Into the Wild -- Post 2

After finishing the book Into the Wild by John Krakuer , I really felt like I was still reading it. This book takes you so deep into the life of Chris Mccandles and it's very hard to escape from it once your done. I think that this book does a great job of sort of giving a nice resolution for COA and for the book itself. This book really struck me as having a really strong evident amount of forgiveness in it and freedom. While Mccandles was of on his many adventures he really was looking for something and this was forgiveness. He felt like he had to be at peace with the world if it was the last thing that he did. Chris Mccandles was definately not the type of person that would ignorantly watch terrible things happen and do nothing about it. Unlike most people he rejected the idea of society centered around money and made his own way of life.

          Examples of forgiveness are scattered all over in the book especially when he is on "adventures". In these adventures you might think that he is really just trying to get away from corrupting society and finally breathe fresh air. In some ways this is true but he is also getting closer to society by leaving it. All his journeys are really based on looking for answer's. These answer's can be for a numerous amount of things but are normally centered around his parents. It's obvious that he is very confused and upset about the relationship he has with his parents. He feels like they don't understand him and he definately doesn't understand them. While he is off adventuring , most of his time is spent really just thinking about his parents and the issues he has to face on a daily basis. He feels bad for them but also really doesn't and just want's to get revenge on them. In the end although he definately comes at peace with the world and his parents.

        Examples of freedom are also really scattered in the book because they make up most of it. This freedom he's striving for really is to understand / reject society. He never really agreed with the ways of society where everyone gets a job and works for years and then buys a house and so on. He thought that this type of society was in some ways very evil and had unfair advantages to the rich and unfair disadvantages to the poor. Chris wasn't looking for a communist type government ,  but he was looking for something similar. Something that he could participate in without feeling bad about himself. At the end he really did find that type of society which just so happened to be out in the wild where he was the only one that made the rules. He burned his money and invented a new way of life for himself.He found "Freedom" there and died in freedom.

In conclusion , Into the wild is a very elaborate book that contains two main themes and more smaller themes. Chris Mccandles never really could accept the was of society so he made a new one up for himeself in the wild. All in all at the end of the book Chris Mccandles did come to peace with himself and parents, forgiving them for not understanding him. Even thought he did pass away , it's definately better than him being forced into the cruel society in his view.

         

Into the Wild & Coming of Age

       
 After reading up to the halfway mark in the book Into the Wild,  I think that I can really see the roots of this book intertwined with "Coming of Age". Into the Wild is a book about a guy named Chris McCandles and his emotional and physical journey through life. The setting of the book is scattered between Alaska, Virginia and Mexico. At the beginning of this book there is a lot of retell and explanation that needs to be done about McCandles early life so the author goes on about McCandles journeys across basically the world  and his short journeys to places. Through the middle to the end of the book although the author mainly goes on about the alaska expedition that proved fatal for Chris. If theres really one thing this book is hitting at it's that coming of age can be really tough and hard and that the only person in charge of your coming of age is yourself.
             
The first example of this is just plainly Chris's relationship with his parents. His parents want him to basically follow along in there path and end up being a normal adult in civilized society(Who can blame them). They buy him a car even thought he says that he doesn't want one and is greatly angered when he has to give up his old car. They even send him checks of money and other things he doesn't wan't in order to try to ensure his path to be a normal adult. The problem with all of this is that he's decided what type of person he wants to be when he gets older and no one can change that. In some ways I think that this type of confidence is really important. The period of growing up is very long and hard journey that takes place through life.In this period there is a lot of questioning that goes on about who you are. It's so important in a time like this to have the confidence that Chris McCandles holds because it helps you get through this rough period.
           
  The second example of this is Chris McCandles and Ron Franz. Ron has almost the same opinion as Chris's parents and really believes that Chris should "make more out of his life" and get a good job and settle in a house with a wife rather than live on the streets and journey across the US with limited food and money. The problem with this is that Chris honestly does like this lifestyle and enjoys it a lot. This type of real care for something is really important just like confidence is in this period. No matter what people say you should always go by your own instinct rather than just follow the "rules" that may even make you regret that you went by them. This obviously doesn't apply to federal laws unless the laws are honestly unfair or discriminatory.


In conclusion Chris really had a great passion for a type of lifestyle that not many people agreed with. This still didn't change anything and he ignored the people telling him he should "make more out of his life" when this way of  life he really enjoyed and cherished. This passion for one thing really helped him grow as a person and discover new things he never knew. In the end he Chris died of starvation in the Alaska bush. People might think this was really sad and think of how great a life he would have had if he just followed his parents advice. I disagree completely with this and think that Chris definitely lived his life to the fullest and couldn't have been happier. Sure he could have just gone along with normal society and he probably wouldn't have went to Alaska in the first place; but he probably would have been very depressed for the rest of his life for doing this.

Friar Lawrence : Where would Romeo be without him

          Instead of writing a normal blog post about the book i'm currently reading, I thought that it might be interesting to do more writing on Romeo & Juliet and sort of begin to get an idea of how my Literary essay was going to be laid out and it's focus .Through this post I hope to finish my first 3 paragraphs

     "Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast". I think this quote really does a good job of summarizing Friar Lawrence's character throughout the book. He acts almost like a father to Romeo throughout the book and is always there at Romeos side when he's needed until the end. My theory is that Friar Lawrence's purpose in Romeo & Juliet is too guide Romeo too good decisions and prevent him from  actually going through with the almost crazy decisions that Romeo is going to make. I think without Friar Lawrence's guiding hands Romeo would be dead halfway into the book.

    The first example of Friar Lawrence playing this leading part is in Act 2 Scene 3 where Romeo finally consults Friar Lawrence about his new beloved love and gets the exact feedback he needs.Throughout the scene Romeo expresses that he has a strong love for a girl named Juliet. Friar Lawrence brings up a reasonable point that Romeo has taken a lot of time thinking and weeping about Rosaline and he is sad it's gone to waste. Friar Lawrence goes on to say "Women may fall when there is no strength in men". This  is one of the first points the Friar brings up that really stand out as good guidance to Romeo. Even thought this might almost seem like an insult to Romeo, really in reality it's not. Friar Lawrence just wants Romeo to get over his past emotions with Rosaline, the woman that brought Romeo numerous counts of sadness. Rather than trying to make Romeo feel bad because he is "without strength", he's just trying to teach Romeo the lesson that you can't expect a women that doesn't like you to suddenly have feelings for you when your weeping over the women and thinking about her constantly.Romeo agrees with him and says that Friar Lawrence "Scolded him often for loving Rosaline". Friar Lawrence goes on to say that he wasn't scolding Romeo for liking Rosaline but for "obsessing" about her even when Rosaline had no love for Romeo. At the end Friar Lawrence mentions that he will help Romeo with a marriage with Juliet. He also mentions that the marriage might help to break the bonds of hatred that the Montagues and Capulets share with each other.

      The second example of Friar Lawrence once again taking on this Leading role of Romeo appears in Act 2 Scene 6. In this brief yet important scene, Friar Lawrence leads the marriage of Romeo and Juliet.
Romeo comments that anything bad that happens wont stop Romeo from feeling great joy that he is married with Juliet. Friar Lawrence's comment to this is very smart. He says "These violent Delights have violent ends and in their triumph die like fire and powder". In this line he is saying that even the joy Romeo feels today can abruptly change and quickly disappear. He is really trying to set up Romeo so that if something does come in the way of his joy he wont do something irrational and instead be ready for it. Another really important quote he makes is that too much honey tastes great but it makes you sick to your stomach. He then tells Romeo to love in moderation in order to half a long successful relationship.

Keeping the mood in Romeo+Juliet

       After watching the movie Romeo + Juliet by Baz Luhrman I was really amazed at how the weather and overall lighting of the movie almost told the story itself. The movie tells the tale of "two star-crossed lovers"who end up taking there own life at the end.The movie is specifically based  in modern day US even though the original play is based in the Elizabethan era. Even though this movie isn't formatted the same as the original Shakespeare play, it's very closely knit to the original play and in some ways is better for our generation to see. Throughout this movie like I mentioned weather and lighting plays a prominent part in crafting the movie and setting the mood of it. I think that this is very important in all movies and especially in this movie where the script is in older english and the audience may find it hard to understand whats going on in the movie. This use of the lighting and weather can really help to set a general idea of the movie for the members of the audience who don't have any clue what is going on in the movie.


     If I could, I would unpack the whole movie, but theres way too many examples so i'm only going to do the very large important ones. In the beginning of the movie the scene sets with a fight. Hopefully you would know this from all the other details but if you didn't the sharp bright and intense looking lighting really does it's job here and explains it. The bright, sharp look really helps you see the stressful, alive, quick setting that you would feel in a fight. In another scene after Romeo has met Juliet and he has to leave it starts raining. This part of the video becomes slightly blurry and the sky becomes dark. I think that the rain here really represents the happiness that Romeo and Juliet share when there together but the sadness and "tears" they exchange when it comes time for them to leave each other.In another scene Romeo is sitting by the beach with his head hanging low smoking. This part of the video is blurred and in the background the sun is setting over the horizon. I think this setting sun really represents his depression from not being with Juliet. The sun generally represents life and happiness so in this example his happiness is going away where he wont be able to see it.


        In conclusion the lighting and the weather in Romeo + Juliet the movie represents the overall mood and really helps to guide any confused audience. When I say this I can tell you that i'm not lying. These different details that may seem like minor useless information really helped me to understand the events of the movie much better.Without them where would the movie be. I really don't think that people would enjoy any movie where the setting(weather) and lighting had absolutely no significance int the mood or structure of the movie.

looking for a talent: Finally Sucessful

      This is my final response to the book Be Different. In the end of the book he primarily talks about finding your voice or talents. In this whole book i've reconized that the author has been keeping up with the topic of how Asperger syndrome can really make your life a very hard one to live. He talks about how it can create a social barrier in you and can almost ruin your chances of people liking you whether its friends or girlfriends.This dramatically changes in the chapter i have reached where his focus is mainly on finding your talents. In a sense where moving from negative numbers to positive ones. I think that he is sort of finally revealing to the audience (reader) that you still can become successful if you have Asperger syndrome. Without telling us he is giving us hope that if we know someone or even are someone with this syndrome we can make a change.


      In the last pages of the book, he really elaborates on his abilities rather than his defects. He goes on to tell us about his success with a band and finally getting a girlfriend.Like i mentioned I think that he really does a great job with making the reader not feel like there under the water from all these defects that Aspergers are faced with.In one line he states "I was a loner when it came to creating my designs but i was a team player when it came to designing them". I think that this line shows that he really has realized the importance of other people. I think that he sees the world now in more of a technical way. Instead of seeing people like other living beings that disagree with him and make fun of his ways he now sees them as a way of extending his interests and helping him to create his ideas. Some people might call this selfish but i wouldn't agree. This jump to finally relating to people is so large that i would credit it as a success.




         All in all Seth Godin has done a great job of introducing all the conflicts in this book and then slowly fading out of them and fading into successes. Instead of overwhelming the reader with all the bad things he does a really nice job of evening it out to the good things of Asperger syndrome.  This has been a really great book for me because now I can see a whole new other way of thinking that takes place in the mind of an aspergian.(someone with asbergers). If i ever come to meet someone with this syndrome (which i probably will) this book will really help me to understand their cause a little more.

The Potato Eaters

I would recommend zooming in to see all the small but big important details. (Look at Faces)
        
       I really don't know why I like this poem so much. When I look at it I just can find a way to take my eyes of this thought provoking work of art. Maybe it's the lighting or the facial expressions of the people. Maybe I  will never know. Anyways all in all I definitely think this painting should get noticed so i'm including it in this blog post.In the painting portrayed named "The Potato Eaters"(by Vincent Van Gogh) 5 old ragged tired looking people crowd around a table. One lady on the right pours something that looks like coffee as two other people on the far left share a small plate of potatoes.All of the people look very famished and struck in the depths of poverty. At the top of the painting one stray light hangs aluminizing the table . From the men and women's hats I predict that it takes place some time in the 1700s in England. At first I couldn't think of any observations good enough to match this very sophisticated poem. After some thinking I came to my theory.This is that the lighting in the painting is part of the reason that this painting is such a good looking and intriguing piece.It really helps us to infer a lot about the painting and just make us want to think about the picture. Without it this painting would look like a simple work of art.



       When I say lighting I don't just mean the light itself. I mean all the different elements of lighting such as the shadows on the small walls and the dark spots on the peoples faces. I think that even the lamp hanging from the ceiling and barely lighting the table has lots of significance. The dark spots on the peoples faces lead us to think that they are tired. Maybe we could even go further and infer that these people are peasants that do hard work throughout the day. From there dark bony hands we could infer that they do there work mainly with their hands. The fact that the they only have one light which hardly lights their house could lead us to think that they can't afford another light because of their wages from their job. The lack of color in their clothes could lead us to think that they either didn't have access to other colored clothes or couldn't afford it. The overall darkness in this painting even sets the main, depressing, sad mood showcased.


     All in all this picture really does it's job.Whether it's supposed to inspire, or just press thought into someone it succeeds. In my opinion if a painting changes someone than it's doing it's job. This poem is doing exactly this. I could really connect this paintings characters to myself (sometimes). These people look like they are just waiting for something better to begin. I feel the same way sometimes when i'm in a bad mood or just sad overall. I get over it but I don't if these people ever would. These feelings that I share with this picture are definitely also shared in society. Anyway this is a great painting  and should be seen by everyone. Good job Van Gogh.


        

ALL Star Mentor goes to MATISSE

                     After reading Matisse's blog post Peak i've decided that he should me my mentor. His writing exemplifies the good writing habits that we have been talking about this whole year. For example he crafts thought provoking concepts and puts them in his first paragraph. He also does a great job at turning the blog post into a personal level by making many self to book connections. Including all this he gives a great summary to help explain/support his concept. All in all he has done a great job. Good job so far and keep it up.

The mind of an aspergian socially

          You walk up to your best friend very angry with your test grade. An F. You know your parents are going to be very angry and even you are really mad at yourself. You come up to him scowling all over with your eyebrows pushed down in anger. Im so angry you mutter to him as you pass him by. He glimpses back at you for a second and asks why. You reply  "I got a stupid F on my test and my parents are going to kill me". He starts to smile on the corner of his face and as he turns to look at you it gets broader and broader. For a second you wonder why he's smiling but the next thing you know you're covered with anger. "WHATS YOUR PROBLEM" you yell at him as you walk away in anger. Sadly this interaction is happening without people having the knowledge about people diagnosed with Aspergers and stopping it in it's tracks. The truth is the person who would smile in this situation with asperger syndrome is doing nothing wrong and just simply acting on his brains judgement. Because Asperger syndrome effects the way people think this choice of smiling in this situation would be totally normal to them and has deeper meaning.

             In the situation I described instead of the aspergian just acting rude or mean they really are almost doing the opposite but the normal world can't seem to figure that out. In this situation like the one i read in my book the person may just be smiling because they are happy that there friend isn't mad at them and is  just mad at school. The aspergian is honestly just worried about their friendship with the person. The book goes on to tell me (which you probably can infer by now) that Aspergians (people diagnosed with Asbergers) have a very hard time reacting well to and noticing small emotions. As quoted in the book "I knew enough to run if a guy came yelling and screaming at me with a baseball bat but a girl with a subtle expression on her face...as she smiling at me? Laughing?Quizzical and curios?.I had no idea" on page 99.

             All in all I find this type of thinking very interesting. I think it's very important to know all this stuff if you know someone barely or even have a friend diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. I think that this way of thinking even helps me "understand" my parents a little better even though they definitely don't have this syndrome. I hope that someday everyone will come to understand that we all react differently to things being introduced to us. People should know not to get angry or even creeped out if someone acts differently than we expected because we are all different inside.

           

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Be different No really be unique Blog post

              Im currently re reading a book called Be Different by John Elder Robins.  Even at my first pages of this book i'm already immersed into a complex way of thinking that is very amazing to me. I feel like I need to give a brief introduction about the book so I will continue to do that. Basically the book is about the life of a person that has and is diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. For a quick explanation Asperger's effect's your brain by making you think much differently. For example someone with Asperger's might find solving math problems and finding theories very easy because there brain works more systematically almost like a robot. In a sense the brain want's to find the rule for solving an equation (life or math) and then finds the answer and moves on. All this may seem like a lot of great traits to have but it comes in a bundle with some other bad traits. Some of these problems associated with this syndrome can be having a very hard time with socializing whether it involves talking to a friend or asking out a girl etc etc. Be different goes very closely into the positive traits of Asperger's syndrome.
          
    
           I really want to go into the topic of the positive traits of Asperger's.  Like i mentioned before Asperger's syndrome can really corrupt your social life but it can also enhance other things. The author explained that he had an incredibly hard time socializing with his classmates for along time. He also was very rude at times to other's because the different brain type he had. He recalled on one chapter that he started getting happy when someone came up to him looking sad and said that there grandfather had died. His reasoning was that he didn't want the person to be sad and he was happy because he was glad tht the person wasn't mad at him. Event's like this would happen to him all the time and yet in his later years he managed to save someone from a burning car with a second's reaction and tie a tourniquet to save the person from bleeding.


           I can kind of connect with this type of thinking because my grandfather and possibly my dad have Asperger's. I might even have a small case of it myself. This book has really kind of helped me to help understand my grandfathers and dad's behavior. They anger me a lot sometimes but know I can really help understand where they are coming from. As much as they might act very different sometimes they honestly are just going along with there differently developed brain. I now know that some of the smartest people in the world have this syndrome and if i do have it im proud too have it.

The Gift Conspiracy of society

Im still currently reading Linchpins by Seth Godin and I have come to the end of the book. This part of the book is mainly on gifts. This may seem like an unrelated topic for this book but really its not as your about to read.A gift can range from a christmas present to holding the door for someone to spending extra hours for someone. As defined in the book a gift is something extra you do for someone without expecting something else from someone. As the book goes on to tell you is that gifts a long time ago where a way showing your wealth without wanting something in return. During caveman times as stated in the book the rich people would give lots of gifts to everyone. Now in society we are much different we expect something in return for our gifts and we don't give gifts as much and rather wait for gifts to be given to us.We only give gifts for a "reason". We even give gifts to "show love" for someone else. I personally think that all these things are very messed up.

I want to really, first explore this concept of expecting something in return. I think that this is a very bad way of thinking about gifts. Since gifts are supposed to be something that you give without expecting anything from it giving back defeats the purpose. The gift giving than seems to almost turn into an exchange 1 dollar for four quarters, a quarter for a gumball. I can understand the feeling of wanting to give back because the gift really changed you What I really don't like and can't understand is this big problem. The big problem is that I feel like people feel like you have to give back because if you don't you will be in debt with the person. They may not even want to give a gift back but are afraid of being "in debt" of the person. The person giving the gift may not even care if they receive something else. The next thing I want to explore is only giving gifts when you have to. This is like only holding the door for someone on their birthday or only working hard for your boss on the day before your paid break. This is very bad I think also. The thing people don't tell you is that gifts are used primarily for they themselves nowadays. Not for the people they are giving it too or the store they bought it from. but them. While they are giving you for example an ipod (at least for some people) they are gifting themselves relief that there work on your behalf is over. again some people are different than this but there are numerous people that fit this category perfectly.The last thing I want to talk about is giving because you want to show your love. This definitely is an arguable matter because it can be good but in certain occasions it's bad. For example if you really don't love someone but "show your love of them" by buying them a 10,000 dollar ruby necklace, thats no way to show your love.

In conclusion gifts have really become a very unjust trend (for certain people). Even I have experienced this and can really connect with the people who have experienced it. Heres the story:My sisters friend bought my sister something without even thinking about what my sister wanted for christmas. She probably had hoped that my sister would get her something she wanted and that's just what happened.In the end sadly the people looking for an exchange win. The last thing I want to leave my reader with is the idea that gifts have become to commercial and seem to be about how much money it is. I hope that this blog post changed you in some way for good. If you want to read more about this concept may sure to read Linchpin by Seth Godin.

The Resistance holding us back from where we want to be since day 1

Im still currently reading Linchpin by Seth Godin. I think that i've moved on to the part about how we are born creative. We live in a creative manor until someone tells us that it's not good and then we lose it. Seth gave an example of a 5 year old that wanders around a plane looking at everything curiously. They are pushing to find out more/everything about there surroundings until there parents tell them to sit down and that theres nothing to see. This is really a true example of the resistance. All in all I really agree that we are doing something wrong and that we have to stop it. After an experience like the one that this 5 year old has in the example he may be forever changed.

I think that this resistance character is really the main one that is keeping away our creativity. This type of made up character really wants everyone to be normal or the same as everyone else and so when someone isn't the same as everyone else they try to change that person (like the 5 year old). Seth Godin also introduces a concept called the Lizard Brain.This basically is a way that your brain thinks where it's purpose is to generate your survival as long as possible. This "Lizard Brain" is afraid constantly and wants to fit in/camoflauge to stay safe from the resistance. This is why people choose not to share great ideas with other people because they're afraid that they wont fit in with everyone else. This is a very terrible habit because it prevent's you from sharing your worth with the world and going foreword with ideas that could be worldchanging.

All in all I really think that this fear of the resistance is holding lots of people back from great things. Since from the creation of homo sapiens we've trained ourselves to do everything in our ability to stay alive and survive anything seeming different can blow our cover/ attract bad attention causing us to be afraid of acting creatively. This may seem like a big asset for us that helps incredibly to keep us safe and yet it's probably one of our worse habits. I can even connect to this problem an i'm sure lots of other people throughout the world can. When i make a Youtube video or even maybe post something on Facebook that seems different sometimes i'm hesitant of it. Sometimes I get over this fear and go for it and other times i'm afraid of something about it and can pull through. Sadly this fear is almost generated by school i think because some schools do everything in there hands to make sure that everything stays the same.

Linchpins the strange but true concept

Im currently reading a book called Linchpins by Seth Godin. This book has really opened up a new corner of my brain. It has also led me into believing a whole new concept. Even though i'm not finished with this book in fact only around 70 pages into it i've still salvaged numerous ideas. It's fair to say that this book has, for this period of my life, changed the way i look at the world. I think this is just what a book's purpose is so i definitely believe that this book has done a valid job. Linchpins is basically a book that changes the way we look at things. Im putting almost a spoiler here warning everyone who doesn't want to know these changes considering the fact that it talks about the problems with the things that normal everyday people do. Anyway's Linchpins is a book about how most of society isn't wanting us to give are real value as a human. The book argues that school's are just putting you in a position to get a job that requires no creativity and robot-like focus. On the other hand a Linchpin is much different than these robot-like functioning humans. A Linchpin has the ability to use creativity and brain to make something that is worth lot's. A linchpin in this way can be indispensable or needed in some way.

I personally want to elaborate on how school's seem to be killing these so called Linchpins. I think one major factor that should be changed is rules. Of course rules about safety and disciplinary issues/ dangerous situations should be kept but what about the other type of rules. Rules on test's, rules on homework even rules for writing. I can understand these type of rules are needed but i think that student's should get some space when coping with these rules. For example say someone tells you to write their heading on ten pieces of paper. What there guessing is that you will take the time to write the heading for each one. A linchpin in this situation might make a neat copy of there heading on the first page and staple it to the other pieces of paper, therefore saving time and energy to use somewhere else. The teacher on the other hand might take points off for this "blunder". It seem's to me that schools have really not helped you to think but showed you how to think. This can be good in some ways but in others it's not and has a very damaging effect. It prevents creativity and churns out lot's of people that wait for orders and are similar to everyone else. This prevent any new leaders from coming. It also stops linchpins in there tracks when there out of the box, time saving thinking results in bad grades.

In conclusion we need to change our school system a lot. It rewards the rule followers but punishes the real creative people who's talents may lead them to far better carriers than the rule followers. We need to really reconsider this whole idea that showing someone how to think only kills creativity and prevents there chance of learning things without guidance. All in all i'm very happy to be reading this book where so much logic is packed into. If you're interested about this topic i highly recommend reading this book.

Blog post 4 The Kite Runner

This is my 3rd and last blog post on The Kite Runner. Throughout the end of this book i think that a lot of information just jumps right out at you at once . This is a mix of micro and macro details forged together. Some of these details are explicitly explained in the book and some of them aren't. For these details you have to make a guess and infer for them. Some examples of all these details are Sohrab's real whereabouts and Hassan's real father.There's is a lot more detail other than just including this also.I think that the writer of the Kite Runner throws all this information at us in the last second to keep us thinking about the book. If we were to stop thinking so much about the book we might not take in everything that the book has too offer us.

One example of a very implicit detail is what had happened to Sohrab when he was staying in the Taliban house with Assef after being taken from the orphanage. After leaving the house with Amir he keeps saying that he thinks of himself as being "dirty". He also says that they did bad things to him when he was at this house. This part just makes me feel really terrible for Sohrab because of all the things he had to go through. The even worse part about this is that Sohrab almost acts or possibly thinks in a way like it had been his own fault that all the atrocities had occurred. Im guessing that Sohran might have been sexually harassed in a way by the Taliban. This detail just goes to show that in areas like the one Sohrab lives in make and break there own rules without getting in trouble while citizens would get into a great amount of trouble for breaking a small rule.

Another example of a detail thrown at you in the end is that Hassan is actually the son of Baba. This detail is so important throughout the book because Amir is always trying to get Baba to like him more than Hassan and he does this by setting Hassan up to look like he did something wrong and also by saying untrue terrible things about Hassan. Whenever he does this Baba always gets mad at Amir for doing it. When just Baba and Amir are separated from Hassan in California , Baba says "i wish that Hassan could be here". Because of thee secret kept that Baba is the father of Hassan Amir is always getting his feelings hurt because he feels that Baba loves the servant more than he loves his actual son.This makes him feel like he is doing something wrong and makes him do even more things wrong to get Baba to like him more. This detail is introduced relatively fast over the book in about 3 pages. These three pages pretty control Amir's actions throughout the end of the book.

Blog post 3 The Kite Runner

I'm still currently reading the book The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. So far as I left off Baba has passed away and Amir has grown up a married man in California and Hassan has grown up back in Pakistan near Taliban territory. Throughout these last pages i've found a really interesting concept hidden between the lines and stashed throughout the chapters. This concept is forgive and forget. I personally think that this whole book is really focused off this one big theme.

One example of this is Hassan. He is one of the biggest supporters of this ideas. When he and Ali were young and together in Kabul he really showed this concept. When the time came when Ali was becoming very jealous of Baba's love he just kept forgiving and forgetting. When Ali threw pomegranates at Hassan expecting him to retaliate he just ignored him because he knew it was the right thing to do and forgive him instantly.When Ali lied about Hassan stealing his watch he knew that he could deny it and get Ali in trouble but instead he forgave him and just agreed that he had stolen the watch.He even took the blame and beating for Ali from a bully in bruises and punches. All of these things continued to happen and Hassan just continued to forgive and forget. He even did all his chores without anger and right on time. When Ali wanted to hang out with him he would agree to it because he had forgive Ali for everything that he had done. This type of forgiving continues when Ali meets Hassan many years later as they've been in different countries. Hassan could have easily still had anger towards Ali and wanted to be away from him but that isn't what he felt. Instead when Ali walks into Hassan's house Hassan drops the bread dough he is cooking and jumps up and gives Ali a big hug.

In conclusion the forgive and forget method is very closely related to this book.Hassan has it and I think that near the end of the book Ali has it too. Apparently this method can make it almost impossible to hold grudges.I personally think that people who read this book should see this method not just as a detail in the book but a way that can eliminate anger towards people and arguments. I really hope that this reading response helped you learn more about The Kite Runner and its amazing small details

Blog post 2 The Kite Runner

I just started reading The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Immediately starting this book I can notice a really strange thing ( I personally think).This is that Hosseini puts the main character in a very different position than most writers do. In most of the books I have read the main character is always the one that is portrayed as being the protagonist and the side characters are portrayed as being the antagonist's.The reader is always supposed to emphasize with the main character. Feeling bad when the character makes a mistake and feeling proud when the character achieves success.Were also angry whenever the side characters tries to prevent the main character of doing anything. In The Kite Runner this natural balance is switched around so that we feel bad when the side characters are hurt and even though we feel bad when the main character is hurt we feel even worse when we know that the main character is hurting the side character.

In this book the side character is named Hassan and the main character is Amir.This book is a perfect example of this switched aspect because Amir tries to antagonize Hassan and doesn't give Hassan any help when he greatly needs .For example, Amir always lets Hassan take the blame. A character called Assef is bully that always torments Amir and Hassan.Since Hassan is almost the servant of Amir when someone is getting beaten up it's always Hassan.The worst part about about this is that Amir sees this happen before his own eyes twice and he just pretends to forget about it.

Another thing Amir does is try to get Hassan in trouble.Even though you can imagine all Amir wants to do is just forget about the incidents and move on it's still not good to use unfair force to get what he wants.This is exactly what Amir does and he does this by taking the watch his father gave to him for his birthday and hiding it under Hassan's bed to make it look like Hassan stole it.He hopes hat this will make his father kick Hassan out of the house.His father forgives Hassan but neither or less Hassan leaves for no apparent reason.

Throughout these two examples I felt really angry at Amir for doing all this and really empathized with Hassan.I hope that in the end it works out for Hassan.

Bog post 1 Heroes of 9/11 response

I just finished reading the book Heroes of 9/11 by Allan Zullo.I would personally rate this book seven or possibly eight out of ten.The stories in this book included some short stories on the world trade center, The pentagon and finally one short story on the plane that was going to crash into the white house but was taken down by the passengers. These were all really interesting stories to me and helped me to really understand a lot more about this topic having not known none to a tiny bit of information before.I can now really empathize with the characters in this story having read all of it.I personally think that throughout this whole entire book the writer does a great job in keeping up suspense and keeping the reader entertained and interested.He also does a great job of changing his specific writing style according to the character the story is about because he wants the stories to seem more realistic.

One way the writer seemed to do this was by giving the reader the information and details he or she need to form a visual picture of the scene keeping them interested.For example instead of just pointing out that the World Trade Center buildings had fallen down the author writes "the two 1,300 foot tall structures had been reduced to a pile of twisted steel,busted concrete,and gnarled building materials crammed in a heap five stories above,six stories below ground. i think that this is a great example of showing rather than just telling.The authors goes on to continuously create more specific bright detail like this.The author also masters the skill of detail by slipping it in easily.For example he doesn't just tell you the information he pretends to write like he actually is the person that it's happening to and occasionally slips in needed information that would seem like the character would explain.Another thing that the author does to enrich the writing is by changing his writing tone for each short story to fit the character.For example he has stories where the people talk much differently and also have much different generals ideas of what to do.Some characters are scared to act and other immediately jump into the scene to help out however they can.

In conclusion the writer uses his three skills to greatly enrich the stories and make them seem very realistic.When i picked up this book at the bookfair i was not expecting to be given the 100% full exstent of 9/11 in a book.I was expecting some ok stories and a general sense of 9/11. This book has greatly proved me wrong. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in an interesting and information packed book rather than reading from a factual book.

Hunger games entry

Nathan.H.Chackerian 711

Reading Response

Ms O’Hara

1o/26/10

I have finished reading the book The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It is about a sixteen-year-old girl named Katniss. She lives in a society with a very unfair cruel government . She ends being a participant in the Hunger Games having volunteered for her sister. This is a gruesome unearthly competition between kids where they are forced to fight to the death till only one person stands alive. Katniss manages to stay alive till the end of the game and have the only one winner rule changed. After finishing this book left me wondering why she had chosen to go through so much. My theory is that she was willing to work so hard and stay alive because she believed that she could make the world she’s in better in her opinion.

One example of this is her brave choice of volunteering to go to the games instead of her sister. At that point Katniss might not even have been thinking that deeply. I think that something inside of her had told her it was the right thing to do. She probably knew that her sister wouldn’t be able to survive in the games and that she would have a better chance. This has happened to me before and so many people. You sometimes make choices not from hard thinking but just from what your heart tells you to do. The choices can be risky but it still doesn’t stop you or Katniss from doing it.

Another example of her overcoming something to make something better is the fact that she had the willpower to survive in the Hunger Games. I think that one reason why she did this was to follow up on the promise she made to her sister but mainly it was because I think that she imagined that if she survived and won the game she would be alive to change the way the government worked considering how wealthy and famous she would bedim not sure what I would do if I was Katniss. I think that she does realize that not giving up could give her a lot of mental and possibly physical pain.

At the end of the games she is left just with Peeta the other participant from her district. The speaker in the arena informs them that they will have to battle it out because there aren’t 2 winners in the game. Like before when Katniss took her sister’s spot without much thought she decides that she would rather they both die than one of them killing the other. Peeta agrees with her. They are about to eat poisonous berries at the same time when the speaker tells them that they have both one the games. This is another example of her doing something hard because she thinks it is right.

I think that one of the main reasons why Katniss does what she thinks is best even if it’s hard is because she is constantly surrounded by people that follow that rule. For example her mom and her sister work as doctors. This is a job where you can’t ever give up because someone else’s life is at stake and you have to choose what’s best for them. Another inspiring person is gale her cousin. He goes off hunting in the woods even though it’s permitted because he knows that his family needs the extra food or income from the profit of the things he hunts.

In conclusion Katniss is a type of person who will work incredibly hard to overcome different things. This is because she thinks that she can help the future of her area get better. She makes quick choices because something tells her that what she is doing is right. There is constantly something that she must overcome in her world an she never gives up. She has a great skill and great people to help her on. I think she will succeed.

The Art Of Deception
By Nathan Chackerian


2009
"Come in class, oooh nice painting Charles." said Mrs. Stout and brushed her hair away from her face. Charles walked in with his painting he had brought in. "Hi Charles," Fred said with a morning grin. Charles took off his brown backpack and slung it over his hook.The cold metal casing of his painting slit his finger, blood began to drip off the tip of his finger as if it was jumping off a diving board. He ran quickly over to the cabinet, grabbed a bandage, and wrapped it around his finger, the bleeding stopped and he sat down. There came a voice behind him
"Hey turn around," he turned around and there was John "Not now " said Charles and tried to focus on what the teacher was saying. As soon as he was focused John tapped him on the back
"What is it?" he said, feeling annoyed "Just read it." said John. "Fine, if you’ll just stop bothering me." He read the note, in messy hand writing was printed "How stupid can you be" it said. "So what’s the answer obviously" said Mrs. Stout. "Yeah, Charles" John whispered. He looked up and said "Huuuuh, twenty four?" "No, Charles" Mrs. Stout said in an aggravated tone as she stomped her foot on the ground with a thump "You have to listen next time." "But I" Charles said, "No BUTS" Mrs. Stout said. Then Mrs. Stout passed out the fifth grade E.L.A practice test. Once she had finished she sat down on her wooden chair and said to everyone, "You may begin."
Charles fished out a pencil from his desk gripped it and skimmed the practice test and filled in the bubble sheet with his answers then he slumped down in his chair and took out a book but he was distracted and unable to read. Then his gaze met the round blue metal clock on the wall and he watched it tick.

"Ding! Ding!" went the class bell. Mrs. Stout rose to speak, "Class your test time is over," Mrs. Stout said "Please pile your practice tests neatly in the middle of your table. I will read them while you are at art class." Charles grabbed his painting and trotted out of the noisy room down the old wooden steps to the front of the art room. He was the first person there and was greeted by Mr. Perry, the art teacher. "Hi Charles" "Hi" Charles replied. "I really liked your drawing you made yesterday" said Mr. Perry, as he lifted his tan, steaming cup of tea to sip it. "Look what I brought" said Charles as he lifted his painting to show his art teacher, "I thought you might like to show the class this painting" "Oh yes, thanks. I would recognize that artist if I was blindfolded. Is that a Higgins?!" said Mr. Perry. "Yes it is I’m surprised you know about it," said Charles "It’s a very rare painting because Higgins died when he was thirty. His dark paintings were inspired by the suffering he experienced during the Second World War. I think he died in Russia from frostbite near the end of the war and his paintings became more valuable because of his story."
"Wow, I never knew that," Mr. Perry said as the class came bustling through the hall in an unorderly fashion to the door of the art room.
"Quiet down! Or we’ll have to practice this again" Mr. Perry yelled as he tried to maintain control of the class. The students slowly quieted down, formed a line and walked in. Mr. Perry sat down on a brown Ottoman and put his elbows on a white art table. Charles handed him the painting by Higgins and joined the class hovering around Mr. Perry. "Today we actually get to see an original painting made by a semi-famous artist" said Mr. Perry. "Wow, that’s great. I’ve never seen a painting made by semi famous artist." said John sarcastically. "That’s a strike for you John" said Mr. Perry in a stern tone. "I was only complimenting!" said John as a couple of his buddies snickered. "As I was saying, today Charles has brought in a painting by Higgins. What do you notice about it. Fred?"
"I notice that there is a brown dog barking in a mansion."
"Yes, you’re right." said Mr. Perry and they continued to discuss the details of the painting.


"It looks like it’s time to leave now." Said Mr. Perry, "I really liked your inference over the last thirty minutes on the painting." Then he called student by student to get their stuff together and leave. "Charles" he finally said. Charles walked out of the Eco-Modern room and lifted up his brown backpack off the hook outside the classroom and waited for his friend Fred to come out. "There you are" Fred said "I’m glad Mr. Perry finally gave John another strike."
"I know he really deserves it by now, he always acts so annoying every class time." said Charles. "Yeah, I know." said Fred "Let’s go before the Johnster makes more trouble with us."


"Oh my god! I totally forgot the painting!" said Charles "I have to go back. Bye, see you tomorrow Fred.","See ya!" Fred said. Charles rushed back to the building like a cheetah and roamed into the art room. The light was dim and the room was dark. Charles slid the light up to full and walked over to the table and looked. For some reason there were pieces of dark brown dog hair on the rug. "Mr. Perry must have a dog" Charles thought as he shot his hand out to the place where Mr. Perry had left the painting. He made a grabbing motion towards it- but nothing. He began to grab more frantically and finally made up his mind the painting wasn’t there. He walked slowly back through the hallway as he passed John laughing with his gang of friends. "Why would anybody be laughing for no reason?" he thought. There was no reason to laugh at the painting that had been handed down over time by his family. He walked slowly back in the cold rain crying and stressing about what he would tell his dad. Finally he got to his door and opened it with a creak, immediately his dad came walking over. "Hey sport how was your day!?" "Okay" Charles said slowly. "Hey where’s that painting?!" Charles dad said. "Ummm, it’s somewhere in Minnesota??" "Yeah, where in Minnesota?!" replied Charles’ dad. "I don’t know" Charles said slowly. "Why don’t you know?" his dad said."Because, I don’t know where the painting went." "WHAT!?" yelled Charles’ dad "Grandpa’s going to be happy about this!" Charles dad said sarcastically.
Charles ran up to his room and slammed the door shut. He threw himself into his bed and grabbed the covers and pulled them up to his face.

Charles was up on a hill. There was silence in the air. He could peer down and see many men and women, white and black, lined up facing a white mansion. He watched as men and women would walk into the mansion each time which would be replaced with an equivalent of blood, puddling up on the steps of the white mansion and staining the white steps red.

"Ahhhhh!" yelled Charles. He had had a nightmare. He peered over and checked his blue Twins clock and focused on the numbers. It’s said "7:40 A.M" and he had school at eight. He ran down the stairs, shoveled up his breakfast and stopped for a second to see his dad watching the news from three years ago about Charlie, a staff member in a bank that had been murdered. He ran all the way to school and dove into his seat just as the bell rang for the beginning of school.
He felt a tap on his back "Not again" he groaned and turned around. Of course it was John and he began to speak "I’m really sorry about my behavior in the past." John said, "I’ll explain more after school, meet me outside the class we dismiss from." Charles was astonished "Why would John be apologizing to him? It must be a trick. It must be." Math class passed swiftly and finally Charles had art class again. Charles walked out of the classroom he had had math in and walked to the front door of the art room. Then Mr. Perry came out and started apologizing about the disappearance of the painting and how he would pay Charles back the original cost of the painting. Charles declined Mr. Perry paying him, but Mr. Perry insisted on it.
Finally the class came walking to the front door of the art room and they lined and walked in.
"Class, today we will try to find the painting that Charles so kindly let us look at.
"Can I search the cabinets?" said John "I don’t know, maybe you’ll get that job." Mr. Perry said "I will give each of you a number which will correspond to your job." After Mr. Perry had given out number to each person, Charles went up to Mr. Perry and said "Thanks for trying to help find the painting, maybe I will get it back." "Maybe you will" Mr. Perry said "But don’t get your hopes up so much." Charles looked under the rugs and behind the shelves but he didn’t find anything except for some dust and some used paper. Finally Mr. Perry called the class to gather in the middle of the room. "Did anyone find the painting?" Mr. Perry asked "No" the children said, "But we found lots of paper littered in some areas." "That’s great" Mr. Perry replied sarcastically. Finally Mr. Perry called the children one by one out of the room.
"Charles" he finally said. Charles walked up to Mr. Perry and said "Thanks again. I guess I’ll just have to live without that painting." "Here’s a check for the original cost of the painting." Mr. Perry said and handed him the check. "No it’s fine, you don’t have to give me it." Charles said. "I insist." Said Mr. Perry. Charles walked out and remembered he was going to meet with John. He took his knapsack off the hook in the hallway and walked over to where John was.
"Hi" said John "I’m really sorry about the painting. I want to apologize for my behavior. It’s just that my parents have been fighting a lot." Then Fred walked out of the art classroom.. "Hey get away from my friend, idiot!." Fred yelled. "No, it’s fine" Charles replied, "He’s apologizing." "Oh," said Fred dumbfounded. "I apologize to you also Fred." said John. "Oh." said Fred "I was wondering if you two could come over to my house?" said John. "Umm, sure.." said Charles. Fred stared at Charles in horror but agreed to go also. The three kids walked out of the school and up a rocky hill to Johns house.
"Is that your house?" said Fred, stunned. "Yeah," John said. "Wow, you’re rich!" said Fred.
"I prefer to look at it as entertainment for my play-dates." Replied John. "Woah!" said Fred silently as they walked yonder towards the mansion. The big white mansion appeared to grow bigger till they were at it’s steps. "I’ve been thinking about that painting of yours.: said John. "And I think I’ve worked out a suspect. I think that Mrs. Stout took it. You know she was a Higgins lover and got a Masters Degree in Art in college."
"No, I didn’t know that." Charles said. Then John knocked on the door and said "It’s John, open the door." The door creaked open and six butlers came up and greeted them. It was a big hallway with a crystal chandelier and an Oriental rug. Then a brown German Shepard guard-dog came barking through. "Be nice to the newcomers Gunter!" John said as he pushed the dog away. "Could you wait here? I have to use the pot." John said in a louder than normal tone. "My…." John hesitated "My, uh, parents don’t like strangers roaming around the house because they could knock over some expensive antique." Then he closed the bathroom door and they got settled Fred started walking aroud the room "Ooohing" and "Ahhing" at different stuff. Then he stumbled on the rug. He got back up and lifted up the big Oriental rug. It was heavy and hard to pick up. Finally he lifted it and lo and behold there was the painting! Fred dropped the rug the rug with a thump immediately and walked over to Charles. "Hey Charles" Fred whispered "Look under the rug. The Higgins painting is there!" Charles crept over to the rug and gently pulled it, there was the painting. Then there came a voice from behind him, "I see you’ve found the painting." They turned around and the tall butler was talking. "Great job, I never would have thought that where I was standing concealed the painting I was looking for." said the butler.
Then they heard the creak of a door. They turned around again and there was John. "I told you we shouldn’t have gone here." Fred whispered. "Yeah, you were righ, let’s make a run for it. When I count to three you run towards the door and I’ll grab the painting and follow, okay?" said Charles. "Okay!" said Fred.
"One, two, three!" Charles whispered. They both did their jobs and ran as fast as they could. They both hit the butler and fell down. Then the butler began to speak in his fancy voice. "I’m afraid you’ll have to stay for tea. You may get bored if you leave and then that won’t be good." Then he reached for something in his breast pocket. He slowly lifted the thing out. As it got closer the black object became more visible: it was a pistol! The butler made a weird look at Charles and aimed the gun at his head. A cool feeling went down Charles’ spine. He had been tricked, kidnapped and would possibly be murdered. "Would you please so kindly go in that room?"the butler said. "Umm, sure," Charles said slowly, and shuddered. Charles and Fred slowly moved forward and walked into the room with the gun aimed at point-blank range. Finally the got into the room and the door slammed shut. What was very fishy about this was that the door was not locked. They explored the room, there was nothing much there. The room was dark like a jail cell. It had one small window. "Oh my god!" said Fred and shrieked in terror and jumped back. "What happened?!" said Charles. "I saw a body. A dead body." His voice became faster, "Of a MAN!" said Fred. "Where?" Charles asked. "Over there." Charles walked over to the place where Fred had pointed to and there it was, a corpse with a head that was moulding and a body which was hardly any fat and was all bone. "Oh my!" exclaimed Charles. He examined the body and found a half moth-eaten wallet. Charles opened it and some coins came tumbling out and a long rope came out also. He found a torn I.D and looked at it.
A spider ran free off the I.D. He could just make out the words. It said "Charlie T. Toren from Minnesota. Occupation: Bank Staff Member and Vault Key Holder."
"Why would he be here?" said Fred. "Hmmm" Charles thought, "I’ve got it! I be that John or the butler murdered him so they could get the money from the bank.." said Charles. "I bet that’s how they got rich." "Yeah," said Fred "I have a deathly feeling that we’re dealing with a killer. I think this so-called butler is addicted to killing people. He killed this man and he probably left the door open because he wanted to kill us." Time passed on and the boys got hungry and realized they would have to make a stand if they didn’t want to starve to death like Charlie. "Look a window! I should have thought of that. We should get out from there." said Charles. "Okay," Fred replied. "How about I stay here while you get the police?" Fred said, "I’ll make noises like we’re talking so they won’t suspect anything." "Great idea," said Charles "But I need to get on your shoulders in order to reach the window sill." Charles jumped on Fred’s shoulders and Fred lifted him up to the sill. Charles looked down. It was the worst place to be. It was a speedy intersection and cars were whizzing around and the worst part was there was no fire escape.
"No fire escape!" Charles yelled "What should we do?!" "We could use the rope…" Fred said slowly "But it would be risking your life."
"Let me think about this." Charles said and thought. Finally he made up his mind. "Okay, I’ll do it. Just tell my parents I told you to tell them I love them."
" Okay, let’s do this." Said Fred.
He pulled out the long rope and hesitated. It was mouldy and frayed in some places. Fred shook his gaze off the dangers and got up to the windowsill and dropped the rope out of the window, holding onto the other end. He fould a hole where he could loop the string around and knotted it in place. "You’ve been a great friend." said Fred "Hopefully you will live to see another day."
"You’ve been a nice friend also" said Charles. And with that he ggrabbed hold of the rope, closed his eyes and dropped.
Fred held the string and kept one eye out of the window. The rope started to get very heavy. He kept his hands on it, but it started to loop back around the hole until it was on the tip of his hands. Then he dropped it! He looked out of the window and saw a figure drop and blood splatter on the hard pavement below and he heard yelling. "What have I done?!" Fred screamed and felt a cold wave go up his spine. He sat there in the darkness, half praying, half depressed.
"Thump. Thump" came a sound from the window. He turned and to his amazement he saw Charles leading five policemen in blue uniforms climbing up a metal ladder. At first Fred backed away because he thought Charles was going to arrest him. But then Charles said sarcastically "Great holding onto me." Fred frowned then started to laugh. "I was so scared you weren’t alive! I thought I saw you fall." Fred said.
"I did fall, to the awning at Mrs. Petucci’s flower store."
"But what about the blood!?" Fred said
"Oh, yeah. A man was just emptying his Cherry Coke in front of the store."
"What about the yelling!?" asked Fred
"That was Mrs. Petucci yelling at him."
"So you’re fine?" Fred said.
"Yes, it was actually a quite awesome trip!" beamed Charles "After I fell I went right to the police and told them about what had happened and that brang me here."
"Okay let’s go" said Fred. They ran to the main room where they had been originally caught and there were the two mischief-makers.
"Where are you from?!" said the butler
"Don’t pretend you don’t know who we are." said Charles in an angry voice.
"Hello Captain Sam." Said the butler "Are these two causing trouble?"
"Umm, not really" replied the squad police chief.
"I need to talk to you privately." Said the butler. "Okay" said Captain Sam. They went into another room and started to talk. When they came out Captain Sam had a wad of bills in his hand. "Next time don’t make up a story about a stolen painting." Officer Sam said.
Then Charles knew what had happened. "Aww, too bad we didn’t get to steal that painting because I can’t bring it to China now." Said Charles.
"Yeah, " said Fred.
Then Charles gave the ‘four, three, two one’ fingers and they both did their job of getting out of there. Instead of bumping into the butler, they got through his legs, ran to the airport and threw Charles hat on the line for Chinese Airlines and then they both ran back home and told their parents what had happened.
john moved to China so he wouldn’t get arrested and for reasons unknown and life went on, unchanged with a memory of a painting under a rug and a bribed police officer.