Reading Reflection #1

Go Ask Alice
Anonymous
Pages 1-55

As I began to read Go Ask Alice by Anonymous, I felt that it was going quickly and easy. This book doesn't seem to be challenging enough for grade 12. I like how the book is written from one person's perspective in the form of journal entries. From reading the first fifty-five pages, I found that I had a lot of comments and a few questions and predictions.

The comments that I had about this book were mostly to relate to how the character felt. Since it is written as a journal/diary, many feelings are explained, and many relations are found when a teenager is writing the entries. The first entry explains how the character, Alice, is so happy at one moment and then something or someone always has to come and ruin that for her. I think that's a typical teenage though, and I can relate to that same type of thinking. Another feeling Alice has is frustration towards her parents for asking her to do things when she's not at her best or just not having a great day. Everyone feels like that sometimes, but you can't work up frustration or hate because of it. On the next day she says, "I wouldn't intentionally hurt anyone in this whole world. I wouldn't hurt them physically or emotionally, how then can people so consistently do this to me?" This feeling of everyone around you being for the bad is super common and can also happen on a bad day/time so I can relate to this. A month later, Alice seems to be trying hard to be something she's not. She wishes to be strong, fit, healthy, positive,and thin. I want to know Alice and tell he that while every girl wishes to be these things, no one is perfect and you should learn to accept that as early on as possible. Another month later, on November 10, Alice talks about how she's moving to a different house in another state. I also moved at a younger age in my life and can look back on how I felt compared to how she is feeling. She explains how she has shared so much of her life in that house including laughing, crying, moaning and muttering. I had the same sad feeling that I'm leaving behind a part of me and maybe the new place won't be the same. One funny thing I found that probably everyone going to school has felt over the summer is when you're in school and you really wish for the summer to come so you can stay in bed, read, watch television, and all the other things you long to do, but then once summer comes, you soon run out of things to do. This is what Alice feels at the beginning of her summer and I think that it is a totally realistic feeling that we can all relate to.

Besides all the comments I had throughout the first 55 pages, there were also some questions and quotes. Early on in the book it mentions a guy named Roger and it never really explains who he is or what the relationship is between him and Alice. I wanted to know who he was and maybe more about him because Alice liked him, and if the reader knew about Roger maybe we'd find out more about the main character as well. Another question I have is 'When is this book set in?'. Alice mentions that she could put her hair up in orange cans to curl it so I'm wondering if this is in older times or a different part of the world due to the technology to do your hair here and now. Also, thinking that this is based in older times, and since it's on the topic of drugs, when did all of it start being more popular in daily lives? There was one quote that caught my attention in the beginning of the book. The quote is,"Isn't it funny, but it seems that when something is going good, everything else goes good too." I think this is extremely relevant for everyone, no matter what age however it might not be entirely true. I think the positive outweighs the negative so it may seem as though everything else has been good. Or maybe it is true that when something goes good your attitude/outlook drives everything else to be good in your life at the time. Another relevant quote I found in the text is, "Sometimes I think we're all trying to be shadows of each other, trying to buy the same records and everything even if we don't like them. Kids are like robots, off an assembly line, and I don't want to be a robot."

By reading the first part of this book I've made some predictions based on the text and also learned some lessons. Early on in Alice's journal, she wanted to lose weight and she did. Somewhere in between moving and summer events, she put back on a lot of weight. Now in the book, Alice has been drugged and keeps doing drugs but wants to stop. Just like her weight goal, I predict that she won't be able to stop completely due to her lack of self-discipline. Alice was drugged and as she kept using drugs such as LSD, speed, acid, etc., she made terrible mistakes. Someone big came back into her life after these mistakes and now she kind of regrets doing them. I think this is a lesson because you need to think not only about yourself but how your actions will affect other people or come across to other people. You have to live with what you do so it's wise to analyze things before you pursue them.

There were a couple new words for me. One of these words was 'repent' which means 'to feel sorry for' or 'regret for'. Another one was 'wan' which means 'to be sickly pale' or weak. The last word I discovered was 'bungling' which means 'to do something clumsily' or 'mess something up'.

Overall the first bit of Go Ask Alice is going very well, and I can't wait to read on!

Personal Addition #8

This is something I want to try! Everyone thinks of brownies as being super chocolatey and brown. I want to try these because my favorite chocolate is white so I want to throw a twist on the normal brownie.The recipe for the brownies in the picture is for Green Tea Cream Cheese Swirl White Chocolate Brownies. I like all of those flavors and it would be an interesting & unique mix!




Brownie base
8 Tbsp butter (1 stick), cut into 1-in pieces
5 oz. white chocolate, chopped
2 eggs
5 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 C flour

Cheesecake swirl
8 oz bar of cream cheese, room temp
1 egg
3 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp green tea/matcha powder
About 2 tsp of water, hot but not boiling

http://nookandpantry.blogspot.ca/2007/06/green-tea-cheesecake-white-chocolate.html

Personal Addition #7

"Instead of being presented with stereotypes by age, sex, color, class, or religion, children must have the opportunity to learn that within each range, some people are loathsome and some are delightful."
-Margaret Mead

I enjoy this quote because this is exactly what we need. We need to learn that negative experiences connected to certain races or ages or religions shouldn't be carried out with that stereotype. Just because you have a negative experience with a white person doesn't mean every white person is going to be like that. I think we make it too complicated when we should really be thinking like Mead and thinking either a person is loathsome or delightful; good or bad. These two options don't connect with the stereotypes used today and children need to grow up learning this.

Character Iphone

This project was to create an Iphone that a character would be carrying around with them. We made apps to suit the character and also the case design. I decided to do 'Katniss' from The Hunger Games written by Suzanne Collins. Here are the apps and why I decided to pick what I did:

I picked the app Game Center and kept the same format for the icon. I picked this app because it could be like mini games to play just like the actual Hunger Games themselves so that kids know what kinds of things they'll be facing and how to use certain weapons. I think every person in the age category that gets qualified into the games would have this to be prepared.

My second app was 'The Game of Hunger' instead of 'The Game of Life'. It could be more of a fun game related to the Hunger Games. Since the people are so used to seeing death and tragedy, a game such as this wouldn't be considered cruel. It could be a board game just like the original except with different board pieces and answers.

I chose to include the weather because it played such a huge role in Katniss's story. It's an incredibly important factor because in their society there is lots of time spent outside. Katniss hunts every single day so I think she would want to know the conditions to prepare herself. It is also important in the arena because you need to be prepared to keep yourself warm or cool yourself off.

My fourth app I chose was Archer WC2. This is an actual app from the app store. I chose to include this because if you've read the book or watched the movie, you'd know that this is Katniss's one main strength. She is an archer and having a skill game such as this may help her gain skill even when she's not able to get her hands on a bow & arrows.

The next app I picked was originally 'Auto Trader' which is an app to sell vehicles on, and I turned this app into 'Squirrel Trader' because Katniss hunted squirrels mainly and went into the market to trade them. If her people had phones, she might look on 'Squirrel Trader' to find someone who would trade bread for her squirrels, etc.

My sixth app I chose to include was THN Mobile, instead of the original TSN Mobile. Obviously TSN Mobile is updates on sporting events and games, so THN-The HungerGames Network, is updates on the games. When the Hunger Games are happening, THN Mobile will send updates of deaths and player scores. When the Hunger Games are over, THN Mobile will send updates of upcoming events such as when the next games will begin and reaping dates.

The next app was HG Tube-Hunger Games Tube. This is based off of YouTube. With this app Katniss would watch past Hunger Games and gain skills and tactics from seeing other players.

Aside from all the 'Hunger Games' type of informational apps, Katniss needed some fun apps. I picked my next app to be Hot District 12.3, based off of Hot 103. Maybe she likes to listen to music while she hunts or right before she does one of her courageous acts of rebellion. I named it what it is because Katniss lives in district 12.

The next app is based off of Geo-caching. Geo-caching is an app to find treasures like a treasure hunt. There's sometimes little souvenirs from people and also a paper to sign that you found it. I transformed this into Geo-catching. Geo-catching would be an app to find animals or berries; resources that you need. You would use this special app to get clues or detect where these resources are at that moment.

My last app is a fun one for Katniss just to get away from all the game apps and hunting she has to do to provide for her family. This app is called 'Pimp Your Bow'. Sometimes when people are very interested in something such as cars, houses, or sports stuff they like to design their own or make those things the way they want them so since Katniss is so interested in archery, I made this app to customize a bow and string and arrow to whatever color she would want and style.

I hope now you have an understanding of why I gave Katniss the apps that I did. Her background on her main screen is a tree and some flowers at the bottom. There's blue sky and grass. Katniss is a very big nature person and she's seen it all. She's seen people being killed rapidly and also her town being completely destroyed. I think after all of this she would choose a pleasant background to say that she's okay and things are peaceful. I drew flames on her phone case because she's considered 'Katniss-the girl on fire'. I think this would be important to her because she was on fire. She won the games once and got out alive the second time. She was on fire and she should want to remember that and be proud of herself.

This project was fun and creative. It's interesting to put yourself into a character's shoes to see what they would be into and use in their daily life.

Writing Reflection #4

I think overall the six word memoirs were very fun to write! You never think of these little projects as connected to professional writing or anything, and I realize I like that we’re exploring different types of writing. I think for me it was an easier project than most because I like strict rules of how long something should be or some sort of structure. There are so many categories and under the categories are so many topics. It’s very easy to think of things to write. Through creating these pieces of writing, I learned that you need to word things differently I guess sometimes to tell the whole story. These pieces are obviously very short, so the challenge is to try and express a memory or part of your life through such few words. I learned that from just six words you can learn a lot about not only the most important things about yourself, but also the most meaningful things in other peoples’ lives. The one thing that surprised me about this project was how much variety you get in the outcome of it. Everyone has such different stories being told through these six words on a picture, and I find it very intriguing. I believe I preferred writing the words over making the visuals. Writing the words is the first thing so you can kind of choose whatever you want to, but the pictures have to be connected. Therefore, since I like variety and wandering off into different topics and such, I like writing more. From doing this project, I learned that I like to take time to create writing and visuals. It’s not easy for me to be contained in a class or school to think of my life and to capture it. I like to carry these projects throughout my week to really get a better result. I’m enjoying this course so far, although I am a bit confused I guess about personal additions and how they are marked. Do we need a certain number of them, or whatever works for us?

Reading Reflection #4

Tuesdays With Morrie

Mitch Albom

Pages 1-71

I recently started the book Tuesdays With Morrie, and so far I’m pretty connected to it. I've found some comments, questions and many text connections from reading these first few pages.

I picked this book for a change because I usually judge books by their cover, not going to lie. This book has no pictures or colors to judge it by, just a simple tan hard cover engraved with the title. As I began to read I noticed that it goes back and forth from when Mitch, the writer, was taking university courses with a professor named Morrie, all the way to when Mitch is grown up and has been going to visit Morrie while he is ill. I like this style because there are very short sections which definitely hold your attention and you can read these sections whenever because you won’t be ending off in the middle of a chapter. The downside to this type of writing is that at the beginning you need to get a hold of two separate stories which can be confusing at times.

As I began to read I had many questions because of the fact that there is a past and future being told, and it takes a bit of time to wrap your head around each time period. Mitch starts to talk about his old professor teaching him so much about love, work, community, family, aging, forgiveness, and death. I was wondering who this professor was and what kind of relationship they shared. I was also wondering what he learned about all of these deep topics.

This professor that is mentioned, Morrie, seems like an extraordinary person. He has great traits and great advice. Morrie became ill, and he could barely do anything for himself, but he still went to teach his classes. Mitch writes, “The idea of quitting did not occur to Morrie.” I admire people who don’t complain or ask for sympathy. Morrie explains how he cries in the morning out of sympathy for himself and then moves on right away. He also explains how he sees himself as lucky for many reasons even if he knows he is going to die in a short period of time. This shows how honorable and grateful this professor really is, and I think everyone should have this attitude before the point that Morrie is at. This kind of strength that Morrie demonstrates is what I look for in people and also look up to.

Along with Morrie’s awesome personality traits, he tells a lot of lessons. One of those lessons was about people having meaningless lives. Morrie explains that this is because we are so busy with the things that we think are important, which are usually the wrong things. I think this is very true because nowadays we have so much technology to focus on that nobody shares as much time with loved ones or the community. You would have way more memories and precious moments with real people rather than Siri. Another lesson that Morrie taught Mitch was, “The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work, don’t buy it.” I interpret this as if he’s saying ‘if culture doesn't make you happy or contribute to your life or further you in life, make your own culture and follow it’. I think this is a very good quote, and it makes you think about what culture you buy in to. Another lesson Morrie taught that connected to me the most was about silence. He asks why people are so embarrassed by silence and also what comfort people find in all the noise. I think this is a very interesting topic, and I myself would ask the same things. Morrie tells Mitch that Mitch reminds him of himself when he was younger because they both kept things to themselves. I feel exactly the same, and the writer, who is also the student in the book, seems closely linked to how I act and feel.

I found as I was reading, I felt connected to this story from the beginning. Morrie is this teacher to Mitch through school, but turns out to be so much more. I also had someone like that in my life. They were a teacher/leader for me through something organized, but they taught me so much more. After Mitch had graduated, he lost touch with his teacher, and I feel a connection to that because I lost touch with this amazing person in my life too. My future however, doesn't go as far as Mitch’s yet, so I hope I can meet this person again just like in the book. Mitch talks about being in class with Morrie and I understand that class doesn't always have to be within school. You can learn all you need in life through one person who has already gone through it. Mitch says, “I knew what he was saying. We all need teachers in our lives. And mine was sitting in front of me.” I know how it feels to be hit with this wall of realization of how important someone is and what this person has taught you and will teach you. People who are not relatives can be very valuable to you if you let them.

Seeing as how I had many questions and text connections with this book, and I just started it, I’m sure this is going to be a book that I finish quite quickly and stay interested in. Can’t wait to read on!

Personal Addition #6

"How wrong is it for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself?" 

-Anais Nin

I picked out this quote because I really believe in it. I think this happens a lot, and I actually see it a lot. With fairy tales and movies, girls grow up learning that there's a prince, or someone made for you. They'll do anything to be with you. That may be true, but they can't always do everything for you. I think sometimes when the relationship carries on for a while, people start to expect things or ask for more and more things. I'm sure little things are fine, but when you're letting your relationship affect or establish things like school and work, that's a bit too far. Especially since I'm young, I don't believe in intertwining relationships with other things because you start relying on the other person and if you ever break up, you won't be left with much. There are many things that I believe should be done independently. Everyone has their own dreams and with the kind of rights there are for women nowadays, anything is possible. Everyone is equal and entitled to create their own world that they want. The biggest thought I get from this quote is that there is too much relying on other people to do things for us and not enough independence and self encouragement to do great things on our own.