Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Final reading response :

To kill A Mochingbird is a coming of age book.It shows how Scout's point if view from her childhood age to her adulthood age changes. Throughtout the book Scout faces many troubles and facts that she doesn't understand. That shows a big gap in her learning progress.Scout changes from a innocent five year old child to a near grown-up that learns the truth.

In the beginning if the book Scout is very attached to Jem, where ever Jem goes Scout would follow him. Scout even defended Jem when he got hurt.It was that night when they followed their dad ,to see what was going on. While Atticus was talking with the men,Scout ran up to join them.Then one of the men grabs Jem, and scout kicks him. Scout's solution to everything is fighting . She even beats up Dill her childhood friend when she thinks that he isn't giving her enough attention.

Tom, a negro that was acused of raping a white gril on a case. Atticus, Scout's father is Tom's lawyer. Atticus is trying his best in bringing out the truth , and that Tom is innocent.Everyone in their hearts know that Tom is a nice black guy . But they didn't win the because Tom was black. He still have more chances to redo the case though.Scout and Jem her brother thinks that it is unfair. Tom didn't do anything wrong , why couldn't they just let him win?
"Because of an assumption- the evil assumption-that all negroes lie,that all negroes are basically immoral begins, that all negroes are not to be trusted around our women, an assumption one associates with minds of their caliber." This is what Atticus to them after the case.

Scout sees many things happening in Maycomb Country and she dosen't understand why it is happening.I think that the language in this book also relates to how Scout is growing. As i read the beginning of the book it is really complicated and hard to understand what is going on in the text . As i read on ,the book gets more understandable and i kind of get an idea of what is happening. Just like scout, when she was around the age 9 she didn't understand anything that was happening in Maycomb or why her father was defending a negro ,and it was very complicated for her to understand the situtaion because she hasn't grown yet. But as she gets older she understands what is happening and is more mature .So the language of the book becomes more easier to understand for me as i read.

Scout changes becase of the environment she lives in . Her Aunt is now living in her house to teach Scout how to become a lady since her mother died when she was only two years old. As she gets older Scout recalls memories from when she was young.And she beings to realize many observations .And every lesson Atticus had teached her she has remember it by heart, because of those lessons it also made her mature.And she saids"You never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them". That was also one of the words that Atticus said to her.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

What are the main similarities and differences between childhood and adulthood?

Similarities:

1. I'm still me , the girl that likes to play
2. I still like to eat candy and ice-cream
3. My parents from before are the same as now
4. I still get ok grades in school, never gotten a perfect report before or now
5. Sometimes i can get really lazy
6. Gets mad easily
7. love to listen to calm chinese songs , i hate songs with too much sounds(drums)
8. Have a best friend
9. Still fight with my brother
10. Late for school sometimes , i always have to be .
11. Likes math as a ubject


Differences:

1. i'm taller than before
2. Knows how to wash dishes very good
3. Knows how to clean the house (hard work)
4. I write neater
5. Worry too much about little thingys
6. I'm more mature
7. Don't get into trouble in school, before i use to talk too much and get detention :(
8. Read manga and watch anime
9. Don't watch cartoons anymore , Barely but maybe 1 out of 10 adult movies i watch
10. I know how to use a laptop
11. Read bigger and harder books, Bye bye picture books with color and easy words.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Reading Response On Coming of age book-

My coming of age book is called To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The topic i'm focusing on in this book is how racism affects the character. Racism is a very big topic and can mean many things ;like it can mean discrimination , or abusive behavior towards members of another race. In my book i'm focusing on the raction and emotions my character has when racism to brought up . I don't think that rasicm is right and it can hurt people's feelings really badly. Racism shouldn't be used to hurt each other but can be used as a way to teach people how we are different from each other in a good way.

The main character is Jean Louise Finch ,usually called by her nickname Scout in the book. She lives in Maycomb with her father ;which they usually just call Atticus and her brother. Her father works as a lawyer and is working on a case ; Atticus is helping to defend Tom Robinson a black male that raped Bob Ewell a white women. That's how the theme of racism is coming to be. Atticus actions made the community he was living in very dissapointed.
In school Cecil Jacobs a student announced in the schoolyard that Scout's dad defended niggers. Scout denied it and asked Jem what did Cecil mean. Scout's reaction towards this announcement was angryment because in the book it described how Scout's fist were clenched and was ready to let fly . But thankfully she held it back; Atticus said he would wear her out .
That evening Scout went home asking her father about the situation.
"Do you defend niggers, Atticus?" I asked him.
"Of course I do. Don't say niggers, Scout. That's common."
I think that Atticus is trying to teach Scout an important lesson , the lesson that is easy to realize ;is that the word nigger isn't very polite, and shouldn't be used to describe someone that is another race.

Scout was too young at that time to understand why her father was defending a negro . So this is what Atticus explained to her daughter.
"I'm simply defending a Negro...For a number of reasons ; The main one is, if i don't I couldn't hold up my head in town , I couldn't represent this country in the legislature, I couldn't even tell you or Jem not to do something again."
Atticus Knows that they won't win the case because Tom is black . Totally unfair. People shouldn't be judged by their skin color or where their are from. I'm sure Atticus is helping him for a reason. Maybe he is innocent . I'm sure Atticus is not the type of person that helps a black if he raped the white girl on purpose.

Chirstmas finally is arriving in Maycomb bringing disaters with it along the way. Francis , Scout's cousin was annoying her in the dinner room . This is what happened...
"I ain't botherin' you," I said
Francis concluded that I had been sufficiently subdued, and crooned softly, "Nigger-Lover.."
I guess Scout was tired of all this nigger stuff and couldn't hold back her anger. "This time, I split my knuckle to the bone on his front teeth.My left impaired , I sailed in with my right, but not for long." Scout still dosen't know what Nigger- lover meant but by the aditude Francis had , she knew he was saying something bad about her father. An important conversation that Scout and her dad had after the fight was :
"You aren't really a nigger-lover,then,are you?"(scout)
"I certainly am.I do my best to love everybody...I'm hard put,sometimes-baby, It's never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name.It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn't hurt you."(Atticus). Atticus is confindent in what he is doing, and i think when he says i do my best to love everybody , he means that you can love anyone ,and it wouldn't matter what skin or culture that person is from.

Rasicm can cause injury and hate. It's simple when you just say Nigger but if you consider what the person receiving feels; it's more than that. Not simple but confused and hurt. The term Nigger is the most offensive word in english as of now. Also a big part of Rasicm , it is used to discriminate black people or people that are dark colored skin. So far, what i read in To Kill A Mockingbird ; People or neighbors that made fun of Scout's dad used Nigger . Life is not about hurting people is about loving and learning to appreicate diversity .

Friday, May 20, 2011

Coming of Age Writing:

Commands that my parents have for me , that i agree or disagree:

-everyday when my mom comes home from work , and i didn't finish cleaning up the house or the dishes she would get mad. *Disagree, I don't want to do the chores because i have my own things to do like my homework or read my books. i think it is REALLY unfair becuae my brother that is one year younger than my has NEVER touch the dishes before. He is mostly the person that makes the house very dorty and i have to clean after him.

-When i ask my parents too many questions are when i have too many comments to make they tell me get out if here(room). *Disagree, What if i had something important to discuss with them about, they shouldn't ignore me like that . Makes me feel unwanted.

-My parents yell at me when i yell at my other little brother that is like 8 years old . * Disagree , they shouldn't yell at me , they should yell at him. I only yell at my little brother because of the stupid things he do and troubles he causes me . Not fair.

Coming of Age Writing:

14. What are some questions and concerns you have about growing up and adulthood ?

* A concern i have about growing up is that , my mom told me that when i am 18 years old i have to move out and work to take care of myself. And it is one of my concerns because i am scared of begin alone.

*Another concern i have about growing up is on cooking food for myself. As of right now i only know how to boil water , cook eggs and noddles. I don't want to just eat those everyday when i grow up so , i want to learn how to cook more delilious food for myself . It's too bad my parents are always too busy with their work to teach me. So that is a concern i have about my health when i am grwoing up.

* A question i have to go with my first concern is that , Is working very tiring? From my point of view i think working is easy (kind of ... i think) but my parents are always saying it is very tiring.

* Question: What type of reponsiblites do i have when i am grwoing up? Will it be something hard , and i can't handle it?

* Question: why do alot of adults want to be kids again ?

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Final Reading Response

Susan Zheng 810

The book I'm writing my reading response on is called This is Me From now on by Barbara Dee. I'm writing about this book because it has many real life topics to discuss. And I can connect to these topics because I have friends too. The main character in this book is Evie ,and she faces many friendship trouble along the way. I think everyone might have gone through some issues if you have friends. Evie has two best friends Nisha and Lily. They spent most of their afternoon times in Lily's bedroom eating Pringles , and taking personality quizzes from enormous stacks of magazines that Lily borrowed from her cousin. I think that's one of the problems that Evie has with her friends, she doesn't even like eating Pringles in Lily's house. I think Evie should speak up for herself and not follow them to please them. That's what friends are for , they can listen to your ideas on how to spent the rest of afternoon and give you some suggestions.

Friends share secrets like Evie does with her friends . They all know that Evie has a crush on Zane a boy in her class for 3 years.Like me and my friends always tell each other secrets like problems in our family , and test grades. We always would have something to tell each other so that we know everything about each other. Their friendship connection is strong or else I wouldn't think Evie would share anything personal to them . But friendship relationships can get really complicated when a new neighborhood moves in next door to Evie's house.

The new girl that just moved in is sitting in Evie's kitchen table chatting with her mom. The second thought that comes to Evie's mine when she see's her is "Whoa. That girl looks incredible. I wish my hair was long and all wavy like that, and my eyes were that smoky sort of green. And I bet SHE doesn't have trouble finding a bathing suit" , her third though was "she's crazy." That's when her mom suggest Evie to show Francesca around the neighborhood. Evie finds Francesaca weird because of her clothes , it looks like she is going to a costume party. But as Evie' s relationship with Francesaca grows closer and closer she learns that she is wild and funny and the only rules she follows are the ones that she invents herself.

On the other hand as Nisha and Lily meet Francesca they dislike her . So now Evie's relationship with them are very complicated . On a history project you can only have two partners in a group , and since there are three of them Nisha and Lily paired up. Leaving Evie only one choice , Francesca . At first Evie doesn't trust Francesca because she was a liar and wore weird costumes. But she decided to give her a try and work with her in the history project. That's when things go wrong, Nisha tries to rescue Evie from Francesca because she thinks that they actually don't want to work together.

This is the point of view from Evie in the book : I stared back at her. "Oh, yeah ," I muttered.

"The doctor appointment. Actually , Nisha , I rescheduled that."

"Are you sure you should have?"

"Uh-huh. Definitely."

"Because you were feeling so sick before . Weren't you?"

Okay, this was going way too far. Obviously, I knew I should have been grateful of her helping me. But was she going to stand here and insist that I dump Francesca in front of everyone? And also act like I couldn't make a decision for myself?

"Well , I'm fine now."

I think what Evie did was correct , ever since she meet Francesca I think she changed. In the beginning of the book Evie usually doesn't say anything that's why Nisha thinks that Evie can't make the decision for herself. Which also isn’t wrong because she was trying to help her friend out. But now Evie is speaking up for herself which is a nice change. Because Evie is deciding to make friends with Francesca her feelings are hurt by her friends. "I went upstairs , surprised and hurt that my best friends were refusing to wait for me, even if Francesca would be tagging along." In school Nisha avoided eye contact with Evie when she was trying to smile back at her because Evie noticed that Nisha was peeking at her. I think Evie tried her best . If Nisha is ignoring her I think the best thing to do is explain what her feelings are. Now Evie's relationship with Nisha and Lily are growing farther and farther apart.

Evie made a right choice in the beginning of the book , choosing to be friends with Francesca. Francesca is not a selfish person and when she sees Evie very sad, she convince Evie to be friends with Nisha and Lily. That way Evie now has three best friends. Except the relationship between Nisha/Lily and Francesca needs to get closer. And the book ends with a very happy ending . I grabbed my cell phone and my bubble gum, and checked to make sure my amber necklace was clasped tightly around my neck. Then all four of us ran down the steps and out the door into the freezing sunshine.To make friends you shouldn't judge people by the way they dress. or force your friend to make a decision which friends they want to be with. There will always be a way to figure things out . Friendship should last a long time , it's about trust and sharing .

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Sonnet-

The plane greatly slides through the blue yonder,
and the dense big gray clouds float in the air,
millions, thousands of happy wonders,
on the way to the biggest dare,
 The season summer is vacation time
faces of relatives,and grandparents
Passing through the history in a dime
The big walls, my big bedroom and my aunt.
So dark, quiet and always depending
Few cars, old buildings like the ancient days
Dark ocean flowing never quite ending
No high technology and big payments.
The things in my hometown is what i see,
Summer is time to be a happy spree.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Reading Response To Independent Reading Book- edited

The book i'm reading is called " This Is ME From Now On", the author of this book is Barbara Dee. This book interests me because this book on friendship and mainly how to deal with it. Every one has friends and sometimes will have times when they will have fights or diagree on something.
The main character in this book is named Evie. She has two best friends Nisha and Lily , and they been very good friends from third grade. They always share secrets and crushes, but when a new girl moves into the neighborhood things between them are differnt. They began spliting into groups of two, when it was suppose to be a group of three best friends.
At first glance of the new girl ;Evie, Nisha and lily all thought she was a werid girl because of the way she dressed. They all disliked her. On the first day of school the history teacher assigns a huge research project for the class. The maximum amount of people in a gruop is two . This question really stuned the three friends. They couldn't decide who would work with who , because there would be one working alone. The finally decision didn't include Evie , so the only choice she had to make was if she wanted to work with the new girl that moved in .Her name is Francesca Of course she wanted to work with her.
The relationship with Francesca didn't work out with Evie in the beginning . But since it been weeks since Nisha and Lily had hanged out with Evie , Evie feels very lonely and starts to get a closer relationship with Francesca . When Evie wants to share something she dosent go to Nisha or Lily because thye are too busy working on the project. Evie and Francessa didnt have a primary source yet and it was stating to worry Evie. Francesca make Evie very uncomforable , Evie doesnt know what to beleive and what to believe.
Francesca decides to invite Evie to her aunt far away to play for a few days while they work on the project. They began sharing secrets and also have their own secrets from Nisha and Lily. I think Evie , Nisha and lily are growing more and more farther apart.
In school when they finally have the time to see each other Evie and Nisha got into a fight. Lily is on Nisha's side. Nisha found out that Evie have secrets that she wouldnt tell her . So now they are in a fight. Evie minds dosnt know what to do .
Friendship is about trust , after building that trust between Evie and Francessa they also became good friends. Francessa doesnt want to see her friend Evie hurt so she tells Evie to make up with her friends before the problem becomes bigger and they will never be able to forgive each other. After listening to her friend's advice Evie takes the chance. Even though it was hard to think of what to say to them they were united. But the problem was will Nisha and Lily accept Francesca into their group. Well i guess they will until they havr trust in each other and i hope it won't take long .

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Choose 3 Blogs That are awesome:

#1-Melody Wallace

               I think that her blog is very thoughtful because in her writing she would write what she thinks about a certain thing, like for example her reading response to "photograph of the girl" she wrote :" It stinks because while going through puberty you get hungry and thirsty all the time . And it sucks. I don't know how it feels to feel hungry and thirsty." I like how she is honest with everything and says stuff like i don't know how it feels. Another thing that i liked about melody's blog is that she makes her writing fun , like for the poems she would struture it in a unique way to make her poem look more interesting for other readers to read.

#2- Serina

                  I though that serina's blog was very colorful , which i think is very intresting . She uses color not just to make her blog very pretty but she use it to make powerful or meaningful words stand out by coloring thing with another color or making them capital letters to make those words stand out . Like for the " I have a dream poem" she capitalizes : FREE AT LAST! , THANK GOD ALMIGHTY and WE ARE FREE AT LAST. which i think is very correct because that's the main message that Mr luther King wants everyone to know that we all want to be free. In her blog for poems i could tell  that she uses lots of repetition in the poem Why , which i think is very unique. She uses the word why so  that much that it makes you think why?. And she uses many question marks with the why like she is asking someone.

#3- Nurshat
     
                      I like how nurshat's blog is very detailed and i could tell that she worked very hard on every blog post she made , because all of them are very long. She even includes a note saying that everyone's blog is very unique and interesting in their own ways which i though was very nice and in her writing about other people's blog i could tell she really pay attention to the writer's writng because she wrote: all of his writng is full of passion, ideas and has a very clear focus . And in her writng she also uses really advanced vocabulary like the word seizure , dominant. I also noticed that her blog posts uses very meaningful and amazing words to describe another person's blog, like she uses deep and dark,  enthralling visual picture. But i really like how Nurshat takes alot of time to make her blog very good.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Found Poem

"Education"

The next 10 years,
half of all new jobs
will require education
that goes beyond a high school education

Quarter of our students
aren't even finish.
The nation is to
"win the future'
reform schools in a
generation.

40 states,
raise standards for
teaching and
learning.

No child left behind,
challenge students,
Best teachers.

Reauthorization bill ready
by end of the summer.

( I got this found poem from obama's new speech )

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Narrative Poem:

Boring Days At Home

Waking up in the morning,
same house,
same people.
Every morning it's simliar

Eggs, bread and milk
Table of five
Newspaper begin flipped
Ah, i wish it would be differnet.

It's the weekends,
finished all my homework,
got nothing to do.

Just flop on the couch
and check if there are good shows.
Yuck

Walking around the house thinking what to do,
Nothing new

I just take out my laptop
and make it a day.
So boring!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Poem to the photograph


Life Is An Ocean!!
by: Susan zheng

Sun dawning in the morning,
beaming and glowing over
the ocean.

Ocean is life.
It is filled with seashells,
fish, and crabs.

Watching the ocean water slap against the rocks,
feeling peace and calm.
Waves dancing and prancing under the blue hot sky.

My feet deep under the sand ,
tiny particles touching my skin.

I lay down to to see the sun dawn.
Life is an ocean,
ocean is my life,
ocean is what life should be.
(i'm bad at poems) -____- !

Photograph of the Girl

Photograph of the Girl
Sharon Olds

The girl sits on the hard gorund,
the dry pan of russia, in the drought
of 1921 stunned,
eyes closed, mouth open,
raw hot wind blowing
sand in her face. Hunger and puberty are
taking her together. She leans on a sack,
layers of clothes fluttering in the heat,
the new radius of her arm curved.
She cannot be beautiful,
 but she is starving. Each day she grows thinner, and her bones
grow longer, porous. The caption says she is going to starve to death that winter
with millions of others. Deep in her body
the ovaries let out her first eggs,
golden as drops of rain.

            
_____________________________________________________________________________________          
    
Response to the poem-

                     This poem is really strong because the poet studied the picture really closely. She notices details in the photograph like how hungry the girl is and how sad she looks.
           
                      She also uses lots of simuli "dry pan russia" to a drought. She tries to include evreything she can get of the photo like the date and location of the drought and puts it into the poem . She even has the caption from the photo " The caption says she is going to starve to death that winter with millions of others". That line also can give a clue to the reader that alot of people are also starving not just the girl and they are really suffering badly from the drought.
              
                     She uses powerful words like "golden as drops of rain" to show that the girl is in her puberty , and that also means that the girl in the photograph is really young because this is her first time getting her period.

               

Monday, January 10, 2011

This is the picture I'm going to observe on for the ELA homework.

Observations: uses lots of colors like pink,purple and green.
The painter doesn't show the vase or the place the flowers are places in.
The flowers look like real life flowers and i can some purple paint that got splash on the painting on the bottom left purple flower.
The top of this painting is very different , because the flowers aren't very clear , but it catches your eyes.
Inferences: I love the colors the painter picked because they make the flowers look very beautiful. i could tell that , in the middle of the pictures the painter might have taken a long time to paint it but as you look on the sides the flowers look like some paint just spilled on it , but i think the painter did it on purpose to make the painting of flowers very beautiful and unique.
I think this pictures catches the meaning of nature or the beauty of nature and you should always treasure it.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Response on my research article

             The topic I search on was child abuse and so there was many article on the ms51library.org. The title of this article is called "child-abuse claims vs. parents' rights"; and i thought that this article wasn't fair. Children shouldn't get abuse by their parents because that's just not right , and we can't hit them back . But the government's interest is moving quickly to the safeguard children from abuse or neglet and the right of parents to raise and maintain a family without undue government interference. Even though parents are older and have more power over kids , they should think before they act. Sometimes, children can get abused when they do something wrong , or if you have someone in your family that hates you ,could be your step-mom or step-dad . Or if your parents are drunk they they hitting you from no reason. Abusing really harshly ,can ruin the image the child gives you. State procedures to investigate allegations of child abuse have been a topic of nation concern after more then 400 hundred children from polygamist groups ranch in Texas were taken from their parents and held for nearly two months in foster care .
      Now parents can be aware of that ,if you really want your child and love your child; then you shouldn't hit them , because in the end you will just end up losing someone you are about , and be sent away as a foster child; a child as you can call it , with no parents. It's a scary thing for the child because s/he will have to live with someone they don't know, because they can't b safe at home.
     Parents also have right's for teaching their child what is right to do and what is wrong to do , but maybe hitting them and scolding at them won't make it an better ; it will just make them more scared of you as a parent.
       Th safety pan program began in 1995. Safety plans offered to an estimated 100000 Illinois families per year.There is no record that any parent has ever refuse to participate in a safety plan and risk having the state take custody of his or her children. Child abuse is a serious issue and will separate the child an the parent for safety of the child.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Media/News Immersion

Saturday 23 , 2010 : (from the newspaper new york times)

Man Is Shot Dead in Manhattan Diner

an Is Shot Dead in Manhattan Diner
A 28-year-old man was fatally shot at a diner in Manhattan early Saturday morning, the police said.
The social issue for this article is that the death is increasing for this year.
lots of people are dieing and i think that people should be aware of that because this is a
dangerous action increasing.
An employee at the diner, at 109 West 14th Street, said a fight had occurred between customers. - Small things like fighting over something can lead to death because you may never know what the other person might think about you , and what will s/he do to you. Many of these clubs/bars/lounges are causing horrendous quality of life problems. That's why some people shouldn't go out at night.


Monday 25, 2010- (newspaper daily news)


A deranged creep attacked a women and her friends that was with her , in central park sources said " Ronald fox 47 allegedly pounced on the victim, who was with three pals, in the rambles near East 74 street at 11:05 am. He punched her, then threw sticks at her friends. This is another example of a social issue which is abuse. Lots of adults say that it better to hang out with friends when you are on the streets because you can help each other out when someone is in trouble. But still at the same time you still need to be aware of your surroundings because you may never know when some kind of drunk guy comes around.


Tuesday 26, 2010


From the newspaper i read this article called "murder making a deadly come back".
It was about how the city's murder rate has shot up nearly 15 percent this year, the NYPD recorded 437 murders as of Sunday , compared with 382 in the same period as last year. " It's not bad like it was years ago" said Frankie Bourn age 48 . " But with people losing jobs , It is only going to get worse " . The social issue in this passage is
losing jobs and murder. Losing jobs is a major issue because it leads to depression and many other problems.

Wednesday 27, 2010 ( newspaper daily news)
Bike lane Pains Gains-

The issue the department of transportation plans for new bike lanes around new york city. Those changes were implemented without any input from citizens , wasting money while new york city goes bankrupt. Worst of all, bike lanes paralyze commercial traffic, making life even more difficult. I think the social issue for this article is pollution , we need more bike lanes so that we won't have to drive our cars that put gas in the air and destroys the atmosphere. That's why the department of transportation is trying to build new bikes lanes which is doing a favor for new york citizens.

Write a poem or song responding to a specific social problem/issue!

Bullying- by: susan zheng ( I'm really not a good poet!)

Behold of them
Uncertain when they come
Longing for freedom
Lots of scary faces
Yikes
I want to become invisible
No, someone come save me
Gone

Read and respond to songs and/ or poems on social promblems!

One Friendly Smile

He sits on the swing, head dipped,
ashamed of something he can’t control
He holds his broken glasses in his dirt-stained hands,
thinking that being half-blind has to be better than this.

Shoving them in his pocket, he shuffles toward the door,
content to wait till the class is inside before he follows.
He shoots a fiery glare across the room at the boy
with the fists, the boy who makes his life a living hell.

And without a sound, he mouths, “someday,
you're gonna get it, you'll see.”  But for now,
he lays his head on his crossed arms and rests
as he dreams of retribution, and buries a sob.

Years later, in a television interview, students agree,
“He was a loner, but we never thought he could do that."
His mother, in her disbelief, imagined she could see her baby,
cradling his twisted glasses, crying “why don’t they like me.”

And now it was her turn to be ashamed of something
she could not control.  She only hoped that someone, somewhere,
remembered that day in the playground, and could finally see
how their actions tumbled into the future, how one friendly smile,

one invitation to play, one neglected impulse to strike or belittle,
could have changed history, saved lives, saved her baby.

( This poem was from writing.com )



I think this poem is talking mainly about bullying and how scary it is to the child begin bullied like when it states "He shoots a fiery glare across the room at the boy with the fists, the boy who makes his life a living hell." i think using the word living hell really makes the sentence really strong and stands out ,i think  it means that bullying is really painful that you can go to hell , with all the burning fire and devils. I think this poem is really well written because i feel like , i can feel what the person feels when he is begin bullied , because of the feelings and emotions written.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Mother To Son by: Langston Hughes

                  I liked how the author of this poem sarts out the poem as " well, son, I'll tell you". It already gives the person reading this poem a clue that this poem is about a mother trying to tell her son a message. Something important. like for example it saids " life for me ain't been no crystal stair". Which i think means that life for the mother have'nt been very good. which also leads to this phrase in the poem " It's had tacks in it , And splinters , And boards torn up , And places with no carpet on the floor". i thought that whole part was very sad and cold, with all those words.
                 The mother in this poem also uses old language like for example she says "i'se and kinder" . She also repeats many lines like the one life for me ain't been no crystal stair. I think the mother cares about her son alot and doesn't want her son to follow her steps .
Mother to Son by Langston Hughes
Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So, boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps.
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now”
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
I think this poem represents all the mom's in this world and the message they want to tell their children , which i think is that "keep trying, move forward, look ahead. Don't stop. Don't look back. The struggle to survive will never end."

Monday, October 25, 2010

Final Appreciation for stuart little!

                    I think the most intersting books, are books that teaches you a lesson. Some of my childhood books that i think have a good example of that, is Stuart little and Charlotte's Web. Both of these books are published by the same author. And also after a few years they made a action movie of these books. The feeling of when i was little ,was " wow i can get to see them moving".
                    When i was younger i never realized that almost every book have a lesson or theme they want the reader to know. But as im older now , and i re-read my childhood books i can actually have deeper thoughts of the book im reading and how the author describes it using words.
                     One childhood book i really want to focus on is Stuart little because i like how the author makes him unique.  He was the second son from the Little's family , and he looked very much like a mouse. he had a mouse like tail , a mouse like nose and a mouse like whiskers. And the most impressing of all is that he is only 2inches high!
                     I think the author makes him how he is because the author wants us to teach us something . Stuart is also a very brave and smart mouse. Even though he has many problems like getting to the sink and turning on the water to brush his teeth , he dosent make it get into his way. He likes to help his family when they need him. It's like "what can a little mouse like him do?".
                      The author makes positive things out of negative things . Like for example begin small is bad , but then since you are so small you can go to places where big people can't go because they are too big to fit through. so i think that is kind of amazing.
                     I appreciate the hard work that the author goes through , because i know that publishing a book takes many years and hard work to make a perfect book.The author has to change or make things so that it relates to a topic or theme he is focusing on. For stuart i think it is that begin small should'nt affect what you want to do as long as you really want to do it.
                     In conclusion even though Stuart little was a pretty good book , i just hoped that the ending would be better.