A Raisin' In The Sun- Lorraine Hansberry

         In A Raisin' In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, she shows her readers what a few weeks is like in the lives of the Youngers family in South side Chicago in the 1950s.  When the play starts Mrs. Youngers is about to receive a $10,000  insurance check from her recently deceased husband Mr. Youngers. Everybody in the house has a different idea of what Mrs. Youngers should do with that money. Her son Walter Lee thinks that she should give it to him so that he can invest in opening a liquor store, and her daughter Beneatha thinks that she should keep it to herself or spend it on her going to medical school. Mrs. Youngers wants to spend it on her grandson Travis, because his family is going through a financial crisis and he has been wearing the same shoes since last semester.
         I think that some of the themes in this book so far are; The importance of family, and The value and purpose of dreams. I say the importance of family because they are all working together to help each other in some way but then there is always one person working against them. Walter Lee is working against Beneatha, Ruth is working against Mrs. Youngers etc. The value of purpose and dreams because Walter Lee and Beneatha both have dreams tat they value and want to accomplish and are willing to take their father's insurance policy money to get it but they know it's wrong and want to either keep it for Mama or the other, and that's where it goes back to the importance of family.
         I think that the protagonist- Walter Lee is going to do something reckless like try to steal Mama's money and end up getting caught.
       

Romeo and Juliet

         My class recently watched the well known Shakespeare classic "Romeo and Juliet", but this was the modernized version with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. This was a very interesting movie, they kept the characters very well. They still spoke in verse like the original Shakespeare production but they were in a more modern time period where there were cellphones and gas stations.
         Juliet's cousin Tybalt did not want Juliet to be with Romeo, but that did not stop the "Star cross'd lovers" from staying away from each other. They had a secret marriage that only Friar Lawrence, Romeo and Juliet knew about. Tybalt had always been on the sidelines causing problems with Romeo and when he finally confronted him he ended up killing one of Romeo's best friends Mercutio. When this happened Romeo went after Tybalt and shot him to death. Romeo's cousin Benvolio told on Romeo and Romeo was banished from Verona.
      One of the major problems with Romeo's being banished- other than the obvious he won't be with Juliet- was that Juliet was definitely going to have to marry the man that her parents want her to marry- Paris. To keep this from happening the day before the wedding Juliet drank a potion that Friar Lawrence gave her that would make her pulse go down and would make her sleep for twenty hours. When this happened the Friar would tell everybody that she had died, thusly escaping the dreaded marriage. Twenty hours later she would awaken and go to Romeo. The fatal flaw in this plan was that Romeo was no told about this, and when she was found dead Paris went to Romeo and informed him of the news. Romeo lost it and went back to Verona and bought a poison so that he could lay dead next to his love and they could be together.
         There is an ongoing war going on with the Montagues and the Capulets, so you can imagine the damage of Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet getting married was going to be considered absurd and they would not be able to have a normal open relationship together.
         Mercutio even in death contributed to Romeo and Juliet's deaths. When he saw that Tybalt was beating Romeo, he went after him and got himself stabbed in the stomach. Romeo had no other chance then to avenge his friends death by killing Tybalt in return, and the price he had to pay was on unfaithful cousin and one banishment from Verona.
         The last people to contribute to Romeo and Juliet's death was... Romeo and Juliet themselves. Their passionate love for each other was so intense that it clouded their thoughts and common sense. When Romeo heard of Juliet's "death" instead of thinking maybe she's not dead, or responding in any other way. All he wanted to do was lay with his wife once again even in death and go "up above" and rest with her there in peace. So he returns straight back to Verona which causes a wild goose chase and goes straight to the Apothecary and buys his most fatal poison. He goes to the church where Juliet "rests" and talks to her corpse stroking her hair. Then he drinks the poison and dies. Juliet's contribution was when she did not tell Romeo her plan and then when she woke up when Romeo was at her death bed and stared at him for too long when she realized that he was drinking poison it was too late. She kissed his lips hoping that there would be some drops of poison left, but there was not. So she took the gun that Romeo had with him and shot herself in the head.
         In conclusion just about all of the characters in this movie all did something openly or subliminally that all lead up to Romeo and Juliet dying (for real) in each other's hands.

Antagonist/ Author Patterns

         In Vampire Diaries: The Return Series #2 Shadow Souls by L.J Smith, Elena Gilbert's boyfriends Stefan Salvatore was captured by the Kitsune Twins, Shinichi and Misao. The map to wear Stefan is located is in Damon -Stefan's evil younger brother- in the "Darkest Dimension" and she has to travel there with him. Damon wants Elena, and he hates Stefan. The only reason that he is helping because in one of Elena's other lives she made them swear to protect each other and her, she said this when she was dying on the floor. Damon is a man of his word and protects his brother and does not Influence Elena into "being with him".
         I find that the Antagonist in the story is Damon, he is technically against Elena and Stefan though he is helping them out tremendously. He is extremely annoyed with the fact that he knows that he cannot have Elena, and it belongs to his "stupid younger brother". In one chapter he was being very mean to Elena, he was giving her the longest silent treatment, and making snide comments. Whenever she tried to touch him he would jerk away from her. He finally had a moment where he practically lost it, he grabbed her and kissed her, he smashed a window, he screamed at her to "leave him alone", and then he told her to run away. I was personally worried for Elena's sanity and health, you're in the room with an out of control vampire that's telling you to run away from him before he ends up hurting you and you're just yelling back claiming that you're not phased by his temper? I don't think that makes much sense if you ask me.

      I find that there are a lot of Setting and Author Patterns. Usually what L.J Smith does is after every chapter ends she will switch to another scene with the other main characters so: Matt, Bonnie, Meredith etc. I have noticed that she is:

1. Staying in Damon's perspective.
2. Staying in Elena and Damon's scene.

When I noticed this I realized that something big was going to happen between them and that it was going to be explosive. Damon and Elena were always in a situation where they were in close proximity to each other and the tension and awkwardness level kept on rising. It felt as if you could just reach out and touch it. This is also when I noticed these things. I am reading this book from my Nook Tablet ® and I am making copious notes of everything, patterns I'm noticing, funny phrases and lines, and metaphors that I find interesting. It's all leading up to one big event that I can feel coming and it's going to be big; they always are. What will happen next?

Visual Art: The Teenage Mind

         This picture shows, a joke on what goes on inside the teenage mind. If you look closely some of things say, "Rebellion Center" and "Slang Decoder". These are based off of the way adolescents act these days. They use slang that most adults don't understand, and they have a definite rebellion stage. If you look closely there is also a yin- yang section of the brain that says "Love for Parents" and "Disdain for Parents", this is most likely wired to the "Rebellion," and "SuperTurbo Rebellion Centers".  I am quite the rebellious teen myself and I found it interesting that the artist of this picture put a "SuperTurbo Rebellion Center" in stead of keeping the "Rebellion Center".

         Stuart Goldman MD says that teenagers are "hard- wired to butt heads with their parents" and that "It's the task of the teenager to fire their parents and then re-hire them years later, but as consultants rather than managers." Experts say that one of the five main teen behavioral problems is that the "Your teen seems to hate you". This would clearly go in the "Rebellion Centers" and the "Disdain for Parents" section as well. The Five Main Teen Behavior Problems are: 

• Teen Rebellion
• Staying Out Late (Testing Limits)
• Communication Device Addictions (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, BlackBerry Messenger)
• Drama, Drama, DRAMA
• Hanging Out with Bad Influences

Coming from a teen I can say that most of these are actually true. I love communicating with my friends (texting) there's always drama and occasionally I do get home late, but Doctors say to all of these that there is a logical reason for why teens do this. For example: When you're a teenager you feel emotions intensely which is why everything is usually over- dramatized in your Mom's perspective.

           I think that this connects to real teenagers everywhere. Whenever you see some comic in the news papers about teens you find that the teenager is usually saying something stupid or unethical, or they're not following rules- especially when it's a girl- but why? I never understood why teenagers had to be considered stupid. I always see different photos of thoughts on what the teenage mind looks like and it's all the same. For boys it's usually "Cars, Girls, loud offensive hip- hop music, girl, song lyrics" and for girls it's usually "Boys, make- up, prom , Facebook status, hair and cosmetics, etc" Some parents become worried about their children and try to "Decode" there text messages.  A text message conversation could be: 

• Hey, are you coming to the party later on tonight? 
• No I don't think I can my Mom grounded me (winks). 
• Oh ok talk to you later! 
• Bye!

And easily be written like this:

• Heyyy r u cominn' 2 dha partiii3 l8rr on 2nit33 lmlmlml ??
• N2 i dnt thnk so dha momz qot meh on LOCKDOWN %)
• oh aiiiiqhtt ttyl!
• bii33

That was a complete change in words and symbols! For teens the last letter you have to type the better. The mind of a teenager is very intriguing it's an intricate field of hormonal inbalance and random thoughts. This is why I thought that this picture was very interesting. 

  

Nominated Mentor!!

         My Blog Mentor nominee is Gabi!! I chose Gabi because she is very passionate with her writing. She shows  that she has put work and thought into it. She always has something new to say about her current Independent Reading book! The way she formats everything her reader will really understand, she will give a brief retell of where she is in the story, pick and idea, and then elaborate and explain the idea. She will stretch it out and make some type of logical reasoning out of it. She is a great example of good blog posts that I know I can go to as a good recourse.
         Gabi also is very good at making her book sound great, meaning that other people will want to read it. For her post for the Hunger Games the way Gabi explained the story made me really want to read it. I was never really a fan of the Hunger Games and after I read her post I started thinking Hmm... maybe this isn't such a bad book after all? I thought that was pretty amazing because I'm very stubborn especially when it comes to my likes and dislikes and the fact that Gabi could make me even reconsider my thoughts on the Hunger Games says a lot about her as a writer, and a lot about her as a person. All in all her posts are really great and I hope she keeps writing them!

Link: http://www.myclubhouseforbooks.blogspot.com

Son of Neptune- Rick Riordan

          Rick Riordan has a myriad of series out and one of his best selling is Percy Jackson and The Olympians this is about a boy named Percy Jackson that is a demigod (half mortal, half god) he goes to a magical camp named Camp Half Blood, there he meets other people like him and he is accepted there. Camp Half Blood is based off of Greek Mythology but there is a Roman side to all of this, all Greek gods have a Roman side where they have different names and don't remember really anything from their Greek side when in Roman form. For Example: Ares is Mars, Hades is Pluto, Zeus is Jupiter, and Poseidon is Neptune, Percy had a best friend who is a Satyr named Grover, a girlfriend named Annabeth (Daughter of Athena) and a half brother who is a Cyclopes named Tyson. Percy supposedly went off on a quest and when he woke up he didn't know anything at all he barely even knew his own name! Little did he know that the goddess Hera had temporarily wiped his memory clean because he had a Roman quest to do. 

          In this book Frank Zhang, Hazel Levesque and Percy Jackson are on a Roman quest for Camp Jupiter's safety and the world. Thanatos who is basically Death is chained and now people 1. Can't die and 2. If they were once dead are walking the Earth again. In this book each character has special traits that helps them at convenient times and they each have a back story that makes the plot of the story more complicated and full of surprises. I wondered why Rick Riordan did this but as I read more and more of the book the plot became more and more clear. There were twists and turns and secrets were revealed but it all fits together into a large puzzle. 

         I think that there is going to be a moral to this story, so far Percy is different in a way from all of the people at Camp Jupiter because he is on the Greek side. He has a different "family" but here since Percy 1. Can't remember anything and 2. The campers there gave him a house and food he considers himself now to be part of two families. He is putting his life on the line for the Camp's safety in his quest and I predict that the moral is going to be something along the lines of stick with your friends to the end or Don't let rivalries get in the way of the important things. 

Son of Neptune- Rick Riordan

Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan is the sequel to The Lost Hero. This series is called Heroes of Olympus. This book is connected to Riordan's previous series Percy Jackson & The Olympians.  In this last book the characters from the Percy Jackson series are connected to this one. Annabeth Chase from the last series is in here and she is searching for Percy her boyfriend. Jason, Piper, and Leo are the three newest half- bloods. They all had special powers and the satyr that was watching them (Gleeson Hedge, known to the kids as Coach Hedge).  They were moved to Camp Half- Blood when the monsters finally tracked them down and a whole queue of things began. Jason Grace the main character in the story found out that he was the son of Zeus and was Thalia Grace's older sister. This caused a whole different atmosphere for his life. I haven't started reading Son of Neptune yet, but I am going to go start reading it right now. Blogs with info to come!!

Mexican White Boy- Matt de la Peña

      "Mexican Whiteboy" by Matt de la Peña is about 16 year old Danny Lopez. Danny lives in a wealthy northern county in San Diego. Danny's mother is white and his father is Mexican, but Danny does not speak Spanish. He doesn't now who he is or who he wants to be and is having trouble figuring out his true identity. Does he belong in a Mexican society or a White Society? When Danny was younger his father suddenly packed his bags and went back to Mexico, without any type of explanation. Danny has always wondered why his father left but could never think of a good enough reason.
      Danny wants to connect with his Mexican roots so over the summer he goes down to National City, Mexico to visit his father's side of the family and to understand his father's ancestry (since he could not get this information from the source). Danny is potentially in search for answers, but the main question that is the most important to danny out of them all is why his father suddenly left San Diego and went to Mexico. Danny felt that it was because his father couldn't bear the thought of having a biracial son who didn't even speak Spanish.
      When Danny arrives to Mexico he is living with his favorite childhood friend and cousin Sofía. Upon arriving Sofía introduces Danny to all of her friends (whom start flirting with Danny). Danny feels discouraged and left out because he doesn't speak Spanish and all of the people on his father's side do.
      Danny has a real knack for baseball. Down at school he is known for having throwing fastballs that reach speeds up to ninety mph!! When Sofía brags about this to the neighborhood kids who are playing baseball in the street they challenge him to a game. Uno is one of the kids playing he is winning the game by six home runs. Uno is biracial also his father is black and his mother is Mexican. Uno has a crush on Sofía and when he sees her with Danny he automatically assumes that she is dating him. When the game is on every ball pitched at Danny was sent flying backwards over two houses onto a completely different block. Uno starts to get tense and starts cheating so that he can tease and taunt Danny like a jerk. When Danny hits another home run he accidentally hit Uno's younger brother Manny in the face with the bat, Uno punched Danny in the face and walked off.
      This book is very good so far I can barely put it down!!! I give many thanks to Matt de la Peña in English and Spanish for publishing this awesome novel.

Throne of Fire- Rick Riordan Response #2

Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan is so good. He has about three series that I am reading. I have read The Percy Jackson series already, and he has made a new series based off of that series called Heroes of Olympus. The sequel- Son of Neptune- just came out, I AM SO READING THAT. Throne of Fire is the sequel to the Kane Chronicles series The Red Pyramid. I will have this book done by about the end of the week. So much has happened since my last post! Walt (Sadie's sixteen year old crush) is a descendant from King Tut. He has the same cursed disease that King Tut had that made him die so young, and the more magic Walt uses the closer he is to dying. There is no cure (as far as he knows) and he says that he wants to spend as much time with Sadie as possible before he... you know. Carter and Zia Rashid (the girl of his dreams) have reunited in an awkward way because she doesn't know who he is AT ALL. The poor boy felt like she ripped his heart out of his chest and stomped on it. Now Carter, Sadie, Zia, Walt and the rest hae exactly 24 hours to awaken Ra from his eternal sleep so that he can defeat Apophis, otherwise known as the God of Chaos. If they fail at this attempt, Apophis will finally break free of his prison. He will rise up from the Duat and swallow the sun, casting the world into eternal darkness. All Chaos will break loose and the world will end as we know it.