Journal #2 Chapters 4-7 from the perspective of Miss Maudie

Well I must say this summer's been downright cumbersome. I'm sure the vote would be unanimous were the quiet folks in these here parts to think about it. It all started off with little Jean. Just about everybody calls her Scout, and I fancy both names, so I teeter between the two. Anyways, her and her two friends, Jem and Dill, got out of school. These kids love to explore, and I decided to make a deal with 'em. S'long as they don't go trampling my azaleas, I give them free reign over my yard. They're all great kids, but I reckon I'm closest to Scout. Boy, was she scared when she learned how much I hate nut grass. I'll tell ya, it's not even funny. God knows there ain't a single creature or thing to the Lord's name I have somethin' against, but once a single piece of nut grass comes up: it's tormenting time! I told little Scout too, "Why, one sprig of nut grass can ruin a whole yard."And then I showed those kids my cake skills. You can trust I keep quiet about it. My cakes are more well hidden than a gaggle of chameleons. And for good reason too. Dear lord that Jack wouldn't take "no" for answer the next time he asked for my hand in marriage if he knew how well I could whip up a cake. He'd barge right in and take me down to his home. Be baking cakes for the rest of my life. Well here I am getting off track. Anyways, once I gave these kids a taste, all it takes is one call of their names and they spring right up for a slice! Sometimes little Scout comes alone though. When she walks right on down like that, it sure is nice. Maycomb's a tightly-knit place, we all know each-other. Still, being a widow can get lonely. When Scout comes, half the time, there ain't no talking, no quibbling just a silence as we sit on the porch and watch the sunset. Those were the most peaceful days I've had in years, rest assured. They unfortunately didn't last long however. After a couple of weeks she starts talking to me about ol' Arthur Radley. Poor man, those kids just get so curious. And her brother Jem don't help neither! He keeps fillin' her head with lies about Arthur. Why, he told her that Arther died and they stuffed 'im up the chimney. I can't believe it. That Jem is going to end up like Jack Finch, just you wait and see. As if that wasn't bad enough, Jem's balderdash is only half of the pile! Turn's out that old gossip Crawford is giving her the "low down" on poor Arthur too. At least Jem isn't an adult! That old Crawford just spits out the most malignant things. She starts spreading it around that Arthur was lookin' at her in the night right outside her window. Then I tell her, "What did you do, Stephanie, move over in bed and make room for him?". Really, what does she gain from spreading that kind of stuff around? Goodness. And then things got worse. The night before that boy Dill left, the kids were hanging around his Aunt's house.

Journal #1 Chapters 1-3 from the perspective of Dill

This summer I made some good friends. I was exploring around while Aunt Rachel went to the rialto for a little while. I found some pretty flowers, I think they’re called collards. Anyways, I decided to come up close and take a whiff; boy they sure were colorful. Then these two kids done decided to pop their heads right up from behind the fence in front of me and the flowers. It was a boy and a little girl, she looked to be round my age. I recognized the boy as Jeremy Atticus Finch, but the kids here called him Jem. Aunt Rachel is indigenous to this quaint little town, so she knows most of the kids. They jus’ kept on staring and staring. Since I hear from Aunt Rachel he’s a good kid, and I didn't feel any intimidation, I started it off. I told them, “Hey”. Jem greeted me back, so I introduced myself to him. I told him I was Charles Baker Harris. Then he decided to be funny ‘bout it. “Your name’s longer’n you are”, he says to me. I don’t mind though, lotta kids are meaner to me ‘bout that sort of thing. I tell him to call me Dill and that I’m seven years old. He seemed ok, so I decided to impress him and the girl with him. “I can read” I says to him. Then he tells me the girl can read. What’s even worse is that she’s actually a year younger than me. Shucks! I never can seem to win with this kind of stuff. He introduces her as his sister, “Scout”; funny name, but Dill ain't that much better, if it even is. We talked about stuff. Apparently Jem likes the movie Dracula. Once I told him I’ve seen it, we started getting along better ‘n better. Scout didn’t go and say much. Quiet girl I guess. Anyways, after a while Scout goes and asks me ‘bout my pop. I don’t like talking bout him, considerin’ he gone and left us. I suppose she didn’t understand what with her being all young all. I tried not to become irked. Then Jem told her to shush. I was pretty happy ‘bout that. After that we became good friends, the three of us. They even called me eccentric. I don't know what that means but it's sounds like it means cool, so I'm happy about it. I came over to their house and we played and acted out scenes from thing's like Tarzan and Tom Swift. After a while they told me about this one house. They called it, "The Radley House". They told about "Boo" Radley, the son of the late Mr. Radley. They say they hear all sorts of things about the guy. Apparently he's chained down and downright malevolent (I read that from the newspaper, bet that Scout can't do that!). I was very curious to meet this fellow, considering he seemingly stabbed his father in the leg and hasn't been seen in years. I just watched the house, days on end. Couldn't help it, I felt so excited getting closer. One day, the three of us were walking by the house when I decide to dare Jem, seein' as he always brave about things. I says to him, "I'll swap you The Gray Ghost if you just go up and touch the house." Needless to say, he was back in a flash, runnin' like a madman, but he did it. I saw him slap that wall and run like the dickens. That was the funnest summer I've ever done have, and I can't wait to come back next year.

Immigrant Project Reflection

My literature circle book was What is the What by Dave Eggers. While I did enjoy the book it did feel tedious at some parts, as it is a very long book. I was actually in the literature circle group for the book ‘Tis initially, but due to high member count, I was switched to What is the What. When I originally switched, I wasn’t very much of a happy camper, mainly since ‘Tis was about half as long as What is the What. So at first glance I was unhappy about getting What is the What, but as I read on I got over it as I learned from and liked the book progressively through the course of the project.

The book taught me an extremely large amount on the life of refugees, especially ones in Africa. I now realize just how far refugees were pushed into their human limits. To coin a phrase, “they were given no breathing space”. I feel I’ve obtained a large amount of insight on the refugee lifestyle too. It granted me knowledge on life at the camps, and how hard it was to escape them. It dwells in my thoughts frequently now, how every meal I have is both frequent and bountiful compared to that of a runaway, struggling for survival daily.

I think that for the literature circle posts the instructions for number three should be a little more specific, as I feel the personal connection option was fairly unaddressed. Also, I think that the books should be little more consistent in length since I noticed there was some large differences in the amount of reading done for different groups.

In my opinion, the idea of blogging instead of talking and/or doing Dialectical Journals was at the very least a refreshing and new experience. I think it was good that the system was not to just post one-sidedly, but to also respond in a specific and well-thought out format. Thought, my own experiences with the blog were unfortunately, not very well. After the first blog I procrastinated until it was too late to make the deadline, and a snowball effects was pretty much immediate until my blog and response list was rather empty.

When deciding upon what my final product would be, I felt that it would be best if I either did a remake of the cover, or a recreation of a scene that spoke out to me, because they seemed the best for ascertaining my thoughts and views on the themes of the book. I decided that since my choices would be somewhat limited if I did a different cover, I would pick an important scene from the book to paint.

I felt that the scene I picked was a very easy way to correlate the main themes of the book into the painting. It depicted the main character being restrained by his traveling peers as one of their group is dragged away by a hungry lion. They watch helplessly because their only weapons are the small hands attached to their weak and malnourished bodies. When I look at the painting, I recall the main themes and the feelings that come with it. For instance, it featured the theme of death, and some of the feelings that came with death in the novel were frustration, helplessness, and sadness.

The actual end product though, did not really seem very aesthetically pleasing. There were some errors, such as the long grass. In my sketches, I drew it well, as long pencils strokes densely fit together but still somewhat discernible. For my painting, I couldn’t go in the middle. I either had to make the whole thing green, or make it more separated. I decided to make it separated. I feel that was the right decision, but only because it was, “the lesser of two evils”. The grass ended up looking like a couple dozen thick green strokes. If it were eye candy, that part of the painting would have been pretty sour. Overall, the painting was the best that could be done with my mediocre art skills and not so thin brush.

Speaking of brush, my painting may have actually turned out better it I had just gotten a smaller brush, as when it came to shaping the people, my brush felt “clod footed”, as I awkwardly attempted to navigate the canvas and maintain a good similarity to my pencil sketch. With a smaller brush, the whole thing would have been better since I could improve on the shapes and details, although it would have taken longer, and unfortunately time was not an abundance for me.

While we did do work, I feel the only area I grew in when making the painting was artistically. I did learn a lot about artist statements, and how to write them. But as a reflection to the book itself, and my thoughts on it, I believe there were better methods to put our thoughts out in the open.

The interviewing of my immigrant went very [enjoyably] smoothly. My immigrant was a family friend who had come to our house frequently, and vice-versa, so when asked for an interview they agreed and the interview was commenced fairly soon. The actual interviews they were also enjoyable and efficient. I was able to take excellent notes on my laptop during all three; being a court reporter for the Supreme Court Project was great practice. I was furthermore fond of the different methods of communication used to converse with the interviewee. It allowed for different experiences and made it all the more interesting. In fact, I figure it would have been found dull if it were just one big live interview.

The interviews taught me a lot about my person. Albeit her being a family friend, I still found out some things I never knew. I discovered that she had lived in Cleveland of Ohio originally. I also learned she was (and is) not a U.S. citizen yet, and she will become one this year. The most interesting thing however, was the story she told me about her son when he was young, how he went to a daycare and wouldn’t go to sleep during naptime. When they asked him, he said, “I’m afraid when I wake up I’ll be gone and I won’t be able to find you”. I found that to be a very interesting story and is one of the first things that comes to mind when I think of the immigration project.

All the information I learned from the interviews was turned into a documentary. I narrated and spoke about her story which I now knew and could back up with the immigration information I had learned in class. About a week after I finished, they invited my family over for dinner. Once we entered, I came up to my person and handed her the CD. She told me, “Thank you very much. It’s really not every day somebody decides to make a movie about your life.”

What Is The What Book Review

Dave Eggers shows no mercy on the expression “roughing it” in his novel What is the What, as he takes the reader down to the western African country of Sudan, where young boy Achak Deng resides. A civil war involving a very intricate and tangled web of politics boils over and effectively creates a living hell in Sudan, forcing Achak to struggle for survival against the thousands of lethal situations that converge on him and those around him daily.

The main reason I couldn’t stop reading was because I just had to find out if Achak would manage to overcome all the intense and almost always deadly obstacles. His thoughts are so innocent, just focused on survival. He is the toughest person I’ve ever read about in a novel, and there are hundreds of candidates for that position. His struggle for survival will captivate you to the point where you can’t put down the book.

Political turmoil escalates until outsiders find more new layers than an onion, and twice the tears. A civil war ensues, and six year old Achak is forced out of his hometown of Marial Bai. Actually, he’s not forced out, for that is too kind a coloring. What really happens is that bloodthirsty, armed and Arabian, horsemen called the murahaleen assault his village. It was a massacre, as all buildings were burned, people were chopped, slashed, and shot. As the tumult continues, Achak separates from his family and hides in a nearby church. Afterwards, he ends up running away, and having to travel on foot through three different countries. Through it all, Achak never sheds a single tear, or stops for a second to mourn. His every part, his entire being, is focused on keeping afloat.

What is the What is so harrowing, the massacre in Achak’s home town only the beginning of a very long and threatening tale. There’s always some sort of new situation, development or obstacle that Achak comes out alive by the skin of his teeth. For instance, when Achak was in a refugee camp in Ethiopia, nearby villagers who had been harboring the resent and anger of their new neighbors finally lashed out. Achak and thousands of other Sudanese refugees are required to run back into Sudan, across an angry and torrential river, to escape the equally angry and lethal Ethiopians. The Ethiopians charge after them, locked and loaded, gunning at their backs. People were dying every half a second. The entire time crocodiles lied in wait the river, for the upcoming all-you-can-eat buffet. So this young boy, barely an adolescent, had to cross a furious river infested with crocodiles while hundreds of people shot at him. It that not enough? I forgot to mention, Achak didn’t know how to swim. Yet he still managed to survive. He described the river as, “-running in many colors that day, green and white, black and brown and red.”

Situations like that will keep you glued to the book. You will wait for the next twist, the next peril, and witness all the things Achak witnessed during his hellish childhood. Overall, the book is one of my favorites, but I am a very heavy reader, both in quantity of books and pages. I do not recommend this book to anybody younger than 13, as it contains many mature themes that other younger people wouldn’t be able to grasp. It also contains some spread out but steady mentioning of politics, along with a slightly above average vocabulary. It is also a reasonably long and heavy read, and I recommend it for heavy readers, as those with short attention spans will most likely not get the full experience.

What is the What is an action/adventure novel, but not in the average connotations of Live Free, Die Hard action with constant explosions and martial arts. It is one of the dozens of stories by Dave Eggars and declared the “Best Book of the Year” by Time Magazine. It is a very intellectual novel backed up by unique storyline. It will give you an extensive and eye-opening insight into being a refugee, and what it really means to “struggle to survive”, as in America the common implication for that phrase is not being able to pay mortgage, which will become a very pitiful example after you read the first few chapters of this book. I give it a nine out of ten, and recommend it to all teenagers who have an extensive vocabulary and are frequent readers.

Immigration Book Post #5

Quote #1:

1. "The curtain squeals and Julian's face appears.
'I'm sorry,' I say. 'Can you tell me friends to go home now, that I'm fine?' He nods and smiles broadly.
'Sure. I'm sure they're ready. I'll tell them.' He turns to leave me but then remains. He stares at his clipboard for a long moment, then looks at me through the corner of his eye. 'You fight in that war, Valentino, the civil war?' I tell him no, that I was not a soldier. 'Oh. Well good, then," he says. 'I'm glad.'
And he leaves." a conversation between Julian, the doctor assisting Valentino with his wounds, and Valentino. It is narrated by Valentino on page 317.

2. I found this quote as a bit of an enigma. The hospital, on a whole, is ignoring Valentino's more than minor wounds, simply because he doesn't have health insurance.

3. (Personal Connection) During the Rock The Vote project one of the presentations I saw was about healthcare for the non-insured, and how they had to wait for very long amounts of time before they receive anything close to or signaling help. As I read this quote, this presentation popped into my head, and the quote started to make a little more sense.

4.Were you in Valentino's position, would you have complained about the long wait to the hospital, or just sat it out? OR, would you have walked out and left?

Immigration Book Post #4

Quote #1:

1. "My stomach drops to my feet. If the war were to begin again, I don't know that I could live though it, even safely here in the United States. I doubt any of us could. We live only knowing that our families are safe. But this, a return to blood and madness---I am quite sure I would not be able to bear the burden." said by Valentino on page 289.

2. I find this quote is very insightful, because It shows Valentino's feelings about a situation that nobody could really have imagined accurately. It also tells the reader how he maintains, "cultural ties" to Africa. Not only does what happens in Africa affect Valentino, but it effects his will to live (including many of the other Lost Boys)

3. (Character Judgment) I never really thought that the war starting again would most likely drive Valentino to thoughts of suicide. It makes him seem all the more vulnerable to events now, since not only do things in America affect Valentino, but things in Africa do as well.

4. What would you do in his position? Do you think you would become suicidal?

Quote #2:

1. " 'Achak don't you know me?' (said by Moses) I knew the boy in front of me to be Moses, but the real Moses had been killed by the murahaleen. I had seen him the moments before his death. 'Achak, talk to me. Is it you? Am I crazy?' (said by Moses) I gave in and spoke to the vision.
'I won't talk to you. Go away.' (said by Achack) And with that, the vision of Moses stood up and walked away. This was something I had never seen a vision do before. 'Wait!' I said, raising myself and dropping my shirt. The vision of Moses kept walking. 'Wait! Moses? Is it you?' (said by Achak) As I ran closer to the vision of Moses, he seemed more and more a real Moses and not a vision of Moses, and my heart jumped around, as if looking for a way to exit my body. And finaly the vision of Moses turned to me and it was really Moses. I hugged him and patted him on the back and looked in his face. It was Moses. He was older, but was still shaped the same way, a muscular man in miniature. It was surely Moses." narrated by Achak (aka "Valentino") on page 270.

2. I thought it was very important to the storyline, because Achak thought Moses was dead. Now that Moses is alive, Achak has a friend from his home village Marial Bai, and this will help the both of them get through their refugee life. Achak may have lost his will to live had he not met Moses again. I also thought this was a very emotional part

3. (Personal Connection) I was watching a movie once, about a refugee in Uganda. He made it to a camp, and was understandably depressed. But then he met his brother, who he thought was dead. When they saw eachother, they greeted eachother similar to the way Achak and Moses did once Achak realized it wasn't another vision.

4. What would you do after Achak said "Go away." if you were Moses?

Immigration Book Post #3

Quote #1:
1. "-I had no sponser, and the three month of rent provided by the U.S. government was about to expire. I suffered under constant headaches and often could barely move; the pain could be blinding. I wanted to begin a life,-" said by Valentino on page 171.

2.This quote ties in with the question, "What hardships do the characters endure as they make a new life?". In fact, this quote states or outlines all the main problems the protagonist Valentino faced. It shows that even in America, Valentino still had big problems, like not even being able to move from the pain he was under.

3. (Personal Connection) The first part says he was almost out of rent for his home, which would have made him homeless. A week ago, we did an exercise in humanities to learn about homeless people in the U.S., and we learned how hard it was to do things like go to school, or get a job, so I felt connected when he said that

4. What do you think would have happened to him if he didn't have a sponsor?

Quote #2:
1. " 'I'll be your sponsor. And your mentor,' he said. ' I'm going to get you working, and get you a car and an apartment. Then we'll see about getting you into college.' And I knew he would. Phil Mays was a successful man and would be successful with me. I shook his hand vigorously and smiled and walked him to the elevator. I returned to the LBF offices, and looked out the window. He was emerging from the building, now just below me. I watched as he got into his car, a fine car, sleek and black, exactly beneath where I stood against the glass. He sat down behind the wheel, put his hands in his lap, and he cried. I watched his shoulders shake, watched him bring his hands to his face." narrated by Valentino on page 173.

2. This quote shows how he was treated by an American citizen, who was born in the U.S. and is one of the many who chose to help him. In fact, it answers the question, "How do Americans treat the characters?" pretty good, and while this one generous American can't represent those who differ, it does give some clarity on the things American's have done for Valentino.

3. (Character Judgment) I think Phil is very generous for agreeing to help Valentino like that. I feel sorry that a man as kind as him was crying about it, he deserves to have a perfect life considering he's letting Valentino have a good one.

4. What do you think Valentino was thinking during the bolded part of the quote?