Stepping Into a Distinct World Of Egyption Gods

     Over the last weekend I glanced at a book on my bookshelf and thought to myself, "Maybe I should give that one a go again." The book was "The Red Pyramid" by Rick Riordan. I had tried to get into the book a long time ago, probably back in the seventh grade but the novel never really clicked for me. To me, Rick Riordan was like the god of writing. He creates pieces that are so interesting and brings the historic values of mythology along with the qualities of an action novel. When I was little I wasn't to big on reading but when I picked up "The Lightening Thief" for the first time I knew I would not stop reading until I finished all of the Percy Jackson series.
     Now I knew Rick Riordan would be my writer of choice for any novel, and I have been demanding to read a novel written by him because I haven't found anything mythology by him since the "Last Olymmpian" series. The book crawled into my hands and I was stuck with my nose bent into it for the next hour.
     The novel is completely different than what I expected, and there was so much to learn about the characters and the world in which they lived in. The main characters happen to be a brother and a sister, which I think is a great choice because it can give a lot of people something to relate to. Their names are Carter and Sadi Kane. I'm almost certain that these characters will be dynamic and they will change along with the novel. Below I will link you to all the  information there is to know about these incredible kids.
Sadi Kane
Carter Kane
     As of now in the story the two kids are about to enter a British museum. Sadi said she saw three people in the back of the cab that she had just gotten out of, and it was very peculiar to her for some odd reason. Within the chapter Sadi tells, "There was no way the cab could've picked up another fare so fast. 'Dad---'"(Riordan 16). After she says this her father declares the conversation dead by entering the museum. I think the book wants you to move on and forget about what had just happened but I think their is something more that is yet to be revealed...
     From all the research I have done about the characters I expect this book to totally blow my mind in the future! Also I know that this one ends there will be another one waiting for me. That's what I enjoy about novels like these. I like being able to read more about one story in the following book in a trilogy!
   
Well looks like I gotta go, I hear "The Red Pyramid" calling my name! Thanks everyone for reading my blog this year it has been a great experience!

   

Eagles Pre-Draft Articles

     If you don't already know I am a HUGE Philadelphia Eagles fan, and I have non stop been following they're every move leading up to this years draft. There have been many articles I have been reading, but the most interesting one was from a man named Bryn Swartz. Swartz is a Bleacher Report anaylist who covers the Philadelphia eagles entirely. His way of engaging his readers and getting them so hyped for the draft is fascinating cause I'm sure hooked! About 3 days ago, he wrote an article about the ten mostly likely draft picks for the eagles, and in his opening paragraph he states " For the Philadelphia Eagles, the Marcus Mariota rumors will not stop. In fact, they're continuing to heat up" (Swartz).

Swartz definitely has me excited fro the draft, excpecially the Marcus Mariota situation. Either I will be jumping with joy or wallowing in my tears all thanks to Bryn Swartz.  only tiem will tell though, and I'll be updated on everything this guy has to say!

     I hope you gusy learned somethign new today, Thanks for reading!

Diction and Syntax

     For myself as a blogger, I feel that the way I present the information I am giving is conversational and and at times a bit static. I feel that at times I can get into a rhythem on what topic I am blogging about, which I don't think is the best of things. What I'll do is, I'll start adding in commas and extending my sentences even just a few words to make my blog a little longer. I don't know if that's necessarily  a bad thing, because like I said I think the sentence length variety in my syntax is what makes it more conversational. back when I wrote on "Fat Boy Chronicles" in January I did this a lot. One example of this is, "How cool is that, to see a kid just like you and I become a very successful writer and teach kids the harmfulness of bullying in the process." At the beginning of the sentence when I said "How cool is that" that's what I'm talking about. Creating a conversational syntax feel can I guess create a not needed length to your blog, but also makes the reader feel at home. Overall, I think my syntax throughout my blog is consistent in trying to create a conversational feel through my sentence lengths. 

     

     Diction on the other hand is something that I feel I should work on to finish out the year. Finding GOOD diction in my blog posts can be a struggle sometimes, and maybe that's because of what I said earlier of sounding conversational. In my everyday life I wouldn't use the high vocabulary words that we see in for say informational texts, which prrroobablyyy isn't a good thing. I'm almost certain there is a way to use those words and still sound conversational, but I just haven't gotten onto that level yet. So that's something that i should probably work on throughout the rest of the year. Something I could try to do is ATLEAST while I'm writing my blog, look up a new high vocabulary word that i can incorporate into my blog. That would at least be a start right?

     

     Overall I think that my syntax is far better than my diction, and that I do a good job keeping it conversational. The sentence variety in my posts is a key component to keeping a blog sound like a conversation. That and even sometimes only using fragments kind of like we do in real life. I feel the goal and things I can try to improve my diction will be helpful in the long run because I will be learning at least one new word every post. 

Winter Olympics Column

     I read a column by Mike Lupica, you may know him for his famous sports novels, as do I. This column was once again about sports, but instead of it being fictional, it was about one of the greatest sporting events of all time. The miracle that will always be remembered in hockey and also in world sports is the topic. Mike Lupica really takes you back to 1980 and retells the fantastic performance by the US in order to knock of the power house of the world, the Soviet Union, in order to advance to the finals of the 1980 Winter Olympic Games.
     The facts that are presented from this column really bring of the awe in what occured. The strategies that Lupica uses to keep the reader engaged is incredible. He has a wide variety of sentence length and jumps around to a lot of little topics within the one big topic. One thing i have noticed throughout the columns I have been reading is that there is little to no dialog in them. I guess that's because it's the authors voice that really comes out of these, and not the characters. Also, most of the time there really aren't characters in the columns but more so events of what happend or what's going on in the writers life.

     Columnists have a very unique writing style and it really showcases what you can do with writing other than write on one specific topic. With columns it really opens up a lot of different ideas that a lot of different writers can get out easily.

Fahrenheit 451 theme handout

Theme: Engaging with difficult and uncomfortable thoughts and experiences is the only route to true happiness.

Sammi St. Arnold, Brian Whitney, Hannah Lea, Stephanie Schoenlein, and Evan Haas Bell 3

Events

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1. Clarisse asks Montag if he's happy.

2. Montag realizes he's unhappy, and threatens to start reading books.

3. Montag meets Faber and realizes the power of reading/ learning

4. The firemen went to Montag's house.

5. Montag burns Beatty.  

6. Montag meets Granger.

Quotes

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1. "He was not happy.  He was not happy.  He said the words to himself. He recognized this as the true state of affairs.  He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask and there wa no way of going to knock on her door and ask for it back." (Bradbury 12).

2. " 'If there was no war, if there was peace in the world, I'd say fine, have fun! But, Montag, you mustn't go back to being just a fireman. All isn't well with the world.' " (Bradbury 104).

3. " 'We all made the right kind of mistakes, or else we wouldn't be here.' " (Bradbury 150).

How it Relates

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1. This theme is important to our understanding of the story because the story is based on a society that believes in the opposite, that thoughts and uncomfortable experiences actually diminish a person’s overall happiness, and have rules against people creating their own thoughts and opinions.  

2. This connects to our society today because people are depressed and don’t realize that they have to deal with and engage in uncomfortable and difficult experiences is the only way to achieve true happiness.  It is important to study and be aware of this theme so that we can grow and be happy in our daily lives, dealing with the hardships in our modern world.  

Finishing Up Fahrenheit 451

     Our class has been coming close to closing the door on "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury. The novel has turned into a classic over the years, and I believe it will continue to bring the same lessons to students in the future as it does now. The book is based off the idea of censorship, but as you read it brings along a variety of different meanings.
   
   
One of these impactful meanings that the book brings in a implicit sort of sense that i have been studying over the course of the book is the idea that difficult and unconfortable situations can eventually bring along a life of happiness. My favorite part where this is presented in the book is when Granger is talking to Montag about what has happend to him throughout the book. Granger tells Montag, "We all made the right kind of mistakes. or we woulsn't be here" (Bradbury 150). Granger telling this to Montag really made me reflect back on the events in the book, specifically the mistakes that I believed Montag had made. But thinking back on it now Montag wouldn't be where he was now without the difficult situations that he had faced earlier in the novel.
     


     This is what I mean about a deeper meaning, not only within this novel but in many. So next time you pick up a book and start reading, start to think more about what's beyond the words.

Narrative

After having heard that poem at mildred's tonight, I was in tears. Montag's poem was so faund of new ideas that no one has ever thought of before. Like the way the words were layed out throughout the poem, it was just different. I can't quite explain it, but it had a new meaning.
      As I drove home my mind pondered about Montag and Mildred's relationship. They seem so frustrated with one another that I think Mildred might rat him out for having all those books. That couldn't happen. I decided to go back there and steal the books. I knew in my mind that there was no way Montag was going to give me the books, but I need to read them for myself.
     As I pulled up to their home I heared Montag and Mildred arguing once again. I walked up to their bedroom window and luckily they wearn't there. when I was in the house I heard Montag scream at Mildred, "The books are to important! you don't know what's inside them Mildred! Please, don't turn me in..."
     I thought to myself, "Mildred is really getting out of wack. I feel bad for Montag."
I knew that none of this was my business so I grabbed the closest book from their bedroom and left through the window and I went on home. I read the whole book that night, it was something about a boy and his home life. The only problem was the life in which he lived was not the one our society has gone to know.

Fat Boy Chronicles

     I've just finished a true story novel by Diane Lang and Michael Buchanan called, "Fat Boy Chronicles" and I have to say it was a very good book. Not to mention the kid that it's based around is from MASON. How cool is that, to see a kid just like you and I become a very successful writer and teach kids the harmfulness of bullying in the process. I think that this book gives inspiration to "want to be" writers around Cincinnati and also gives courage to kids that have had to suffer from bullying. So much has come out of this book and A LOT of lessons can be learned from it.
     What I believe to be the coolest thing about the novel is that it isn't layered like how you would think a book is, it is in journal entries, similar to the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series. This is a great way to separate the book because you can see how Jimmy, the main character, progresses through his problems and eventually by the end of the book feels much better about himself. it feels as if your are inside Jimmy's mind, and his thoughts he shares with you about that day or two. It's not even just that one day he decided to write a journal about his problems either, his English teacher who he bonds with over the course of the book assigns it to the class. At first Jimmy wasn't to fond of the idea, but as time progressed he saw it as a way to express his feelings to someone or something even when no one would listen.
     "Fat Boy Chronicles" has already become a film and now even people that don't enjoy reading books can see the life of Jimmy, and overweight new kid in high school who just wants to fit in. One things that always motivates Jimmy to keep loosing weight is when his doctor declares to him that, " If you don't start loosing weight now, then you could be obese for the rest of your life" (Buchanan 84). This has great meaning to Jimmy in the sense that he just wants to fit in with everyone without them seeing him as the "new fat kid." Down below I will leave a link to the book on amazon as well as the movie version. It'd be great to get more people to know the true story because there is a lesson in both versions that anyone at any age would absorb. Thanks for reading and check out the link below if your interested!

Book Version: Click Here
Movie Version: Click Here