Winger & You Will Never See Me Fall

In the book Winger, Ryan likes his best friend named Annie. He's been liking her for the longest but he didn't had the guts to tell her. They have a thing now and later on the book they date, but what when they used to have thing people didn't want them together. Everytime they were together in school, people will roll their eyes at either him or her but that didn't stop their love for each other. Also, they both had some downs but they ended up solving it.cI think this connects to the poem "You will never see me fall by Joyce Alcantara" because in the poem it says how you can see her struggle but she will never fall. This means that she can have all these problems or obstacles but she'll always pass through them. Also, in the poem it also says how life isn't easy which is true. Ryan and Annie's relationship wasn't easy but they made it work at the end of the day.

Winger

In the beginnjng of the book, Ryan was described as a good kid but now, he was in the O-hall for stealing a phone. After that, he decided to get drunk and do other things with Chas. I don't understand why Ryan is doing all of this if he's actually a good guy, according to the book. I think he's doing this to impress Chas since he's scared of him. Is it because he hated Chas? Also, after Ryan got drunk with Chas, his best friend Annie got mad at him for doing that. She said that he was just like Chas. I personally think Ryan should of thought about doing all these things twice if it was making him look like Chas and according to Ryan, Chas is a bad guy. I don't think Ryan wanted to be like the person he disliked so much. 

This Song Will Save Your Life (Likes/Dislikes)

Some things I liked about the book was that Elise didn't go to her dj event because her ex wanted it. It shows how much she loves him no matter what he did to her. I also like how they put what Char thought about girls. Char only wanted girls for pleasure and I think that in this generation, that's what people think. A lot of boys and girls get their heart broken because they think that pleasure is the only thing that's important which is false, I think that loving each other is important also. But, Elise gave Char advise on that and helped him notice that it's not like that. I think that that's very important how someone's ex is willing to help their other partner even after they broke their heart. One thing I disliked about the book is that Elise used to cut herself and I understand she went through a tough time but why harm yourself even more? I personally don't find anyhing positive from that but yet, that was her decision and way to forget things.

Make A Change.

Everyone can make a change in this world. We can make a change by cleaning the earth, respecting others, showing that everyone is the same and not different because of their color or race. In this generation, people get insulted for their color or race. They even get killed! This generation is so messed up that you can get killed for any little thing you did or said. Some people get killed for no reason! Let's make a change and show others that everyone is the same. 

This Song Will Save Your Life

My favorite quote from this book is, "people think it means that you want to actually be with them. In a serious way." This is my favorite quote because Char, who's Elise ex boyfriend slept with other girls just for pleasure and not because he actually wants something with them. I think that in this generation people don't know how relationships work or love, in particular. I'm not trying to focus on guys the most but guys these days guys just want a girl for pleasure and not because they want something serious with them, so girls are always getting hurt and I personally don't think it's pretty mature or nice for someone to make a female think they're going to be something serious but hurt them at the end of the day.

Dolores Huerta

In the book "Dolores Huerta", it explains how much of a strong woman she was and what she did to change the world. Dolores always thought that everyone should be treated equally and farm workers at her time weren't being treated equally. She did strikes, boycotts, marches, speeches, etc for farm workers to be treated equally even if it meant for her and her kids to go starving because she knew what she was doing is right. I personally think Dolores was a strong woman because she went through many divorces and struggles just so she can get the respect that she wanted and the respect that everyone else wanted. I do think there's still some discrimination going on but if it wasn't for Dolores Huerta and others, our world would of been a lot much worse.

Bang!

Book Project - Bang!

A World Away & Positive

In the book "A World Away", there's a girl who's Amish and left to another different town. She was different from the others physically but not emotionally. Eliza never went to parties, dances, drinked, etc. so when she moved there with a stranger, she was judged and looked different. She had her first boyfriend there, so everything they were going through was her first. Her "friends" made joked about her and blamed her for things that weren't her fault. She was mocked also. In the book "Positive", Paige is bullied for being HIV positive, she gets teased like Eliza did and mocked also. Paige finds a guy that she likes. The guy knows she's HIV positive but he doesn't care since he likes he for who she is from the inside and outside. The only difference about these two books is that Eliza goes back to her small town because she knows that she doesn't belong there with her boyfriend and Paige ignores all the mean comments, mocking, etc, she becomes famous by doing interviews and becomes a model. 

Bang!

                                              

In the book "Bang!" by Sharon G. Flake there's many conflicts. First of all, this book is about a boy named Mann who's young brother died for no reason. Mann lives in a city where people get shot everyday, doesn't matter if they're good or bad. Mann saw his little brother get shot in front of their porch. Ever since, Mann doesn't step on that porch, he goes to the back door instead. Mann's dad took him and his close friend (Kee-lee) to a far away place so they can both learn how to be brave and protect themselves because Mann's dad didn't want any of them to die soon. Dad left both of them there for about a week or so with just a gun and a small amount of food. Kee-lee and Mann were furious because Mann's dad never came for them. They kept calling but he never picked them up. So what they did was to walk miles and miles until they reached a restaurant or something. After a while, they saw a resturant. They both went inside with hunger but all they wanted was to call Mann's father. Mann called him and right away when he said he wanted to go home, Mann's dad hung up. Everyone from the restaurant was staring at them. A small group of workers who were eating asked them if they were hungry and obviously they both said yes. 

The guy told them to order whatever they wanted so they did, but the thing was that th orders were actually in the trash. The boys were so angry and wanted to shoot all of them since Kee-lee still had the gun. The group of workers started to mistreat them and keep in mind that this occurred when blacks were being segregated. Mann and Kee-lee were forced to eat trash and dirt, they were beaten up. The next day, they try again and finally this nice woman stopped her car and took them home. Mann's dad was glad he was okay but Mann was furious that he did that to him and Kee-lee. Mann forgave him but then again, Mann's dad told Mann that he needed to leave again so he can be brave. Mann didn't want to do it but he had no choice. So he took all of his money and took Kee-lee too since he was kicked out of his house also. Both of them went to Kee-lee's aunts house. Kee-lee's aunt house is different from the others. She has people going in and out, drinking, smoking, etc. If they want to stay they have to pay, so Mann gave her all of his money. 

Weeks later, Kee-lee's aunt sends both of them to a house so she can get her money. Kee-lee's aunt told both of them not to come back high but they didn't. Both of them smoked weed and got high and then again, they got jumped by some others dudes. Kee-lee's aunt told them they if they were going to live with her, they couldn't get beaten, they had to do something to prevent it. They both went to the house to get the money, the lady didn't had the money and Kee-lee was furious because his aunt didn't want them home unless they had her money. So Kee-lee jumped her and started to choke her while Mann was looking for the money. The point of this was that there's a lot of conflicts going on. Mann's dad sending his kid and his kid close friends somewhere far away just so they can be brave? In my opinion, I think that there's so many other different ways to teach people how not be soft and be brave. If the problem was where they were living, couldn't they just move somewhere far way?

A World Away

        In the book "A World Away by Nancy Grossman", an Amish girl named Eliza goes out of town for her first time. It all happened when a woman named Rachel asked her if she wanted a job, a simple and nice job. All Eliza had to do was babysit Rachel's kids while she worked on her project. The obstacle was that Rachel's town was far away from where Eliza lived. Eliza had to live in Rachel's house for the summer. It was hard to convince Eliza's parents but at the end, they let her leave. Eliza had a hard time adjusting herself into the "new world". She had to adjust herself in the new English clothes she had bought.
       While taking care of Rachel's kids, she also had free time to explore this new world for her and by exploring, she met a guy. A guy who made her forget she was an Amish girl, who accepted her for who she was behind those English clothes. Josh was always there for Eliza's first picture, party, homecoming, etc. Eliza liked the way Josh made her feel so she stayed in the city until November. Eliza's mom didn't want Eliza to go away from her because she knew that Elkza was going to do bad things like drugs, drink alcohol, and what other things you can think of but Sliza promised her mom that she wouldn't do that like the others. Soon, she broke that promise... It was homecoming night and after that, Josh, Eliza, and their friends were going to throw a party/sleepover at Valerie's house. Keep in my mind that this is Eliza's first party with alcohol. She didn't want to drink but she had to live the time of her life because she knew that this would be her last time coming to this city and doing things she have never done before. Eliza went for it, she drinked cup after cup. Josh tried stopping her but she didn't want to, she liked the feeling she felt. Until later that night, she felt sick and threw up.
       Mostly everyone was sleeping expect the people who went to the bathroom to throw up. Eliza wanted to go home, so she woke up Josh. Josh knew it wasn't a good idea to take her home in the middle of the night especially because he was feeling a little bit hangover too. Eliza didn't understand that, she always wanted her way. Josh took Eliza home in his parents car. While driving, Eliza felt like she wanted to throw up and obviously Josh didn't want any throw up in his parents car, so he started to speed up. They finally arrived to Eliza's house but yet, Eliza didn't know that they crashed while going there since she was so numb by the alcohol. Josh was very mad because if it wasn't for Eliza wanted her way, none of this would of happened but Josh wanted Eliza to be okay since he cares for his girlfriend. In the end, Eliza moves back to her place because she found out that Rachel was doing a project on Amish people. Eliza thought that Rachel only wanted her to stay at her house so she can examine her but in reality, Rachel has been working on her project for a long time, before she even met Eliza. At the end of the book, Eliza goes back to her home, back to the Amish girl she was and leaves Josh behind with no problems, just peace.
       I personally recommend this book. It has a lot of conflicts and exciting moments. This book can show you so many things. Josh didn't care if Eliza was Amish or different from the other girls he dated before. Josh loved Eliza for who she was, he was loyal too. Every time someone tried making fun of Eliza, Josh would defend her. I didn't like how Eliza left Josh at the end of the book. I also didn't like how the book ended but overall, this book can be so amazing and exciting!

Opinion about Genocides

In my opinion, I think genocides happen because some people want everyone to be the same or they dislike others when other people want their freedom, their freedom to be in whatever religion they want. For example, people don't like other people because of their culture or their religion. It's not fair and its not fair how people die because of that. Sadly, I don't think there's a way of stopping this. I wish there was but even history showed it. Even though people had fought for their rights and freedom, people are still getting judged and killed for what they believe. People who kill others for what they believe or for fighting for what they want make me sick and I'm truly sad that the people who fought for their rights died and may all of them rest in peace.

Alice in Lace

In the book "Alice in Lace by Phylis Rynolds Naylor", there's a class who was assigned to do a project. The project was to pretend to be an adult and do what every adult does. The message from this project was for students to learn that being an adult is not easy and that younger kids shouldn't be rushing to the adult life. Alice, who's an eighth grader, "became pregnant". She planned a wedding and tried to buy a car. Alice and her partner were always arguing, there was always this awkwardness between them two because they didn't know how they were suppose to do things. Alice and her partner had to sleep together! but one thing they didn't do was sexual things. A conflict that I thought that was funny is when Alice tried to buy a car with her partner. They actually went to a car shop and asked for a not that expensive car. The sale man questioned himself if he should actually do this since they looked very young, but he went for it and went with Alice and her partner for a car drive. While the sales man, Alice, and her partner were going for a car drive, Alice was nervous that they were going to get caught because this other kid who recognized them was asking Alice what she was doing there in a car with a stranger. The sales man was very confused and started to assume that these "adults" were actually kids. Alice and her partner got caught and went home, they were disappointed because they thought they've failed the project. "And a little mascara? Maybe Rasberry Creme lip gloss?" Like I said, Alice was very smooth. She put on all this makeup to look older so the salesman can let them buy a car but at the end of the day, Alice and her partner got caught and didn't end up buying anything.

Words of the Wiser

In the book "A World Away by Nancy Grossman", Eliza is ready to leave and adventure the outside of her circle. Her mom doesn't believe she should leave but Eliza is old enough to take some responsibilities. Eliza's mom wants her to know the world but she's scared that Eliza might go on the wrong path. She's scared that she might fall in love with a boy and get her heart broken, she's scared that Eliza might take drugs, drink alcohol, etc. Eliza finally leaves to Chicago during summer to be a nanny. Before Eliza leaves, her mom gives her advice. Mom says that she shouldn't leave because it's going to be hard out there in the "other world". She doesn't want Eliza to grow up anymore but then Eliza says some wise words. Her wise words were that she knew that her mom didn't want her daughter to grow up and adventure the world, she knew that her mom was scared about what she'll do once she was out there. But Eliza was grown enough to take some responsibilities of her own actions, Eliza was scared too. She was more adventurous on what was out there than scared. I can relate to this. What this means is that sometimes people have to let go people in order to take that fear away from them and for the other person to take responsibilities and know what the real life looks like and feels like.

Anne's Adveristies & My Adversities

Anne went through a lot of adversities. She was Jewish so was her family. Anne had to hide for years from the green police and others in order to survive and not get sent to a concentration camp. She had problems with her mom too, not physical fights but verbally fights. Like arguements. Anne had to hide in a small place with mor than 5 people, it was really crowded and not enough food because of the amount of people. Anne couldn't go outside to get some fresh hair or look at the sun because she could of got caught and die. I've had some adversities on my own and with my family too, like Anne. Anne would always argue with her mom like me. Me and mom would argue for the little things though. We will always argue when she wouldn't let me go out but I'll get over it in minutes. I had some adversities with school too. I'm always worried how my grades are because I'm always trying to make my mom proud and tell her "I made it" at the end of the day. My goal in life is to tell my mom that she doesn't have to work anymore or worry about paying bills because that's when I'll finish school and have a good job, a good job that will make me say that to my mom.

Holocaust Opinion

       First of all, I thought this was just plain wrong. No Jewish person deserved this or anyone actually. I never understood why Hitler or the nazis did this to Jewish people. I really don't know why people stood there and watched all this damage happening to the Jewish, to be honest and I actually don't think there's an answer for this. I don't know how people had the courage to just watch those Jewish humans get killed, raped, burned, etc. If I lived back then, I would totally do something about it and help these people. I wouldn't care if I had to die in order to save these people. If I had to die in order to save billions of people, I would do it. Why? because no person deserves to be treated like this.

Where in the world would I like to visit/live?

Ever since I was a kid, I always said that California would be the place where I would like to live. I want to live in California because of the beaches, one of them is Malibu. I love beaches, I love summer. I feel like summer is always a happy season and winter a sad season, but that's just my opinion. Also, their beach houses are so beautiful! I want to move in California because my favorite rapper live there: Chief Keef. I've always wanted to go to his concerts but I can't because he's not all allowed in Chicago.

A Gift I Would Like To Give

For Christmas, I would like to have the white pearled watch from Michael Kors. To be honest, I would want so many things but I'll prefer money so I can buy the things I want. I'll also like to have a job so I can buy my mom her dream house for Christmas. I know I can't do it now, but I'll do it when I get older and I start to get my money.



                                           

Positive & Identity-The Bully

The book Positive and the poem Identity-The bully are similar because in the book, Paige is bullied for being HIV positive. Paige really never says anything when she hears things about her but it does hurt her in the inside. In the book, it says, "Careful, a seventh-grade boy said. "Don't drink after her. She has AIDS." Paige didn't care that the boy didn't know what she really had inside her but the fact that she only told one person which was her best friend made her body cold. Paige was scared that one everyone kne and that her best friend told everyone else, Paige's "best friend" let her down. In the poem, it reads about how every person tries to find something different to bully them or tease them. People might not show that they're hurt but it actually does. People should be careful what they say because it can be very hurtful. Paige usually never shows that the words from other people's mouth can hurt her but once she goes to her house, she explodes.

Goals for 2016

My goals for 2016 is to not let anyone stress me out because sometimes stress can get the best of me. In order to accomplish this, I have to control myself whenever I hear any type of rumors or anything that will stress me. I'll also have in my mind that I can always do better in anything. Another goal of mine for 2016 is to walk on that stage and graduate. In order to accomplish this, I'll have to avoid getting fouls and by this, I can do my homework every day, wear my uniform every day, and earn the points I need to do this. That's mostly all my goals for 2016: th most important things I need to do.