of sticks and cloth made me realize just how severe the Great Depression was. Sure, I had heard about it before and heard that it was a terrible time in American history, but, until looking at these pictures, I did not know just how terrible this time period was. The first picture, showing the mother staring off into the distance at an uncertain future, surfaced feelings of sorrow and pity in me. I know that I will never be able to relate to the fear of the future she feels for both herself and her children. The fact that she does not know whether everything will turn out okay for her family or not must be a difficult piece of knowledge to live with.

The last picture, showing the mother and her three children inside their bungalow, made me realize how lucky we are today. Not knowing her story, I cannot tell what the mother's life was like before the Great Depression, but if it's anything like what I've heard, losing everything must have come as a terrible surprise. I cannot imagine what it would be like to live in a home and have everything going okay and then suddenly getting my home and everything I cared about taken away from me. Today, we are very blessed in knowing that we now have government programs to prevent that from ever happening again. May we never have to experience the terrible uncertainty this woman certainly felt.

Use of Animals in Animal Farm

In George Orwell's Animal Farm, Orwell uses animals rather than humans to tell a story that applies not only to post-revolution Russia, but serves as a warning to those who support communism. Using animals to represent some of the Soviet Union's leaders was not only a genius way to make sure that the book could circulate through the Soviet Union without being marked as treason, but also plays on the fact that animals cannot govern themselves. In comparing the communist Russians to animals Orwell shows his support for a non-communist government by showing the readers that the animals not only are unable to govern themselves, but that they also lie to and betray each other in order to put themselves in the perfect positions to run their supposed "equal" government.

The Giver Review

What would you be willing to give up for ease and contentment? Would you give up your freedom, your individuality, your choice to make your own decisions? In The Giver, the people of the Community weren't able to make this decision for themselves. Instead, their government made this decision for them many centuries before. They knew nothing of the freedoms of their ancestors, therefore they didn't know what their lives could be like. But, having lived like this their entire lives, they didn't want to know about the past. They were taught that only one person, The Receiver, was to know the secrets of the past. Every aspect of their lives were controlled. They made no decisions of their own. Their jobs and even their "family units" are decided for them. For Jonas, the job that he is assigned changes his way of life and makes him second guess everything he thought he knew.

Every year, the kids who are 12 years old are given their assigned jobs at the Ceremony of Twelve. At this time, the kids are told what field they are going into and then become apprentices. Most jobs are occupations such as Director of Recreation or Birthmother, jobs that benefit the Community in some way. But when the Chief Elder skipped Jonas's number, he knew something was wrong. At the end of the ceremony, when all the other Twelves had recieved their new Assignments, Jonas was called up and was assigned the prestigious, honorable job of becoming the new Receiver of Memory. Because he was given this job, he was set apart from the other children. He was not to tell anyone of his training, for it was written in the rules. What shocked him the most was that he did not have to follow the Community's very strict set of rules any longer. He was permitted to say "offending" things to other people and was not expected to apologize for it. His set of rules given to him at the Ceremony of Twelve were simple. There was no instruction manual telling him how to prepare for his job. He recieved a single sheet of paper with 8 little rules on it.

Upon meeting the current Receiver of Memory, Jonas learns what the ability of "seeing beyond" really is. Throughout the following days and weeks, he begins to aquire the knowledge of what the past was like. He starts to unearth many different qualities of life that have been lost to people of his time. He begins to see color, he feels emotions that he's never felt before. And just when he starts to feel all of these amazing feelings, the Giver starts transferring memories of pain, suffering, starvation, and war. Not only does he learn of the misery of the past, but he is shown that his own community is not as perfect as it seems. With the knowledge that he has acquired, Jonas must now make a crucial decision that could effect everyone around him. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a gripping story that keeps you interested throughout the entire thing, wondering what's going to happen on the next page.

Cross-Examination

DA: Miss Covington, are you aware that your closet has been inspected by some of our most prestigious investigators?

MC: Yes sir, I am.

DA: Are you also aware that you are a pack rat?

MC: I, uh, well..

DA: Did you know that not only can your closet floor not be seen because of your excessive shoe inventory, but that your entire closet rack is filled with clothes? The entire thing?

MC: Well.. I can explain..

DA: No time for silly explanations made up off of the top of your head, Miss Covington. We have more important matters to attend to. How do you explain the five pairs of flip flops resting in your closet right now?

MC: I, uh, needed a variety!

DA: Unacceptable. And the 2 pairs of Birkenstocks? How long have those been out of style? And why on earth do you have two pairs?

MC: I, uhm, don't wear those anymore..

DA: Then why, Miss Covington, are they still in your closet cluttering up your floor? How do you explain that?

MC: I'm.. Saving them for my sister! Yeah! She'll be able to wear them soon and she loves to wear my shoes!

DA: Bringing your 7-year-old sister in this debate are you?

MC: Its true!

DA: Yeah, yeah. Save it. So enough with your shoe collection. How do you explain having 3 pairs of shorts that look almost exactly the same? Three pairs! What possible use do you have for 3 pairs that look exactly alike?!

MC: I thought they were cute.. And the, uh, laundry takes a while..

DA: So you buy 3 pairs of the exact same shorts so you can wear them while the others are being washed?

MC: Yes sir.

DA: Hmm.. Interesting. And your tank top collection? How do you explain having over 10 tank tops cluttering your closet?

MC: I like to have different colors.. And they're great for summer weather..

DA: Lets see.. This report says that they're all different sizes, Miss Covington. You have 8 mediums, 3 smalls, and.. What's this? An extra small?! Why on earth do you have an extra small Miss Covington?!

MC: I wear different sizes in different brands! Its a different brand than all the others!

DA: You need to clean up your act, Miss Covington, along with your closet.

Red Wheelbarrow Poem

Sought after

by those who chase and thirst

for affection, Wanted by every

soul on the face of this earth, Needed

in every corner of the planet, Lacking in

places where it is well deserved. Some

just wish for it, some make their own luck and

chase after it themselves. And then there's

those few who wait for it to come close

to them, yet when it is right there

in their reach, they let it free.

What might this strong

emotion be, you

may ask?

Love.

Cause for Celebration

This past week, BHS drama performed The Sound of Music, a play about staying true to oneself and not selling out your beliefs. As a cast member, I've experienced first-hand how hard these dedicated actors and actresses worked to make this play a success. They have dedicated their mornings and afternoons to practicing songs and going over lines they know by heart. Getting home late in the evenings and giving up precious studying hours (as if) was but a small sacrifice to these dedicated few people. After working months and months on songs and lines they know by heart, they finally got to show the world how hard they've worked. I am very proud to say that the play was a huge success. Every audience member I've talked to has told me that they absolutely loved it. Even my grandpa, who sleeps through nearly anything, stayed awake through the entire play! And that's saying something! But regardless of what the audience thought, the performers involved were satisfied in knowing that they acted and presented their hard work in the best way possible. What a cause for celebration!

Mask Poem

I Wear the Mask

I wear a mask for everyone to see,

No one would like to see the real me.

I paint on a face that's happy and smiles,

And heap on laughter in great big piles.

But deep down inside is the monster I hide,

The one who cheated and hated and lied.

The one who turns red with anger and green with jealousy,

Deep down inside, that's the real me.

St. Patrick's Day

What does St. Patrick's Day mean to me? Well, since I have absolutely no idea how it started, its meaning to me probably isn't the meaning it was meant to have. St. Patrick's Day to me is a day to believe in the luck of a four-leafed clover. When I was growing up, I remember being told that if you find a four-leafed clover and make a wish, your wish will come true. Because I was quite a gullible little child, every St. Patrick's Day I went out into the yard and searched through all of the clover patches for a four-leafed clover that I knew was out there waiting for me to find. I only found a four-leafed clover one time, and I wanted to keep it forever. So I kept it in my pocket, thinking that as long as I had it with me, I'd have good luck. Every time something good happened to me, I believed that it was the luck of my four-leafed clover. Imagine my surprise when I realized that my four-leafed clover was in fact in the washing machine and not in my pocket. St. Patrick's Day became a day when I learned to believe in myself and to make my own luck.

Being a Winner

Being a winner means that you are in first place in a competition. Even coming in second and third place is considered being a winner. A winner is someone who tries really hard at something and works so hard on it that when it comes time to compete, they give it all they have and let the judges know it. Even if they don't come in one of the top places, they still know that they did their best and work even harder so they can get better. In my eyes, a winner is someone who tries their hardest at what they want the most and they have the end result that they want in mind. When they already have in mind what they want, they know how hard they need to work to achieve it. A winner, to me, is someone that does the very best that they can. Even if they don't win first place, they know that they tried their hardest, and that itself makes the person feel good about themself.

Olympic Commitment

Olympians make a serious commitment when they decide to be in the Olympics. They are dedicating themselves to hours and hours of practice each day and to keeping their schedules open when they're needed to practice more.

A commitment I've made that is most like the Olympics is to become a prancer. Being a prancer means that you need to dedicate yourself to practice during the school day and after school during your free time. When I became a prancer, these dedications were made clear to the whole team so that every girl would know that by becoming a prancer, they are making a big commitment. Prancers practice for an hour and a half each A day and after school every Wednesday. Sometimes extra practices are needed, so we practice even longer on Wednesdays and sometimes after church on Sundays. If a girl knows that she's behind everyone else, she'll need to practice even more on her own time. With all of these practices, the team gets better and better. By game night, the team looks great at half time. Being a prancer is a big commitment.

Persuasion

Persuasion is a valuable technique to know. I use persuasion often to get my way with my parents and my friends. When I'm persuading, I usually appeal to some one's emotions. I can make them feel bad about not letting me have what I want, or I can make them pity me and then they'll let me have what I want out of pity. Persuasion is a big part of my life becuase without it, I wouldn't be able to get what I want.

I witness persuasion on television everytime I turn it on. It's in many of the commercials ran on the channels I watch most often. The channel I frequent the most is Nickelodeon. On Nick, most of the commercials are aimed at young children. They promote new toys and make the kids want them by telling them that the toys are cool. As I know that by seeing these commercials the kids will go beg there parents to get them, I'm sure the writers of these commercials know that the parents will be bugged until the kids get what they want. In this way, persuasion is used twice. It's used to persuade the kids that they want the toy and it's used to persuade the parents to buy the toys for the kids.

Taking a Stand Part 2

Considering the many brave, courageous people out in the world today, the few times that I took a stand seem pretty insignificant. But when I look at what I did and compare it to my life, my stands made a huge difference in my life. I think that my most memorable moment for taking a stand was when I stood up to my dad for not listening to my brother and I. This event may not sound very important, but the occurance of this stand made for a critical turnpoint in the relationship I now have with my dad.







My dad divorced my mom when I was in kindergarten and married his girlfriend the same week that the divorce was finalized between he and my mom. After spending 5 years with her, my dad divorced his wife and joined the sea as another single fish. Since then, he's been bringing girls in and out of mine and my brother's life. He gets a new girlfriend every few months and everytime he does, he says that she's "the one." But everytime they break up, he says that it was a mistake. Now he has a new girlfriend that he got at the beginning of this school year and he says that she's "the one." Although my brother and I usually try to get along with his girlfriends, this one is hard to deal with. She acts like one person in front of my dad and then a completely different person around us. She also says completely fake things about us to our dad to get us into trouble. How did we ever deal with such a woman?





One weekend, my brother and I were at our dad's for our normal every-other-weekend visit. Rather than spending all of his time with us, he wanted us to spend time with him AND his girlfriend. Well I can tell you right now that Chris and I did not want to spend our entire weekend with a woman we didn't like. So after we told our dad for 30 minutes that we didn't want to go, we were forced to go to her house. When we arrived, Chris and I sat on the couch in her house, saying nothing to anyone. Eventually, she got fed up with it and started yelling at my dad. My dad got fed up with us and told us to go sit in the truck. When he got into the truck, he was fuming mad. He was getting on to us all the way home. When we got home, he went to his room to cool down while Chris and I went to our rooms. Dad finally came into the same room as Chris and I and told us that we were going back to his girlfriend's house. After arguing with dad about it for a while, I called my mom to come pick us up because we didn't want to go to his girlfriend's house.



We went home after that. Taking a stand against my dad helped our relationship a lot because he now knows how serious we are about not spending all of our time with her.

Taking a Stand Part 1

There are many people in the world who take a stand every day. Those brave people stand up to others that keep them under wraps, whether its the leader of their country or just a group of friends. The group of people that I look up to for taking a stand are our Founding Fathers.

The colonists that lived here in the United States put up with a lot from the English king. They withstood many unfair taxes so the king and England could become richer. I look up to the colonists because they took a stand against their mother country for treating them unfairly.

When the colonists revolted against the British, the king didn't appreciate them standing up to him. He tried to quell their revolts, but the colonists' will was too strong. Our Founding Fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence to the king to tell him that they would no longer put up with the high, expensive, unfair taxation, they would be separating from England, and that they would no longer be a colony of England.

The colonists, considering what was at stake by their revolting, were very brave people at this critical point in history. Had these brave men and women let the British muffle their cries of freedom, where would we be today? We wouldn't be the strong, independent country we are today if the courageous colonists had not stood up to England and its unfairness.

The Last Song Review

Have you ever been angry with one of your parents? Have you ever been so upset with them that you never wanted to speak to them again? For Ronnie, this resentment was so strong that she didn't speak to her dad three years after he left their family in New York to become a traveling concert pianist. So when her dad suddenly decides that he wants Ronnie and her younger brother Jonah to spend the summer with him in North Carolina, one can only imagine the bitterness she felt towards her dad. She didn't understand why he wanted them there, but she definitely would rather be back in New York. When she and Jonah arrive at their dad's house, Ronnie leaves to go walking. The people she encounters on that long walk will make Ronnie's summer bearable. They will help to give her a great summer filled with happiness and a dreadful summer with plenty to remember. Nicholas Sparks' The Last Song took me on an emotional thrill ride through feelings of anger to happiness to extreme sadness.

The style that Nicholas Sparks wrote in was different from many of the other books I've read. He describes characters, scenery, sound, and many other elements of the story with vivid descriptive words that make the reader feel as if they're really in the story. He describes better than any male author I've read. But his descriptions aren't the most interesting thing about this story. Even more appalling is that each chapter of the story is told by a different character. As you progress from one chapter to the next, the story is told by a different point of view. This clever tool of writing helps the reader understand the events of the story by knowing how every character feels about a certain situation.

The characters of Nicholas Sparks' The Last Song are very real, imaginable people that someone might see on the street. He describes their appearance and feelings so well that it seems as if you are knowing a real live person. The emotions shown by the characters are very common, believable feelings that make the characters seem even more real to the reader. The fact that Ronnie is a teenage girl angry with her father and falling in love makes it easy for me to relate to her.

The theme of The Last Song is forgiveness, but taking a stand is also incorporated into the story. Blaze, Ronnie's new friend in North Carolina, is controlled by her boyfriend, Marcus. She worships Marcus and does everything he tells her to. Whether its giving him her food while she goes hungry or asking her to spend the last of her money on him, Marcus asks Blaze to do some pretty sacrificial things. After Blaze gets jealous of Ronnie because Marcus is interested in her, she makes it appear that Ronnie was shoplifting so she would get into trouble with the police. But Blaze learned that Ronnie was a sweet, kind-hearted person that cared more about her that Marcus ever would, so Blaze stood up to Marcus by turning him in for a past crime.

Nicholas Sparks' The Last Song is an excellent book that i recommend to anyone who enjoys a touching, inspirational story of family, love, and forgiveness.

2 books--390 pages