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 .