Well, I finally finished The Book of Not the week before Spring Break. I'm relieved it's over, and honestly I don't think I'll opt to read a book that isn't mandatory, because reading it put me under a lot of stress. On the other hand, I'm proud that I overcame the whole Nervous Conditions series, because I have expanded my knowledge of the post-colonial time and now understand the total injustice or unfairness of the postcolonial Zimbabwe. The ending was exactly how I expected it to be: Tambu finds her own path after realizing all of her mistakes. But I did wonder if they were on purpose or just plain rebellious? I also expected a bigger perspective of the war, but it was more hidden and observed secretly, so it wasn't very anticipating. In the project part, I followed Tambu's whole journey and explained it (with partner help), so I guess I really did get the right idea of the book and Dangarembga's overall message to her readers.
Now, after the two-week hiatus, I can get back to finishing Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - finally. I'm so close to being done, and just ready to close the series for good! It'll be sad, but it looks like Katniss is pretty much alone against her cruel, unfair world. Speaking of that, I think that the last chapters of Mockingjay have been intense and full of real violence. Again, I don't want to spoil anything, but I'm finding that Katniss' close friends are finding violent ends, one at a time, and now it's up to her to save her own world. From where I've stopped, I see a lot of deep tone in Collins' language. In one line, saying "Dead, but not allowed to die. Alive, but good as dead. So alone that anyone, anything no matter how loathsome would be welcome" (349). This line had to make me stop and think a few times. Sometimes it's hard for me to stop mid-paragraph on time limits, because then I have to catch up to the last parts of the story. But as I predict the trilogy will end, Katniss might be all alone, but have something to show in the end to future people. I'm glad it's almost over so I can move on to a new series.
Reading Times:
The Book of Not, pp. 141-246 -
Monday 4/2 - 60 minutes
Tuesday 4/3 - 60 minutes
Wednesday 4/4 - 100+ minutes
Mockingjay, pp. 332-350 -
Sunday 4/15 - about 70 minutes
Poetry + Biology textbook -
Sunday 4/15 - 30 minutes
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Outside Reading #6: Scream Fights
For my Nervous Conditions project, I'm continuing to read The Book of Not, the sequel, which will be expanded into a poster illustrating Tambu's growing problems in a culturally-mixed society. In the pages I have read, I mostly learned about Tambu's place at Sacred Heart, which seems to be her peak of learning right now. She goes back and forth from there to the mission, but I can see her as a really isolated but disciplined character. Going into this book, I expected to read a lot about her journey in the distant future, and hear some about how the war has made her feel even more a victim. Actually, this book is hardly even violent. She makes sort of violent references to this "leg being blown off" we all witnessed when we read the first pages aloud in class, but other than that there isn't much gore going on. My goal is to be completely, or at least almost finished with the novel by the middle of this week, because I'm ready to get the presentation over with before Spring Break to prove that, yeah, I read the whole Nervous Conditions series!
I made a promise that I'd get The Book of Not read, so that I can contribute my knowledge of both books to this project. We're (as in our group of me, Justin and Dalton) going to incorporate quotes from the book, and use images of setting and depiction to give a better meaning of the series, and kind of go along with Tambu's experience step-by-step. I've paid a lot of attention to the repeated patterns and themes. A lot of the time, Tambu blames her family for the continuous hardships she faces when she gets "distracted" sometimes, like when she "looks up to the mountains." This doesn't really make sense, but I think what Dangarembga means is that those are places of danger, that she sometimes wants to escape to or avoid, and uses her sister as a testimony since that's how her leg got blown off. Most of the other problems she faces have to do with race and class. We see a lot of hatred sent towards her and her roommates as they constantly get into trouble. It makes me think that this is more of a racist than sexist social setting. Her superior class is an issue, too, and leads her to further isolation. I'm excited to finish this book and series, once and for all, and then finally be able to relate all of the knowledge about Nervous Conditions to the real world (maybe)!
Reading Times:
Tuesday 3/27 - 30 minutes finishing Ch. 3; 15 minutes starting to read Ch. 4 (all from The Book of Not)
Wednesday 3/28 - 25 minutes reading/annotating Chs. 4 and 5 of The Book of Not
Thursday 3/29 - 30 minutes reading part of Ch. 6 from The Book of Not
Saturday 3/31 - 80 minutes reading through the rest of Chs. 6 and 7 of The Book of Not
Sunday 4/1 - 100+ minutes reading/annotating Chs. 8 and 9 of The Book of Not
Total Pages: 101 pages, pp. 40-141 of The Book of Not
I made a promise that I'd get The Book of Not read, so that I can contribute my knowledge of both books to this project. We're (as in our group of me, Justin and Dalton) going to incorporate quotes from the book, and use images of setting and depiction to give a better meaning of the series, and kind of go along with Tambu's experience step-by-step. I've paid a lot of attention to the repeated patterns and themes. A lot of the time, Tambu blames her family for the continuous hardships she faces when she gets "distracted" sometimes, like when she "looks up to the mountains." This doesn't really make sense, but I think what Dangarembga means is that those are places of danger, that she sometimes wants to escape to or avoid, and uses her sister as a testimony since that's how her leg got blown off. Most of the other problems she faces have to do with race and class. We see a lot of hatred sent towards her and her roommates as they constantly get into trouble. It makes me think that this is more of a racist than sexist social setting. Her superior class is an issue, too, and leads her to further isolation. I'm excited to finish this book and series, once and for all, and then finally be able to relate all of the knowledge about Nervous Conditions to the real world (maybe)!
Reading Times:
Tuesday 3/27 - 30 minutes finishing Ch. 3; 15 minutes starting to read Ch. 4 (all from The Book of Not)
Wednesday 3/28 - 25 minutes reading/annotating Chs. 4 and 5 of The Book of Not
Thursday 3/29 - 30 minutes reading part of Ch. 6 from The Book of Not
Saturday 3/31 - 80 minutes reading through the rest of Chs. 6 and 7 of The Book of Not
Sunday 4/1 - 100+ minutes reading/annotating Chs. 8 and 9 of The Book of Not
Total Pages: 101 pages, pp. 40-141 of The Book of Not
Poem Analysis: "Fifth Grade Autobiography" by Rita Dove
The poem I chose to read is "Fifth Grade Autobiography" by Rita Dove in the "Poems of Childhood" section of our poetry book. This poem actually stuck out to me when I glanced over the section and I thought it would summarize her fifth grade experience, or at least reflect on some memorable experience. This type of poem, actually was a portrait type of explanation, and used specific techniques in her poem. In my analysis, I first found an alliteration. When the author says, "His Davy Crockett cap" in line 4, she used a repeated consonant vowel sound. I thought the emphasis in that "k" sound was used to help us visualize the cap, because in the next two lines (lines 5-6), she says:
sits squared on his head so the raccoon tail
flounces down on the back of his sailor suit.
The author shows her brother's costume as kind of raggedy, which is how I imagined it since he wore a redneck-style raccoon cap (like Davy Crockett's). So, that must be the reason she described the costume with those repeated sounds. Next, she used imagery to reflect on the portrait setting, such as the description of her grandmother in the text. The entire second stanza of the poem lets us see the poem as if we were in that still setting. I thought that the people could be depicted as characters because she made them seem so real in the poem. One part that appeared really graphic to me were the last lines in the second stanza:
every Christmas. Grandmother's hips
bulge from the brush, she's leaning
into the ice chest, sun through the trees
printing her dress with soft
luminous paws.
From the part where she says "Grandmother's" on until the end of this stanza I found a lot of the same imagery used as she did for the Davy Crockett cap part of the poem. I annotated the last three lines because I painted a picture in my head, and could imagine those rays of sunlight on her dress, literally. However, when she used the word "luminous," I thought that figuratively meant she was bright and glowing with light. That was the main part of the poem where I could see it all in my mind.
Also, one line 17, she goes into more depth of the portrait, but uses deep language to show feelings for her family. She notes in that line: "I am staring jealously at my brother;". The word "jealously," of course is one that makes a big impact of the poem because you can still visualize how she feels when she looks at him, and that he is getting spotlight attention.
Lastly, the author used language that makes her seem nostalgic, which means she has a dwelling on the past like she's really there. There is a line break where there should be a pause that carries on until the last stanza. When she goes on about looking jealously, she then talks about her grandfather:
He smelled of lemons. He's died--
but I remember his hands.
First off, that last couplet makes her seem nostalgic like she misses that day she went out with her grandparents and brother. And also, the last enjambment breaking those two stanzas put the most emphasis on her memory of the past. Overall, I thought this poem used a lot of happy images to make a bright impact on the reader, but also put us in the same, feeling position as the author. I didn't predict that the poem would be more reflective than informative, but I did like the family outing; it seemed to be one where everyone was having a happy time. I felt like I could break the poem into two parts of a picture, one where they were all separated, and another where they were having a good time together. This poem was an easy one to read and didn't take me long to annotate or mark my own ideas.
sits squared on his head so the raccoon tail
flounces down on the back of his sailor suit.
The author shows her brother's costume as kind of raggedy, which is how I imagined it since he wore a redneck-style raccoon cap (like Davy Crockett's). So, that must be the reason she described the costume with those repeated sounds. Next, she used imagery to reflect on the portrait setting, such as the description of her grandmother in the text. The entire second stanza of the poem lets us see the poem as if we were in that still setting. I thought that the people could be depicted as characters because she made them seem so real in the poem. One part that appeared really graphic to me were the last lines in the second stanza:
every Christmas. Grandmother's hips
bulge from the brush, she's leaning
into the ice chest, sun through the trees
printing her dress with soft
luminous paws.
From the part where she says "Grandmother's" on until the end of this stanza I found a lot of the same imagery used as she did for the Davy Crockett cap part of the poem. I annotated the last three lines because I painted a picture in my head, and could imagine those rays of sunlight on her dress, literally. However, when she used the word "luminous," I thought that figuratively meant she was bright and glowing with light. That was the main part of the poem where I could see it all in my mind.
Also, one line 17, she goes into more depth of the portrait, but uses deep language to show feelings for her family. She notes in that line: "I am staring jealously at my brother;". The word "jealously," of course is one that makes a big impact of the poem because you can still visualize how she feels when she looks at him, and that he is getting spotlight attention.
Lastly, the author used language that makes her seem nostalgic, which means she has a dwelling on the past like she's really there. There is a line break where there should be a pause that carries on until the last stanza. When she goes on about looking jealously, she then talks about her grandfather:
He smelled of lemons. He's died--
but I remember his hands.
First off, that last couplet makes her seem nostalgic like she misses that day she went out with her grandparents and brother. And also, the last enjambment breaking those two stanzas put the most emphasis on her memory of the past. Overall, I thought this poem used a lot of happy images to make a bright impact on the reader, but also put us in the same, feeling position as the author. I didn't predict that the poem would be more reflective than informative, but I did like the family outing; it seemed to be one where everyone was having a happy time. I felt like I could break the poem into two parts of a picture, one where they were all separated, and another where they were having a good time together. This poem was an easy one to read and didn't take me long to annotate or mark my own ideas.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Free Post: Student Council and Service Hours
Recently I've been into school activities, as well as things outside of school. This last week of March seems to be the bulk of events in this busy month that hasn't stopped yet! The last major events of my freshman year are coming up, but surprisingly I'm not worried about them. I'm more stressed about the major things that are more invasive in my school life. One thing I've been wanting for a while is to get elected on student council. I decided to take the chance and run for Member-at-Large for 9th and 10th grade. This is a risk I've wanted to take for so long but never really had the will to do it. Eighth grade was a good opportunity to petition for a spot in an office, in particular club offices. Last year, I went out for lots of clubs and offices, but didn't get elected on any! Now, I'm making milestones and trying to petition to get elected on student council, which is what I've wanted since the start of this year, honestly. Hopefully I'll rally lots of votes and get elected on student council, and I hope y'all can vote me on for next year!
Another thing that's been bothering me (and of course, I keep it off until the last minute) is service hours. I guarantee it's a big concern for a lot of people to get in reflection forms and gathering last-minute hours on campus, like at Karnival Knight this Friday! Last weekend our track team all volunteered to help at the middle school meet on Saturday, the 24th (probably because it was mandatory), but it was a fun experience and I got two hours out of it. I volunteered to work the long and triple jump for middle schoolers at the meet, and it was exciting to see how they performed, and some were actually kind of funny to watch. I worked shifts with Justin, Connor, and Nick, but we had help from upperclassmen like Brian, one of the senior captains who showed us how to rake. It doesn't sound really hard, but I sucked at it. But that's okay, because we all did, and it was dreadfully hot outside that day. I'm just glad it guaranteed me a couple service hours, and I know I can get them all in (yes, all 20 hours with forms) by April 15th.
Another thing that's been bothering me (and of course, I keep it off until the last minute) is service hours. I guarantee it's a big concern for a lot of people to get in reflection forms and gathering last-minute hours on campus, like at Karnival Knight this Friday! Last weekend our track team all volunteered to help at the middle school meet on Saturday, the 24th (probably because it was mandatory), but it was a fun experience and I got two hours out of it. I volunteered to work the long and triple jump for middle schoolers at the meet, and it was exciting to see how they performed, and some were actually kind of funny to watch. I worked shifts with Justin, Connor, and Nick, but we had help from upperclassmen like Brian, one of the senior captains who showed us how to rake. It doesn't sound really hard, but I sucked at it. But that's okay, because we all did, and it was dreadfully hot outside that day. I'm just glad it guaranteed me a couple service hours, and I know I can get them all in (yes, all 20 hours with forms) by April 15th.
Outside Reading #5: The Minutes Keep Getting Bigger
Hello English classes,
This past week and over the weekend I haven't just been reading my outside reading book, Mockingjay. Actually, I've hardly read it since last week, because I've had so many other outside reading books to study, annotate, you name it! One in particular is the new post-colonial novel that came in the mail on Thursday. Yeah, that's right, I'm actually reading the sequel to Nervous Conditions, called The Book of Not, both by Tsitsi Dangarembga. From the way I see it, I think Dangarembga has left the meaning of sexism and prejudice against women, because it is all a continuation of Tambu's journey at Sacred Heart. I'm not that far into it, so I can't really agree or disagree with the dark content of the novel. Yes, we all know that the beginning is a little gory in the language because, who wants to read about someone's legs getting blown off, right?
After that it deals with the aftermath of Tambu's sister, Nestai, and her missing leg (except that it isn't that big of a conflict after she goes to the hospital). Along with the current plot, I've noticed a lot of characters expanding; some stayed the same personally, but others have evolved since Nervous Conditions. For example, I see that Tambu has changed since she feels more silenced after the accident with her sister. I also get a hint of jealousy from her as she aspires to be the best, but there's one thing that hasn't changed about her: the guilt she feels for things out of control. I'll keep reading and analyzing the book (until I present), but I'll keep y'all updated on the things going on, and I know I have to finish it so I'll have to get through it all somehow! Hopefully after reading Nervous Conditions, I'll be able to apply all the themes, conflicts, and continued social aspects to my partners and my expansion project next week.
Reading times (these aren't really accurate because I haven't kept track of them all, but this is a rough guess-timation):
Monday 3/19 - about 15 minutes reading Mockingjay (in class)
Monday 3/19 - 15 minutes reading vocabulary connections article for English
Tuesday 3/20 - about 40 minutes reading first section of Biology
Wednesday 3/21 - about 20 minutes reading next two sections of Biology
Thursday 3/22 - 30 minutes reading Ch. 1 of The Book of Not
Sunday 3/25 - 30 minutes reading Ch. 2 of The Book of Not
Monday 3/26 - 60 minutes finishing Ch. 2 and Ch. 3 of The Book of Not
Pages Read: 48 from The Book of Not, pp. 1-47
This past week and over the weekend I haven't just been reading my outside reading book, Mockingjay. Actually, I've hardly read it since last week, because I've had so many other outside reading books to study, annotate, you name it! One in particular is the new post-colonial novel that came in the mail on Thursday. Yeah, that's right, I'm actually reading the sequel to Nervous Conditions, called The Book of Not, both by Tsitsi Dangarembga. From the way I see it, I think Dangarembga has left the meaning of sexism and prejudice against women, because it is all a continuation of Tambu's journey at Sacred Heart. I'm not that far into it, so I can't really agree or disagree with the dark content of the novel. Yes, we all know that the beginning is a little gory in the language because, who wants to read about someone's legs getting blown off, right?
After that it deals with the aftermath of Tambu's sister, Nestai, and her missing leg (except that it isn't that big of a conflict after she goes to the hospital). Along with the current plot, I've noticed a lot of characters expanding; some stayed the same personally, but others have evolved since Nervous Conditions. For example, I see that Tambu has changed since she feels more silenced after the accident with her sister. I also get a hint of jealousy from her as she aspires to be the best, but there's one thing that hasn't changed about her: the guilt she feels for things out of control. I'll keep reading and analyzing the book (until I present), but I'll keep y'all updated on the things going on, and I know I have to finish it so I'll have to get through it all somehow! Hopefully after reading Nervous Conditions, I'll be able to apply all the themes, conflicts, and continued social aspects to my partners and my expansion project next week.
Reading times (these aren't really accurate because I haven't kept track of them all, but this is a rough guess-timation):
Monday 3/19 - about 15 minutes reading Mockingjay (in class)
Monday 3/19 - 15 minutes reading vocabulary connections article for English
Tuesday 3/20 - about 40 minutes reading first section of Biology
Wednesday 3/21 - about 20 minutes reading next two sections of Biology
Thursday 3/22 - 30 minutes reading Ch. 1 of The Book of Not
Sunday 3/25 - 30 minutes reading Ch. 2 of The Book of Not
Monday 3/26 - 60 minutes finishing Ch. 2 and Ch. 3 of The Book of Not
Pages Read: 48 from The Book of Not, pp. 1-47
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Free Post: St. Patrick's Day Weekend
This weekend has been one of those that I have been excited for but just as anxious waiting for at the same time. I had two parties, a parade, and a track meet that fit in to just three days. It started on Friday afternoon, just after school, when I had to go get dressed for the track meet right after school. And you have no idea how much I dreaded going just because I had to expend a lot of my energy and adrenaline on this, but the weather was great and it was so worth it! I ran in two events this time around, and it was no different than last weekend. Everything was really chill, and all I did until my event was walk around, watch other events, and lay back with my team members. Eventually I sprinted in the 100 and then the 200 meter dash and did alright in both of those. I have no idea if I got a PR (personal record) in either, but I guess I'll find out sooner or later! After that I had my close friend Taylor's surprise party to go to, and even leaving the track meet early didn't help: I missed the surprise! But overall it was a blast - everyone had a great time and we all got to dance like fools. I was absolutely exhausted that night after being active from the time school ended to 11:00 that night.
The next day was the annual St. Patrick's Day parade, which we had to get up early for it, which I had bee dreading. Ironically, I woke up before anyone else - which I wasn't expecting at all - so I went back to bed until 30 minutes later when I woke up again! Maybe that was my sign to get up... We ended up leaving at past 10:00, which didn't surprise me at all since our family is always late for everything. We did miss the parade, but met up with another family to go to a "tailgating" thing at someone's house by the parade route. I actually ran into a few kids from EHS and talked to them while the parade was ending. We stayed for a couple hours and went to eat lunch at Zoës Kitchen by Perkins Rowe. Later, I was apparently supposed to get asked to Sadie's, but they rescheduled (or so I thought...). Later that night, a friend was taking me to the Élan spring dance, so I got in a partying mood and went over to their house to go to the party. I thought it was fun, since I got to see a lot of people from our school and different schools, but I didn't think it was as fun as Snowball, maybe because it was Western-themed. The next morning, I slept in, and waited until lunch when I got asked to Sadie's. My friend Taylor drove up in her mom's car that said, "roll with me to Sadie's?" so I said yes to that! It's been a fun and busy weekend, and I'm looking forward to the next one where I can still have as much fun as this one was! Now I have to finish homework, so I should probably get to work...
The next day was the annual St. Patrick's Day parade, which we had to get up early for it, which I had bee dreading. Ironically, I woke up before anyone else - which I wasn't expecting at all - so I went back to bed until 30 minutes later when I woke up again! Maybe that was my sign to get up... We ended up leaving at past 10:00, which didn't surprise me at all since our family is always late for everything. We did miss the parade, but met up with another family to go to a "tailgating" thing at someone's house by the parade route. I actually ran into a few kids from EHS and talked to them while the parade was ending. We stayed for a couple hours and went to eat lunch at Zoës Kitchen by Perkins Rowe. Later, I was apparently supposed to get asked to Sadie's, but they rescheduled (or so I thought...). Later that night, a friend was taking me to the Élan spring dance, so I got in a partying mood and went over to their house to go to the party. I thought it was fun, since I got to see a lot of people from our school and different schools, but I didn't think it was as fun as Snowball, maybe because it was Western-themed. The next morning, I slept in, and waited until lunch when I got asked to Sadie's. My friend Taylor drove up in her mom's car that said, "roll with me to Sadie's?" so I said yes to that! It's been a fun and busy weekend, and I'm looking forward to the next one where I can still have as much fun as this one was! Now I have to finish homework, so I should probably get to work...
Friday, March 16, 2012
Reading Response #4: Through the Sewers
Mockingjay has gotten a lot more intense and anticipating as I get further near the end, and it's making me want to read a lot faster. Also, the prequel The Hunger Games, is premiering in theaters on Friday, so now I'm really motivated to finish the series (although I don't know why, because Mockingjay doesn't really tell you much about The Hunger Games)! Anyway, I think from where I left off, I said that Katniss was just getting into the rebellion. At this point, her main goal is to kill Snow among her friends or troops, and I don't want to spoil a lot more because it'll give away too much... I think that once I finish it altogether, all of my main questions will be answered, like "what will Panem's fate be if Snow dies and everyone is free?" But I guess I'll have to keep reading to find out.
We also see a lot here about Katniss and Peeta's relationship, because if none of you know, Peeta's brain has been programmed to think that "Katniss is the enemy" and she is the cause for all that's happened with his home, family, and his own fate. Now, I want to say that they've put the bad things behind them and moved on, but it still isn't true because I can see that Peeta is really disturbed. The big intensity happens with actually getting to the Capitol, and I find it interesting that everyone keeps a "keep moving forward" mentality because if someone gets left behind, there's no turning back. And to be honest, it makes be kind of frustrated that the Capitol is responsible for all of these fates and people dying uncontrollably. I'm just hoping that Katniss' recurring conflict can be resolved because she has all of these depressing emotions, and it makes me think that she's kind of an antagonist (with herself and the Capitol, of course). Hopefully next week I'll be able to finish the book and see how it all ends!
Reading Times:
Monday 3/12 - 30 minutes, p. 271-280
Tuesday 3/13 - 30 minutes, p. 281-292
Wednesday 3/14 - 20 minutes (in class), p. 292-297
Wednesday 3/14 - 40 minutes, p. 297-309
Thursday 3/15 - 12 minutes (in class), p. 309-313
Friday 3/16 - 18 minutes, p. 313-320
Total Pages: 49
We also see a lot here about Katniss and Peeta's relationship, because if none of you know, Peeta's brain has been programmed to think that "Katniss is the enemy" and she is the cause for all that's happened with his home, family, and his own fate. Now, I want to say that they've put the bad things behind them and moved on, but it still isn't true because I can see that Peeta is really disturbed. The big intensity happens with actually getting to the Capitol, and I find it interesting that everyone keeps a "keep moving forward" mentality because if someone gets left behind, there's no turning back. And to be honest, it makes be kind of frustrated that the Capitol is responsible for all of these fates and people dying uncontrollably. I'm just hoping that Katniss' recurring conflict can be resolved because she has all of these depressing emotions, and it makes me think that she's kind of an antagonist (with herself and the Capitol, of course). Hopefully next week I'll be able to finish the book and see how it all ends!
Reading Times:
Monday 3/12 - 30 minutes, p. 271-280
Tuesday 3/13 - 30 minutes, p. 281-292
Wednesday 3/14 - 20 minutes (in class), p. 292-297
Wednesday 3/14 - 40 minutes, p. 297-309
Thursday 3/15 - 12 minutes (in class), p. 309-313
Friday 3/16 - 18 minutes, p. 313-320
Total Pages: 49
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