Syntax in the Shadows

We all want to be special. To lead your team to victory. To have your name known by all. To be wanted. To be needed. To be special. Bean has always wanted to be special, but he has always known he is.

How will the world react when threatened by an alien force?

Orson Scott Card explores this idea in the story Enders Shadow by following the character Bean through his life in this militarized and science fictional world. When the Buggers invaded the world banded together. The common ideology became we are no longer many the many countries of Earth; rather we are the people of earth together. The best and brightest and strongest and fastest and smartest and so on we're to be sequestered in space. Learning how to fight, defeat, to end the buggers once and for all. 

Bean grows up on the streets, he was trash to the military commanders and the testers for the program. He learnt to survive, using the incredible and unnatural intelligence he possesses. As he climbs the lader into the military and beyond he notices there is only one person who is like him. Ender. The one who is slated to lead them against the Buggers. As Ender and Bean become  closer Bean will struggle with the questions.  

When do I lead? When do I follow? Who do I choose to follow?

3rd Quarter Independent Reading Reflection

I have read 10 memorable books this quarter. These books were amazing books and I recommend them to anybody who like to read and is looking for new genres to explore. The first book will be the most difficult read and the last, the simplest.

The Witch at Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth  Speare

The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Enders Shadow by Orson S. Card

Red Dragon by Thomas Harris

1984 by George Orwell 

The Confidence Game Maria Konnikova 

Pathfinder by Orson S. Card

The Gift of Fear by Gawn de Becker

My goal for this quarter was to read ten memorable books and 2 books from each genre including nonfiction. I met my goals perfectly. My goal for next quarter is to read 5 nonfiction books and 5 fictional of various genres. Each book should be 200 pages to 799 pages.

Point of View- Marilyn Stasio

    Marilyn Stasio’s pov in her columns is crime novels. All of the columns that I have found are written in the same format. Three crime novel reviews. This is evident in the article due to the liberal use of crime related terminology such as “hot shot of heroin”(Shutter Man) and “popped him (Drawing).” I chose this columnist because I love to read crime novels. Her descriptions of the authors and their works are truthful, highlighting the good and the bad in every novel.

     Marilyn Stasio uses many forms of diction and syntax in her columns to show her pov. She mainly uses allusions, elevated language and contrasting positive and negative diction. Stasio alludes to many crime related incidents in her pieces. Using common cop language such as “hot shot (Shutter Man)” and “smuggling (Shutter Man).” Stasio also often uses elevated language and contrasting diction. Words like “civilian (Shutter Man)”, “clandestine (Drawing)”, and “murder (Shutter Man)” frequent her works. 

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/02/21/books/review/richard-montanaris-shutter-man-and-more.html

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/09/06/books/review/drawing-a-bead.html?_r=0

Things I Learned Last Year

The universe is constantly moving apart. 

High school is a life-changing that doesn't truly change anyone.

Some friendships can last long periods of time, through separation and fights. Others are ment to crumble away Thoth time.

4.5% of conjoined twins survive birth. 

Death affects more living than dead.

Relationships are ever changing. One may start a friend, become an enemy, and eventually family.

6:13 women are stalked while 2:49 men are stalked. Doesn't that show popularity. 

Abraham Lincoln once said, "What ever you are, be a good one".

Reflection:

The lay year was a challange to face. There have been many changes. I moved, my uncle is in the hospital, I'm going to a new school. I think the most profound thing that I must remember is that I haven't changed. My poem has a serious tone. I fell that it reflect the past year very well. Each and every topic is a serious facet of life. I feel it is also begins a little melancholy and ends with a little hope. My poem has no structural pattern while Staffords has a pattern. His tone is snarky whilst mine is more subdued. We both separate our topics by a line in between. Staffords poem and mine share similarities.

2nd Quarter Poetry Journal Refection

Sorrowful Thankless

Walking the aisle way,

lights flicker while picking, choosing

choosing, feeling for plump firm flesh.

This is important. He is very careful

about what he puts in his body.

She is a bulldozer, knocking over his cart,

ruining the selection. He may 

have forgiven her, but she was rude. 

In rudeness she continues. She awoke 

the monster.

It's Thanksgiving now. He 

serves the host breast. He, 

unknowing of the truth. Of what he

consumed is thankful. What manners.

The bulldozer flashed through his 

mind, she has made up for the flesh she 

ruined that day, with her own. What a pig.

Reflection

I was inspired by Hannibal and the poem on the board when I wrote this piece. When I first had this idea I wrote  like prose-poetry. I added more metaphor and split a few lines. I took the line, "he serves the hostess breast" from the original poem on the board. I altered that slightly because in the TV show Hannibal, The two main characters are both male. I also added the concept of rudeness and manners because Hannibal appreciates manners and eats the rude. 

Independent Reading

Your Books

I have many books this quarter would leave you reading till next semester. My top 5 books were Addicted to Murder by Barry McCauley, The Academy by CL Stone, Insight by Jamie Magee, Simmer by Kaitlyn Davis, and lastly Tomorrow, when the War Began by John Marsden. These  books were simple reads. They were not nearly as difficult as a few others I have read in the past however they were engaging. I read fewer books this quarter because I have been studying for finals and have had many other responsibilities. This saddens me greatly be exhaust I love to read. It a favored hobby of mine. I believe the best book I read this quarter was Addicted to Murder, this story flipped my entire perspective of sociopathy. I considered their minds and actions cleaner than and other type of person. The way we shows his utter lack of a plan adds a new division in my mind to serial killers. I believe I read challenging books when I am relaxed and simpler books when I am  stressed or time crunched.

Your Goal

My goal for this quarter was to read 10 memorable books with 250-1000 pages each. I sort of met this goal. I did read ten books that were 250-1000 pages long, however my choices didn't have the best quality or intellectual value. I want to read atleast 10 books next semester with only two books from the same genre. I also want to read atleast two nonfiction books. I also want all of my books to be 150-1000 pages long. 

To fraud, or not to fraud?

 

William Shakespeare. A man who has risen from the slums to succes. He who commands the written word with grace like a sword. A worldly gentlemen who helps us experience the daunting challenges and fates his characters experiance. However there has been much recent debate. For such a modest background, is Shakespeare really who he said he is? Is his plays to accurate to be words of a commoner? The debate that has been racing through our country, invading our homes is that very question.

I believe that these accusations are false, all of you should stand with me. Those who doubt the integrity to Shakespeare's words doubt the ability of the common folk. They would rather be life that a noblemen was pulling the strings than be live that a commoner could be so prolific. Let me tell you that their wrong. The two people that the doubters believe may be the true Shakespeare is Francis Bacon and Edward de Vere. 

They also believe that Shakespeare supposedly wrote too many plays than possible during his lifetime. How can anyone put a limit to how much a person can write? Does this mean that only a nobleman could so much work during a lifetime? I'll let you decide, but you know my opinion. 

The last thing that many protesters believe in is that many of Shakespearian quotes and passages have secret messages that allude to his true identity. However consider the sheer amount of works he has written. Thirty-seven plays, 5 poems, and 157 sonnets. There are enough words to create any phrase people want. 

Today I tell you about Shakespeare, an incredible man. Don't just listen to those noblemen who believe that commoners are nothing but dirt under their boots. Choose to believe in the commoners and noblemen. Their ability to all have taken and achieve greatness. Believe in William Shakespeare. 

http://www.williamshakespearefacts.net/did-he-write-his-plays.html

http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2011/10/did-shakespeare-really-write-his-plays-a-few-theories-examined/