AoW Impressions (5/05/15)

Sonny S.
5/05/15
AoW Impressions

World News Impressions

     Today, I learned about many things that have been happening around the world recently. Some of the things that have been happening would be the Baltimore Riots in the U.S., and the Nepal Earthquake in Nepal. Those are the topics that popped up the most during the gallery walk that we did today.

     In Baltimore, there was a man arrested, who later died in the back of a cop car when his neck snapped. May civilians say that cops are to blame, and are starting to fight against the authorities in Baltimore. Civilians say that cops are really bad people, and shouldn't be the people with guns and handcuffs.

     I think that people shouldn't be reacting like this because, it could have been suicide. There is no evidence on what had happened. The person probably did something bad in the firs place, there is a reason why he got arrested, maybe he killed someone, got caught, and decided he doesn't want to live in jail. There is no reason why people should be rioting with no evidence of what that person did.

     The Nepal Earthquake was pretty serious too. With 7.8 magnitude, and over 7,500 people dying. This was not a good scene. People started throwing bodies into rivers because they were literally surrounded by bodies. There are six-teen different countries that are chipping in to help with aid, and that are sending workers to help trapped.

     I think the Nepal Earthquake is pretty depressing. There was a story of how someone's daughter went to go get a drink of water, and a roof ends up on her head! Luckily she survived, and many others have survived, but there were 7,500 deaths. I am happy though because, that these people are receiving aid from other countries, and it's not just one. Six-teen countries helping one country recover is just amazing. Seeing all of these kind people being generous and lending one country in current need aid and workers.

Dream Poem (5/04/15)

Sonny S.

5/04/15

Dream Poem

     Dreams can influence people to do things. Dreams can make people do or choose certain things, based on what the person's dream is. People can choose to get an education and job immediately, or drop out of school and take steps for an athletic career.

     Perseverance is something that people have when they have dreams. They keep on pushing through, they want to live out their dream. They want to get that far because it wouldn't have to be a dream anymore, it can be reality. Then this can be something that a person lives out, and can look back and say, "I made all the right choices." This can cause people to be really proud of themselves.

     When people fail their dream, they can feel depressed, and they won't try hard to accomplish that dream again, or they just won't try again. Dream can cause different levels of their self-esteem. A low self-esteem can cause attitudes, but a high self-esteem can cause people to keep their head up, and persuade others to try harder, because it worked for them.

OMAM Conflicts (4/27/15) SPOILER ALERT

Sonny S.

April 27, 2015

Of Mice and Men Conflicts

Spoiler Alert!

Spoils if you haven't read page(s) 62-63

     A conflict in the story is when Curley picks on Lennie. Curley thinks he is the big tough man, and hates big guys for some reason. So when Curley sees Lennie in his own little world, Curley points all the attention onto Lennie. Curley picks on him, and goes at him. Once Curley starts a fight with Lennie, George yells at Lennie, to fight back. Despite Lennie not wanting to beat Curley, he had to defend himself, and George also said to (he always listens to George). The reason why Curley picked on Lennie, was because he was looking for his wife, and didn't know where she was... and just seen Lennie in his own, little, vulnerable world.

Spoils if you haven't read page(s) 91

     Another conflict in the story is when Lennie talks with Curley's wife. This may not seem like a big idea yet, but their conversation sparked something to happen. Lennie was discussing on how he likes soft things. Curley's wife said that her hair is soft, and she put Lennie's hand on her head. Then Lennie started pulling, Curley's wife didn't like this because she didn't want her hair messed up. Then Curley's wife started to yell, and Lennie already did one bad thing, he didn't want to do another... so he stopped her from screaming by covering her mouth and nose. While Curley's wife was struggling, Lennie moved her, and snaps her neck.

    

   

   

 

     

OMAM (4/21/15)

Of Mice and Men

Book by: John Steinbck

Blog by: Sonny S.

4.21.15

Pages read: 37
Prompt:
What is the atmosphere of the bunkhouse? And why might Curly's wife not have a name?

     In the story, "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck, there are two men trying to use their perseverance and get through the hard times around the time period of the Great Depression and Dust Bowls. There are these two men who are migrant workers. Migrant workers are people who go from place to place looking for jobs. Most of the time, the jobs the migrant workers get are some sort of farming job, but that's only most of the time.

     Two men named George Milton and Lennie Small go on an adventure looking for a job. George is normally the person to take charge. George kinda like the boss of Lennie. Lennie on the other hand, is useful for other things. He's a big man, buffer than his last name, but he has a mental-illness that makes him lose track of things.

    George normally tells Lennie what to do, and on the part of the book I'm on now, George also speaks for Lennie. At the beginning of the book, George and Lennie walked 10 miles south of Soledad to reach an area where they can work and gain some money. They meet the boss, and many other people along the way. These men try to get through the hard times together.

     The atmosphere of the bunkhouse is a little bit more negative. Lennie also wants to leave because he doesn't like it there at the bunkhouse. Everyone is has a negative attitude. The person who seems to be the rudest in the book so far would have to be Curley. He is describes as a "short fighter" because he is a short man and always wants to start a fight. He also always wins the fight because the Boss of the ranch is his father. So technically, Curley owns the ranch, he is the boss of everyone else. He has special privileges, he is a higher rank than everyone else. George and Lennie, already dislike him, meaning they dislike the ranch. On page 33, George says,  "...if we can get jus' a few dollars... go up the American River and pan gold."

     I think Curly's wife doesn't have a name because it could be a sig of disrespect. Maybe she doesn't want to be known as someone in case something goes wrong. She just want to be a lady. She wants to be a lady that only people can describe, but no one will ever know who she is. She can also flee if something goes wrong, she doesn't have any form of identification, so no one can know of her if something goes really wrong, she can just make a name too, change her identity and leave.

Battle of the Books

Battle of the Books

4/15/15

Books read: 3

     Battle of the books is a opportunity for trivia. People form teams, and read to become the team that know the book the best. There are a certain amount of books for your team and you to read. Your job is to remember what happens in those books, and eventually answer questions about the books you read. There can only be a maximum of five people on your team, meaning that everyone has to read more than one book if you wanted to split up the books evenly.

     Today is the 15th of April. This is the day of the trivia. I read books called, Zebra Forest, A Dog's Life (An autobiography of a Stray), and Trouble. My job was to remember the main parts of the book, and battle against my peers until the challenge is over. Whoever has the most points, wins. There were two rounds, and there is a possibility of scoring 30 points for each round. If you were to do the simple math, that would be a total of 60 possible points.

     The first question for our team was about a book that we didn't have much knowledge about. It was mostly my responsibility to read and understand it... but I didn't get to read the entire thing because I was taking my time or reading a different book. The plus side though, was we got one point because I knew the author (1 point for author and 2 points for answering the asked question correctly). We scored a perfect score for the rest of the round. We ended up with 28 points for the first round.

     The second round was harder for us because we got the more, difficult/advanced questions, but we still pulled through. We ended up tying for second place... until we settled it with a sudden death. It was a very nerve-racking moment. If you were to count up all the points we had, it was 51 (58 if you were to count the sudden death). We took first place! We were so happy, and we will soon be going to the next part of the battle.

"The Mighty Beetah" Nonsense Poem

"The Might Beetah"

By: Sonny S.

Nonsense Poem

Poetry Reflections

Poetry Reflections

By: Sonny S.

    In the month or so, my class and I have been focusing on poetry. This was a unit we did in our Literature/Language Arts class. It was a really fun unit, and I have personally learned many things about poetry. I actually didn't know that there were so many different types of poetry, until we focused on this unit.

     In the poetry unit, we've read different types of poems and how they can affect people. Personally, poetry is really not my thing, but that's okay because poetry is not everyone's thing. It's really just a fun thing to learn. I've also learned that people don't really just, come up with these ideas to write a poem. They write poems because maybe they need to let it out. It's just a matter of experiences.

     I've actually really enjoyed this poetry unit, and I thought it was really fun to see and hear all this different poems, and learn all these other genres of poems. I will be honest, but I think that poetry was a good part of the year. I may not enjoy it as much as other people enjoy it, but I certainly enjoyed it. It was a good way to teach us on how experiences can affect peoples daily lives.

My past blogs involving poems:
- Bio Poem
- Where I'm From Poem
- Spine Poem
- Two Voice Poem
- Follow Poem