Story Time! cont’nd

The following passage is form the novel “Just Listen” by Sarah Dessen. I dedicate this to my sister, Jessica, and I just want her to know that I finally understand how she feels, but somehow I felt like I always knew. I Love You!

Whitney swallowed, then looked down at her papers, the edge of which I could see fluttering, just barely. She looked scared, and it suddenly seemed too quiet. But then she began.   – Annabel Greene

“I am the middle sister,” she read. “The one in between. Not oldest, not youngest, not boldest, not nicest. I am the shade of gray, the glass half empty or full, depending on your view. In my life, there has been little that I have done first or better than the one preceding or following me. Of all of us, though, I am the only one who has been broken” .    – Whitney Greene  pg.330

“Everything hurt. I closed my eyes, pressing my cheek to the street, and waited. What for, I didn’t know. To be rescued. Or found. But no one came. All I’d ever thought I wanted was to be left alone. Until I was.”      Whitney Greene  pg. 332

“It was not the last time I would run away from my sisters. Not the last time I thought being alone was preferable. I am still the center sister. But I see it differently now. There has to be a middle. Without it, nothing can ever truly be whole. Because it is not just the space between, but also what holds everything together. Thank you.”               -Whitney Greene   pg. 333

The following passages are from “Just Listen”.

There comes a time in every life when the world gets quiet and the only thing left is your own heart. So you’d better learn to know the sound of it. Otherwise you’ll never understand what it’s saying.   Annabel Greene  pg.349  

This was how I was dealing with everyone and everything lately, taking the good when it came, and the bad the same way, knowing each would pass in its own time.      – Annabel Greene  pg.367 

The following are passages from ”Keeping the Moon” by Sarah Dessen. These are for people who think they have failed.

I slipped the headphones off and pulled the blanket over her, then lifted them to my own ears, closing my eyes at the sound of my mother’s voice.         – Colie Sparks ( protagonist)

“I don’t believe in failure”‘, she was saying in that confident, breezy way. “Because simply by saying you’ve failed, you’ve admitted you attempted. And anyone who attempts is not a failure. Those who truly fail in my eyes are the ones who never try at all. The ones who sit on the couch and whine and moan and wait for the world to change for them.”

“If you try anything,” my mother went on, her voice building, “if you try to lose weight, or to improve yourself, or to love, or to make the world a better place, you have already achieved something wonderful, before you even begin. Forget failure. If things don’t work out the way you want, hold your head up high and be proud. And try again. And again. And again.”       – Kiki Sparks ( Colie’s mother)

   

Another Great Novel!

The Quotes That Keep Me Going

“The difference between school and life? In school, you’re taught a lesson and the given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson.”                                  – Tom Bodett

“In order for us to change, we need to find out what to change”                   -Mrs. (Theresa) Matzke

“If you don’t like something, change it, if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it”                                                                                                                 -Anonymous

“The only true knowledge in life is knowing you know nothing.”                 - Socrates

“Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you are going to get” -Forrest Gump

“Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing”  -Harriet Braiker

“Sooner or later those who win are those who think they can”        - Richard Bach

“You will never know the true course of knowledge if you don’t let it guide you”   - Adriana Venegas

“My life is in the hands of any fool that can make me angry”           – Anonymous

“It’s better to be hated for who you are than to be loved for what you are not”   – Anonymous

“An eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind”                     – Ghandi

“But we loved with a love that was more than love”            – Edgar Allan Poe (Annabel Lee)

“Today is the first day of the rest of my life”                    – Chunky Chips Ahoy Cookie

“Look and you will find it- what is unsought will go undetected              – Sophocles

“Hell is other people”                                                        – Jean-Paul Sartre

“Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead”                             – Benjamin Franklin

“But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest therof thou shalt surely die”                                             – Genesis 2:17

“These violent delights have violent ends/ And in their triumph die, like fire and powder, which as they kiss, consume.                                                                     – Romeo and Juliet 

 

 

 

                          

Story Time!

The following is a passage from the novel “That Summer” by Sarah Dessen. I thought this novel was great and taught us important morals that we use in life, or will need later on in the future. Enjoy!

“I knew it then. For me and Ashley, there wasn’t any time left to think back to that summer and the beach and a boy who charmed us and dissapointed us. There was only what stretched out ahead, years full of new summers and promise, with all the time in the world left to start again. My sister,who never understood most of the things I wanted her to, might have been able to understand what had happened to me in this summer of weddings and beginnings. And she was right. The first boy was always the hardest.                                                                                – Haven

The following are excerpts from ” Love, Cajun Style” by Diane Les Becquets. I think the following can relate to some of us (and you know who you are).

“Papa Walter once told me love is like the wilderness. It’s easy to get lost in it. He said, forty-one years and he still hasn’t found his way out,” I told them.                            - Lucy

“I think your grandfather is right. I think love is like a wilderness.”            – Mary Jordan

“Why do you say that?” I asked.                                                                -Lucy

“A wilderness can be beautiful”, she said, “and exotic and powerful. But it can also be scary.” – Mary Jordan

“Like Love”                                             - Evie                       

My Hopefully Helpful Comments

http://evewray.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/

http://cj7021993.wordpress.com/2008/05/09/the-gift-of-the-magi/#comment-8

http://treymclendon.wordpress.com/2008/05/09/character-analysis-essay/#comment-6

Character Analysis: Doodle’s Brother

        Do you remember your childhood years, when there was always that person that tried to make you do something that you weren’t capable of doing? In the story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst the Narrator pushes his little brother far beyond his limit. For example, Doodle was born a sick child and he wasn’t supposed to do normal things like the other children. The Narrator wanted to teach Doodle certain things like walking, running, and rowing that the family doctor, supposedly, said he couldn’t do. The Narrator was cruel, impatient, and showed too much pride towards his brother( in a bad way) because he just wanted Doodle him to be normal. The traits that the Narrator showed towards Doodle, unfortunately, led to his brother’s death.

        Doodle’s brother is an impatient person. He is impatient with Doodle even though he is sick and delicate. In the story the Narrator is trying to teach Doodle to walk even though he doesn’t want to. Everytime Doodle doesn’t walk right the Narrator grows very impatient, so he starts getting mad at his brother. In the story the Narrator says to Doodle” Well, if you don’t keep trying, you’ll never learn”( Narrator pg.347). Being impatient made the Narrator push his brother beyond his limit and eventually lead to his death.

        The Narrator was also a cruel person. Miracurously, the only person the Narrator was cruel towards was his brother.In the story the Narrator says” There is within me ( and with sadness I have watched it in others )a knot of cruelty borne by the stream of love, much as our blood sometimes bears the seed of our destruction, and at times I was mean to Doodle”( Narrator pg. 346 ). The Narrator was also cruel to his brother when he was running away from him; Doodle said “Brother, Brother, don’t leave me, Don’t leave me!”( Doodle pg. 353 ). Lastly, the Narrator also showed cruelty to his brother when he made him touch his own coffin. The Narrator told us that everyone, even himself, has been cruel to their families because of love. I think that the Narrator and other families have been mean to their relatives because they believe that they will forgive them.

        Lastly, the Narrator in “The Scarlet Ibis” had too much pride and used in a bad way. The Narrator showed pride when his brother accomplished tasks that he had been taught. In the story the Narrator cries when when his family acknowledges him for teaching his brother to walk and he says to himself, “They did not know that I did it for myself, that pride whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all their voices”( Narrator pg. 347 ). The Narrator also showed pride when his brother was rowing, but when he went slower the Narrator got mad because they had failed at accomplishing something new. The Narrator said “We didn’t speak( for what are the words that can solder cracked pride?)”( Narrator pg. 353 ). Doodle’s demise could have been prevented if his brother didn’t have too much pride.

        Doodle’s brother was conflicted through out the whole story, but he never stopped to think and appreciate how great his brother truly was towards him. He never noticed that Doodle was a miracle happening right in front of his eyes. Thanks to the Narrator’s traits of impatientness, cruelty, and pride he lost the best thing that could ever happen to him. These traits are an important part of the story because they show people that the way a person makes you feel and what that person makes you do, matters and can make you change in a good and bad way. The Narrator, sadly, later regretted that traits he showed to his brother because they led to his death. The Narrator, hopefully, changed by the end of the story because he learned to appreciate his brother and protect him even though it was too late.     

SOAPSTONE (PEACE POEM)

S- person who sees evil stuff in the world but believes there is beauty if we just end the fighting

O- normal day with a person just thinking that there should be peace

A- people that care about peace;general audience

P- to let people know that something should be done about the fighting and that there should be peace 

S- person who thinks there should be peace 

TONE- indignant, idealistic, forthright, informative( letting us know something )

     This poem had a specific rhyme scheme that went as follows:aabccbddefggghiibj. This poem used rhyme,of course,but also some imagery because it saidthat the person was looking. I think the last thing that was used was repetition like look, world, down, fight, people,sit, and especially we.

PEACE

Everyday I look around,

I’m looking up, I’m looking down,

So much hate is in this world.

Why do we sit down and not try to make it right?

Instead we sit down and watch them fight.

So much hate is in this world,

If we had another chance,

to not fight but sing and dance

And rejoyce that we are still alive.

Instead of standing by and watching people cry.

we can right the wrongs,

we can sing more songs,

we can laugh along,

With the peole we love,

with the people we hate,

with the people we discriminate.

So much joy is in this world,

If only we could show it!  

                                                                                          by: Cleveland

www.cleveland.spps.org/Our_Winter_Gardens_To_Grow…

 

 

Favorite God:Hathor

Hathor is an ancient Egyptian goddess. Hathor is known to be the goddess of the sky, love, music, beauty, and the sun. Hathor has other names such as Het-Hert or Hetheru. She was a good goddess, but you wouldn’t want to make her angry. When she got a temper she would turn into a lion and attack whoever was disloyal towards her. The transformation that Hathor went through was known as “The Vengeful Eye of Ra”. Hathor was also known as the “The House of Horus” because she took care of Horus when his uncle, Seth, tried to kill him. It was said that Hathor( just like the greek goddess Hestia) protected the home and family.  

About Me!

Hey I’m Adriana. I like to hang out with my friends and make people laugh. I’m quiet when I’m around people I don’t know, but when I’m with my friends or my sister I am like a turtle coming out of its shell. I like to read when ever I have time, look out at the ocean, and have fun.