Paradox and Dreams

Paradox: “Our lives as we live them would not function without electricity, but it is a rare man or women who, when the power goes off, knows how to look for a burnt-out fuse and replace it.” 

 Interpretation: Our lives are surrounded with electricity; cars, computers, lights, fans, air conditioners, etc. We take it for granted, definitely. Just as Steinbeck states, “but it is a rare man or women who, when the power goes off, knows how to look for a burnt-out fuse and replace it.” He states that it is a very rare sight to see a man or women fixing their electricity, while knowing what they are doing. Anyone can try to fix something, but half the time, they break it even more. Again, we take electricity and all the perks for granted. When our power goes out, whom do we call? Not the Ghostbusters, we call the city, when it could be as simple as an old light bulb. 

Reflection: I can really connect to this in two ways. The first way is when our power went out, we had no clue why, because it wasn’t thunder storming and it wasn’t anything to do with the light bulbs. So we called my, (I don’t really know what to call her,) cousin’s mom and we had her drive to our house from Romeoville. It turned out that it was just the fuse box was burnt out. We depended so much on electricity, but we never know how to fix it. My second relation would be when I dropped my phone in the sink. I was freaking out because my mom and dad wasn’t home, so I didn’t know what to do. I decided to turn my phone on and off, and then it worked perfectly fine. The next day however, the home buttons and returns buttons weren’t working. I decided to look on Google what I should do. The only solution was to use rice water, but since it was too late to do it, it just said to get an app called Button Savior. I use my phone basically everyday, and I didn’t even know how to fix it or what I should do. P.S. now my buttons work:). 

Paradox: “We trample friends, relatives, and strangers who get in the way of our achieving it; and once we get it we show it on psychoanalysts to try to find out why we are unhappy, and finally- if we have enough of the gold- we contribute it back to the nation into the form of foundations and charities.” 

Interpretation: When we want something, we act like we desperately need it. We do whatever it takes to make it to what we want to achieve, whether or not we lose friends, and even family. Once we have what we wanted so eagerly, we use it to find out why our friends and family are so unhappy. The paradox Steinbeck tells us is practically talking about money. We want money so bad, we want to be rich so much; that we do anything it takes to get it. Then once we have it we try to buy our way into our friends’ and families’ feelings. Even when we became the richest of them all, we just think donating to a charity will solve all of the world’s problems. 

Reflection: I can most definitely relate to this easily. My entire family is made of athletes and musicians. Both my grandmas were on track, and volleyball, my grandpa was in the army, which you have to be in pretty good shape. My grandpa is a piano player, guitar player, and he sings. With my sister, she does whatever it takes to run. She literally had surgery in February, and she was running again in March. She does whatever she can to be back onto the top, whether it’s missing a graduation, a birthday party, or even running with shin splints. My brother does whatever he can to get his job as his number one priority, he misses birthday parties, Easter, Thanksgiving, any family get together, just to be able to get enough money to live, basically. 

Symbolism of Me:)

For my object, I chose my bible. I apologize if this offended anyone in anyway.

     My bible represents/symbolizes me because, I base my morals and lifestyle off of it. Whatever I do, is based off the bible. I honor my mother and father, (Exodus 20:12), and I do not murder, commit adultery, steal, or bear false fruit, etc. I follow the bible, because God wrote the bible, well inspired people spiritually to write the bible. I think of God as my father. Your father sets rules for the household; some families have sex after marriage, or no dating without approval. My heavenly father set these rules for us to live by, (10 commandments). He also set things like not worrying because "the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them." Or, to "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons [and daughters] of your father in heaven." It symbolizes what I choose to live by as a growing Christian teen girl.

     My bible also symbolizes hope and dreams. You may say, "It's not a," I don't know, "basketball. How can that symbolize hope?" Well, there are many verses in the bible, many books; in fact there are 66 books! There are so many verses in the bible talking about hope, such as Joshua 10:25; "...do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Be strong and courageous." Verses like these give me hope for the day, month, and even year. Did you know the bible tells us 365 to not be afraid? One verse per day to tell me there will always be hope for me, and to not be afraid of what is ahead of me. I always think of David and Goliath. In Jeremiah 29:11, God tells us, "for I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope for the future." This gives me hope and makes me dream of what God has planned for my life. I know God has a plan for me, and it gives me hope that I am not useless, and I am going to live for something in this world. I may not know what it is, but that's the fun part.

I COMMENTED ON: SEBASTIAN B'S., JARED A'S., SAM T'S., SIARI R'S., AND EVIE C'S., BLGOS.

Final Reflection Blog:)

Paragraph 1 Prompts: 1- what are the three most important things you learned this year?

2- what is something we did this year that you think you will remember for the rest of your life?

     The three most important things I learned this year is how to write an objective summary, how to state textual evidence, and how to stay organized with time management. I think learning how to manage my time is the most important because, in the beginning of the year, I always use to study on Thursday's only, and do my AOW's on Thursday's only as well. Now that I learned to organize my time and to manage what objectives I needed to get to, I can finish my AOW and blog on Monday, while Tuesday I can do my social studies AOW and science alternative assignment. I think one thing I will remember for the rest of my life would be seeing my classmates eat Sardines, and hearing Jeremiah's and Sam's rap battle. They were both very fun events to witness, especially seeing Evie eat a Sardine. How do you eat those things? Yuck!

Paragraph 2 Prompts: 3- what was the nicest thing someone in our class did for you this year?

4- what is something you taught your teacher or classmates this year?

     The nicest thing anyone has done in our class this year was, having my classmates putting up my chair, and sometimes helping me with my books when I hurt my collarbone. I think it was really nice of them help me even though I declined most of their offers. I think one thing I taught Mrs. Larson was about Dia De Los Reyes, or Dia De Reyes (goes both ways.) I say this because, during our culture project, I talked about this holiday and she really didn't know what it was. (I don't know if you feel the same Mrs. Larson-ha-ha.)

Paragraph 3 Prompts: 5- in what area do you feel you made your biggest improvements? What is something you accomplished this year that you are proud of?

6- what was the most challenging part of this year for you?

    I think the area I most improved in was my vocabulary or my writing skills. I look back and read my novellas or short stories I wrote in like the third grade. Oh boy. They were very detailed, but on the wrong thing. Also, they had a lot of grammatical errors. I read a story that I wrote in the 6th grade or the 7th grade, and I can see the great change. An accomplishment that I am very proud of was reading is, reading 52 books for my 40-book challenge. Even though we were only suppose to read 40, ha-ha. With all the stress that developed during the 7th grade, and with all the worry of vocab and AOW's, I am shocked I surprised this class.

Paragraph 4 Prompts: 7- what was the best piece of writing that you did this year? Why do you think it is your best?

8- of the books you read this year, which was your favorite? Why?

     The best piece of writing I have written this year wasn't a writing piece for this class. It was a story I wrote called Ace. It took me about 7 months to write it and I was really proud when I finished it. It's about a girl who loves volleyball, (of course,) and she gets into an accident that ends up taking her leg. I think it was my best because, I actually wrote a book that was more than 100 pages. One of my favorite books I read this year was the Hazelwood High Trilogy because; it talks about what real kids go through, and what they have to deal with.

Paragraph 5 Prompts: 9- what advice would you give students who will be in this class next year?

     I would give the upcoming accelerated 7th graders advice as to the topics of time management, organization, and studying for vocabulary. Be good with managing your time. It's going to come in handy if you have an assignment notebook, or if you write your assignments on your computer. Schedule what time you have and what assignments you are going to do during that time period. Also, be very neat and organized with your work. It's best if you get a binder with folders and prongs, or page dividers. You're going to want to keep your work separated, i.e. your AOW's should be kept separated from your vocabulary test, and vocab words. Study your vocab at least for 5 minutes a day on Quizlet. Otherwise, on Thursday night, your going to be so stressed out you will have a headache in the morning. Believe me.

Of Mice and Men: The Movie

Prompt:  In the film, the director shows us “the incident in Weed” differently from how we find out in the book. What’s different? Why do you think he chose to do it that way? How does it change the story? The book begins with the “stage” set by the pond. In the film, we see George on a train first. Why would the director do this? What is the director telling us about George’s life? What do you think of the director’s choice of Sharilynn Fenn to play Curley’s wife? Does she look the way you imagined her in the book? Whom would you have chosen? What are your general thoughts, feelings, reactions of Of Mice and Men? What had the most profound impact on you or your understanding of the novella? Who would you recommend this book to and why?

     The difference in the book and the movie is the book they tell about the incident through small keyholes. Until, we get to Slim and George's conversation on page 41, where George confides into Slim about the 'Weed incident'. As George accidentally slips up saying, "like what happened in Weed-" In the movie however, you see the girl in Weed in the beginning of the movie running from Lennie. But, Gary Sinse keeps the same of George confiding into Slim. I think he chose to do it this way because, if he was not to have the girl running in the beginning, the audience who may or may not have read the book could easily get confused. It changes the story because, you can see first hand what they experienced running from. In the book, you can only visualize the guys in a pond. 

     I think Gary Sinse had the book start on a train, because maybe that’s all George has for his life. In the beginning of the movie and at the end of the movie, George is on the train. I think, like I said before, that's all Steinbeck and Sinse had planned for George's life. A continuous circle of working, farms, and trains. In the book, they are by the slough. I think Steinbeck did this instead of having George and Lennie on a train because, it shows George's other side of him. Yes, there is the side of George that constantly works. But, there is the other side of him that cares about Lennie. The side that he would run from his job and jump on a train, just to make sure Lennie wouldn't go to jail. A side that he would kill Lennie out of mercy, just so Curley wouldn't shoot him. The book shows the side of George that cares about Lennie and his friendship more than a cathouse or hanging with the guys. The movie shows a side of George that constantly has to run away because of Lennie's wrongs. 

     I think the producer of the movie picked Sharilynn Fenn as Curley's wife because; she is a lot like how they described her in the book. She had "...full, rouged lips..." and "her hair hung in little rolled clusters...” Sharilynn Fenn was fit to play Curley's Wife. She was pretty like Lennie, and Candy described her as, and she had nasally, brittle, and soft voice. All adjectives Steinbeck uses to describe her voice. She looks almost exactly like I described her. I imagined her with longer hair, and light brown colored hair. I would have chose Tiffani Amber Thiessen to play Curley's Wife. It's funny because, they resemble each other a lot. Although she doesn't have corkscrew curls. She just has wavy hair. 

     I honestly didn't like the movie as much as I expected. I guess the saying is right, the book(s) is better than the movie(s). I didn't like how they ended the movie, especially with how George shot Lennie mid-sentence. I liked how in the book, George waited for him to finish his sentence and dreams, and let him die while daydreaming. I really liked the book though, and I would read it again, even if it were not for school. I would recommend this book to anyone, well anyone above 7th grade that has the mind ability to understand each character's situation. Because, if you gave a 2nd grader the book, they would probably laugh or say, "ooh bad words!" at each time they said the N-word or B-word. Also, two; they probably don't know the difference of the Holocaust and the Dust Bowl. 

     The most profound impact throughout the book would probably be, Lennie dying. It had the hardest impact because; I didn't really predict or foreshadow that happening. I honestly thought they would get the farm/ranch and will end happily ever after. Then again, Lennie just can't stay out of trouble. However, Lennie doesn’t really get in trouble on purpose. So, it's a lose-lose situation at the end. If George had shot Lennie, Curley would have killed him in a slow and painful way. 

~<- Is Tiffani Amber Thiessen (Saved By The Bell), and -> is Curley's Wife~