Outside Reading #6

For my last Outside Reading blog, I will write about the last book we are reading for class. The entire 120 page book is one large comic! It is about a 10 year old girl who lives in Iran, and she tells us about her experiences during the revolution. At first, I was a bit intimidated by the book because I had little to no experience with comic books- you could say that I am comic book illiterate. I had no clue how to read comic books, I didn't know if there were any rules or anything or if I were going to make a fool of myself in front of people who read comic books all the time. After getting threw some of the book, however, I am no longer intimidated by the book. I like all the pictures, and I like how it is in the point of view of a 10 year old. 

Outside Reading #5

James goes on a walk at the rehab center, and he tries to lose himself and think about nothing: 

"I listen to the leaves. I stare at the ground. I try to lose myself. I try to forget where I am and why I'm here, I try to forget about what lies in front of me. I try to forget about death, Prison and recovery. I try to forget that here is a World outside of that which is in my head and I try to froget that there is a world within my head. I try to forget everything. The whole fucking mess. I walk, stare, try to lose, try to lose, try to lose... I want to forget, but I can't" (Frey 140).

Often, people try to forget the bad things that have happened to them, but it never works. When it comes down to it, forgetting never helps. The people at the center try to tell James that. They say that the 12 steps are the only way, but he still tries to find an alternative. He is not yet willing to give the 12 steps at try.

Outside Reading # 4

In the last chapter that I read, I learned how much people can help you when you are going though a rough time in your life. The Doctors tell James that if he ever does drugs or drinks alcohol again, he will die. He has done so much damage to his body by abusing it with drugs that it is a miracle he is alive. With this knowledge, James wanted to give up, do his last dosage of drugs and die. He leaves the rehab center, and on his way out he gets stopped by a man named Leonard. James agrees to stay for 24 hours, and if he still feels like there is no point living he will leave. The next day, Leonard won't leave him alone, he invites James to watch the football game with him. James' brother and his friends come and visit him and bring him gifts. They have a lot of effect on James. He didn't realize before how many people, and how much, people cared about him. James is comforted by the support. With the help of Leonard, his bother and friends, and everyone surrounding him, James ends up staying at they rehab center.

Outside Reading #3

From the twenty, or so, pages I have read this week there seems to be a underlining theme the author is trying to show. There are a couple places where James notes that when people have an addiction (to drugs and alcohol), to cure their addiction they simply shift their addiction to something else. He is saying that it is impossible for an addict to ever truly get off an addiction. The example he gives is to religion/ a god. Some of his quote is:

          

        "Though the people in them (AA/ Alcoholics Anonymous) are no longer drinking and doing drugs, they're still living a life of obsession... Though they function as human beings, they function because of their Meetings and their Dogma and their God. Take away their Meetings and their Dogma and they have nothing, Take them away and they are back where they started. They have an addiction." (Frey 71)

In my opinion, this is an interesting viewpoint. There is evidence that AA works, and a lot of people find that their god can guide them though the healing process. But what if someone is trying to get over an addiction, and they don't want to have religion heal them? Is there ways offered to get though your addiction? 

Outside Reading #2

James is a mess. He is battling many chemical problems, and he has a messed up face. He goes to the dentist to get his teeth fixed and to get a root canal. It seems like there are like three chapters that just focuses on him in the dentist chair getting his teeth fixed. That seems pretty boring, but, here's the catch, he is not allowed any medicine for the pain, the rehab center won't allow it. James goes though a extremely painful procedure, and the book give so much detail that it feels like it is you in the chair instead of James. If there is one thing that I wish I could of skipped over it would have been this. It's not that there were discussing details in the book, it was just that i would not like to be in that painful situation. 

Outside Reading #1

A Million Little Pieces is about a drug addict and alcoholic  who, after many years of jail and drugs, her checked himself into detox and rehab. The book starts with him just about to be checked into rehab. He had fallen on his face, with teeth knocked out, and his face was swollen. 

Not until reading father in the book do you find how bad he has become over the years. He started at a young age and got worse as the years went by. I think the book is really interesting but sometimes hard to read because the author, James Frey, puts a lot of detail into the events that are happening Other than that, I enjoy fallowing the main character as her battles his drug addiction. 

Outside Reading #14

This is the optional blog about an article on Imperialism that my group has read. 

The main article is on maddy's blog;   http://maddyg24.blogspot.com/

This article is from a British point of view, and it says that the British unenthusiastically became involved in Africa. Their goal was to get the slavery out of Africa, but everything they did was for their own gain. They pretty much sailed to Africa and tried to get money and change the culture's ways. It's a good thing that they wanted to get rid of slavery, but I don't think they did it for the right reasons. They had too much interest in themselves to do much good.