Academics!!!!

In the book now Ben is having some issues in elementary school he even had to go to summer school. I thought that was funny because when I was in 3rd grade I had to go to summer school because I had a problem with reading. I was horrible at it because my mother never had time to read to me because she worked so much. However I think it was the environment that I was brought up in also that caused me to have problems. I had bigger problems to conquer at home. I think that was the same thing with Ben because when he got into middle school and high school he was a very good student.

09' Seniors

I would say goodbye to all my classmates and wish them the best of luck in life. I would not really address it as a fair well, more like its a new error in our lives' that we must move on to to become better people for our world. I would say thanks to all of my teachers and my mother for all of her love and support too. Last but not least I would give a nice warm bye to the Neatfreaks, my best friends.

Bye Daddy

Prompt #3
"And your daddy isn't going to live with us anymore."(pg.9) That is what Ben's mother told him at the age of eight years old when his father walked out on his mother for good. He becomes emotionally scarred from this event because he looked at his father as a well rounded fatherly figure; however for the rest of his childhood he does not have a father to guide him down the right path. In this chapter I feel for this little boy because he cries for weeks thinking that he was the reason why his father left his family. Ben's mother, Sonya, had to take care of the two of her sons as a single mother without any type of support from the boys' father. Which is very hard for a mother to have to fend for her children without any type of help. I have sympathy for Ben's family because I know how hard it could be for a mother to raise kids by herself.

Regret

In the book Amir continued to sin after the first major sin he committed, which was watching Hassan get raped by Assef. On top of that he disowned Hassan when he needed him the most, he stopped playing with him and completely tried to avoid him. Also he made Ali and Hassan move out causing Baba great grief because Baba's childhood friend was moving out. Ali was the only person that Baba could trust in Kabul. Amir can not make up for his sins

Ummm...Minty

When I was 9 years old, I went to Rite Aid near my old house in Abington to get some mints. I was babysitting so I brought my little sister and brother with me to the store. I found the mints and decided to try the mint drops also, to make my breath minty fresh. When I got home I sat on my steps near my bed room and opened my minty delight, excited to experience the fresh blast, until my came over. She wanted to see what I was doing, she was a very curious 5 year old. So, I took the mint drops and put one in her mouth. She hated it, I think it was too much of minty blast for her to handle. She began to wail in tears, I felt so bad. Everyone knew that there was something wrong with her but I could not tell everyone it was my fault, I would have been in so much trouble. I just told my grandmother I didn't know why she was crying. Now she is terrified to chew any type of gum or eat any type of mint. I feel bad and I wish I never did it. She seemed so traumatized by the wh

ole experience. My mother thinks she is crazy now because I never told anyone the story because I knew she would probably smack me.

Gifted Hands

PREVIEW TO A BOOK


In your notebook, please take notes on the following:

The Front Cover
• Title/Author/Awards: Gifted Hands, Ben Carson, None
• Picture/Words : Picture of Ben Carson himself
• What do you think the book is about? Topic/Big Picture? The book is about Ben Carson’s life and the struggles he endured through his road to success.
• Jot down 2 questions you have.
How old was Ben when he received his medical degree?
Did he have a father figure around during his early years?

The Back Cover
• Synopsis or Plot Preview? Inner- city kid to renowned neurosurgeon.
• Review/Praise/Acclaim? Overall what is your impression. Ben Carson was interviewed on 20/20 by Barbra Walters about his book and his profession.
• Does the back cover reveal anything about the story (time period, characters, setting, etc.)? If so, jot down some notes.

Inside the Book
• Copyright/Publication date? 1990/1990
• Is there a dedication? Yes the dedication is to his mother
• Table of Contents? Chapter Titles? #’s? yes, yes, and yes
• Other titles listed by the author? Jot a few down. Think Big
• Open to a random page and read a few paragraphs. What is the author’s writing style? His writing style is in first person.

OVERALL IMPRESSION
Based on your preview of the book, what do you think it may be about? What types of characters, issues, themes, etc… do you think you will encounter? What sort of background information (already known or researched) do you think you will need to understand the story? Write down 3 questions you hope to have answered by the end of the story.
I am doing a book preview my new independent reading called Gifted Hands by Ben Carson. The book is about Ben Carson's life and how be became a famous professional neurosurgeon, and the struggles he had to go through while growing up. The book takes the reader through all of his journeys and struggles.

Scramble Story- Illusions

One day a little boy sat on the sidewalk playing with his soccer ball when a fast car sped by him. He couldn’t believe what he just saw. He was confused on whether it real or was he still in the state of hallucination? He slowly stood up to get a better view of what he thought was a car, but saw nothing. Suddenly the boy found himself running down the street trying to find the car. He hit something hard as he was running, and realized it was a tree.
“Who grows trees in the middle of the road?” the puzzled boy said. What kind of bizarre neighborhood had he run into, and how could he possibly have reached this foreign place? Clearly, the drugs from last night had yet to wear off. Because of health complications when he was an infant, he has had many operations which caused him to be on multiple medications. He never saw the medication as a downfall until now, as he felt a throbbing bruise beginning to form on his oversized head. “Just relax,” he told himself, “take it easy and let the visions drift by you, don’t try to control anything.” He kept wandering about the streets and was confused as to where he was. Unexpectedly, he fell into a dark hole that lead him to Mars. Mars was not what he had expected it to be; it had a Burger King and everything on it.

What Does Good Do?

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing"

Evil does take over when the good people just sit by and watch what is happening, however people are not good if they witness bad being done and do not do any thing about it that makes them the accomplice. For example in The Kite Runner, Assef calls Hassan and Ali out of their names plenty of times, and the narrator Amir does not say anything to defend them, which makes him as bad as Assef because he does not say anything. A person is not good when they do not try to help the person or people that are in distress. Good people help and try to make a difference, like MLK he was a good person at heart because he stood up to the people of the America to try to create a difference in society. If everyone just sat back and minded their business and said nothing about wrong being done, the world would be a disgrace.

Wise Decisions

While making a decision I try to keep everyone as happy as possible, the one important person that I keep in mind is myself. I know that might sound selfish, however sometimes you have to decide what is best for yourself. When I was young, I always made decisions based on what my family wanted me to do, and majority of the time the decisions I made were good. However, there is one decision that I have recently made, which was to go to Montco for college. I did it because my mother can not afford for me to go away for school, so I was going to go there for a year or two and transfer out. I find this to be very sad and depressing for me, because that was not the school that I want to go to; however I did it because that was the best thing for my family and I. Decisions for me are very hard to make because I am the type of person who over think situations to the fullest. I like to think of all the bad outcomes by making my decision and good outcomes. Normally if the good out weighs the bad I stick with it, and when the bad out weighs the good I take another route to improve the situation. The only thing that I try to avoid while making decisions is hurting people in the process. There are times when a decision I have made hurt someone but it was still for the best, like my mother always tells "Life isn't fair."I like to follow that saying and do what is best for me.

Recipe

• Start w/ 1 cup of Durrani Empire
  
• Put it in the middle of the pan of Asia
  
• Surrounded by Pakistan in the south east corner of the cup cake pan, Iran south and west, and China in the northeast of the cup cake pan
• Always served as an crossroads for the East and West
• 3/4 cups of Pashtuns chips in the batter
• 6 cups of Dari language
• 1 capital Kahbul
• 7 cups of natural resources
• Top it off with Nowshak icing standing at its highest point
• 1 cup of Hindu Kush mountain points
• 647,500 km2 of distance
• Large dose of Opium
• Bowl of poverty
  

Stir well and bake at 350 degrees...creating an Afghan state

Too Fast Too Furious

Over break I went to the movies to go see Fast and the Furious 4 it was a really good movie. I love how they brought back the old characters in the original movie like Paul Walker and Vin Diesel. I thought that made the movie way better. I also went to dinner with my family for Easter at my cousin Ashley's house in Norristown. The food was so good I had to get two plates full and by the end of the night I was falling asleep while eating ice cream cup cakes. I feel like the break went by too fast and we should have had another day off today because it was easter yesterday. But other than coming to school today my break was pretty relaxing.

I.R.B. Surprise Surprise

10. In chapter 8 Billy learns about sex, it was really funny because he did not really understand what sex was. When I first learned about the birds and the bees I had no clue what I was learning about. Billy was about 10 years old in the book, and I was 10 when I learned about my monthly surprise; that came one year later. I thought that was very weird that we were the same age when we learned about s-e-x. I thought 10 was an early age to learn about sex, but sex education is a necessity.

I.R.B. Like It or Hate It

1. This is the question that allows the reader to be brutually honest about their independent reading book. I hated the book that I picked because it was too childish, it was very hard for me to keep reading. I think that the book is for a male rather than a female because the main character is a little boy who makes up adventures in his mind. I feel like I was just too old to read it. There were parts in the book where I thought what was happening was cute, for example the Butter boys fighting with the Thunderbolt Kid. But the book was not that interesting to me overall. If I could have went back in time I probably would have chose something else to read because The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid was not the greatest book to chose.

I.R.B. Introduction

I was assigned to pick an independent reading book that is related to a travel narrative, and or diary & Latin America that relates somewhat to the Motorcycle Diaries. I decided to read a memoir also known as a diary for my independent reading project. The book I chose is called The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson, its a light hearted comedy about the author's childhood.

I.R.B. Thunderbolt Kid????

18. The title of my book is The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. Why the author chose to title his book this way? He was called Thunderbolt Kid when he was little ,Billy Bryson, would run around the house and his neighborhood with an old jersey with a thunderbolt on it and a towel about his neck that served as his cape. He imagined that he was a superhero and he was going to save the world from all the wrong doing. I would not change the title because I think that the title suits the book pretty well. i would not want to change the author's individuallity on the book. the title that it has is just perfect for the book.

I.R.B. Superhero to the Rescue

15. In this picture it illustrates Billy, the main character, as being Thunderbolt the Kid. He is causing the Butter boys utter humiliation because they always pick with innocent kids smaller than them because they are bullies. The super hero saves the day and the public eye love Thunderbolt the Kid, however he has to stay clear so no one will know who he is. Or Thunderbolt the Kid will be discovered....dun dun dun.....

I.R.B. Deeper Meaning

8. The major theme in this book is childhood. Someone's childhood can play a great factor with the building of an responsible young adult. This book shows that while being a child and having the fun; it is just part of something that a child has to go through to build a normal healthy stable life as an adult. Thunderbolt the Kid just shows that it may not be that easy being a child, its a lot harder when fighting super villians of the "real" world. The book is very light hearted comedy, it would have been more interesting for a guy to read it because they would probably relate to the book more.

I.R.B. About Thunderbolt the Kid

10.Thunderbolt the Kid, is about the author Billy Bryson when he was a young boy. Billy grew up in a small town called Des Moines, Iowa during the time of the baby booming stage. He was the youngest out of him and his brother, they lived in a mid-class family with the perks of a normal life. However, he was not just an ordinary boy he was a super hero jumping over tall buildings, and fighting evildoers, well that was with his unquie sense of imagination. The major theme in this book is the pleasures of being a child and growing up to form a his own person in the future.

I.R.B. God's Name in Vein!!!

4. Billy, the main character swore to God, which surprised me because I was taught not to swear to God when I was a child. However when I read on I realized that the narrator too, was taught that he should not swear, he was just doing it as a form of disobeidence. I was surprised to find that in the 1950's and now there is still beliefs carried along through generations. As a reader it caught my attention that the narrator and I were taught the same things while growing up as a child, I thought that was very interesting.

I.R.B. Numbing Fear

2. The little boy Bill Bryson went to the dentist office, however the dentist is not an average dentist he is a nightmare for Billy. The dentist does not even use novocaine to take away the pain for his patients and I thought it was kind of weird for them to be in the waiting room with not a single soul....like they were his only patients. I thought that was so weird because every time i go to the dentist it is packed. By the way Billy described the doctor and his practices he seems to be a low buget doctor's office especially if he does not use novocaine, and does not have any patients. Why would his father take him there of all places? I would be scared too if I were him.

Who am I...

Che was a man who wanted to make a difference in peoples lives but in reality did not actually succeed at performing his goal.

To Be or Not To Be

At first Che went to school to medical school, due to him not being able to pursue his childhood dream of studying engineering because of his asthma. Then he left medical school and just traveled. At first I just thought that he was going to be a wandering soul that wanted to explore the world. However, after him entering into Chile he seemed like he wanted to make a change in the government. He started to voice his opinion about Chile's government and I think that was went he realized he wanted to be part of the government system. It just seemed like Che wanted to make the struggles of life to go away and make it better for his people of Latin America.

Inspiration

The election for the four presidential candidates of the Chile's president. Che describes all the candidates and he talks about how Chile needs to "shake that Yankee friend off its back" which he was talking about America and imperialism. In his entry Chile, a vision from afar, he talks about Chile's government and how it can be improved. The entry actually shows how he has an interest in politics the most. I think that in his trip to Chile he found his new love for politics.

Tied and United

We are fat and in debt?

I Hear Ernesto

Ernesto's voice first came through with his letter he wrote to his mother about his adventures in Argentina. He expresses tone when states " A loving hug from your son", I just thought that was so adorable because I would have never thought he had a sensitive side in him. However the letter fully expresses his love for mother. Also when he gives the raving details of the Atlantic Ocean it showed imagery.

My Ideology

One of my biggest believes is that everyone should have a equal chance at happiness as everyone else even if the circumstances are not normal. I will defend anyone who is not capable to pursue their happiness especially when it comes to love. Another belief of mine is to give respect and get respect. I will never under any circumstances allow a person to disrespect me, and think they will get respect in return from me. I was always taught that way as a child that's why it is strongly enforced in my morals.

Oranges???

I think what is happening in Pakistan is kind of similar to what happened in Bolivia with Che. He was helping the soldiers in Bolivia to make their army stronger but there was a lot of guerrilla war fair in Bolivia they were actually like at war in Bolivia. In Pakistan they are not at war they are just helping the army to build up an army. The people of Pakistan want the help of the Americans but the Bolivians did not want Che to be there so there is a difference.

Castro????

I think that Fidel Castro is the one responsible for Che’s death because he allegedly he was the one that sent him to Bolivia after he read Che’s farewell letter to the people. I think that the situation has Fidel Castro written all over it. I think it was because Che and Castro were not on the same page anymore about politics. I’m almost sure it was Castro, he threw Che to the lions.

Point of No Return

The patients cast off and to the sound of a folk tune the human cargo drifted away from shore; the faint light of their lanterns giving the people a ghostly quality. The human cargo singing giving off its mysterious graces to the human beings left behind off the cargo. How far do they have to go to make, the ghostly quality almost made it seem as though the human cargo will never return. The ship was following a path of no return. Thinking of what have just may happened sent a shiver down my spine. I never had a feeling like that before in my life just to see a ship leave it was just something about that ship….

Che's Ideology

I think Che’s personal mission statement would be a body of doctrine, myth, etc. with reference to some political and social plan, as that of fascism, along with the devices for putting it into operation. I choose this type of Ideology because he becomes very determined throughout the documentary to over through the leader of Latin America. He does not believe that imperialism is the best way to run a country. He strongly believed in a different approach like communism. He spoke very strongly about communism and he stood side by side with Fidel Castro in the documentary.

Documentary

If I was creating a movie on Che I would include all the important parts of his life.I would highlight all of the important events of his life to show how he developed into the person he was. I would have to ask what major events would mold into Che Guevara? Why was he made out to be a good guy when actually facts prove that he was not?

Judging a Book by its Cover

I was always told not to judge a book by its cover, however it is kind of hard when the book looks like it will take an eternity to read, or if the cover is bland. I hate when a cover is completely irrelevant to the book. I like to read the back of the book to get a little hint of what I’m going to be reading. One of the books that caught my attention was the Outsiders, I read it a while ago, but the cover attracted me when I first saw it. The book was very good too, it was one of my favorites.

The truth about Che

The video I watched on the Greg Beck's show was very interesting. I do not have type of background information on who the Che person is. I have never learned about him in history class, however he sounds like a horrible man. Beck stated that he put gay males in jail just because they were gay. I do not understand why he would do such a thing. Greg Beck really made the man out to be a monster. He was trying to get the point across that Che was not what he seemed, and the movie directors made him out to be something he was not. But I feel like I can not speak that much about the clip because I have no clue who Che is....

Hello....

Hello classmates this is my new English Blog....
I'm new to this so I'm just getting warmed up:)