All The Light We Cannot See 4

Well, I guess what I would like to talk about is how after that last letter from Marie's dad, we don't hear from him again. I always thought he was dead meat, right when I read that his angle was leaving, I thought "oh snap, he gonna die, I don't know when or how but he will" and that's what I'm guessing what happened, cause that was never stated out right by the author say "hey, he's dead". We just never heard from him again, and Marie just had to live without him. It was just so sad yet empowering to see, well read, Marie learn all these things, and for her to carry on even though she didn't know what was going on, that was awesome.

All The Light We Cannot See 3

1. As we have gotten to know more about Marie-Laure and Werner, how has your opinion of them changed and why? Use evidence from the book to support your answer. 

For starters Werner has gotten more interesting he doesn't seem like a extra character he actually feels like a necessary character in the story. Originally I thought Werner was just basically a Nazi recruit who just so happened to be good at fixing radios, tracking them down form a distance,  and being multilingual. He was just in the story to end up helping out Marie in the end, but now I see that he still has these traits but I also know that he is starting to realize that the Nazis may are not as great as they present themselves to be. He is starting to see that his sister Jutta might be right about not trusting the Nazis. As for Marie-Laure, my opinion on her hasn't really changed, I still believe that she is a extremely strong character. She is a blind 16 year old, in a house with a crazy uncle, her father is in jail or worse, she has to go out in the city by herself to get bread that may or may not have a secret message baked into the bread, she survives a bombing in her city, she is being hunted down by a guy who wants the Sea Of Flames that she has, she has a very hard life. 

All The Light We Cannot See 2

1. Make an argument for what you think the main conflict is in this book. Use examples from the book to prove your claim. 

I think the main conflict is war and the Nazis, there is a constant fear of the Nazis coming to kill either Werner or Marie-Laure and their families. An example of this is on pages 279 and 280 when the French cops came to Marie's uncle's house and Marie didn't trust them. She thought to herself something that her father told her she thought "Everyone is looking out for himself." As well as, "If your same blood doesn't run in the arms and legs of the person you're next to, you cant trust anything." In Werner's case someone had to lie about his age in order to get him out of the basically Hitler Youth. 

All The Light We Cannot See 1

1. Choose either Marie-Laure or Werner and do a character sketch. Mention appearance, age, mannerisms, defining characteristics, personality, circumstances, main goal, and primary conflict (so far).

Werner is a 14 year old boy, he has snow blond colored hair, and sky blue eyes. He is an orphan, he has a little sister her name is Jutta. He is in the National Political Institutes of Education, he is bad at sports, but he good in the academic field. He is an engineer, he fixes radios and knows a lot about the electronic things. Werner and Jutta live in Germany, Jutta lives in the orphanage that the both of them grew up in. Werner's main goal right now is to become a professional engineer, his primary conflict so far is the National Political Institutes of Education (NPIE) he's in, he doesn't know if he'll graduate.

Oral History Interview

For this week's blog post, reflect upon your experience interviewing your oral history subject. How did you feel about the experience? Do you think it went well - why or why not? What do you think you might do differently in future oral history interviews? What was interesting about your subject's story?

Last week my group and I interviewed Anna Maria Garza, she is an employee at Hatch, and she started Girls Rock Camp also known as GRC. She was part of a band a when she was younger, she is a awesome person, and I'm happy with what she does and who she helps. However, the interview did not go so well, my interviewer had a list of questions, she asked them but she did not ask any follow up questions. What I will do differently next time is run a practice interview among the group to see which person is the better interviewer. Other than that road bump, for the most part the project went pretty well.

Houston's Graffiti Culture

Modern graffiti has been around since the 1960's when gangs would spray paint names, messages, and pictures on surfaces, to show protest, violence, or leisure. Currently though, graffiti has become a more accepted way to create art. Graffiti can appear on clothing, advertisements, music covers, and more. Houston, however, did not start this "movement" Philadelphia and New York did, Houston had maintained a unique history that helped the graffiti art success. In 1979 Eddie Scott ad Scott Prescott formed a group called the Urban Animals. The group was known for their graffiti art, bar-hopping, crosstown skating, and other things. A quote from Angel Quesada, a visual artist and muralist "There's this whole back and forth about what is street art, what is graffiti, what's a mural..."

https://houstonhistorymagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Graffiti-Culture.pdf

Final Blog - Is Persepolis a true story?

1. Summarize the story to which you listened and provide a link to that story. Then write three follow-up questions that you would like to be able to ask the person(s) telling the story.

 Marjane Satrapi, explained that her book/movie Persepolis is not 100% autobiographical, she says it's not a documentary about her life, and that not everything on the script is exact wording. Although the book/movie is still based on her life experiences, Marjane believes that even documentaries are fictionalized most of the time, so the story would be interesting. She explains that when she left Iran both times in 1984 and 1994, and how she would hear rumors about Iran. She would say "this is not like this or that is not like that" she would say something like, it does exist but it's not the only thing that happens in Iran. She wrote the book five years after she left Iran the second time, she just wanted to turn the book into a movie adaptation.
The follow up questions I would ask Marjane are the following: If you could change one thing about the movie what would it be? What made you produce the movie even though you did not approve of it? Why did you decide to make the movie black and white for most of the scenes?

Persepolios 4

For your final blog post on Persepolis, you may write about anything else that interested you about the novel that you have not yet had a chance to write about.

One thing about the book I found very interesting was the face that Marjane's journey to adulthood, I know that was kind of the point of the book, but I still liked how the book started when she was little. We get to see her grow up, we see her hardship during her time in Austria, we see her learn new things and get an education. We see her debating things in her head about drugs and alcohol, for example when her friends in Austria asked her to smoke and Marjane was debating whether or not to take the drugs and get high. So she turned around and pretended to inhale the drugs, she also poked her eyes so it would look like she was high with red eyes. She wanted to be accepted but didn't want to put her health at risk (for that one time). Once she got older, after the bronchitis she went to the doctor, he said "I forbid you to smoke" or something like that, Marjane was fine with that at first, but after a little while she didn't care about what the doctor said. She started smoking again, she's a risk taker, and that is shown throughout the entire graphic novel. That's why I liked this book and the fact that it starts when she's a little girl

Persepolios 3

Do a character sketch of one of the characters in Persepolis. This should include the character's name, age (or ages as the book progresses), gender, appearance, personality, and importance to the plot of the book.

Marjane is the main character in Persepolis she is from Rasht, Iran. At the beginning of the book she is about 7 years old, and by the end she is 23. Marjane is female, she has black hair, brown skin, brown eyes, and has a mole on her nose. She has a rebellious attitude, she is kind, a little stubborn, she has a temper, and she's an independent woman. Even from a young age she did as she pleases, when her parents approve, for the most part. Persepolis is mainly focused on Marjane, like while the war was going on and she was in Austria she never paused in the middle of her life to talk about Iran war.

Persepolis 2

1. Explain the differences between Marjane's personality before she left Iran and when she returned after being in Austria. Why do you think she changed so much? Use specific examples from the book to support your claims.

I think Marjane changed so much not only because she had gotten into the drugs and sex while she was in Austria. Austrian culture is extremely different than the Iran culture, and at first Marjane didn't want to adapt to the new culture she was in. She thought they were very rude, selfish, and maybe even unclean. Because she came from a place where she wasn't allowed to have sex before marriage, and if you did you should try to hide it, or something bad will happen to those people mostly if you were a woman. In Austria however it didn't matter what you did as Lon as you didn't break the law, also Marjane was only 14 when her parents sent her away, a very young woman who was still at an impressionable age. Since she did stay in Austria for a few years she got used to the culture and without realizing it she was starting to "conform" to the culture she was in. It was only natural for her personality to change over the course of her teenage years. When she came back to Iran she had adapted to the Austrian culture and almost forgotten her original culture. It was a culture shock while she was away from home and when she returned. Also her friends were a bad influence on her, peer pressure could have also played a part in her personality change. 

Persepolis 1

1. Why did Marjane's parents decide to send her to Europe. Do you think this was the right decision? Why or why not? 

Marjane's parents decided to send her to Europe because of war, they wanted their one and only little girl to be safe, and free to do as she pleased. I think it was the right thing to do because it was not safe in Iran for Marjane. They wanted to keep their daughter away from danger, they also wanted her to get a good education. They love their daughter so much that even though they could not go to Austria, with Marjane they still sent her away. It was the right thing to do because they could make sure that she was safe she has a good education and then she would be free to do as she pleased while being responsible enough to live on her own. They trusted their daughter a lot so they know that she would not stray from her path. They knew it was the right thing to send to hurt their daughter to Austria. 

What was the most fun/engaging activity that you did in ELA this year? Why was it fun/engaging?

Playing Ruth was very fun, also I had a chance to try acting in class. That experience helped me break out of my shell.

What was the most boring activity that you did this year? Why was it boring?

Reading The Odyssey, this is a wonderful book but I personally didn't like that book the first time I read it. So reading it a second time did not keep my interest very high.

What was your favorite book this year? Why?

My favorite book was A Raisin in the Sun. This book focuses on the struggle people had in the 50's.

What was your least favorite book this year? Why?

Reading The Odyssey, this is a wonderful book but I personally didn't like that book the first time I read it. So reading it a second time did not keep my interest very high.

What should I definitely keep the same for next year's ELA curriculum? Why?

Keep the small amounts of work that you space out for large projects.

What should I definitely change for next year's ELA curriculum? Why?

At one point we had meet with you for editing our first draft of our response projects. That was really helpful, I hope you will bring it back for next year.


Is there anything else that you would like to tell me about your experience in ELA? If so - please put it here. 

Nope :-)

Free Blog with Topic

We have finished A Raisin in the Sun. For this blog post, you can address anything about the book that interests you, whether we have discussed in class or not. 
Ruth is a woman of few words, but she is somehow able to get her family to stay together. Whenever there is a fight between all of them, even if she is part of the fight, she mostly gets all of them to stop fighting and make them realize that there is no point in fighting. I feel like Ruth is someone I connected to, at least some of personality traits do. She quite but is still heard, she helps people get through problems, she is trusting but still has her secrets. Also I find it funny when she is in the middle of talking and Walter does something and she just stops and goes "Walter Lee" or something.

Walter Says

1. On p. 143, Walter states, "There ain't no causes - there ain't nothing but taking in this world, and he who takes the most is smartest - and it don't make a damn bit of difference how." Do you think that this is true? Why or why not?

It is sort of true, those who take things in this world do sometimes get ahead. Although if they takes things from this world the wrong way, as in against the law, they will pay for it very much. Usually when people take things from others they do it one of two ways, they take it legally or illegally. If you take illegally then you go to jail, if you get caught. If you take things legally then you should be fine with the law, and the person you are taking from should have given you permission. Kind of like the XL Pipeline situation, they took the people's land legally more or less, but people are still trying to stop it from being finished. So even though people take in this world, it does matter how you do it, and possibly who you take from. Therefore I believe that this statement it half true and half false.

Act II, Scene 2

1. In Act II, Scene 2, Mama puts Walter in charge of all of the money. Why do you think that she does that? 

I believe Mama left the money with Walter because she felt bad for buying the house instead of letting Walter buy that liquor store. Once Mama had given him that money I think she wanted him to fulfill his liquor store dream without having the family lose to much money. Mama wanted Walter to understand that she loved him and she wanted him to achieve his dream. Even though she would not give him the whole $10,000 for it. Walter had been talking to her about the money so much, I think he guilt tripped her into giving him that money. Still he acted surprised when he got the money, and once he wasted it all, oh boy. Mama was so shocked, and upset I doubt she would trust Walter with a large amount of money again

Putting myself in the Younger's Shoes

1. Put yourself into the shoes of the Younger family. What do you think it would be like to live in a tiny, three-room apartment with three generations of your family, without the choice or resources to move elsewhere?  

     To be honest I have some cousins who have been in a similar situation, so it is easy to palace myself in the Younger's situation. They lived in New Orleans, around the time when Hurricane Katrina hit, which was in 2005. Their houses got destroyed during the storm. So my mom decided to reach out to them, while we were in the middle of moving into an apartment because we were waiting on our new house to be built. My mom invited them to stay with us in the new apartment because they had no where else to go. They were so grateful for our help, the Younger's situation is a little different from this because they they did not have another place to go after a certain amount of time passed, unlike my cousins who got a new house after the hurricane had finished. 

GG Movie vs. GG Book

Was it easier to understand the plot and the symbolism with or without watching the movie?

For me personally it was easier to read the book, then watch the movie, and then go back and re-read the book. The book was extreamly confusing for me because I've never read a book with a large amount of symolisim, motif, and themes before this book. Yes, I remember The Odyssey, and The Alchemist, but I don't think those books had as much symbolism as this one. And I don't think those books had a movie, and if they did my bad, anyway, The Great Gatcby was easier to understand for myself after reading the book and watching the movie. I just want your option on which helped you understand the book better.

Great Gatsby

Choose any topic of interest that we have discussed in class (or not discussed, if you have a new one) in relation to The Great Gatsby and explore it further. Use textual evidence to support your ideas.

During seminars we talked about the green light at the end of Daisy's dock, and how Gatsby is always reaching out to it as if it was his goal to reach it. Well I thought about how while he was reaching for the American Dream, he was also reaching for Daisy. Because of his past life of as a soldier he met Daisy, when he met Daisy he fell in love. After he fell in love with her he wanted to marry her, but he was still poor, and Daisy was starting to get tired of waiting for Gatsby. We know she married Tom after a while and that whole shabang, but what really caught my eye is when Gatsby did finally become rich, and when he bought the house across from Daisy. As he reached out to the green light he was reaching for two things, Daisy and the American Dream, Daisy I think was top priority in this book. He was so close yet so far away, he had her once, but he will never have her again...

The Great Gatsby

Contrast Jay Gatsby's story about himself on p. 65 and Jordan Baker's story about Daisy and Gatsby on pp. 74-77.  What is different about these stories, and why do you think that they are different?

 With Gatsby's story he restates that he that has a family tradition is to get an education at Oxford. Even though he did make it hard for Jordan and Fitzgerald to believe him, he seemed to be a little tense while telling this story. Jordan gives the year of when everything happened, with Daisy, Tom & Gatsby, she gave her age, she also gave Daisy's age. I believe the reason why they are different is because one view is as an  and another is from a personal experience. We learn that Daisy gets scared or paranoid whenever Tom, her husband, leaves the room for even the shortest amount of time. We learn with Jordan's story, after a while after she and Tom get married, she hears Gatsby's name again in years. The main differences between these two stories are: detail, depth, step by step, time, and truthfulness. 

Explain

1. Do you think that the American Dream is specific to The United States in some way? Explain why or why not?

No, I do not believe the "American Dream" is specific to the US. The American Dream is "If you work hard you can become rich" right? Well, I believe that this dream is attainable for everyone around the world. Yes I know some areas around the world are poor, but that doesn't mean the dream isn't there. It's true that hard work can get you to the top, look at Paris, France, the American Dream is there. It's shown a whole lot better in some other countries than in America and it's our dream. So, no this dream is not bound only to America, it's a dream seen all over the world.