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.