http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3BxfD2JwGQ

Sympathy, by Paul Laurence was performed by Stanley Jackson this past year. I watched his performance on the website and thought he did a great job. He had excellent stage presence, voice and articulation and his understanding of the poem. He didn't use too much dramatization, but did use enough to get the audience intrigued and it helped them understand the poem. I would give his overall performance either a 10 or 12 because he did a very good job. I thought that the poem itself was not that difficult to understand the real meaning, which is why I would give him a 10.

The way he used the transition from the first part of the poem to the second part helped me understand what the poem was about. In the first part he used a light voice and talked of the caged bird who has dreams and who is like himself. The second part gives more of an edge and tells about how the bird beats its wings and wants to get away but must always come back to the cage. I think that it means that the bird feels trapped and would rather die than keep living the life it is living. The poet relates to the bird and says how he is like it. He obviously feels the way the bird does and he tells his story through the bird. Overall, I thought that his performance was excellent and I learned a lot from just watching him.

Motif

Reading the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee has helped me understand the meaning of motif. By using the motif "It's a sin to kill a mockingbird" in the book, it introduces the concept of it's a sin to kill or wrongly convict someone or something who is innocent. Before reading the book, I did not quite grasp the idea of what motif was, but after reading it, I now understand it so much better, especially because the motif of the book was captured by the major themes of the book.

Some of the major themes in the novel is racism and justice verses injustice. The Tom Robinson case is a good example of racism. The motif exemplifies the fact the Tom was wrongly convicted and killed just by the fact the he was black. It also conveys the aspect of injustice verses injustice. Tom Robinson is like the the mockingbird. Everyone who convicted him of rape were all committing the sin.

Overall I thought the book helped me understand motif better in many ways. It has also given me a lot of practice at analyzing literature. I feel that I am much better at getting the deeper meaning of a book or novel. Plus, I enjoyed reading the book, which made everything a lot easier.

Life lesson :)

Ever since I can remember playing volleyball, my dad has always told my team and I one thing; "don't say can't". Whenever he would tell us to do something in practice and someone said they can't do it, my dad would ask, "did you just say the "C" word?" Then he would make the whole team do push-ups just because one person said can't. Up until he stopped coaching my team, we would had to do push-ups almost every practice because someone said the word. We all eventually broke out of that bad habit and I still try not to say it; even in everyday life.

Having my dad tell me not to say can't at a young age has helped me in volleyball and in life. It taught me that just because you don't think you do something, doesn't mean you can't do it. I have always been someone to try something even if I don't think I can do it, but just by saying I can, has helped me even more. It's all about positive self talk. It never hurts to try. If you don't even try, you will be unsuccessful and you will never know if you would have been if you had just tried. If you do try, there is a chance that you will be successful, but even if you aren't, at least you will know. All I can say now is live with no regrets, and "don't say can't".

My closest friend

I don't have a "best friend", but I do have many very close friends. One of my closest friends is an amazing person. She is a good student and a great friend. She is an awesome rock climber, which I look up to her for. In Hawaii, she AMAZED me how fast she climbed up the wall! It was like she just shot up it! She is a really good artist too. Her drawings and sculptures are so unique and awesome! I hope she will use that gist in the future!

My friend is an ambivert. She loves to be around people but she also like to be alone sometimes. She is also a little bit of an altruist in the sense of she cares a lot about the people around her. She is a very giving person, but she does what she thinks is best for herself as well. She is definitely not an egotist. She never brags or talks about her accomplishment in a rude or unnecessary way. She may mention something in a calm way, which is a good way to be. Overall, she is just an amazing girl. I miss her so much!

One of my earliest memories was when I was three years old and I went to Mexico with my mom and dad. The place we went was so big and pretty! We went EVERYWHERE! It was so much fun to see all the kids that I made sand castles with! There was this one girl that didn't talk much but we played together a lot. She was really nice and my mommy and daddy took a lot of pictures of us playing together. I was nice and shared my blanky with her, I think she liked it. I really want to go back and see her again! We could play together like we used to! I miss her a whole bunch.

Looking back on this memory, I still didn't understand why the little girl wouldn't talk to me, so I asked my parents about it. They said that the she did not speak any English, which surprised me quite a bit. They said that we would communicate only with hand signals and with the things we were playing with. I also remember that she didn't have any toys of her own, we only would play with the ones that I had brought from home. I do wonder sometimes that maybe she remember me, but i doubt it considering her family did not have any cameras of their own. Overall, she was one of my first memories. I still find it amazing how we could play together even though we spoke two completely different languages.

Treasure Island: Imagery

For my outside reading I chose to do Treasure Island and I think that imagery is the best literary element to describe the book. It uses a lot of jargon and and descriptive language to create pictures and images in my head. The author uses imagery because it creates more of a distinct feel to the book so it doesn't just go on and on like some books tend to do. It just makes it an easier read.
Imagery helps the reader be more involved like he/she is actually there. That kind of thing helps me get more into a book than something like if they used point of view. In many parts of the book I was able to feel the emotions the characters were experiencing and made me feel like I was really there. The way the author describes the pirates just puts these scary, dirty men in my mind. I wouldn't want to mess with them.
Overall, I am glad that imagery was a big part in the book. It helped me see things more clearly and helped me enjoy the book more.

Treasure Island

For my outside reading book i am reading Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson. So far, I am enjoying it very much. After the first page, I thought that it was very easy to get into. It grabbed my attention right away by the way the author describes things, and also just what is going on in the book. It is very interesting to me.

Out of the five elements, imagery is what stood out the most. Everytime i pick it up to read, I get these pictures in my head of what the words create. I knew that this was going to be the literary element right away just by reading the first few pages; it was pretty obviouse to me.

The reason I think that the author chose to right this way is because it helps the reader get into the book easier. It's more captivating than if the main literary element was foreshadowing or something that did not have a lot of descriptive writing. I am glad this book contains a lot of imagery.

I think that the tone of the book so far is informative and partially zealous and somber. It is a little somber because it just seems a little dark. The pictures that the imagery give are mixed emotions for me. So far the tone has stayed the same through the chapters. But, I am sure it will be different as I keep reading. I can't wait to see what happens next.

UNO

Sometimes, it is very hard to get into a new book that starts out rather bland and nondescriptive. It might take a few chapters to get into it, but once it starts to get interesting, thats when you just can not stop reading it. I prefer books that start exciting, and end exciting, just so I can stay interesting in reading it. Most of the time that is not always the way books are written. I know that i just have to keep reading, and see if something happens that captures my attention.

For me personally, I like finding a quiet and calm place to read. It is very easy for me to get distracted, even one little noise gets me thinking about something else. This is not always the case though. When a book is good and an easy read, I am able to tolerate distractions much better than when I have to think really hard about what the author is trying to say. Overall I much prefer a quiet place to read.

My reading style is to read the book, understand it, enjoy it, and then start a new book. If I do not understand something I go back and read it again and again until I know excactly what it means. For me I understand fiction and I like fiction the best out of the many different genres. It lets me go into an imaginary world where I can picture something and create images in my head. I think for most people, fiction lets them think of many possibilities they may have never even considered before. For the most part, reading fiction is just a fun thing to do.

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