School Prisoners

2011-04-14T13:49:00.001-07:00

http://www.gum-deseases-treatment.com/wp-content/themes/twentyten/www.html

War Fiction Trailer

2008-07-01T05:48:00.000-07:00

my findings: change in hockey equipment

2008-05-22T17:44:00.000-07:00

Now that my search is coming to an end I found that this topic was fairly hard. In my search I was planning on finding out if "Hockey has changed as a result of equipment evolution?". In all I found that it wasn't really much of a change in equipment except with goalie equipment. Even thought I only found changes in goalie equipment I think that my search was some what successful. If that was anything that I would changes about my essential question would be that i would focus mainly on how goalie equipment has changes hockey. When i was searching for my information I kept getting results for goalie changes. These changes sort of answered my question. With goalies wearing huge, over sized equipment the productivity of goals has decreased. They are in the process of working out a way to increase scoring by changing the size of there equipment. I read in the Buffalo News that they are trying to make a 15% deacrese in size of goalie equipment. But at the same time they are trying to keep them just as protected. I plan on continuing my search because I play hockey and I would like to see if goalie equipment is going to have any changes soon.

hockey looking to make some changes

2008-05-21T06:14:00.000-07:00

My search to find my essential question has been quite difficult but I still plan on finding as much as I possibly can. There seem to be numerous changes and proposals but they all seem to generally center around goal tenders and there over sized pads. The other changes that they want to include is increasing the net size and leaving goalies to keep there over sized equipment.

With all the changes with goalie equipment the NHL has been trying to improve scoring without reducing the size of the equipment. There was a meeting with all the general managers, where they met to make decisions about how to improve scoring because of the over sized equipment used by goalies. From an article in The New York Times, by Jeff Z. Klein and Lew Serviss "The decision, made at the general managers’ annual meetings in Florida, came amid the usual flurry of radical proposals aimed at increasing scoring. The most extreme involved enlarging the size of the nets, which have been six feet wide and four feet high since at least 1911." (Klein & Serviss). But if you think about it why would you change the size of the nets when that is not the main problem for the scoring decrease. The N.H.L.’s deputy commissioner, Bill Daly, hinted that such proposals could be adopted if the equipment crackdown failed. Speaking to ESPN, he called it “kind of one last try to try and do something about this, and if they’re not able to do that, they’re going to look at what else they can do — more dramatic changes.” (Klein & Serviss). But instead of changing the net size I think that it is easier to just shrink the pads and to have the pads measured before each game. If you change the size of the net you will be taking away some of the ice. A lot of teams like to utilize the space that they have around the nets and if you make the nets bigger the would lose this space to set up scoring chances.

There are also some other issues that have yet to be addressed. In an article by Jamie Fitzpatrick "Several other size issues have yet to be addressed: Many goaltenders, regardless of physical stature, are said to use the largest available size in jerseys, pants and chest protectors, and some shoulder pads appear to reach up around the ears." (Fitzpatrick). I think that these are not that big of an issues as the pads only because they aren't as noticeable.

Klein, Jeff Z., Serviss, Lew. "As Goals Decline, Calls for Change Increase." The New York Times 24 02 2008 21 May 2008 . (Klein & Serviss )

Fitzpatrick, Jamie. "NHL Goalie Pads: Size Matters." About.com 27 08 2003 20 May 2008 . (Fitzpatrick )

What causes schizophrenia

2008-05-21T06:08:00.000-07:00

When i first started this research i knew nothing on my topic schizophrenia. But while doing this research I've learned a lot. There are so many questions out there that someone can ask abut schizophrenia and almost every question has an answers they just need to be found. But one of the last questions i have thought about schizophrenia is what really causes someone to have it.

So when i looked up my question a whole bunch of sites popped up and one that caught my interest was titled "Schizophrenia Cause and Prevention." As i started reading what was written on this link it basically told me what i needed to know but thing about it was i didn't really understand it fully. But what i did understand from this site was that when asked about experts agree that schizophrenia develops as a result of basically inheriting certain genes for their parents and also the kind of environment a person is exposed to. When did research if the brain development has been disrupted they now have it known to be the result of genetic predisposition and environmental stress of early in development such as during pregnancy or early childhood which lead to subtle alterations in the brain that make a person susceptible to developing someone to have schizophrenia. (What Causes Schizophrenia? )

So in my opinion what was said was basically doctor terms but if i were to rephrase this thought i would say that due to a when a person is born and what kind of genetics the baby inherited and the environment the baby is in it can cause a type of birth defect that can cause schizophrenia.

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"What Causes Schizophrenia?." schizophrenia.com 21 May 2008 .

The Media is to Blame Final Reflection.

2008-05-20T05:45:00.000-07:00

Now that my research is coming to an end, I think that i found the anwser to my question. With all the searching I have done over the last month, it's clear that the media has an impact on young girls which is causing the increase in eating disorder patients. But how much of an impact is what people disagree on. Some of the articles think that the media has a hugh impact in young girls, while other people think that it has a very small impact.

This increasing number of eating disorders is a serious problem. I think that the media should be doing way more to inform the world about this disorder that is sweeping the nation. Actresses and Singers are all over the T.V. and in magazines and that's what people see all the time, these beautiful and thin famous people. I think it's ironic that these famous people we envy so much are struggling with the same disorders that they cause us to have. Diets to an extend are healthy, till people take to an extreme level and just keeping losing weight even when there under weight. I'm happy to see some new actresses have a real body and not this "perfect" hollywood image. I would like to see more Jordan Sparks and less Paris Hilton's . It's the media's responsibility to make up a better perspective on body image. It terrifying to see girls as young as ages 5 and 7 with a eating disorders. (Young Kids With Eating Disorders.) One my research I found out that Anorexia is the number one cause of death among young women. (Marechal)

With one out of every 3.8 commercials send some sort of "attractiveness message" it doesn't seem like the media really cares about what it is doing to young people. (Kennedy) The media is obsessed with the idea of thin being in. Who decided that being little is how people should look? You should look how you want to, not how other people think you should.

Doing this resaerch project really helped me understand alot more about eating disorder. It showed me that the media really is to blame for a portion of the eating disorder cases today. I wish more people were putting out messages on how to be healthy instead of how to be thin. Being skinny is not always healthy.

"When Very Young Kids Have Eating Disorders." Exploring the role society and the media play in the development of an Eating Disorder and the Media Influence on Eating Disorders. 22 May 2008 .

Marechal, Nathalie. "Eating disorders: Who's to blame?." 9/30/04 May 8, 2008 .

Kennedy, Susan. "Media images contribute to eating disorders." Tuesday, March 15, 2005 May 6, 2008

Video Game Violence and Real World Violence Finally

2008-05-19T00:40:00.000-07:00

Now I have been searching the Internet for the past 6 weeks, and come to the point that their is a non definite answer to is there a link to video game violence and the real violence? So far the topic is split. I recently googled 'link between video game violence and real world violence' and took every link that related to the search term. I came up with a few links here are the quotes for them.

Research is inconclusive, emphasizes Kierkegaard. It is possible that certain types of video game could affect emotions, views, behaviour, and attitudes, however, so can books, which can lead to violent behavior on those already predisposed to violence (Nauert).

In 2004, Olson and Kutner began a $1.5 million study funded by the U.S. Department of Justice to tease out the connection between the two variables. They found that video games do not affect all children equally and that the effect on behavior is not solely dependent on violence, gore, or sex (Schechter).

I’m not saying some games don’t lead to aggression, but I am saying the data are not there yet,” Williams said. “Until we have more long-term studies, I don’t think we should make strong predictions about long-term effects, especially given this finding (Lynn).

On The Daily Show on Thursday, April 26, Jon Stewart made short work of the suggestion that the Virginia Tech shooter, Cho Seung-Hui, might have been influenced by violent video games. (Cho may or may not have played the popular first-person-shooter game Counter-Strike in high school.) A potential video-game connection has also been dangled after past killings, to the irritation of bloggers. The reports are that shooter Lee Boyd Malvo played the game Halo before his sniper attacks around Washington, D.C., and that Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold loved Doom (Schaffer).

The potential for a link between violent media and aggressive behavior has been a controversial one, especially when that media comes in the form of violent video games. Individual results have suggested a tenuous connection between violent games and aggressive behavior, but other work has found no such link. Earlier this year, we described work by Dr. Christopher Ferguson, who suggested a combination of non standardized experiments and publication bias (a tendency for researchers and journals to only publish positive results) could account for much of the confusion. Now, Ferguson has attempted to make up for the lack of standardization with a meta-analysis of research on the topic (Timmer).

Darren had a tough time in school earlier this week. On Monday, a teacher said something that embarrassed him in front of his classmates. When he went home that afternoon, he plugged in his video game console, loaded Grand Theft Auto III, blew up a few cars and shot a half-dozen people, including a young blond woman. When asked, Darren admits that the woman he killed in the game looked a lot like his teacher. If you listen to the politicians and the pundits, the relationship is blindingly clear: playing violent video games leads children to engage in real-world violence or, at the very least, to become more aggressive. In August 2005, the American Psychological Association issued a resolution on violence in video games and interactive media, stating that "perpetrators go unpunished in 73 per cent of all violent scenes, and therefore teach that violence is an effective means of resolving conflict" (Kutner & Olson).Can we stop with the conjecture and speculation please! There seem to be as many theories about gaming impact on specific incidents and tenuous causal links as there are people that believe there is an intuitive link. The latest is discussed in Cognitive Daily which looks at a study that measures the difference in heart-rate and galvanic skin response when watching a violent video between two groups. The first has played violent video games immediately prior and the second hasn't. The results are used to insinuate a desensitisation to violence from violent video games. To say that this linkage does not hold up to scientific rigour is a gross understatement (Greensmith).

The incident caused outrage and the bill's sponsor, the Bavarian interior minister GüntherBeckstein, claimed there was a direct connection between Bosse's actions and his love of the game Counter Strike. "It is absolutely beyond any doubt that such killer games desensitise unstable characters and can have a stimulating effect," he said (Johnson).

With the quotes above it shows that the topics is very divided on the issue of video game violence and the real world. Some agree that there is a link while others need more proof and some just think its inhuman. It is hard to study such a topic when everyone is different in the way we act, think, and behave. It is hard to pin point the exact reason for video game violence and real world violence. Sure some of my past posts have shown you all that some people lose their connection with the real world. They go on to take their life or the life of another. Others just neglect the ones around them and leave them to suffer and die.

Now on the point of the fact that sometimes video games help us out is that they teach us more then just get from point A to point B and kill anything in between. It is more then that. Take for example Halo 3's Crows Nest Level. You have to use teamwork to save your men and get them to the landing pad, ALIVE if at all possible. In Delta Force: Black Hawk Down, on the mission to get to the second downed Black Hawk you need to kill a bunch of Rebels while rescuing straggling US soldiers. As well as in my posts, it talks about a guy who used a video game to save a persons life.

So I have come to the conclusion that there is no defiant answer to my question if there is a link to video game violence and real world violence. Now this topic will be debated for years and years but I know for a fact that from what I learned is that video game violence and real world violence are only related to each other depending on the persons mind. If that person losses reality and engages in fantasy then that mind was affected by video games. If not then they are ok to be playing video games. So my research has come up as inconclusive, with a fight over if there is or isn't a link between video game violence and real world violence.

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Nauert, Rick. "Questioning the Link Between Video Games and Violence." 16 05 2008 20 May 2008 .

Schechter, Sarah. "Study Questions Video Game Violence." 29 04 2008 20 May 2008 < ref="523340">.

Lynn, Andrea. "No strong link seen between violent video games and aggression." 09 08 2005 20 May 2008 .

Schaffer, Amanda. "Don't Shoot." Why video games really are linked to violence. 27 05 2007 20 May 2008 .

Timmer, John. "Meta-analysis uncovers no real link between violence and gaming." 08 11 2007 20 May 2008 .

Kutner, Lawrence. "Violence and video games." 28 05 2008 20 May 2008 .

Greensmith, Matthew. "Video games DO NOT cause violence.." 25 08 2008 20 May 2008 <>.

Goalie equipment changes

2008-05-16T05:46:00.000-07:00

While searching for my essential question on the change in hockey equipment I found that most of the changes have been with goal tenders. These goalies of today's NHL are heavily favoring oversize equipment. The oversize equipment has made the scoring in the NHL deacrese over the years.

With the decrease in the number of goals scored by players, the NHL has been working on making these numbers increase again. A new NHL rule is aimed at reducing the overstuffed, Michelin Man look favored by goaltenders. In its latest effort to give shooters a fighting chance, the league has set new limits on the size of leg pads used by NHL goalies (Fitzpatrick).
Back when hockey first started out goaltenders wore very small padding compared to the goaltenders today.

As you can see by these pictures, goal tending equipment has changed drastically since the start of the National Hockey League. In the first picture you can see that goalies wore no face protection as well as very small padding. In the second pictures you can see that the goalies are wearing equipment that fits them and that they now are wearing helmets. In the last picture you can see how today's goalies are wearing equipment that is huge and over sized.

With the great number of goalies wearing pads over 38 inches the NHL decides to start penalizing teams. Beginning with the 2003-04 season, NHL goalie pads are limited to 38-inches (76 centimetres) in length. If a goaltender's pads are found to exceed the limit, his team will be fined $25,000 (Fitzpatrick). The reason they started doing this was that in the previous season goalies were wearing pads over 38 inches. In fact, The NHL says about one-third of its goalies used pads longer than 38 inches (Fitzpatrick).

Fitzpatrick, Jamie. "NHL Goalie Pads: Size Matters." About.com 27 08 2003 20 May 2008 . (Fitzpatrick )

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http://forums.sabres.com/lofiversion/index.php/t33242.html- pictures

How do family deal..

2008-05-14T06:01:00.001-07:00

After writing my last blog i wonder how does people such as family and friends deal with a loved one how just might happened to have schizophrenia. So i wonder how your families and friends can help someone with schizophrenia. I've tried many different ways to try and find a good way to write what i was looking for. But as i looked for ways family could help i found this two different website but both telling me just about the same thing.

So i just went with the general information that kept coming up on family helping those who are schizophrenic. From what i found not only does people with schizophrenia lead challenges threw out there life but also there families and friends. They may not have it as heard as people living with it but they have to go though a lot to make there families feel comfortable and have a safe feeling. There families and friends are like a support system for them. Because most people with schizophrenia tend to resist any type of treatment they need there family or friend there to either talk them into the treatment or have them make the decision for them to get it. Mostly family members has a huge responsibility because they have to care and watch over those who are schizophrenic. Because those who are schizophrenic don't think they really are they stop taking there medication because they don't think they need to anymore but i believe that the one that is closest with they person like a member of the family should be there to make sure that the take there medication so there wont get worse and do something dangerous. It is said that if a person who has schizophrenia were to stop taking there medications or stopped going for follow-up treatments that person would lead to psychotic symptoms to return. If they where not to do there treatment that they will become so psychotic and disorganized that they cannot care for themselves or there basic needs such as food, clothing and even where to live. Sometimes only family or friends that are close to that person will be aware of the strange behavior that their friend/relative is expressing. (How Can Others Help The Schizophrenic? )

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"How Can Others Help The Schizophrenic?." healthyplace.com 15 05 2008 .

Eating Disorders in the Media

2008-05-12T05:44:00.000-07:00

After doing my research for about a month now I'm starting to see that alot of people agree with me, and believe that the media has a big influence on teenage girls. Most teenage girls learn ways to lose weight just by reading a magazine or watching T.V.. Since you can't stop young girls from reading or watching, wouldn't it be easier to stop the "lose weight" advertisments?

There are so many famous people that have suffored and some even died from eating orders. People such as Karen Carpenter, Paula Abdul, Victoria Beckham, Kate Beckinsale, Kelly Clarkson, Sandra Dee, Jane Fonda, Janet Jackson, Mary-Kate Olsen, Tara Reid, Christina Ricci, Ashlee Simpson, and Kate Winslet just to name a few. (recovered professonals) All these people are in the media all the time. People just think there skinny they dont know there dealing with eating disorders to. There should be more eating disorder awarness in the media. It would be nice to see people trying to put a stop to it instead of helping increase the number of cases. Alot of people dont know how bad eating disorders are and how many people they are really affecting. Maybe if the world was educated on disorders there would be more people trying to help. Matthew Tiemeyer said "The media has no face and no name, and it's easy to think that it is powerless. It's the media's responsibility to cultivate a better perspective on body image and eating disorders in our own circles of influence." (The Media's Influence) If more people thought like Tiemeyer the media wouldn't be so dangorous to teenage girls. Celebrities look the way they do because of the immense pressure they face from the media to look good, and it is the media that bombards the general public with their images. It would be foolish to say to say that the media is all to blame, as it is known eating disorders arise from a number of interrelated, complex issues. However, the media certainly has an important role to play in the messages impressionable, young people receive about the cultural ideal of physical perfection.(Messages from the media)

recovered professonals. "Famous people with eating disorders.." May 15, 2008

Tiemeyer, Matthew . "The Media's Influence on Eating Disorders." May 16 2008 .

"Messages from the media." May 16 2008 .

Political corruption a major concern

2008-05-12T05:43:00.000-07:00

While back in Mr. Malleys class doing my last research post i found an aricle about presidential canidate Barack Obama. The article was saying how Obama was unstained, while Illionis always has problems with corruption but he is staying clean.{Kass} Obama stated if elected president he would do his best to stop corruption and bust as many people as possible. Corruption is the abuse of power not just for personal gain but at the expense of others from people of a leadership position. {Saberi} With the terriosm in the world to day we should not have to worry about our elected officials but some of them think they cab get away with taking a little money here and there without getting caught, it's like terriosm between our selves.

There are no statiscs to show how much corrption is done a day or a percentage of politicians per year, but it is shown that there will be at least one scandal per year it might just be an affair or it can be extortion.

Kass, John. "Obama unstained by Chicago Way." The Swamp 10 05 2008 12 05 2008 .

The Possible Link of Violent Video Games and Real Violence

2008-05-08T05:52:00.000-07:00

While searching I found a news report that studied school fights and the link between them. In the research done by Kris Reyes, she interviewed some students about the violent acts and why. She also talked about the movie Fight Club which also has a game out.

In a long term study done by Dmitri Williams, he states that their is "No Link between Games and Violence." The study showed that after playing a game called Asheron's Call 2 their was no difference in behavior between the people who played the game and those who didn't. Now in my research of the game, the game doesn't look violent to a stand point. It has some violent content but is not violent to the point of a game like Grand Theft Auto or Gears of War. This game, Asheron's Call 2, is something like Runescape. Not very violent but has some content like fighting people with swords and other medieval weapons.

But a greater thing is happening. While researching for graphs about video game violence increase, it shows something else. Tom Wright stated,

"I think it's interesting to note that when you step outside of an experimental setting, and you graph the rate of video game usage (which I assume has been going up over the last ten years) along with the rate of juvenile violent crime (which has been dropping over the last ten years), you get a different picture. I certainly don't mean to imply that violent video games turn us into pacifists, but neither do I see an overall negative effect on society" (Wright ).

Now that is really weird cause if that is true then is video game violence actually affecting the violent acts of our youth and the adults that lose contact with the real world and their fantasy becomes a reality to them. But so far there is a line between the argument of Video game violence and Real World violence.

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Terdiman, Daniel. "Study: No link between games and violence." 12 07 2005 12 05 2008 .

Wright, Tom. "Video games and violent crime." 29 03 2007 12 05 2008 .

change in hockey stick materials

2008-05-06T07:06:00.000-07:00

I remember when I first started playing hockey. Hockey sticks were mostly made out of wood, but now they are being made out of a different material. Sticks are being made out of composite materials such as Fibreglass, Caron Fibre and Kevlar/Aramid. I remember when I made the change from a wooden hockey stick to a composite one. Before I went out and bought a composite stick I went online and looked up the advantages and disadvantages of composite sticks versus wooden sticks. While I was looking up this information I found a site that explains the differences between the two types of sticks, and I found the information to be very helpful.

Some of the advantages that this site had about wooden sticks is that "wood as a material is cheaper than composite materials and therefore results in reduced retail prices, and that the natural characteristics of wood result in a softer feel for the puck which many players, including internationals favor" (Barrington Sports). But then there were some disadvantages about them which made me think about my decision on buying a composite stick easier. These disadvantages were that "due to the hand made nature of the stick it is very difficult to get any two sticks that are exactly the same, wooden sticks are only as good as the wood they are made from and therefore inconsistencies in the quality, moisture content and density of the wood may result in two sticks of exactly the same specification performing completely differently, wood has a tendency over time to draw in moisture which leads to loss of power and likelihood of breakage, and that wooden sticks have a smaller sweet spot for creating maximum hitting power" (Barrington Sports).

This site also had advantages and disadvantages for composite sticks as well. These advantages that composite sticks have over wooden ones were that "composite sticks have a greater power to weight ratio i.e. strength and stiffness can be maintained by a lighter weight composite stick, and that the manufacturing process leads to composite sticks being much more consistent in their weight, stiffness and power, so if you've used one stick you can be fairly confident another hockey stick of the same specification will feel and perform to the same level" (Barrington Sports). I liked the fact that if I break one stick then I could go out and buy that same stick and its would have the same feeling as the i just broke, but there was one thing that cough my eye and that was the disadvantages. Due to the composite materials the "Cost of materials and production result in more expensive sticks than a wooden stick of a comparable specification, and that they have a "Harsher, less refined feel for the puck, although with ongoing development this is becoming less pronounced" (Barrington Sports). After reading this information I decided to get one and since then I haven't bought a wooden stick. While using these composite stick I have noticed that I have a much hard shot. Along with the harder shot I noticed that my accuracy has improved as well.

Hockey Sticks Guide: Materials." Barrington Sports 07 05 2008 .

(Barrington Sports )

Barbie Doll role-models?

2008-05-06T05:44:00.000-07:00

From early-on children are taught by society that their looks matter. Images on T.V. spend countless hours telling us to lose weight, be thin and beautiful.(Mudgett) While doing my research for a few weeks now it's obvious that the media has a big affect on young peoples lives, but now I wanna know why we let it. Why do people believe everything in the media that says we have to look a certaion way to be beautiful, why can't people just be happy with themselves and not feel the pressure to change. Barbie type dolls have often been blamed on playing a role in the development of body-image problems and Eating Disorders. (Mudgett) Surely you've heard by now that if Barbie were real, she wouldn't be able to stand up (Marechal) Children start playing with these dolls at ages as young as two or three. At this age children are very impressionable making a toy that has an unreal body image gives a false image to even toddlers.

Media messages like advertisements and celebrity spotlights help our culture define what is beautiful and what is "good," the media's power over our self-esteem and body image can be incredibly strong. (Kennedy) People might not want to believe what they see in magazines or on T.V. but seeing it everyday everywhere you go puts a lasting impression on you. The media images have a strong influence on us that we can't even help. If you see and hear something everyday your bound to start believing it. A study of 4,294 network television commercials revealed that one out of every 3.8 commercials send some sort of "attractiveness message," telling viewers what is or is not attractive. These researchers estimate that the average adolescent sees more than 5,260 "attractiveness messages" per year. (Kennedy) People wanna stop eating disorders than they should put a stop to all these negative messages.

While doing my research I found out that Anorexia is the number one cause of death among young women.(Marechal) This fact was really eye opening for me. What happened that made skinny what "in"? What about the days when Marilyn Monroe was everyone's role model? She wore a size 12! Now that would be so overweight. Researcher says the drive for thinness is a learned behavior.(Media influence)

Mudgett, Heather. "The Media." Exploring the role society and the media play in the development of an Eating Disorder and the Media Influence on Eating Disorders. May 6, 2008 .

Kennedy, Susan. "Media images contribute to eating disorders." Tuesday, March 15, 2005 May 6, 2008

Marechal, Nathalie. "Eating disorders: Who's to blame?." 9/30/04 May 8, 2008 .

"Media influence eating disorders." October 22, 1997 May 8, 2008 .

The Negatives of Video Games

2008-05-02T08:26:00.000-07:00

Well if you read the positives about video games and its link to violent video games then here is the negatives which I am aiming in my topic. In the report by MediaWise.org, they did a study about the negatives of video games, mostly violent. Some reports stated "Over-dependence on video games could foster social isolation, as they are often played alone." Others reported that "Practicing violent acts may contribute more to aggressive behavior than passive television watching." They also stated "Studies do find a relationship between violent television watching and behavior." With all this its not only video games that have been the problem but violent television shows.

On gameinnovator.com they state and I quote,

"There is a wide range of reported negative effects of video games on health; however the actual evidence of games directly causing certain negative effects is very weak. Other negative effects are usually due to prolonged excessive play of video games. Parents concerned with the amount of time their children spend on video games should encourage them to balance the time out with other activities. Extremely adverse effects such as hallucinations are very rare and could be caused by other unknown factors." (D )

Research continue on this issue and so far they have come up with there is a link between violent games and increased aggression. But the research is not 100% accurate.

As violence increases in schools due to game violence. With that, cyber bullying is happening more often like on Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games where higher level or classier looking player pick on weaker, less classier player. They take this power to the real world and violence in video games are link. More details are to follow.

D, Damien. "How Video Games Affect Health." 07 05 2008 .

About Schizophrenia (Post #2)

2008-05-01T05:55:00.001-07:00

People living with schizophrenia must live a hard life. They have to over come a lot of challenges. Living with it means a lot they have a different prospective on life. Those people don't always think the same way as someone without schizophrenia may. There have been people to write about some of there experience with schizophrenia."What is Schizophrenia? A living breathing nightmare. An episode of the Twilight Zone without the entertainment, where bizarre paranoid ideation and hellish voices completely dominate the patient. Schizophrenia, once known as Dementia Praecox, affects 1% of the American population. And guess what? I'm one of them. Even though my father is undoubtedly manic depressive, I have a psychotic disorder." (The Life of a Schizophrenic ).For those who don't know what schizophrenia is exactly i will tell you some stuff about it.

People who has schizophrenia tend to think differently. There prospective of things are completely different then someone without it. Some of the symptoms that someone who is a schizophrenic suffer from are having hallucinations and illusions. People can have all sorts of hallucination whether its from sounds, sight, touch, taste and smells. The common hallucination is someone hearing voices that others may not be able to hear."roughly one-third of people with schizophrenia often have delusions of persecution, or false and irrational beliefs that they are being cheated, harassed, poisoned, or conspired against."(The World of People With Schizophrenia ) Being schizophrenic often affects a persons ability to think straight. Peoples thoughts tend to come and go and they may not be able to concentrate on thoughts for a long periods of time. They become easily distracted and cannot focus they attention on other things. To some people they may think that schizophrenic have sort of a short attention spans.

The Classification of Schizophrenia

2008-05-01T05:51:00.000-07:00

As i did more research on my topic i found out more effects schizophrenia has on peoples lives. Some more effects other then the hallucinations and the illusions are disorganized speech. Some common signs of people having disorganized speech is shifting from topic to topic with no connection between them, making up words or phases that only the person saying it knows, repeating the same thing over and over again, and also putting rhyming words together without it making sense. There are negative symptoms of schizophrenia but the most important one's include peoples lack of emotional expression (people who don't respond to you), the lack of interest or enthusiasm, being unawareness of what is going on around you, trouble with your speech(cant carry out a conversation).

What most people probably don't know is that there are three major subtypes of schizophrenia. Each type of schizophrenia comes with its own signs and symptoms. The first subtype of schizophrenia is paranoid. Some ways you can tell if someone had paranoid schizophrenia is absurd or suspicious ideas and belief. People tend to function better than individuals with other schizophrenia subtypes. The second subtype of schizophrenia is disorganized. People who has disorganized schizophrenia the symptoms generally comes to those that are younger. The characteristics of this schizophrenia are disorganized speech/behavior and blunt or inappropriate emotions. People who suffer from this specific type of schizophrenia have trouble taking care of themselves and may not even be able to bathe and feed themselves. The common symptoms are impaired communication skills, illogical speech, inappropriate reactions, infantile behavior, and also peculiar facial expressions. The third and last subtype of schizophrenia is catatonic. A way you can tell if someone was classified as catatonic is when there is a disturbance in there movement. Whether its a decrease in motor activity or a increase in motor activity. When someone has a decrease in motor activity which is also known as stuporous motor signs. The person often slows down all voluntary movement and speech and resistant to movement. when someone has a increase in motor activity it is also known as excited motor signs. When someone is in this type of state people can go from a calm to an excitement state. People may shout, start talking in a rapid state, pacing, or possibly act out in violence whether its toward themselves or other people. People who is in the state of catatonic schizophrenia may instantly obey what people tell them, imitate what they do or mimic what they say. (Understanding Schizophrenia )

___________________________________________________
Smith. Kemp, Larson, Jaffe, Melinda, Gina, Heather, Jaelline. "Understanding Schizophrenia Supportive Guide to the Signs, Symptoms, Causes and Effects." helpguide.org 12 17 2007 05 01 2008 .

the Counter Argument Post #3

2008-04-28T05:46:00.000-07:00

Although I believe that the media is one of the greatest influnces on young teens, there are people that believe the media is hardly to blame at all.This is a highly debatable topic.When doing my researsh I found alot the media being blamed for eating disorders in teens, i also found some on why the media is not to be blamed. Most researsh for this topic is done by polls and suveys. In a poll taken on irishhealth.com only 40 percent of people think that the media and fashion industry are to blame for the rise in eating disorders among young people. (condom) There is evidence in early literature to suggest that eating disorders have been around ever since we became conscious of our bodies. We can say that ever since human beings came across their reflections, many have felt the need to look good and maintain a good figure.

The people from inside the media industry have their own angle on things. The counter argument puts forward by them is that the media does not create imagery; instead replicates existing trends in society and presents them in packaged format to the viewers. ("Is the media to blame?") Being exposed to images of ultra-think models does not have a lasting effect on teenage girls according to a US survey ("models not to blame")

Wiether we like it not the media seems to be obsessed with the idea that being slim/skinny is the way to be. Everywhere you look you see a thin model or actress. How do people think that the media dont affect us? Young girls are so valunrable and seeing thin-ness everywhere puts the image in there head that you have to be like that. it's not very often that you seen oversized people on t.v. or in magzines. People need to get more comfortable with there bodies. It's great to see new stars such as Jordan Sparks and America Ferrera. Consumer's try to live to models standards. But the models try to live to the consumers standards. Thin sells. "Perfect" doesn't exist naturally. That's why even models and movie stars are airbrushed within an inch of their lives in magazines. That's why plastic surgery is so popular. "Perfect" sells. It also paints an unrealistic picture of the human body. ("blame the media")

"Blame the media for teen eating disorders?." May 1, 2008 .
"Models "not to blame for eating dsorders"." Monday Aug. 23 1999 May 1, 2008 .

Contione my research on political coruption

2008-04-28T05:44:00.000-07:00

While back in Mr Malley's class room doing research again i came across a website [The Quaker Economist] which is when Cobb stated "The patronage system of government, in which jobs at all levels of government are awarded by the president as political favors, started under Andrew Jackson in 1829." That then creates an problem were the people with the important jobs might not no what there doing but they got the job because they helped the person in office get there so they were owed a favor.[Cobb] The Pendleton Act was then created to prevent jobs to be given to Friends or people you owe favors, and it will let you get the job based on merit alone not who you know or what you know. The Hatch Act which was first created in 1939 and was amended many times after prevented the use of public funds for political campaigns.

While doing my research i figured i should use an example that we would all know about so i decied to use bill clinton. William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton was actualy named William Jefferson Blythe III born on August 19 1946, he was the third youngest president and commited his first or at least the first sex scandal that we know about. During the time of 1995 and 1996. This incident raised questions of clintons judgement. That makes me wonder about our choices as Americans if our president is having sex scandals and causing drama how can he complete his duties.

___________

"Bill Clinton." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 06 05 2008 .

Cobb, Loren. "Corruption in America." The Quaker Economist 15727 05 2007 28 04 2008 .

i-search post #2

2008-04-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

When I first started this search I found it quite difficult to find any information but as I keep looking I came across some really important and useful info. The reason it is difficult is because there hasn't been much change it the players equipment but its been in the goaltenders equipment.
If you ask most young people about hockey they will tell you about the most recent things about it. But if you ask most older people they will tell you something completely different. The will tell you stuff like when the players in the NHL wore next to nothing as protection. They would tell you to "Pop in a video of the Bobby Orr era and see what the goalies wore. If they donned anything at all, it was a thin, plastic face shield. Yes, those were the days of broken noses, lost teeth, and countless lacerations or worse! to the head and body" (Prochnow). I can tell you that I have seen some of these videos and I can tell you that these guys were true players. They weren't afraid to get into the play and weren't afraid to get hurt. The fearlessness that these players like Bobby Orr and Gordy Howe had set some precidents for the players of todays National Hockey League. Im sure if you ask some of the players in the league today who some of the great players in hockey are im sure they will mention these two guys along with some of the other players that everyone knows best Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. Young kids that play hockey now look up to the players that have impacted the NHL today. They look up to Alexander Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Martin Brodeur and many others.

Prochnow, Bettina Young. "Injury prevention through protection." Hockeyplayer.com 12/199412/1994 22 5 2008 . (Prochnow )

Video Games and The Positive Effects

2008-04-18T06:06:00.000-07:00

When video games and the real world become one, the human brain has collided the fantasy world and the real world and begins to lose contact with the real world. But all is not bad about that. Take for example the man who took his video game training from America's Army and used it to treat a injured person that was in a car accident. He was able to use the skills he learned from playing the game to help treat the injuries until paramedics came. Funny thing was that an actual certified U.S. Army soldier, with medical training, came to take over the video game players work he had already started.

Also other times really great things can come from losing contact from the real world. Take into example the study done in University of Rochester. People who played action video games for a few hours a day over the course of a month improved by about 20 percent in their ability to identify letters presented in clutter—a visual acuity test similar to ones used in regular ophthalmology clinics. This can be a very positive effects on people with bad vision like myself. I myself have been able to point things out from a far like people and locations while in a car. I can tell who is who just because of video games. If I have to snipe enemies in Call of Duty from a far as my men fight in the general area, I need to make sure I am not taking out my own men. This study has been proven, and I can back it up.

For those of you who are going into the medical field, video games are for you. In studies, it shows that playing video games can make a surgeon have less errors in the operation room. This can save lives and it is all due to video games. Research reports that, Researchers found that doctors who spent at least three hours a week playing video games made about 37 percent fewer mistakes in laparoscopic surgery and performed the task 27 percent faster than their counterparts who did not play video games. By that it makes a pretty dang good argument to make doctors have to play video games. This wold result in positive things for all of mankind.

Safer, Will. "Skills Learned in Video Game Help Man Treat Car Accident Victims." 18 01 2008 18 04 2008 .

Eating Disorders Due to media? Post #2.

2008-04-18T05:57:00.000-07:00

Anorexia Nervosa, the growing disorder that is killing teens all over the world. BUT WHY? For my senior project I choose to see if, like I believe, the media has a impact on the increasing number of eating disorders in young women. This question has been on my mind for years now. The media makes up this "perfect image" that girls think they have to be in-order to be pretty. Only five percent of American females naurally posses the so called "perfect" body image portrayed in the media (Merritt).

Is it okay for the media to make up this "perfect" image? What one may call perfect another may not think that at all. While doing my research i"m seeing that this topic is very conserversal, and many people have different opinons on what the cauese for the disorder is. Eating Disorders are very complex and there are many reasons why a person develops them, however the media pressure definitley has something to do with it. (McCarthy) Although the belief that the media is not to be blamed for the soaring cases of eating disorders among teenagers, numerous studies show that it actually is. (Kuthe) The media constantly presents the idea that woman are extremly thin. Influeced by these slender, good-loooking people they see in ads, films and on TV programs, teenagers seem particuarly susceptiple to anorexia. Seeing under weight role models on the television establishes a false body image in their minds.(Merritt) While doing my resarch i noticed that there are many studies done that prove media has a big affect on young people. A recent study of 2,000 teen and pre-teen boys and girls found that 15 percent of girls and 8 percent of boys diet or workout in order to look like one of the celebrities they see on TV or in magazines (Merritt)

Thomas, Kuthe. "Eating Disorders." 2002 April 23, 2008 .
Bridin, McCarthy. "Media blamed for causing eating disorders." 3/15/2001 April 23, 2008 .

I search paper post 2

2008-04-18T05:47:00.000-07:00

When i was starting my I search project i figured i should do it on a topic that I liked becuse if Ido it on a topic i dont like I wont put a good efort up. Iwould end up not doing any research and would half heartedly do the blog's. I want to become a politician so i figured something about politics would be good, then i had to figure out what about politics and how can i make it intersting for me. Then I decied to write about politcal corruption and all the recent scandals which is not an easy topic to do research on, yes you read articles in the paper and see on the news but ther are no statiscs or evidence to support why there is coruption there are only theries. Some forms of corruption would be drug trafiking, money laundering, bribery,extortion and, organized crime. That is just a short list of cooruption there are many more ways it can and will be done.

Yes all of political corruptin is wrong and yes we as americans have the right to know what our elected official are doing on our time and tax dollars. But once back on there own time and money they should be treated like regular people but thats just my opinion. For example if they get caught drug trafficking with there own money they should be arrested and jailed, then in the paper and news say the was a major drug bust involving so and so. The topic of them being politician is irrelavent they should not be forced to reason unless proven guilty and jailed. Like I wassaying earlier there are no statiscs but many politicians do it just not on a huge level.

"Political corruption." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 18 04 2008 .

Addiction To Video Games and Violence Connected

2008-04-17T05:47:00.000-07:00

Video Games are addicting and things can happen to cause violent acts on other or themselves. People are getting to into the games. They are losing touch on reality and that is causing turmoil on the way people live life. Take for example the issue when a online game called Legend of Mir 3 was played. Report of a man named Qui Chengwei stabbed the the player he had won the game with, Zhu Caoyuan, to death over a online trade of a virtual weapon. Qui was mad that the trade of his virtual sword was done by Zhu for some money. (Haines )

There are other connections to Video Games and real world violence that is not violent but creepy that it happens. In a way the violent act of two parents leaving their child unattended for four hours to play World of Warcraft, only to have it die at home alone. The man who stayed in a Cafe for 50 hours playing a MMORPG suddenly died in his chair and collapsed to the floor. For a Young Teenage Boy who took his life after his mother said he was addicted to the video games Everquest. The teenage committed suicide because of what his mom said. These were all not violent but violent in nature. In every last one someone died due to video game addiction. Lives were lost due to the carelessness and neglect of these people. All of that could have been avoided if they all realized they were addicted to video games. They should have looked for help with there addictions. (Kuefler )

The fact that all of these stories that linked video games and the real world together is a point that people are committing acts of violence against others. The question is if there is a true link to the act committed by these people and the world of video games and violence related to those video games whether they are violent shooters or action based racing games.
_________________
Haines, Lester. "On-line gamer stabbed over 'stolen' cybersword." 04 01 2005 18 04 2008 .

Kuefler, "Game Influence." 08 08 2007 19 04 2008 .

MLA Citation Practice

2008-04-17T05:46:00.000-07:00

This is my MLA citation practice. I am copying and pasting this in order to have something to plop citations under.

Shmueli, Sandra . "Flash mob' craze spreads." cnn.com Friday, August 8, 200 .
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"Global Warming." 17 April 2008 17 April 2008 .

Does the media really affect teen girl?

2008-04-15T18:06:00.000-07:00

Is the media the cause for the growing number of teenage girls with eating disorders?

Growing up weight was never an issue to me. It never mattered what size i wore or if my friends were bigger or smaller than me. Not until i was in eighth grade did i start to notice or worry about weight. It's than that i started seeing that all that stars on t.v. were super skinny and all the read in magazines is about diets and what actress lost the most weight this week.
Eating disorders than became a topic I became very interested in. Although there is many reasons why people have an eating disorder, I believe that the media now has a very big impact on the body image of young girls and their self-esteem. I'm interested to see that others think about this and if it's true. The number of girls with the disorder is greatly increasing, with one out of every ten girls with the eating disorder dead because of this, I think we need to find the cause and put a stop to it before more girl's die

Robert Fletcher citiation

2008-04-15T06:04:00.000-07:00

This is my MLA citation practice. I am copying and pasting this in order to have something to plop citations under.

Shmueli, Sandra. "'Flash mob' craze spreads." Cnn.com 08 08 2003 15 04 2008 .

Derek Domros citation

2008-04-15T06:03:00.000-07:00

This is my MLA citation practice. I am copying and pasting this in order to have something to plop citations under.

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Shmueli, Sandra. "'Flash mob' craze spreads." cnn.com 08 08 2003 15 04 2008 .
(Shmueli )

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"Global warming." Wikipedia. 17 Apr 2008 .

("Global Warming")

Angela

2008-04-15T06:02:00.001-07:00

This is my MLA citation practice. I am copying and pasting this in order to have something to plop citations under.
____________________
Shmueli, Sandra. "'Flash mob' craze spreads." cnn.com 08 08 2003 15 04 2008 .

(Shmueli )

"Global warming." 15 04 2008 .

MLA Citation Practice

2008-04-15T06:02:00.000-07:00

This is my MLA citation practice. I am copying and pasting this in order to have something to plop citations under.
___________________________

(Shmueli )

Shmueli, Sandra. "'Flash mob' craze spreads." 08 08 2003 15 04 2008 .

("Global Warming" )

"Global Warming." 14 04 2008 15 04 2008 .

Political corruption a major problem

2008-04-11T05:56:00.000-07:00

Political corruption why is it such a major problem in the world today? There reason i got into this topic would be because you hear about it all the time in the media, I also wanted to become a politician and hearing about all the scandals makes me think i can do a much better job than many of todays politicians. Recently there has ben many scandals whic to my belief were not in portant to the public and should not of been on the news such as the Elliot Sptitzer issue with his prostitutes that is more of a personal problem between him and his family not him and the world. Many people cheat on there wifes and do not make the news about it, it upsets me to hear about all of the people we trust with law making and our funds are with non trustable people.

Video Game Violence and The Real World

2008-04-11T05:49:00.000-07:00

Games and the Real World - Before the Research

Video games are the best way to past time. They are fun, challenging, and full of action or adventure. I love to play video games and it helps past the time whether its the Knights and Fantasy game of Runescape or the Fight for Humanity of Gear of War. Both are very fun to play but have a lot of violence in them. Runescape is a hack and slash turn based MMORPG that involves quest, minigames, and fighting. Gears of War is the most violent blood and gore game out there. with body parts all over the place it's a great shooter. Its a great game to play and awesome to tear up the enemy. But the violence is so crazy in this game and I like it.

Kids and Teens have have been portraying violent acts against other people including their own parents. Reports have been in the news of Shootings, Car Jacking, Fights, and a bunch of other violent acts seen in video games. There are blocks to stop young gamers from playing violent games on the consoles. But that doesn't seem to be enough.

Are Video Games Violence and the Real World violence some how connected? If so are there any ways of stopping or lowering those violent acts? Is there a point where Reality and Fantasy become one in a persons mind? Are there more violent games coming out now then before? These are the questions I would like to find out.

Improvement in hockey equipment : Before the search

2008-04-11T05:38:00.000-07:00

I became interested in this topic because I am into sports and hockey is the sport that I follow the most and I also play it as well. There are somethings about hockey that I have noticed that have changed. These changes are in the equipment. It has become more lighter and it seems to be more protective then the equipment in the past. When I went to get new equipment I noticed that everything was a lot lighter than my old stuff. The only thing that i could think of was is it as safe as my old equipment because it was also thinner. When I asked the work at the store about it he told me that the equipment was still as safe as the older equipment. He also mentioned that it is made of a lighter material that is just as strong and durable.

Has hockey improved as a result of equipment evolution? Have players become more skilled with these improvements? Have the goalies job become easier with the evolution in there padding? Does all this equipment evolution make the game more competitive? Will there be any major improvements in equipment soon?

Living With Schizophrenia

2008-04-10T17:18:00.000-07:00

Before I knew...

When I was younger I spent most of my time with my grandparents. I never knew there was anything wrong. But the one thing I knew was what my mom always told me. She said to me "it was hard for me growing up; my mother spent most of my childhood in a mental hospital." At the time I didn't really know why she was in there. Later on my mom started telling me different sorts of stories. She told me that she would talk to things like the wall and have conversations with herself as if someone was there. One time my mom told me that my grandma tried running away because someone in her room told her to. That she would go into all sorts of mood swings. Yelling at people and getting mad for no reason. My grandma believed in things such as witchcraft. I think she was afraid of it. She would always have statues of Jesus and crucifies around the house and light religious type candles. I never thought that those things around the house meant anything. She told me she was in that hospital because she was bi-polar and had schizophrenia.

I don't know a lot about schizophrenia. I grew up around it without even realizing it. The only thing I do know about schizophrenia is that basically someone is having all sorts of mood swings. Being all happy one moment and the next all mad and in a pissy mood. Basically changing their mood in the snap of the fingers.

People who have schizophrenia must be strong. But what I want to know is how someone with schizophrenia leads a normal life? What causes someone to have to live with it? How does it affect that person who has it, their family, friends, and anyone around them?

effects of war on soldiers

2008-02-26T19:45:00.000-08:00

The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien

The effects that war has on people can make them do stupid thing for no reason. In the book two of the soldiers (Lee Strunk & Dave Jensen) get into a fight because one of them stole the other ones jackknife. They got into a fistfight because of it. These kinds of things happen to you because of being out in the hot sun all day trying to stop something that doesn't concern you (the war) but does because your country decides to make it your problem. Things like little fights over stuff can really cause a problem when you are in war along with items that you bring with you that aren't necessary. These things can distract you in the most crucial times. Whenin war all it takes is one little mistake and your gone like Ted Lavender. Everyone was doing the own thing not thinking that there in the middle of a was and he was shot and killed. The effects of the war mess with peoples train of thought and make them lose track of the inportant stuff.

Do you think that the effect of the war has any part in soldiers dieing in the war?

Narration of Night

2008-02-26T19:10:00.000-08:00

Night by Elie Wiesel

This book is the story of Elie Wiesel. His life growing up in these camps and living with what he had went through. When I was reading this book I was able to make out in detail as to what he was referring to. Although Elie Wiesel wasn’t the only person to survive the holocaust, he was one of few to write a book about it and have that book be well known to lots of people across the world. In my opinion I think it was really brave of him to look back at that point in his life and write about it. I don’t think I would be able to do that because if it was me I wouldn’t want to remember that time in my life. If you had something terrible happen to would you want to go back in your mind and remember what had happen?

The End of Anne Frank.

2008-02-26T06:08:00.000-08:00

The Diary of A Young Girl
By Anne Frank
done with book.

I enjoyed reading The Diary of Anne Frank very much.I enjoy reading Biographys, and Anne Frank was a different type of Biography. When writing the book she didnt know that in years to come it would be pulished and read by the world. Its like a piece if history. After fighting for her life for so long, it came to an end when she was sent to a camp and died. Gettting to read this book let me see the world from the point of veiw of a girl only a few years younger than me going throuh soemthing so terrible and being able to live for so long.

final blog

2008-02-26T06:02:00.000-08:00

I am most looking foorward to reading to find out if the cops can find mote and to see ifhe is guilty. It looks like he is but i hopejust like the boys in the story are hopind hedidnt murder there teachers and they beleive he didnt so they are willing to help find him and prove him innocent

2008-02-26T05:58:00.000-08:00

The seeting took place out in the country and it enhanced the story byleeting the boyshave space tobuilda foot and mote to be wondering around. The boys new a slow kid and they would brake things onpurpose just for he could fix it andfeel good about whathes doing. If theylived in the city they most likely would of never met mote and there couldnt be a story.

The main characters motivation

2008-02-26T05:57:00.000-08:00

The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien
Pg. 27-55

The main characters was not for the war. He was Drafted to go only a month after he had graduated college. When he got his draft papers he kept them secret. He really wasn't motivated to be going into the war, he felt that he shouldn't have to go if he didn't want to because he knew that there were other people that weren't drafted that wanted to go into battle cause they had family that fought before them. He spent that summer working trying not to think about the war. He was not even close to wanting to leave and go fight a war that had no meaning. That summer he was thinking of fleeing to Canada so that he didn't have to go. Then he got to thinking of his family and friends and how the small community that he lived in would ridicule him if he ever returned.

Do you think that he should have the choice whether to be drafted or not?

Mote

2008-02-26T05:52:00.000-08:00

Do the characters seem realand beleivable?

Yes they do there are three main charcters and one of them is a homless man who wondes looking for freinds. The other two are teenage boys in high school which do not like one of there teachers. They remind me of myself onlybecause iam a teenage boy who does not like all of his teachers.

Perry's Climax

2008-02-19T19:38:00.001-08:00

Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers

Pg. 122 - 190

When I read this portion of the novel. I found that Perry was in the the middle of Nam covering a cemetery. He gets to the point of him talking about his love or should I say loveless life and how he told no one about it. He get into a battle and his CO is shot. He was afraid for his CO and his self. But he made it out, while thinking if he had actually killed a VC. During the second mission he had to stake out, he was so mind blown that he forgot his task of the Claymores. Later on Perry was at his last limb. His life was about to end to a gun at his chest. Clicks when off but no bullets came out. Perry got into a brawl and killed his first VC.

Could Perry have died if it wasn't for the fact that the VC clip was empty, or was if fate to see that Perry survives the war?

Night Characters

2008-02-19T17:19:00.000-08:00

Night By Elie Wiesel

Page(32-47/120)

It’s been a slow read for me but I haven’t given up. Since the last time he and his father were taking to the camps, they stripped everyone of there names and given them basically numbers.
People had to refer everyone as a number. These numbers ever branded into the skin of these people. The people with Elie and his father did nothing but work. At times his father tried to reinsure he that his mother and sister were else where still alive and ok but deep down they knew the truth and it was that they were dead. These characters in this story isn’t fictional, it’s the real thing. The things you read in this book was events that has taken place in history. You have a chance of finding out what there life was like and what they went through. I would have to give them a lot of credit for being so strong. To everyone that was living through the holocaust. They went through hell and still came out strong. I don’t think I would be so strong and live on knowing that most of my family is dead. Do you think you could ever be as strong as Elie?

Fallen Angels Setting

2008-02-18T15:14:00.000-08:00

Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers

pg. 65-129

The setting of Fallen Angles takes place in Vietnam. The cities and towns mentioned are actual places located all around Vietnam. The vast terrain and the way Perry described it, was exact to what the environment was to the actual encounters the soldiers that fought the war was like. The bugs picking at your skin. The weather changing faster then the blink of the eye. The way Perry had to survive all of the trials of Vietnam. The question is if he will be able to survive it?

Holocaust. The Diary of a Young Girl By Anne Frank pg 200/268

2008-02-08T05:51:00.000-08:00

This book is a very emotional because you know that everything she is writing about is what really happened to her in her day to day life. You get a good look into the life a Jew during the Holocaust, one of the worst times in history, and this one girl could survive for so long. I think this is a really good book because you learn things about the concentration camps and what it was like having to hide and do everything secret so you dont get killed. I think Anne Frank has helped alot of people see how terrible life really was, and help people learn what was really happening to the Jews during World War Two. When reading the book you cant help but paint the picture in you head of what her life is like. With much detail it helps you to get a clear veiw. A young girls birthday present (the diary) turned out to be a top selling book.

First impressions The Things They Carried

2008-02-05T07:33:00.000-08:00

By Tim O'Brien
Pages(1-27)

My first impressions of this novel are that it is very good. It is not like the other books that I read. The difference being that it is a whole new genre and I just found it an interesting topic to read. When you think about war the first thing that pops into my mind is that they are fighting for everyons freedom, but they are also fighting for there own. most people dont realive that it is harder for the soldiers because of the things that they have to carry with them on every mission. Some of the thing that they take are the essentials for each mission alone with some personal items. ut when doing so they have to make sure that these item dont put too much wieght on there back since most of the time they will be walking and it could be the difference between life or death for them. They have to be able to move quickly when they are in danger and you cant do that when you have too much wieght to carry. Also thething that are personal to them could harm them because they distract them from there main objectives and if there not ready it could be fatile.

Growing older in Night

2008-02-02T14:13:00.000-08:00

Night By Elie Wiesel

Page(12-32/120)

This book is about Elie Wiesel and what he had to go through in a certain time in his life.

This is a hard time for any Jews that are living in the time of the Holocaust. This Elie Wiesel in particular. So far along with his family, he and numerous other people and there families are forced to move away from there homes to try to live a peaceful live. Although it doesn’t happen. His family gets taken but he gets separated from his mother and sister and leaves with his father. He said that then would be the last time he would see his mother and sister again. As he goes off with his dad an inmate tells the boy he is 18 but he is actually 15 and that his father is 40 instead of 50. He tells them this so they wouldn’t get separated.
Could you imagine yourself to be in Elie position? Would you feel complete being separated from one of your parents and/or siblings?

Non-Fiction of Fallen Angles

2008-02-02T06:28:00.001-08:00

Fallen Angles by Walter Dean Myers

Pages (67-104)

From what I read so far in the book, Fallen Angles has portraited a uncanny likeness of real battle situations. For instance Charlie Company was pinned down and Simpson said that their are suppose to be marines coming in to help out Charlie Company. Another thing I have noticed in research is that I have done, The places that are mentioned in the book are actual places where some battles have taken place. It is amazing that the story ties in the location without messing with the actual events in the real war. Fallen angles has mastered the whole battle combat. Mines tearing through soldiers, the battles in the jungles, and the way the helicopters fly around. Its just amazing the work put into this fiction book that makes it seem like non-fiction.

Surving As a Jew. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank pg.125/268

2008-02-01T07:20:00.000-08:00

As a young girl, Anne Frank is very Brave. Just because she was born Jewish she has to live this horrible life during the holocaust. Having to leave all her friend to go to a special school, only being able to go to cetain stores and certain palces with her friends, life is hard on her. Than having to go into hiding her whole life changes. She is no longer aloweed to see anyone but her family and the other peoplt hat are in hiding with her. She can't live life like a normal teen girl at all. With every move she makes she has to be carful that no one hears, her whole life is now about not getting found in the attic that she is hiding in. If caught her and her family will be sent to the camps where Jews are tortured and killed. The only friend that Anne has anymore is her Diary.Do you think you could be this brave if you were in her situation?

Night By Elie Wiesel

2008-01-20T19:15:00.000-08:00

Night by Elie Wiesel

Page 12/120

When I first heard about this story the only thing I was hearing is that it is really good. Now starting to read it, it is turning out to be good. I know I am not that far into the book but from what I have read it gives a person insight on what was going on at that time in Elie. This book is interesting because it’s based on a real life. It tells what Elie Wiesel was like when he had to stay at a concentration camp. This time in his life was during the Holocaust, one of the brutal times in history. In this book I have noticed that from the very beginning it starts off with his life and what’s going on. It doesn't seem to have a slow like beginning where u has to wait to the middle of the book before something interesting happens. Although I am not very far in this book, I do look forward to reading the rest. Hopefully the reading actually comes along easy.

Fallen Angels

2008-01-18T13:28:00.000-08:00

Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers

Pages (1-67)

At first this book was boring me. There was no action and the story was so far lame. Then it got to the point where the people when into Vietnam, thats where I now could follow the book. The characters evolved big time as they made friends and enemies. Now I like war in general and when I get into a book it really takes me in as if I am a part of it.

So far I have noticed that the characters are bonding, changing, and getting more war like. But the fact that one of the characters dies out of action had me sad. I look forward to the rest of this book. Well back to reading.

Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl (pg.25/268)

2008-01-17T05:45:00.000-08:00

The Diary of a Young Girl, is a classic diary written by Anne Frank, a thirteen-year-old, during World War two. So far i think i this is a good book and it's easy to get into it beacuse it is a true story and everything that happens in the book is what Anne Frank was really going through each day she wrote. Althought I have already learned about her in history, when reading the book you get vivid details that help you imagine and understand more of what she was really going through, and how brave and couragous Anne Frank really was.

War Fiction - Why?

2008-01-14T05:52:00.000-08:00

Our group picked War Fiction for the simple reason that it involves the general sense of war, military, and fiction. It's good to learn about history from a fiction or real point of view. It is a very interesting genre in that their are many different types of stories in this genre. War Fiction is something many of us can get into, war is something that all men see until death.

We believe people read this genre because they like war or the general world based action of battles. People also read this genre because they want a hero that follows the battle all the way to the end like in Forest Gump.

BOOKS BEING READ:
Eric-Fallen Angles
Derek-The Things They Carried
Robert-Mote
Amy-The Diary of Anne Frank
Angela-Night

Independent Reading Project Blog Assessment

2008-01-08T05:07:00.000-08:00

Robert - 5/5 Responses

Robert, well, you finished the five responses. However, they lack substance. It seems you are just finding different ways of summing up the book (and the last one...?). Choose a question off of that list of questions. It will help you be more analytical/responsive.

Amy - 5/5 Responses

Amy, I'm glad you enjoyed Cut. Some students have really enjoyed McCormick's Sold. Maybe you can look into it. Your last couple of responses are a bit short. Make sure you are developing all of your thoughts.

Derek 4/5 Responses

Derek, your responses are well developed, and I really enjoyed the second last one. Let's get that work done.

Eric 5/5 Responses

Dude, not another Halo book! Argh. I'm glad you have a reading niche, but for the next project I'm going to have to bump that birdy out of the next (the bird being you in this metaphor (the nest is Halo)). Anyhoo, very well developed responses. Nice job.

Te last blog finnaly

2007-12-20T18:35:00.000-08:00

This is a great novel very long but i will give it my two thumbs up. It grabbed my attention from the begging and kept it threw the end. Now reading this i have decided that Mario Puzo is a good author and books can be entertaining if you find what you like. It will not be a surprise to me if for are next reading project i read another book by Mario Puzo.

Cut By Patricia McCormick

2007-12-20T18:25:00.001-08:00

If I could ask anyone in the book a question i would ask Callie. I would ask her why she was so scared to get help. Why it took her so long to finally talk to the doctors and talk in group therepy. When in a treatment center and you cant leave untill you get better, i would think that you would want to get better as fast as possible. She didnt start trying to get better till the middle of the book.Everyone else is trying to get better except her. It took the center telling her that if she dint start working with the doctors that she would be send home and wouldnt get better, for her to want to start getting better.

Cut By Patrica McCormick

2007-12-20T18:20:00.000-08:00

After finishing this book, i think it turned out better than i thought it would. It was a really good book from start to finish, and kept me interested throughout the whole thing. Cut seems like it could be based on a true story, seeing as many teenagers have the same problems as Callie is facing. I like to read books of things that could really happen, and happen to people my age. This book was just the one i was looking for.

the 4th blog The Last Don Mario Puzo

2007-12-20T18:15:00.000-08:00

The main topic of this novel is that there are two new family members just brought into this world and they do not want the kids to have to live the same dangerous life they did. This family was the biggest crime family around and everyone new it but no one could do anything about it. when the two children were brought into the world they started to clean up still did bad but owned bossiness had legitimate jobs and they were slowly but surely cleaning the life up for the children could live a better crime free life.

third bog The last don

2007-12-20T18:01:00.000-08:00

The novel The Last Don has many different books in side of the one main one. Each different book still has to do with the mob and the family, just a different person and how the family works legally to front the illegal mafia. The family had to split up to stay out of jail, they also had to own may legitimate business for no one can get suspicious of were they get the money from. there are many people who hate them and are trying to bring them down how ever they can.

THE RIVER BLOG #4

2007-12-20T17:59:00.000-08:00

As I read today there was an event that had surprised me. This event changed the way I was viewing the rest of the book so far. What had happened that surprised me was that the man Derek that was with Brian in the wilderness this time was severely hurt. Over the night there was a storm that was on its way and when the storm hit, it hit really bad. The storm was very devistating there was thunder and lightning which caused a big problem in this trip to the wild to teach survival techneques. While in there overhand shelter, Derek was reaching for his breifcase which held the radio and the notebooks that he had bronght on the trip, lightning had struck the a fallen tree just outside there shelter and went down the tree throught the breifcase that Derek was reaching for and into him and brian was him but wasn't affected bad. Now derek on the other hand Brian thought that he was dead but when his vision cleared he noticed that Derek was breathing but barely. That is as far as i got but this left me thinking will Derek survive or will he die. Will Brian and him be ably to get help now that the radio is fried for the lightning strike. And will Brian be able to over come the wilderness again?

Conclusion of Halo Graphic Novel

2007-12-19T06:01:00.002-08:00

The book fulfilled my expectations. I wanted a novel that would keep me interested to the end. Halo Graphic Novel did that. I wanted a novel that is a good read and that is what Halo Graphic Novel did. Halo Graphic Novel was a great book to read. It had action, adventure, and survival to live another day. The fact that it had 4 separate stories in 4 different time periods also made it a good read. As a added bonus it has a full section devoted to the art that was considered but not put in. It also has the writes thoughts added in about how they liked working on the stories and the fact that they were selected to do it. All in all the stories are all great, I was lost at some times during Breaking Quarantine, but it was a great piece of literature. I would point this book to all the science fiction fans out there. It will give them a whole new prospective on Halo.

Question for the River

2007-12-19T06:01:00.001-08:00

If I could ask any of the characters in the book a question I would ask Brian. I would ask Brian what made him want to go back and experience the pain of being in the wilderness again? Why would you do this to yourself after all the troubles he had the first time there? I choose these questions because t makes me wonder why someone would want to go through the troubles of surviving in the wilderness again after the first time when he almost died.
If I could ask the author Gary Paulsen a question it would probably be why change the location of where they were staying? Why make it seem like it was easier to survive? Why not make it harder on Brian now that there are two people out in the wild trying to survive? The reason that I choose to ask these question to the author is because after reading half the book it got me thinking why did he make it seem easier for them to find food after a couple of days. I have many other question that I could ask but I think that I covered most of the one that I think are important to what i feel is necessary.

Halo Graphic Novel - Genre

2007-12-18T05:22:00.000-08:00

The genre of the story is Science Fiction. This is a genre that I am familiar with in a sense that I read these types of novels and stories. As a way the stories in Halo Graphic Novel are 'breaking the mold' or not, it all depends on each story and how it is portered. In the story Infinite Succor, it stays on track with the 'mold' of the genre. The facts that it takes place on a ship, and that it is attacked by an enemy stays true to the story and genre. In the story Armor Testing, it kind of didn't stay in the genre. It was all about the testing of armor but the testers used paint ball guns. In the story Breaking Quarantine, it stays true to the science fiction genre plus some more. The facts that it takes place on a ring world is great and the conflict of escaping the escaping the flood is even better. The Science Fiction genre stays in the 'mold' with an added bonus of a 'nice figured women.' In the story Second Sunrise Over New Mombasa, it starts off as an ordinary day in Old Mombasa where a reporter visits a guy with paper pictures, the kind that we use today, and he buys one off of him. They talk about how paper pictures don't exist anymore and hologram pictures are the only thing in existence. Secondly the 'falling stars' in New Mombasa were not 'falling stars' but in fact falling marines from space during the home front battle to defend Earth from the Covenant. The whole space battle and ground invasions portray the genre of the ALIEN ATTACK and EVACUATION OF ALL CIVILIANS perfectly with pushing and shoving and a lot of screaming. It does a lot of repetition with other stories in this type of action genre. It is a perfect portraying of the genre in most of the stories in Halo Graphic Novel.

Cut by Patrica McCormick

2007-12-14T05:48:00.000-08:00

After getting this far in the book the main charecter has alrady faced alot of challanges. Being almost done with the book i cant wait to see if Callie makes it out of Rehab. She has already had alot of treatment, but at first she refused to talk so she couldnt get better if she was refusing the doctors help. With finally giving in the th center and trying to get better i hope the book ends up with her going home to her brother and her parents. They center already told her if she didnt start coroperating with the doctors that they were gonna give her spot to a patient who did, Callie took this as a reality check and realized that if she didnt start getting woking with them she would never get better. At the part of the book I'm at now it seems like there is hope to get better and someday beable to go back home.

Reaction of Halo Graphic Novel

2007-12-14T05:44:00.000-08:00

In the story Breaking Quarantine, I was confused to where Sargent Johnson went after making it to the entrance of the complex. The Flood was right behind him but he used a fragment grenade. The only thing is that he had no weapon to fight anything he comes across when getting away. In the game, they explain his escape like in the book but they stop at the end of Breaking Quarantine. He escapes the ring before it blows up in a pelican drop ship but the question is how he does it from the complex. They could have gone deeper into the story cause the Flood do spread to all parts of the ring world. Johnson was one of the only Marines to survive the harsh battles of Halo and make it to the end. The other Marines to survive had no background so it would have helped if they continued Breaking Quarantine to the point of the Marines grouping up, the Flood taking over, and the Gravemind being created on Halo even though it was destroyed in the blast.

The Allure of the West

2007-12-13T16:56:00.001-08:00

Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer, pgs 144-207 (end)

Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller, pgs 1-97

So, I finished Into the Wild and started rereading a book that I'm studying with my AP Literature class. As I read the first act of the play I was struck by the similarity between Chris McCandless and many of the characters from Death of a Salesman. The main character of this story, Willy Loman frets over a missed opportunity to accompany his older brother to Alaska to make money. Instead he is 60 and stuck in a dead end sales job. Interestingly enough, Willy's father abandoned him as a child to also seek fortune in Alaska. In a weird twist, Willy is disappointed in his son Biff because he is constantly seeking work outside of the norm of the day. He's worked on cattle farms and other jobs that Willy does not respect. Biff explains that he likes these jobs because he's not stuck inside at a desk and can be out in the open air.

In American culture the west has always been symbolic of the open frontier, a vast unexplored wilderness where a man could make his living outside of the realm of laws and societal constraints. It's interesting that these two books, written 50 years apart, have such similar themes.

Does anyone else know of any characters who seek a life outside of society? Anyone have a friend or family member who constantly wants to go out on the open road? What do you think drives a person to feel like this?

__________________________________________________

Dear Blogger: This is not a spam post. I am mailing to publish this on all of my student's blogs in order to provide a sample and to engage in discussions. Please call off the spambots.

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Gregory Maguire-Conflict

2007-12-09T13:42:00.000-08:00

The conflict of this story is between the sisters mother and there self. It holds a l0t of inner conflict. In the story i would be looking forward to now whats is becoming of that family. When reading about the one character Iris she seems to be but down my her mother. She wants to branch out in a way. To learn more about what her mother has taught her. To learn things that her mother would never teach her or what her mother wants her to learn. All she seems to want to do is learn more about life and do things that her mother wouldn't exactly approve of. Thats where the conflict would lie. That she wants to do things on her own but her mother wouldn't agree with. She will find conflict in deciding to be loyal to her mother by following the ways of her mother or live life the way she wants to.

2nd post to The River

2007-12-07T05:46:00.000-08:00

Throughout the start of the book the Brian ends up back in the wilderness. Once there he evolves into a different person. When Brian lands and gets out of the plane he changes its like he has a mental evolution because his mind tells him go into a survival mode. What makes him change is the fact that not to long ago he was in the wilderness alone because he had crashed there trying to land the plane saftly after the piolot had a heart attack. He starts to remember the last time he was there and how hard it was for him to survive. He tell the man that is with him that they are going to leave everything on the plane and send it all back because he know that if its there then they will end up using it. He tells the man that if its there it will be cheating because its not the real thing and if its there they will end up going to it when they are starving and eat the food that is there and that is not part of the trip. Their trip is about surviving in the wilderness will nothing but a hatchet or something little.

Halo Graphic Novel - Settings

2007-12-07T05:43:00.001-08:00

I ask myself what is unique about the setting of the book. To that it is very unique. The first story takes place in Space on the Infinite Succor, where a distress signal is given out about an attack of the Flood. The second story takes place in a Desert on Earth, where Spartan 061 tests out the armor for Spartan 117. The Third story takes place on Halo in the Flood Breeding Grounds, where Sergent Johnson escapes the flood while trying to survive. The final story takes place in the city of New Mombasa, where it is all and calm until the attack of the Covenant comes. The fact that all those setting take you to different places, it enhances the stories to more greater aspects then any normal graphic novel would. You literally see all points of the Halo Universe that were left a mystery in the games.

Cut by Patrica McComick Pg. 84 out of 151

2007-12-07T05:43:00.000-08:00

When my book starts off the main charecter is telling us how she began "cutting" herself. Well telling the story she is in a treatment center for teenage girls with "problems" such as cutting themself as Callie does, eating disorders, or alcohol and substance abuse. The settng of the book influences it alot. As you read you can picture the treatment center as if you are or were there before. The great detail the auther uses to explain the center and how it is run helps the reader understand what the patients are going through. The center is very strict and there is not much you can do there, you have to be escoted everywhere you go. The patients there have a set schedule that they have to follow everyday. Callie's including one on one therapy and group therapy and than her meals, and sometimes the laudry room. The auther explain to you with great detail what all the rooms are like that Callie is in. The whole book is based on the setting she is in.

2007-12-06T06:02:00.000-08:00

The novel The Last Don is about a tight knit family who runs the mafia in New York city in the mid 1950's. They are so close because if one person falls away from the family and turns on them everything they have can disappear in a second. Now the family has two new baby boy's who were just baptized into the Church and sin free , and the family does not want them to have to live the way they did. The family had o clean up and spilt apart a bit one member moved to los Vega's t own a casino and others moved else where.

Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer Pages: 1-144

2007-12-05T20:53:00.000-08:00

So, the book I'm reading is about this early twenty something kid who
is pretty alienated. It's a nonfiction book, and since I haven't
summed it up yet in a previous response, it's about a kid who is
searching for meaning in life and seeks this meaning by exploring.
At the beginning of the book we find out that he ends up dying in the
middle of Alaska to exposure.

Even though I think I'm supposed to, I'm having a really hard time
identifying with the main character, Chris McCandless. I look at
the cover and there's this picture of Emile Hirsch portraying
McCandless. He's a good looking kid, and he's kind of sitting in this
"top of the world" type dominant pose. The author seems to really
identify with the character, and spends a couple of chapters relating
his own similar experiences. And McCandless is seemingly the rugged,
individualistic antihero that Americans celebrate.

But, I can't get into him, and I think it's because I'm a parent
now. I see the way this kid abandoned his parents, went off into the
middle of nowhere, took chances, didn't write home, and espoused his
theories on the way life works to whomever would listen, and I'm
like, "dude...call your mom, dad and sister. They're worried sick."
The kid is kind of portrayed as this spiritual, deep Thoreau quoting
prophetic figure, but he just strikes me as naive and self centered.
I don't know what I'd do if I was his parent. I would be devastated
if my son took off after graduating college and just disappeared.
It's really rather sad.

(By the way, if you're wondering, this response is to the 7th bullet
under character. The total length of this response is 279 words. I
summed up the book to start because I figured you'd need that
information, but then I really tried to stick to talking about
whether or not I identified with the main character and why.)

The Last Don part 1 Robert Fletcher

2007-12-04T05:50:00.000-08:00

The last Don is a novel about a mafia in new york city. The novel sates how the mafia works and how they ae tring to turn into a ligament business organization for the two new family members wold not have to live the life of danger they lived.

So far in the novel i like this book it grabed my attention from the Beging and i believe it will stay like that for the rest of the book.

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

2007-12-03T06:06:00.000-08:00

Confessions of an ugly stepsister is an alternate version of cinderella. It tells the story from the stepsisters point of view and what happens to them after the cinderella story. What they go through and what becomes of them.

Cut

2007-12-03T06:02:00.001-08:00

I'm reading the book Cut by Patricia McCormick. This book is about a girl (Callie) who is in a treatment center because she cuts herself. In the treatment center she meets people with all different sorts of problems like eating disorders and drug abuse. Callie has to stay at the center untill she gets better.

Halo Graphic Novel

2007-12-03T05:56:00.000-08:00

1. Halo Graphic Novel consists of four different stories in one giant mash of greatness. The authors include Lee Hommock, Simon Bisley, Joy Foerber, Ed Lee, Andrew Robinson Tsutomu, Brrett Lewis and Moebius. The stories are about stories about the side line of Halo and Halo 2.

2. One thing I like about the book so far is the fact that it links the stories to the Universe. It also links parts of the game play to the beginning of the stories. One downside is that you lose tract at times when reading the story.

Intro to The River

2007-12-03T05:47:00.000-08:00

The book that i have selected for this reading project is "The River" by Gary Paulsen. It's about a boy named Brian who has recently survived a plane crash in the wilderness and is now back home. After a few years back, a man named Derek and two other man came looking for Brian to ask him for a favor. The three men ask Brian if he will be willing to relive his experience of surviving alone but this time one of them are going to come alone to record the techniques that Brian uses to survive. They sit down with Brian and his mother to discuss it. Brian agrees to do it but before he can they need to make sure that his father agrees as well and he does after a long talk with these men. Now that everything is planed out he is ready to leave and experience it all over again. So far I like the book because of the sence of adventure that Brian has to go through again to survive. It sort of relates to me because i like to do thing that are challenging.

Your 1st Post!

2007-12-03T05:17:00.001-08:00

Today in class we will be posting to our blogs. To keep things simple, this
first post will be a kind of introductory thing. Here's what I'd like each
of you to write (make sure it is under your own display name):

1. In 2-3 sentences, give us a taste of the book. What is the title? Who
is the author? What is the "gist"? (It's about a girl who...)
2. In a separate paragraph of 2-3 sentences, finish this sentence: One
thing I like (or don't like) about the book so far is...

Welcome

2007-11-29T19:47:00.000-08:00

Hello folks. I just wanted to give you a hearty welcome to the
blogosphere (the world of weblogs, according to my widget dictionary).

I'm going to send you more meaty information in the next few days
(right now I'm testing out the "mail to blogger" option I told some
of you about today).

But for now, I want to talk to you about grammar and conventions.
These are blogs for my English class, and I expect you to follow the
rules of standard English as best as you can. Some of our previous
rm305 blog discussions were replete with mistake after mistake. You
may IM your friends and write on Myspace one way, but on these blogs
we are going to assume a more academic diction.

Thanks for the help. If you have any questions, let me know.