Upon my completion for reading The Soloist, I have to say that it was a nice break from the past readings that we have had this year. The thing that i enjoyed most about The Soloist is that it was real! Unlike the other books we have read this one was actually a true story about real people and their real problems. That is why I think I enjoyed reading this book so much, it had me hooked from beginning to end because as I was reading it I knew what I was reading actually happened. Even better is that these events are still currently happening and are ongoing with Lopez and Ayers. I think this is why this book had me hooked.
As far as chapters 23-31 go they same things basically occurred, other than a fight or two. A fight did arise between Ayers and Lopez where Ayers' condition did get the best of him. Ayers says a lot of nasty things to Lopez and at this point Lopez could have easily started to avoid Ayers and given up their relationship. But, Lopez accepts Ayers for who he is and disregards the things he said about him. He knows Ayers for the great person he is inside and knows and accepts him for his sickness. Their friendship is far more than it once started out as a few newspaper articles.
This book is a story about two unlike people that form a friendship because one of them is an ambitious journalist that seeks the goodness in people, and the other is a person down on his luck that needs a friend. They form the eternal bond that is a good friendship. They are still friends to this day, far past the time the book was written. And I will assume that the great bond that is their friendship will go on for many many more years to come.
Focus: Overall content of my post.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
The Soloist 13-22
Chapters 13-22 of "The Soloist" was filled with the things that I was hoping and expecting going into the reading of it. It was enjoyable finding out that I was actually right in guessing what would happen next in a book, even though this one was kind of obvious. It got me excited. Lopez and Ayers' friendship grows stronger and they experience many more encounters with one another. Ayers grows more and more comfortable with Lopez and I believe begins to see him as a real friend and someone who cares for him. However, once in a while Ayers' "condition" will act up from time to time but nothing too serious to destroy or ruin their friendship.
Lopez seeks answers in this section of the book. He looks for answers to see if what he is doing is worth it for Ayers and whether or not it is helping him. He visits many doctors with many different points of view. Some believe he should be on medication, while others believe in the get to know their patients and their point of view, then make a decision. But almost all them seem to agree that Lopez is helping Ayers. Friendship seems to be a key and perhaps, the best medication for Ayers' problem. Lopez is in my opinion helping him whether the doctors agree or not, everyone needs a friend. Someone they can talk to and be there for them in tough times. And Ayers is indeed going through some seriosuly difficult times.
I think in these chapters is where we start to see the meaning of this book and what it is really trying to tell us. How we handle and accept those of mental illnesses in America, also how poverty and race are taken into that effect. It also shows how people can cope with their problems, not so much with medicine or a prescription from a doctor but by doing things they love. It shows how a simple love for music can help someone through tough times in their life. Ayers never gives up playing or listening to the thing he loves most, music. He does not let his schizophrenia hold him down, he is truly a strong person.
Focus: Last paragraph.
Lopez seeks answers in this section of the book. He looks for answers to see if what he is doing is worth it for Ayers and whether or not it is helping him. He visits many doctors with many different points of view. Some believe he should be on medication, while others believe in the get to know their patients and their point of view, then make a decision. But almost all them seem to agree that Lopez is helping Ayers. Friendship seems to be a key and perhaps, the best medication for Ayers' problem. Lopez is in my opinion helping him whether the doctors agree or not, everyone needs a friend. Someone they can talk to and be there for them in tough times. And Ayers is indeed going through some seriosuly difficult times.
I think in these chapters is where we start to see the meaning of this book and what it is really trying to tell us. How we handle and accept those of mental illnesses in America, also how poverty and race are taken into that effect. It also shows how people can cope with their problems, not so much with medicine or a prescription from a doctor but by doing things they love. It shows how a simple love for music can help someone through tough times in their life. Ayers never gives up playing or listening to the thing he loves most, music. He does not let his schizophrenia hold him down, he is truly a strong person.
Focus: Last paragraph.
Friday, May 8, 2009
The Soloist 7-12
This weeks readings really helped my understanding and getting to know of Steve Lopez. It showed me what kind of writer he is. In the one article Lopez took an interest in a young woman who played basketball, nicknamed "Sweets." Lopez got so in depth in this story with loads of background information and other important details to help connect to his readers. I think this is relevant because it shows that Nathaniel Ayers was not the only person who he got in depth with for a story. However, he did take a greater interest in Ayers considering the fact that they are still close friends, a book on his story has been released, and a movie as well. The point is that it shows that he is a good journalist who takes a great interest in what he is writing about and always finds the "story beneath the story" and that to me is the mark of a not only a great writer but a great journalist.
In chapters 7-12 this is where it seems that Lopez and others take a greater and in depth look at Ayers mental illness, paranoid schizophrenia. It is in these chapters that I think Lopez starts to see Ayers as more of a friend rather than just some random bum on the street giving him some creative writing to put in his column. A bond is forming between them and it shows. Lopez takes a bigger interest in Ayers. He begins to care about Ayers and Ayers begins to trust and believe in Lopez. Ayers really didn't have any friends, anyone to talk to, or anyone to really care for him or about him. Lopez takes the role of that person in Ayers' life and in my opinion is someone that Ayers greatly needed. An example of this friendships growth is when Lopez spends a night with Ayers. Here we learn a little more about Ayers present life. He shows a side that not even Lopez knew. Lopez is shocked to see how Ayers lives every single day. He knew how to make a fit camp, he knew who to make his camp around, he knew how to hide his possessions so that they would not get stolen, and he knew how to defend himself against predators.
The relationship between these two unlikely is growing with every chapter so far. I keep learning new things about both of them. Examples include Ayers' somewhat bipolar like behavior like when Lopez wants to take him to Disney Hall. Also, how Ayers actually survives his sometimes seemingly scary life. As for Lopez I keep learning what it means to be a good journalist and how far you actually can go into stories as well as what type of influence you can be to someone who has had a rough couple years and needs a break. Part one was excited and I am looking forward to reading part two, hopefully it is full of more Disney Hall trips and overnighters with Ayers.
Focus: Any thoughts you have for this post, positive/negative so I can use for future posts.
In chapters 7-12 this is where it seems that Lopez and others take a greater and in depth look at Ayers mental illness, paranoid schizophrenia. It is in these chapters that I think Lopez starts to see Ayers as more of a friend rather than just some random bum on the street giving him some creative writing to put in his column. A bond is forming between them and it shows. Lopez takes a bigger interest in Ayers. He begins to care about Ayers and Ayers begins to trust and believe in Lopez. Ayers really didn't have any friends, anyone to talk to, or anyone to really care for him or about him. Lopez takes the role of that person in Ayers' life and in my opinion is someone that Ayers greatly needed. An example of this friendships growth is when Lopez spends a night with Ayers. Here we learn a little more about Ayers present life. He shows a side that not even Lopez knew. Lopez is shocked to see how Ayers lives every single day. He knew how to make a fit camp, he knew who to make his camp around, he knew how to hide his possessions so that they would not get stolen, and he knew how to defend himself against predators.
The relationship between these two unlikely is growing with every chapter so far. I keep learning new things about both of them. Examples include Ayers' somewhat bipolar like behavior like when Lopez wants to take him to Disney Hall. Also, how Ayers actually survives his sometimes seemingly scary life. As for Lopez I keep learning what it means to be a good journalist and how far you actually can go into stories as well as what type of influence you can be to someone who has had a rough couple years and needs a break. Part one was excited and I am looking forward to reading part two, hopefully it is full of more Disney Hall trips and overnighters with Ayers.
Focus: Any thoughts you have for this post, positive/negative so I can use for future posts.
Monday, May 4, 2009
The Soloist 1-6
So far, the first six chapters of "The Soloist" have been a nice break from our past class readings. I have enjoyed the book so far and hope it stays at this enjoyable pace for me. The main reason why I think I am enjoying more than others is it's structure and the way Steve Lopez wrote it. Lopez's style of writing is a nice break from the perfect and predictable structure of other writers. Lopez writes this book in what seems to me as a big newspaper article so far, (thanks to the pointing out of Mr. Fiorini.) The way it is written so far makes it an easier read.
The newspaper feel makes it easier to read because newspapers are made for a wide spread audience, suitable for all people and ages. The fact that this story is real also makes me want to read it more because i know it is based on actual events and actual people. Nathaniel Ayers is a troubled man living in the tunnels of Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles. He is found by Steve Lopez, a journalist for a local newspaper who was actually seeking out a different story but stumbles upon this amazing young man, Nathaniel Ayers. He finds Ayers playing a violin on a small street corner, he notices two things. One, he notices how well Ayers is actually playing, despite his low knowledge of classical music. And two, he notices that Ayers is playing his violin with only two strings. His first visit leads him to one newspaper article in Ayers' honor.
Lopez becomes so fascinated with Ayers after the first visit. He frequently tries to keep visiting Ayers and find out what his story is. He finds out a couple of things after a few more visits. He finds out that Ayers attended Julliard, that he lives in the tunnels of Skid Row, and that he suffers from schizophrenia. His illness led him to drop out of the predigious Julliard. Lopez may be a believer in the old saying, "never judge a book by it's cover." If he had, he may have never met Ayers, never made this book, and the new movie adapted from the book would never have been made. The first six chapters have been great and I am looking forward to reading the rest of this book.
Focus: Opening paragraph
The newspaper feel makes it easier to read because newspapers are made for a wide spread audience, suitable for all people and ages. The fact that this story is real also makes me want to read it more because i know it is based on actual events and actual people. Nathaniel Ayers is a troubled man living in the tunnels of Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles. He is found by Steve Lopez, a journalist for a local newspaper who was actually seeking out a different story but stumbles upon this amazing young man, Nathaniel Ayers. He finds Ayers playing a violin on a small street corner, he notices two things. One, he notices how well Ayers is actually playing, despite his low knowledge of classical music. And two, he notices that Ayers is playing his violin with only two strings. His first visit leads him to one newspaper article in Ayers' honor.
Lopez becomes so fascinated with Ayers after the first visit. He frequently tries to keep visiting Ayers and find out what his story is. He finds out a couple of things after a few more visits. He finds out that Ayers attended Julliard, that he lives in the tunnels of Skid Row, and that he suffers from schizophrenia. His illness led him to drop out of the predigious Julliard. Lopez may be a believer in the old saying, "never judge a book by it's cover." If he had, he may have never met Ayers, never made this book, and the new movie adapted from the book would never have been made. The first six chapters have been great and I am looking forward to reading the rest of this book.
Focus: Opening paragraph
Monday, April 27, 2009
The Catcher in the Rye
Holden Caulfield is the main character in "The Catcher in the Rye" he is in the center of this adventurous tale of a misguided teens journey home. Reading this was far different that any other book I have ever read before. It goes against all of the normal guidelines that most books have. It seemed to be just a big journal or diary kept by Hold Caulfield himself.
Holden Caulfield has many problems in this novel. He is almost always depressed, often seems lonely, and hates pretty much everyone. He has a horrible attitude, he walks around with the attitude that he is better than everyone else and if you are not as good as him he doesn't like you. A perfect example is when his roomate, Marc Cross, has his suitcases out and Caulfield comments on how cheap his suitcases are. He makes the assumption that just because Cross's suitcases aren't as expensive as his he isn't as good as him. For a person to hate someone just because their suitcases are "cheap" is completely insane. That is just one example of Caulfield's attitude towards people, not just in this situation but throughout almost the entire novel.
When Caulfield is walking the streets one day he sees a family with a little boy walking in the street close to the curb singing the song "Catcher in the Rye" this is where the story gets his name. Caulfield says that this gets him happy and he is no longer depressed after hearing the little boy sing the song. This of course after he as trouble the night before with the woman he encountered. So, this brightens up his day when he hears the little boy singing. It amazed me how something so small can change his day around.
At points in the story Caulfield is very similiar to me to a person with a children's mindset. He always seems to ask simple questions and really wants to know the answers, like a child. Always asking question after question, usually with a simple answer or an answer to which no one really cares about or cares to find out about. Caulfield's famous question is "Where do you think the ducks in Central Park go when the water freezes?" He first asks this question when he is in a cab and tries making small talk with the driver. The driver thinks he is just playing around with him but Caulfield really is interested in the answer. This is not the only time when he asks this to someone. Caulfield sometimes takes on the mindset of a child with his simple questions, the simple things that excite him, and the extremely simple things that make him angry.
Focus: My first paragraph. I'm still having a hard time opening up these "free-write" blogs and don't know how well I'm doing with them.
Holden Caulfield has many problems in this novel. He is almost always depressed, often seems lonely, and hates pretty much everyone. He has a horrible attitude, he walks around with the attitude that he is better than everyone else and if you are not as good as him he doesn't like you. A perfect example is when his roomate, Marc Cross, has his suitcases out and Caulfield comments on how cheap his suitcases are. He makes the assumption that just because Cross's suitcases aren't as expensive as his he isn't as good as him. For a person to hate someone just because their suitcases are "cheap" is completely insane. That is just one example of Caulfield's attitude towards people, not just in this situation but throughout almost the entire novel.
When Caulfield is walking the streets one day he sees a family with a little boy walking in the street close to the curb singing the song "Catcher in the Rye" this is where the story gets his name. Caulfield says that this gets him happy and he is no longer depressed after hearing the little boy sing the song. This of course after he as trouble the night before with the woman he encountered. So, this brightens up his day when he hears the little boy singing. It amazed me how something so small can change his day around.
At points in the story Caulfield is very similiar to me to a person with a children's mindset. He always seems to ask simple questions and really wants to know the answers, like a child. Always asking question after question, usually with a simple answer or an answer to which no one really cares about or cares to find out about. Caulfield's famous question is "Where do you think the ducks in Central Park go when the water freezes?" He first asks this question when he is in a cab and tries making small talk with the driver. The driver thinks he is just playing around with him but Caulfield really is interested in the answer. This is not the only time when he asks this to someone. Caulfield sometimes takes on the mindset of a child with his simple questions, the simple things that excite him, and the extremely simple things that make him angry.
Focus: My first paragraph. I'm still having a hard time opening up these "free-write" blogs and don't know how well I'm doing with them.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Death of a Salesman
"The Great Gatsby" and "Death of a Salesman" are common in their approach to the time period of the 1920s. Gatsby and Willy Loman both had the idea of money and power. Gatsby got his money by doing illegal things whereas Willy was the average salesman. Willy relied on his personality, being well liked, good looking, and smart to be the best salesman he could be. Although this novel did not take place during the 1920s, Willy Loman believed in many of the same ideas of that period. The American dream of wealth and what you can become and the dreams you can achieve with the money you have. Willy is struggling to regain his old self. He begins to find it hard to return to the power he once had as a salesman that everyone came to, but more important to him, the salesman that everyone loved.
Willy begins to feel afraid and trapped so he turns to things such as cheating on his wife, contemplating suicide, and turning on his children, in particular Biff. The reason for these drastic actions is hard to explain, and I think that there is no real answer. The reason for him cheating on his wife in my opinion is that he feels insecure that he can not support her anymore. So, he goes off and cheats on her out of his insecurity. The suicide attempts I think are Willy coming to the fact that in his eyes he is done. There is nothing more for him to accomplish in his life, he has hit his highs and his lows just like everyone else and he can't put up with it anymore. So he turns the his last option, death. The children problems are just the typical father son dillemas of the father not wanting his sons to end up like him. He wants the best for them and them to be better than he is and he doesn't want them to end up to what he has fallen into.
Willy has his problems just like anyone else, but in my opinion his biggest problem his not being able to realize that the past is the past and that times have changed, he isn't the same salesman he once was. That is the problem that leads him to take the actions that I have previously stated. He has it stuck in his head that he is the same salesman he once was and that he can still be that same salesman that everyone fell in love with.
Focus: I would like whoever comments to look at my second paragraph and the questions and answers I give.
Willy begins to feel afraid and trapped so he turns to things such as cheating on his wife, contemplating suicide, and turning on his children, in particular Biff. The reason for these drastic actions is hard to explain, and I think that there is no real answer. The reason for him cheating on his wife in my opinion is that he feels insecure that he can not support her anymore. So, he goes off and cheats on her out of his insecurity. The suicide attempts I think are Willy coming to the fact that in his eyes he is done. There is nothing more for him to accomplish in his life, he has hit his highs and his lows just like everyone else and he can't put up with it anymore. So he turns the his last option, death. The children problems are just the typical father son dillemas of the father not wanting his sons to end up like him. He wants the best for them and them to be better than he is and he doesn't want them to end up to what he has fallen into.
Willy has his problems just like anyone else, but in my opinion his biggest problem his not being able to realize that the past is the past and that times have changed, he isn't the same salesman he once was. That is the problem that leads him to take the actions that I have previously stated. He has it stuck in his head that he is the same salesman he once was and that he can still be that same salesman that everyone fell in love with.
Focus: I would like whoever comments to look at my second paragraph and the questions and answers I give.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Blogger Experience
When we switched from the google group to blogger I thought it was just going to be another boring website, but I was wrong. Blogger is definately better than the google group, everyone has there own personal page where the can display themselves to their classmates. Instead of just one or two boring white and plain everyone has there own with all of their writings that you can easily read whenever you want. Also, you have the oppurtunity to comment on your classmates writings on their page.
This English class is so different than any other class I've been in during high school. In other classes it's the same boring homework every night. All the textbook work, reading stories, and copying vocab. This class isn't like that at all, it's just so much better and makes it more fun for students. The homework is different and so is the classwork. It's not just reading stories and answering questions on them, it's still writing but in a different more exciting way. It is so much more open to anything you want to say or how you feel about something we did in class.
I really enjoy doing this blogger. It was a fun six weeks writing these blogs on the weekends. I really like the layout of the website, I like how if I'm stuck on an assignment I can surf through my classmates posts and gather some ideas. It is a helpful site from that perspective. I hope that we can continue to do these blogs in the fourth quarter. It's a different form of reading and writing that is enjoyable and I don't think that I'm the only one with this opinion either.
This English class is so different than any other class I've been in during high school. In other classes it's the same boring homework every night. All the textbook work, reading stories, and copying vocab. This class isn't like that at all, it's just so much better and makes it more fun for students. The homework is different and so is the classwork. It's not just reading stories and answering questions on them, it's still writing but in a different more exciting way. It is so much more open to anything you want to say or how you feel about something we did in class.
I really enjoy doing this blogger. It was a fun six weeks writing these blogs on the weekends. I really like the layout of the website, I like how if I'm stuck on an assignment I can surf through my classmates posts and gather some ideas. It is a helpful site from that perspective. I hope that we can continue to do these blogs in the fourth quarter. It's a different form of reading and writing that is enjoyable and I don't think that I'm the only one with this opinion either.
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