6/8/08

    To continue on from my last post, my group's main accomplishment has been completing the script. After editing down to just enough lines, I feel as if we successfully are portraying the plot and illustrating our theme in a 10-page script. It’s funny that it’s possible to edit down that entire play and manage to get everything that matters into 10 pages. Shakespeare apparently liked to drag things out a lot.
    I also feel like my group managed to work efficiently together. I think we all did a really good job of staying on task during our work times and each putting forth our best effort. Hopefully, our presentation comes out just as well. Our puppets have not been created yet, but our background for the show is looking good.
    The most frustrating part of the script’s composition was copying and pasting the lines into the right places. Certain parts got mixed up and I ended up putting a line into our script in two different locations. Luckily, editing helped remove that.
    Our presentation date is Tuesday, so we have one more day to practice. Hopefully, all goes well.

5/30/08

    So far, in the progress of this project, my group and I have been doing some good work. We have identified our theme and began searching for lines that illustrate both the theme and the plot. The theme we chose to show is loyalty. It pretty much comes up as an issue for every character in the book and is the prelude to many of the events. We have also narrowed down on how we are going to present our script. We have decided between either a sock puppet show or a paper bag puppet show. So far, I would say my group and I are working well together. Our personalities and work habits mesh pretty well and cause for few conflict.
    One success we have had so far is working with the GoogleDoc. I personally, am in love with how easy it is making it to collaborate with the rest of my group. Also, I’m just a huge geek and I think it’s quite cool. We set it up in a chart, one row being the act/scene, the other being the person responsible for that section and the final row being the lines found that will be put into our script. We have color-coded each of our names, so we know who it is when someone writes in blue, red, ect. We even have a section for questions or conversations to have about different group decisions. Basically, we are talking about what to do over the GoogleDoc and either answering it then or later. Like I said, huge geek about it.
    As of now, the only difficulties I have reached are finding the perfect lines. It is really hard summing up an entire play into seven minutes. It is really teaching me how to sort through the text and find exactly where the most important and needed parts are.

3/21/08

    It’s really impossible to not hear about how many problems there are with sheltering animals lately. Another article came my way, this one talking about a specific case of people who took in more cats then they could handle. There were tons of cats in this “sanctuary” with diseases, some starving and some dying of neglect. As the article put it, “…failed to provide adequate care for the cats on the 29-acre property, in part because there were more than she could handle.” These people tried to help these cats, which eventually led only to harm. Why is it so hard to succeed in helping animals sometimes?
    The redeeming thing about this whole story is what is happening to the animals now that they have been rescued. “Veterinarians and dozens of volunteers have been working round-the-clock since Thursday trying to nurse to health hundreds of sick cats removed in a raid from a suburban Pittsburgh animal sanctuary.” This is a true story of people in a community coming together to help these animals. There are volunteers. These people are making a difference. “The cats are being treated in northwestern Pennsylvania in a vacant building, once housing Clarion County Humane Society, that has been turned into a makeshift animal hospital.”
    This story really shows how it’s not that hard to help and not that hard to make a difference. Sadly, this took a tragedy such as this harsh situation to get all these people together to do this. But that doesn’t have to be the case. There are animal shelters that need volunteers. Animals in towns and in cities that need help. Animals that need homes. Sometimes, all it takes is people caring and coming together.

Joseph Rainis
January 14, 2008

As a white kid, growing up in a predominantly white neighborhood, I was pretty white. The only things I really knew about black culture were the things I saw on television. After going to public school for a few years, where there were more black kids, I began to see more things about the black culture, but I still did not know much. Little did I realize, the black students didn’t know everything about black culture either. What I saw from the black kids at school was similar to the things I saw on television.
I began to think, about what black culture really was and what it represented. I thought that if even the black kids at school didn’t know about it, maybe it wasn’t even real. I also thought about white culture, and if that really existed. I also thought about why these cultures were so different, and why they hadn’t integrated after being together for hundreds of years.
“For a white kid, you sure are good at football!” A young boy names Rahim Harris said that to me at recess. It was 3rd grade, and we were friends. From that point on, we had been best friends. Rahim and I were not as different as I thought we would be. We both had families that loved us, we both went to school, got good grades, and even had similar interests. The new discoveries I was making about culture were beginning to confuse me.
Rahim didn’t know it, but he helped me figure out the truth about culture. Culture shouldn’t be something you’re ashamed of, and it shouldn’t take anything away from you. He helped me learn that good people are good people, no matter what their culture or background is. People can be so different, but still just click. Rahim and I grew up in two different societies. I lived in a good neighborhood, and his wasn’t so great. His friends tried to get him into things like drugs and violence, but I didn’t have the same peer pressures, yet we still were great friends.
On an average day, in fifth grade, Rahim wasn’t in school. It didn’t think much of it. Maybe he was sick, or even just running late. During second period, which was Reading class, the counselor stepped in. She said, “Boys and girls, I have an announcement to make. Rahim is not here today because he is in the hospital.”
That caught my attention. I was a little worried, but I was sure he was okay, thinking that if it were a big deal, the counselor wouldn’t just come in and blurt it out during class.
She continued, “Last night, Rahim had a fire in his house. He got out, but has some burns, and is going to be out of school for a while.”
“How bad are the burns?” I asked.
“Oh, well, um, we don’t know all the details just yet,” She replied. I realize now that she didn’t want me to get upset, as I was a nine year old child who just learned that his best friend was in a fire. All of us kids wanted to organize a visit to see Rahim, but the teachers decided that was a bad idea, because none of us were older than ten years old, and seeing a classmate covered in burns couldn’t be good.
For the next two weeks, I did nothing but worry. In school we had no work, as us students were still shocked, and too worried about our friend to read books and write math problems. Instead, we did fun things to take our minds off Rahim. We mostly colored in coloring books and played games.
About two weeks after we found out about Rahim’s accident in the fire. The counselor came in again. This time the news was worse. “Boys and girls, I’m very sorry to inform you that Rahim passed away this morning.” At that, I burst into tears, and so did many other students. We go out of school early that day, as many students were too sad to even color or play games. I was completely sick. I couldn’t stop crying, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t get it off of my mind. I didn’t go to school the next day, but students who didn’t come weren’t counted as absent. For days I thought about him, and finally came to the realization that he was gone forever. I went to his funeral with my dad. I saw some other kids from school, but most had come earlier. I had also found out that Rahim was 75% covered with third degree burns. I miss him. I wonder what he would be like now. Although I don’t think about him as much as I used to, every now and then, he pops up in my thoughts. Rahim was a great kid, and I will never forget him.