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Standing In His Or Her Shoes

The best way to understand a person is to "stand in his or her shoes."

This saying is very true. A person can not fully understand how another person feels without going through or seeing what they have gone through. People can guess and try to understand how another person feels about a certain topic or event but you can not fully understand their perspective.

For instance an everyday example is at any High School. Certain people have different views about High School. For instance a jock or really popular person might like school because of friends and activities they get to participate in at school. Where as a student that gets beat up and picked on all the time might hate school. They might dread going to school everyday because they would rather not be beaten on or picked on.

So try to put yourself in someone elses shoes every once in a while to try to understand how they feel about life.

Don't Judge A Book By It's Cover

Well Ms. James asked us to blog about one of the topics that she had listed in her blog. I chose to blog about the second choice. The second bullet is states that "Most people are likable once you get to know them." I strongly agreee with this. If you are like most people then you make conclusions about people just by looking at them. I know I do sometimes even though I don't mean to.

This ties in with the book because Scout, Jem, and Dill were drawing to conclusions about Boo Radley without getting to know him. However when they did get to know him, they found out that he was actually a nice person.

So let me ask you:

Have you ever judged someone by how they look and then ended up being wrong about them when you got to know them?

I think the world would be better if people didn't judge people on first sight but instead got to know the person they were judging.

Hey! How's everyones spring break going? Mine is amazing. I'm in Flordia right now. Just got back from the beach. On the way here I read a book. I don't remember the title...sorry. I never can. But, it took place after 911. The main character was going through a lot, his father in-law died during 911. It hit him hard and he walked away from everyone he loved and everything he believed in. It took a lot of strength from the people he loved to keep loving him. It reminded me of to Kill a Mockingbird, when Scout and Jim were with Mrs. Dubose. It was Mrs.Dubose right, I can't ever remember names. Anyway, they were taught to show respect towards her even though she was a pain. In the story I just finished, his family had a hard time to showing love towards him. It was a theme they both had in common. Loving others, even when you don't think they deserve it.

For All Marching Band Kids of 2006

I was on youtube.com tonight and found this, thought ya'll might enjoy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7ac5O0H2S0

Enjoy!!!!

My Weekend with the Wedding Bells

My weekend was great! My brother got married!!! I was so excited. My new sister has two little girls, so I am now an aunt. One of the girls is staying at my house for a couple of days. So my house is full with my family from Texas and my new niece fits right in.

I love weddings! I probably sound like a sap,but I do. It is something about the way they make you feel. On the day of the wedding, I sang to myself "Chapel of Love" the entire day. I can't wait until I go to my uncle's wedding in the summer.

Watching my brother made me realize what he was going through. I kind of did what Scout did and stepped inside his shoes. He must have been so nervous waiting for her to walk down the aisle and hoping he made the right decision.

To be honest, at first, I didn't want my brother's wedding to happen. I guess because I felt like I was losing him. He would have someone else to look after and love. But I know that love is infinite and you can always make more.

Do you like my picture? It's a picture of my brother and Jessica, after they cut the cake at the reception. They had too much fun and my brother has a white icing beard. Isn't the look on my brother's face hilarious?

I found the lyrics to "Chapel of Love". If you don't recognize the title, you'll probably recognize the words. Click on:
http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/c/chapeloflove.shtml

Happy Spring Break!

I thought that I would make the first post of SPRING BREAK!!! I hope that you all are going to have an amazing spring break. I am probably just going to stay at home. Well I dont know about you but I am going to be reading alot this week. Does anybody have any recomendations for a good book? I have been told Twighlight and thats about it. I would love for someone to recomend a great book. Have a great SPRING BREAK for those of you who are going somewhere. And for those who arnt that is what theese pictures and this link are for! See you guys on Monday!

The Crucible

The Crucible is a play based on the Salem witch trials, in 1692. The Crucible is a fairly accurate description of what actually occured at Salem, leading to the deathes of many. What basically occured was a group of children started to act/be possessed. Through their possessions, they named names. Those innocent people were then most likely hanged. The play is an interesting and exciting story, yet short. So if you want a short, but interesting read, pick up The Crucible. Furthermore, The Crucible is required for English III, so you might as well get a head start.

Boo Radley

Here's what I think about Boo Radley:


I think that Boo chose to stay inside. Maybe he thought it would be easier to watch and not be a part of the world. So he could see the world without the world seeing him. Maybe he was scared of what people thought. And because he didn't interact around anyone but his brother, Nathan, he didn't know how to act around people. That's why he wanted to sit back in "deep shadow" because "Boo would feel more comfortable in the dark." (p.272) Mr. Radley prefers to be invisible and that's why Scott forgot that he was sitting next to her on the porch. What I don't know is if Mr. Radley killed Mr. Ewell? Or was it Jem? I don't think Jem did it, because his arm was broken and he was unconscious.


I think when the book says that Boo whispered, "in the voice of a child afraid of the dark"(p.278) that Scott is starting to realize that Boo is human and not like the rumors. In a way, Boo Radley was acting like Mr. Dolphus Raymonds, and letting the rumors about him explain his behavior. But for Mr. Raymonds, it was to explain why he prefered to be around blacks to whites. And for Mr. Radley, it was to explain why he didn't want to go outside.


Mr. Radley wasn't comfortable socially like Aunt Alexandra. That was part of what Aunt Alexandra was trying to teach Scott, except in the world of ladies. According to Aunt Alexandra and other Southern Belles, social skills were everything. Ladies and gentlemen had to act a certain way and people judged you by that. Boo wasn't talkive or anything like that so he chose to hide from the judging world that judged him on something he considered he didn't have. He prefered to let the rumors go on and watch two children grow up and help in anyway he could. He doesn't act like the man in my picture and he shouldn't have to. To me, a gentleman is a man with a kind heart and Boo Radley fits that description.

I found a website that tells exactly what a Southern Belle is, click on http://usads.ms11.net/lynn.html


I found a blogger that talks about Southern Belles. I'm sorry there is one bad word at the link, but I'm sure you have already read it in "To Kill A Mockingbird". I hope it is not a problem. Anyway, click on http://chronicleofameanderingtraveller.blogspot.com/2006/09/on-southern-belles.html. Sorry I still don't know how to make a one-word link.

Through The Eyes of a Child

Through the eyes of a child, all of this would seem remarkable. However, I think there is one thing Jean Louise Finch will always remember, and that is the realization that Boo Radley has children, but they belong to someone else. Scout sees through the eyes of a murderer who is the beholder of a golden heart. Boo Radley, he’s not really a mindless killer, he’s the guardian angel of a grown-up eight year old, and a childish 11 eleven year-old.

Scout gets the chance of a lifetime. She is allowed to see through someone else’s eyes and she takes opportunity by the tail. I think Scout always knew there were two sides to the solitary Boo. She was always trying to get Jem and Dill to leave the Radley place alone. I think she saw something no one else could see. Who knows, maybe she knew all along there was nothing wrong with him, but she had grown up with the tales of Maycomb, and didn’t know how to believe anything that went against the stories she was told. A child is willing to believe anything you tell them, and that is hard to change once they’ve got the idea in their head. If Scout had not grown up, delusion filling her head, maybe, just maybe, she could have gotten the courage to go knock on the door and make friends.

I’ve wondered if maybe the Radley’s provoked him into to stabbing his father. I also have formed a little theory of my own. I think that, knowing how protective Boo is, that maybe his father was a little violent and provoked Boo into hurting him, and that was the only way he could figure out how. Maybe his father hurt his mother, and persuaded her Boo was trying to kill him? I know, it’s a little out there, but it could be. Because, I really just don’t think Boo would stab his father with the scissors without a cause.

I’ve wondered why Boo only went out at night. Could it be his family kept him in because of rumors? Maybe, after a time, it was just easier for him to be licked up like an animal at the zoo, than let him out and let the gossip mill fly. Would his family let him out at night, like we do our dogs and cats or did he sneak out? Why was he caged?

Stereotypes

"Sometimes people are more comfortable with a stereotype than than the truth." This was one of the main topics from To Kill a Mockingbird that Ms. James pointed out. I think that it is completely true. Some example from the book that pop into my mind are The Lady's Missionary Meeting and Mr. Dolphus Raymond. Mr Raymond acts like he in constantly drunk, so that everyone can stereotype him and not face the truth that a sane white man married a colored woman because he loved her. He understands people like that, and just decides to give them something to talk about. The lady's missionary society were all complete hypocrites and they assumed that Atticus was just a little bit out of his mind to defend Tom Robinson. I think that this is all just human nature and Harper Lee does a great job of portraying it.

Springbreak

Alright, it is finally here. :)

My springbreak consist of sleeping, hanging out with friends, going to Oklahoma (woo.....) and going to competetion.

What is everyone else doing?

The Kite Runner

Well i just finished the book and it is definitely my favorite book of all time. When i thought it was over the book again takes another twist and keeps me guessing till the end. I was very sad to see the book end. I wanted it to keep going. Now i see what all of the compliments were for. I used think that they were in pity and kind of the job of the critics, to give it a good rating so that people will read it. I was sure wrong. I definitely suggest this book. It is excellent. I am now starting the Da vinci Code. I have heard a lot of good things about it and I'm really excited to read it. I would like it if you guys could suggest some good books to me. Thanks.

The Lost Boy

I am reading a book right now called The Lost Boy. It is the sequeal of A Child Called It. I have already posted about that book before but I haven't talked about this one. This is the part of the story where Dave finally gets away from his abusive mother and is put into foster care. Throughout the book he is trying to fins a new family that will adopt and love him for who he is. This is kind of the happy ending to a sad story. I wish every child abuse story could end up like this one, but sadly enough they dont. There are still many kids who grow up in unsafe homes. Want to know how you can help stop this horrible act? Click here for a link to become more informed about child abuse. I'm not that far into it yet so I dont know a lot of detail but I will keep everyone updated as best I can. I hope everyone enjoyed Mockingbird, and have a great spring break!!!

Tuesdays with Morrie

I would relate To Kill a Mockingbird to one of my favorite books, Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. Tuesdays with Morrie is about a sports writer who meets with his old sociology proffessor every Tuesday. The reason they meet every Tuesday is because of the fact that Morrie has ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease. He's dying and he wants to reconnect with Mitch before it's too late. They talk about life, family, love, death, and whatever you could think of. Mitch had such a strong relationship with Morrie before, but he needed another chance before it was too late. It shows that the ones you love, the ones who you think you know everything about, but you have no idea. They are such a mystery to you. Scout thought she knew all about Atticus. But Scout didn't know that her father was a great marksmen, or that it was his seniority that prevented him from doing certain things. You think the first time around you see right through the person, but most of the time you need one more chance just to make sure.

Standing in Somone's Shoes.

So Ms. James told us to blog about one of the topics she provided in her blog. I chose to talk about "the best way to understand someone is to stnad in his/her shoes." I chose this topic because i totally believe this is true. In numerous occasions I find myself saying, "why is that person doing that or saying that." But then I realize that, that person may have to do those things or maybe those things are normal to him/her. So I just try and put myslef in their shoes even though sometimes that doesnt even work for me. What do you all think? :)

Spring Break!!!!

Finally it has arrived, I have been waiting so long for this and I can't believe it is finally here. All im going to do is hang out and sleep. Absolutly no school work. Im also going to watch all the NCAA games even though all my teams are out, Duke, TExas A&M and then finally SIU, I was pretty disappointed when all of them got knocked out but They will be back next year stronger than ever. Spring Break is going to be sweet.

"We often don't appreciate those we are close to."

This thought appears to be very true in some cases. Some of us take the ones that we are close to for granted. We say that "we hate them" or "you're stupid" and stuff like that. Everybody doesn't do that but some of us do. I think we should think about what if that person were to vanish and how our lives would change. Everyone has their own unique personality so they deal with things in their own perspective. If someone handles a situation different than you that doesn't mean you have to dislike them. If someone were to give you a gift that you don't want and your friend gets the gift he wants. You are mad because he got what he wants but you didn't. That doesn't mean you should hate the person who gave you the gift. You should thank them instead because a gift is better than no gift. Correct? If the people close to me were to vanish, I wouldn't know what to do. I sometimes take them for granted but I learned from my mistakes and think positive instead of negative. So wrapping this up, don't take those closest to you for granted. Have a good spring break everyone! :D

The Crystal Shard

Has anyone ever read any of R.A. Salvatore's books? He's a really great author. He's probably my favorite author. He writes a lot of fantasy, especially in the Forgotten Realms (Dungeons and Dragons) world.

I have read at least 14 of his books, some of them are five book trilogies, most are three to four book trilogies though. I have read them all at least two to three times over. They never get old to me. I read them all in order, then I start over again. As I reread them, I don't quite remember them the same. Instead, I find new interesting things that I never noticed before. As I mature and grow wiser, I understand things that I may not have understood the first time I read his books.

He is a great author, and I would recommend almost any of his books anyday of the year. He is one of the few authors who can make a book really come to life for me. Instead of wanting to put the book down and do something else, it really entrances me. I have actually read for hours past when I should have been in bed because they really are that intriguing and exciting.

The Crystal Shard is the first book in a three book trilogy. It is about an apprentice who killed his master and father who took him in as an orphan because he was promised supreme power by a few other powerful wizards. Akar Kessel is his name, and he has always been a bumbling fool. The wizards, Dendybar and a couple others tell him to kill his father and master.

Akar did, and the wizards laughed at his foolishness and left him to die in the frozen waste known as Icewind Dale.

He eventually discovers an ancient artifact that has survived tens of thousands of years. It is an extremely powerful, scheming artifact. It saves him from freezing to death, and he eventually grows to great power with the artifact. The artifact eventually warps his mind to try to wipe out the nearby settlement/grouping of towns known as 10 towns.

There is much more to the story than just this, and it is one of his better books. I would really recommend it to anyone.

The Finishing Touch!

O yea the ending is finally here! I enjoyed reading the book but it is not a book I would ususally choose. I like books that consist of characters more my age, this way I can connect with the book more. I also like books that have situations that I can realate to. The more intersting the book the more I enjoy reading it. I liked how that Harper Lee tied the book together at the end, but to me it was confusing at times as to what was going on. I also thought the ending was a little upsetting becasue I did not thing Tom was going to get killed, but it made the book a little more interesting. I thought the book had a slow begginning but picked up and ended up being an ok book. I do not believe I will be reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" again any time soon. On the other hand I hope you all enjoyed the book.

Spring Break

I'm realy excited that we get another week of. It will be nice to catch up on all the lost sleep since Christmas. I am being forced to go to Chicago. I don't really want to go I'd much rather go to Colorado, like I did last year, but this year I have to go to Chicago. I will really enjoy relaxing and not having to worry about school work or homework though. Where is everyone going for Springbreak?

Prejudice

Through everyday and every moment prejudice spread throughout the world. People around the world are judge before one even goes into a conversation with another. Blacks in the early 1900's and before then were often judged. They were judged as inferior and not capable of becoming their own successful society. Everyone expected them to just go down in history and forever be laborers. One day in class, we had a substitute and he just happened to have tourettes. Immediately after the sub turned his back, people started making fun of him, mocking him. It infuriated me. But why do people do it? Some people do it to make themselves feel better about themselves and can serve as a form of amusement. Making others less of worth than oneself makes them feel better and amuses them. It is really sad how people are willing to put others down and not take their feelings into consideration. No matter how many people state the world is fair, the imperfect human race will always go back to their primative characteristics of prejudice, pride, greed, and so many other sinful thoughts. http://chappie.stanford.edu/content/1999-2000/crash_comics/a_discussion_on_bigotry_and_the_nature_of_prejudice/a_discussion_on_bigotry_and_the_nature_of_prejudice.jpg

yes! finally

We are finally finished with that darn mockinbird book, man it did turn out to be good though. I was extremely skeptical in the beginning but it turned out alright. I did finally finish it up last night even though i was a little bit behind. Ms. James made a very good point in her blog by saying the one's closest to us we dont know. Many times i think that people are not thankful enough for the ones that are closest to them. I try hard everyday to be thankful for life, my friends and family as well. Whenever a friend needs a favor ive always got his or her back. That is one thing that is very important to me.

Today's art is another painting of Alex Grey's. done for an album by the band tool, and featured in their album cover. It is the visualization of humans, seen down the hallway. Have a great spring break!!!

"Bye, Bye Birddie"

Sorry about the title of this post. It is the name of a musical. I thought that it was appropriate because we have finished the book. I liked the last two chapters the best. The way that she describes things that are going on. If any of you listened to the passage that Ms. James read today in class you will see what I mean. She has a way of grabbing your attention that just amazes me. I hope that y'all enjoyed the book as much as I did. Sorry about that little "y'all" I am going to be spending spring break down south with my family and my accent is coming back. So, what did you guys think of the book? Please give me feedback. I f you don't want to talk about the book, then is anybody doing anything exciting over spring break? Have a great week. See you when we all get back.

Mockingbird

The book "To Kill A Mockingbird" was not one of my favorites. I thought the book was very well written, but I would not want to read it again. I loved that the story was told by Scout, I think that if it would have been by anyone elses point of view that story would be pretty lame. What do you think?

Anyways, I know we were suppose to tie in some of the things Ms. James wrote about in her blog. But I just decided to write about it.

So the topic I have chosen to write about is - Courage means fighting for something even though you are "licked before you even start."
I think this is soo true, many people fight for something they believe in, and people put them down. Such as Martin Luther King Jr. he wanted all people to be treated equal, no matter what color they were. Many people put down his idea and critized him, but he kept fighting for what he believed in.

To kill or not to kill... that is the question

Ok so finishing the book I realized just how much I don't know about it. Like I just got the connection of Jem's arm being broken in the beginning of the book and what really happened to it. Some of the things that Ms. James posted on her post are really interesting like you can't understand a person until you walk in their shoes. I agree with this fully. To be able to understand what a person's views are you kind of have to know the person first.
I was surprised to find out just how much I really liked the book and wanted it to have an ending that did not leave you with more questions then answers. Some of those questions being...
1. What happened to Jem? Boo Radley? Scout?
2. Who really killed Bob Ewell? Was he even killed or was it foul play?
3. Was it really Boo who put all of those things in the tree? If so why?

If you have any answers of theories to these questions please help me out a little bit!! I hope that you all have a fun filled spring break!!! Enjoy!!!

Finished With To Kill A Mockingbird

So now we have finally finished To Kill A Mockingbird. It actually turned out to be a good book. I was actually not surprised that Boo Radley came and saved Jem and Scout from Bob Ewell. Throughout the whole book Harper Lee mentioned Boo so it would have to big of a letdown for Scout or Jem to never see him. I did feel slightly letdown though, when Jem was unconnscious and did not get to see Boo Radley. If the book would have continued then he probably would have seen him, or at least gone to the Radley front door and thanked him.

After the book was over my first thought was that I was glad it was finished but there are so many unanswered questions and things that Harper Lee could have continued to write about I kind of wish the book was longer. What does everyone else think?

Finished With To Kill A Mockingbird

So now we have finally finished To Kill A Mockingbird. It actually turned out to be a good book. I was actually not surprised that Boo Radley came and saved Jem and Scout from Bob Ewell. Throughout the whole book Harper Lee mentioned Boo so it would have to big of a letdown for Scout or Jem to never see him. I did feel slightly letdown though, when Jem was unconnscious and did not get to see Boo Radley. If the book would have continued then he probably would have seen him, or at least gone to the Radley front door and thanked him.

After the book was over my first thought was that I was glad it was finished but there are so many unanswered questions and things that Harper Lee could have continued to write about I kind of wish the book was longer. What does everyone else think?

Acceptance

After reading Mockingbird, I truly saw the theme of accepting people. And I'm just not talking about racism. I think Scout liked Mr. Radley, but she saw still him as the strange man who lived down the street. After Scout walked Radley home, she saw his life from his point of view. I really think she grew up. Scout saw that Boo was indeed just like the other "normal" people and that things are not always what they seem. Mockingbird has taught me to keep an open-mind and that youi can't really know a person until you've walked a mile in their shoes. I'm sure you guys have all heard that saying one version or another.

Consideration

On one of Ms. James' points to write about there is a topic of people not liking each other but still giving each other respect. I totally agree with this statement. There are people that when I am around them they get on my nerves and aggravate me a lot. Though I do not like to be around them I think it is still important to give them respect. Sometimes they just don't do anything and I still don't like to be around them. I guess I just don't like their personality. I don't know. All I know is that I want to be treated with respect so I should give them the respect that they don't always deserve. I know that not everyone is perfect but we all should be considerate of others.
On another point, I loved the ending of Mockingbird. I can't believe that Scout actually got to see Boo Radley. I would not want to be the one to tell Jem that he missed all of that. It would be disappointing to have wanted to see him for so long and there he is right in your room and you missed out. Though Jem can always brag about the point that Boo had helped him even though he didn't see him. Boo was still their and it would be an amazing story to tell. How did all of you like the ending of the book? Did it turn out the way you thought it would? Have a great spring break!

The End....

I think that the book had an Great ending. I really didn't like the fact that Tom had to die, I really thought everything was going to end up good for him, so when I was reading that he got shot 17 times just because he tried to escape, I got really mad. They apparently were just trying to kill him and not trying to prevent him from escaping. That was really stupid. But I think Harper Lee did a really good job tying the story together at the end, just knowing the Boo Radley could see everything was pretty cool, but I can't see why he wouldn't speak up if he saw what actually happened. I'm glad the book is over and I probably won't pick it up again for a long time.

The Ending

I think that To Kill A Mocking Bird had a pretty good ending. I think it was very fitting that Bob Ewell was killed and that Boo Radley was the one who killed him. Those were the two most important parts of the story. The main part of the story was Jem and Scout's quest to learn about the life and get to know Boo. The other main part was the trial where Bob was involved. It was a very ironic ending were us readers felt that justice had been served. The ending left me satisfied because we got to meet Boo. If we had not have met Boo at the end I would have a lot of questions. I thought is was a very well written book. It was a really good explanation of how the story was written.

It's over

I was so excited that I was almost finished, but now I'm sad that it's over. I wasn't surprised that Boo helped save Jem and Scout, because someone ruined it for me. They told me what happened in the end. It was dissapointing cause I already knew what was happening. I hate it when people ruin the story. The end of the book was probably my favorite. I really enjoyed reading to Kill a Mockingbird. I'm still confused about who killed Bob. I thought it was boo, but i'm really confused. Can someone explain?

The End

So we finished to Kill a Mockingbird. Overall the ending flowed quite well and I would say it was good. The author knew what she was doing when she wrote this book and it shows. This book is pretty good even though the beginning was confusing. At first I didn't want to read the book due to stuff I've heard but I continued and I'm glad. It was a good thing that we finally got to see Boo and this book was great.

THE END!

I could not believe the ending of the book. It was so surprising. Mr.Ewell finally got what I felt that he deserved. After the way he lied in court and ended up essentially killing Tom Robinson, I think that he deserved to get killed himself. I thought it was also very clever how Harper Lee incorperated the first part of the book into the ending of it too. I finally figured out why Jem had broken his arm and why it was so significant to the book. I also have to say that I agree with Ms. James, I wished that there could have been more to the story. This was a great book and I really enjoyed reading it!

Last Chapter

I don't know about you guys, but I loved the ending to this book! Bob Ewell finally gets what he deserves and Scout gets to see Boo Radley. I knew all along that Boo was a good guy and I was so excited when he dramatically saved the children. The final conclusion as to how Mr. Ewell died was that he fell on his own knife. I don't know for sure, but I kind of think that Arthur Radley did it. How about you? Did you enjoy the book as much as I did?

Tom's Death

Can you believe that Tom died? He was trying to escape prison and was shot... 17 times! First of all I thing that shooting him that many times was ridiculous. The gun men were not shooting to prevent escape, they shot to kill. I cannot imagine how Mrs. Robinson and her children must have felt. My dog Katie was recently put to sleep because she was suffering from cancer. She was part of the family and I miss her a lot, even though it was for the best. I'm this upset about my sick dog, I can't even attempt to comprehend losing an innocent, healthy father/husband. This part of the book was really sad for me. What are your thoughts on the book? Have you ever lost someone close to you?

Spring Break!!!

Well I'm excited about spring break. i don't know about you but I'm going somewhere. I am going to The Florida Keys. I am going to rise out on boats and snorkel along patches of coral reef. It should be a blast. Its a trip i go on every year with Springfield public schools. Anybody can go and i encourage you to. Its a lot of fun and you get to hang out with me for a week. And whats better than that? Its actually a class that you can take. Its called marine biology and its a half credit of science. Again its a lot of fun, so go.

End of the Book

The end of the book was rather confusing but at the same time mysterious. First off i was really sad when i read that boo had been killed because he was trying to escape. It made me mad when i heard that one of the women showed no sympathy and was actually appalled because her maid was sad about what had happened. How would she feel if an innocent was dead because of his/her race. That just shows how racist and uncaring the people in the south used to be. They don't consider them real people. Makes me mad. The final chapter confused me a little bit. Why wouldn't scout ever see boo again? Didn't scout and boo make a connection? a friendship?Well i figured that they would at least see each other sometime. i am still a bit confused and looking forward to talking about it in class tomorrow.

End of the Book

The end of the book was rather confusing but at the same time mysterious. First off i was really sad when i read that boo had been killed because he was trying to escape. It made me mad when i heard that one of the women showed no sympathy and was actually appalled because her maid was sad about what had happened. How would she feel if an innocent was dead because of his/her race. That just shows how racist and uncaring the people in the south used to be. They don't consider them real people. Makes me mad. The final chapter confused me a little bit. Why wouldn't scout ever see boo again? Didn't scout and boo make a connection? a friendship?Well i figured that they would at least see each other sometime. i am still a bit confused and looking forward to talking about it in class tomorrow. My computer wont allow me to post a picture so i dont have one sorry.

End of the Book

The end of the book was rather confusing but at the same time mysterious. First off i was really sad when i read that boo had been killed because he was trying to escape. It made me mad when i heard that one of the women showed no sympathy and was actually appalled because her maid was sad about what had happened. How would she feel if an innocent was dead because of his/her race. That just shows how racist and uncaring the people in the south used to be. They don't consider them real people. Makes me mad. The final chapter confused me a little bit. Why wouldn't scout ever see boo again? Didn't scout and boo make a connection? a friendship?Well i figured that they would at least see each other sometime. i am still a bit confused and looking forward to talking about it in class tomorrow. My computer wont allow me to post a picture so i dont have one sorry.

WOW ... what an ending

I just got done reading To Kill A Mockingbird and I was somewhat disappointed when it ended I liked how it was going and had noticed that Scout has matured a lot over the book and just through the last few chapters even. I liked the way that Harper Lee made it seem like Scout was still a little kid by her having Atticus read a bedtime story to her when she was falling asleep. I especially liked this way to end it since Scout had matured so much and then she seemed like a little kid again. But it's not like Scout should have to be very mature since she is still only like 8 years old. I thought it was weird that Harper Lee would have it end without Scout seeing Boo Radley again. My picture is supposed to represent the fact that I am done with my book and closing it and wont be looking at it again. Tell me what you thought of the ending of the book and whether you liked it or not.

Twilight

Okay, I know I just posted but I have to get one more in for Friday's assignment because I'm not going to be in class. From what I understand the assignment is to blog about one of my free reading books that I read this quarter and make a connection about it from what we've done so far in class. The book that I've chosen is called Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. This is my all time favorite book and I suggest that everyone goes out and reads it. The main character, Bella, ends up meeting this guy Edward, but little does she know that he's far from human. Actually, he's dead; the living dead to be more precise. Edward is a vampire and for Bella's sake wants nothing to do with her. It's a very interesting plot because besides that fact that he could kill her in a heartbeat, she still loves him with all of her heart. To Bella, their differences do not exist. Looking back on that now, it reminds me of To Kill A Mockingbird. One of the main struggles in the book is for Jem and Scout to found out exactly who Boo is. After many attempts to lure him out of the house and eventually giving in, they come to find that Boo is no different than them. Boo is just as human as the rest of them and there's nothing sinister about him. That's also the same with Edward. Despite his cold facade that he's built up to protect Bella, he's just as human as she is. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout and Jem learn to love Boo for who he is instead of fearing him because of what they don't know. The same is in Twilight. Bella continues to love Edward despite his vampire ways. I guess, it's more of a reversal with Twilight and To Kill A Mockingbird because the kids find out that Boo is really as human as them and learn to love him and Bella finds that despite their differences she still loves him. Either way, the moral is the same. Loving people shouldn't be hard at all. We're the ones that put up the barriers and block people away just because they are different.

Warning:Post Contains Spoilers

So I finished Mockingbird. I was really disappointed when it ended. I wanted to know what happened when Jem woke up. I had no idea that Bob Ewell was going to get the kids. But this proved one thing to me. Some of the wisest men can sometimes be off the mark. Throughout the whole book, we saw Atticus as this man with all of this intellect, wisdom, and coolness. It seemed like Atticus always knew what was the right thing to do. Atticus was sure that Bob Ewell wasn't going to do anything to Atticus, but he obviously wrong. This shows us that even the smartest men can make mistakes. I think this also shows how youth today is generally ignored. Jem and Scout had a sense of foreboding that Bob Ewell did not get it out of his system. But Atticus ignored them and contradicted their views of the situation. Today, children's opinions are often ignored because they are considered to have not yet have enough life experience for their voice to count. Sometimes adults are not able to realize that children's views can be justified and that they can be right sometimes. This adds to the stigma of our generation that we are all about ourselves and that we really don't seem to know a whole lot. Harper Lee showed that keeping an open mind is probably one of the wisest things you could ever do. I really did enjoy this book and I believe at one point all readers should have the chance to read this extraordinary novel.

Goodbye Mockingbird, Hello Spring Break!

I'm so excited that spring break is almost here. That and we are almost done with To Kill A Mockingbird. I hope that you all enjoyed the book and pulled out a lot from it. I wanted to talk about one of the themes that I saw very present in the book. The theme of moral education is everywhere in Mockingbird. Scout and Jem start the book very immature and didn't really think about anyone past themselves. What I also found interesting is how hard it would be to grow in moral education in this town. The majority of the adults, like the women in Aunt Alexandria's tea group, just sit around and gossip. The only person that really tries to educate the children in the book is Atticus. The other adults are hypocritical and try to make them conform to the society. It's very evident by the end of the book that Scout and Jem have really matured in moral education. Scout even says in the end of the book that she's learned everything except Algebra. Another big point that I saw was that the most important lessons are ones that are taught with sympathy and understanding. Atticus can teach the children better than some of the other adults because he takes on the task from a different view. He tries to teach them on terms that they would understand, unlike Miss Caroline who is strict and doesn't branch outside of the teaching ways she learned in college. Do you guys know of any more big themes in the book other than moral education? I would be very interested to hear about them. Have a wonderful spring break and I'll see you all soon. :]

SPRING BREAK!!!!!

This is where im going to be next week!!!! Im soo happy that were almost finished with the book. I enjoyed it and even though it was a bit boring in the beginnig, but as the book progressed, i began to wnjoy it. Now as I watch this movie im kind of disappointed because it lacks the big thematic elements that the book has. However, i do enjoy the movie and id like to watch the whole thing. Hopefully we will watch the rest of it tomorrow! Have a great spring break!

Im super excited that we are finally finishing the mockingbird book. I need to get it finished so i better do some reading tonight. Something that i never did notice was that Jem and Scout call their dad by his name, instead of Dad or something like that. Something else that clicked with me was there is a clothing company named Atticus, and the logo for the company is a dead Mockingbird! I have a shirt and i never made the connection. It really is pretty cool when things like that happen.

The art I am posting today is called Nature of the mind, it is the fourth part of a 5 part panel art made by alex grey.

Death Row

In "To Kill A Mockingbird" Tom Robinson is put on death row for something he didn't do. But the "all white" jury still found him guilty after all the evidence they had. I do not think this is a fair punishment for someone who did not kill anyone. Now on the whole death row thing, many people are on death row today. I think death row is a fair punishment if you kill someone. (Which is the only reason they put people on death row today.) I believe if someone takes an innocent persons life, than they should lose their own. What do you guys think?

DO YOU THINK IF SOMEONE TAKES A PERSONS LIFE, THEY SHOULD BE PUT TO DEATH?

Panic and Predjudice

Kiyo Sato-Viacrucis Sayema Hameed
I found these two stories very interesting. Kiyo just wanted her diary back, the soldiers took her diary and read it. In most of the stories I listened to, they were all amazed by how much the FBI knew. It concerns me slightly that the FBI was reading little girls' diaries, in innocent homes. I should think America should be worried that when something bad happens in America, officials go to the families of the accused terrorists. They don't stop to think that, maybe, the family had no idea what was going on. It bugs me that people, even today, are hunted like wild animals based off their looks and accents. People come to America to be free, not caged in fear. We, as the people of the U.S., panic if a certain group of people attack us, then we automatically assume that everyone who is of that racial background is out to "get us". Below I've included a link to the site I found this at. If you click "begin", then let it play, it'll take you to stories, I found these two, but it looks like it changes each time.
http://www.itvs.org/facetoface/flash.html
Let me know if you find any other stories that meant something to you, or you found interesting.

The Hobbit

So right now I am reading The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein. I decided to read this book, because I got it plus all of The Lord of the Rings books for Christmas one year, but I never read them. So I felt kind of guilty and decided to read them. The Hobbit precedes The Lord of the Rings:The Fellowship of the Ring. It starts out with a little hobbit named Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo leads the easy life until Gandalf and a band of dwarves shanghai him into an adventure. Bilbo is not necessarily accustomed to adventure and would rather go on with his peaceful, quiet life. But Bilbo feels obliged to join them. The dwarves and Gandalf then christen him as "the burglar" since he is small and rather intuitive. I am not that far into the book, but right now, Bilbo is being hung by his ankle by a bunch of trolls. Have you guys ever read any of Tolkein's books? Well, I do enjoy the author's writing style. It seems to me that he rights from a view point of third person, but mixes in a little bit of Bilbo's view point. Have you ever read books like that? If yoiu have read The Lord of the Rings, were they good?

A Million Little Pieces

I know that this is close to the eighth posting of this book, but it is a very interesting book. I heard about James Frey book called A Million Pieces from this site and I was curious as to if it would be any good. At times it is very graphic with how he describes the physical symptoms of withdraw from the drugs and alcohol. Another aspect of the book that might turn a reader off is his choice of language. At times, it can be considered crude but if that is not something that affects you then this is a good book to read. It is such a sad story once you get into it. It’s so heartbreaking to sit and read about a man that gets to the point where he’s so depressed that he’s only taking the drugs as a last ditch hope to kill himself or completely dull all of his senses. To me, it is sad that a person could ever get to that point. Despite it being sad, I find it fascinating. I just do not see how someone could get to the point where they could push everyone away, family included, and just live their life not knowing where they would be the next day if they were alive. I am not very far in the book, but that factor right there makes me want to read more. What else is interesting is all of the rules that the rehab center has. The most interesting one is that he is not allowed to say anything more than hello to any of the girl patients. I found that to be odd and I am still trying to figure out why that was a rule. I am enjoying the book so far and I am hoping it stays interesting. I encourage you all to go read it if you have the chance. The library center in town has I think close to seven copies of the book. :] What is another interesting twist to this book is the controversy it has sparked. James Frey was said by The Smoking Gun Report to have embellished some of the main facts about his book. Frey then did admit to making up some of the details, but a lot of them were the truth. I am not sure what side I believe, but I am curious to hear what you guys think. Along with your opinion about both sides of the story, here is another question: How do you guys feel about lying in print? What if the smoking gun was right and he did lie about the majority of his book? Do you think then the category of the book should have been changed?

Slavery

This doesnt count as one of my posts but this was a really sad thing i read about current day slavery. Click on the link if you want to read it http://www.iabolish.com/slavery_today/country_reports/au.html

Opinions

The quote "We often don't fully appreciate those we are closest to." I believe is true. Most of us take people around us for granted but if they were to disappear we regret the things we've done to them. I have before and it hurt a lot so I know not to do so in the future. What do you guys think?

Racism Today

Even though slavery and segregation ended a long time ago i feel that there is still some presense. It has come a long way but not all the way. I doubt that racism will ever end entirely. I fell that there will always be some group that refuses to change or accept change within our society. Even today i think because of stereotyping and how it used to be racism is still around. I think racism will come very close to ending because the generation when racism was the strongest is now coming to an end. Overall i think that racism has made huge steps in improving and i can only hope that someday it will completely die off. What do you think? Click here for a link.

Slavery; Foolishness

When we look back to our past, we really have to be disappointed with some of our actions we took pride in.

We enslaved people, stripped them of everything they ever owned, their property, their dignity, their very spirit that made them human. To us, they became property, mindless servants to do what we wanted and nothing else. When they disobeyed, we would whip or kill them outright in anger.

When you read about previous trials, such as the case of Emmet Till, it is really quite sickening and sad to think we were so prejudice to disregard such blatant evidence.

What could drive us to act in such a way? I cannot even imagine being prejudice to the point of ignoring blatant evidence regarding a major crime, such as murder. When they are basically mocking the case, making it out to be futile, after they are found not guilty. It's like we didn't even care at all.

I understand being prejudice, but only to a point. When you begin talking about people being able to commit a crime and get away simply because they did it to a black person is not right, at all.

It is similar in the book we are reading. The appointer of the jury is so prejudice that he chooses a completely white jury. Not only that, but the jury itself is so blind that it looks right past any evidence, simply because it is a black man. Hell, Mr. Ewell could have just admitted right then and there that he was the one who raped Mayella, and the jury still would have convicted Tom for no better reason than he was a black person.

The Butterfly Sisters~!

Today in My Spanish class we learned information about Dominican Republic's dictatorship. A man who goes by the name of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo was Dominicans dictator in the years of 1930 until 1961. You are all probally wondering where the Mirabal sisters fit into this story. Well first of all they got the nick name , "Butterflies" and secondly they did not like how Rafael ran thier country and belived he would drive them in to economic chaos. Rafael found out about how the sisters were taunting him and he did not care for that at all. One day while the sisters were visting on of thier husbands in prison, Rafael sent a anynomus amount of men to intercept the girls. Well the men did exactly that and a little more. The men tortured and beat the sisters to death! Just as Rafael began to think he had his problem removed, the crime backfired on him. The resultant publicity of the deaths caused the Dominican public to become more interested in the Mirabal sisters and their cause. This public support and awareness contributed to Trujillo's assassination six months later in 1961. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirabal_sisters<---- this is a link that goes into more deatail about the sisters how they got thier nicknames and such. There are also books and movies out that explore this story.What I conclude to this is that yes not everyone is treated the same. The sisters were innocent and so are a lof of people today. I do not belive in slavery, segregation, or any seperation. I hope for someday there to be peace! Hope you all can enjoy my blog!

Links to History

Hey! Here I have put websites that I found that kind of relate to the book.I thought that I would do like Ms. Jamesdid and give a bunch of links and tell you what I thought of them. I found this realy cool picture. It is of an African American school. I can't believe how crowded it looks. I found a website, but it might be kind of boring. Its a timeline of Civil Rights at http://www.infoplease.com Its got a lot of good info if you are in History Class but it starts at 1954. The coolest one I found was one about Martin Luther King Jr.s House which is now a museum in Memphis, TN. I think that it is awesome that they would honor him and what he did. Go to http://www.civilrightsmuseum.org/about/links.asp. A lot of my links are about civil rights later on. Harper Lee's book is an early example of the fight for civil rights and my links continue the story. I hope you find something interesting.

When did whistling become a crime?

The picture to the left is of Emmitt Till. He was a young teen when he was killed by white men. His story is one that reminds us of how awful the times were for blacks. Emmitt Till was killed because he whistled at a white women on the streets of Mississippi. Emmitt wasn't from the south and was just visiting with his cousin while his mom went to Nebraska. Emmitt wasn't aware of all the rules that the south had. Because of his ignorance he was killed. He didn't know what he did would get himself killed. The men who killed him got away with it. They were found not guilty, but later they confessed of what they did. It was too late by then. The trial was over, and in the U.S. you only have one trial. Guilty men get away with killing an innocent man........

On the last stretch

I can't believe that we are almost done with this book. I was looking at our reading log and we are finishing the book this week. I for one am loving the book. I loved the trial. I was disappointed though when Scout left with Dill when he felt sick. I wanted to stay with the trial even if it was just waiting on the jury. I am not really thrilled with Aunt Alexandria right now. She kind of gets on my nerves. She should not be worried about the kids going to the trial this is their town now hers. Once their father found out he said they could come back so it wasn't a big deal to him and it shouldn't be a big deal to her.
Another part I found interesting in the book was when Dill and Scout were out talking to Mr. Raymond, and they found out that he wasn't drinking alcohol in his paper sack but it was just coca-cola. I thought this was really weird. I mean why would you want people to think you were a drunkard. What did you guys think about that part of the book?

Stop Racism!

I was so frustrated after I finished reading chapters 22 through 25. I could not believe that Tom Robinson was killed. He was an innocent man that recieved and guilty charge. What is even worse is that the only reason he was said to be guilty was because he was black. I don't know about you guys but it makes me mad that some of the white people in this book could not get it throuhg their head's that even though someone has black skin, they are still a person and have lives just the same as white people. I feel so sorry for Helen, Tom's Wife, when she had to hear about the terrible news. Now she has to find a way to support her family all by herself, which would be extremely hard to do, especially since she was a black female living in the south. I really wish that racism like this would have stopped by now, but sadly it hasn,t. There are still racist people in the world that treat others unfairly. On a positive note, I think more and more people everyday are realizing how wrong and awful racism really is. There are many websties that are trying to spread the word about stopping racism. Want to know more about how to stop racism? Click on the link and see for yourself.

Slavery Today!

Wow, I seriously did not know that there was still slavery in our world today. IJM (International Justice Mission) sounds like an awesome organization though, for all that they do. It's just so hard to believe that some of these stories of people being forced to make bricks for 20 years or of young girls being forced into prostitution, are actually true! It makes me shudder just thinking about it. In a speech that Zach Hunter made about IJM and slavery he says "what if it was you?" I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm sure glad that it's not me and that none of this goes on in America. This brings up another good point though. Just because it isn't happening in our city doesn't mean that we shouldn't help. Well I found all these websites to be very sad, but kind of inspiring. What did you all think?

This is another cool site that I found about slavery nationaly today. you can click on the continents to read about slavery in those certain areas.

"The Scottsboro Boys" Trials

I just got done reading the Scottsboro Boys Trials. And it is horrible the way that people treated each other in the courtroom. All but one of the boys were sentenced to death because they were wrongfully accused of raping two white girls. If you take the time to read the first trial you will see what I mean. There are two parts to this trial. The first part tells you about what happened and gives you some background information about the two girls and the boys. The second trial is what I enjoyed reading the most. It talks actually gives you parts of the trials and here is the link for that. It gets very interesting to read about the trials and to actually read what the girls and the boys were saying. As I was reading these two pages I was reminded every once in a while about the trial that happened in to Kill A Mockingbird. Just tell me what you think of this and if you don't want to read it I don't blame you they are long.

27 MILLION!!!! WHAT??!!

As I read through Ms. James' post, I clicked on the link Loose Change for Loose Chains and read through the section titled "Slaves then and now." It said that we still have 27 MILLION slaves today. I was in shock! Although there are many differences of past slaves to present slaves. For example, in the past it was legal to "own" slaves, so they would do tasks such as pick cotton, or harvest grains or fruits. Now, slaves are used in America for deplorable acts such as prostitution, and in other countries for field or building work.

QUESTIONS:

• WHAT SHOULD AMERICA DO ABOUT SLAVERY?


• WOULD YOU TRY TO RISK YOUR LIFE TO ESCAPE?


• DO YOU THINK SLAVES JOBS HAVE GOTTEN WORSE OR BETTER?

Confederate Harper Lee?

I am beginning to think that Harper Lee was one of those people who is an "Old South" kind of person in a way, aside from the Slavery aspect, which is humorous. I don't know if its just coincidence, but if it is, this is funny that many of her characters last names are those of old Generals of the Confederacy from Civil War times, for example some of the primary characters, the Ewells.

(This is a humorous conspiracy, not to be taken seriously)

Emmit Till's Story

I had never heard of Emmit Till until today in class when we were to read the links. I thought it would be interesting so I read up on it. Now I am not going to tell the whole story detail for detail because that would take to long, but I will tell you the jist of the story. Emmit Till was fourteen years old. He was visiting his cousin's in Mississippi when he was murdered. There was this store called Money run by white people. It was around nine o'clock and Till was with his cousins and friends. There were outside the Money. Bobo,Emmit's nickname, was bragging about this white girl he was seeing back in Chicago. He had a picture of her and telling everybody that he did you know what with her. Well with all of this high talk one of the guys said to prove it. That there was a white woman in that store across the street and if he was such a smooth talker with white ladies that he should asked the girl on a date. So he didn't want to be a coward so he went in bought some gum and asked the girl at the counter on a date. A couple days later the womans husband found out what had gone on and he went to look for the boy. The husband found Bobo and took him down to this big bluff. The story says that he was only trying to scare the boy. Well he had the Emmit undress and Emmit still thought of himself as good as a white man. The husband killed him and later Emmit's body was found by some boy's fishing down the river. I could not believe this story. I was so impressed on how Emmit stood his ground and would not back down to someone that thought they were more superior than he. It is a shame that he had to lose his life because of it though. I thought this a great site. What did you guys think of the story? Had you heard about this before? What were your initial reactions? Hope to hear your opinions.

I'm Finished! :)

So last night I just finished To Kill A MockingBird. I have to say it was really good, but I still was a little upset that there wasn't more. I felt like the book shouldn't really be over with yet considering all the things that happened in the last 2-3 chapters. What do you all think?

Racism

My first thought when Tom Robinson was charged with the rape of Mayella Ewell was, "How could they do this?" All the evidence was given to show that Tom Robinson was not guilty. From Tom's testimony all the way to Bob Ewell being left handed, all the evidence pointed away from Tom Robinson. So why was Tom Robinson convicted when he obviusly did not commit a crime? RACISM! Becuase there were white men in the jury who could not let a black man win over a white man. The white man may have been trash but he was still better than somebody.

Racism in the South was very bad and there is still some left today. But how much do people really think about racism existing? I know I don't think about it at all. Just because racism does not relate to us does not mean that it doesn't exist in the world today. I found a website that talks about how much racism is really around today.

Driven From Within

I recently started reading a book called "Driven From Within" by the best basketball player ever to play in the history of the game, Michael Jordan. What he did on the court was truely amazing people are still wondering how he did it years after he has retired. No one will be able to what he did, well maybe some will get close, but it wouldnt be the same. I have really enjoyed reading this book, it's probably one of my favorites. He not only talks about his basketball career, but he also talks about his business career with his Jordan brand products, its amazing that he has remained talked about this long even after he ended his career over 4 years ago. I recommend this book to anyone who is a true fan of basketball and Michael Jordan. It's a great book.

Amazing Grace

Hey I don't know about you but this is looking like a really good movie.
Amazing Grace is about trying to eliminate slavery in the empire in England. The movie is set in the 1800's. I think that it is so sad that there are still people that are living in slavery and I think that it is so "Amazing" that there is a kid that is our age that is trying to do something about it.
Is there anything that you have felt so strongly about that you have done something to try to fix it? If there is what was it? Most of the time, people won't stand up for what they believe in and in To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout stood up for her dad and that is really cool. Well have fun blogging!!