blog 6-prep

For this week’s blog I decided that I would address some of the minor characters importance and significance to the novel. First I would like to start off with Dede. She was the first person that Lee met at the Ault School back when she was a freshman. The two girls had roomed together for freshman year. I think that Dede was important because she was the person that basically filled Lee in about what this school was about. She informed Lee how the school ran and described what events were to Lee. I think Dede symbolizes all the bad things out of Ault. She was a snobby wannabe who thought she was so superior to Lee and was the one who gave the truth to Lee even if she didn’t want to hear it. Another minor character that is important is Sin-Jun. She was a foreign exchange student all the way from Japan. She usually kept to herself and was obviously very smart. I believe that Sin-Jun represents the confusion that Lee feels for most of the book. Because Sin-Jun herself is confusing I think it brings out the uncertainty of Lee. Half-way through the book we find out that Sin-Jun is Lesbian. This is very surprising to Lee because she would have never thought of a thing. I think this symbolizes that surprising things and events do occur throughout Lee’s years at Ault. Without these important characters in the book I think figuring out Lee’s thoughts would have been more difficult.

blog 5-prep

For this week’s blog I have decided to write a letter to Cross in the perspective of Lee. At this point in the story I think it is crucial that everyone knows that Lee and Cross did hook up. Ever since then they haven’t talked. Lee is absolutely in love with Cross but I think it is not mutual. Many times Martha tries to tell Lee that he is not the guy for her, but she still tries to go for him. After a few more hook ups and no more “speaking in public” Lee realizes that Cross was just using her. She approaches him in the gym alone trying to get him to fess up, and finally he does. He tells her that he would never date her and she is heartbroken. This part in the story is really sad. If I were in Lee’s position this is what I would have written to Cross.

Dear Cross,

Who are you trying to fool here? The times that you would come wake me up in the middle of the night trying to hook up with me meant nothing to you. I use to think that you were the perfect guy with everything going for you; the athletics, the brains, the social skills, and the looks. I was completely wrong. After what you did to me none of those apply to you. I don’t understand how long you could keep this up and then move on to the next girl. It is absolutely upsetting to me that you would try to use me and then after we would graduate and you would never have to see me again. I can tell you that I can’t wait until the day we graduate this place and I never have to see you again.

-Lee

Even though this “letter” was harsh I think that’s what Lee should have done. Even though she never spoke to Cross again after this whole situation she still never told him how he had made her feel.

blog 4-prep

For this week’s blog I have decided to talk about the relationship between Lee Fiora and one of her best friends Martha. Throughout the novel Lee and Martha become very good friends and end up rooming together for three years. In the beginning of their friendship Martha, in the perspective of Lee, is a social outcast. She considers herself pretty much equal to Martha in many ways. This part of the book is the time where Lee figures out who she is and also is very confused by it. She knows she can tell Martha anything, but sometimes doesn’t know if she should speak EXACTLY what she is thinking. As multiple events go on Lee is shocked of how Martha has grown. Although she was still “a social outcast” she could talk to people and had some other friends other than herself. With this Lee started to think of her self as smaller. I think at this point in the book Lee was jealous of Martha. At this section in the book Martha had just won senior prefect and proved to many that it was possible. I feel that Lee is surprised that someone like Martha could actually win a political election like that. After Martha wins the prefect role and finds out that she gets to hangout with Cross Sugarman, Lee’s biggest crush, Lee is devastated. She doesn’t understand why she is such a loser and why Martha all of a sudden got this popularity. Although she is happy for Martha she is extremely jealous. In Lee’s senior year she figures herself out. Lee and Martha are still best friends, but she finally realizes that she wasn’t the loser all those years. People had really liked her, but she never took the time to branch out. Lee spends most of the time sharing her thoughts in the story as if she were telling them from the future.

blog 3-prep

For this week’s blog I have decided to compare and contrast the book Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld to the movie Mean Girls Starring Lindsay Lohan. These two stories have very similar concepts and plots. In Mean Girls Lindsay plays the role of Cady Heron, a new girl from Africa. She has never been to a high school before and she soon finds out how different it is from her previous home schooling life. The same thing kind of happens to Lee Fiora. She comes from South Bend, Indiana and has never been to a boarding school before. When she enters the prestigious Ault School she soon learns how to survive. Both these girls come into the story not knowing much about the “high school years.” Cady is even more uninformed than Lee because she went to a high school back in Indiana. Once the girls start to learn about their new schools they soon change from eachother. Cady start to “hangout” with the Plastics, while Lee takes her time and analyzes every situation. At the same time though they both think in their heads the rights and wrongs of each situation. Both of the girls each meet very good friends that help them throughout their adventure of school. Cady meets Janis Ian and Lee meets Martha which is quite strange because both of those girls are kind of social out casts. Overall these two stories, characters, and settings are very similar to each other, while still having their own little surprising twists.

 

blog 2-prep

Dear Lee,

 

I have decided to write you a letter because I am interested to hear how Ault has been going for you. I understand going into it you were nervous and didn’t know anyone! Obviously now I’m sure you have met some new friends and I would love to hear about them (maybe meet them on Parents weekend?). The family misses you all the way out here in South, Bend Indiana. Its weird not having you hear for dinners, family game nights, and other little things like that- although you have been there for almost half a year now!? Everything is good around here. Your brother has been getting into baseball now and your father, well he’s still your joking father!! I want to hear about how all your classes are going. How are things in math especially? Because you know if you are having trouble, go to your counselor. From your last letter (which by the way is pretty dull. I’m your mother. I know there are more things going on at your school other than “the pasta is really good here.”)  You said that you met this one girl named Martha. She sounds nice and I really do want to meet here. Lee I can’t wait until I can come up there to see you! I think we will take the van and just drive over there because you know how expensive airplane tickets are! Okay well I must be going. Your brother wants me to drive him to a friend’s house and I have to get started on dinner! I love you very much and please write back.

 

Love, Your Mother.

blog 1 -prep

Before I start analyzing my new book Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld I just wanted to give a quick summary of my book. The book is about this girl named Lee Fiora who is from a smaller town, South-Bend, Indiana. She ends up going to this preppy boarding school called Ault on a scholarship. It is interesting because a lot of the book is told as a flashback. I decided to pick a quote from the text and compare it to my life. A lot of the book is about the things that go during high school so it is pretty easy to relate to. “Gates and Henry pulled apart and turned so they were facing opposite directions, Gates swiveling her hips and snapping her fingers. Her unself-consciousness astonished me. Here she was before a room of more than three hundred people, it was in the bright light of day, it was morning, and she was dancing” (18). This quote is talking about two of the class prefects (class presidents) having their morning meeting. You can tell from this quote that Lee is not a very obnoxious girl. She is not the kind to go and dance in front of her classmates. On the other hand, Gates (the first girl prefect at Ault) didn’t care what people thought and loved the attention. I feel as if Lee is somewhat jealous of Gates. She wishes she could be more like the most popular girl in school with out trying. I think many people know how this feels to be the one that wishes they were in someone else’s shoes. 

NEW BOOK

For this quarter I found a book that really interested me. I want to read the book Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld. I want to read this book because my sister recommended it to me. I haven't had much time to read a very good book lately but I thought this would be the perfect time to read this book. It is about a girl named Lee Fiora who comes from a small city in Indiana to a "preppy" boarding school in Massachusetts. I am excited to read about this girl's life at this school because it is something I can relate to.

blog 15: overcoming the odds

For this weeks blog I ended up reviewing this book I just finished for the second time. I absolutely love Jodi Picoult books and have read numerous of them. This book, My Sisters Keeper, is one my favorites and it always gets to me. I have two other sisters in my family which I am very close with so it is easy for me to relate to this book. The book is about one of the sisters, Kate, who has leukemia and the other is basically in the same position and her name is Anna. Anna does not have leukemia or any other sickness, but she might as well be called that. She has gone through numerous surgeries, transfusions, and shots for her older sister’s leukemia. This book goes through many obvious experiences about overcoming the odds. I will not share how it ends but you can obviously see the Anna has to overcome the odds every day. She could completely not agree to any of the surgeries and just live a normal life. Instead, she chooses to sick with it for the sake of her sister.

blog 14: TWILIGHT

Love is any of a number of  emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong attachment and feelings. When you love someone you get that certain feeling that all you want to do is be with them or talk to them. Last night the movie Twilight came out on dvd and I watched it with my sister. Everyone, even if they have read the book or not, is familiar with the story, Bella Swan is in love with Edward Cullen. The twist of the story is that Edward is a vampire! Their relationship is changed by that factor in many ways. First, Bella wants to become a vampire now that he is. Second, the two get in many problems with other vampires because Bella is a “human.” Although it is hard for the couple to remain together because of those reasons and the fact that they do shows real love.

blog 13: WAR

For this week’s blog I read an article on war but not the kind of war with guns. When you hear the word “war” you think of the army and the guns that they use but people never think of cancer as a war. My grandma had skin cancer when I was twelve and even watching her go through that was a war in itself. For the person who has cancer it is the biggest war of your life. When I saw this article I though it would have been the perfect one to do for this subject. This man in the article got a tumor right in his lymph nodes (right by your throat). The doctors had told him that the usual way to get rid of this serious disease was to completely take out the entire larynx or the voice box. The man was absolutely terrified of this but instead he made it out and in recovery by going through lots of chemotherapy and radiation. It is kind of funny to see how far technology has come from 1989 because in the article they say that this was very advanced and back twenty or so years the only way of survival would have been to take out the voice box. In the year now of 2009 scientists are trying to come up with ways to get rid of this was called cancer all together!

Rosenthal, Elisabeth. “The Cancer War: A Major Advance.” New York Times. 8 October 1989. 15 March 2009. <http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=950DE7DA123EF93BA35753C1A96F948260&scp=5&sq=cancer%20wars&st=cse>. 

blog 12: colonization

For this week’s blog I found an article that was very interesting to me and very informational. A little bit ago our school had an informational talk about genocide in Darfur. From this assembly it really enlightened me about what is really going on in our world today and that everything isn’t always sugar coated. This article talks about the Hamidiya camp in Sudan and talked to many of the boys/young men there in the camp. They said that they came there when they were teenagers and have grown up in this camp because of colonization. I feel like this is completely wrong and I wish there was something more that we, as a nation, could do! It also says in the article that these people are really worried about their education. For me I go to school everyday whining and wishing I could be in bed, when these people want an education so badly and would do anything to be in my position. It honestly makes me feel like I don’t appreciate anything that I have.

MacFarquhar, Neil. “Angry Youths Become a Force in Darfur.” New York Times. 20 December 2008. 11 March 2009. <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/world/africa/21darfur.html?scp=2&sq=colonization&st=nyt.>.

blog 11: global issue

For this week’s article I read an article about a famine in Africa. The article was telling us about the famine in Africa and how people were barely living through it. What happened was that the food costs went up very rapidly and then the live stock that people were DEPENDING on started to die because of heat and starvation. This all happened because the people of Africa couldn’t buy any food for their animals either! It was a continuous cycle that kept going and it was sad because there was nothing we could do about it. WE all know how bad the economy is right now but back when this was going on imagine it being ten times worse before the prices shot up and heat is on your back twenty four seven. I think that this situation is horrible! It makes me so sad to see this happen to innocent people. It said in the article that children and adults were chewing their own lips or tongues because they were so hungry.

Gettleman, Jeffrey. "Famine Looms as Wars Rend Horn of Africa". New York Times. 17 May 2008. 8 March 2009. <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/17/world/africa/17somalia.html?_r=1>.

blog 10: the holidays

For this week’s blog I read an article about the holidays and how the economy affected them this year. As everyone clearly knows, the United States is in some trouble financially and the economy is very bad right now. The holiday season starts up right around Thanksgiving and ends with new years. From the food to the presents there is obviously a lot of money to spend to celebrate the traditional holidays. The lack of the economy this year changed it for everyone. Some people had no money to spend on the gift exchanges and homemade comfort food. It was sad to see so many people not able to have a good time just because of a financial crisis. I know in my household my family didn’t spend as much money on gifts this year as we have in the past. This saving of the money affects the businesses as well! In the article they talk about all the cut backs people had to make this year such as things like donations to a church! I think this is really bad news for us and hopefully things will get better. All I know is that we dug ourselves deep into this hole and we will have to get back out of it someway. 

Hoffman, Jan. “No Job and Fewer Gifts.” New York Times. 28 November 2008. 3 March 2009. < http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/fashion/30laidoff.html?scp=10&sq=the%20holidays%20&st=cse>

blog 9: BOLLYWOOD

For this week’s blog I read an article about Bollywood with a twist on it. In the article it talks about how Snoop Dogg was going to be in one of India’s upcoming movies. The Bollywood movie “Singh is Kinng” was eager to have Snoop Dogg in it and the title song was already becoming popular in India. Snoop Dogg said that he really enjoyed the Bollywood movies because they had so much music and dances in them. He was so excited to mix the Indian bhangra with his hip hop style.  Karan Wadhera, the co-founder of Cashmere Asia, a new Los Angeles-Mumbai entertainment company was the one who hired Snoop Dogg to come over to India to perform. He wanted to find out more ways to introduce hip hop to India. He also said that in many of the Bollywood movies they have been trying to incorporate hip hop dance moves into their dances!

Timmons, Heather. "India's New Partnership: Bollywood and Hip hop." New York Times. 28 July 2008. 3 March 2009. <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/28/business/media/28snoop.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=bollywood&st=cse>

blog 8: CULTURE

For this week’s blog I found an article on Wikipedia about the culture of the United States. When the word culture is said many people think of Indian tribes dancing around a fire or African paintings. Believe it or not but the U.S has a pretty unique culture of its own. From the United States traditional food to the arts and literature there are so many things that we do daily that are different from other cultures. The food in the U.S is widely ranged from Tex-Mex (which is Mexican food, but not as original as the food you would get in Mexico) to the Lee-Ann Chin’s Chinese food. There is also the traditional food such as hot dogs, burgers, pizza and more. For entertainment there is so much you can do. Every holiday is celebrated with usually a party for which many people dance hip hop and jump up and down. On a typical Friday night you would find many people dancing, going to movies, hanging out with friends and watching sport shows for fun. Other special traditions in the U.S are the state fairs that happen each year. At state fairs you will find every food item on a stick and fun games for the children to do. Another one is the Super bowl. This fun tradition consists of sport fans getting together to eat junk food, watch the championship football game, and just to have a good time. As you can see, the United States has many of its own traditions which make it such a unique culture as a whole.

Wikipedia contributors. “Culture of the United States.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 3 March 3009. 3 March 2009. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_the_United_States>

blog 7: Facebook's Change

For this week’s blog I found an article on change. Pretty much everyone I know has a Facebook account and goes on it way to much! It’s usually known as “the thing everyone does instead of homework,” but we all love it anyways! On Facebook you you’re your own profile and information. Over the years they have added new qualities to the social networking site that makes it so “addictive.” Recently, Facebook made some changes in the website constraining members to many things such as status updates. They were going to remove them because some people put personal information on them. Thousands of groups were made protesting about the changes. Soon enough the company met with Marc Rotenberg, the center’s executive director and asked if it was possible to return to the old contract without breaking any rules. He said it was fine. On February 6^th the changes were made back to normal and publisher of Consumer Reports, warned people to “never upload anything you don’t feel comfortable giving away forever, because it’s Facebook’s now.”

Stelter, Brian and Stone, Brad. "Facebook Withdraws Changes in Data Use." New York Times. 18 February 2009. 21 February 2009. <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/technology/internet/19facebook.html?_r=1>

blog 6: Hope

Everyone knows about how the economy has been in a recession. It’s been about a year and it’s been getting worse. The economic stimulus bill has been presented by Barack Obama as an attempt to save the economy. Many people have doubted that it will actually work while others hope for the best. Although this will bring down the value of the dollar it will help our nation get back to where we were and better. The president said he would not pretend “that today marks the end of our economic problems.” I agree with what he said. People can’t just think that because of this bill, tomorrow everything financially down will be right back to normal. This whole thing will take time, but it gives our country hope for the future. I personally believe that this stimulus bill will give our country the best chance for a positive future.

Gay Stolberg, Sheryl. “Signing Stimulus, Obama Doesn’t Rule Out More.” New York Times. 17 February 2009. 18 February 2009. <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/us/politics/18web-stim.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=stimulus%20bill&st=cse>

blog 5: Religion

For this weeks blog I decided to use Mrs. Jarrett's article. In the article, it talks about how religion is conflicting with some of the new scientific advances of the country. Hinduism has been around for so long and many people believe in it but there is reason to believe that some of the work that Biotech does such as stem cell research and ‘cloning’ would not have been okay with Gandhi, the father of the Indian nation. As we have read in Nectar in a Sieve, a female child is considered a burden in the Indian religion. Many women have been getting ultrasound scans to abort female fetuses, and is that wrong? Gandhi believed that people should block out the “wants” of life and replace them with peace. Many people of India are now coming to the conclusion that maybe new technical advances will make their civilization easier and more functional although it is not the ways of their religion.

Mishra, Pankaj. “How India Reconciles Hindu Values and Biotech.” New York Times. 21 August 2005. 16 February 2009. <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/21/weekinreview/21mishra.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2>

blog 4: Gender roles

For this week’s blog about gender roles, I found an article about gay marriage. In the article it was talking about the insights to healthy marriages. Researchers found some pretty interesting data that said that committed gay couples don’t have as many conflicts as committed straight couples. Ever since California passed the law issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, there has been a nation debate upon it. Personally I have no problem with gay marriages. People have the right to make their own decisions when there that age and I think they should be able to marry whoever they want to. The U.S as a whole said otherwise. The typical stereotype for same-sex marriages was that they never last long. After Vermont legalized same-sex civil unions in 2000, researchers surveyed nearly 1,000 couples, both same-sex and straight. Both sides had few differences except that the same- couple said they had more of a balance. If you think about it in a man vs. woman relationship the two opposite genders have there stereotypical roles. The woman cleans the house, while the man is off working at the office. However, in a same-sex marriage the two are equal and split up tasks. There has been a lot of debate on this issue, but personally I think that people have their rights to love whoever, even if they are the same gender as you. 

Parker-Pope, Tara. "Gay Unions Shed Light on Gender in Marriage." New York Times. 10 June 2008. 10 February 2009. <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/health/10well.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=gender%20differences&st=cse>

blog 3: West Africa

For this night’s blog I decided to use Mrs. Jarrett’s article again. This article was about the rice production in West Africa. It had many people worried that there was so much production of rice and that the prices are getting higher. I thought that they would be happy that they were having a good harvest, but I guess it has the opposite effect. “I am worried,” said Mrs. Diop, a 57-year-old trader and farmer. “I can double my money. Or I can lose everything.” Mrs. Diop has a good point. If everyone has a good harvest of rice or whatever they are growing then who will be there to buy it. In the article it says that Asia was having a cheaper price of rice and wheat so West Africa was having a harder time selling. It is interesting how a product for farmers such as rice can either be a blessing or can ruin you. In our culture many adults just have jobs, at least in the cities, So they don’t need to worry about their product depending on their life.

Polgreen, Lydia. "West African Villagers Stake Their Fortunes on the Future Price of Rice." New York Times. 25 January 2009. 8 February 2009. <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/us/06land.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1>