Anthology/ Independent Study.

Theme: Desire

Poems: The Magic of Numbers

By: Kenneth Koch

Poem for Haruko
By: June Jordan

Poem to an Unnamable Man
By: Dorothea Lasky

Dracula
By: Salwa Al-Neimi

Dear Love
By: Barbara Jane Reyes

What I Would Give
By: Rafael Campo

Joshua.

Joesph F. Girzone
Pages 1-58
Fiction

Joshua is a story of a mysterious man who is new moving into the small town of Auburn. To start off, the book describes the town and the closeness of those who inhabit it. Joshua, the newcomer, lives astray a little outside of the town. However, he lingers into town to pick up groceries and work materials. The town is very suspicious and wonders about him because he has yet to make friends with them, he just minds his business and does his own thing. Except one day, the mail man named Charlie had a package to delievery but no where to put it. So, he took the initative to knock on Josh's door. Surprised by his politness and quick hospitality, Joshua instantly invites Charlie in for some lunch. Charlie looks around, eyes scanning the house, looking for anything interesting. He notices that Josh is just a normal person, except he lives more simply. His house contains little fruniature or pleasureable things..just things he needs on a regular basis. After lunch Charlie rushes down to the local restaurant to gloat about what he had just been through. Little did Josh know, this was the start to a chain reaction!

Following Charlie's visit, came Herm. And then Katherine and her family, and so on and so on. Joshua didn't mind though, he loved the company and doing what he could for people. Later we learn that Joshua is a craftsman and builds wooden objects and carves wooden objects in order to make a living. I love way he says, "I don't make alot, just enough to get by and pay those bills." The situation I ended on was Josh making a Moses statue out of a cherry log for the Jewish Church. He does all he can to help anyone but himself. He is not selfish. The book also describes his close relationship with God. Throughout the book, Joshua prays every night before bed, every morning before breakfast and once before lunch and once before dinner.

Blog Winner!

T Manatee really drew my interest with their blog. I really liked the choice of background and text change they picked out. I also think their blog is creative in the sense that they have extra things surrounding their reading logs. By that I mean they have put in an area for fish and music and such things. There is a good balance between personal posts and assigned posts. The add in of pictures helps too!

Where will you be in ten years?

I think a lot of the kids picked for these interviews had some of the same ambitions as people at Homestead. Some had higher than others, but almost all wanted to go somewhere in life and make something of themselves. I really admired Raquel Reynolds. She is an aspiring hair stylist and make up artist. The thing about her is, she isn't going into this field for herself. She says she wants to get into this work so she can help others and work towards leading girls to gain confidence in themselves. I also liked Elivia Freeman. She wants to become a neonatal nurse, which is also something I am interested in. I liked how she said she didn't care about how much money she made or if she was wealthy, she just wanted to do something in life she enjoyed. So, along with Elivia, in ten years I see myself in the nursing field as well. I love babies and children, so I am looking at neonatal study.

My Awesome Things.

#283: Eating the thing you're cooking..while cooking it!
I love to bake; from cookies or brownies or cakes, it doesn't matter. I mostly cook with my family, which is always fun I think. Of course everyone looks forward to the goodies being done and out of the oven, but for me, I look more forward to eating the uncooked mixture. It is my favorite part! I think out of everything I have baked, the things I enjoy most eating are brownies.

#305: When little kids hit the age where they start saying hi to everyone.
I find kids so adorable. I absolutely love children. Especially the non shy ones. They come up to you at stores or doctors offices to simply say hello and put a smile on your face.

My personal addition to the list would have to be waking up and realizing you still have hours to sleep before you have to get up and ready for school or work. Every so often, actually, it happens more than every so often, I wake up in the middle of the night thinking it's time to get up and get ready for school. It's easy to get confused since, for most of the school year, we drive to school in darkness. Anyway, I dread waking up. So whenever I turn over and check my phone to realize its still only 3:18 and I have almost four more hours to sleep, I wake up happier.

The Independent Project,

By Susan Engel.

Engel's article is an inspiring note of how a group of studnets forumlated their own school inside a school. This group consisted of everyday kids, from two close to dropping out to some few honor students. The program was called, The Independent Project. They devised a curriculum of math, reading, science, etc..the normal requirements for graduating however, they added their own little flavor. The students underwent an "individual endeavor" of learning a new skill such as piano playing or cooking. At the end of the term, they preformed these new skills and shared them with each other. For this one school, it was a successful idea. On the other hand, for Homestead I don't think this plan would work. In the article, Engel states that this takes very commited and serious students. I feel like the leaders of schools would not want to put in disciplinary action and only focus on the "fun" things. But this would not work, we would not be successful. I personally would love to try this idea, but I don't know how well it would work.

2.23 Diction Exercise.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman.

a.) Jut, amidst, eventually, inhabitants, taciturn, outcrop, descendants, treacherously, placid, hewn

b.) Elevation: Sophisticated, Ostentatious
Connotation: Imagistic, Sensuous, Metaphoric
Sound: Delicate, Soft, Quiet, Relaxing
Concreteness: Imagistic, Inspired

c.) Neil Gaiman's relaxed sophisticated language conveys an admiring nostalgic tone for this passage.

Hold Still.

By Nina LaCour.
Popular Fiction.
Pages 46-1.

Her best friend is gone...but she left something behind.

Caitlin is a high school girl dealing with loosing her best friend. This story starts out with Caitlin being bothered by her parents. Her parents are very worried about her, seeming as though she hasn't been the same since she lost Ingrid, but who would? When he parents bring up the subject she begins to hum to drowned out what he parents are saying. She does not want to hear it. She quickly throws on clothes, the same pair of clothes she wore the day before, and heads out the door. Although her parents call for her repeatedly, she does not turn back.

The next chapter is a very short chapter. The few sentences sum up how Caitlin cannot stand to look at her own reflection in the mirror. But from what she does see, it looks as though she was punched in both eyes. Personally, I take this as she is not sleeping or eating.

Caitlin spends her last few weeks of summer with her family. Her parents decided to take her away for awhile to a cabin in a secluded area. During the family picnic, they try and talk to her..asking if she is alright and trying to tell her there are things she should know and things she should talk about. But, once again, she does not want to hear this so she sits quietly and does not answer. While she pretends to sleep that night, she over hears her parents talking of how worried they are.

Sooner then she realizes, September is here. Fall is here. And school begins.

Starry Night.

Starry Night

Painted by Vincent Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh is a very talented artist. One of my favorite paintings by him since I was a school girl is "Starry Night". In my opinion, through his mellowing colors and swirling marks he is creating a peaceful scene. Close to the bottom of the painting, he blends the darkness of the night sky passively into the setting sun. A smoothness arises. It is also easy to detect the tranquility of the painting from the non-chaotic and still houses below the mezmorizing stars. Some may say there is a gloomy scense to this picture but I disagree. I find a serene tone from this work of art.

Leaving Paradise.

By Simone Elkeles
Pages 25-1
Popular Fiction

Leaving Paradise is a story of two troubled teenagers living in the shadow of the same problem. One night changed Maggie Armstrong and Caleb Becher encounter a night that will change both their lives forever.

When begginning the story, it starts off with Caleb Becher. He is getting released from the Illinois Department of Corrections Juvenile complex where he has spent the last year of his life. He plead gulity to a hit and run accident while driving drunk. A hit and run accident with Maggie Armstrong; his next door neighbor and twin sister's bestfriend since he could remember.

He is sent to be evaulated. A woman wearing glasses and a "stern" look on her face orders him to sit down as the questioning begins. All Caleb can respond with is how sorry he is and how ready he is to go home. After the process is over, Caleb returns to the lonely chair in the hall as he waits for the verdict. Finally, a half hour later, Becher is told he will be released if and only if he agrees to commit to a hundred and fifty hours of community service. An extra downfall being he cannot choose his community service, Damon, his probabtion officer, will do the honors. Of course Caleb argees and is told to be ready to leave by tomorrow morning. WIth excitment in his heart he makes his way back to his cell and prepares to return to his hometown Paradise. To return to the dwelling cloud of his mistakes.

Caleb has spent the last year in a correction facility while Maggie has spent the last year in and out of hospitals. Maggie Armstrong has been close with Leah Becher and the Becher family since she was a young girl. She's spent sleepovers and birthday parties with them. Almost as though a second family. But that all changed in a matter of minutes.

Maggie's section begins with her at physical therapy. It describes vividly the pain she has gone through and the scares she has on her leg and body to remind her everyday of what has happened. The one thing she looks forward to is going to Spain to study. She cannot wait to leave Paradise, leave the rumors and talking student body, and to leave behind the accident. She jokes around with the therapist about how metal detecters and scanners will have a field day with her. Sadly, inside she's breaking. She looks at her scars and feels ashamed. She does all she can to hide them and doesn't understand why her pain is continued at the level it is.

She realizes she will be returning to school soon and does all she can to hide the limp. To hide her emotions. And to hide what happened. Little does she know, Caleb, the boy who ruined her, is making his way back home.

The World of Driving.

When reading Pope's article on "Teenagers, Friends and Bad Decisions" my mind drifts to myself driving, along with accompanying my friends in their cars. I must admit, I too tend to make poorer driving decisions when I have friends in the car. I drive a little more..reckless. My worst habit is lack of turn signals. Let me tell you, that does frustrate people.

I think in a lot of situations, especially when teens first obtain a license, poor decisions are made in order to"show off." Almost as though you are trying to prove yourself. Peer pressure is hard to deal with, but it is also very dangerous.  Most teens feel a comfort with their cars too quickly leading to more irresponsible driving which leads to more accidents. I hated the rule of waiting a certain amount of weeks before you could drive with someone in the car with you, but I think it is a good rule to keep and a good rule to follow.