My Antonia and the Twists of its Uniqueness

Willa Cather in her novel My Antonia offers her view of life during the pioneer time.  It told of trials and tribulations of many different people during that time period.

Through out the story, Jim told his stories of his friends and love for the towns people of his past. My Antonia would be completely different if the story were to be told by Antonia, herself.  First off, I doubt that the book would still be called My Antonia because even though Antonia would be the one telling the story, her perspective on everything that she and her friends went through would be different than Jim's.  Many of the stories told by Jim wouldn't even exist because Antonia wasn't there during them.  Then again, the stories of her heart break and family would be much more in depth.  Thus, the story would have completely changed had she been the one telling her side.

If Willa Cather would have been a man, instead of a woman, writing from the view point of Jim, then the story would not have been as nearly full of his feelings, but more about his actions and thoughts.  Reading the book, I was connected to the idea of Jim telling his story, like Jim truly sounded like a man though out all of it even though Cather was a woman trying to speak through him.  Cather, in a way, did an effective job at telling from the view point of Jim.

Jim changed the title from Antonia to My Antonia because the book was full of stories of Jim and Antonia.  Even when Antonia was not even mentioned in a story, some how that story effected Jim and Antonia's story together.  Thus, Antonia was not just someone who was randomly placed in Jim's life, she was his Antonia.  Through everything that they went through, their relationship always ended more powerfully than before.  Their lives were some how linked together. She was not just his, but Jim was Antonia's as well.

There are so many different twists that could have been taken just by the author and the narrator.  My Antonia is an extremely unique book with stories that can not help but be related to by the reader.  This book is a strong portrayal of how much people's settings can effect the character in life.  Antonia and Jim would have never of become who they became with out each other in their lives.

New Orleans

After I have loved on kids for a week,
While I played games, sang, and danced,
When the end comes near,
Because nothing lasts forever,
I know that I must soon say goodbye.

If I only had more time,
Although the end has sadly come,
When I have said the last goodbye,
Before I arrive home once again,
I remember all the memories from the past week of New Orleans.

Eating Disorders Affect Our Society

Argument: Eating Disorders Affect Our Society 

Assertion/Claim (Topic Sentence) = Main Idea

• Eating disorders show our society's problems with image and could maybe be prevented if everyone treated eachother with respect. 

Evidence -Concrete Detail:

• Three main types of eating disorders that are causing pain in our world: Bulimia Nervosa, Anorexia Nervosa, and Binge Eating; Many different disorders are mixes of these.  But out of all of these most 'arise from a combination of long-standing behavioral, biological, emotional, psychological, interpersonal, and social factors.' 
• Commentary 1: All of these disorders seem to be caused by things that have tragically scared them. The way we treat people can serously effect their lives. You could make a joke even about them and it could scar them.
• Commentary 2: If people in life would treat eachother with respect, our world would change drastically!  Less people would do things to hurt themselves in because they would feel more loved.  They would find purpose!
•  The media is sometimes associated with eating disorders because its images can 'help to create cultural definitions of beauty and attractiveness.' 
• Commentary 1: Sometimes when people go through tramatic events, their image is what holds them together.  When they see what the media calls 'beautiful', they think that they need to be that way.
• Commentary 2: This can lead to difficulties and they may feel they need to be skinnier or need to change themselves just so they can have that one security... But sadly they don't realize that the status of this beauty is impossible to get and they may never reach that goal.  This sometimes leads to damaging their body.

Opposing Claims/They Say:

• Some may just be mental and need help in the first place, why blame the media for someone's thoughts and perspectives of their 'goals' that they must 'reach'?
• They shouldn't just think they need to change to be beautiful, because not everyone looks like a movie star. They should learn that they should become happy the way they are.

My Rebuttal/I Say:

• Although I agree that they should learn to be 'happy the way they are', how can they possibly do that when the media is always showing ways to be beautiful? To them it may seem like the media is rubbing it in their face.  So they may think they need to change so that they may be what the world calls beautiful, and it is really hard to change some one's perspective on the world.

My Paragraph

Eating disorders show our society's problems with image and could maybe be prevented if everyone treated eachother with respect. Three main types of eating disorders are causing pain in our world: Bulimia Nervosa, Anorexia Nervosa, and Binge Eating; Many different disorders are mixes of these disorders.  Out of all of these, most 'arise from a combination of long-standing behavioral, biological, emotional, psychological, interpersonal, and social factors.'  All of these disorders seem to be caused by things that have tragically scared them. The way we treat people can serously effect their lives. You could make a joke about them and it could scar them. If people in life would treat eachother with respect, our world would change drastically! Less people would do things to hurt themselves because they would feel more loved. They would find purpose! But sadly, the everyday people in our lives are not the only influence towards these disorders. The media is sometimes associated with eating disorders because its images can 'help to create cultural definitions of beauty and attractiveness.'  Sometimes when people go through tramatic events, their image is what holds them together. When they see what the media calls 'beautiful', they think that they need to be that way. This can lead to difficulties and they may feel they need to be skinnier or need to change themselves just so they can have that one security... But sadly they don't realize that the status of this beauty is impossible to get and they may never reach that goal. This sometimes leads to damaging their body. Of course there have been questioning on these people's outlooks, like what if they had mental problems before they got  disorder and that these people should not feel they need to change because the movie star look is hard to achieve.  Although I agree that they should learn to be happy the way they are, how can they possibly do that when the media is always showing ways to be beautiful? To them it may seem like the media is rubbing it in their face. So they may think they need to change so that they may be what the world calls beautiful, and to change their perspective on the world's outlook may be extremely hard. Thus, we could most likely help prevent this disorder by changing the way we treat eachother and treasure true beauty instead of the fake movie star look.

My Thinking:
This paragraph is mostly inductive thinking because its more of a theory than a confirmation.

Source:

• Types of Disorders
• Causes of Eating Disorders
• Facts on Eating Disorder

The Effects On Setting

Chunk #1:

Mr. Shamerda, in his old country, was a happy man who played instruments and danced all the time with his neighbors and friends.  When he was forced to leave the only place he had every called home, he couldn't take it... So his new surroundings slowly led him to depression.  His new setting changed him completely.  He could never seem to have fun any more, and he never had the urge to play his music because of his sadness for missing his home land.  The country land that they lived on, took him to so much sadness that he ended his life.  Setting plays a huge part in his life because of his drastic change in personality and how he reacted to the move.

 Chunk #2:

Every year during the holidays, my family and I always head to my grandmother's house.  I love going to her house during the holidays because it always welcomes me in with soothing words that I always recognize.  I can't help but feel loved by that house, mainly because its the only house that has always been in my life.  With my family having problems staying in a place for too long, this house has always been a place of security.  It is like that blanket that you sleep with at night, you always can count on it to keep you warm and happy even in the worst conditions.  It is probly the one place that I consider my home.

Book Review : their eyes were watching god

Life is a strange strand of circumstances, you never know what each day is going to bring. In the book, their eyes were watching god, Janie constantly learns through her many journeys, three husbands, and constant changes that some things that seem to appear perfect can change within the snap of the fingers... The author, Zora Neale Hurston, amazed me with her style of writing, the characters she used, and her brilliant way of using the background of everything to put you in Janie's shoes.

Hurston, throughout the whole book, amazed me with her ability to make you feel like you were there with Janie through every area of her life. Hurston uses a lot of dialogue to tell the story. But what makes her writing style so great is she writes these dialogues exactly how the people of that time would talk. She also does an amazing job at putting the perfect feelings of each person through what they say to help you better understand each character more clearly.

In some books, authors make the mistake of making characters too perfect, like they could never possibly exhist.. In this book though, Janie is seen as a strong willed, young, and beautiful woman who can't ever seem to be able to make up her mind.. Along her journey she meets three men who alter her life forever. Logan Killick, her first husband, treated her with no respect as woman. She soon ran into Jody who seemed perfect and ran away with him to get married and moved to one of the first black communities. After a while, he started abusing her mentally by the way he talked to her. Then Tea Cake came along and once again seemed perfect. That is until he went crazy after being bitten by a mad dog. In the end, she goes home in rememberance of her past endeavors, ready to move forward in her life.

The book was set in Southern Florida after slavery had been outlawed. African Americans are just starting to make their mark on history by building their own communities and becoming their own people. Hurston does an amazing job of showing this setting through the places Janie goes and the way the people talk to each other. Through the whole story, Hurston portrayed this time period very well.

There are many other reasons why this book was so brilliantly put together, but these are the main reasons. From the author's brilliant style, to the characters in the book, to finally the setting of the book, this book is extremely jam packed with an interesting tale if you're in the mood for something kind of tragic, yet inspiring!

Henry vs. Forrest

In times of crisis, our instinctual reaction of self saving is threatened and we either choose to take flight or fight. My class has been reading a book called The Red Badge of Courage, and have been studying how Henry's biggest question about war was if he would stand and fight or if he would run away from a fight.  In the end, he ended up running away....  In some ways Forrest Gump and Henry are very alike because they both ran away from the fight.  They ran as fast as they could trying to save their own lives. But one specific thing makes them different.  Even though they both ran from the fight, Forrest Gump was heroic in his act of running.

In the book, The Red Badge of Courage, the book described him as running like a rabbit, proverbial chicken, and a blind man.  I think this is because when he ran, nothing could stop him. This wasn't because he was ordered to, but because he didn't really know what to do. He ran as hard and as fast as he could, running out of full fear of the battle. He never turned back, he only ran forward, oblivious to his 'brothers', only thinking of himself.

In the movie, Forrest Gump, Forrest ran away from the battle because of orders from his commander.  But what made Forrest different from Henry was that he turned back when he realized he was alone.  He didn't let his fear for himself control his actions, he let his fear for his 'brothers' control him.  This lead him to run back for them, risking his life, to go and save them.  He saved many lives that seemed to have been doomed.  Making him a hero, even though he ran.

So even though both Forrest and Henry both ran away from the fight, they both ran differently.  While Henry ran as a coward, Forrest ran as a hero because he didn't run to save himself, but to save his fellow friends.  In this way, they are very different.

Wounded Warrior Project

                 Recently I was informed about a charity called the Wounded Warriors Project, which helps soldiers who have been in extreme accidents move forward in their lives. It was truly touching to read some of their stories and the many things that they have accomplished through this organization.  Many men have gotten their lives back in order and out of all odds have recovered and may even have improved their lives.
                One of the wounded warriors, Chad Brumpton, had lost both his legs in a tragic accident.  Through the organization he has not only been able to walk, but also has recently gotten some running legs! He says "I have been able to be more active with my amputation than I was when I was going through limb salvage." I find that truly amazing!  Anthony Villarreal is not only a wounded warrior, but also is a member of the Wounded Warrior Project’s National Campaign Team. 

War Is....

War is never ending, seeming to have no hope.
War is a death sentence, picking and choosing who is to go.
War is life, dreaming of a future, a place to feel safe.
War is consuming, devouring lives that will never come back.
War is hope, moving forward to get away from the past.
War is trials, blessing us in ways we've never known.
War is craved, proving who will be standing in the end.
War is justice, bringing hope to people in need of it.
War is red, scaring people with memories and wishful thinking.
War is history, hoping to make a name for itself.

Book 1.) The Notebook

          When I think of a love story, for some odd reason I always think of the famous ending phrase of happily ever after.  Nicholas Sparks’s “The Notebook” is a touching forbidden love story that completely captures the reader’s heart.

          I believe that throughout the whole book, the theme is that love conquers all.  One reason, is because throughout all of the odds of Noah and Allie meeting up again, they still found each other.  Another reason is that it had been about fourteen years since they last saw each other and yet they constantly thought about each other; He had been through a war and worked like crazy, but yet somehow her “ghost” remained with him.  Yet still, another reason is near the end of the book there is a story of an old man who reads to his wife everyday to try to remind her of their love story because she has Alzheimer’s and doesn’t even remember who he is…  Yet every so often she remembers everything and they are in love all over again, against all odds.  Even the doctors say it shouldn’t be possible at her stage of the illness, yet it happens.

          Throughout the whole story, I fell in love with Nicholas Sparks style of writing!  I loved the way that I could fall in love with Allie and Noah and could even feel how they felt about each other.  Each time that I read about their eyes meeting and them having cute moments, I couldn’t help but feel warm inside and my heart skip a beat!  Nicholas Sparks has a brilliant way of writing simple, but also writing exactly what I wanted to read!

          The characters in ‘The Notebook’ were precious, they were put perfectly together!  I loved how Allie was a confident, bright young woman and Noah was a quiet, hard working young man.  For some reason I had never thought that kind of a couple would work and yet, I do not think there could have been a cuter couple!  I loved the way that Nicholas Sparks showed both of their view points, in the process, constantly proving that they were perfect for each other!

          I would recommend this book to young teens and older, because ‘The Notebook’ is a simple read and a beautiful love story.  I think it would be inappropriate for young girls, because some of the wording and imagery wouldn’t be appropriate for them to conjure in their minds!  Besides that, ‘The Notebook’ is the perfect book to read if your in a love tragedy type of mood!

In Remembrance of 9/11

                This past weekend we were in remembrance of the tragic day known as 9/11.  It being the 10^th year of remembrance, it was truly touching to the United States as a whole.  On that tragic day, many there were many hurting people; whether it be the people actually in the plane crashes, the towers, family or friends of them, or just simple everyday people in the United States!  As tragic as that day was, there were many blessings from that day as well…  Like how many everyday people rose up and became heroes, or how everyone in the United States joined together and became one!  Some times it takes a tragedy for there to be a wake up call, and that’s what we as Americans have had!  If we continue all working together and help others in need, not only will our country become a better place, but also the people whose lives were lost on that day would not have died in vain!