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Archive for January, 2010
by maddiedrdg0910 on January 26, 2010 at 5:41 pm · Filed under English
What would American Idol be without Simon? What would America’s Next Top Model be without Nigel? If we didn’t have commentary, how will we know what people are thinking of us? Judegment and comments are just one of life’s many things with downsides and brightsides.
Trying to figure out if something you’ve done is good or not when nobody says anything about it is pretty hard. Unless you’re a mind reader, you figuring out what people think of your writing is like a game of sherades. In English class, we commented on other people’s essays. Because of this process, we could find out what people liked in particular in our essays and what we could have done better.
All of my pieces recieved a variety of numbers of comments. Some got one, some got five, and some got none. There were a lot of different reasons for why this could have happened. Our blogs have long, stretched out pages with tons of writing assignments on them. I think some got more comments because the writing was good, but not perfect. This would leave opportunity for the commenter to leave tips and suggestions, along with a “job well done” for what they did right. Also, the three essays at the top of my page got the most comments. If my grabber was done right, it would have caught their attention and made them read on. That’s probably why my first essay got the most comments. One comment I recieved from Hailey said, “I loved your grabber and introduction paragraph for this post…it really caught my attention.” My earlier posts recieved either less or no comments because I did a good job on the ones before them. All my peices recieved different amounts of comments and for all different reasons.
by maddiedrdg0910 on January 26, 2010 at 4:41 pm · Filed under English
If people say to “never judge a book by its cover”, or “looks don’t matter”, then why does everyone stress so much over their looks? Girls spend 30 unnecessary, useless minutes in the mirror each morning just because they are so worried about what people will think of them. Some people don’t care about if you’re pretty or not but the majority of us judge people solely on what’s on the outside.
Everyone is way too focused on beauty. There’s beauty pagents, beauty schools, and beauty shows. Beauty effects our emotions, actions, and life in general. If people think you’re “beautiful”, it might go to your head and affect what you think of other people. If people don’t think you’re beautiful, it can affect how you see yourself and really change how you act around other people. It’s like our final round of judgement – after people have scrutinized our intelect and personality, the shape of our skin counts for most of the points. Although it shouldn’t, beauty plays a major role in how we see ourselves and others every day.
Aesthetics is all about beauty and our feelings. The definition for aesthetics is the study of the mind and emotions in relation to the sense of beauty. It’s a study of how we see everyone from the outside and how it effects our emotions and mind. What’s on the outside really shouldn’t affect whats on the inside as much as it does.
by maddiedrdg0910 on January 24, 2010 at 7:05 pm · Filed under English
Apart from evolution, humans are known for progress. If we didn’t make progress, we’d still be in dusty, crude animal skins writing on the walls. We successfully changed from horses and carts to high definition t.v. and credit cards. Everything we do gets better with time, from inventing a cure for cancer to learning how to write better. As a student, you progress from the moment your mom carried you into day care to the day you step out of your graduation ceremony. One of the places I progressed most in school was in English class.
When I first came into school, the thought of writing more than one paragraph at a time freaked me out. By now I’m writing up to six paragraphs a night. When a new idea or standard is introduced to us, our first instinct is to reject it. But as the standards get harder, it only makes the ones before that seem like nothing. Our Always and Forever rules keep getting harder, and at the same time keep making the ones before easier. On the first day of sixth grade, our homework was to write a letter about ourselves. Everyone freaked out, as if writing a page about yourselves is that hard. Now, being in eighth grade and writing at least three paragraphs in every assignment, it seems easy. Looking back on that first day almost makes me laugh. I have progressed a lot not only in English, but in school in general.
I think the fact that I had the same English teacher for sixth and eight grade was chosen by the gods. I started out writing so raw, like a blank, open slate. I had no idea what I was doing. At all. But I learned a lot over the years. In sixth grade, I learned the basics. In seventh, I learned new techniques. But eight grade was the year where I learned how to put myself in my writing. It was the most progressive year of them all. So far, we have written almost fifty assignments. In the beginning, I wrote plain, boring, safe essays. But over time, as we learned how to write better and learned new techniques, my writing has increased tenfold. However, there are still some things I need to work on. For instance, I tend to get off topic. That usually happens when I don’t have enough to write about. When I do have enough to write about, I carry on a lot and just repeat things in a different set of words. As everything else does, I will progress in my writing more and these flaws will be tweaked out. My whole life is a work in progress.
by maddiedrdg0910 on January 24, 2010 at 6:01 pm · Filed under English
Newborn: Sitting beside your sleeping mother, your father gazes at you lovingly while you lie all swaddled in his arms. Infant: As your father walks in the door, the first thing he sees are your wide, eager eyes and shining smile; it’s his turn to watch you while mommy takes a break. Toddler: Your father beckons you to walk towards him, and with every wavering step his heart grows a little. Young child: “On three, I’ll let go and you just keep riding, okay?” Even though every time he lets go on two. Adolescent: “You better be home by 10. And I don’t want to hear about you kissing any boys.” As you roll your eyes and open the door, he smiles and hands you the cell phone you use way too much. Teenager: You’re just learning how to drive, and your father’s heart stops for a second when the car screeches to a stop; you giggling and smiling at him. “I’m too old for this.” He says. Adult: Tears welling up in your eyes, your father hands you the last of your bags, and you’re off to college. Everyone needs a father. They help you throughout every stage of your life, and it doesn’t really matter if they’re not perfect.
Fathers and mothers both have things to add to your budding lives. Mothers are the ones to comfort you and love you, but fathers do a lot too. They are the ones to help you find who you are, find what your interests are, and support through it all. If you can remember, at your first t-ball game or the first time you rode your bike, your father was always in the stands or the one pushing. They’re always there to propel you forward, they are like the battery to your life. Although fathers do a lot for you, they can’t always be perfect.
Every father has his down falls. For me, it’s that he’s really slow and fidgety. Talking on the phone is a real pain, and he has so much junk that he carries around with him that my mom says we should buy him a man purse for his birthday. But thats what makes him my dad, and I love him for it. No one can be perfect, so we have to settle for what’s close to, but no exactly what we want. That’s what an approximation is. Even so, everyone needs a father; perfect or not. One bold example of an approximation is Melinda’s father.
In Approximations by Mona Simpson, Melinda’s father isn’t perfect either. He was supposed to bring them to Disney land, but lost the money gambling instead. He tried to make it up to her by buying her a 79 cent pack of headbands. Also, he doesn’t acknowledge the loving father-daughter relationship that Melinda wants to have with him. On page 118, he says, “You were supposed to be here Monday. When you didn’t come, I lost the money I saved.” He lost the money that he was going to use on his daughter that he hadn’t seen for years for selfish fun. He’s trying to be a good father, but he’s not perfect. Even so, it’s important to have a father’s views and supports in your life, no matter how good they are.
by maddiedrdg0910 on January 21, 2010 at 5:47 pm · Filed under English
Just think. Think about thinking. Think about what makes you think. Our mind is the head of our systems, literally and metophorically, controlling and influencing what we do. Sometimes we do things without thinking, but for the majority of time you are thinking. For some of us, in depth, and others, just about whatever seems to float into our heads at the moment. Thinking is the dye that seeps into our actions and stains our lives. We think all the time, especially when you read.
Beastly by Alex Filnn is a very good book. And frankly, a book that really gets me thinking. The plot is really interesting and keeps my attention, and the writing is really good. A lot of things in this book make me think. One part was when the witch was talking to Kyle. She said somehting so true and interesting that I thought about it until I put the book down. After transforming Kyle into a beast, on page 34, she said, ” I have transformed you to your truer self.” Kyle was ugly inside, and now he was ugly on the outside. Thats what I loved about the story, it really talked about how looks don’t matter, although people stress over looks so much. This got me thinking about my school, and how if you aren’t pretty or deathly skinny you somehow aren’t cool. To me, being “cool” is about what you are like inside, not how good looking you are. But this wasn’t the only thing in the book that got me thinking.
In the book, Kyle goes through two transformations. One externally, and one internally. He gets turned into a beast, which gradually makes him change inside, too. Kyle Kingsbury used to be all about popularity, money, and girls. Now the only things he has are his rose garden and his dad’s credit card. But he’s changing all that. He has a girl named Lindy who he once regarded as worthless living in his home with him. She doesn’t know that he used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the boy she liked, because he changed his name to Adrian. One night, on page 216, Lindy says, “You know, in the darkness, your voice seems so farmiliar.” This made me think about how Kyle was changing inside. Sure his voice sounded the same, but looking like a beast changed him. He’s starting to care about people more, and know how it feels to have nothing. He used to be a stuck-up, inconciderate ego-maniac. He is compasionate and caring now. And Lindy likes him for that. This book had a huge lesson embedded in it. That looks and money mean nothing, and what’s on the inside is as good as gold.
by maddiedrdg0910 on January 17, 2010 at 1:09 pm · Filed under English
“I’m late.”
As you look at your watch, you try to dodge the other people hurrying to their jobs, too. The people in the streets look like ants running away from a descending foot. It was a frantic morning, but as usual, not unlike any other. But this time, you didn‘t expect the traffic jam on the way to the city or the coffee spill on your blouse or your husband not being able to take your child to school. “If I’d planned this better,” you think to yourself, “I wouldn’t be in this mess.” Planning has a lot to with our lives. We need our frantic, spur of the moment lives to be somewhat organized. We plan things out at home, with our friends, at work, and especially at school. I’m reading Beastly by Alex Flinn, and reading that by the end of the month also requires planning.
Most of our lives are a mess. But with the help of plans, we can fix that. Planning is necessary if you want to get things done on time and have your life be organized and calm. Planning helps you stay in control and be prepared for what life throws at you. Planning is really important at home, school, and work. At home, you need to get everyone to heir sports and activates on time, all the while keeping track of your own work. Work requires planning too. You need to be able to get there on time and expect delays. At school, you need to plan out your assignments and projects. If you are assigned something due in two days, and you know you have a project due in four days, you would want to get the assignment done so you could have time for the project. In school, we were assigned to read a book by the end of the month. As you can guess, this requires a lot of planning also.
In school, I’m reading the book Beastly, by Alex Flinn. It’s not too long of a book, but there is one rule. I have to finish the book by the end of the month. And I’m right on track. I’m a little over half way done with the book, and the month is a little more than half way over. I have 100 pages left, and there are 14 days left to the month. That means if I read at least 8 pages a day, I’ll be done on time. But of course I have to consider projects, homework, dance, friends, and vacations to Killington. Whenever I read, I will try to read as long as I can and read a lot more than 8 pages. This will ensure that I’ll get the book finished. Planning is what will help me not only through this book, but throughout the rest of my life.
by maddiedrdg0910 on January 14, 2010 at 9:26 pm · Filed under English
“Opposites Attract.”
Really? Because from what I’ve heard opposites go head to head, pushing at each other. Forcing opposites together is like forcing two puzzle pieces together that don’t fit. It doesn’t work. But when you’re writing, it’s a completely different story. Opposites make for a great composition. In the Destructors, the author uses many opposites that show meaning in the story.
Words that contrast each other always show meaning. Words that contrast are opposites. One of the most important opposites that is used in the story is destruction and creation. Destruction and creation may seem like complete opposites. But if you think about it, they have a lot to do with each other. First off, destruction is a form of creation. You’re just not starting from scratch. When you destroy something, you are doing it in your own way. Anyone may do it differently. Also, when you destroy something, you are creating a new version of it. You aren’t necessarily destroying it, just adding your imagination to it. To destroy something, you need to destroy something that’s been created in the first place. You can either create something from scratch or simply make a new version of something that’s already been created. On page 47, it says, “Destruction after all is a form of creation.” The words destruction and creation also have a lot to do thematically with the story.
Creation and destruction have a lot to do with the theme of the story. The author uses this to show reason for the boys destruction of the house. I think the theme of the story is that destroying things isn’t always bad, its merely a form of expression. Feelings don’t show as much as actions do. On page 48, T. said “All this hate and love. It’s soft, it’s hooey. There’s only things, Blackie.” The action of wrecking the house sure showed a lot of feeling to me. The seemingly invincible, huge house had survived through two bombs. But when the boys got work, they completely changed the house. Not only did they wreck the house, but they had finished a whole new version of it that screamed their imagination and expression. On page 47, it said, “A kind of imagination had seen this house as it had now become.” The boys had shown their imagination and style through the destruction of the house. Destruction and creation may seem like opposites, but they have a lot to do with each other.
by maddiedrdg0910 on January 14, 2010 at 6:34 pm · Filed under English
It was hard. Unbelievably hard. It seemed like everyone around me was withering away, drowning in their hunger and desperation. I felt like I was living in a gray area. Everyone that had seemed so happy and satisfied before was now suddenly brought to their feet by the great Depression. I couldn’t stand to be home. there were people crawling up to my steps, begging for food or water. It scared me. Eventually, I had to shut myself out of their world, and go to mine. My woods. My train tracks. My marsh. Just away. During the depression, home really wasn’t the best place to be. The woods in my backyard were our sanctuary, through thick and thin.
The depression hit the us hard. It seemed that the only place we could go to was the woods in my backyard. It was cost free, fun and protective, and all together happy. As soon as you stepped into the fallen foliage, the tall, thin trees created a concealing barrier between you and the world. You could be hidden without hiding, hopeful when all hope was lost, and organized when things were out of order. Everything was taken away when you were running back and forth, dodging the trees and tagging your friends. Time slipped away and you were left with only worrying about when the sun set. Which meant time to go home again and face reality.
Everyone has that special place where they go to get away from their troubles. Well ours was in my backyard. if you wanted to forget about everyone’s pain for a while, the woods and train track did the trick. The train track led on forever, that’s at least how we saw it. It was like the path to recovering from this tragedy, and at the end was a great victory. The solution for us was to just stop time and enjoy what we had. And that wasn’t the food or the money, it was the fun. I think the only thing that kept us going was each-other. When you were alone, you thought. And thinking wasn’t good. The field was our safe place, our fun place. It was true, there was no place like home. It may have been the worst at home. Our forest was the only thing that helped endure the crisis that was occurring all around us.
by maddiedrdg0910 on January 14, 2010 at 5:48 pm · Filed under Science
You would think everything ends, wouldn’t you? Eventually, things have to end. You may think that. If everything ends, then why does space go on forever. Its a big, empty, invincible plain of space that we are emersed in. I feel like we are fish in an aquarium, we are blindingly swimming in a case of water that we cant see the walls of. Sure, it seems like we know a lot, but no one knows what could be awaiting us beyond what we’ve found so far. Scientists are still exploring deep space, merely because there is so much out there.
I, being a student of the age 13, don’t know much about space apart from what we learned in junior high Earth Science. The big guys probably know a mind-numbing amount of information that frankly I would not understand in the least bit. My little bits and pieces of information that I know seems like enough for me. But still, I am curious. Not about the technical stuff, just the flat out size of things in comparison to what we see on Earth. There are things that are so small its hard to contemplate, and things so big I forget completely about al the things on Earth. When I’m learning about galaxies and the billions of stars in them, it makes my solar system seem small, let alone amoebas and bacteria. This is the reason that I think scientists are still exploring deep space.
I feel like we don’t give scientists enough credit. In school, we take the information we receive for granted, and it seems that learning this is common sense, but when it comes down to it, you realize that you don’t know how in the world all the scientists discovered this all. And you have to give them credit for still going at it. From what we’ve discovered so far, there could be anything deep into space. Some people might not believe in things like aliens, and I’m not talking about the skinny grey guys how stick needles into you in your sleep. A long time ago, people didn’t believe that there were germs and tiny organisms and particles, but that was only because they couldn’t see them. Just because we can’t see if there’s aliens yet, certainly doesn’t mean there not out there. There’s a lot to space, and the work of finding it all out must be pretty hard.
by maddiedrdg0910 on January 10, 2010 at 9:09 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Inside you, the secret advisor watches your every move, scanning what you do and controlling your body. The anger and numbness starts to build up inside you, and it uses that to its advantage. Your eyes spot something particularly fragile or just simply in the way, and the advisor pulls your limbs forward. You feel like an enraged bull; everything around you falls away and the only thing you see is the object you want to break. You take it and all the anger and rage inside you is somehow released into the item in the form of obliteration. The advisor is satisfied, and it seems that so are you. For now. For me, I love the feeling of breaking things. In The Destructors, the boys bring down a whole house on purpose. There are all different reasons for people to break things, and in the Destructors, the boys break things to prove something to themselves and for pride.
There are many reasons for the gang in the story to break things. One reason is to prove something to themselves. In The Destructors, the gang wrecks the house to prove that they are tough and strong. One of the main reasons they want to do this is merely because of their age. They are teens, and in a gang. Any teenager wants to seem strong and tough. If they could wreck a house as big as Old Misery’s, they would seem invincible. On page 42, it says “Two hundred years old.” to have a house standing that long and bring it down in a matter of days is astonishing. And if it were done by teens; all the more impressive. It’s hard to knock a huge, stable house down, but the emotional results are pretty rewarding.
Everyone has reasons to break things, just like the gang in the story. Another reason is that it would make them proud. In the Destructors, the destruction of the house makes the gang feel proud of their accomplishment. Old Misery’s house is beautiful, and the boys are very impressed by it. It may seem awful, but in a teenage boys mind, breaking something as wonderful as that can lead to bragging rites. On page 41, T. said, “It’s a beautiful house.” The house was big and great, and having the power to take it down is amazing. I usually break things to get them out the way, force myself into choosing the other thing, or to release my anger, but not for pride or strength.
by maddiedrdg0910 on January 9, 2010 at 6:27 pm · Filed under English
What would you say the most critical and most involved skill we develop in our lives is? It helps you direct your life and get things done. As a child your parents do this for you, but as you grow up, you start to do it on your own. It could mean life or death, trust or infidelity, and happiness or emptiness. Without you would be indecisive. Its decision. That’s right, the way you choose things can influence your life. For school, we had to choose a book to read. The process I went through to choose the book Beastly was basically the same as what I usually go through.
The way we choose things is different for every person. But the way I choose a book isn’t exactly normal. First off, I g for the darkest book I can find. They’re always more interesting to me, and more my style. Which is exactly why I chose Beastly. Ill admit it, I have an obsession with books. The way I think about books is the way a hoarder thinks of materialistic items; the way drugs appeal to an addict. You go out and buy one, but when you see a new one in the store you have to get it. The clothes keep building up until you have everything out there and no where to wear them. And the addiction gets worst every time you get a new one. This is how I ended up with Beastly.
When I walked into the library, there were books spread all over spacious table. I walked over and stood next to the table scanning the books over. The moment my eyes drifted down, the dark, brooding cover of one book caught my eye. The word BEASTLY stained my mind leaving dreams of what the author could have written behind the name. the title was spelled out in thorns with a white rose on the front. I love roses, and not only is my middle name rose, but white roses symbolize purity, which is one of the main reasons I picked this book up. Sadly, I was feeling pretty protective over the book. I wanted the talk to end so the hand I had hovering over the book could pick it up and check it out. I read the back, and it was pretty interesting. It was talking about a solitary creature roaming the streets of a city and feeling hopeless. The inside flap talked about a witch who turned a boy who thought he was perfect into a beast. The whole idea of comeuppance completely sucked me in. The book I had chosen before was called Everafter, but Beastly topped that easily. The process I went through to choose this book was pretty much like any other book I’d choose, but probably different from any other person’s process.
by maddiedrdg0910 on January 6, 2010 at 8:26 pm · Filed under English
As the wind sweeps across the dry, bare parking lot, it sweeps sand into the air, dusting the broken fence and abandoned walkway. A lonely shopping cart rolls slowly across the pavement as the wind pushes it like a gust guides a sail. The ATLANTIC sign is dim and grey; and missing an N. The lights are out, and the doors are closed forever. We all abandoned this little family-run store because it could no longer keep up with the hard economy. I have a lot of memories and traditions tied to this grocery market; but recently we just dumped it to make it due with what we have.
As you know, things are getting harder and harder for people to make it these day. I don’t know much about the economy – but when stores I love start getting closed down I know its bad. It seems we all have such busy and tough lives that we need to adapt and keep moving on. And this requires leaving our little family shops and small businesses that can’t keep up with the big names. A while ago, everyone was satisfied with what they had. There were no televisions, cell phones, radios, or videogames. Which also meant that they didn’t have to worry abut spending so much money – but as time moves on, we must too.
I really wish Atlantic didn’t go out of business. I have countless memories and traditions tied to that store. Since I grew up in Reading, it was the closest and most convenient store to shop at. When I was a little girl, I remember everything about me and my mom’s shopping trips there. It was always the same thing; park two spaces away from the door, walk in and feel the cold rush of air sweep across my face, listen to the clicking of the cart’s wheels over the tiles of the floor, walk past the refrigerated section and get goosebumps due to the open case, always ask for the same chocolate milk (but not get it), and help my mom pick out the cold cuts for sandwiches at home. I would stand on my tiptoes and watch the men make sushi with lightening speed unti my mom was finished checking out and called me over. In the winter we would park in the back. The salt for salting the roads turned the pavement parched and white, and a dry wind was always blowing until I reached the red tarp in the store. Seeing it empty and abandoned made me feel depressed and hopeless, and it still does.
