Saturday, December 29, 2007

Author's style in The Book Thief

Markus Zusak, the author of The Book Thief, has a very unique and distinct style of writing. First of all, Death is the narrator. That is a strange, but very interesting, point of view. Death does a lot of foreshadowing in his narration. For example he will say things like: "He already cheated me in one world war but would later be put into another (as a perverse kind of reward), where he would somehow manage to avoid me again" (Zusak 33-34). This statement clearly implies that Hans Hubberman will escape death once more in a later chapter, after being thrown into a second world war as a sick form of punishment (see previous post). Also, Death will put important pieces of information in bold and separated from the other text. For instance it would look something like this:
...I watched their stomachs open and the bombs drop casually out. They were off target, of course. They were often off target.

***A SMALL, SAD HOPE***
No one wanted to
bomb Himmel Street.
No one would bomb a
place named after
heaven, would they?
Would they? (Zusak 497-498)

These off settings of important thoughts, ideas, or simple facts are used quite regularily throughout the book. They help the reader to better understand major events in the book, and to think more deeply about them. Plus, they highlight key ideas and concepts brought forth by Zusak.

Zusak is a very talented writer. He made me experience much emotion while reading this book. Some of these emotions were...
*Dissappointment- Rudy and Liesel never kiss. And then its too late.
*Sadness- Liesel loses people she loves.
*Relief- Max and Liesel are reunited. Hans returns from war.
*Compassion- Rosa and Liesel are torn apart when Hans leaves.
*Anger- Jews were treated worse than dirt. Hitler is a maniac.
These are just some of the emotions I experienced. The book had a very powerful story that had a great impact upon me. Overall I would give it nine and a half stars out of ten. I would definitly recommend this exhilerating book.

Completion of The Book Thief

Not quite a happy ending for Liesel Meminger. I won't go into specifics because I don't want to ruin the book, but a warning: it doesn't end happily. Well I guess in one circumstance it does, and that is that Max and Liesel are reunited after their long separation. This separation was caused by an act of Hans Hubberman, not a mean act, but a nice one. This act of kindness and bravery proved to be a very dangerous move on Hans' part, and it will end up tearing Hans from his family and Max from his place of safety. During a parade of Jews (where Jews, on their way to a concentration camp, are paraded through the streets of Munich) Hans steps in and gives one of the struggling Jews a piece of bread. Overwhelmed with thanks, the Jew drops to Hans' feet and thanks him over and over again. Then a soldier comes over to them. The Jew was whipped six times, and Hans four times. Realization hits Hans later when he realizes what could happen to him and his family, not to mention Max (the Jew hidden in his basement). Knowing that "they" will most likely come for him, Hans must make Max leave the house. Hans has shown himself to the public as a "Jew lover", and so his house would definitly be searched for hidden Jews. Hans begs Max's forgiveness, but Max merely says "You've done enough." (Zusak 398). Later on, Hans gets his punishment. He is drafted into the military and forced to clean up after air raids (not to worry though, he is sent home after some number of months with a broken leg. Who would have thought that a broken leg would be the best thing to happen to Hans?). All of this for giving a hungry, dying Jew a piece of stale bread. On that day, the Jews being paraded through the streets witnessed a miracle.

Friday, December 28, 2007

Liesel Meminger

This post is strictly focused on Liesel Meminger, the main character in The Book Thief.


At the beginning of the book Liesel is a scared, timid, and an emotionally scarred child. After witnessing the death of her brother on the train and being separated from her mother (the only family she has left), Liesel shuts down. Every night her dreams are haunted by her brother's death aboard the train. Every night Liesel wakes up screaming, and every night Hans comes in to comfort her and read to her. Liesel develops a strong relationship with Hans and starts to open up to him. Each day Liesel gets more comfortable with her new home and foster parents. She makes friends in the neighborhood, especially with a boy named Rudy. Liesel begins to find happiness through reading, Rudy, soccer, and, of course, stealing books. Liesel makes friends with the mayor's wife, Ilsa Hermann, for whom Rosa Hubberman does the laundry. Ilsa invites Liesel into her home to read books in her library, something Liesel enjoys very much. However, when the Hermanns stop being customers of Rosa, Liesel gets mad and yells at Ilsa. Liesel sort-of apologizes, but still will not accept Ilsa's invitation to read in her library. So instead, Liesel decides to steal from the library. Soon, Ilsa discovers that Liesel is stealing her books, but she is not angry. On the contrary, Ilsa invites her to keep stealing and even leaves a dictionary right next to the window the book thief enters through. Through out the novel, Liesel develops a new relationship with Max (the hidden Jew). Liesel shares nightmares with Max and often keeps him company in the basement. She is devastated when Max is forced to leave. In the end Liesel loses many of the people she loves, but finds comfort when Max returns to her at Ilsa Hermann's house, Liesel's new home. (When Liesel's home and family are destroyed by a bombing, Ilsa takes her in.) Liesel evolves into a strong, but still very emotionally wounded teenager. Liesel still has two rays of light in her clouded life: Max and Ilsa.

The Book Thief (one of many posts by that title)

"'Do you still play the accordian?' Of course, the question was really, 'Will you still help me?'" (Zusak). This quote is important because it sparks the new fear and anxiety within the Hubberman household. Afterall, hiding a Jew is a crime punishable by death. This question, asked by Max Vandenburg, the Jew, marks the start of a new way of living for the Hubbermans. Fear of being caught by members of the Nazi party, the Hubbermans must do everything they can to keep their secret safe. This means Max must live in the cold basement behind a sheet and some paint cans. Liesel is sworn to secrecy by her father, after being told that he can be taken away from her if anyone discovers the jew in the basment. Max gets very sick after being in the cold basement all day everyday, so the Hubbermans decide that, once cured, he should come upstairs each night to warm up and get a change of scenery. During the days that Max is unconcious from sickness, Liesel collects gifts for him, in hope that they will help him wake up and get better. These gifts consisted of a destroyed soccer ball, a ribbon, a pinecone, a button, a stone, a feather, two newspapers, a candy wrapper, a cloud described on a piece of paper, a toy soldier, a miraculous leaf, and also Liesel read her book The Whistler to Max. A deep relationship formed between Max and Liesel. They shared nightmares with eachother, and Liesel would, very often, visit Max in the basement to keep him company. As a birthday gift, Max wrote and illustrated a book called The Standover Man for Liesel. Max's book defined his and Liesel's realtionship in a story. Here's a quote from the story: "Now I think we are friends, this girl and me. On her birthday, it was she who gave a gift-to me."

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Much Ado About Nothing

Thus far in the play, Hero has been successfully wooed for Claudio, even with the evil Don John trying to cause trouble with Claudio by telling him the Prince only wants Hero for himself. Also, Leonato, Don Pedro, and Claudio trick Benedick into falling in love with Beatrice. They do this by making sure that Benedick overhears them talking of the great love Beatrice has for him, and how, even though her tongue is sharp, she is just expressing her love for him. Hero and Ursula do the same with Beatrice, making sure that she overhaers them talking of Benedick's deep love for Beatrice. Both tricks are successfull and Beatrice falls in love with Benedick, and he with Beatrice. All this happiness makes Don John unhappy, he only wants to cause havoc and discomfort. So, he makes a devious little plan with Borachio and Conrade. This plan will, to their hope, break apart Claudio and Hero and therefore make Don Pedro unhappy (which I believe is their ultimate goal). The plan consists of Borachio having relations with Margaret, Hero's lady in waiting, in Hero's bed chamber. BUT, instead of Margaret being Margaret, she will act as Hero. Don John will make sure that Claudio can hear Borachio call Margaret "Hero"(and vice versa) in their love making and consequently destroy the young relationship. Will the plan work? Technically in comedies, everything turns out for the best, so we already know that everything will work out between Claudio and Hero. But we don't know how this conflict will be solved.

The Book Thief

For a class assignmanet Liesel is asked to write two letters, one to a friend and one to somenone in the another class. Liesel chose to write one of these letters to her mama. Not Rosa Hubberman though, her birth mama. Liesel spent hours in the basement, while her father painted, working on the perfect letter to send to her mama. In the letter she told mama about everything she had encountered since their separation. Since she didn't have her mama's address, Liesel was encouraged to give her letter to Frau Diller, who was the woman who brought Liesel to the Hubberman's home and worked with the foster agency. Then she started waiting. Each day Liesel would check the mail box for any letter from her mama. Later, Liesel overheard her foster parents talking about her mama:
"What was she doing writing to her mother?"...
"She asked me," Papa answered, "and I couldn't say no. How could I?"
"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph." Again with the whisper. "she should just forget her. Who knows where she is? Who knows what they've done to her?

Liesel is once again forced to ask herself:
"Where was she?
What had they done to her?
And once and for all, who, in actual fact, were they?"

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Shakespeare

In class, we are in the midst of reading Much Ado About Nothing, a comedy by Shakespeare. So far I am enjoying the play very much. The handsome war-hero, Claudio, has fallen deeply in love with the beautiful, doting daughter of Leonato, Hero. Leonato is keeping Don Pedro, the prince, as well as Claudio and Benedick as guests in his home, for they have recently returned from battle. Also staying with Leonato is Don Pedro's half-brother, Don John the bastard and his two comrades Borachio and Conrade. Don John is the villain in the story and wants to cause trouble and discorde, for the discomfort of his half-brother. When he hears that Claudio wants Hero's hand in marriage, and that Claudio and Don Pedro have planned a way to woo her and talk with Leonato about the marriage, he wants to do whatever he can to make sure the marriage doesn't happen. The reason he wants to do this, is because he is a mean guy, it's just in his nature. The plan that Don Pedro and Claudio have conjured to win Hero over is as follows: Don Pedro will woo Hero in Claudio's name at the masked ball, and also talk to her father about the marriage. Then once Hero is won over, Claudio will take Don Pedro's place as himself. Clearly, there are many ways Don John can cause confusion and mayhem at the masked ball, and that's exactly what he intends to do.

The Book Thief Update

Rudy Steiner, Liesel's new friend and companion, has this strange obsession with the olympic runner Jesse Owens. This 4-time gold-medalist had a real impact upon the young Rudy, and there is a certain incident that the people of Himmel Street will never forget. Though this incident happened before Liesel's arrival, she feels that she was there when it happened, because she can picture it perfectly. The incident was so bizarre that it would be hard to ever forget. After Rudy's family watches Jesse win his 4 gold medals, Rudy dashes into the kitchen and smears charcoal all over his body, so that it covers every inch of his white skin. He then headed out the door to the Hubert Oval. Upon arrival at the track, Rudy begins his uncoordinated stretches. Impersonating Jesse Owens, he takes off down the track, commentating on himself the entire time. He imagines the crowd chanting his name, which at this moment was no longer Rudy, but instead he was the unbeatable Jesse Owens. Rudy realizes he is in trouble when he sees his father standing at the finish line waiting for him. On the way home Rudy's father lectures him about his strange behavior. The discussion leads to Rudy's father telling him to never ever again paint himself black. When Rudy asks why not, his father tells him "Because they'll take you away" (Zusak 60) Again Rudy asks why, and his father tries to explain that anyone who isn't "like them" is not safe. Blacks and Jews especially. Here's a small section from the reading that had a great impact on me...
"Mr. Steiner...explained, 'I know son--but you've got beautiful blond hair and big, safe blue eyes. You should be hapy with that; is that clear?' But nothing was clear. Rudy understood nothing, and that night was the prelude of things to come. Two and a half years later, the Kaufmann Shoe Shop was reduced to broken glass, and all the shoes were flung aboard a truck in their boxes" (Zusak 61).

Sunday, December 9, 2007

END OF RESEARCH PAPER and start of Shakespeare

The research paper unit is finally over! I believe that my research paper was definitely my best paper of this school year, and hopefully I will recieve a very high grade that reflects the time and effort I put into this paper. Ms. West asked us to complete a reflection on our papers, after we turned them into the wire basket. We were asked various questions about what we thought of our paper, also we were asked to make a list of the steps we would take to write another research paper. These are the steps that I would follow:
1) Find a topic that interests you.
2) Find atleast 5 credible sources for that topic.
3) Annotate all your sources.
4) Make an informal outline that will help structure the paragraphs in your paper.
5) Write notes for key information that you annotated in your sources. (paraphrase, quote, summarize)
6) Design a Flee Map that will help to better organize each paragraph and help you to lay out exactly what you will say in your paper.
7) Construct a rough draft to be edited.
8) Write your final draft.
These steps will prove to be very useful later on in my college career. After all research papers were turned in with our reflections, we started a movie all about Shakespeare. I enjoyed the movie very much. The most interesting thing I learned from it is that we actually don't know a lot about Shakepeare. I think they said in the movie that we only actually know 3 things about him. That's so weird because he's one of the most famous names in history and literature.

The Book Thief Update

Recently in The Book Thief Liesel begins school, however because of her level of education she is in a class with kids much younger than herself. When Liesel wakes up screaming from her nightmares, a nightly routine, Hans Hubberman will read from The Grave Digger's Handbook (the small black book Liesel found/stole from her brother's grave site) to comfort her. One night, when Hans asks Liesel how many words on the page she can read, she replies that she can read about half. Hans later discovers that she can only read three words. Later, he begins to re-teach Liesel the alphabet and and shows her how letters are arranged to make words. They call this nightly session their "midnight class", these "classes" start after Liesel's bed-wetting incident (she became so terrified of her nightmare that she had a little accident). Eventually, Liesel is moved up into the class with kids her own age, though she still can't read as well as the rest of them. Among her classmates is a boy by the name of Rudy Steiner. Rudy and Liesel become very good friends and walk to school together every day. They also play daily soccer games with the other children in the neighborhood. Rudy decides that he is in love with Liesel, and he sticks up for her when she reads aloud in front of the class, a complete disaster. Liesel is made the "heavy-weight champion of the school-yard", when she beats up two boys for making fun of her reading ability. A lot of things are going on right now in the book, this was just a quick summary of the key events.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

In-Class Update

This week in class Ms. West taught us many different ways of preparing to write a research paper. These things included: how to organize and write notes on your subject, how to create a flee map, and how to properly paraphrase and summarize. I found that paraphrasing was quite difficult. Its really hard to restate the facts and ideas without being guilty of plaigarism. Ahhhhh! Its very frustrating. Anyways, that's probably why my notes took so long, because I had to do a lot of paraphrasing. However I'm really glad I fininshed them because its going to make writing my paper so much easier. The same goes for doing the flee map, though I'm not so sure I did it right. Before this year I never had realized how many rules there were to avoid plaigarism. I understand them now, but up to this year I have probably plaigarised more than once. Thats not a good thing. I also didn't know that colleges can expell one of their students for plaigarism, so I'm going to have to be very careful from now on. Thank you Ms. West for teaching me how to avoid it, because I would like to graduate from college. :)

Outside Reading: The Book Thief

Recently in The Book Thief, Liesel Meminger gets adopted by a foster family, the Hubermans. Liesel took her first ride in a car on the way to meet her new foster parents who reside on Himmel Street (Himmel means heaven).Hans Huberman is a man who enjoys rolling his own cigarettes, a lesson he teaches Liesel to ease the tension and uncomfort of her new home. He is a gentle man capable of great compassion. On the contrary, Rosa Huberman is a cold woman who "was good at being furious" (Zusak 32). In fact Rosa is described as having "a face decorated with constnat fury" (Zusak 33). She is a short, stout woman with "a distinct waddle to her walk" (Zusak 27). Liesel finds it hard to adjust to her new home and remains in the back seat of the car until at last they were able to coaz her from the car. She also refused to undress for a bath, and this angered Rosa Hubberman. Rosa cursed at her until Hans came in and told her to leave Liesel alone. Hans, to ease the tension, gave Liesel a lesson on how to role a cigarette. Though it may seem that Rosa is a cruel woman uncapable of love, she really did love Liesel, she just had a different way of showing it. Rosa asks Liesel to call her mama and to call Hans papa. Liesel finds that she has a much easier time calling Hans papa than calling Rosa mama.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

The Book Thief

As of right now I am on page 25 of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. So far I am enjoying it very much, though in some parts it's really confusing. I am still getting use to the fact that Death is narrating this book, a hard thing to imagine. Death is fair, agreeable, and sometimes even cheerful. It (don't know if I should refer to it as a he or a she) explains that it's one saving grace is distraction. Death makes distraction from his work his vacation. Death goes in further detail when he says, "Needless to say, I vacation in increments. In colors" (Zusak 5). Death explains that the worst part of what it does is watching what it calls "the leftover humans", in other words it can't stand to look at the ones "who are left behind, crumbling among the jigsaw puzzle of realization, despair, and surprise. They have punctured hearts. They have beaten lungs" (Zusak 5). Death describes that the book theif, otherwise known as Liesel Meminger, is an expert at being left behind, as he sees her three times. Death begins to tell the story of the book thief in part one. And that's where I left off.

Monday, November 26, 2007

In-text Citations and my Research Paper Topic

Though I believe that one should give credit where it is due, I think that all this citation business is just silly. I can understand the "Works Cited" at the end of a paper, but all the in-text citations are quite cumbersome to the writer. Besides if one has a "Works Cited" page, all their ideas expressed or quotations in their paper are already given credit, only it's just at the end of the paper, not in the middle of it. Plus, I believe that the reader of one's paper finds it annoying when half the paper is in-text citations. When one is reading a paper, they want to get to the meat as soon as possible, and with all those obnoxious in-text citations, it becomes quite difficult to do that. Sorry, I just had to vent. Anyways...
The topic I have chosen for my research paper is the highly debated death penalty. I've learned many different things about the death penalty, both pros and cons. I would have to say that I'm for the death penalty, though I can understand the opposition's views. The most fascinating thing that I have learned is that a major reason for concern of those who oppose the death penalty is the probability of innocent people being convicted and then killed for a crime they did not commit. My sources tell me that, while this is sometimes true in very rare cases, the number of innocent lives taken by escaped/released felons far out numbers the lives of innocent people, who were wrongly accused of murder and then killed. This fact helped me to lean towards the pro-death penalty view.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

On the Waterfront

Overall I thought that the movie On The Waterfront was pretty good. The characters were very well played by the actors and actresses. The scene where Terry sees his brother dead was especially well done. Terry's emotion and anger was so real, it really gave the viewers a sense of what he was feeling. Also, I really enjoyed the scene at the end, when Terry walks into the work place after being brutally beat up by Johnny friendly's mobsters. It was a very powerful scene and I thought it rappe up the movie very nicely: finally the workers win. The best was seeing Johnny Friendly's face when he realized he'd been beat. He could no longer bully the workers around, for they were building self-confidence. Camera angles were also very well done. I felt that the scene directly after Doogan's death, where the priest is speaking in front of the workers with the mob listening in overhead, had very appropriate camera angles. Low shots looking up at the mobsters revealed their power and control over the workers, who were always shot from above. The particular low shot with the priest riding the lift up (after his conversation with the workers) symbolizes how he, by standing up for what he believes in, is doing the right thing and will therefore be "raised up" after death. In conclusion I thought this film was much much much better than The 400 Blows, which was dull and pointless.

Quarter Two Outside Reading

Well I haven't actually started my second outside reading book yet, but I know thatI'm reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. My sister has already read this book and it became her favorite book, besides Harry Potter of course :) So I'm hoping that I will enjoy it too. This is a quote from the inside cover of the book: "It's just a small story really, about, among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist fighter, and quite a lot of thievery..."

I'm really hoping that I enjoy this book because my sister builds it up to be so great, and even comparible to Harry Potter. The interesting thing about this book is that it is narrated by Death. I know, I thought that was weird too. The main character, a girl named Liesel Meminger, finds her obsession...books. She just cannot resist them, but in order to obtain them she must steal them from wherever they are to be found.

A final review was as follows: "Markus Zusak, award-winning author of I Am the Messenger, has crafted an unforgettable novel about the ability of books to feed the soul."

I can't wait to start this book :)

Friday, November 2, 2007

All My Sons

After finishing the play All My Sons by Arthur Miller, I had mixed feelings whether or not i liked the play. I'm sort of indifferent towards this play. Again I'm noticing a depressing theme with this source of literature. Why do we always read depressing books??? I thought the play was very interesting and it moved along at a pretty fast pace, but it was sad and nothing happy really happened through out the whole play. I thought the character of Joe Keller was very layered and complex. He knowingly committed a very horrible act that ended in the deaths of 21 pilots, and yet he thinks that he committed no crime. He thought that he was doing the right thing by sending out the faulty parts, because if he hadn't his business would've gone bankrupt and he wouldn't be able to provide for his family. At the end of the play Joe realizes the impact of his actions after reading a letter sent by Larry to Ann, where Larry says he wished that Joe were dead as punishment for what he had done. Joe, after reading this, recognizes the gravity of his actions and the people that were affected. Joe then commits suicide, not being able to handle his guilt.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Act Three Prediction

I predict that in Act 3 of All My Sons Joe Keller will have to come clean about his faking sick to prevent the bankruptcy of the business when it produces faulty plane parts that they ship to the army (which led to the deaths of 21 men in the army), to George and Ann. Ann will probably be very upseand react sort-of like Chris did, and George will be cocky and say "I told you so", also he may insist on Joe Keller's arrest and a statement from him that clears Joe's father of all charges against him. The family will be ripped aprat and Kate may even carry out her threat to kill herself as a reaction to this sudden turmoil in the family(???) Chris and Ann will most likely move away with George and Keller will end up in jail in place of Ann's father.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Cheating

On tuesday in class we discussed different forms of cheating and we made a tree graph seperating the forms of cheating into 6 categories: Business, Sports, Education, Taxes, and Other. Here are some examples we gathered for each category...
Business- World Con and Enron, Limewire, Nepotism, and Martha Stewart
Sports- Barry Bonds, Marion Jones, Floyd Landis, corked baseball bats, and weighted dice
Education- plagiarism, copying home work, scholastic dishonesty, disability fraud, picture messaging, faking sick, and the list goes on.
Taxes- Leona Helmsley, illegal bank accounts, and babysitting
Other- video cameras in movie theaters, illegal immigration, and fake ID's
It's amazing how much cheating goes on in the world, this list is just the tip of the ice-berg.

Outside Reading

Well I've finished Eclipse, so now I'm re-reading Twilight. I forgot how good Twilight is, I think that it's better than Eclipse. What's happening in Twilight right now is Bella is just starting school in Forks. She is lab partners with Edward, who she thinks hates her. She is fascinated with the entire Cullen family, having never seen such beautiful people in her whole life. Bella makes friends with Jessica and Mike, who she finds overly helpful. Grateful to be accepted at once into her new school, Bella finds it ahrd to stay focused in biology while sitting next to Edward. Charlie, Bella's dad, buys Bella an old truck, whcih she falls in love with immediately, even with its roaring engine and chipped paint. That's really all that's happened so far in Twilight.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

400 Blows

This week in class we watched The 400 Blows, a memoir on the childhood of a boy named Antoine. Personally, I thought the movie was pointless and a waste of time. There was absolutely no morals and Antoine didn't develop at all through out the movie. The story line wasn't at all interesting or attention grabbing and I was bored the whole time. In my Review on The 400 Blows, I mention what makes the movie a bad movie. For the era it was filmed in, the camera effects were alright, but they could've been better. The actors were the only good component to the film. Each actor/actress played his/her role very well, and each fitted their roles very well. For instance the actress that played the mother of Antoine was very good in her role. She looked the part, she played the part, and she just stood out to me as a wonderful actress. However, the movie as a whole, was not worthwhile to my learning experience and wasn't entertaining either.

Eclipse Update

The brutal fight where the vampires and the werewolves were an alliance left Jacob severely wounded. While trying to protect someone in his pack from an angry newborn, Jacob gets attacked and goes unconcious. After the fight, which was a victory for the vampire-werewolf alliance, Carlisle (Edward's "dad") tends to Jacob's wounds. He infers that, because of Jacob's rapid healing power, he will make it. A couple days after the fight with the newborns from Seattle, Bella visits Jacob at his home where he is resting. They talk about how Bella really does love Jacob, but she could never live with out Edward, so she makes her decision. Though she loves Jacob with all of her heart, she knows what it is like without Edward and she knows she could never endure the absense of Edward from her life again. Jacob is heart broken, but he told Bella he would wait for her as long as it took...even if she was a vampire by then.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Memoir

For my memoir I chose to write about my first time skiing in the mountains. We went to Vail, Colorado when I was 10 years old and I could not contain my excitement. Here's a paragraph from my Memoir...
"The way they dazzled in the morning light, looking so strong and yet tranquil at the same time. By eight o’ clock we were riding the gondola up the steep slopes of the mountain. I thought the gondola ride was almost over at every peak, only to discover that over each peak was more mountain stretching up and up until it was obscured by the morning sun. After what seemed like hours, we reached the end of the gondola. Before I clicked into my skis I took in the overwhelming landscape. I felt higher than anything in the world. Mountains stretched for miles in every direction, their tops glistening with radiantly white snow. The soft breeze whistled past my ears and lightly chilled my entire body. The freshly groomed snow crunched as my skis glided over it. Skiing always brought a sense of freedom to me. I could not be any happier as I raced down the sparkling slope. Skiing, especially in Vail, never got old. In fact, it almost got more and more exciting with each run. Our two families spent most of the morning on the easier slopes, in other words the green circle and blue square marked runs. For lunch we gathered in the lodge and ate our fill of hot chilli and steaming hot chocolate. "

Outside Reading Update

A lot has happened since I last blogged about Eclipse. The mysterious killings in Seattle are raising concern in the Cullen household. The number of murdered victims is getting higher each day and the Cullens believe that its something far more frightening than just a crazy serial killer. They believe that someone is trying to bulid up an army of newborn vampires in Seattle, which would explain the out-of-control killings. See, newborn vampires have basically no control over their actions. They are extremely strong and powerful but they don't know how to best use their powers, nor how to manage their thirst. All these vampires think about is when they can feed next, it doesn't matter who they feed off of just as long as their ravaging thirst can be quenched. Bella comes to the conclusion that the mysterious visitor in her room, the newborns in Seattle, and Victoria, who is determined to avenge her partner James are all some how connected. Then Alice, Edward's sister, has a vision of the newborns coming to Forks...one of them carrying Bella's red sweater, that went missing after her "visitor" came to call. Will it be war??? Meanwhile, Jacob has confessed to Bella that he loves her. Now Bella must make an incredibly tough decision...Jacob or Edward, werewolf or vampire???

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Most Embarrassing Moment

On firday in class we had to write for "friday free write" about a cirnge-worthy moment in our lives. This was my embarrassing moment:
I was in seventh grade and I was on the EHS swim team. The day came for our first meet, so, naturally, I was very nervous. My coach had put me in the 100yd breaststroke, an event I had never swam before. Though I had had previous experience with swimming (I had swam for Edina Country Club since age 9), it was never events over 50yds in length. My best event was the 50yd breaststroke. Anyways the time came when the official said, "Ladies step up." (that means to step up on to the blocks). I was shaking with adrenaline because I really wanted to impress my new teamates and coaches. The buzzer sounded and I leaped from the block. I hit the water surging with energy, telling my body to go faster. At the 25yd mark I could see that I was quite far ahead, this got me excited and all I could think about was finishing in first place. I could see the wall, I was almost there... Yes! I finished hard into the wall and slowly climbed out of the pool. Then horror struck me as I watched all the other girls turn at the wall to finish the race...I had only done 50yds, half of the race. Words cannot describe my embarrassment that day.

Friday, September 28, 2007

Outside Reading Update: Eclipse

So as of right now I am on page 78 of the book Eclipse. Jacob still isn't speaking to Bella, but she still has her soul mate Edward. Sadly, however, Edward and Jacob are arch enemies because Edward is a vampire and Jacob is a werewolf. Edward and Bella take a short vacation to visit Bella's mom in Florida, though Edward has to stay out of the sun because when you are a vampire your skin glitters abnormally in direct sunlight. Charlie, Bella's dad still acts coldly towards Edward. (He will never forgive him for leaving Bella in New Moon and causing her months of extreme depression.) When I left off Jacob was coming to Bella's school to warn her about something Edward never told her. I predict some sort of fight is going to break out in public between Edward and Jacob, and Bella will have to make a decision of who's side she is on...her soul mate or her best friend?

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Black Boy

I feel like we always read depressing books in Language Arts. I don't really care, but I have noticed a trend. So far Black Boy is pretty good, although there are some parts where I have to re-read the paragraphs over and over because I'll read it once and have no idea what he just said. Richard is a very violent child and he gets into trouble quite often. I find it interesting how different the forms of punishment were back then to how they are now. My parents would never physically hurt me as a form of punishment, they would ground me or take away something. I also feel that its sort of unfair that they whip richard for some of the stuff he does. I mean he's just a kid and kids make mistakes that's how they learn. Anyways, i think the book is pretty good as far as school books go, but it still doesn't beat To Kill a Mockingbird, which is my favorite so far.

Outside reading (Quarter One)

The book I have decided to read for outside reading is called Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer. It is the third book in a series. I have read the first two and absolutely LOVED them. They are called Twighlight and New Moon. The plot is kind of hard to explain, and it sounds like a very strange book, but it's not. This girl named Bella moves to Forks, a very small town where it always rains. In Forks Bella discovers an ancient secret that changes her life forever. It all starts when she falls in love with Edward Cullen, who has a secret of his own...that he is a vampire. Oh yeah, and in the second book she learns that her best friend, Jacob, is a werewolf. I know it sounds strange but these are some of the best books I've ever read. They are full of action, danger, romance, and suspense...they're basically just really good books.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Test

This is a test post to see if it works.