Speech-This I Believe

'You Have To Be Your Biggest Believer'

In this world you constantly hear cheesy mantras and quotes about how you need to ‘Believe In 

Yourself!’. Everyone has heard these phrases hundreds of times. But the truth is that I didn't believe in myself and I still struggle to. That was until I found the quote that changed the way I think. ‘You have to be your biggest believer.’  My biggest passion in life is music. I’ve loved music for many years before I decided to pursue it. For years I pushed the idea out of my mind. That changed when I found self belief. 

One day last year I was listening to an interview that my favorite musician gave. I heard them say, ‘You have to be your biggest believer.’ I learned that you can't be scared to follow your own dreams. After this, I didn't want to hide my dream from myself anymore, just because I found it stupid. I wanted to be known, admired, but above all, I wanted to be an artist. 

I admitted to not only myself that I have a serious dream, but to others as well. Yet, I felt as if I'd never make it and some people thought this as well. Each time I felt defeated, the quote would form in my mind. I have to be my biggest believer. Everyone has dreams that they think are embarrassing, stupid or far fetched, I know I do, but in reality these dreams are attainable. Attainable by believing in yourself before expecting others to believe in you.You have to follow your dreams, only then will people start to believe in you. This is why I believe that you have to be your own biggest believer.

Final Reflection

Final Reflection - Please incorporate these nine questions into your final reflective blog for the school year. Keep in mind these questions should be focused on your time in Mrs. Larson's Accelerated English Language Arts classes.

1- What are the three most important things you learned this year?

2- What is something we did this year that you think you will remember for the rest of your life?

3- What was the nicest thing someone in our class did for you this year?

4- What is something you taught your teacher or classmates this year?

5- In what area do you feel you made your biggest improvements? What is something you accomplished this year that you are proud of?

6- What was the most challenging part of this year for you?

7- What was the best piece of writing that you did this year? Why do you think it is your best?

8- Of the books you read this year, which was your favorite? Why?

9- What advice would you give students who will be in this class next year

Yikes! So, graduation is in 10 days (or 6 school days). Which is kind of surprising. At first the school year felt like it was dragging but the past two months have gone by really quickly. Since the year is ending that means that a finals reflection on the year is due. So here goes nothing!

This school year I learned many valuable things in this ELA class, but there are some things that have been more valuable to me than others. One of the most important things I learned this year is how to fully experience a book. Each time we read a book for class, we didn't just read, we experienced the book. I learned how to take notes, generate meaningful questions, and valuable connections. I found this very important because it changed the way I read and how a book affects me. The next two things that I learned that I found important was learning how to write grammatically correct and to write in many different types of writing styles. I found these two things very important because it has made me a more versatile and skilled writer, which will no doubt help me in the future.

Our Socratic Seminars for Tuesday's With Morrie is something that I think I'll remember for the rest of life. I think I'll always remember this because it had such a big impact on me. In these Socratic Seminars I got to hear everyone's opinions and views on the novel. I think I'll also remember this because it was only of the only moments where we were all being genuine with each other about our lives and fears. As middle schoolers everyone tends to coat over real emotions and opinions, but at this point everyone was being very real with each other about how we perceive the world, and that really changed my views.

The nicest thing that someone in this class did for me was help me keep up homework and class work. I'm a very paranoid person when it comes to school work and get terrible anxiety if I forget what the work is/due dates. I can say that atleast once a week I would text Justin asking about homework or to clarify what our work was. Every single time I sent Justin a text he would always respond immediately, or answer calls whether they were late at night or at six in the morning. I think that this was very nice of him because he could have just ignored me but he always did his best to help me out.

I think something that the class as whole taught Mrs.Larson were really memorable things. One thing was when we taught her was 'Salty' meant and now she constantly uses on other students (95% of the time it's Sam). Another thing that the class taught Mrs.Larson was that it's really okay and funny to expose kids in class (Omar, Nick and Evie), I think this because up until the last couple of months I feel as if the class and Mrs.Larson didn't have much of a relationship, but once we taught her that things like this were funny to us she seem to give out different vibes.

I think the thing I made the biggest improvement in this year was how I write and my quality of writing. Something I accomplished this year that I'm proud of is my essays and final blog I wrote for TKAM. I feel proud of this because it was something that I had struggled with but I did it very well.

There have been many difficult times during the year but the most challenging part of the school year by far was first getting into Mrs.Larsons class. This was particularly hard for me for many reasons. Since I had transferred to Heritage in very late September I was randomly placed in classes that were too easy for me and not challenging me. After about two weeks into me being here I was randomly informed one morning that my schedule was changed and that I'd have to go to Mrs.Larsons class. This was challenging for many reasons. Everyone else had Mrs.Larson before and I hadn't so I didn't know anything about how she ran her classes or her expectations which was really difficult for me.

I think my best piece of writing this year was my Life Is Beautiful/Night blog. I think this was my best writing this year for many reasons. I feel as if I had written it in a very proper way and that my formatting was very good. I also feel that my comparing and contrasting method worked very well.

Of the books I've read this year I'd have to say that my favorite one was 'Valley Of The Dolls' by Jacqueline Susann, even though I read this independently. This is actually one of my favorite books in general. This was my favorite books because it is one of the only books I've read that I felt that I could relate to characters. I loved the themes that the book involved and just the representation of the darker side of Hollywood, fame, and American culture. I am very much obsessed with American culture and the American obsession with beauty and popularity and I felt that this book represented the vanity of America and our obsession with being famous.

Some advice I would give to students that are entering this class next year is that to just to do what you have to do and manage your time. I would say that you should always start an assignment when it is assigned because due dates are always closer than they appear. I would also say that you just need to do your work. If you do your homework and assignments with quality you will not have a hard time in this class at all. Manage your impulses,time, and submit quality work. 

Tuesdays With Morrie PT.IV

Prompt-1- Explain the aphorism in detail. what was Morrie's main message?

2-     Relate the aphorism to a movie, song, historical event, current event, personal experience, etc. and explain in detail how the example you have chosen relates to the aphorism.

3-     Evaluate the aphorism by explaining why you agree/disagree with it. Give specific reasons for your position and specific evidence from the text to support your position.

4-     Take a picture of your aphorism to use as your graphic.

5- Include your own aphorism regarding life.

'The Most Important Thing In Life Is To Learn How Give Out Love And Let It Come In'. The main message of Morries aphorism was 'You Get What You Give'. This means that as a person you have to learn how to show others and the world love to in return learn how to accept love. 

I related this aphorism with the movie 'Juno', starring Ellen Page and Micheal Cera. In the movie Juno, after she gets pregnant with Paulie Bleekers baby, she relaizes that she is in love with him. She doesn't want him to know that she is in love with him, but she also doesn't know that he really does love her. After having her baby and giving it up for adoption she finally learns how to give/show Paulie love to then accept his love, whereas before she would dismiss his love as friendship or pity for getting her pregnant. 

I agree with this aphorism because I believe that this is a world of balances, in which you get an equal amount of what you give. If you give out positivity and positive energy to others, you in turn will receive positive energy as well, the same goes for negative energy or emotion. Another reason I believe this is because in the novel Mitch had to show Morrie love and care (by taking care of him, massaging him, etc) to truly recieve and really feel Morries love, and Morrie gave out all his love to the world and in turn accepted love from others. 

One aphorism I have regarding life is 'Live Your Best Life No Matter What Others Think'

Tuesdays With Morrie Pt.III

Prompt-Explain how the past four Socratic Seminars have influenced your thinking about Tuesdays with Morrie and life in general.
What trends did you notice with yourself and your personal goals for each seminar? How did your personal goal(s) change and what did you actively do to change throughout our last four discussions?
What trends did you notice with the class for each seminar? What did you notice that helped or hindered a specific seminar?


The past four Socratic Seminars have influenced my understanding of 'Tuesdays With Morrie' and just how I intake the world in many ways. When first beggining the book I thought that it was kind of morbid to be recording a mans death. After the first Socratic Seminar I began to see the book in a more positive light. During the seminars I saw how other interpreted Morries aphorisms and just the book in general and I changed my views. Tuesdays With Morrie made me want to change the way I live my daily life. I have realized that in American society and culture we are very oblivious to what goes on around us and to social interaction. I feel as if I am more aware of what is going on in our world and just an all around more aware person about our futures and how much our decisions affect the world.

Throughout the seminars I noticed some trends about myself and my goals for our seminars. Something I noticed about myself was that I made a lot of connections to other literature (Valley Of The Dolls, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower) and to music (Album:Froot By Marina And The Diamonds), but I rarely vocalized these connections. I realized that I didn't vocalize these connections due to two reasons. Reason one being that my connections felt out of place in our conversations, and reason two being that I felt no one would know what I was connecting to/wouldn't understand my connections. During the seminars my goals never really changed but after the first seminar I really did try to speak more as we had more seminars.

During our seminars I noticed a lot of trends amongst the group. One trend was that it was usually the same 4-5 people talking and starting the conversations, or asking the first question. I also noticed that we were not giving many people the chance to speak. For example, many times during the seminar a person would try to talk but would immediately get cut off by someone else. I also noticed that whenever there was no speaking it would get kind of awkward and everyone would laugh and just repeat things that were already said. Some things that helped the seminar was when people would ask Indepth questions (opinion questions), and when people made connections to previous literature we have read. Some things that hindered the seminar was when individuals would call out others who rarely spoke to get them to speak.

Tuesdays With Morrie Pt.II

Prompt-Based on the 6 Tuesdays you have read about in Tuesdays with Morrie, choose which topic (The World, Feeling Sorry For Yourself, Regrets, Death, Family, or Emotions) that has had the most impact on you or inspired you. On your blog discuss the importance of this topic with your own opinions, including textual evidence (direct quotes) from the book.

Since I have started reading 'Tuesdays With Morrie', the most inspirational topic/Tuesday has been 'Feeling Sorry For Yourself. This topic has really had an impact on me in a number of ways. I am a person who tends to feel sorry for myself in many ways. I have two half siblings and a step dad (meaning my parents are divorced). I tend to think that I have a reason to feel sorry for myself since I don't have an 'ideal' life. After reading about Morries experiences it has made me feel sorry for myself less often.

When Morrie found out he had ALS he felt the pain of not only himself but of others as well. He feels sorry for himself but only allows himself to feel sorry for himself for a short amount of time. On page.57, Morrie states "I give myself a good cry if I need it. But then I concentrate on all the good things still in my life." This really impacted him. It made me think about how Morrie had such a terrible thing happen to him and not focus on it. This made me think about how I can allow myself to feel self-pity but also think about how many things are going well for me and how I should appreciate my own life just as Morrie did. 

Tuesdays With Morrie Bucketlist

Prompt-What are your initial reactions to what you have read in Tuesdays with Morrie thus far? One of the main themes developing in Tuesdays with Morrie is not to take your life for granted. Based on this premise, what is on your Bucketlist? You can write a paragraph leading up to a bulleted list of what you would like to do/accomplish in your life.

As of what I've read so far in 'Tuesdays With Morrie', I can say that it is very interesting. This book is about a man named Morrie Schwartz. As Morrie ages he find out that he has ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. This a disease that slowly weakens your nerve endings and will eventually paralyze you. When Morrie is confronted with death he does not get depressed or loses the will to live. In fact, quite the opposite happens. Morrie begins to teach his final lesson as a college professor. This is a lesson about death and what it is like to die. Morrie begins speaking large amounts of knowledge and truths about lives until his death. Morrie is a very positive man who is a natural speaker. I like Morrie because of his figurative ways of delivering life lessons. His vocalizations about life and its lessons are not blunt but do get straight to the point.

One of the main themes of Tuesday's with Morrie is to not take life for granted. Since we are supposed to learn to not take our lives for granted, we are to write a bucket list of 'goals' we want to accomplish/complete before our deaths. Although my goals may be considered childish by some there are actual mature goals that will be mixed in amongst my childish goals. My Bucketlist is as follows:

-Meet Marina And The Diamonds

-Meet Melanie Martinez

-Fight a bear

-Talk to Ghosts! (Preferably the Spooky kind)

-Meet Halsey

-Meet Lana Del Rey

-Visit every state (Even Delaware! And 'The South')

-See Paloma Faith in Concert

-Learn to play nearly every Marina And The Diamonds song on piano

-Own every Teen Suicide Album on cassette and vinyl

-Own every Marina And The Diamonds release (Eps, Lps, Casettes, Boxsets, etc.)

-Move to California with my best friend

-Meet Josh Dun and Tyler Joseph (Twenty Øne Piløts)

-Get my degrees in Music Production and Creative Writing

-Get a record deal with Neon Gold Records, Astralwerks, or Hopeless Records

-Play Warped Tour atleast once (Even if it's the terrible Ernie Ball or Acoustic stages)

-Go to Coachella more than once

-Go to Lollapalooza in Chicago and Brasil

-Learn To Play The Cello

-Meet Clean Bandit

-Have a family

-Have children (Ew I know but babies are cute when you get to dress them up)

-Own my own house

-Move to Camden or London for atleast a year

-Go To Glastonbury Festival

-Be to atleast one kid what Marina and The Diamonds is for me

3rd Quarter Relfection

Prompt-In what area do you think you made your biggest improvements in English Language Arts? 
 What is something you have accomplished this quarter that you are proud of? What has been the most challenging part of 3rd Quarter for you and what did/can you do to help overcome this?

One area that I believe I have had the biggest improvement in was in writing. I think this because when I look at writing pieces from last quarter and beyond, I see a huge positive change. I have gotten better in writing in TIQA format for narrative and informational writing. For example I see a huge positive change in writing informational text. Before this quarter I packed the skill to write informatively and would often include my opinion when not needed. Since learning to to properly write this quarter I have improved very much.

Something that I accomplished this quarter that I am very proud is reading a lot of different kinds of books. Over the last quarter I have read many genres of books. Some include biography, fiction, historical fiction, and cult classics. I am proud of this because when it comes to reading I am very picky in what I want to read. To have read such different kinds of books makes me proud of myself for changing my ways. Related to this I am proud that I chose to read different genres because I finally read 'Valley Of The Dolls', which ended up being my favorite book.

The most challenging part of the 3rd quarter for me was reading my books for Battle Of The Books. This was challenging for me because there have been many other books that I wanted to read/read (Valley Of The Dolls, Renasaince Spook, Lolita etc.) that were distracting me from the books that I needed to read. I overcame this by using two methods. These methods include not touching the free choice books until I read the books that needed to be read and by not looking into the free choice books until I read what was needed. 

Valley Of The Dolls Pt.II

Prompt-Pretend you get to create the music soundtrack for what you’ve been reading.

What five songs would you include? Write an explaination for each song: why

would you include it, how does the song connect to events.

**SPOILERS**

1.Valley Of The Dolls By Marina And The Diamonds

I picked this song simply because it gives a good summary of what to expect from this book. The song references a lot of what Anne, Jennifer, and Neely go through in the novel, such as sleeping to avoid pain, having different personalities, and feeling empty. It has a sort of melancholy feel that is felt throughout the entire of the novel so far.

2.Last Hope by Paramore

'I don't even know myself at all. I thought I would be happy by now', a verse from this song really connects with Neely. I picked this song to represent Neely O'Hara. Neely is the youngest of the girls and also the most talented. Neely is a singer, actress, and Broadway performer. After finding success Neely goes into a downward spiral. She jumps from husband to husband, pops pills, and quite often tries to commit suicide. As Neely nears 30 we began to see how unhappy she is with her life and how she thought that success would bring her happiness. This is Neelys song because both her and the singer (Hayley Williams) both feel as if they were mislead and need something to keep them going. For Hayley it's the band but for Neely it's her twin sons, Jud and Bud.

3.Pretty When You Cry By Lana Del Rey

I picked this song for Jennifer North. One of Jennifer's first relationships with a man after being in relationships with women, is fairly abusive. Her boyfriend/husband verbally, physically abuses her, and cheats on her. In this song Lana shows a lot of emotion about the abusive relationship and shows a line that relates a lot to Jennifer. 'I'll wait for you, babe, it's all I do babe, you don't come through babe, you never do, because I'm pretty when I cry.' This relates to Jennifer because her husband Tony always leaves for 'work' where he cheats on her and she constantly waits for him but all he ever does is abuse her when he gets back and likes how she looks when she is in pain.

4.Teen Idle By Marina And The Diamonds

This is a song of regret. This song relates to every girl. Neely regrets taking pills, Anne regrets not loving Lyon enough, Jennifer regrets never having children. 'I want to drink until I ache. I want to make a big mistake. I want blood, guts, and chocolate cake. I'm gonna puke it anyway.' The drinking and vomiting in for Neely. Neely basically has an eating disorder. She barely eats 5 meals a week and is addicted to diet pills. 'I wish I wasn't such a narcissist. I wish I didn't really kiss the mirror when I'm on my own. Oh God, I'm gonna die alone.' This is for Jennifer. Jennifer has no talent but is constantly hired because of her beauty, but at age 40 discovers that she has breast cancer and has to get a mascetomy. She then realizes that people (including herself) only loved her because of her body and that her husband will leave her because of her body change. (Her husband later decides to leave her because of the loss of her breasts. Jennifer commits suicide.)

5.Gasoline By Halsey

Once again this is a song for Neely. This song is written by someone who suffers from bipolar disorder and is about their bipolar and it really fits Neelys life. ''All the people say 'You can't wake up. This is not a dream...With your face all made up, living on a screen. Low on self esteem so you run on gasoline.'" And "Are you insane like me? Been in pain like me?". This really fits Neelys life because she simply lives on movie screens and doesn't have a real life. She appears beautiful on screen but in reality is in pain and lives her life in regret. Neely hears these voices in her head that she needs to get better but simply cannot. She is not in control of her life just like the singer.

Valley Of The Dolls

Prompt- Choose a quote you like and explain why you chose it.

'I don't think I have an identity yet.' 

The quote that I fell in love with from 'Valley Of The Dolls'. Anne says this to Lyon in the beggining of the book. 

I fell in love with this quote because because of the ideas of identities. You are never simply yourself and I feel like Anne explains this very well through out the novel so far. Each person you have met has a different version of you that they think of when they hear your name. You might believe in who you think you are but you are never truly that person to anyone but yourself. 

Another reason I fell I love with this quote was because of how I relate it to 'The Archetypes'. Each girl in 'Valley Of The Dolls' represents an archetype. Anne represents the Housewife, Jennifer represents the Beauty Queen and Homewrecker, and Neely represents the Idle Teen. While Jennifer and Neely know exactly who they want to be Anne doesn't quite know what she wants in life. She desperately wants to marry Lyon and remain a house wife while also wanting to be a Beauty Queen like Jennifer, and wanting to be a working woman in society. 

I really love this quote just because of how much it relates to myself. I feel as if identity is something that is very fluid because of how often it changes. This relates to me because as a person whenever I feel I have built an identity for myself I change as a person just how Anne has. 

Life Is Beautiful

Prompt-Based on the Holocaust literature and poetry we have read, what connections can be made between Life is Beautiful and our reading?  What events, scenes, or situations are similar or different? What is similar or different about the mood or tone of the pieces? Analyze how differences in points of view of characters create suspense or humor. How is life shown as beautiful throughout the film. Pull out at least two examples from different parts of the film and explain your rationale.

'Life Is Beautiful' and 'Night' are two pieces about the topic of the Holocaust. Despite both detailing experiences of the Holocaust they both take on very different roles to describe the experience of the Holocaust.

The film 'Life Is Beautiful' takes the role of comedy and drama to explain a family's journey through the Holocaust. To contrast that, the novel 'Night' by Elie Weisel, uses seriousness and bluntness to describe his experiences. Despite having differences in tone they both carry very similar events. Some similar events between the film and novel include the separation of families and the gas chamber 'showers'. An example of similarity in both works is that both go through the act of separation at a concentration camp. In 'Night', Elie and his father are separated from his mother and younger sister. While in the the film, Guido and Joshua are brutally separated from Dora, Guido's wife and Joshua's mum. Another example of similarity between both film and novel is the representation of gas chambers to the Jews. In 'Life Is Beautiful' Joshua among all the other children at the camp are commanded to undress and go take a 'shower', which would have ultimately led to the children to their death by gas. When Joshua escapes the Nazis he goes to his father Guido and explains to him that he ran away due to his hatred of showers, to which Guido responds by telling him to take the shower. A command that Joshua disobeyed. Guido only responds in this way to Joshua because of lack of knowledge about what 'showers' actually are at the camp. This is similar to Wiesels novel in the way that when the Jewish people and others being persecuted arrived at the camp they had no prior knowledge about the true terrors of the camp. Despite the Jews never knowing about these terrors Wiesel also fails to mention the existence of the gas chambers in any way throughout the entire piece of writing.

As previously stated, in the film 'Life Is Beautiful', Guido uses a comedic tone throughout the film to convey a sense of security to his son through out their time in the concentration camp. This is different than in the novel by Wiesel due to his blunt and honest tone. An example of a comedic act is when Guido is being taken away by a Nazi. In this scene Joshua is hidden in a small cabinet outside as he sees his father, who happens to be dressed as a woman, being marched away by a Nazi. Guido then proceeds to march goofily when he spots his son. Guido uses comedic actions to show support to this son that he isn't actually living in fear. On the other hand in Night and other Holocaust writing we see many Jews and other living in constant fear of making a mistake in front of the Nazis. Another example of comedy that shows a large difference between the two is how Guido addresses the camp to his son. In 'Life Is Beautiful' Guido explains to Joshua that the camp is actually a game where if he is quiet enough and survives that he will be awarded with a tank. When Joshua gets fed up with being at the camp Guido turns to comedy and tells Joshua that he can leave whenever he would like. Guido then proceeds to comedicly tell everyone goodbye and marches into the rain. Afterward Joshua re-quotes Guido by saying 'I can't go out in the rain! I'll catch a fever of 110!'. After this Joshua decides to stay. While in 'Night' Elie and his father never attempt to lift the spirits of anyone at the camp or each other in a comedic way and simply just try to survive. Many people in 'Night' simply want to live but do not try in any emotional way to do so. For example when the older people are terrified for their children's lives they simple tell them advice such as 'You must never lose faith, even when the sword hangs over your head...'. In Night there is simply blunt advice given to those losing faith but never an attempt as emotional as Guido's.

The film 'Life Is Beautiful', does it's job well, not only by showing an amazing story but by also living up to its title. Through out the film there are many examples of the beauties of life. One example of how life is beautiful in the film is when Guido and Joshua are taken away by the Nazis. This scene shows how life is beautiful because when Dora realizes what has happened to Joshua and Guido she immediately goes to the cattle car and asked to be sent away with her family. This shows how life is beautiful because it shows that the love you can feel for others can extend so far that you would be willing to be treated as a slave just to be remotely close to them. It shows how humanity can extend to the darkest depths of life.

Another example of how life is beautiful that is shown in the film is the sacrifice of life. In the end of the film Guido is shot and killed while trying to reach his wife and keep his son safe. This shows the beauty of a humans life because it shows how one can love another so deeply as so sacrifice their life for them. Guido sacrifices himself and his own emotions just to keep his son happy. Guido like everyone else at the camp was filled with fear, despair and sadness. Yet Guido sacrificed his feelings just to show his son that life would go on even during such dark times. 

A final act that showed us the beauties of life is the marriage of Dora and Guido. Guido is an Italian Jew, while Dora is simply Italian. When the two fall in love we can all assume that it was all viewed as taboo in Italy, due to Guido's religion. This showed us that life was beautiful because it can show that love can extend social norms. It shows how life is beautiful because we can see that despite social pressures and current events (i.e the persecution of Jews) that a non-Jew could find herself in love with someone who was deemed as less than human. Dora and Guido definitely show us how life is indeed, beautiful.

Dawn By Elie Wiesel Part II

Prompt-Think of a problem that a character had to face. Write the problem and how the

character solved it or is working to solve it. If you were that character, what would you do differently?

In 'Dawn', Elisha is given the task of killing John Dawson simply because he is an English man. This is the main conflict that Elisha faces. Elisha morally feels as if it is wrong and is conflicted about whether to kill John Dawson or to follow his own feelings and let him go free. Elisha also has the fear that he will physically not be able to kill the man. In the end Elisha overcomes the feelings he has about Dawson and shoots him. 

If I were Elisha I would not have shot John Dawson. Within the novel Elisha says that he doesn't have a personal reason for killing him. At one point Elisha tells Dawson that he is trying to make himself hate him to justify his murder. I would have followed my own feelings and not have killed him because there was no justifiable reason to.

Dawn By Elie Wiesel

Prompt:Select a quote from your reading that you liked. What made you pick it? How

does it make you pause and think?

"Don't torture yourself, Elisha… This is war.” The words that Gad provides to Elisha when he seeks comfort. Elisha has the dreadful task of killing an English hostage; John Dawson. Elisha feels dreads and confliction about this task, comparing himself to Nazis now that he is forced onto the other side of the loaded gun. 

I chose this quote because it's something that anyone could relate to in their own circumstances. Everyone has spoken words that they regret, some of us more often than others. Everyone acts in a way that causes pain or regret more than once in their life. Some of us accept our behaviors and apologize on behalf of them to those we have hurt while the rest of the human race provides a half hearted attempt at an excuse. In this case Gad's excuse for the murder of John Dawson is that this is simply an act of war and is justified. Gad tries to drown Elisha's guilt by convincing him that Dawson is morally correct by war terms.

This quote made me think because I thought of how many bad decisions we make every single day and how as humans we cannot accept the guilt and impurity of a conflicted mind. Whenever one feels guilt the mind contemplates two choices. The choice to provide reason for the action(s) made or to confess your sins. No one wants to confess their sins because it makes you feel weak, you feel weak for acting out this sin, for exposing your sin to others. Guilt kills the souls but so does acknowledgement of weakness.

AOW Holocaust Impressions

One thing I learned form the Article Of The Week Gallery Walk is that many people are trying to prevent another Holocaust kind of event from happening. One of the articles I read was about a man who was a Holocaust survivor. This man spends his days going to schools and informing children about the true horrors of the Holocaust. When he speaks to schools he recalls how he watched his family die. A lesson that he teaches is the importance of not being a bystander whenever you see unjust acts taking place.

Another thing I learned from the Gallery Walk is that not all victims of the Holocaust hate Hitler for what he did. One man who is a Holocaust survivor is also a teacher. This eighty-six year old man has been educating for twenty-five years. He educates people about the true events of the Holocaust but also teaches non-hate. The man doesn't believe in hating Adolf Hitler for what he did and doesn't hold any blame against him. He believes that despite the events that happened that he should hold anything against Hitler.

The Storm By Jirka Polak

The Storm By Jirka Polak

The heavens sense our burden

the threat of future downpours 

I carry on my back.

We are drunk on wine vinegar. 

The nearing storm rouses me,

it makes me want to shake the world.

We are an assembly of misery.

If our hands are bloody, 

it is from the blood of our own wounds. 

The grotesque scars 

we bear on our bodies 

testify to battles fought 

that went unrecognized. 

But the next storm will unfurl our flag 

and uproot the rotted trees! 

Then we, together with the gusting wind,

will scale Spilberk's heights, 

and stand in victory on the peaks of cliffs,

our hair blowing freely in the wind.

Berlin Memorial

Prompt

1- What did you learn?
2- Why do you think this monument was built?
3- What did you notice about the number of laws passed in certain years?
4- Which restrictions do you think you would have 

the most trouble dealing with and why?

One of the many things I learned from this was how the restrictions of basic rights were heavily increased through out the years of Hitlers reign. At the beginning of the 1930's the Jewish people faced a lot of discrimation in the workforce, meaning that many Jews were laid off from work or not allowed to practice their trades. Later on in the 1930's they were stripped of their recreational rights, for example going to the cinema or going to concerts. Later on toward the end of the Holocaust and World War II they were late stripped of the basic necessities for living. This included Jews not being able to use their ration cards to recieve eggs or not being able to have milk. 

I believe that this memorial was built for two reasons. The first reason being to show a rememberance of a historical event that took place here. To educate those that live there that history should not be forgotten for if it is it will be doomed to repeat itself. The second reason being to show honour and respect  to the Jewish people. I believe this because during the Holocaust the Jews in Germany were treated with less respects than animals. They were also stripped of their pride during this time, I feel as if this memorial was created to show respect to them for all the horrible things they hard to endure in the past.

In certain years the amount of laws and restrictions passed would drastically increase or drastically decrease. For example, when Germany invaded Poland in 1939 the amount of laws passed the previous year increased drastically. It changed from things losing your job to then in 1938 not being able to have recreational rights. 

The restrictions that I feel I would have the most trouble erasing with would be the following- No Milk, Not being allowed to go to a cinema, and not being allowed to go to concerts. I would have the most trouble with the first because I desperately need to eat a bowl of cereal everyday and since milk is a primary need in cereal I don't think I would be able to not eat it everyday. I would struggle living with the second because watching movies is one of my favorite things. I usually go to the movies about three times a month, so to not be able to go watch movies would probably be really hard on me because it's one of my favorite things. Lastly, I would have the hardest time with the last this being due to me being a huge music fan. As someone who obsesses over musicians in anyway possible it would be absolutely terrible to never be allowed to see a favorite musician in concert. I would live in absolute dread each and everyday knowing I would never be able to see a loved musician in concert.

2nd Quarter Reflection

 The school year is now officially half over. Over this school year I have done so much in this class.

So far in my forty book challenge j haven't read as much as I would have wanted to. After reading To Kill A Mockingbird in class I decided to read Malalas book. I had been wanting to read this book for a long while but hadn't had the time. Once I sat down and read it it turned out to be a great book and worth the wait. One of my biggest improvements this quarter I believe would be the ability to proof read and correct writing. I had previously been fairly good at this but since editing our TKAM thematic essays and writing our AOW's I have really grown in this skill. Something else I've improved is my ability to analyze text, from the word choice to the tone of the text. Something else that I feel has improved this quarter are my blogs. Since the second quarter started I've written about five blogs and I can tell that my organization skills and writing skills have improved a lot.

Something that was very challenging for me this quarter was not procrastinating. I am constantly putting work off until the last minute and have received two fouls for incompletion. Something that I could do to improve this is to physically write down the work that needs to be done and separate blocks of time for my work to be done. I believe that despite having flaws in my work ethic I have improved in my research skills. I believe that I have improved my research skills because I have gotten better and quicker in researching our root words and researching things mentioned in text. 

'To Kill A Mockingbird" Juxtaposition

Prompt: 1.  What do you think is the most important difference between the written and filmed version? Provide evidence with specific details.

How would you prove or disprove that one version of To Kill A Mockingbird is more affective in delivering its message than the other? Be sure to provide specific pieces of evidence to support your opinion.

For this blog I will be juxtaposing the most important difference between the novel and film adaption and the effectiveness of one version over the other.

I believe that the most important difference between the written version of 'To Kill A Mockingbird and the film version is the amount of detail expressed in Boo Radley. Within the novel there are many large parts written solely about the children's views and experiences with him. For example, within the novel one of the character known as Miss.Maudie, has her home burn down. While  this happens Scout is outside of the home in the snow  and Boo Radley quietly slips her a cover and walks away. On the other hand this never happens in the novel, and there is no mention of Scout even having an account with Boo Radley. This part was extremely important in the novel because it shows to Scout that Boo Radley isn't a bad man, that he is a caring man and is not what everyone thinks he is. When this doesn't happen in the film it never shows Scout growing as a person but instead just shows that she fears him based on rumours she's heard.

Another example of this is when Scout, Jem, and Dill try give a note to Boo to befriend him. In the novel the children hatch the idea to attach a note to a fishing rod to give to Boo Radley, with a message for him. The children try to befriend Boo until Atticus tells the children to stop bothering him. While in the film adaptation the children never even reach out to Boo Radley at all. The children simply live in fear of Boo Radley and the Radley home. In the text Boo Radley starts to leave gifts for the children, but only after they reach out to him. Boo does this to show them that feels as if they are friends. Since the children never try to befriend him in the film there is no reason for a Boo to leave gifts for the children. The children simply live in fear of Boo and his home. 

I also believe that the regular novel is more effective in delivering the message over the film adaptation. I believe this because within the novel you see so much more prejudice shown towards Boo. In the novel you see many characters call Boo insane, a killer, and just shown as a menace to society. While in the film adaptation you only hear talk of Boo once in the very beggining. In the novel you also see Scout show a lot of judgement towards Boo Radley, while in the film you do not. The main theme of the novel is empathy, so in the novel there is a larger message of empathy shown by Scout in the end scene where she sees from Boo's point of view and realizes how wrong she was, while in the movie she merely dictates what we can assume is empathy towards Boo Radley.

Due to all the textual evidence from the novel and details from the film I feel it is safe to say that in both of these categories the novel rules over the film adaptation in more than one way.