Blog #50: In my last blog I read the first couple chapters of "The 5 People You Meet in Heaven", by Mitch Albom. Today, I'm reading the beginning of another book by Mitch Albom, entitled "Tuesdays with Morrie". It's the story of a man and his dying college professor reuniting for the last time. Morrie is the name of the professor. Morrie has a disease called Lou Gehrig's disease. It's an illness of the neurological system; it gradually melts your nerves away so you can't move. My mom's cousin had this disease. I always remember seeing her in a special wheel chair. She passed away a couple of years ago. In the book it says that it takes no more than five years from the day you've been diagnosed to become completely trapped inside your body. This reminds me of a video we watched in class. The movie was called "The Diving Bell and Butterfly". I think it's similar because, in both cases, you're fully conscious, yet unable to move a finger. Morrie's college student comes to visit him while he's dying. During those visits Morrie and Mitch talk about life lessons, family, love, and death. Since Morrie knows he's dying he wants to make something out of it, impact someone else's life. This is a great story that teaches us to not take things for granted and to live life to the fullest.

Blog #49: Today, I'm going to blog about a book entitled, "The Five People You Meet in Heaven", by Mitch Albom. The story starts out with the main character Eddie, who is elderly. He works at an amusement park. He remembers when he was younger and rode the rides at the amusement park. Then, he sees a ride breaking down. A piece of it starts to fall and Eddie realizes that there is a young girl just below where the ride is going to hit. At the last minute Eddie lunges towards her, trying to push her out of the way. The next thing he knows, everybody is gone and there's this purplish tint to things. He realizes he's dead. To me Eddie seems to think little of himself. But, if your willing to jump under a falling chunk of metal for some stranger girl, you're one heck of a person. You could say that Eddie wasn't doing much because he was at the end of his life anyway, but I still think it takes a really caring person to do what he did. Because Eddie died he doesn't know if he saved the little girl or not. I haven't gotten that far into the book, but I'm predicting that he'll see her in heaven. That's what I read for outside reading for today.

Blog #48: Living without alcohol, cigarettes, coke, crack, glue, and gasoline is becoming hard for James. He calls his folks for the first time since he's arrived at rehab. His mom is very emotional. Every morning James gets violently sick. He throws up blood and chunks of his stomach. Then he has an emotional breakdown that he can't control. One minute he is crying hysterically and the next he's so mad that he beat a guy up and destroyed his room. I don't blame him for beating up the guy. The guy was being a jerk to him. Harassing him and telling him how he did a crappy job cleaning the toilets. The most frustrating part for me and the part I can relate to is when the guards came running when they heard the fight and automatically thought James was at fault; without James even explaining what had happened in the first place. I think a lot of people can relate to that kind of frustration. Now the rehab center is giving James a chance to talk with a psychologist to see if it will help.

Blog #47: In the book I'm reading, "A Million Little Pieces", the main character, James, seems to be getting better. The Doctor has him on a lot of drugs. Some of the drugs sort of paralyze him. To me that seems kind of creepy, but it sounds like James enjoys it cause it sooths his pain and agony. A lot of the time at rehab, James seems uncomfortable. I can try to understand this cause he's probably really uneasy about being there. When James first got to the rehab center he looked like crap. A hole on the side of his face, barely any teeth, and his nose is bent out of shape from being broken before. He takes some visits to a few Doctors to fix him up. He gets kind of nervous before his visits. I think that's relateable for a lot of people. The nose Doctor has to re-break his nose in order to move the cartilage into a straight line. You kind of cringe when you read that section of the book. Another Doctors stitches the sides of his cheek back together, which I also found a little disgusting. Over all, I think this is a really good book.

Blog #46: Today I'm going to blog about the movie "Dual" instead of the book "A Million Pieces". The movie "Dual" is an early film directed by Steven Spielberg. It' s about a salesperson who goes on a business trip and ends up almost being killed by an insane truck driver. Spielberg used many camera angles and shots to get the emotions he wanted to get across, across. For example, in the chase scenes Spielberg uses fast cuts to show the anxiety of the main character. Another example is whenever you see a shot of the truck, the camera is always at a low angle so the truck looks huge and menacing. One scene in the cafe Spielberg uses a tipped angle to the shot and it looks off. He did this on purpose to show uneasiness or uncertainty that the main character was feeling/thinking. Overall I liked the movie. I liked how it was ire and scary and had that kind of Alfred Hitchcock sense to it. I also thought it was creative of them to not show us the face of the truck driver. It leaves that sense of mystery. Now, if I ever go on a road trip and pass a big semi, I'll remember this movie.

Blog #45: The book I'm reading is called "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey. I think this book is very interesting because it kind of relates to how some people act nowadays. The book is about the story of an alcohol and crack addict and his journey into rehab. So far it's been pretty gruesome, but life can be pretty gruesome so it's kind of a reality check. The main characters attitude is kind of strange. He needs help, but he doesn't want it. Also, whenever his mom tries to give him a hug he pulls away instinctively (Frey, 5). I find that part sad. I mean, think about how the mom must feel; being rejected by her own son! I'm only on page 13 and I'm finding the book to be really interesting and deep. 

Causes:
-natural selection: "survival of the fittest" it sparked the idea that "inferior" people should be destroyed.
-WW1: after the war, when the Germans lost, they blamed the Jewish community for "stabbing them in the back" (the Germans blamed the Jews for losing the war)
-Nationalism: the idea of nationalism is that your nation should be only made up of people from that nation. For example, Germans are the only ones who should live in Germany, so they wanted to deport anyone who wasn't German.
Effects:
-17 million people were killed: disabled, Jewish, and Germans
-Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: people left scared from the sites at the camps
-Distrust/Isolation of Germans: after the horrors had been uncovered, people were appalled about what the German Nazi troops had done

OR Blog #44: For today's outside reading blog theme of overcoming odds, I picked to blog about the book "Life of Pi". This book definitely fits into this blog assignment. Throughout the book things don't go so well for him and the reader doubts if he'll survive. The main character, Pi, is stranded on a raft boat with a tiger and other animals after seeing the boat his family was still on sink. The other animals are eventually eaten by the tiger and Pi runs out of food for himself. But in the end, he pulls through and is able to get to shore. Pi overcame odds by not giving up and dying. He was smart and tried to stay away from the tiger until the it began to trust him and decided not to eat him. On the book of the book, The New Yorker reviews the book by calling it, "a death-defying trans-Pacific sea adventure". In this quote, when it says "death-defying", it shows the odds Pi had to overcome. This is my outside reading blog for today.

Citation:
Martel, Yann. Life of Pi. 1st. Canada: Harcourt, Inc., 2001.

OR Blog #43: Today I read an article on the death of Natasha Richardson. I know that at first you probubly wouldn't think this fits the topic of love, but I think it does because her family members loved her very much and are going to miss her. Natasha Richardson was a tony award winning actress. She was only 45. She died head injuries form a ski accident. In the article it says about the family, "They are profoundly grateful for the support, love, and prayers of everyone during this very difficult time". In this quote you see how they mention how the family is grateful for the care and love towards the death of a loved one. That's what I read for today.

Citation:
"Natasha Richardson dies after ski fall." CNN.com/entertainment. 18 Mar 2009. Cable News Network. 18 Mar 2009 .

OR Blog #42: Today I read the first chapter in "Don't You Know There's A War On?" by Avi. Even in just the first chapter you can tell how things are different because of the war. People are missing family members and there are rations on things. There is also a lot of suspicion of the people around you, like thinking they're spies. These are usually the descriptions of the home life while there's a war going on. In the book, it said that you can tell which house has someone in the war because of the stars the put on their windows. The number of stars says how many people and the color says if they're alive or not. Blue stands for alive and gold stands for dead. When I read this it kind of reminded me of how people would put ribbons around their trees on my street if one of their family members was in the war. From the first chapter it seems like a good book. The main character is from Brooklyn and they way the author has him talk gives him that Brooklyn accent. That's what I read for today's outside reading blog on war.

Citation:
Avi. Don't You Know There's A War On. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2003.

OR Blog #41: Today I read an short article from the Library of Congress Resource Guide website. The article was entitled "Colonization". The topic of colonization shows peoples different ideas of if it is good or not. Some think that it was an act of racial discrimination. I think I agree with the people who think this because in one of my classes at school we are talking about how the Europeans saw colonization as a way of ridding the nation of the culture of the colony they were taking over. I believe that definitely people who colonized thought of this idea. Others liked colonization, saying the people being colonized would benefit in the religious and civil ways. Meaning that the natives would learn from the colonizers. I don't like the idea of colonization. They were people there before you moved into the land. It doesn't give you the right to tell them to change their ways and do it your way. Why do other countries want to expand. I guess I know one of the answers to that is money, but still, would you put a price on others' lives and cultures? I wouldn't. That's what I read for today's outside reading blog about colonization.

Citation:
"The African-American Mosaic." A Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of Black History & Culture. July 5 2005. 11 Mar 2009 .

OR Blog #40: Today I read an article from The New York Times website called "Global Warming". This fits into the assigned topic of the day because it is a global issue, hence the name "global" warming. I think this is something we need to fix, and fast. Animals in the poles are dying because of the climate changes. Little baby polar bears are being separated form their parents and drowning. The article stated that there is likely to be a "rise between 3.5 and 8 degrees Fahrenheit if the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmoshpere reaches twice the level of 1750". I think we should outlaw hummers and make everyone drive hybrid cars. Another good idea is to power things by solar energy. The other day I saw a grocery store and it had solar panels on it's roof. Also, don't forget to recycle. In eighth grade I remember that one of our classes should us Al Gore's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth". Everyone should see this movie so they can be informed of what is happening to our climate. This is what I read for today's outside reading blog topic of a global issue.

Citation:
"Global Warming." The New York Times. 8 Mar 2008. The New York Times Company. 8 Mar2009 .

OR Blog #39: Today I read about the 4th of July. This fits into today's blog assignment because it is a national holiday in the U.S.A. The article I read is from the KABOOSE website and the article is entitled "Why do we Celebrate the 4th of July?". The story of the Britains pushing the Americans around is similar to how the Britains pushed the Indians around. The story ends the same too, both India and America are independent nations from Britain. Also, both stories had the brave heroes who stood up to the British and forced them to give their countries independence. Now we celebrate the 4th of July or Indepenpendence Day and maybe the Indians have something similar. This article could also be related to a book called, "George Washington's Sox". In this book, some kids go back through time to the period of revolution in the U.S. They see George Washington and his soldiers and experience the victory. This is what I read for today's outside reading blog.

Citation:
Moon, Kim. "Why Do We Celebrate the 4th of July?." KABOOSE. 2009. Kaboose Inc.. 4 Mar 2009 .

OR Blog #38: Today I read an article from Wikipedia entitled "Bollywood". A lot of the things that are stated in the article are similar to the bollywood movie we watched in class, "Bride and Prejudice". About how bollywood films have song and dance in them and how the actors don't really sing, they lip-synch. The article also talks about how the playback singers can become famous too. I remember when we talked in class about bollywood and Mr. Cheng mentioned that. Another thing that was similar to our in-class discussion was the fact that bollywood was one of the biggest movie producing industry in the world! The name bollywood comes from the names of Bombay(Mumbai) and Hollywood. Some people don't like the name because it makes bollywood sound like "a poor cousin" to Hollywood. Also, bollywood films aren't only in the Indian language, they are also in English. In class, we also talked about how bollywood films are mostly melodramatic. They have things like star-crossed lovers and angry parents, love triangles, family ties, sacrifice, sorrupt politicians, kidnappers, conniving villains, courtesans with hearts of gold, long-lost relatives, siblings separated by fate, dramatic reversals of fortune, and convenient coincidences. That's what I read for today's outside reading blog.

Citation: "Bollywood." Wikipedia. 2009. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 1 Mar 2009 .

OR Blog #37: Today, I read an article from CultureGrams called Personal Appearance. This fits into today's assignment because it talks about the culture of Kenya through their appearance. The traditional clothing is similar to that of the Indian traditional clothing. In Kenya women wear dresses just like that in India. Something different in Kenya is something called the kanga. A kanga is a rectangular piece of colorful cotton fabric. It's worn as a skirt, to cover their clothes, or to shield themselves from the rain and wind. Some women will use the kanga to carry their children on their backs. The article also said that some women wear scarves. I think this is also something that's similar to the Indian culture. I think I've said this before in one of my other blogs, but I'll say it again, without different cultures the world would be pretty boring. You to have diversity to make the world more interesting.

Citation:
"Personal Appearance." CultureGrams. 2009. ProQuest LLC and Brigham Young University. 25 Feb 2009 .

OR Blog #36: Today, I read the book, "The Giving Tree" , by Shel Silverstein. I thought it fit well with today's topic of change because through the book the little boy gets older and changes his appearance and matures. So, I thought this was a kind of change. The tree also changes. The tree loves the boy and tries to help him when she can. As the boy gets older he starts to ask for things from her. The tree gives him her apples so he can sell them to make money. She also gives him her branches and leaves to build his house. When the boy gets even older, the tree gives him her trunk so he can make a boat. Then at the end when the boy is an old man and the tree is just a stump, she offers him to sit and rest on her stump. So, this book shows a lot of change. Change in people and I think it also represents a change in the earth. Like, the cutting down of trees and things like that. I like this book of Shel Silverstein's the best, you can see that he's trying to show us something about friendship and change. That's what I read for today's outside reading blog.

Citation: Silverstein, Shel. The Giving Tree. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1997.

OR Blog #35: Today, I read an article from the BBC news website called, "Obama's housing plan 'to help 9m'". The article says that President Barack Obama has announced his plan to take on the US housing problem. He's hoping to help up to nine million families across the country. This article fits into the assigned topic of hope because Obama is giving the families that have struggled these past years hope for the future. Also, not only hope for keeping their houses, but also for keeping their kids in school and be able to afford that too. I hope that President Obama's plan works out because one of my friend's family is struggling to pay their mortgage. He says that he will help the families who have "played by the rules" and who are "responsible homeowners". This shows that doing the right thing can pay off and that nothing good will come of doing something wrong breaking the rules. This was my article that I found for the topic of hope for this Wednesday's outside reading blog.

"Obama's housing plan 'to help 9m'." BBC NEWS. 18 Feb 2009. MMIX. 18 Feb 2009 .

OR Blog #34: Today I read an article from CNN.com called "Israel expects pope to visit in May." This fits into today's blogging assignment because it has to do with religion and belief/non-belief. In the article they're saying that the pope's visit to Israel is right after the controversy about the Holocaust denial within the Roman Catholic Church. One of the Bishops, Bishop Richard Williamson has outraged Jewish leaders and people by saying that he doubted the number of jewish people killed and he also said that no jewish people were murdered in gas chambers. I think that guy is crazy to say something like. Especially if he's a Bishop for the Roman Catholic Church. I also think that there is know a lot of tension in the Church because of Williamson's actions. The pope says that he had not been aware of Williamson's views when he lifted the excommunication. This article has to do with disagreements between religions, so it fits the assignment. It talks about believers and non-believers. I can compare this to Nectar in a Sieve by saying that there was a time in the book where Rukmani felt uncomfortable around people that weren't the same religion as her. That's what I read for today's outside reading blog. 

"Israel expects pope to visit in May." CNN.com/world. 15 Feb 2009. Cable News Network. 15 Feb 2009." style=""> .">.

OR Blog #33: Today, I read an article from Culturegrams called "Family". In this article it talks about how the father is the head of the household. This fits into the blog topic for today because it's saying that the male in the family is the head of the household and that's talking about both gender and gender roles. In this article it also says that women are responsible for the children and household. That's another gender role. This article is similar to the book we finished reading in class last week because Nathan was the head of their household. Also, it seems that once the man of the household leaves (dies or actually leaves) the women is kind  of stuck. I feel like that kind of thing shouldn't happen. If the man leaves then the women should be able to keep her life going by herself. That was my blog for gender and gender roles.

"Family." CultureGrams. 2009. ProQuest LLC and Brigham Young University. 13 Feb 2009 .

OR Blog #32: Today I read an article from culture grams called "Personal Appearance". It told about the clothes that the people from the Indian culture wore. "Women generally wear a saree or a colorful pantsuit with a knee-length shirt", the article stated. This article shows a different culture through the way people dress. Inside of the indian culture, there are many appearance differences depending on your religion. For example, Sikhs may be seen wearing a turban, where as Hindus and Muslims might be seen wearing a long shirt with pants, possibly accompanied by a jacket/vest. I also think that it is cool to see the different clothes that people of different cultures where. It would be boring if we would all were the same thing. This blog topic relates to the book, Nectar in a Sieve, because Rukmani and Nathan see differences in culture when they are kicked off their land and travel to their sons home. Most of the things they see are different from what they are used to at their old home. That's what I read and blogged about for this Sunday's outside reading blog.

"Personal Appearance." CultureGrams. 2009. ProQuest and Brigham Young University. 8 Feb 2009 .

OR Blog #31: Today, I read an article from BBC.com called "Teenage girl dies in sledge crash". This article shows someone overcoming a struggle and facing a difficulty because the family and friends of the girl who died had to face a very tough situation. It was a tragic accident and that is definitely considered "facing a difficulty". This relates to Nectar in a Sieve  because Rukmani loses two of her sons and the teenage girl's parents had to deal with a similar situation. Rukmani's family has had to deal with many struggles like starvation, not having enough money, marrying her daughter off, and keeping her whole family in good health. That's why I picked that article because I thought it related well to the book we were reading in class. This is my post for this Wednesday.

"Teenage girl dies in sledge crash." BBC. 4 Feb 2009. MMIX. 4 Feb 2009 .

   

OR Blog #30: Today, I read an article from CNN.com about an earthquake in Costa Rica. An earthquake is considered a natural disaster. This earthquake killed two little girls. The girls were killed a landslide the quake produced. This article relates to another article that I saw on CNN.com about an avalanche killing ten people in Turkey. They are similar stories because in both situations people got hurt by a natural disaster. I think it's hard to protect yourself from natural disasters because they can't be stopped. I feel bad for the friends and family members of the ones who died. This article talks about natural disasters and how people are affected by them. I also see how this is related to the book we are reading. In Nectar in a Sieve they have monsoons which can be considered natural disasters because they can ruin your crops and destroy your home.

"Strong Costa Rica quake kills two girls." CNN.com/world. 8 Jan 2009. Cable News Network. 1 Feb 2009 http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/01/08/crica.quake/index.html#cnnSTCText.

OR Blog #29: Today I read some poems by Robert Frost. One of the poems I read was called, "On A Tree Fallen Across The Road." I think what he is saying in this poem is if there is an obstacle blocking you from your goal, then it separates the ones that will choose to move the obstacle from the ones that will just give up. Here's a part of the poem:

"And yet she knows obstruction is in vain:

We will not be put off the final goal

We have it hidden in us to attain,

Not though we have to seize earth by the pole"

In the first line when he says "she" he means the tree. I really like Robert Frost's poems, each one is unique. That's what I read for this Sunday.

OR Blog #28: Today I read an article from CNN.com, entitled "Obama retakes oath of office after Roberts' Mistake." The article says that President Obama retook his oath of office today after the Chief Justice John Roberts messed up while delivering it at Tuesday's inauguration. This move was made because they didn't want to have any question towards Obama legally being the President. When I watched the inauguration in class on Tuesday I remember seeing the slip up. At first I thought it was President Obama slipping up, but then I realized that the Chief Justice said the words wrong. I'm glad they got that straightened out. That's what I read today.

OR Blog #27: Today, I read another article from CNN.com. The article is called "Consumers urged to use caution eating peanut butter." The story said that the Peanut Corp. of America has found that some of there products have salmonella in them. The article also stated that, "A salmonella outbreak has sickened almost 500 people and killed at least six." Even though they are saying all of this, they are also saying that brand-name peanut butters are not expected to be affected. The Food and Drug Administration is urging manufacturers to announce whether they use the infected products. About 3 weeks ago, my brother, my mom, and myself were sick and my mom was thinking it was the peanut butter and then we heard about what this article was saying and we're pretty sure it was the peanut butter. That's what I read today.

OR Blog #26: Today, I read an article from CNN.com called "Bitter cold to linger across U.S. through weekend." This article says that the low temperatures are breaking records nationwide. The article said, "Wind chills in Fargo, North Dakota, made it feel like 31 below." The forecast says that the coldest air of the season is coming in the next two days. The article also said that the cold weather will remain for Barack Obama's Inauguration Day in Washington. I personally don't like the cold weather. I's much rather be on a beach in Florida or Hawaii, enjoying the warmth. Can't wait for spring! That's what I read for this Wednesday.

OR Blog #25: Today I read an article from CNN.com entitled "George the giant lobster liberated from restaurant." This title really caught my attention. The article is about how a giant lobster was released from a New York seafood restaurant into the Atlantic Ocean. It was set free when the PETA organization got involved after they were alerted by two of the restaurants customers. The lobster was said to be 140 years old and weighed 20 pounds. It was being confined to a tank in the restaurant. The owner of the restaurant said, "I've been here for 12 years, and that's the biggest lobster I've ever seen." He also said, it "seemed like the right thing to do" when PETA suggested the lobster's release. I think the owner did the right thing by releasing George into the Ocean. That's what I read for this Sunday.

OR Blog #24: Today I read an article from CNN.com entitled "New 'Idol' judge looking forward to challenge". It's about how the TV show American idol is getting a new judge. The new judge's name is Kara DioGuardi and they say she has written Celine Dion's "Taking Chances," Gwen Stefani's "Rich Girl," Hilary Duff's "Come Clean," Christina Aguilera's "Ain't No Other Man," and Pink's "Sober." They also say that she can sing too, so now when a contestant gets criticized and they say "well, you couldn't have done it better!" she will be able to step up and show them how it's done. Some people think that DioGuardi is there to replace Paula Abdul, but they deny that statement. I thought that she was there to replace Paula also before I read this article. That's what I read for this Wednesday's outside reading.

OR Blog #23: Today I read an article in DANCE magazine called "A Day in the Life of an SAB Student". SAB stands for the School of American Ballet. It follows a student named Jillian through her day at her school. Her school day starts at 7:30 am and goes to 4:00 pm. Throughout the day Jillian has to walk back and forth from SAB to Professional Children's School. At Professional Children's School she takes classes like our school, but she only takes chemistry, statistics, and history. Her history class is only half an hour long. I think it would be fun to go to a school where there is not much actual school stuff and more of something fun. I bet she doesn't get much homework, so when she gets off at 4:00 she probably has the rest of the day to hang out with friends or even spend some time in New York City. That's what I read for today.