Starting Over (Blog 6)

     Read any teen magazine and you'll find countless "Ask Ali" or "Dear Carol" letters concerning one topic. "I'm moving and starting at a new school and I don't know anyone. Help me!" It's every fourteen-year-old kid's nightmare, and it's one that, at age fourteen, I lived.
     From the moment I first stepped on the Vaca High Campus, I was sure the change from Fairfield to Vaca High would be a nightmare. I didn't see anyone I even remotely recognized, I didn't know where anything was, and the tardy bell sounded to me like four obnoxious, short-lived intruder alarms. The first week I sat at random tables during lunch and when these random groups didn't immediatly accept me as one of them, I became upset.
     The next week, I tried to end the nightmare. Some schedule changes I'd made finished processing and I was switched to three different classes. In these classes I tried to get involved in what was going on, rather than just randomly intrude on coversations. I found that as I acted more like myself and less like a wandering puppy, fitting in to Vaca High came naturally. The move became a positive thing because of the great things that happened and awesome people I met at my new school. I wouldn't have gone back to Fairfield if I could have.
     When I first came to Vaca High, starting over seemed worse than "bad"; it seemed like a nightmare. However, once I learned to act like myself, coming to Vacaville became something very positive. Not only did I meet great people and do great things, but I also learned how to adjust to changes, and how to get involved in an unfamilar place. The experience was unforgettable, and irreplaceable.
    

"He is not to be confused with the lonely ones" (Blog 5)

     The short story entitled The Box Man juxtaposed two types of people: the alone, and the lonely. When one first starts to read The Box Man, they likely don't differentiate between these two types of people. However, as they continue to read, the differences become vast and obvious. The main difference is the way the alone and the lonely people feel about their situations. The author chooses two old ladies with no one around, and presumably no family nearby to care about them, as her examples of loneliness. She describes them as slow-moving, slightly mopey, and generally upset about the hand life has dealt them. The ladies are labeled as "lonely". However,when she compares them to her example of satisfied aloneness, a homeless man she refers to as "The Box Man", she says "He is not to be confused with the lonely ones". She does not consider The Box Man "lonely" because he is satisfied with his life. He searches around town all day for boxes to fashion into a home. He does this alone. Still, he is not lonely. He has found a friend in his boxes and himself. They keep him satisfied and he seems as though he has no other desires in his life, beyond collecting more boxes. The idea that being alone doesn't necessarily point to being lonely is the idea which the author of The Box Man hoped her readers would understand after reading the story.

A Fleeting Moment (Blog 4)

In The Box Man the author compares two kinds of people, a homeless man (The Box Man), and two lonely old ladies. The old ladies have everything they need. The Box Man has nothing but boxes. However, they are similar in the sense that in one way or another, they have become alone.

I see this kind of ironic similarity when comparing two kinds of moments, a moment in which one sees a shooting star, and the moment in which one knows they've finally reached a long term aspiration. At first they seem very different, after all, one is a simple moment, and the other could be monumentous. However, they truly are quite similar.

When one, perhaps a hiker, happens to look up one night, and lays eyes on a shooting star midflight, it is a small moment of wonder and simple joy. In the more grand situation, where one is acheiving something big, it is also a moment of wonder, of "Gosh, I can't believe I did it", and, obviously one of joy. But the two events are most similar after the fact. Once the star has burned out and is no longer visible, the hiker returns to looking right in front of them and they continue on their way. The same is true once the celebration of a great achievement has past. The achiever, figuratively, looks straight ahead, deciding where to focus their ambition next. Both moments can fleet so very quickly. But when they do, both reach their point of most similarity. As the hiker continues down their literal path, and the achiever down their figurative one, both can look back at their forementioned moments. Even in hard times they can look back into their moment of wonder and joy; they can carry it with them. In this respect, the two moments seem almost identical.

Fast Food Nation Review (Blog 3)

    In his nonfiction essay-type book Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser tells the behind-the-scenes story of the fast food industry in America. He begins by describing top secret American military base, Cheyenne Mountain, and tells of a Dominoes pizza being delivered to it. As the chapters go on, Schlosser describes not only the health side of the fast food issue, but the sides of ethics, publicity, and buisness.
     The book surprises right from the start. One might expect that ia book of its title and theme would focus on nutrition, spewing facts and demanding its readers eat healthier. Fast Food Nation does very little of this. Rather, it focuses on how fast food became an industry and how its nutrition and young marketing targets are more buisness moves than anything. Schlosser compares childhood friends Ray Kroc and Walt Disney and how they developed their family friendly buisnesses similarly. He tells how early developers of fast food worked earnestly to make a buisness. Such explanations are dual-purpose; they tell the backstory of fast food and create a well-rounded tone for the book.
     I would recommend this book for anyone curious about the way the fast food industry is run and what makes it something considered so bad for the consumer. The book has its gross-out moments, (Example: Chapter 10 regarding the inner workings of an American slaughterhouse) but if one can stomach through it, they will be graced with a great, eye-opening read.

Non-Fiction History (Blog 2)

Autobiograpy: All But My Life- Gerda Weissman Klein

Diary: Diary of a Young Girl- Anne Frank

Biography: All Quiet on the Western Front (Story of Paul Baumer)- Erich Maria Remarque

History: All Quiet could count under history as well.

Criticism: .....

Personal Essay Collection: Tuesdays with Morrie might count under this category as a stretch. I've started reading it and it's by Mitch Albom.

Journalists: ......

Politcal Commentary: Get of the Shovel: Why Everything You Know is Wrong- John Stosell

Scientific Topics: .....

Nature Topics: Extreme Weather (Can't remember who it's by)

Humor: Uncle John's Curiously Compelling Bathroom Reader- Bathroom Readers' Institute

All But My Life is the story of Gerda Weissmann Klein during the entirety of World War II. It tells of how the events of the world affected her and how she dealt with daily life after her home country, Poland,  is taken over by Nazi invaders. Her personal story brings about themes of the importance of friends and family and the personal side of war.

Diary of a Young Girl tells the story of Anne Frank, who is living in World War II at a young age as well. Anne is living in an annex, hiding from the Nazis who want nothing more than to send her to a concentration camp. This book has similar themes to All But My Life and tells another personal story of war.

All Quiet on the Western Front was a different kind of war book. It told the story of Paul Baumer, who thought it would be cool to go to war. He and his classmates learn the lesson and the theme of the book: war is fought because it is necessary, not to make boys into men.

I guess this is an opportunity to say what I've thought about Tuesdays with Morrie thusfar. So far I'm seeing themes of unembarrased love, regret for being to busy for a friend, and gaining a different perspective on life. The professor and his story are an inspiration; I couldn't believe this book is a true story.

Get out the Shovel is a cycnical-type themed political commentary about some of the myths about government, public schooling, and consumerism that Americans commonly believe. One of the stories I found most interesting was one about pediatric chiropractice. Stosell did some experimentation and found that though pediatic chiropractors could agree that a particular child needed a lifetime of expensive treatment, none could agree what was wrong with him. Sure made me skeptical of the chiropractor!

Extreme Weather tells some of the stories behind extreme weather records, like highest rainfall in 24 hours or hottest day on record in the US. It was pretty interesting learning about what drives extreme weather.

Laugh if you must, but I did read Uncle John's Curiously Compelling Bathroom Reader. In this particular bathroom reader there is some interesting advice, like that on how to live to 100, and some funny articles like the one comparing the histories of Boxers vs. Breifs.

I learned a bit of philosophy from All But My Life. It was one of the first war books I had to read that told a really personal story of surviving a war. Gerda's constant looking towards the future and her dedication to those she loved was an inspiration to me.

Creative Introduction (Blog 1)

I don't fear the unfamiliar. Some kids spend their young lives being committed to one thing, and that's awesome. However, my path twists through activities and opportunities of all kinds. Trying and improving at many things while I'm young gratifies me more than being the best at one thing.