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.

outside Reading #13

I chose to read about the topic of Persecution that the Nazi's did. I read that along with Jews, they also persecuted people with mental and physical disabilities, and homosexuals. These people were imprisoned, put in mental hospitals and concentration camps. This fact is rarely brought up when people study the Holocaust, and I think should be important to study. I didn't learn that people other than Jew's were being persecuted during the Holocaust until I watched to movie "V for Vendetta". I would have been able to get a clearer view of the subject if I would have learned it in school.

Source: Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals 1933-1945, http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/hsx/

outside Reading #11

When I thought of a global issue to read about, the first thing that came to my mind was global warming. I read an article called "What is- Global Warming". It was an article that gave a simple overview of the issue and what was happening to the earth. It described how the earth's temperature naturally rises and fall over time, but in the past 30 years, the earth has been changing too fast. The article also showed pictures of renewable energy people are using around the world. The pictures show how every country needs to work together to help with making better energy sources. 

Lindinger, Karin. "What is- Global Warming." Fireman's Fund. 30 Apr. 2007. 8 Mar. 2009 http://www.knowledge.firemansfund.com/en/climate_change/global_warming_definition/html

outside Reading #10

St. Patrick's Day

I chose to pick St. Patrick's day as my holiday to research more about. I watched a few history video's on history.com and learned some new things about one of my favorite holidays. Obviously, St. Patrick's Day is to celebrate St. Patrick. St. Patrick was born in Britain and was kidnapped to Ireland to be a slave. He escaped from Ireland to go back home where he became a Christian priest. It is said that he had a dream that told him to return to Ireland. So he did and began to convert the Irish to Christianity. It is celebrated on the 17th of March because it is said that St. Patrick died on that day. The shamrock became associated with St. Patrick because he used it as an example to the holy trinity. Also, the traditional color for the holiday was blue, but it was changed to green because green is the color associated with Ireland. 

Outside Reading #9

Bollywood-

I don't know that much about Bollywood except what we learned in class. I know that Bollywood is the Indian version of Hollywood, and that Bollywood movies tend to be very lite and fun. The movie we watched in class, Bride and Prejudice, is a play on the book and movie Pride and Prejudice. Pride and Prejudice is serious story with a lot of drama, but the Bollywood version has a lot of comedy and musical numbers. I really enjoyed the movie because I like the story of Pride and Prejudice, and I liked the influence of India in the movie.

Outside Reading #8

This is kind of embarrassing to admit to, but sometime at night I listen to the Harry Potter tapes before bed because the narrator's voice, Jim Dale, helps me fall asleep. Right now I'm listening to 7Th book and I thought it would be interesting to right about the culture of Harry Potter. The character's don't seem to have a religion, but Dumbeldor was very interested in the power of love. Some unique foods in the Wizarding world is pumpkin juice, fire whisky, and all sorts of Honey Duke's candies. Once wizards reach adulthood, their main clothing are cloaks. Finally, traditions include feasts on Halloween, and Quittage events.

Outside Reading #7

A Million Little Pieces

by James Frey

I am only 30 pages into the book A Million Little Pieces, but it is already clear that the story that is being told is about undergoing change. Most change is good but hard to go though, and this book is about going though a very difficult process. The main character is James Frey, and James started drinking at the age of ten and has been doing drugs since he was twelve. By fifteen, he was drinking everyday , and at eighteen he was doing drugs everyday. It is obvious that James is an alcoholic and an addict. After all this time he finally checked himself into rehab to start his recovery process. Getting over an addiction is one of the hardest changes someone could go though because of the dependency a person has to a drug. I do not know any addicts closely, so I cannot imaging how hard it is for someone to change their lifestyle like that, and for everyone around them to watch them go though it. 

outside Reading #4

In my world history text book, there are many area's in the book of  different cultures where they describe how men and women were supposed to act during that time period. In medieval Europe, women had limited influence in the society, but certain women did have more opportunities than others. There was a great difference in Noblewoman and Peasant Women. Noblewomen could inherit land from their husbands, they would send knights to war, and could act like military commander if her husband was off at war. One thing that was a main difference was that Noble women received an education and peasant women didn't. Peasant women's jobs were working the house  and having children.  They were poor and powerless.

 World History: Patterns of Interaction Edition 

ch 13

Outside Reading #3 [Culture]

Star Tribune- "Romance Hot and Cold" (from the travel section)

by- Laurie Hertzel and Elizabeth Larsen 

This article described vacationing to two completely different places but still being able to have the same amount of fun. The first place was Montreal. Hertzel described arriving in the snow and seeing the Montreal lights. The other place was Riviera Maya, which is always sunny and warm. The places are so different, but they are unique in their own way. They each had qualities they were known for.  

Outside Reading #2

from- YouTube

clip- "Lord I Lift Your Name on High"

Sacred scriptures, such as the Bible and the Torah, are perfect examples of overcoming struggles and facing difficulty. Many of the characters have jobs to do that God told them to do, and they find it difficult to complete those tasks. There is also a lot of suffering of the common people, who often don't receive help. In the song "Lord I Lift Your Name On High", it is a very brief  story of Jesus. It starts out by saying that he came form heaven to earth, and then he went for the earth to the cross. In the Bible, there was a lot of struggle for him and everyone else. Then it says, my dept to pay, with gives difficulty to Christians because they owe their life to Jesus. 

Outside Reading #1

On the website, Science Daily there are is an article posted January 27, 2009 that talks about the theory of the North American Comet 12, 900 years ago.  It says that new data disproves the theory of the comet, and that there is not evidence there was continental -scale fires.  The tests they took were examining charcoal and pollen records to assess how fire regimes in North America.  One thing that the results did prove was that the increase in large-scale wildfires in all regions of the world during the past decade is related to an increase in global warming.  This means that when there is an increase in global warming, there will also be an increase in wild fires.  This is bad news but can also help predict more wild fires to come in the future.

Study made by Dr. Sandy Harrison and the University of  Bristol

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090126173729.htm

Outside Reading #28

On HBO and NPR, the "We are One" concert was at the Lincoln Memorial and celebrated the inauguration of Barack Obama. Many famous singers and actors went up on the stage to sing and talk in front of 10s of thousands of people. The radio said, "As far as the eye could see".  On NPR, I heard Denzel Washington, Tom Hanks, Joe Biden, Tiger Woods, and Jack Black speak about presidential history and the American people.  Barack Obama also came up and told a speech. Many famous musical artists appeared and sang famous american classics; Mary J Blige sang "Lean on Me", The song "American Pie" came on, Stevie Wonder sang some of his songs, U2 sang "In the name of love", and the closing song was "This land is your land". It was a very nice production, and I wish I would have been there. This concert had many connections to history. Both Obama and Lincoln are from Illinois. Obama will be the first black president/ Lincoln freed African-American's from slavery. The Concert was held at the Lincoln Memorial, where Martin Luther King Jr. made his "I have a dream" speech,  and the concert was held the day before Martin Luther King day. 

Outside Reading #27

Article; "What I want for You- and Every Child in America"

by Barack Obama

Barack Obama wrote a letter for is daughters, Malia and Sasha, telling them why he ran for president and what that means to them. He wrote about how much potential they have and how it is an obligation to themselves to give something back to our country. This letter was written to Obama's daughters, but his words were implied for all the kids in America. The letter also seemed to share his views and plans for presidency in a simpler, and easy to understand form. I think this a good article for younger students to read so that they can better understand our new president.

outside Reading #26

Breaking Dawn

by Stephenie Meyer

I'm on chapter 13 of the last Twilight book, Breaking Dawn. Bella and Edward have gotten married, and Edward got Bella pregnant on their honeymoon. It was so devastating because Edward is a vampire so they don't know what is inside Bella. They think there is a monster inside her, and that it will kill her. Edward tried to convince Bella to get the thing out of her, but she wanted to keep it. The pregnancy was going really fast and after a month she was as big as someone who is normally 9 months pregnant. The baby was rejecting all of the food Bella gave it, and after a while they found out that what the baby wanted is blood. Bella had to drink human blood to give it to the baby, but the twist was that she liked the smell and taste of the blood. This makes me think that she's not completely human because before in the first book she was able to smell blood when humans where not supposed to be able to. Although in the first book, the smell of blood made Bella sick. 

Outside Reading #25

"A Room With a View, and Then Some."

by Mary Schmich

This was an article started out by saying how horrible it is to be in Paris and look like an American tourist. She says the best way to minimize this appearance is to, rather than checking into a hotel, renting an apartment. She then talks about the advantages of having an apartment and how fun it is. I liked this article because it reminded me when my mom, my dad and I did the same thing. We had a little apartment on the top floor, with no elevator, within one block of Notre Dame. It was so much fun and I want to rent the same apartment next time I go to Paris.  

Outside Reading #24

After reading Twilight, I continued to the next book in the Twilight series and read New Moon. The book seemed very long, and it was painful to read because it seemed like nothing happened. Edward left Bella, and Bella moped around. It's not that fun to read about a girl who's sad but does nothing about it. One thing that the book evolved around was the story of Romeo and Juliet. In the beginning, Bella was reading it for school, and her and Edward were talking about it. At the end of the book, it was used to be relate to how Bella felt during her school year.

Outside Reading #23

"The Tales of Beedle The Bard"

by J.K. Rowling

I read the first two stories, "The Wizard and the Hopping Pot" and "The Fountain of Fair Fortune". I stories where the wizard version of children tales. The tales were simple but I liked how J.K. Rowling put the same lessons in her stories that would be in fairy tales. After each story there is a commentary by Albus Dumbledore. His writing is very formal, like meant to go in a text book. It's not what I expected but I still like it.