//////////////////////////Refletion Essay//////////////////////////////

       Blogs are a introduction to me that have given me a new view of my writing and help to it as well.


        Since the beginning of the school year we have been writing blogs(which I love doing!) I find myself writing about all sorts of topics, from view of an essay -   Q's Experience to a New World to finding inner strength -''Ganging Up''.  But, the topics I most write about is poetry. You will find a lot of random poems in my blog because I enjoy reading it and writing it. To sum it all up, I have a lot of random topics that I like to share with classmates.


        Having a blog has given me a chance to express myself in writing. With all the writing I have at my school that exclude topics, blogs give me choice to write about the topics I want. It does not restrict me from staying on one main idea for all blogs. I wrote about an essay: Movies to watch which had to do with a novel we read in class. I had very strong opinions on the novel and my description amplified my overall overview of it. The next day I wrote about a blog on a Poem, which was a freewrite. With having such freedom in writing it gives the writer a chance to express my writing in different topics and have a more open view on what I am writing about.


        Having a blog has also been able to get me some feedback on my work that has helped and encouraged on my writing. ''I found this quote in Susan's blog that explains a lot of what...'' This quote shows the ideas I get from others in their blogs.
Most of the feedback I get are comments, but others I mistook as insults. But, as I studied my writing I noticed that those insults( better yet-advice) would be able to make my writing better. As I used the advice on my blogs, people started to notice and comment. It gives me a sense to be proud my work and encourages me to be more confident in what I write about.


       I also find that blog post help people learn more about each others style of writing. Sometimes I would get board of my own blogs and start to read other people's blog. I found many interesting topics that I responded to and I found other good topics that could contribute to my blogs. A blog is like a canvas waiting to be filled with inspiration that are your words.
      I sometimes find myself just wanting to write more and more blogs because of the type of inspiration we give ourselves to write about.''We sometimes get so caught up we don't even finish.''
      My most favorite thing of having a blog connects to having freedom, but I don't have to stick to narrative essays.(which I find boring, sorry If I offended anyone). I don't have to worry about punctuation of grammar, which is great! Or follow a list of rules that conclude to an essay. I can focus more on my main idea of writing and let my essays flow more easily.


At first, writing on the Internet was a weird introduction to a new exposure of our writing. I am going to be honest- I was nervous!  I thought of my work a lot- having to revise two or three times, and going over my other blogs. I didn't know what type of comments I would get on my style of writing.
Through writing many blog posts, my fear of putting up work was over.


     Blogs have changed my writing a lot! Before having a blog I would never feel comfortable writing a piece of writing on my own. Now , I can write for longer periods of time and not get stuck so easily. It has improved my writing and the way that I write. As I referred to before on the freedom of blogs, it has helped me to be able to write about more topics that I wold have trouble with. I can get more ideas into my writing, as well as having a choice of topic.


       Now, blogs have not just made me realize I have the best writing skills in the world; I have found flaws in my old blogs from previous blogs with more advanced improvements. On my first blog I noticed how I lacked many of the requirements that were needed in my writing. Throughout the year my blog has been used as a tool to be able to go back and study my own writing; they help find flaws and success in  my writing.


      Throughout the whole process of having blogs I now find myself thinking about writing ( specifically mine) in a different way. Before, I would always find writing a dull thing to do, I never even had a diary for more than a year because of how much I didn't like to write. I always thought you had to be a natural, but I was wrong. Now, I think of writing as an enjoyable thing to do. I can write in class for then minuets without having to stop all the time, and ideas come to my head more easily. My writing has improved ( which I am very happy about) and I write in a different way. With the freedom of blogs I have practiced my writing the past weeks and it helps me just practice. I know it sound weird that I just needed to practice but Mr. Sutherland also gave us a lot of good tips on writing which have also had a great impact in my writing. Blogs have seemed to help me find my happy place in my writing.
    
  Blogs have been  a lot of help to my writing and I hope they keen on doing it. What I do have in mind are some goals that I could work on for next quarter. I want to be able to stay on topic with my ideas a little better. I go off topic in some of my writing and it makes the reader not be able to know my dominant expression. My second goal is to write more! We have a whole lot of writing that will be assigned and I hope that I get enough ideas for all of them. My last goal is to work on my intro. and conclusion paragraphs. I really don't like having to write them because I find myself with so may choices to start and end a paragraph. These are goals that I will try to work on in my blogs and lern how to approach them in a better way.

Characters FACE themselves in Of Mice And Men

           John Steinbecks 1937 Novella, Of Mice And Men tells the story of two friends that share a journey through through the great depression. George and Lennie are both good friends that are traveling together to find work. When they find a job, it leads nothing to trouble and a devastating end.The central conflict in of Mice and Men is character vs self. Every character has an internal conflict that leads them to change their manner and make an outer conflict with others.

Lennie is one of the main characters in the story. He is a lovable and kind person, but has an internal conflict with himself. Lennie is a very big guy, physically.  He doesn’t have a great way of controlling himself, and gets frightened when he knows he’s in trouble. For example, we learn that Lennie has a history of unintentionally terrorizing people with his incredible strength, as he did in his previous job before the story opens. George explains to another character,

‘‘ Just wanted to feel that girl’s dress-jus’ wanted to pet it like it was a mouse- Well, how in the hell did she know who jus; wanted to feel her dress?She jerks back and you hold on like it was a mouse.’’ (11)

Lennie’s actions lead to problems with others involved in with his actions. He seems to have a child- like mind, in which he needs to be told what to do an what not to do all the time. He cannot control himself as a man.

    The same internal conflict that Lennie has is shared with George. George and Lennie have been friends for a long time and Lennie sorta has a feeling for the guy. For example, George explains how they stick together.

‘‘Slim looked through George and beyond him. “Ain’t many guys travel around together,” he mused. “ I don’ know why. Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other.” “ It’s a lot nicer to go around with a guy you know,” said George.(38)

George takes care of Lennie because of both of them traveling together. George knows the trouble that Lennie gives him, like losing jobs, getting girls dresses, and forgetting things all the time. Of course these incidents don’t happen all the time, but it creates a conflict with Lennie's own self that makes George having to take the outcome of his actions. George could be better of by himself, as he explains in the story, but finds himself still in contact with Lennie. Its the bond that they share that makes George still stay with Lennie and having to have to share the trouble. What also makes George stay i some of Lennie’s hard work. Lennie is a really big guy who knows how to work. If the boss likes Lennie’s work there is a chance that the boss will also feel confident of letting George stay and work as well. Lennie’s internal conflict creates a conflict with George that makes him mad at Lennie, but at the same time he stays with him for multiple reasons.

    Curly also has a conflict with his physical self. He is a type of guy who wants to show everyone he is tough and brave, but really is a big fat coward.
    ‘‘ The swamper considered.... "Well...tell you what. Curley's like a lot of little guys. He hates big guys. He's alla time picking scraps with big guys. Kind of like he's mad because he ain't a big guy. You seen little guys like that, ain't you? Always scrappy?" (26)
    Curly’ own self image creates  a mind setting stage  where he thinks of himself as the boss, when in fact he is not.  He seems to be afraid of what others can do to him, because of his size, so in order t have an advantage he acts like a jerk. This makes him not feel good about himself and makes others dislike him. Curly had a big conflict with Lennie just because Lennie was big. That made George feel mad about Curly’s actions which lead into a bigger conflict.  What is Curly’s attitude bringing a bad feeling to other characters
and leads to other conflicts.
    In the outcome Of Mice And Men, George decides to make a devastating action and kills Lennie. Throughout  the story characters deal with their own self conflict, but sometimes let their actions take order of how the communicate with others, which creates conflicts with those characters. These small conflicts lead the pot of the story in which the central conflict is character vs self.

I miss middle school!

      I am in class right now and dont really know what to write about so

      I remembered the times I had with friends at middle school. I remember always hanging out, not really doing work. I never studied for test and I did my homework about five minutes before class, I never really needed to do anything because middle school was so easy. I would just talk in class and then go home and hang out again. we would have so much fun at lunch, going out to the yard and just talking all day! our classes were much shorter and we did fun things in class. We would have a better way of doing class work, by going outside to do work and having group projects. I also LOVED the events we had at our school. We had a bunch of spirit weeks and dances and parties. What I dont really miss is the drama that happened at my school. It was soooooo annoying! A fight this week, r Middle school was so fun and now i miss a lot of what we did in there. rumor on this guy, and some little punk ass kids selling crack  after school. It was too much!But I love my school and the people(most of them) we were so much fun and hung out all the time.

      In high school its different. We have a whole lot of homework and we have to study a lot. We have quizzes almost every week and I have barley passes most of them. I also dont get to hang out with Friends as much as in middle school. all what i can really do now is just go home and do homework, eat , watch tv, and go online, and more homework. I barley get any sleep! It pisses me off that high school is so much work

     But, I love the people here and my friends. ASTI is the best high school. No matter if the homework is hard or a lot of work. I like coming here every day and I love this school!

Oh yeah, I went to chipman middle school.

We have a right to Stand up for Ourselves!

I found this quote on Bianca's blog that was very inspiring.

''If they have the right to mock me, then I believe I also have the right to stand up for myself. ''

It was on her blog on Odd Girl Out. I do believe that girls can be aggressive, not just physically but mentally as well. They can make you feel alone, and make others not hang out with you. I agree with her quote and many girls and guys can find this quote to be helpful.
When someone makes fun of you you shouldn't just stay quiet, but dont go up in their face and start cussin. Tell them up front, Hey, don't mess with me, its not nice or something like that. I admit that I may not always be the calmest person when someone pisses me off, but I try.
Another way to use this quote is to stand up for others. You can help a friend out or someone else. When you stand up for someone that shows that you care about them and want to help out. It also shows the bully that they need to stop what their doing because its not right.
So, we all have a right to stand up for ourselves. We can show others that we wont become afraid of their comments to us. It is a way to have a better self image of yourself and to others as well.

Movie to Watch!

          So, our English class just finished reading two short stories and we have been discussing about them in class. I don't think that I ever have read two stories that we so weird. don't get me wrong though, calvino's (i think thats how you spell it) stories are really good. He has this way of being able to make writing for an adult, but having the plot set in a three year old's mind. What i mean is that he can be using the character to represent human race as a dinosaur(this is from the story The Dinosaurs)
          The Dinosaurs  is a really good short story that shows what humans can show to each other when they come inn contact  with differences.We aren't really good with that. But, this story can also help make people understand how to become better at accepting differences.
        After discussing this story inn class, I found the story heading in a new direction: Q's identity.
Q really ha a hard time finding himself, and with the situations he faces it seems to be as if he is multiple things.
      We also read another story called The Aquatic Uncle. I found this story to be my favorite because of the plot and conflict that cam in it. It had multiple conflicts that the character has to face but the main is Q trying to have a relationship with his uncle. Now, his Uncle has game for taking Q's girl, but he is really mad all the time. Q finds himself not being able to open up with his uncle because of the difference that builds a wall between them. Q is on and off water, while his uncle is just in water.
      Calvino's stories do not just provide a story for people to read and just get over with it, it lets the reader feel what the characters feel and be in the story. Because of such level of conflicts this story brings it makes it more exciting. I also like these books because they create a lot of discussions in class. We sometimes get so caught up we don't even finish. Calvinos stories are not just some boring books, they open people's eyes to small stories with big morals.