Intro: This is my first Independent Reading Project.

Laura De Jesus

January 18, 2011

Title – Go Ask Alice

 

Go Ask Alice is a New York Times 3 Million Best Seller. This story is FULL of drama and suspense! Every word in this book has a reason of being placed on the page. Alice is a desperate girl on the chase of drugs. Alice was a young girl who did not belong in any group, she was just there. Her father got a job promotion and she moved to a smaller town but still suffered through the same problems. Until she meet this girl at a boutique named Chris. Little did she know what she was about get herself into, Chris was a year older then Alice. They more they began to hang out the closer they became; Alice got hired at the same place as Chris. It seemed to be a great idea at the time, but when they began to hang out outside of the work place that’s everything started to change. One night Alice joined Chris in an all girls night, this was the day Alice changed forever. She tried drug for the first time. She started off with acid; she was high to the max by the first shot! This became a daily routine for the two of them; they took it up to shooting, then pot. She was at the point where she couldn’t go a day without getting high. Alice began to experiment sex with drugs, she lost it to a random guy at a party. After returning to her grandmothers house she back to her normal self again, but once Chris appeared again she was worse then ever! They saved all their earnings from working long hours to run away and get high 24/7. Chris had a friend in California so they decided to move there for a bit and look for work. A few weeks pass by and they begin to realize the jobs they found weren’t cutting their needs to get high. Starving and quitting their jobs, Chris found a job with a young lady not that much older then her. She was ALSO addicted to drugs. Due to this fact it made it difficult for them to work together. Alice was also hired, the three went to parties everyday after work to get high with the “rich folks”. Almost year goes by they think its time to go home for Christmas. After two days they finally made it home in time for Christmas, they were sober about six months. Thinking that they would never return to drugs again, that was not the case at all. Chris began to a date a college boy, and set up Alice with his friend. The facts that Alice was fifteen and Chris was sixteen made their relationships illegal, so they kept the drugs and sex a secret. This was going on for almost a year. Come to find out their “boyfriends” were each other’s boyfriends! After Alice seen this she went running away again. At this point she was seventeen nothing was stopping her. She would give blowjobs; have sex with females and males just to get a fix. She joined all different groups of addicts till she meet a young girl only fourteen on the run just like her. Alice had one more chance for help, she accepted it. It didn’t work for that long, she overdosed and dies.

Favorite Actor: Alice

Why? Because she was real and always something new.

            I would recommend this book to anyone, it is an amazing book. The suspense makes you want to never stop reading. I think it should be a required book for all the ninth graders in public schools. The book teaches us to never escape from the hard times in life but accept them as they are and move on with life. I can relate to the characters in the story in a certain way. I think the book teaches youths and adults that peer pressure can harm you for the rest of your life.

Intro: Four of my journal entries.

 

Journal Entries

Why Do We Write?

            Why do we write? Well me personally I write because it is my way to get away. I write because people can’t judge me because they can’t see me. Also, I write because I can express myself in different ways, I am a very shy person I don’t say what I feel aloud, so I write them on paper and feel like a weight has been lifted of my shoulder. Why do we write? People write to tell us their stories and experiences without words.

 

If You Really Knew Me…

            If you really knew me you would know that I am afraid of heights. If you really knew me you would know that I have a trust problem and am very afraid to express myself. If you really knew me you would know I feel like I have no one to go to. If you really me you would know that I have many issues, and am afraid to get judged. If you really knew me you would know that I cry a lot over things that maybe I shouldn’t care about. If you really knew me you would know that I blame myself for my brother’s death. If you really knew me I feel like I make people get out of my life, for the wrong reasons. If you really knew me you would know that I feel unloved and unappreciated in my own house. If you really knew you would know that it’s taking a lot in me to write this about myself.

 

How Important Is It To Fit In?

            Does it matter to fit in? I don’t think that it matters that much, I mean it depends on who you are and how easy you give into peer pressure. Personally I see no reason to fit in with the rest of the world. We are all different for reasons, if we were meant to be the same look alike, dress alike, and act alike we would have been born that way. The style and world changes everyday so often, it would be like changing who you are whenever someone comes out with a new sneaker or new perfume. It is pointless, just be yourself 101% of the time, and your better off.

 

Has Anyone Ever Exceeded Your Expectations?

No not that I can remember. Only reason is because I don’t expect much from anyone anymore, whatever they do or give me is what it is. Life has taught me a lot and that is one of the main ones, don’t expect much, you’ll usually get the unexpected. “Expect the Unexpected.” 

Laura De Jesus

            Me, well as a ninth grade I feel as though I changed a lot throughout the year. My previous work is a sow case of how much progress I went through.  When I first entered Mrs. Dunn’s class I couldn’t tell the difference between compound and complex sentences, now it comes naturally. My form of writing has changed a lot, due to the help from the teachers and students in Mrs. Dunn’s English 1 Class.

 

            My main strengths in English are that I can speak my mind through my writing and not be afraid to express myself. Also, my vocabulary it has become much better and to the standards of a ninth grader. My weaknesses are that I have trouble making sense when I write paragraphs and stories. It’s hard for me to remember what I typed and how I typed it. But it’s getting better it should be better as we speak. I would love to get better at my parts of speech.

 

            My experiences on working on this portfolio were hard, and fun at the same time. Finding all my work and editing it was the hardest part because I don’t like to look back and edit. Also, the uploading it, it took a while but I got it to work on the second try. I had a decent time going back through all my work; it reminded me of all the work I did in the beginning and how much I changed.

 

            My favorite piece in my portfolio is my Me Magazine, because that was my first project that I actually cared about and took time to do. It brought back memories of the eighth grade. And how much fun I had.

​In this Part of our Q4 Benchmark we where required to make a magazine that represented  who we where.Enjoy!!!

​         As a 9^th grader, I feel that my portfolio says that I have a lot of potential when focusing on my work. To me this is a great thing, also, when I get older and more knowledgeable, I could look back at the hard work that I was able to do in the 9^th grade and look at what I could do now. When viewers see my work, they are supposed to “get” that my work shows that I strive for the best and work my hardest to get the best grade possible.

         I consider my strengths in English to be spelling and comprehending. My weakness is presenting my work, the reason why is, when all eyes are on me I sometimes get the Tinker bellies, butterflies, stage fright there are many names for it. I would still want to work on presenting in front of a big crowd. I really do not like that feeling I get inside when I am presenting. I want it to go away and the only way to get that out of me is by facing my fears and practice presenting in front of many people.

         The experience I had when making this portfolio is, when looking at the work I did in the beginning of the school year, I realized that I could have made certain changes in the way I said things and the words I used. Therefore, it was just amazing how when I looked back at what I did, since I have been learning new words, I changed it to the words the words that I learned this school year.

         The piece I am most proud of is my Me Magazine. The reason why is, it is colorful, beautiful, and full of what I love and me. It describes me and what I am made of and it also shows my creativity; also because it shows how much hard work pays off. Even if you do not read it, you can tell that I still worked hard on it because of the designs, and pictures, and the advertisements.

Overview: For this assignment in particular, everyone had to compare two characters to each other and show how the two were distinctive as well. With doing so, we had to have a thesis and analysis in order to back up our thoughts towards both characters and their well-being

Odysseus vs. Everett Final

Throughout the world characteristics of leaders are courageous, smart, and usually very tactical. There are many aspects that define leaders beside the fact that they always do everything correctly. There is evidence in the movie “ O Brother, Where Art Thou? “, written by Jeff Martin and also throughout the book The Odyssey by Homer. The main characters, and leaders, from these stories are Everett from and Odysseus from the book, respectively. While Odysseus and Everett are very strong men and tactical leaders that have their flaws; Everett was more willing to not only accept the fact that he makes mistakes, but also apologize to his crew members about said mistakes. This makes Everett a better leader.

As heroic leaders, Odysseus and Everett took very similar missions throughout their voyages in order to get back home to their families and normal lives, especially back to their wives. These two leaders had to overcome all the obstacles that came in their way of returning home to their loved ones. For example, throughout both stories the men had to pass the mystical and strange Sirens, which seemed like an impossible task. Odysseus is told to tell the crew members by Circe” But if you plead, commanding your men to set you free, then they must last you faster, rope on rope”(Book 12, page 273, line 59) Meanwhile, too occupied of the task trying to get to their destinations both lose men, losing sight of reality, honesty, and concentration. Since, they are “leaders”, they attempt to disguise their weakness and remorse in order to move on with the situation at hand, which is where there cockiness comes into play. Everett decides to say, “Where is my hair treatment”, while the crew is in a desperate time of need of food and shelter, just as Odysseus did with his men by saying” And if someone were to ask you who blinded me tell them my name is Odysseus raider of the cities”(Book 9, page 227 line 561) and when he did this he put the lives of his crew members at risk of not only getting home, but getting there alive.

Odysseus ends up loosing all his men and going home alone because he doesn’t want to tell his men his plans, to warn them because of his pride, unlike Everett who goes home with his two men he came. Even though Everett didn’t tell his men the ideas he knew that his men weren’t in danger at those moments. Odysseus risks his men life when they are near Scylla by saying “No mention of Scylla-how to fight that nightmare?”(Book 12, page 278 line 241)

 Although, both characters take similar missions, Everett’s wife is not faithful to him & instead of taking the time to kill the man like Odysseus did he finds the way to get him out of both of their lives. Throughout the book Everett and Odysseus find ways to deceive their men or make them angry, Everett unlike Odysseus realizes that he is only human and swallows up his pride in order to apologize to his men by saying “I know that I have made tactical mistakes”. Odysseus doesn’t apologize, but shows grief by expressing how he felt when he saw his men die such a terrible death. He says “I could see their hands and feet already hoisted, falling, high, higher, over my head, look wailing down at me, comrades riven in agony, shrieking out my name for the last time….Of all the pitiful things I’ve had to witness”(Book 12, page 279, lines 266-280) Everett has two other men on his side that he has to lead, but Odysseus has many men, which is a result of him having to be more secure of himself and of his actions. For ex. when Odysseus furls the rock at the Cyclops, it could have ended some of his crewmembers’ lives as well just because of his pride.

 Pride and selfishness are not best characteristics. Everett displays himself as a cocky leader, while Odysseus displays himself as both selfish and cocky. Since Everett was able to put his characteristics aside, unlike Odysseus who never really owned up to the fact that it was his fault that his men never made it back with him, he was able to make a better leader.

​Quarter 3, January 3^rd 2011

If I pulled off a great trick, I wouldn’t tell people who would tell the people that the trick was pulled on. But I wouldn’t keep it to myself either. I would probably tell 2 of my best friends and then I’d wait a little while until the reaction to the trick had blown over or if I was far away when I played the trick on someone, I would wait until I got home to tell people about the trick. I would do this to ensure the people I played a trick on didn’t find out, and to keep myself out of trouble. Also, I’d have to take into consideration what the trick was, and who it would effect before I considered telling people about it. I think that this all depends on who, what, when, and where. 

I didn’t really feel anything when the “N word” was said to us from the book we are reading in class. We are getting older and becoming more mature and there are words we’ll have to encounter as we grow older. It’s an important thing to encounter because the world isn’t always going to be rainbows and butterflies. No one has a perfect life, and people who try to avoid these words are avoiding the real world. In the real world there are sometimes people who don’t think about their actions, or they’re bad and disrespectful people. You will come across all sorts of people in your life time, And I know that isn’t something we have any control over. People are going to use fowl language and it is more important to know how to react, than to be angry or disappointed with them because that isn’t always the best approach. The word is awful, but inevitable. And in my mind words are only what you make them out to be. I also think that it’s inappropriate because nobody should be insulted in that way but unfortunately people will use that language.

 

 

December 9^th, 2010

 

 

I can’t remember anyone exceeding my expectations. This kind of upsets me, because I think most of my childhood I spent dreaming about fairies, being a princess, and stuffed animals being real. I was a dreamer, and I guess nothing can live up to those expectations. Wait. I just remembered one… When I used to go down to my grandpa/great aunt’s house I had these neighbors. I don’t remember them that well, but I remember they had a son. Their son and I would always play in the neighborhood. He taught me how to boogie board and we would play detective looking for interesting things with his “detective dog” in our backyards.

I remember one morning I woke up really early and went to knock on his door, I didn’t think that he’d be awake but his mom opened the door for me and smiled. “Wait right here” she said letting me in to sit down at their breakfast table, she ran up the stairs and woke him up. She had been making pancakes and invited me to stay for breakfast. I guess because I don’t remember spending much time with both of my parents and brother, it felt very homey and nice. They asked me about myself, and only having known me for 2 weeks or so; they invited me into their home life. It felt so nice. That boy and I spent what was left of my time there at the beach on boogie boards, or playing with his and my grandfather’s dog Winston. It’s such a fond memory because every time I think about it I remember the beach, laughter, people caring about me, and happiness.

 As for me I don’t really feel like I’m exceeding anyone’s expectations often. I go out of my way to make certain people happy sometimes, and they act grateful and happy but I just do it to see them smile. Also, I don’t know what anyone’s expectations are for me, and I think it’s more important to live up to my own. Sometimes I exceed my own, but my parents’ praise seems so paper-thin. I just think I don’t live up to what they expect, my mom’s very loving and stuff, and my dad always wants us to do well in school. I feel as if I haven’t really exceeded their expectations, and I used to mind it a lot but now I think it’s more important to live up to my own goals. On the other hand, My little brother makes me feel like I exceed his expectations all the time. I like the feeling of having him look up to me, and he always seems more genuinely impressed when I do something I’m proud of than my parents do. I guess I love him more than I realize…. my cousins are that way too. Not that I don’t love my parents. They just don’t ever seem as genuinely impressed as I’d hope for, but they still praise me.