Outside Reading 5 Post B

Dear Jacob,

I'm very happy to hear that you figured out how to talk to Rosie, your elephant. I would've never had guessed that elephants could understand Polish. I also think its funny that Rosie likes alcohol. Doesn't she get drunk? Anyway, i'm sorry that Marlena and you haven't talked lately and that you don't like august anymore. I wouldn't hes a terrible guy. I'm mad that unlce Al still hasnt paid you even after everything you've done for the circus. You made the Rosie act and you're getting no credit for it. And you sure as hell won't get paid if Al finds out about you hiding camel away in your room. You're a good friend to take him in and not have him get red lighted. I wouldn't want that old guy staying with me. All he does is drink moonshine and that jake crap. But he is a nice man. You're starting to become a good role model to me. What you do and have done is a thing to look up to besides you dropping out of Cornell. Keep working hard, your're almost to Providence where you can drop off Camel. Don't give up on Marlena, she'll be yours one day soon.
-Colin Moynihan

Outside Reading 5 Post A

fathom- to measure the depth of by means of a sounding line; sound.(156)
vociferous- crying out noisily; clamorous.(163)

"Because if i though she was in any danger at all, there's no knowing what i might do."(159)
This quote is important to me because there was an event in this chapter where August took Marlena and Jacob out to this secret dancing club and the cops showed up. August of course ditched out right away and Jacob and Marlena ran for it on their own. THey went into an ally where Jacob tried to kiss Marlena and she did but then thought she shouldn't so she left jacob and the next day, which is when the quote takes place August seems like he knows something about it so i just thought it was a very important quote to the plot.

Outside Reading 4 Post B

Dear Jacob,

First off, I would like to tell you how interesting of a character you are. I love the fact that you put lots of feelings into everything. You're alos a one of a kind guy. I can't tell you how amazed I am sometimes the way you handle things. With this whole August and Marlena thing, i feel you've handled it very weel. I really want you to get Marlena because i know you feel shes just the greatest thing. I also don't like August because of how he treats Marlena, is mean to ytou now and then, and has that problem of his where he can be cool one minute and scary the next. I think you should just ditch the circuz for a number of reasons. 1. You have never been payed yet because Uncle Al is cheating you out of your money. 2. It's a dirty place, you sleep on a crappy cot in the room where the horses are kept. 3. You could still be a vet without being the circus and be with the animals you love. 4. I feel like your wasting your life away dreaming about Marlena and just working your butt off for nothing. Anyway, I hope you get a pay check soon and i hope you work things out with August and Marlena.
-Colin Moynihan

Outside Reading 4 Post A

inert- having no inherent power of action, motion, or resistance.(137)
stoic- of or pertaining to the school of philosophy founded by Zeno, who taught that people should be free from passion, unmoved by joy or grief, and submit without complaint to unavoidable necessity.(120)

"Its eyes are open wide. A lake of dark blood spreads from its neck."(140) This quote is referring to the part in the book when they have to kill another one of Marlena's show horses. A man slit the throat of the gray horse and Jacob saw it because he was making sure that Marlena didn't see it. I like this quote because i like the way the author describes it with the lake of blood and how it really makes you have a bad feeling for the poor horse.

Outside Reading 3 Post A

carrion- rottenness; anything vile. (77)

cooch- a sinuous, quasi-Oriental dance performed by a woman and characterized chiefly by suggestive gyrating and shaking of the body. (100)

"A few dozen angry men chase us for awhile, swinging pitchforks and baseball bats, although it's mostly for the benefit of the tale they'll get to tell at dinner tonight."(82) Jacob is telling how angry mobs are chasing after the circus train because Uncle Al, the "leader', or owner of the circus is packing up and leaving early. He still has a lot of shows to do in that town but he wants to leave to find himself an extraordinary person. Uncle Al likes strange people. He likes having a bearded lady, big men, small men. Just weird people. So he's going to ask this man who just left another circus tour to join his circus. The man has two heads and is supposed to make a lot of money.

Outside Reading 3 Post B

Right now Jacob is in alot of heat. He just was named the new vet of the circus and just diagnosed the star horse, Silver Star, with a terrible leg problem. The horse can't perfrom according to Jacob and it's so severe that the horse might not be able to ever perform. Uncle Al has made a deal with him though. He will be paid 9 bucks a day but if the horse shall not make it, then he is going to be fired. So Jacob is very stressed over this matter. But it turns out that the girl who runs the horses, Marlena, is very beautiful and everyone likes her. You can really tell that Jacob is falling for her, the way he describes her and how he loves to talk about her. So that helps him out in a way with his problems because now he has a girl who he likes. As an added perk, he has been placed in the "nice" dinning room with all the performers. The food is better and he gets to sit with Marlena. So overall, I would say things are pretty good for Jacob right now. Especially with his new wages.

Debate Stuff

• Political Debate

These types of debates occur on television in theaters usually, and at convention centers. The purpose of debates are to let the people see what each candidate stands for who is running for president. They help people decide on who they want to vote for, for president. Yes, it does help arrive at a better decision which would be people getting the right person in office. Yes the debate is structured.

• School Debate

These types of debates usually happen at schools. The purpose of these debates are to see which school is better at debating. It doesn't really help arrive at a better decision besides the fact of one school being better than the other at debating. Yes it is structured.

Outside Reading 2 Post B

Jacob is struggling right now. He's in the circus and trying to make a living after running away from his old life of hardship and the loss of his family. He works all day at the circus and only makes a buck. he also did some of the worst jobs to make that buck. So I feel that Jacob is fed-up right now. Nothing is going his way. He lost everything because of the death of his parents. He lost his parents, his house, his money to pay for college, and his apprenticeship. And now on top of it, he is living in hell. Sleeping in on a train, in the car where they keep the horses, he doesn't even have a bed. Alot of people seem to come down on him too, because he is the new guy and the young college kid. But finally he gets a break landing the new veterinarian job because they find out he was studying to be a vet until he dropped out of college. So i think he is better off right now than he was at the start of the book. He also is excited because he does the security work at the tent where the prostitutes are. He likes it because he sawe his first naked women. But the book keeps falshing back between his young self and his old self. He is always grumpy when hes old but hes the way i just described when hes young. I predict that jacob's fortunes will continue to go his way.

Outside Reading 2 Part A

canvas- a closely woven, heavy cloth of cotton, hemp, or linen, used for tents, sails, etc.(67)

primly- formally precise or proper, as persons or behavior; stiffly neat.(60)

"Don't you 'Oh Mr. Jankowski' me, young lady. This is nursery food, and last I lookedI wasn't five years old. I'm ninety. Or ninety-three."(67) THis quote is significant because it is reffering to the fact of how all he wants is a descent meal. He hates the food there and he constantly complains. I find it funny the way he says it to the nurse. I thought it was a funny quote and i thought that it showed the frustration and the personality of Jacob Jankowski.

Outside Reading Post B

The main character is Mr. Jankowski. He is a very quiet man. Right now the book is doing flashbacks between him as a older man and as a kid in college. As an old man he is grumpy, polite, can be nice to the nurses but not to other people, and he is quiet. He keeps to himself, but talks when referred to. Right now he is living in a nursing home and talks of how he hates the food and wishes he could have a good meal. He is also frustrated with the fact that a new guy in the home is telling lies. The new guy said he carried water for the elephants in the circus and it made jankowski furious because he thought the man was lieing. As a college kid he is quiet, because he is a virgin, smart, studying to become a veterinarian, and is sad. He is sad because he just faced the death of his parents and is left with nothing. He doesn't have a home, can't live at college anymore because he doesn't have the money, and he doesn't have any family left. So right now in the book he is very confused with what he wants, and what he should do in his life.

Outside Reading Post A

tchotchke- an inexpensive souvenir, trinket, or ornament.

kerosene- a mixture of liquid hydrocarbons obtained by distilling petroleum, bituminous shale, or the like, and widely used as a fuel, cleaning solvent, etc.

"You'll have to go back today. To make a positive identification."(p17) The quote is refering to the death of his parents, who had just died in a terrible car accident.

Top 10 list

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
2006
fiction
331
It was on Hatten's list of suggested books to read.
It was on Hatten's list, and it was the New York Time's Bestseller. It also sounds cool.

Post 3 for The Sea Inside

There were many scenes that made the movie have more meaning. In the scenes where he would look out the window and fly. They used a dolly shot in those and it actually made me feel like I was flying and looking at the ground and sea. In the scene where he was being tried, they used a low angle shot on the judges to make them look more powerful and a high angle to make him look helpless and disabled. They also used a series of medium shots to show like you are in the conversation with them. They used establishing shots to show you where you are/ the setting. In the scene where Julia is looking at the pictures with Ramon, they use an extreme close up on the pictures to make it seem like you're the one looking at the pictures. They also used truck movements when Ramon went in the car to go places. They did this to make it seem like you were looking out the window with Ramon.

Post 2 for The Sea Inside

The Sea Inside and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly were very similar. In both, the main characters were quadriplegics. They both suffered a condition that they hated dearly. What made them different was the fact that one wanted to die and the other lived it out until the end. The Diving bell was about a man telling his story and telling people what it's like. Where as The Sea Inside was about a man fighting for the right to die. They both expressed the struggles they went through and hard times they had to endure. Overall, I would say the Diving bell was more powerful, all because of the fact there was more things you had to interpret. Such as hidden meanings, with all the dreams. You had to think about what the author was trying to say to you. They were both very sad and both very compelling, but in The Sea Inside there wasn't as much description. But i guess thats because it's a movie. They both made me thinka bout how lucky I am to not have a serious condition like that.

Post 1 for The Sea Inside

I'm actually very surprised with the outcome of the movie. I thought the whole time Ramon would end up realizing that he did have something to live for. I think that his request to die is understandable, because if you are a quadriplegic life is hell. So I could see how after 28 years of living like that, that he would want to die. It would get tiring having someone do every last thing for you and you just sit there helplessly. I think that the court was wrong to rule that he couldn't die. I hate how the government thinks that he can make peoples' decisions for them. They think they know what is right. No, it's Ramon's life, he shouldn't have to ask for permission to die. They don't know what it's like to live like he did. And he gave it a try. He was like that for 28 years. I thought that his plan to kill himself was the only way he could get what he wanted. I'm glad he got what he wanted but I'm also saddened that it came to that. But, if he truly couldn't take it anymore and his only happiness would come from dieing, then that's the right thing. I think that his friends who helped him are his best friends he's ever had. Someone that will put their life and future on the line for you is a great friend. They risked going to jail to help their friend achieve happiness. I think they are great people for helping him. But the people that didn't, such as his sister-in-law, his brother, his nephew, they're still great friends even though they didn't help him in that way.

The book Angela's Ashes turned out to be one of the best books i've read in awhile. The message I think that the author was trying to send was that no matter how many downs or problems you have in life, you gotta keep striving for your dream. In this case, Frank's dream was to make it to America again, and he finally did in the end, even though he had a very tough childhood. Frank McCourt wrote the book because he wanted to share with everyone that life is no breeze. He wanted to show people what he had to do to survive. In the book there were many deaths and money problems that he put in there to show that he went through alot. Pretty much the whole book was him overcoming each problem thrown at him. The fact that his dad was a drinker, his siblings dieing continuously, his mother being sad all the time, having no money, no food. Overall the book was great and I would highly recommend it to people.

Final Post

Angela decides that she doesnt want anymore babies. As all the families continue to get money, Angela's is still broke. Malachy refuses to work in England but finally he is made to. He never sends any money back to the family because he spends it all on drink. Angela gets sick with pneumonia and the boys are forced to live with their grandma. Malachy returns to Limerick to watch the boys instead and when Angela gets beter he leaves once again. Angela is now forced to continuously beg for food at churches and shelters. Frank gets a job at the post office. He them falls in love with this girl named Theresa, whom he met delivering packages. She grows ill and dies. Frank keeps going on and on about his desire to go back to America. He saves part of his money each week and gives the reast to his mother Angela. Frank turns sixteen and gets drunk. He goes home and gets in a fight with his mother. Eventually Frank gets promoted and is almost ready to go to America. Frank steels alot of money from an old lady who just died while he was in the house visiting. He got enough money to go to America from it. He tells his mother that he is leaving and she cries for a long time. Frank goes to America, but is saddened that he left Ireland and his family back home. When he arrives he loves it.

Reflection of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was a very interesting book. It's quite an accomplishment and statement that a man wrote a book just by blinking one eye. The book was good. There were a lot of hidden messages that I didn't catch until we went over them in class, but I almost felt at times that I was Bauby and I was feeling his pain and frustration. He did a very good job of telling you his pain and suffering which made the book that much better. There were some chapters of the book that i didn't get why he had them, because they may have described just a random thought. People say that it does have significance though because it symbolizes the butterfly part of the book. The part where he wanders away and doesn't let his body bring him down until later, but i feel that he did that too often. I felt like I would be reading along and he would go into one of his random, meaningless dreams and then he would snap back and talk about important things. Not all of the dreams were meaningless. Some showed you him before the accident which was very important. And the one where he is with Napoleon's wife is important because he sees himself in a mirror and it shows him what he looks like, which comes as a shock to him. And the other one where he goes to the religious place and everyone is getting healed it shows him making fun of the people, so it shows what he thought of people like him before it happened to him. But some like remembering his friend are just....i don't know, rambling on. Some parts were boring for me. Maybe because it was a memoir it made it not as exciting. I wanted to hear from another persons standpoint and hear what they thought. I wanted to know how crushed the family was and what they were thinking. I wanted to know what the doctors and nurses thought. I feel if it was like that the book would have been more.....informational maybe. Overall the book was a good meaningful book that made me realize that there are some pretty bad things out there but no matter how bad it gets you gotta try to keep going and that's what i felt Bauby did. Even though he had locked in syndrome he still try to make the best of it by writing a book.

Reading 3, Part 2

1) The book Angela's Ashes has many strengths and some weaknesses about it. I like how the book makes you feel terrible as you read. It makes you actually feel like your in the narrator's shoes. Your worried if your not going to have food. Your sad about all the deaths that are happening. I don't like some of the writing though. Sometimes I cant tell when they are talking to each other untill im done reading acouple sentences. He doesnt have quotations so it makes it hard in some cases. I feel that its truly amazing that Frank and his brothers lived the way they did. How could someone survive the hell they had to deal with. It seems as though nothing good ever went their way. I relate the book to me cuz im Irish too and I have alcoholics in my family too. So when I hear Frank talk about his father drinking their money away, I think of some of my relatives. I predict that things will turn around for the McCourts and maybe they'll finally get a lucky break.

Reading 3, Part 1

1) Frank's mother and father are both from Ireland and meet in New York city where they immediately fall in love. They have their first son Frankie. Soon after they have their second boy Malachy named after his father. Then comes the two twin boys Oliver and Eugene. Finally Margret is born. The family suffers many hardships. They barely make enough money to eat since it is the depression and their father, Malachy, has a terrible drinking problem. He usually gets his pay and goes and drinks it all away. The family starved until Margret was born. Malachy loved her so much that he quit drinking and always brought home his pay. Margret got very ill and died soon after she was born causing great sadness to the family. Angela, the mother, had her cousins come see her since she was so sad. They told her to go back to Ireland where your mother and Malachy's parents will help you. So the McCourts go to Ireland where all they find is more suffering. They can't seem to make much money and are barely making it by. Oliver grows sick and dies. Shortly after, Eugene dies too of pneumonia(if thats how you spell it). Frank and Malachy jr. start going to school where they are made fun of for their poverty. Angela has another baby named Micheal. When Angela returns from the hosiptal with Micheal, he is sick with a cold. He eventually stops breathing so Malachy Sr. sucks the mucus out of his nose. Frank gets his first Communion. Later on Angela and Malachy need to have their teeth pulled because of smoking so much so they get fake teeth. Angela also makes Frank take up Irish dance lessons. Frank hates it so he starts using the money to skip and go to the movies. Eventually his parents find out and make him confess his sins. Frank keeps going to school and meets this new boy named Fintan who invites Frank and this other boy named Paddy over all the time. THey only go for the food though. Fintan starts to get weird though and says that he likes to watch the two boys go to the bathroom. Frank and Paddy get scared and runaway. Angela finds them and is very upset cuz she was very worried. Angela gives birth to another boy named Alphonsus. Frank gets confirmed and gets a nose bleed that wont stop. The doctor comes amd tells him that he has typhoid fever. Frank is close to death but lives and gets out of the hosiptal in November. He goes back to school and learns that he has to reado the 5th grade. He goes to church to pray to be moved up to the 6th grade with his friends. THe next day he writes a big paper that is so impressive that his teacher moves him up to the 6th grade.

2)Frank McCourt grew up in America and moved to Ireland. He had 3 brothers: Malachy, Micheal and Alphonsus(Alphie). At agre 13 he quit school and got jobs to support his mother and brothers. At 19 he returned to the U.S. and went to New York University. He got a Masters degree at Brooklyn College and went on to teach english at McKee High School. He went on to write Angela's Ashes which one the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_McCourt)(http://www.achievement.org/achievers/mcc1/large/mcc1-007.jpg)

Summary of 1st reading

The beginning of the book talks about how life as an Irish kid was tough. He had an alcoholic father and he didn't always get to have a meal in a day. It tells of how his father and mother got to New York, and it talks about his childhood. He has three brothers and a baby sister. His baby sister margret, dies right before I stopped reading. This is terrible for the family. The father had quit drinking because he loved her so much, and the mother had always wanted a little girl for herself. So once she died of being sick, the family collapsed. THe dad went back to drinking and the mother is going crazy.

1. A link to the essay
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7572601

2. Author
Wayne Coyne

3. Title
Creating Our Own Happiness

–4. One sentence of what the belief is
he believes that people make their own happiness.

–5. 2 examples from the story that showed their belief
1.people were out in the freezing cold but didn't let it bother them, but huddled together and laughed and joked and made Wayne envy them.
2.Wayne started out working at a fast-food place and was happy because he got to experience being with people. Instead of thinking his job was a dead end.
–6. 1 favorite passage
And I understood we all have the power to make moments of happiness happen.

One goal that I have for myself this year is to try my hardest and give it my all. I feel that I haven't always applied myself in the past. Sure I tried in school, but I didn't do everything in my power to go for that A. I want to make my parents proud and show myself that I can push myself and go that extra mile to achieve my goal.

The thing that I am most anxious about at EHS is the school dances. I've heard that you have great times at them and that they are one of the best experiences that you can have at the high school.

hello