Steve Jobs- Pros and Cons

      The book Steve Jobs The Man Who Thought Different is a biography about Steve Jobs, the inventor of Apple. This book tells the readers the ups and downs of Steve Jobs' life. I have just recently started reading this book, but so far I'm really enjoying it. It's interesting for me to learn about the guy who invented the amazing products that I use on a daily basis. In the beginning of the book the author Karen Blumenthal talks about the way Steve Jobs works well in the business world of electronics and how he does not.

      Steve Jobs is a pretty stubborn man. When his ideas are not considered and he doesn't get the way he wants he will start to cry. I'm no business women, but I have to say that is a pretty immature move. In the book Blumenthal discusses Steve's early years in school. He was no angel then either. Steve would be the trouble maker who never followed any given instructions. I wonder why Steve never wanted to follow directions. I guess that the title of this book really works, he didn't only think different but he did everything differently as well.He rebelled against the societal rules of school and of the business world. I think that the author included these bad details about Steve Jobs to tell the readers that even the most successful of people have their flaws.

      Blumenthal doesn't only discuss Steve Jobs' flaws, but she also discusses the positive things about Steve Jobs. First of all, he is an amazing inventor. Since he was a young boy he has always been ahead intellectually. In fact, he skipped a grade during elementary school. When Steve was younger he developed an interest in building. His father (who he was adopted by) always showed him how to take things apart and put them back together. Many of these thing were car parts, but as Steve grew older he became more interested in electronic building. Since Steve was so intellectually advanced he was very good at the difficult work of developing electronics. I think that the author talked a lot about Steve Jobs success to really emphasize on the fact that he made this really great effect on our society.

      So, after reading a small amount of this book, I already know that Steve Jobs, a very successful man, has his own pros and cons. He is not good at following instructions, but his outcome of doing things his way has brought us many devices that make daily life just a little bit easier. If I had to choose the way that the whole world looks at Steve Jobs, I would make them look up to him as an amazing visionary of our times. Even if he is a little bit misbehaved, I mean who isn't.

Non-fiction: Ashlyn Blocker, The Girl Who Feels No Pain

This article is about how this girl Ashlyn Blocker feels no pain. In the article the author, Justin Heckert, Explains Ashlyn's home life. He tells us that Ashlyn is a normal girl, who goes to a normal school, and lives in a normal house but there is something different about her, she literally can not feel pain.

The author wants me to know that Ashlyn has a very rare disease. He also wants me to know that a disease that sounds like your some kind of super hero, can actually be very harmful. He does this by saying how rare her disease is and how she can't feel a punch in the face, and how she can't feel boiling water, and how she could walk on hot rocks like it is grass. To show how harmful this disease can actually be, he gave examples about how even though she cannot feel the pain it is still damaging her body. Heckert told us about how when Ashlyn was little her parents had to keep an eye out just in case Ashlyn touched something hot or sharp. If Ashlyn got a burn she wouldn't feel it, but she would still be exposed to infection. Ashlyn parents also had to watch her when she was sleeping because she could grind her teeth or bite her tongue off and not even realize it.

I think that the author wants me to feel empathetic towards Ashlyn. I think he wants me to feel this way because Ashlyn's situation is so interesting that if I really put myself in her position it would make the story more intriguing. I also think that the author wants me to feel like her situation is really foreign. I mean I know that it is a rare disease, but I think Heckert is trying to make it sound even more out of this world to make his readers want to know more.

I found Ashlyn's story really intriguing. I think that I mainly found it intriguing because I personally like to hear about crazy diseases like this. I also think that the way the author wrote this article made me even more interested in it. I think that more authors should use the same kind of tactics Heckert used to write his article in an interesting way, but maybe those tactics could be used on an article where someone is raising awareness about an issue because it will intrigue the readers more so that they can do something to help solve the issue.

With Their Eyes- Whose perspective is missing?

This book "With Their Eyes" is about the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The book is made up of many memoirs about the 9/11 attack in the view of Stuyvesant students and faculty. The perspective missing in this book are the perspectives of all the people who helped "put out the fire". When I say the people who helped put out the fire I mean all the people who helped with the recovery after the attack.

I think it's great to have the perspective of the faculty and students at Stuyvesant since they were so close and really experienced the attack, but I think this book should have also tapped into the experience of the people helping "put out the fire" after the attacks. This would have been a good perspective to show in the book because it would educate the readers more about what really happened to the community after, instead of just hearing the actual events of the attack and how high schoolers felt about it.

I think that the author, Annie Thoms didn't include the perspective of the people cleaning up after the attack because she wanted to really focus on how the community was effected during the attack and how it changed them. Personally, I think that it would have been good to include the other perspective because it would really dig deeper into how the community had a hard time rebuilding after the 9/11 attacks.

With Their Eyes-What really difficult or complex things are happening in the text?

The book With Their Eyes by Annie Thoms is about the 9/11 attack in the view of Stuyvesant High School students. One societal issue mentioned is terrorism. Terrorism is an obvious social issue in the book because 9/11 was a terrorist attack. I feel like terrorism is absolutely horrible. I think its good that after the 9/11 attacks national security mad advancements in airport security, and are closely tracking everything near important tourist cites. I think the author wants us to know that terrorism has such a big effect on a community. She does this by having people tell many different stories about how it effected them in bad ways.

An underlying societal issue in this book is racism. After the 9/11 attacks ended and we found out that the terrorist were Muslims, every "joke" was about how Muslims are going to terrorize us. It became such a stereotype in our society that people would see a muslim man and assume that he was some kind of terrorist. I think it's bad but interesting how one event made our society completely change the way they looked at a certain race.

Tina Fey Bossypants

     I recently started reading the book Bossypants by Tina Fey. IT IS HILARIOUS. It's probably the only book I've ever read that actually made me laugh out loud. The whole book is Tina Fey telling stories about Tina Fey. Some of them are just funny stories, and some of them aren't so funny but she makes them funny with her commentary anyway.

     I really like how Tina Fey is the author, and it's not someone writing a biography about her. I like this because she can add in what she was thinking, or what she thinks about her own experiences. This allows the book to be more comical. I think that even if someone else was narrating this book and saying the same things as Tina does, it still would not be as funny. It wouldn't be as funny because it would be someone else making fun of Tina rather than Tina making fun of herself.

     I most enjoy the childhood stories in this book. One was about her getting slashed across the face in an alley when she was in kindergarten. This was pretty interesting for me to learn because I always wondered what those scars on her face were from. I also liked the whole section she does on all the things that she learned could be wrong with a body. In the book she says "I thought there was just fat or skinny." Then she lists all the things that she learned could be wrong with a woman's body, stuff like big pores and lunch lady arms. I though this was interesting because that whole thing about  thinking there is only fat or skinny was in a part of Mean Girls.

     I recommend that anyone who can read this book, should. I am almost certain you'll get a kick out of it. 

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

     The book the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian is about this boy Junior who lives on an Indian reservation. Junior says that he was born with "water on the brain." He explains it as a medical condition where your "brain grease" get all backed up and slows everything down. Junior explains how he gets bullied by a lot of kids, and even some adults on the reservation, because of his condition, but he does have one friend, Rowdy. Rowdy is about the toughest kid on the reservation according to Junior, so he is not only his friend but also his protection. In the story, everybody on the reservation is poor, including Junior and his family. Junior says that his mom and dad could have been successful, but no one ever listened to their dreams.

     I think that one of Junior's external conflicts is that he gets bullied by the kids on his reservation. Junior says that he gets called a retard about twice a day. I  don't think that Junior should have to put up with that. If I were to be in his situation I would tell someone, I wouldn't just do nothing. I wonder why Junior isn't really doing anything? He doesn't seem like he is uncomfortable talking to authority figures, so why doesn't he just tell? I'm guessing that he is just afraid to be beat up after he tells, for telling. I think that the people who bully him probably don't have the best life, so they "survive" off of hating on a kid who probably has it worse than them.

     I think that one of Junior's internal conflicts is that he doesn't know where he belongs. I guess in my world  at school, kids are always asking themselves, "what group do I fit in?". Junior's situation is completely different. He doesn't know what community he fits into. He lives on this poor Indian reservation, with a crappy school, and crappy people, but he wants to go to a school outside of his reservation. He feels like if he stays on the reservation, he will never be heard. He feels like if he doesn't leave soon he will be there forever. The only problem Junior has with leaving is that everyone on the rez will frown upon him for going to a "white school". If I were Junior I would go with what I want to do, I wouldn't hold back, but I guess that being bullied for having "water on the brain" is already enough for Junior.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (post #2)

     In the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower the main characters name is Charlie. Charlie has these two very close friends, Sam and Patrick. Sam and Patrick are step brother and sister. They are both seniors in high school, and Charlie is a freshman. Charlie is very found of his two friends Sam and Patrick, and they like  him a lot too.

     I believe that the character Charlie is the hero. I think that Charlie is the hero because through out the story he has been changing. For example, so far, Charlie went from being the kid who didn't have friends and  stood against the wall at school dances, to the kid who does have friends, the kid who has friends that don't go to school dances, the friends that except him and think he is pretty great. I think that Charlie's change is good for him, but not because he has reached a higher level on the popularity scale, but because he has people around him that appreciate him more than anyone else ever did.

     I think that the character Patrick acts as a mentor through out the story. I think of Patrick as the mentor because he is always the one giving Charlie advice. He is also the one who always knows what is going on. For example, in the story he knows the gossip and he knows where the parties are and he knows how to handle things. Patrick is also the one who Charlie really looks up to. I think that Patrick is a really good mentor for Charlie because while he smokes and does drugs and drinks when he isn't supposed to, he really does lead Charlie in the right direction. Plus Charlie doesn't really have anyone else to look up to, his brother is kind of dull, and he is in college far away anyhow, and his father and him don't really have that great of a relationship, so Patrick is pretty great for him.

     I think that the character Sam is almost like a shapeshifter. I think she is a shapeshifter, not because she is always changing sides, but because she represents uncertainty in Charlie's eyes. Charlie has a crush on her, but she says that she likes him a lot, but in a friend way. Meanwhile she goes ahead and kisses him. Charlie is uncertain whether he should think of her in "that way" or not. So it isn't like Sam in is an enemy to Charlie. She just in someone that he is unsure about. He doesn't know where they stand.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

      I have recently started this book, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, I already find it really interesting. In the book the character Charlie is beginning to write all of these letters to his "friend" who goes unnamed. He starts off by telling a little bit about his family. It seems as if he doesn't have the best home life. He says that his mother is always quiet and that his father sometimes hits him. Although he does talk about his great friendship with his Aunt Helen. He said that she was his favorite person in the world, I wonder why he says "was"? Charlie also discusses in the letters how he had this friend, Michael Dobson, that shot himself. There seems like a lot is going on in Charlie's life, but he acts as if it has no affect on him. I wonder if he is bottling up his feelings, or he just isn't a very expressive person.

      While I was reading I tried to focus a lot on the relationship between Charlie and his Aunt Helen. He is always talking about her in past tense. As I pointed out earlier he said "My Aunt Helen was my favorite person in the whole world." he also goes on and is saying things like, she used to do that, she used to do this. I wonder if she is dead or something, even though he did not mention anything about her death. Although he did say that she started living with them because something really bad happened to her, he eventually found out what that bad thing was, but does not tell what it is in the letter. I wonder if their relationship was like a friend relationship or if she was like a second mother to him? Did their relationship change after he found out the reason she was living with them? Maybe he talks about her in past tense because they do not speak anymore, or because she isn't his favorite person anymore.

     Other relationships I focused on were the relationships between Charlie and his mother and father. The interaction he mentions between his mother are about how she got drunk one time and told Charlie why Aunt Helen is living with them. The only other things he said about his mother is how she remains quiet during a lot of family arguments and how she cries during TV shows. The interactions that Charlie mentions between him and his father are how his father slapped and yelled at him for "hurting his aunt Helen's feelings."

     Charlie has this really strange and dysfunctional family, but he keeps on saying to himself a lot of kids have it worse. I wonder why he is so defensive of the family that really doesn't treat him all that great? I guess that even in my world a lot of kids do have it worse, but Charlie does fall into the category of having " a bad home life." Maybe there are some aspects of his home life that make it okay, but I'm not sure. I look forward to seeing other sides of Charlie's personality through his relationships with different characters in the book.

Hunger Games- Suzanne Collins

      The protagonist in the book Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is the character Katniss. Katniss is the protagonist because she has a want. Her want is to get through the hunger games. Katniss wants to get through the hunger games because she feels she cannot leave her mother and her little sister, Prim, alone in her district. In the story, there are twelve districts and one capitol. The capitol is the leader, and the ones who run the annual hunger games. The hunger games is a fight to the death between twenty-four children from ages 12-18. The capitol uses these games as a threat to remind the districts that they are in charge. The district Katniss comes from is a very poor district of coal miners. I think would relate

      Since the book Hunger Games has a protagonist, Katniss, it also has an antagonist. The antagonist of the book is the capitol. The capitol is the antagonist because it is stopping Katniss from staying home with her family, where she wants to be. I think that the capitol is cruel for doing these hunger games and keeping Katniss and kids like Katniss from their homes. I also think that Katniss's mom is some sort of antagonist because she is keeping Katniss locked up. Not literally locked up, but she is not allowing her to have her own life, she takes on no responsibility, so Katniss is stuck taking care of Prim.

      I think I could relate to Katniss because if I were in her situation I would be really upset with the capitol, and not to happy with my mother. I also think I relate to Katniss because I would not be one of the kids like from other districts who like to fight to the death, i would probably be more scared and urging to get it over with like Katniss is. I think I look up to her as a person (if she were real) because of the way her hope is changing through out the story.

A Stolen Life - By Jaycee Dugard

      In the non-fiction book A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard, Jaycee discusses her many internal and external conflicts. One external conflict Jaycee is currently having is being bothered by the press. Jaycee says in the book " The media was a constant threat." Jaycee is trying to deal with this conflict by getting a public relations person to talk to the press for her. Jaycee is also trying to limit herself from doing somethings in public to try to avoid the press. I agree with Jaycee's strategy of dealing with the press by getting a public relations person, but I do not agree with her idea of limiting herself to the outside world. I mean for a girl who has been in captivity for eighteen years, wouldn't you just try to ignore it so that you could have as much freedom possible. I don't believe that I can relate to her situation because I don't have paparazzi chasing after me, but I know that I would not want to have any limitations to my freedom after having no freedom at all for the past eighteen years. I wonder if she will ever face the press? She can't lock her self up forever.

      One internal conflict Jaycee is currently having is about how she is debating with herself over whether she wants therapy or not. In the book Jaycee says "I really didn't want a therapist. I felt I had come to terms with  what had happened to me and I just didn't want to relive it." I do not agree with Jaycee's not wanting to go to therapy. I think that therapy is the best thing for Jaycee to get. I think that Jaycee is in some kind of denial because some people who have damage from something like this might think that they have overcome it, but really it will always be lingering deep down inside you if you do not get it all out somehow. I also do understand why she might be hesitant to therapy because knowing everything that happened to her I would erase it from my mind completely, if that was humanly possible. In the end though that isn't humanly possible and the best way to cope with it is to go to therapy. I hope that Jaycee does decide to go. Even though it will be painful to relive it, it is best, and she knows it.

Am I Blue?

     In the story "Am I Blue?" the author, Bruce Coville, writes about a boy named Vincent. In the story Vincent is bullied by a boy named Butch Carrigan. Butch bullies Vincent based on his sexuality. Since Vince is bullied and made fun of so much, he has a hard time trusting Melvin, his "fairy godfather" who comes along in the story to actually help Vince figure out who he is, and reassure him that he is not alone. I believe that the theme of this story is to never judge a book by its cover. I think this is the theme of the story because the author incorporates a lot of things such as the fact that Vince gets bullied just because one kid assumes he is gay. Another thing that represents judging a book by its cover is how it was extremely surprising to everyone that some people like cops, and soldiers, and farmers, and teachers live a gay life style. People are usually so quick to judge and think that just because they might have a more masculine or feminine profession, they are definitely not homosexual.

     One situation in the story that represents judging a book by its cover is how Vince gets bullied by this one kid, Butch Carrigan, who just assumes he is gay. Butch could not have truthfully known that Vince was gay because Vince had not even figured that out for himself. I feel as if this situation is not only a conflict in this one story but a conflict all around the world. Kids get bullied all the time for there sexuality, whether they are truthfully gay or they aren't and they just get called offensive names for no reason. This is like how in "Am I Blue?" Butch says "You little fruit, I'll teach you to look at me!". When Butch said this, he was just making fun of Vincent. Personally, I would never bully someone based on their sexuality and I would not hang around people who do.

     Another situation in the story that represents judging a book by its cover was how it was extremely surprising to everyone that some people like cops, and soldiers, and farmers, and teachers live a gay life style. This is a good example of how people judge a book by its cover because when you think of, for example, a male truck driver and then someone tells you he is homosexual the first thing some people think is, "really?". I think that if I were the truck driver, I would be pretty offended. I also think that a lot of people are holding back from being who they really are because they know that other people will be quick to judge.

     I believe that the author of this story "Am I Blue?" Bruce Coville was trying to send the message to never judge a book by its cover. If people are judged based on the way they look or talk then it could hurt feelings and even lives. I would hope that one day people c`an have gay rights legally and socially.
     

The Drummmer Boy of Shiloh By Ray Bradbury

In the story, The Drummer Boy of Shiloh, the author writes about a boy, Joby, who is a drummer boy in the war. The author explains through the story how Joby, a fourteen year old boy who has to witness a war first hand, has a lack of self confidence. In the story his general talks to him about his importance to the war.

             

I think the fact that the general came along to talk to Joby is very important to the story. I believe it is important because no boy Joby’s age should have to experience being in a war, and if they did it is no good to have an “I’m not important” mind set. I know that if I had to go to war at my age I would be scared out of my mind, but making an effort to stay confident is the right thing to do. If Joby continued to behave with no self confidence he could’ve been hurt in a dangerous situation.

           

To me it’s kind of like the way you walk down the street, if you have your head held up highly in confidence you are most likely not to get bothered, but if your head is held down low like you have no confidence or direction, someone could easily sense your weakness and bother you thinking you won’t defend yourself. This situation connects to The Drummer Boy of Shiloh because in the story the author writes “Me, thought the boy, I got only a drum, two sticks to beat it, and no shield.” This shows that Joby lacks self confidence because he thinks he cannot defend himself, “his head is held down low”. Joby probably would have gotten himself into some kind of sticky situation if the general had not come around and knocked some sense into him.

           

In conclusion, self confidence is a good thing to have whether you are walking down the street or in the middle of an active battlefield. Joby might have only had a more confident attitude because of the general, but no matter where or how he got his boost of confidence, he really needed it, and no one should go through life with out it.

Summer Book- Money Hungry

Over the summer I read a book called Money Hungry by Sharon Flake. It was about a girl named Raspberry. In the book, Raspberry will do anything to make money. She does this so she'll never have to live on the streets again. I liked this book because it really shows you the other side of things, and how poverty stricken people make it. But while telling a story about that, this book also focuses on Raspberry's school and social life. Raspberry's friends all have different stories ones rich and ones a food truck owner so on and so on. No matter what her friends or enemies say about her trying to make money all the time she always shoots it down. Se also won't stop selling things even if she gets in trouble with her principle. I think of her a a pretty tough character because of that because she stands up for her self and doesn't let anything stop her.