To Kill a Mockingbird

I have never been to Alabama before, but in Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird he makes me feel as though I’m reliving a part of life that I never got to experience. In To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee decides to bring back the big thrilling situations into teen novels writing fiction based books. The story sets place in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama, which is going through a small crisis. Scout Finch, the narrator and main character narrates many of the adventures that him and his friends in 1935. As the group of kids go on adventures throughout the neighborhood they start to become mischievous.

The authors purpose of writing this suspense filled novel was to get across to the audience of middle school aged kids and teenagers about a story that evolves around kids the same age as themselves. Throughout the text the author uses many examples of propaganda and symbolism to give predicaments of what will happen next in the story. Boo Radley and Scout Finch was the authors goto person to show that the story reveals a more deep meaning background.

Scout Finch, the main character and narrator of events makes me feel as though I am experiencing the events with them. The characters evolved around him helps him get a point that the trials they go through makes her feel as though she is relating to me. This book is filled with many characters of different types of backgrounds. Go and read this book to learn the many untold stories and hidden secrets that this small town foreshadows. Characters like Boo Radley are a spark to why the story has suspense and unknown details. Many other characters like Atticus, Calpurnia, Jem, Dill, and more also play a big roll too.

One reason why someone should read this book is because it makes you want to come back and read more of the exclusive suspense of events. If you’re a person especially just like me who doesn’t really like to read a lot of books or doesn’t have the time this book will keep you in interest of finishing it. This Pulitzer Prize winning novel has multiple themes and life learned lessons that can be very useful to know about. 

This book effected me in a way that makes me want to read more genre relating books by Harper Lee. To Kill a Mockingbird gave me the excitement that I never have had from reading books. I was inspired to read this book because growing up I knew many older kids in higher grades who were reading this book and saying how good it is, however it didn’t catch my attention until I read it many years later. You should check this book out near a local library and read it for yourself.

Lover’s Dictionary

Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan is a good book to read if you’d like to enrich things in your love life. In David Levithan’s first adult novel he decides to add a little spice into his books in which this one is aimed towards all age categories. This book makes you feel all kinds of emotions after you’ve finished reading it. 211 pages of new vocabulary, meanings, and descriptions of identity of love. Levithan’s goal in this book was to write dictionary entries in which was from A through Z explaining the different meanings of relationships, ups and downs, couple issues, and other things involved with love related topics. The author was inspired to write this book after he got an idea after a valentines day one year, then he decided to post his ideas of what love is on many levels and published Lover’s Dictionary sometime in the year of 2011.

After reading this book it made my mind expand to a different level that many people don’t know what to do in a relationship or reacting with ones they love until they read this book. 

Creative Response:

lov-ers {noun} \ˈlə-vərs\                                 

dic-tio-nary {noun} \ˈdik-shə-ˌner-ē, -ˌne-rē\      Lover’s Dictionary {noun}

: a very exciting and fulfilling book filled with tips and information on how to enrich your love life, which include dictionary entries on love, relationship tips, and more based related topics.

Book Information: 

Bibliography:

http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2013/jun/29/review-harper-lee-to-kill-a-mockingbird 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2657.To_Kill_a_Mockingbird

http://blogcritics.org/book-review-the-lovers-dictionary-a/

Journal #1

Act 5, Scene 1

Original Text:

(aside) I have rubbed this young quat almost to the sense,

And he grows angry. Now, whether he kill Cassio

Or Cassio him, or each do kill the other,

Every way makes my gain. Live Roderigo,

He calls me to a restitution large

Of gold and jewels that I bobbed from him

As gifts to Desdemona.

It must not be. If Cassio do remain

He hath a daily beauty in his life

That makes me ugly. And besides, the Moor

May unfold me to him—there stand I in much peril.

No, he must die. But so, I hear him coming.

In this scene Iago and Roderigo enter the scene. Iago starts to talk about how he's going to commit something that he won't regret. In the stanza above Iago said "Now, whether he kill Cassio Or Cassio him, or each do kill the other, Every way makes my gain.", ; he was basically meaning that he would be happy if either of them die because in his future they will no longer be able to exist. In this short meaningful stanza Iago gives of a couple of hints of who he could be talking to. In the beginning of him talking he starts to talk to himself, but then at short periods he tends to look up and or glance at his surroundings such as Roderigo. The punctuation affects me as the reader because it shows how he feels about the situation happening. While Iago is talking and Roderigo stands near, but not so much close by to hear his full conversation Iago's ego and voice determines that he is serious about killing Cassio. For Iago to describe the situation if it goes wrong shows that he wants to do right and get rid of someone , accurately Cassio at this point; if he messes up, then his life is in danger and it'll cause Othello to have more problems to worry about, since he won't have his right man to take out duties for him.

Journal #2

Brabantio (Desdemona's father)

Important scenes:

Act 1, Scene 2: accuses Othello of using magic against his daughter to gain love

Act 1, Scene 3: he brings Othello to trial before the Duke

Act 5, Scene 2: died of grief after losing his daughter.

Personally Brabantio see's that Othello is a man who is taking his daughter out of her young teen days into her woman days. Brabantio thinks at first that Othello is not the best person fit out for Othello, even though they're close and have done work together.On the second hand Brabantio seems to start to like Othello because he makes his daughter happy then she normally is. Brabantion, then gets close  to Othello to call him his son and his brother labeled him as their nephew. For Othello that was a big honor to feel welcomed by your wife's father who despite you for the person you are (the moor of Venice). From my perspective I think you can understand Brabantio especially from his appearances in scenes because in all the scenes that he's in something major happens. For example, in the last scene he appeared in, Act, 5, Scene 2 he died from the sadness from the death of his only child, Desdemona. Other scenes that Brabantio involves in has to do with Othello and his relationship to Desdemona or to the Duke's of Venice to try to make sure the marriage is positive of no problems.

Journal #3

Character- Iago

Reason- Anger/ Misunderstanding

Effect Scene: Iago's "I hate the moor speech" towards Othello that shows how much Iago despise and truly feel for Othello.

Cause Scene:

Iago just departed from seeing his dearly lovely wife Emilia to start his wonderful day at work. It was a typical Monday, but by time the day would end no one would be the same again. Iago went to Othello's office to see if he was their, but of course Othello wasn't at work yet because he would be so busy completing deeds for his wife Desdemona and doing other good things benefiting the city. At lunch time Iago talked among the other workers, employees, and people who did things for the kingdom. He noticed something strange also. Usually around the time of 1:20 each day his wife would call and tell him good news or about he mail he received about bills and advertisements. Iago then skipped lunch to go see his wife and hopefully make a little love before he has to go back and do work in the office. When he got inside his house his wife was on the couch crying, holding a piece of paper in her hand. Iago then read it and came to find out that Othello laid him off and he wouldn't be commanded to the next rank. Their wasn't any reasons given, but Iago felt his own rage and decided to make a poem to release his anger out. "I, hate, the moor . . .", THE END.

Journal #4

1. In my performance I will be acting as Iago. I will have to be loud, bold, taunting back and forth, and show my emotion towards the moor. My hand gestures and facial emotions should show how I feel and or who I am talking to in the scene.

2. In my part of the scene we're performing my character Iago will be having a satchel or knife. To be and have more creativity to the scene Iago will have a type of weapon to use it to make hand gestures and show how he's feeling towards the moor.

3. To make my groups performance stand out we will show emotion and good acting skills when presenting by facing the audience when talking and speaking loud with confidence. For a group each individual person worked as a good person to each study their part each and become dedicated to their parts of the scene.

Post performance journal: 

Lines in my scene that I were reading from was based from Iago’s perspective. One quote that I would like to analyze is “he hath a person and a smooth dispose to be suspected, framed to make woman false”. In my own point of view this quote means a lot and pertains to this play. The quote is important to the play because it has more then one meaning to Othello.  The quote is trying to say that Othello is a man that happens to be wrong at times and accuses woman of false things. By Iago saying that in his part of the scene it made the scene more exciting because it explained a little of a part why he has hatred, knowing that he works under the control of Othello he’s a person with the intentions of being a betrayal or outgoing person towards the situations that occur farther in the book. In the performance I gave the audience a hint that it was a good and important part of the scene by adjusting my voice to a different and much lower tone of voice, I had a weapon in my hand, and the way I was pasting back and forth could tell that Iago (me) either had a thought or concern of Othello for woman and his cares. When I delivered this quote it made me think to myself about how performing the scene made me get a better understanding of why Iago hated the moor, then when I was individually reading the book or listening to the audio.  

My groups performance went as expected because we put a lot of free time during school and english class into our scenes. Now that it is over I am proud that I know how to act better to let the audience realize who the character is talking to. If we did the performance over again I would try tom memorize my lines by heart, so I wouldn’t have to read off a paper and it could seem more creative.

Performing the play live in front of a audience changed my understanding of the book because it became more easier to view as a reader. By me and my group coming together and rehearsing our parts it gave me the idea that the story helped me learn more and become more interesting about what was going on.

What was the most exciting portion of this project and why? What was the least exciting portion to this project and why?

What did you learn from completing this project?

A Band, English

1/6/13

What Language Do You Speak ?

Many people have always asked me, why is me voice so light, or why do I talk strange. Well, at times I speak differently than others would usually speak. When I was in third grade I got into an accident involving my the insides of my mouth, which lead to me having to getting surgery done. After that my whole life would change from their. I would have problems pronouncing some of the hard sounding verbs that has two through three syllables and I received a different accent then the one I had before.

 “Dalfin (dolphin), eyerin (iron), elementree (elementary) and woofle (waffle)”  

My speech/ accent was effecting me mostly when reading, since my voice had got lighter. When I was in forth grade I wanted to write poetry, so my teacher Ms. Buchanan entered me in the Delaware County Young Poets Competition. I thought that I wouldn’t be able to place in the competition because the way I would talk or read. Until one day in school my teacher had an idea and decided that all the kids in my class were going to write poems.

“Emmanuel I would like to speak to you after class, involving your poem” said Ms. Buchanan.

“Ok I won’t forget” I said. 

It was the final class of the day and the bells rung. 

“Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring”, the bell stopped ringing.

The kids in my classroom were packing up to go home.

“Everyone enjoy your weekend and work on your poems, so we can read them in class on Monday.” in a cheerful tone “Don’t forget to be creative and to put on your thinking caps when writing.” said Ms. Buchanan.

As all the kids exited the classroom I walked up to my teacher in a curious way. I thought to myself. What would she want to speak to me about?

“Emmanuel”, Ms. Buchanan voice shortly paused “I noticed that you and a couple other kids in your class have very special talents. I think you could win this competition if you put a lot of time and effort into it.”

At first I was shocked what I was hearing, then she began to speak about how I would win. I had faith in myself, but for some reason I was more fortunate to win she said. I was thinking that even if I didn’t finish in first place that I would like to win something.

“I want you to go home and work on you poem. Relate it to things around you, so when you’re going home everything you see you can include it in your poem”, said Ms. Buchanan. 

“That is a very good idea for me to start my poem, but I’ll just see you on Monday. I have to leave my friends are waiting for me outside”, I replied in a quickly tone.

“Have a good weekend”, we both said as we exchanged goodbye’s.

As I was on my way home walking down Ruskin Lane I was thinking about what I would see that would give me ideas on what to include in my poem. Today was the first day of spring, so many things grew since winter was over. I took out a book noted everything down I saw and went home. I took out my book of ideas and started to brainstorm stanzas for my poem.

“Spring is here. Whats in the air ? Birds are flying far and near”, I said.

After writing the first line of my poem I had other ideas, but I just couldn’t focus. When I read it to myself it wouldn’t sound right, so later on I continued to work on the poem. For a while I would continue to channel all of my ideas on the paper, but it wouldn’t sound like me. 

“Would I say something like this”, as I thought to myself.

I paused for a brief second to get help from my mom, but she had went to the supermarket to get some groceries for dinner. I was helpless for a second, until I decided to call my teacher Ms. Buchanan. I called her, but it went straight to voicemail, meaning she was probably very busy. 

“You’ve reached the voicemail of Karen Buchanan. Sorry I am not available to answer your call at this certain time, but please leave a message and I will surely get back with you. God bless you and have a nice day.”

I left a short message containing my poem and hung up the phone.

(It’s early Monday morning and school has began. 8:00 and the kids start to enter the school and goto their classes after eating a healthy breakfast. The teachers awaits them at the door with a friendly greeting)

“Welcome to class kids. If you can remember we read example poems and essays about the different types of languages people occur to have.”, said Ms. Buchanan. “I’d like you all to relate  your language  to one of the stories that you read. You have the full period to work.

I started writing about my relationship to a story I read. I still had thoughts of the Delaware County Young Poets Competition stuck in my head. With only one more day to it began. As I began the class writing assignment I started putting all my brainstorms together.

“Out of four stories that I read in English class I can relate myself to the story Hunger of Memory by Richard Rodriguez. The main character Richard had issues with adjusting to his language. Most of his life he learned words while pronouncing the wrong sound. He would be used to speaking in two languages, at home Spanish and at school English. He would basically code switch in different environments since his parents spoke mainly Spanish. A way I can relate to Rodriguez is after I had surgery done I too had issues with speaking properly. We both have minor accents, have pronunciation problems, but we are also fixing that problem.” I wrote.

After that I felt relieved for some apparent reason. I had a special felling that I could relate to someone else rather about language difficulties, than be laughed at or questioned. 

It was the next day. An early Tuesday morning. It was time for the Delaware County Young Poets Competition to finally begin. Emmanuel still had school, but he was excused from three class periods.  

After the final contestants recited their poems it was my time to present mines. Walking down the isle to a big stage to present in front of a crowd over 300 people wouldn’t be easy.

“Introduce yourself and you may began reading now”, one judge said.

“My . . name is Emmanuel Kouadio. I am a third grader who attends Stonehurst Hills Elementary school.

I began to read my poem, as the audience watching me listened and lowered their tones.

“Spring is here. Whats in the air ? 

Birds are flying far and near. 

The insects are soaring, as the mowers are mowing.

I goto school and explore. 

Learn new things more and more.

After learning, then we play.

That is why I love spring everyday.”

The crowd applauded and I went to go set next to my teacher. After five minutes of discussions the judges came to an agreement on who the winners were.

“In first place. . . John Reynolds from Bywood Elementary” said one judge.

“In second place. . . Lisa Vincent from Westbrook Park Elementary” said another judge.

“Last, but not least third place goes to. . . Emmanuel Kouadio from Stonehurst Hills Elementary” said by the last judge.

At that moment I felt so confident to hear my name be called and people cheer me on. My poem wasn’t that bad, the judges understood me when I spoke, and I represented my school by winning. That was one of the best memories having to do with my language involving speech/ the way I talk. From that day on I promised to always have  confidence in my own area of language arts and try.

Christmas Memories

By. Emmanuel Kouadio

Full of excitement my cousin Ronnie came into my room and woke me up. After he woke up I realized it was the 25th day of December, Christmas. I went down stairs to go see what my family had in store for me. When I got downstairs my cousins and their parents were happy and excited. To me it was just another day, a day that I loss and couldn’t regain. When I came downstairs I saw my uncle Ronnie, his wife Linda, and their two kids Jason and Caroline. I greeted everyone.

I went to go sit down for a traditional family breakfast, waffles and bacon. My cousin Caroline was telling me how she was because her parents got the wrong colored shoes for her. I told her that she should appreciate what her parents brought her. Some kids didn’t receive any gifts today, so therefore we should be grateful for what we have. I got a little deep into explaining to her, since she was a 10 year old spoiled girl that gets anything from her parents. I told her that she should cherish her gift especially is someone went out their way to get gifts and thought about you.  When you don’t appreciate a gift that can hurt someones feelings. She apologized to her mom, even though she didn't mean it.

What is the reason for Christmas anyway? I felt hurt, but I tried to have fun with my family. I never figured the reason of Christmas until one day something major happened. Today marked the three year anniversary of my parents death. They died on Christmas Eve from a head on car collision. Ever since my parents died I have been trying to figure out “Who am I?” and what can I do to honor my parents. That questioned ran through my head ever since they passed. I really miss my parents and sometimes I just feel like crying, but I realized that I have to be happy, live up to my expectations, and become the man my parents expected me to become.

I’m Jason Henson a smart 13 year old orphan who is mixed into society, living with my uncles middle classed family. Since my parents died I have been living in Brooklyn, New York a rough neighborhood where dreams are hard to come true or even exist. My uncle and aunt are pediatrician’s at Lennox Hill Hospital near our home. Me and my cousin Ronnie are the same age and are in 8th grade, while Caroline is in 6th grade. I finished my delicious breakfast and went over to sit with my family. Their were gifts of different shapes and sizes waiting for me. I started to let a tear drop because I was so happy. I thanked them because it showed how much they loved me. 

After my family gave me my presents I asked to take them to my room, so that I can open them by myself. Caroline and Ronnie finally learned to appreciate presents from loved ones. I opened all my gifts and was happy. I had new sneakers, clothes, games, and a lot of money from friends and family. I put all my gifts on one table and I realized I had one gift left. I went to open my gift. It was in an envelope, so I thought it was more money. I opened it to see a moral of my parents. This was the best christmas memory ever.

¡Hola! ¿Qué Mas? SLA es un pequeño edificio. SLA tiene cinco pisos, pero sólo utiliza cuatro. SLA es muy divertida, sociable, y un trabajador escuela. Señor. Lehman es el principal. En almuerzo los niños son muy sociables. En SLA tenemos que arte, bioquímica, Español, literature (ingles), almuerzo, teatro, y informática. SLA tiene las computadoras para los estudiantes. Tenemos el club de música, el club de poesía, y el club de arte. SLA hay quinientos estudiantes y veinticinco profesores. Los estudiantes son muy cómicos y inteligentes. Los profesores son muy sociables, inteligentes, y creativos. Está en Filadelfia. SLA es muy interesante y un buen ambiente para mi.

¿Qué más? Mi nombre es Emmañuel. Tengo quince años. Soy arficano - americano. Vivo en Filadelfia. Se conoce como “La Ciudad de Armor Fraternal.” ¿Qúe tal? ¿De donde eres tú? ¿Qúe tiempo hace hoy en Maracaibo, Venezuela? Me gusta escuchar música, practiacr deportes, y ir de compras. Me gusta Kobe Bryant y él es basante deportista. No me gusta nada leer, estudiar, y trabajar. ¿Y a ti? ¿Qúe te gusta hacer en Maracaibo? Soy muy cómico y bobo, sin embargo soy inteligente. También soy muy delgado y lindo. ¿Y tú? ¿Cómo eres tú? Bueno, me voy porque tengo que ir al baño. Responde cuando puedas. ¡Hasta mañana!

Con cariño,

Emmañuel