TKAM Setting

     The reason of why I chose this picture was because Maycomb is said to be farmland and not city wise. In the book on page 5 it says, "Maycom was a tired old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned into red slop; grass grew on sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square." For the part when the book says that the roads turn into "red slop" when it rains I think of a dirt road. In the picture there is a dirt road.

     In the book it said that Maycomb was mostly farmland. In the book on page 21 the book says, "As Maycomb county was farm country,..."  This sentence right here basically says that Maycomb was farmland. In the picture I have chosen, over the fence it looks like farmland because it was a vast and open space with what looks like wheat.

      In conclusion, these are my reasons on why this picture looks like the setting of To Kill A Mockingbird. 

Theme Blog

Prompt:Your blog for your 40 Book Challenge this week will focus on theme. You will need to determine a theme and analyze its development throughout the novel. By looking closely at character's actions, the setting, plot events, and/or the conflict, you can identify clues that are written by the author to help teach you (the reader) a message about life or human nature. Start first by looking at your 'Universal Theme' sheet to help you get started.

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The title of the story that I am introducing a theme to is Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. At the setting's time of the story, it was during the Great Depression, it was also a time when people were racist to African Americans. In the story it's focused on an African American family the Logan's. The story itself is in the eyes of Cassie Logan, and throughout the story it shows how it hard it is to be an African American family in that time. They have to go through racism, they are thought of as inferior, and they get bullied by both adults and children. That is where my theme starts. 

The main theme of this book is racism. As the story goes through, even in the first couple of chapters it already shows that they are getting discriminated and bullied because they are African. A character is introduced that is named Lillian Jean and she already is an enemy against Cassie, and the way the story starts, it's most likely that they have been enemies long before the story even  started. One sign of racism in the book is when Cassie is walking in the sidewalk and bumps into Lillian Jean, Lillian Jean ordered Cassie to apologize, and Cassie didn't want to put up with Lillian Jean so she just apologized. Lillian Jean said that an apology wasn't enough so she ordered Cassie to get into the road and Lillian Jean even called Cassie nasty for no reason, "You can't watch where you going, get in the road. Maybe that way you won't be bumping into decent little white folks with your nasty little self." Cassie refused and Lillian Jean tried to throw Cassie into the road herself, but Cassie blocked it but Lillian Jean's dad came and threw Cassie down anyway, his name is Mr. Simms. He told Cassie to apologize to Lillian Jean, Cassie refused and "Big Ma", Cassie's grandmother, tells her to apologize, Cassie struggled for a little bit but she apologized any way. Mr. Simms told her to apologize again but like this, "I'm sorry, Miz Lillian Jean." She didn't want to and Big Ma persuaded Cassie to apologize again, she struggled even more but she did it anyway. That is just pure racism, discrimination, and signs of self superiority. The discrimination came in when Lillian Jean was calling Cassie nasty, and the signs of when the white people thought they were superior was when they thought they could order around Cassie.

Another form of racism showed in the book was when the kids get hand-me-down textbooks or books from the white kids. All the way down there is a condition form, all the way down the textbook was owned by white kids, all the way to the last one which was the poorest condition, and the race of the student was African, but in the form it said, "nigra" and Cassie and her brother got mad because of that. This here is a true form of racism, the white people passed down the old torn up, worn down books because they didn't want them, and then they didn't even bother to call them Africans. They used an offensive word to the African American race. 

In conclusion, the theme of this book was racism, all of my evidence proves that this books theme is racism. The discrimination, the thoughts that African Americans be inferior, and what they call African Americans. It all adds up to racism. 

1st Quarter Reflection

     Personally, I think that I am way behind on the forty book challenge. I think that I have not been doing my best at the forty book challenge but I am planning to read a lot for the next quarter. So the only books that I have read and have been reading is:

- Of Beatles and Angels

- 127 Hours Between A Rock And A Hard Place

- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

      The strategies I have been using is to work on big things like AoWs and Weekly Blogs little by little every day. So far, it has been working for me perfectly. If I miss a day of school or if I miss a day of doing part of the assignment, I would just do two times more than normally, and that isn't too bad. Another thing that I would do is that if I have homework for another class and I have too much homework for L.A., I would do my L.A. homework because most of my other classes are every other day so I would do it the next day.

     I have learned quite a lot about the world and other countries. I have learned about a kind of wine from the Cask of Amontillado. I have learned quite a lot about the horrible refugee Crysis in Syria. I've learned about people's personal experiences with the Syrian refugee Crysis and how they felt, and I have also seen how people and organizations have been working together to help the refugees. One last thing I learned was about a debate about changing a mountains name and what effects global warming is causing.

     My research skills have increased by a lot. Since I have been learning more about the world and what is happening, I know more about the topics and that helps me a lot with research. For example, if I did not know what armies caused the Syrian refugee Crysis, I could just use information from the Syrian refugee Crysis to learn where it is. From there, I can search what armies serve that country. If I didn't have the same research skills before, I would be clueless on what to do.

127 Hours Between A Rock And Hard Place-Aron Ralston Pg:1 to Pg:16

Prompt:

 How did the reading make you feel? Why?

Answer:

    This book made me feel a little bit exhausted. The way the main character, Aron, has to ride a bike for a very high amount of distance, and has to wear a heavy backpack makes me feel exhausted. It makes the feeling exhausting because I imagine that if I were to be carrying a really heavy backpack and have to ride a bike would be exhausting for me. In the book it says, "The going would be much easier if I didn't have this heavy pack on my back. I wouldn't normally carry twenty-five pounds of supplies and equipment on a bike ride, but I'm on journeying out on a thirty-mile-long circuit of biking and canyoneering-traversing the bottom of the deep and narrow camyon system-and it will take me most of the day." This shows that he had to travel a very long distance and he also has a heavy backpack, which gives me the feeling of exhaustion. 

     This book also made me feel a sense of loneliness. I think this because throughout the whole

entire time, he is riding on his bike, alone. If he would ride his bike through the entire 30 miles, it would be a long time to be alone, by yourself. Personally, I like to be alone, but, I at least need entertainment or video games, if I am alone walking just listening to music, I would get extremely bored or I would really want someone to talk to or something after a while. In the book it says, "Alone once again, I walk down-canyon, continuing on my itinerary." This quote shows that he is alone going back to his plans to go to the canyon.

     This book makes me feel a sense of happiness. I know this might be connected to the loneliness but I said that after a while and I have entertainment that I start to get bored. When I am alone and I have entertain, I actually quite enjoy myself because I don't have to hear any noise or anybody complaining in my ear while I'm playing video games. Which is the best thing I think I could have, peace and quiet. In the book it says that he is happy when he is alone, "This is my happy place. Great tunes, solitude, wilderness, empty mind." His way of a happy place might be a little bit different than mine but we both enjoy solitude, an empty mind, and some great tunes.

Parallels between Mawi's experiences and the Syrian refugee Crysis.

There were lots of individuals that were in my article. All of those individuals grouped up to help raise awareness, fund, feed, and help any way they could to the Syrian refugees. Out of all the companies McDonald's was the leader of all of the organizations. They all started helping because the U.N. tried to help the refugees but their efforts weren't good enough, that is where McDonald's stepped in to help.

      There were a couple events that happened in this article too. Some background information on why Syrians were refugees was because of WW2. In fact, it didn't just effect Syria, it effected 3 other countries too. One event that did indeed spread awareness about the Syrian refugees was a viral death, a viral death of a toddler that is. Early this month, the toddler was trying to reach Turkey, but he did not make it because he drowned.

 There are different ways the war can affect the society, one of them is by causing death. In the article that I have chosen, towards the end,  it said, "Early this month, images went viral of the dead toddler Aylin Kurdi who had drowned while trying to get to Turkey." In this quote from the article it says that one death went viral. Why? Because of the war of course. Another way that the war can affect the variety of societies and people's lives is by making them leave their home and all of their loved ones. In the book Of Beatles And Angels it says, "He left Ethiopia, extended family, and friends." This shows that people actually had to leave everything and everyone because of a war. All of these bystanders are losing everything, some their lives, because of what? A war that has nothing to do with them.

Life Lines Poem

Playing led to cheating, 

     cheating went to yelling, 

  yelling went to card throwing, 

     and I arose, 

 ready 

     to defend myself. 

   My brother fidgeted all day long, trying to figure out an escape route. 

Too many people were watching him, 

   talking about the fight

Having no choice,

     the Chinese brothers would use

   their Kung-fu

      to beat up the Americans

    

       I KNOW THAT IN SUDAN, 

   YOU HAD TO FIGHT

     OR THEY WOULD KEEP BEATING YOU

   DAY AFTER DAY. 

WE ARE NOT IN SUDAN ANYMORE.

   

 Our father, 

our model of toughness, 

     should have known the importance

 of standing up for yourself.