Banned/Challenged Books

I was amazed to see all of the books that have been banned/challenged at some time. I can understand some of these books being challenged, but I don't know if it's necessary to completely ban books.

Most of these books are not children's books; they're for adults, or young adults. I think that by the time you may think of reading one of these books, you can make a decision for yourself it it's appropriate. Schools can give the option for an alternate book if you or your parents do not approve, but I don't think it's necessary to take the opportunity away from the whole class.

A few books on the list were children's books, and they really surprised me. They included Winnie the Pooh, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and Charlotte's Web. I would have never guessed that these books would ever be banned or challenged, and I think that sometimes people look a little too much into it.

Epitaph in Slaughterhouse-Five

I believe the epitaph shown in the book is about how people generally view war. Earlier on in Slaughterhouse-Five, there was discussion about how war can be glorified and made to seem much better and more glamorous. Before the picture of the epitaph is shown, Valencia was telling Billy that she thinks he's full of secrets; she goes on to say he has things he doesn't want to talk about. When she asked if war was awful, Billy got the idea of this epitaph. I think this is definitely about how war is viewed and how it is very flawed. Billy does not tell her many of many upsetting things about his experiences; he mostly hides it. "Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt," is what he may think will be said about his war.

Schindler's List

In Film Theory we watched Schindler's List. Schindler's List is about a man, Oskar Schindler, who saved many Jewish people during the Holocaust. He employs them in a factory that will save their lives. He works out a deal with Amon to allow him to move the factory to Poland. Amon leads the concentration camps and isn't at first aware of Schindler's good intentions. Those who were taken to the factory in Poland were on "Schindler's List".

The whole movie is black and white, except the ending and one article of clothing. A little girl is seen early on in the movie with a red coat; it sticks out because her surroundings are all black and white. Later on, the red corpse sticks out from the numerous dead bodies around her. It's a very sad part of the film---she was just an innocent, young girl who had her life taken from her.

Overall, Schindler's List is a very sad movie. It shows how terrible the Holocaust really was and how many innocent lives were taken away. I think it does a good job of showing some realistic events of war and how upsetting it really is. However, it does show that some people, like Schindler, realize that and have good intentions of helping others. I think the goal of this film is to be realistic and accurately tell the truth of the story.

Slaughterhouse Five talks a lot about how war is glorified and is portrayed inaccurately in the media. That's similar to Schindler's List because they both point out all of the awful things that war includes. I think that they both have similar intentions; it's clear that Kurt Vonnegut wanted the message about the truth of war to be spoken through the book, and I think that Schindler's List did that well, too. The film itself was based on a true story, and it was undoubetdly an intention of the director to tell this story accurately. They both point out all of the innocent children who are a part of war---the soldiers in Slaughterhouse Five and the Jewish and German children in Schindler's List. In Schindler's List, many children were forced to follow the Nazi's orders and commit terrible acts.

Yes, Mary O'Hare would like Schindler's List. The Holocaust was not glorified in any way. Yes, the movie had some good moments, but it was all about a struggle. The scenes and images throughout this movie were upsetting and showed you how terrible the Holocaust was. You get a real idea of what the concentration camps were like and how helpless those people must have felt.

Heroes

We've been talking about heroes in class this week, and it got me thinking about the concept of heroes. We had a discussion on different heroes in books and movies, but I started to think of who my heroes are in real life. I remember in 5th grade, our writing assessment was "Everyday Heroes". We didn't right about athletes or celebrities that are our heroes; we wrote about the people that have an impact on us everyday.

While I was thinking about who my heroes are, many ideas came to mind. I thought of parents, who I think are heroes to most of us in one way or another, friends, my brothers, and other relatives. In fifth grade I wrote about one of my best friends at the time, and I also wrote about my younger cousin. One thing that I think really defines a hero is someone that can look at the positive in life and have an unselfish desire to help others. 

One person stuck out in my mind as someone who really is an everyday hero. My Aunt Lynn lost her husband to cancer about ten years ago. At the time, they had two children: one was 5 years old, and one was 2 years old. Obviously, this was an extremely tough time in her life. It was very difficult for Tanner, the five year old, because he was aware of what was going on. Lynn took him to Camp Hope here in Wisconsin, where some of her family lives. Camp Hope is a camp for children who have lost a close family member. It was beneficial to Tanner, and Lynn went on to start a Camp Hope in California. She organizes all of these non-profit camps for children and makes a difference in many lives. Lynn is just a great person and has a way of making everyone happy around her. She has raised two, now three, great kids.

I think of Lynn as a hero because she has gone through a lot of difficulties, but she has turned them into positive things. What do you think defines a hero? Who is a hero of yours?

A Member of a Group: Basketball Team

Ive been a part of many different basketball teams---YMCA youth basketball teams, McFarland varsity basketball team, and many AAU teams. I've felt like I was a part of all of these groups. One of these teams was the Wisconsin Swing. I played for them around my freshman year, and I loved the team as a whole. That whole summer I felt like I was an important part of that team, and it made a huge difference.

 One game in particular, I felt like I belonged more than ever. We were playing an older team from a very well-known club in the state. It was close throughout the whole game, but we were down by two with very little time left. We had the possession, and we needed to score. After we got the ball in, I, the point guard, had the ball and was dribbling through the press; however, I stepped on the line. I felt terribly and I was so embarrassed. They had the ball out of bounds under the basket, and we somehow prevented them from getting it in. A five second calll was called, and we were given the ball. I had just let down my teammates, and the last thing I wanted was to have the ball at that time. However, my coach and team were behind me, and the best shooter on my team said that I should take the shot. I didn't want to, but with only about three seconds left, she passed me the ball in the backcourt. I dribbled the length of the court and took a running three-pointer from several feet beyond the arc and made it.

My whole team was there cheering me on, and I felt so good about myself. They had a lot of confience in me, and that gave me more confidence I had just let them down, yet they believed in me and it worked out this time. All of my teammates and my coach were so happy for me and were very excited; I truly felt like I was a part of their group.

Moodle

We've just finished our collaboration with the UW-Madison students. I actually liked how it worked. I thought my group had a very fair amount of work, maybe a little much towards the end, but overall it was very reasonable. I think this experience definitely depended on which group you were in. It seemed that other groups complained of an excess amount of work and unclear instructions, but my group's assignments were pretty straight-forward.
The first day when we met our group, we were given a pretty good idea of what the whole assignment would be like. This was very helpful, and it helped the whole process. We had a very similar amount of work each time, so I really knew what to expect. Sometimes it looked like a lot of work, but once I got started, it wasn't too bad.
Again, I can only speak for my own group, but I think this was a good experience overall. Either way, it was something new for them as well, and it was probably very beneficial to them as they study to become teachers.

Metamorphosis

I woke up one morning, turned off my alarm clock, and went to get some breakfast---like any other morning. I ate my breakfast, and started to get ready for open gym. When I arrived at the school, I put on my basketball shoes and got up to get a basketball. I planned to start with build-ups, like I do before every game and work out; however, I couldn’t seem to remember how to shoot. I couldn’t hit the basket, and I had no idea how to shoot properly. Confused, I thought I’d take a break from shooting and work on ball handling. As I started to dribble, my dad walked in the gym and asked, “What are you doing? Get to work.” I was dribbling with two hands, and I could not control the ball. I was staring directly at the ball. All of my muscle memory was gone. My dad was extremely frustrated and confused. Of course, he was just worried about me getting my work done. He wasn’t concerned with what was happening to me…he wanted me to practice. I didn’t know what to do; how could everything I know be gone all of a sudden? I couldn’t really believe it, and my dad didn’t seem to believe it at all. I was extremely upset and I couldn’t function; I’ve spent endless hours working hard to be a better basketball player since I was in fourth grade. It was a part of me and who I am. I stood there confused while my dad’s frustration rose. 

Perks of Being a Wallflower Ending

I thought the ending of The Perks of Being a Wallflower was very interesting. It was interesting how the whole book leads to revealing an event of his past. The epilogue showed how wise Charlie is, and he said some great things that many people, including me, do not regularly consider. Charlie says that he could blame someone for what happened, and there's probably someone you can blame for anything. However, he then says that in order to blame someone you'd have to blame everyone that had an impact on them. He writes, "It's like if I blamed my aunt Helen, I would have to blame her dad for hitting her when she was little. And the person who fooled around with him. And God for not stopping all this and things that are much worse." I thought this was a really interesting way to look at it, and I can't imagine going through what Charlie went through without blaming her for it. He talks about how we are all who we are for many reasons and we may never know many of them. He says that we don't have the power to choose where we're from, but we can still choose where we go from there. I just thought that this was a great ending to the book; it answered questions about Charlie that came up throughout the book, and it offered a look at what the book was really all about.