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A lively discussion of life and literature, as it relates to our reading materials, class activities, assignments and original ideas.
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Tell us about your book...What have you learned thus far? Do you have any ideas for your dramatic monologue? Be prepared to present on January 4!
ReplyDeletePost by January 2, 2011. And Happy New Year!
The book that i am reading is Farewell To Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston & James D. Houston. This book is about a Japanese girl ( Jeanne Wakatsuki)when she was a little and her family was sent into forced detention in World War 2. What i learned from this book is how different the Japanese caucasion was treated during this time period. For instance, in this book the Japanese weren't allowed to even leave the camp. Also, there living conditions were horrible as well. Overall, this book was interesting and very informational. But,in certain sections things werent very interesting they were somewhat boring.
ReplyDeleteThe book I am reading is The Kid: A Season with Sidney Crosby and the New NHL by Shawna Richer. In this book the author follows the hockey season. It talks about his great start but his teams rough start and his life living as a star and living with a fellow hockey star. I learned sensation Sidney Crosby through his rookie all about what hockey players and different stars really go through and what happens behind the scenes. I don't know yet who I am going to be in my dramatic monologue but I know i will be watching Sidney and what he goes through and how I feel about how hes handling being a new star. So far, I love this book and it is really interesting to learn about Sidney Crosby.
ReplyDeleteI am currently reading Paul Zindel's "The Pigman and Me." It's the story about his very own adventure of inspiration that led him to write the original Pigman books. The Pigman in his life is strange, but he teaches Paul some core life lessons. This personality resembles (at least vaguely) the behaviors of the other Pigmen in his first two Pigman books. There are many dynamic pieces to the story, so there should be many possibilities for a dramatic monologue at hand.
ReplyDeleteThe book that I read is called "Facing the Lion" by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton. It is an autobiography about his life growing up as a nomad on the African Savanna and the many adventures that he had. He had the opportunity to attend a prestigious Kenyan school, and later was accepted for a job in the United States. I learned about the entirely different culture of the nomads from the Marsabit region of Kenya. Some of their customs surprised me, such as the drinking of cow blood. I also realized that even if people seem barbaric, they can still be intelligent and educated, and should not be taken advantage of. Lemasolai Lekuton is an intriguing man and I am glad he opened up his life to readers. For the monologue I plan to portray a boy on his soccer team who is jealous of Lemasolai's successes.
ReplyDeleteDerek Mollohan
ReplyDeleteI am reading the Accidental Billionaire by Ben Mezrich. The book is about Facebook and how it was created. The main character is Mark Zuckerburg, a 20 year old sophomore at Harvard who is socially awkward and is a computer genius. In this book Mark creates a social network website in his dorm room with his best friend Eduardo Saverin. The website becomes a huge hit which causes the two to get instantly popular and get invited go many places like Silicon Valley, New York City, and Boston. After reading this book I believe that I understand socially awkward kids better now. I say this because in the book, Mark makes a website rating girls on campus that offends a lot of people. In an interview he explains that he doesn’t understand why everyone got so mad. It made me understand why socially awkward kids act the way they do now. For my monologue I’m probably going to have a college kid meet Mark in Kirkland (Harvard’s dining hall) and just have them talk for a while. The book I read was really interesting.
The book I am reading is called Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell. This book is an eyewitness account of Operation REdwing and the lost heros of SEAL team 10. Marucus is in command of SEALs team 10 and he tells about his life growing up and how he was born to be a SEAL. It also distribes what you need to be a SEAL. I have learned that being a Navy SEAL is probably one of the most deserving career. Marcus tells about what you need to become a SEAL, which is courgage, honor, detirmenation, quick wits, and alot of strength. The physical and mental pain a persopn must endure before becoming a SEAL is extrondiary. Marcus also discribes a mission he and his team carried out overseas. This book is deticated to his lost SEAL temates and bestfriends that died right with him in battle. for my monolouge I am going to be a SEAL that was in Marcuses training camps. This book is extremly interesting, and overall amazing.
ReplyDeleteMy book is called Age of Napoleon by J. Christopher Herold. It is about how Napoleon took power in France, conquered Europe, changed the world, and how his empire fell back down again. It is a story of how an outsider can start out with nothing, go to controlling everything, and then back to having nothing. The non-fiction tells the tale of a man who was full of contradictions. For example, he called himself a liberator, but oppressed the lower people even more. He promised to unite Europe in democracy but never held an election. He said he consolidated the ideas of the Revolution, but destroyed all hope of liberalism. The “Little Corsican” was a fascinating opportunist that held no promises. For my monologue I plan to be a aide-de-camp in Napoleon’s army who has been with him through the years, from his Italian Campaign, to Waterloo.
ReplyDeleteOlivia Caccia
ReplyDeleteThe book I am reading is called Oprah Winfrey by Helen S. Garson. It is about Oprah Winfrey's life growing up and how she influences a lot that goes on in society with her talk show. I learned that their was racism within the black culture. For instance, when their were slaves, the lighter African Americans would get house jobs veruses the darker African Americans getting field jobs. When growing up, Oprah was really into appearence and envied white people because she thought all their lives were perfect. For my monologue, I am going to be a woman who is in poverty and is inspired by Oprah's talk show who, in the end, becomes sucessful through Oprah's advice.
My book was "The Burn Journals" by Brent Runyon. The book is an autobiography by a thirteen year old boy who can't handle what's going on in school and attempts to commit suicide. Brent decides to do this by soaking his bathrobe in gasoline and setting himself on fire, but after already lighting himself he decides that he doesn't want to die. Brent just barely survives, and the book is about all the hospitals and facilities he must attend on the road to his recovery. By reading this book I have learned about about sucide and what it really means to people. As the months go by Brent can no longer remember why he set himself on fire, and through various types of therapy and many surgeries begins to heal. As for how I'm going to present my dramatic monlogue, I think that I'm going to be a nurse or other health care worker that was with Brent through his recovery.
ReplyDeleteThe book I am reading is "The Tipping Point" by Malcom Gladwell. This book is all about how little things can make such a large difference. Gladwell writes about types of people and situations that can make things get to their "tipping point." In one case, Gladwell talks about the kind of person Paul Revere was, he calls him a connector. During Paul Revere's midnight ride, another man by the name of William Dawes went on the same exact right in another part of boston to alert people of the British, but only a few men showed up with Dawes, and his ride did not receive the same credit and fame Revere did. Dawes is barely recognized for going on the same midnight ride. This is because Revere was the type of person who people knew and listened to, and caused the message to get to the tipping point, and we still talk about it today. This is just one of the so many facts that Gladwell talks about in this book. For my dramatic monologue, I think I am going to pose as a company who created the famous silly bands, that sent them on a tipping point all over the nation.
ReplyDeleteThe book I am reading is The Education of a Coach by David Halberstam. This biography is about the famouse New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. It was about his life growing up and his morals that he still holds today. It went into depth of his childhood, and his fathers career, as well as Bill's career. It is very intreatsting because it explains alot about Belichick, about how he dosen't see himself as a celebrity, and how he feels it his responsibility to sheild his family from the press. Belichick is very kept to himself, and is very inteligent. This work of non-ficiton also portrays Bill Belichick as having an unmatched work ethic, and his ability to be driven to accomplish all of his goals. He is certainly the best head football coach of our era, and continues to impress.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI read the book "Never Give Up" by Tedy Bruschi for this project. Tedy Bruschi is a former New England Patriots player and the book is about his stroke, his recovery, and his return to the NFL. I found it very interesting and also motivating. I knew about his story before reading this, but after finishing the novel, I had such a better knowledge of strokes in general but also of his personal battle. It is an amazing story and shows how much of an inspiration Tedy really is. A man in his thirties having a stroke and heart surgery was able to return and play pro-football in just eight months. He was planning to retire, thinking that he would never be able to play again, but he faced his fears and persevered. As Tom Brady said, "Tedy gives you something to believe in" For the monologue, I plan on being a therapist who helped Tedy gain all his strength back and watched him loose hope through tough challenges and gain pride through successful achievements.
ReplyDeleteThe book that I chose to read was "I Don't Want to Be Crazy" by Samantha Shutz. This intense monologue was about Samantha dealing with her panic attacks and anxiety due to college life and her love life. Although it seems like anxiety isn't a big deal, it changes her life drastically and makes her want to kill herself. It gets to the point where she's afraid to get off of her medicine because she never wants to experiance the pain and worry of panic attacks again. The memoir is a series of journal entries of the before, the during, and the after of the panic attacks and how she treats them and what type of things she has to adjust to. For my monologue I think that I am going to persue one of Samantha's teachers, that expresses her true feelings about what she thinks is happening with Samantha and what sorts of things Samantha is going through. The thing is, the teacher won't know what is really going on with Samantha so she will be more hard on her and her feelings will be different then to someone who knows about Samanthas problems.
ReplyDeleteI am reading "Smashed" by Koren Zailckas. It is an autobiographical memoire about her life while suffering from alochol abuse. It starts off when she is just finishing eighth grade and tries alcohol for the first time. She gets influenced by her friend Natalie. Natalie gets her into loads of trouble and the friends she makes in the future don't make the best decisions either. From then on, it describes the events that take place due to her drinking. She has a hard time making friends and being happy. At one point in the book she suffers from depression as well as alcohol abuse. There are times when I read this book where I forget that this actually happened in real life. Some of the things that happen in this book are scary. Especially the events that happen that I can imagine someone I love or even myself going through. Throughout the book, the author includes facts about drinking which can remind me that everything in this book is real. Koren had a rough life for while but it was her own actions that lead to it.
ReplyDeleteThe book I am reading is "The Year of Living Biblically" by A.J. Jacobs. The book is very interesting but it can get tiring to read at times. It is about a writer who decides to live a full year of his life following every rule in the bible as literally as possible. He considers himself agnostic and I also consider myself agnostic, and I was attracted to this book because I was interested in learning more about religion. He starts off preparing for his quest by purchasing a bunch of different copies of the bible and he searches for every rule in the book and then copies it down. He keeps down little journals and notes about everyday of his life for that year, and he tells about the struggles he must face and the sacrifices he must make in order to follow the rules. One of the rules he has to follow is that he can not wear mixed fibers, and another is that he has to grow his beard out and is not allowed to trim his hair. I thought that this was funny and he would get really strange looks from the people he passed in public. Although many kids might find this book boring, I found it to be quite entertaining. I am not yet sure of exactly who I want my character to be for my dramatic monologue, but I am working on some ideas.
ReplyDeleteThe book I read was Once a Dancer... by Allegra Kent. This book follows the 'topsy-turvy' life of Allegra Kent. It tells how Allegra came to be a famous dancer of the New York City Ballet and how her somewhat chaotic life found peace. I love this book because it seems it would be non-fiction when all of it is real. That's how good the book is. The book doesn't drone on so I don't think I ever got tired of it. I've learned that the life of a dancer is a lot harder than its put out to be. I've also learned that even when it seems the whole world is crashing down, there will always be another day. For my monolouge, I will be a big fan of Allegra's and an art critic from Italy.
ReplyDeleteThe book that I read was a novel that recaps from the childhood of Peyton Manning all the way throughout his NFL career. It tells about his childhood and how he was the middle chid of three brothers. copper being the oldest, and eli being the youngest. I Learned that he was born in New Orleans Louisiana, and decided to go to Tennessee for college. Peyton was inspired by a football background ever since he was young, since his father was a superstar quarterback for the New Orleans Saints. My idea for my dramatic monologue would be to play a roll as an interviewer and question peyton manning about his past, present, and future.
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ReplyDeleteKatelyn
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ReplyDeletethis is jared
The book I read was "A diary of a young girl" by Anne Frank. It never really registered how hard hiding from the german nazis was. I felt so bad reading of all their hardships, but i realized that this was a different time and that even before they went in hiding, life still wasn't what i consider to be good. For my dramatic monologue im going to create a fictional character that stayed with Anne, her family and the others in the attic of the warehouse where they were hiding out.
ReplyDeleteKatelyn Smith
ReplyDeleteThe book had been reading was "Hole in my Life" by Jack Santos. He writes about how he went from dreaming of being a writer, to making a huge mistake, and then actually writing. He always wrote in journals as a teen, writing about anything but couldn't adapt the ideas. When an oppurtunity to get money for college came up he took it. The only problem was it was a smuggling job. He got caught, and went to prison. The rest of the story is about how he went from being a wannabe writer to actually writing.
My book is called "The unauthorized biography of Angelina Jolie" by Andrew Morton. The author is acually very well-known in writing biographies about celbrities. While theres tons of useful information, I don't like the authors technique. Its very confusing at times. I never knew much about Ms. Jolie's life. Its actually very interesting. When she was just an infant, her mother abandoned her for over a year. She was left in a plain white room, for cheap nannies and babysitters to care for her around the clock. Marcheline Bertrand, her mother, apparently left her because she was divorcing Angelina's father at the time, and couldn't stand to look at her since she "was a spitting image of her at the time". The room Jolie knew for the first year and a half of her life was in a tower, so she was often reffereed to as the "infant rapunzel". Ms. Jolie is a very complex person. Farom a young age, she always had high expectations, and big dreams. When she was just a child, she made her debut to acting alongside her father, Jon Voight in "Lookin' to get out". At the age of fourteen, she began modeling, but at sixteen, she soon turned back to acting. Her professional movie career began when she wsa twenty-eight. The rest of the book is about her life, personal, career, and philanthropist.
ReplyDeleteMy book is called Summer at Tiffany: A Memoir. What I have learned from this book so far is the way people had lived back in the 1940's and how women, college girls, lived as well. It is a book about a young 20 year old girl named Marjorie and her friend Marty going to New York City to find a job, but are constantly turned down because so many girls want to find work and were in line first. I've learned more about how to perservere through bad times and that we all have our moments were we're a little embarrassed. Okay, maybe a lot. So far I have most of my monologue all planned out in my head and who I am going to portray. I am going to be a male salesman that almost admires Marjorie from a far. I will be doing my project on Marjorie, therefore I will tell what I know about her and tell about the times she had while working for Tiffany & Co..
ReplyDeleteJamie Iaciofano
ReplyDeleteThis is a little late, but the book I am reading is Kathy Griffin's memoir. It's the story of her claim to fame and how she became the 'D-lister' that she is today. She is one of my favorite comics and the whole story is told in her hilarious, sarcastic tone. She talks about her family, her relationships, and her many attempts at becoming famous. As for who I am going to portray, I was thinking of being a fellow comic or friend of Kathy's that she met during her early years when she was first introduced to stand up. I will be telling my opinions of her and just about how successful I feel she has become and such.
The book I am reading is MESSI. It is a biography of the professional soccer player Lionel Messi. I already knew a lot about him, but this book taught me much about how he is perceived by his friends and family. There are countless interviews and intruiging facts in this story, all of which make it a very interesting read. Lionel's story is a remarkable one, from his moving to Barcelona from a poor town in Argentina at a young age, all the way to his current day success. I am planning on creating a personal friend of his for the monolouge project.
ReplyDeleteThe book that I am reading is the biography of an American Hero. That person is Ted Williams the great Red Sox outfielder. Before I started reading this book I knew a little bit about him. I knew that he was in the prime of his careerand he left to go be a pilot in World War 2.And I knew that he came back after that and still was a great player. This book taught me a lot about him that I didn't know. Like how he left his baseball career a second time to be a pilot in the Korean war and how he almost died. It also taught me about why he wanted to freeze his head after his death. For the person I am going to be in this monologue is a close friend of Ted's that he confided in.
ReplyDeleteDoug Harrison
ReplyDeleteI'm reading about Muhammad Ali. I have always been interested in boxing and this guy was the best in the world. He was famous for many different things. His wild phrases and poems, his knockout round predictions and many others. He was also known in a negative way as well he refused to be drafted in the army because it went against his religion of Islam. He was striped his belt for his decision.Today he's thought of as a sports hero and legend. I'm doing my monologue as a sports writer talking to a friend. This is important because he was potrayed as bad to the public becaus of the press when he really shouldnt have
Brodie Enright
ReplyDeleteThe book I have selected is English Society in the Early Middle Ages by Doris Mary Stenton. This novel is organized into six various sections: The King’s Household and Government, Barons and Knights, The Countryside and Its Inhabitants, Cities, Boroughs and Towns, Church and People, and The Arts of Peace. I have read the entire novel; however, my dramatic monologue only pertains to the component of the novel, Barons and Knights. This section of the novel describes William the Conqueror’s ascent to power, and the military he developed within Anglo-Norman England during his reign. According to Doris Mary Stenton, proceeding King William I’s conquest of England during the eleventh century, William divided his acquired kingdom into innumerable baronies. The ‘Great Men’ of Normandy who supported him during the battle of Hastings received the most significant distributions of land, whereas the less favorable Norman Great Men received only minor distributions of land. Proceeding William’s administration of land, King William the Conqueror required his barons, archbishops, bishops, earls, and abbots to procure significant quantities of knights—soldiers capable of combating enemies while mounted upon a horse. King William also exacted an extremely unreasonable fee—also referred to as an honor—from his noblemen in exchange for the land he distributed. The barons who presided over certain baronies received annual rewards from King William as compensation for enduring constant vulnerability and susceptibility to foreign invasion. Approximately twenty years after King William’s reign began, William commanded his treasurer to enquire as to what resources were available to each barony. Richard Fitz Nigel, the treasurer, accomplished this by utilizing a contingent of trained clerks. Such enquiries infuriated the baronies of England and caused vexation and resentment to manifest within the baronies of Anglo-Norman England. When William perished, his eldest remaining son, Henry II, assumed control over English government.