In Teen Angst? Naaah... by Ned Vizzini, Ned faces a lot of problems associated with coming of age. He ends up solving some of these problems, but not all of the problems.

   One of the problems in Ned's life is that he is being more rebellious. For example, when he wanted to go to a vacation to Cancun for 1 week and his parents said no, he made a plan. He was going to trick them by saying he was going to Jame's house. Then he would run off to the senior trip and come back 1 week later. However, because of some social problems between these 2 periods, he ends up selling away his ticket to Cancun.

   Another problem in Ned's life is that he is always doing favors for other people who he does not know well. For example, he did a favor for Erin. The favor involved running 3 miles in a downpour with sandals and a t-shirt. He accepted it knowing what he had to do, and he ended up feeling really bad afterwards. 

   Another problem in Ned's life is that he makes a lot of wrong choices. For example, he jumped turnstiles for a whole month of summer. He did not get caught and thought that he was very slick. However, one day while he was jumping turnstiles with his friend, 2 police officers caught him. They gave him a fine of  $60. That was exactly the amount of money he would have used if he actually paid, and the police did not even know how many times he jumped turnstiles. He ended up feeling happy that the police caught him, and I thought this was weird.

   In all, I think that while Ned matures he faces a lot of problems. He solves most of them, but he never ends up solving some of them. I hope that I won't have any of his problems in high school.

Coming of Age

Coming of Age book

   In Teen Angst?Naaah.. by Ned Vizzini, Ned explains his life in high school and how he matured. Ned was a smart student that always studied. When he was in 7th grade he studied for the SHSAT. He studied an entire vocabulary book that contained a million words. He also studied and made flash cards and he did that EVERY day. This shows how serious he is about the test. When the test came, he got a perfect score. However in high school things start to change. He became more social and started going out with his friends. After 2 years, has smoked pot and drank alcohol one time. He argued with his mom about his curfew and this was a large change from who he used to be. He matured a lot, but his likes and dislikes still stayed the same.

North Korea Missile Failure 4/14/12

   In North Korea, there were many attempts to launch a missile. However it failed multiple times. Launching missiles repeatedly is very dangerous. It can fall on a city. It can explode randomly. They should think more about what's going wrong and try to stop it, then launch it when they think it's really ready.
   Launching a missile is very dangerous. It only lasted 4 minutes in air. If parts fall off while it's in the air, it can destroy a lot of property. Also, launching a missile repeatedly, fixing it by trial and error is hard. There are a lot of ways that it failed. They should do research first, and launch it. They might be test launching a nuclear rocket, and that is not good. Nuclear rockets are dangerous.
   What if the rocket falls on a city? It can fall anywhere. However, if it falls on a city, it will killed thousands of people. It can burst apart in mid air and the parts will lands all over the world. They should not launch that rocket all together.
   If they're going to launch a rocket for a different purpose, then they should not use trial and error. They should look at what's wrong and try to fix it. Or they can do research on what's wrong. they have to find other ways to solve the problem other than trial and error.
   In conclusion, they should not fire any missiles. Also, they should stop nuclear testing and other similar tests.

Plagiarize 4/12/12

Question 1: what did the student do wrong? what could he/she have done to include the source correctly?
   The student used parts of the original text in his own post without citing the source. he/she could have put the website where he/she got it, then put parentheses with the line where he/she got it. ex. (10).
Question 2: In Vincent Van Gogh: Starry Night by an unknown author, he/she expresses what everyone sees when they first view the painting. "there is the night sky filled with swirling clouds, stars ablaze in their own luminescence, and a bright cresent moon (18-20)
Question 3: 3 ways to avoid plagiarizing: read, then write based on what you remember. Always cite the source. Remember to include quotations.

Homework due 4/16 #1

   My 2 favorite blog posts from ms Galang's list are George's response on irony, and Stephanie's response to Much ado about nothing. They were both about a play.
   What I liked about Stephanie's post is that she explained that the play was more modernized. No one would know if it was modernized or not if she didn't explain it. I also liked how she described the sonnets, the music and the stage. she showed a lot of interest and thought that the stage was more modernized.
   What I liked about George's response is that he explained the definition of irony. Some people don't know what irony means, and explaining it will save a lot of time and will help readers understand. Also, i liked how he gave examples of irony. He gave examples in act 1 scene 2 and it was early on in the book, so people won't need to know much about the background.
   I can improve my blog entries by explaining vocabulary. I can also improve by giving examples, and explaining what I am writing in my blog entries.

Much Ado about nothing

Dear Friend

   I watched what ado about nothing this week. It was inside a cafe which was nice because I can smell food. There was a large area with lots of chairs and about 3 tables on top of an elevated circle. There was a large circle with a light behind it and I think it was to show when it is night time. There were many actors and they all seem happy and enthusiastic about performing.
   The part that surprised me the most is when the antagonist sits on a table holding a knife. He takes the knife and slams it point first on the top of the table. I thought the knife was dull, but it was not. Also, if I was the women sitting next to him, I would be nervous because he i holding a sharp knife. I wonder if the table has a large indent on it now...
   The part that I liked the most is when the women called the officer an ass. It was so unexpected and was funny seeing the officer's reaction. Also, it was such a weird word to say in her situation.
   In all, I liked the play and it was fun. I think you should go and see it too.

Reading response 3/14/12

   In Romeo and Juliet I found a bit of irony in it. Romeo goes to the party to see Rosaline. However, he sees Juliet and falls in love with her. This changed his reason for going to the party in the first place. Also, he said that he cannot love anyone other than Rosaline, but now I know it is not true. There seems to be a lot of irony in Romeo and Juliet.
   The most ironic part was when Romeo found out that the girl he is in love with is a capulet. It was a bit funny falling in love with the daughter of your enemy. I wonder what they were thinking when they realized this. They must be doubting themselves and probably were thinking about that for a long time.