Before I Die

In the book Before I Die Tessa and her father have a very distant and odd relationship. He loves her very much, and honestly she hates him. He spends hours on the internet searching for ways to help make Tessa better, but she just wants him to stop trying because she wants to live life to the fullest before its to late. Tessa's younger brother Cal, tries to encourage Tessa to get up and be active but she usually just brushes him off. I don't think that Cal feels neglected by his father, I think he understands that this is a really difficult time for his family, especially with their mom not really being around. Tessa and her mom have an odd relationship, when Tessa and Cal were younger their mom left them and their father for another man and she kind of dropped off the face of the earth until Tessa was diagnosed, then she started coming around again.

The true Qualities of a friend is somebody who has similar intrests and is there for you no matter what. A true friend is somebody that brings out the good in you, and somebody that wants the best for you. I personally dont think Zoey is a good friend but if I had to pick the quality that best describes Tessa and Zoey's friendship would be that they are always there for each other. Tessa's father called Zoey so she could try to motivate Tessa to get out of bed and do something. Tessa's brother Cal is not a big fan of Zoey and Tessa trys to explain to him that Zoey makes her feel alive. She makes Tessa feel like a normal human being instead of a disease, but Cal doesn't understand.

Tessa doesnt want to return to school because shes afraid that all the other kids will want to stay far away from her because they think they'll catch her cancer. She feels that Zoey will be the only one that understands and doesnt mind being around her and her illness. Zoey could talk to the kids at tessa's school but zoey cares too much about herself to do that.

Many emotions are expressed in this book by each character. Tessa, she experiences sorrow, lonliness, etc. but mostly lonliness. Tessa's father experiences mostly guilt because he feels that he could've done something to prevent Tessa from ever gettting sick. Tessa's mother also feels guilty for not being there as much as she should've been for her daughter and now she only has a few months.

My choice

Out of all the books we have to choose from I would choose Before I Die. I would choose this book becasue it seems really interesting. you can tell by the cover and the title that the book is about the life of a girl with a termianl illness with not much time left. I just think it will be cool to read about somebody around my age going through a really hard time, kind of like seeing the world in a completely different way. I think it'll be a really interesting book. However if there was a reason that I wasnt able to read that book I would pick the book Chain reaction because you can tell from the cover that its a love story and every girl loves a good love story. I feel that this book would be very interesting as well.




Noahs blog-- "Wow this book seems kind of scary, but I really like your blog. Keep up the good work!"

If Only...

There are many ways that the story could've ended, one way is; Tom Robinson could've been found innocent. If the jury found Tom innocent it would make Mr. Ewell very angry. I beleive that if that happened Tom would still of ended up dead. Not because everyone thinks he's guilty, but because Mr. Ewell would be so angry that a "nigger" got awat free. I feel if Mr. Ewell would've seen tom after that day he would go ahead and kill him, himself. He would probably make up a lie saying that Tom is taunting Mayella or stalking her or something of that sort.

Noahs blog-- "Good ideas Noah! you should write a book."

10 questions

If I was Atticus Finch and I was given a second chance at questioning one of the people involved with the Tom Robinson case, I would choose to Question Mayella Ewell. I would question Mayella becasue she is the weakest length she cant lie very well and when she gets nervous she starts to cry. The 10 questions I would ask her would be:

1) What happened on the night of November 21st? 
- I would ask this question becasue i would want to see how she says it, and who/what she looks at when she says it.

2) What did you do when you realized Tom Robinson was taking advantage of you?
- I would want to get a better understanding about how the "victim" reacted.

3) What did Tom do when you started ....... (however she said she reacted)
- So i could see her body language when she tried telling me what happened

4) How long did it take for your father to come and run Tom off?
- To see if she can tell me herself or if she looks to her father for an answer

5) What happened emidiately after your father found you?
- to see if there is any hesitation when she tells me

6) Why didnt you call a doctor?
- to find out why they never called a doctor

7) Mayella, has your father ever hit you sober or drunk?
- Because there were bruises on her right side and her fatrher is left handed

8) Where were the other children?
-they couldve gotten there quicker and wouldve heard her screams before her father did

9) Tell me again, what happened on the night of November 21st?
-So i could see if she changed her story any

10) Why didnt you call a doctor, again?
- to see if she changed her story at all



Noah- Bravery
"Nice job Noah. I thought scout showed a lot of bravery too."

Bravery and Courage

In the book To Kill a Mockingbird there are some examples of bravery and courage. In my opinion being brave is when you overcome a fear, or stand up for something you believe in, and having courage means you believe in yourself, instead of giving up you keep pushing and tell yourself you can do it. I believe Atticus is the bravest character in the book so far. Although people in Maycomb county call him a "nigger lover" and think poorly of him, he still stands up for what he believes is right. I admire my mother, because to me she is the bravest person i know. She got pregnant at 17, although she dropped out of school as a junior, she has had a steady job ever since. She went back to school to get her GED, and eventually became and LPN. I am very proud of my mom for what she has accomplished. It shows me that no matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it better if you have the right mind set and you actually want to become something.

Great Depression

The United States was thrown into despair on Black Tuesday, October 29th, 1929, the day the stock markets crashed and the official beginning of the Great Depression. Many people began to try and sell their stock, but nobody was buying. The stock market was once thought to be the easiest way to get rich, but later became the path to bankruptcy. The crash of the stock market also caused the closing of many banks. Which made even more people become bankrupt. Many businesses also closed leaving all the workers unemployed. The Great Depression left millions of people out of work. Many people had a hard time finding a local job, so the went on the road looking for work to support them and their families. When they finally would find a job opening, thousands of people would apply all at once making the odds of getting the job very slim. Many farmers would head to California, because they had heard rumors of  agriculture jobs.  People blamed president Hoover for the Great Depression. At the 1932 presidential election Hoover didn't stand a chance against Franklin D. Roosevelt, who won by a landslide. After Roosevelt took office, he closed all the banks and only allowed them to reopen when they were stabilized. He began to establish programs that were known as the New Deal. The New Deal programs eased the hardships of the Great Depression, however the economy was still really bad by the end of the 1930's. The bombing of Pearl Harbor and the entering of World War II caused a major turn around for the United states. After this, both people and industry became essential to the war effort. Men were trained to be soldiers and women were kept on the homefront to keep the factories going. The entering of the United States into World War II was ultimately ended the Great depression.

http://history1900s.about.com/od/1930s/p/greatdepression.htm

Noah-
You need more information, so the person reading your blog has a better idea of what you're talking about.

Elizabethan Era

During the Elizabethan Era they didnt have internet, electricity or anything like that, that we have to keep ourselves busy today. During these times they often reffered to sports to keep themselves busy. The sports they played during this time included; archery, bowling, dice, hammer-throwing, quarter-staff contests, quoits, skittles and wrestling. Westling being the most popular.

 http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-sports.htm

Noah-- "Good blog."

Jealousy

In shakespeare's play "Othello" it includes several themes. The theme I chose to talk more about is Jealousy.

                                

                                                                                        
                                                                      







I chose these pictures of different types of jealousy. The two top pictures are sibling jealousy, the middle pictures are relationship jealousy, and the bottom picture is an example of friends being jealous.
"I also used jealousy as my theme for my blog and used some of the same pictures that you did. Nice blog Noah!"

Shakespeare's Othello

http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/othello/ http://www.shakespeare-literature.com/Othello/index.html http://www.online-literature.com/shakespeare/othello/ http://shakespeare.mit.edu/othello/full.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Othello Out of these five links i would probably use http://shakespeare.mit.edu/othello/full.html most, because it had the most information. "This is a wonderful entry Noah! Keep up the good work!"

personal connection

While reading "A Raisin in the Sun" we read about the Younger family and their struggles with poverty, not fitting in, and not being able to acheive their dreams. One issue that I can relate to is not fitting in. Before coming to CCHS I went to DeSoto Grade School. Many people believe people from DeSoto are "White trash" and "worthless". After graduating middle school and coming to high school, many people asked me "What school did you go to?" Or "Where are you from?" Of course I would say DeSoto and they would reply with things like "Oh, you're a DeSoto kid?" or just make faces like being from DeSoto was a bad thing. As freshman year went on people started to stop asking and I made many new friends that had gone to different schools too. I started to care less about what other people think, and honestly it's the smartest thing to do, because it makes you accept yourself even if other people don't, and most of all it'll make you happier in the end.

My American Dream

If I was able to grow up and live my life excatly the way I want to, my life would be amazing! I would live in a small town in either Georgia or Alabama. I would own my own resturant, my resturant would probably be similar to a Lonestar or Logan's road house, a place with a little bit of everything. After I stablize my career, I would start a family. First I would get married, and then I would want two children. One boy and one girl, in that order. They would be four years apart. My son's name would be Austin and then whatever the lastname would be, and my daughters name would be Jocelynn. When my children grew to be a little older, a typical day in our lives would be waking up, eating breakfast, getting ready, and depending on my husbands work schedule, the kids would either ride the bus to school or get a ride from their dad. Acheiving my dream has made me happy because I am able to be a part of my kids' life and I would have time for a family, instead of working all day I am able to stay home and clean or run arrands and most of all I am able to make sure my family has what they need.