Looking for Alaska by John Green

HuGe SpoILers

Looking for Alaska by John Green

In the book "Looking for Alaska" by John Green, it follows the story of Miles "Pudge" Halter and his search for "the Great Perhaps" a mythical idea he had read about in a poem. This idea of a great perhaps that he had never even gotten close to in his life, took over his mind and makes him chose to go to Culver Creek Boarding school, a choice that changes his life.

   Its hard to explain Alaska and Mile's relationship. She's sort of a sinking boat that Mile won't abandon. She smiles and laughs and runs barefoot through grass dragging Miles along for the journey. She's everything Miles wants to be and everything he wishes he was. But Alaska is a sinking boat. And once a boat has a leak its almost impossible to repair it. So slowly Alaska sinks. Miles, refusing to believe theres a leak in his boat, just wanting to find land. Alaska, not helping at all, wishes to drag Miles down until water fills his lungs and its too late. And maybe she completed it, with her random outbursts of hating herself. We as a reader realize she's got him wrapped around her little finger, slowly drowning him. But this hate, this leak grows to fast and too quickly. She sinks before he's gone. And I'm not saying Alaska is a bad person, she has her problems just like everyone else, but her need to not be alone is shown many times throughout the book, for instance when she insists on making Miles stay with her over Thanksgiving. Throughout the book, theres this question of what might happen when she's  really alone with her destructive thoughts and break downs, which is also a big theme in the book because she has a single room, but she never really seems to be alone.

 Miles has a strange fascination with last words. Its his weird unexplainable talent. This idea of being remembered by the last words you can spit out before death wraps you in his dark cloak. I found this especially interesting when after Alaska's death, they are trying to understand if it was a suicide or not, so they look up the signs of a suicidal person and one of them is when the suicidal person is obsessed with talking about death, which is what Miles does with his special talent. This caught my eye as a forshadow.

  While John Green is my favorite author, i find his work very repetative. One person doesn't have a life but seeks to find one, this person finds a person who teaches them how to live, the 1st person falls in love with person 2. I would like to read more of his books and see if this fallows through.

I am the Messenger by Mark Zusak

I am the Messenger by Mark Zusak

In the book "I am the messenger" by Mark Zusak was a book about Ed Kennedy who just doesn't know what to do with his life. He feels as though he'll die in his dirty cab. He has watched the rest of his family leave and become something, while he sits back in his tiny shed of a home and feed his dog and waste his money on a poker. But everything changes when he gets his first card.
    Each card he gets leads him to a whole new story in which he needs to fix some way. With each story he seems to find a little bit about himself. The idea of fixing peoples lives seem to much at first but he soon realizes how much pain each of the characters feel. It started out with a stressful rape case which Ed wants no part of until a little girl deeply effected by the case, looked right into Ed's eyes and asked so softly "are you here to help". i can only guess what Ed saw in that girl, but i know it was something that touched him. Not in his heart or soul. Something that touched his whole body. To understand that the card was for him and he wasn't supposed to drive his cab for the rest of his life. He was going to save this little girl, and so many more's future.
    "Are you a Saint?" The words were so small and so easily mistaken, but they were for the new Ed. The Ed that has the feeling of uplifting so many live that he could feel them under his feet as he walked. This new Ed who had all the names of the ones he saved. But who would answer that question honestly. "no. I'm just Ed." he replied

 

Graffiti Moon Essay by Maeve Woollen

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

In the Book Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley, Lucy and Ed are two people that lead totally seperate lives. They only know each other as the girl who broke Ed's nose and the boy who touched her butt. After a disastrous date, they try to forget each other and the disastrous evening spent together. This is easy until they are forced together through an awakward night of being pushed together until finally Ed offers something interesting, helping Lucy find the one mystery that has always kept her wondering. Who is Shadow? 

 Shadow is a troublemaker. Its clear to anyone who reads this book at first. He is a spraying painting high school dropout. And Lucy has been in love with him for as long as she can remember.  And this is more than just a phase of rebellion against parents, go for the troublemaker, make others jealous type of thing. Lucy is in love with the way Shadow expresses himself through his art work, the way he puts all his emotions onto a wall in such a way it  would take hours to understand.“Open skies painted above painted doorways and painted birds skimming across bricks trying to fly away. Little bird, what are you thinking? You come from a can." Many would decide not think much of it, but Lucy finds herself infixed in how Shadow is able to portray so many things from a can to a wall. She finds herself falling in love with Shadow. But how can she? She's never met him. But that could never stop Lucy from finding him. “I guess love's kind of like a marshmallow in a microwave on high. After it explodes it's still a marshmallow. but, you know, now it's a complicated marshmallow.” 

  I find as though Lucy and Shadow very similar. On many occasions, Ed expresses the way she has a complicated mind that can make anyone wonder whats going on just by looking at her. The way dances to her own rhythm at a party. The way she looks at the sky with so much excitement when theres still not a star in the sky. This makes me think of shadow and the way he's so different from many spray painters. He's not as interested in making a mark as they are. He more just wants to show how he's feeling and whats going on in his life than to write his name. And the way he puts it out is so difficult for many to understand. But she understands it. “There was no skin on my voice and she heard the bones in my words.”. Its different between them. Its as if she seems right through him even if she's never had the chance to meet him. So the way Ed can't seem to understand her mind at all makes it kind of hard to believe that he's shadow. I would think they would understand each other perfectly, not it being a one way street. 

   I found it interesting how Ed was Shadow and the way he started to fall in love with Lucy and the way she admired his work. I found this interesting because of the way they hated each other without the art, but with they seem to really get closer. “I like that about art, that what you see is sometimes more about who you are than what’s on the wall. I look at this painting and think about how everyone has some secret inside, something sleeping like that yellow bird.” It also makes me wonder so many things about them as a couple. If they would work out or if they'd have another disastrous date and Lucy's heart be shattered for the one person she admired most in the world be a real jerk. This book leaves a lot of questions on the table as them as a couple and can only slightly be answered with the information we know of them apart. 

   In conclusion, Lucy and Ed aren't perfect. They have their differences. They have different problems and different emotions. That all comes to an end when they can share a lifestyle of Art. A happiness of Art. A love of Art. It brings them together dispite their differences and i think thats something we can all learn from. Lucy and Ed are artists in different ways but have the same base that bring them together in the end.

Time for a Raise? by Patricia Smith

Time for a Raise?
by
Patricia Smith

  Working a very low income job can be very hard and frustrating. The congress assigned minimum wage was set at 25 cents per hour in 1938. Today it is $7.25. This is why i have hope that our battle for a $15.00 minimum wage will be won. Just look at what we've accomplished over the years. 
   Even though the money has been raised, that doesn't mean its become good enough. 49% of minimum wage workers are are 25+ in age. Most of them have kids to take care of and homes to rent. This means $290.00 isn't enough for those people. Many fight including our President Barack Obama for a better pay. Obama's wishes are for the minimum wage to be raised from 7.25 to 10.10 by 2015. This a good goal for now and hope it'll be raised until young mothers or fathers don't need to run off to a 3rd job so soon. This low pay doesn't only mean harder living style, but much longer hours, less time to see their children, and longer working (years wise). Many work for 20-25 hours a week just to keep up with their college loans and rent. Almost 11 million Americans living this way. It has become a very hard task to accomplish and i strongly believe it should be easier (the minimum wage should be raised). 
 In conclusion, i have a lot of hope that America will change in its ways so that kids can see their parents more often and not have to worry SO much about how much things cost. I believe our fight is not over and shall be won. 

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me and Other Concerns by Mindy Kaling

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me and Other Concerns by Mindy Kaling

      This is the very first auto-biography i've ever read. I've seen Mindy Kaling perform on TV shows and throughly enjoyed it. When she first appeared to most eyes she was a snotty young women named Kelly Kappor working under Micheal Scott's advisement in the comedy "The Office". In many episodes she does not have a part and is simply not in the office. In others she has a small part in which she talks very little. She explains in her book how as a writer for that show it was very hard to write, direct and star in the episode, so most write and direct and stay behind the camera. 
     What interested me most about this book was Mindy talked about her childhood. In the book she said that she wasn't popular, she wasn't pretty, and she didn't have a lot of friends but in the long scheme things she's happy she didn't peak in Elementary school or High School. It seems those who did cling onto that idea of how "popular" or "Pretty" they were in school. when their lives don't work out as well, they cling onto that happy memory to remind them that maybe they are special or better than others. Mindy explains her book she did very well in College. Becoming very successful later life, made her feel no shame in who she used to be. They were kind of like stepping stones to where she wanted to be. For example, at one time in her middle school career she really only had one friend who enjoyed all the things she liked which she must rather would have than a bunch of friends that don't like her likes. She points out in one part that walking down the hall with one friend who she could talk to forever than have a whole posse whom she had nothing to talk about, even if it looked a little fun to other people who thought to look popular and important you have to a whole posse. 
    i very much enjoyed Mindy's book. Many of her school experiences i could relate to. Her future experiences i can only wish i will be able to relate to.

Blog Review: Lillian Cheever, WhO KNowS: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

 SPOILERS

Blog Review: Lillian Cheever, WhO KNowS: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

       While reading Lillian's blog post on one of my favorite books, the Fault in Our Stars, one thing really stood out to me. In her blog she said, "I can tell Hazel really cares about her family and what happens to them after she inevitably dies because she is so obsessed with figuring out what happens to Anna’s parents after she dies. An Imperial Affliction ends mid-sentence, presumably because Anna dies, so you never figure out what happens to her family and friends." This really caught my attention. In the three times i have read this book, i have never thought to think about it that way. I knew that Hazel cared very much about her family and others because in the book she says she doesn't want to get close to anyone because she knows when she dies it'll just hurt those she made friends with more than it has to. I know that when she over hears her mother talking about how she won't be a mom anymore, it breaks Hazel's heart. Making sure no one feels a heart break towards her death. To kind of add on to Lillian's idea though, i think she becomes more obsessed with finding the answer when she meet Gus and he kind of teaches her to not be afraid anymore. But there is still that fear because what if Anna's friends all feel so sad they have to go to Therapy for years. What if they all move on and forget about her too soon. Which one would be worse? 
       I think that when Hazel finds out that one of Anna's friends takes in Anna's Hamster, it makes Hazel feel better. Anna's friend was able to take in something they both charishted dearly without feeling too upset and that is why when Hazel gets back from finding that out she is a more able to open herself up more. I feel also that the topper of the social cake for Hazel (SUPER SPOILER AHEAD) After Gus Died, Hazel was looking at his Social Networking Page where meany people posted good memories and special messages to Gus. Hazel noticed she can have a special relationship, share good times and it won't result in some poor girl or boys parents paying thousands of dollars for a therapist, but a few tears and a sweet post about her. 
     I think Lillian and i can both say Augustus Water changed Hazel's life in many ways, but must of all, he made her unafraid of living the life she was given, even if it is the short life she was given.
  
     Lillian's Post and BLOG are really great!!! Check it out!:
http://eternitylilli.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-fault-in-our-stars.html?showComment=1389909459941#c2299575953200191152

Relish

As a child growing up in the famous New York City, i am exposed to many different cultures. Some excite me, some not so much. So with this exploration i have begun to look for what kind of job i want to take on when i grow up. I have grown up in a very nuturing household where i am told i can be anything i want to be if i put my mind to it. My dilemma is theres so much to chose from, and dispite my dads constant impowering talks about how i will find the right thing, i'm very stuck. Marine Biology interests me on a level in which i like swimming and love animals. But Hospitals and Doctors have always interested me, for some unknown reason, so being a doctor interests me also. But in Relish it opened up my eyes on how your job can and will effect your children. Relish is a graphic novel in which a young artist re-tells her story of growing up as the child of an amazing chef growing up in New York. This gave her an idea of what she wants to do and where she wants to be. It was very interesting to see that the daughter of a chef, doesn't usually get a homemade meal from her mother because she has been cooking for stangers all day and doesn't think she can hold a pan anymore. This book has raised an idea of how my job effects those around more than "you can be wantever you want" ever has.