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.

Racism/Segregation

So, I'm watching Remember the Titans on TV right now, and it's reminding me of the segregation that is talked about in Fences. They both combine segregation and sports in one way or another. It's a much bigger issue in Remember the Titans, but Troy also mentions it several times in Fences. Remember the Titans takes place in 1971, and Fences takes place in the 1950s. I was amazed to find out that this movie takes place after the Civil Rights Movement and after Fences. The high school in this movie is completely segregated, and the people in the town do not accept the African Americans at all. Finally, they agree to let them play together, but the other teams still are very judgmental and completely unreasonable. At that time, racism was still a huge issue. It's really sad to watch this movie and see what African Americans had to go through. Most of them weren't even given a shot, and this was almost twenty years later than the novel. This led me to have some understanding for where Troy is coming from. Don't get me wrong, I think that Troy should've given Cory a chance to play football; parents should give their kids as many opportunities as possible, but I can see why he might feel that he needs to protect him. I don't necessarily think he did it in order to protect his son, but it's a possibility, and he could've potentially protected him from a lot of horrible things that were done to African Americans at this time. Many people probably would not have accepted Cory, and he would've gone through some difficult times in order to get to his success.  I hope that Troy made his decision because he was trying to help his son out, but it's very hard to tell.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I've read about 50 pages so far in The Perks of Being a Wallflower. One of the first things I noticed was that Stephen Chbosky has his own, unique style of writing. The story is told through Charlie, a freshman in high school. He tells about his experiences through letters to an unknown recipient. Each letter begins with "Dear Friend,". The only real clue we get (so far) about who this recipient is, and why he's writing to him/her, is at the beginning of the first letter. Charlie says: "I am writing to you because she said you listen and understand..." He goes on to say that he does not want the recipient to know who he is, nor find him. The letters are very informal and not always gramatically correct.  I think this helps Chbosky to portray the full personality of Charlie, and in some ways, it makes the story more realistic. He writes like many teenager would casually write, instead of writing with an extensive vocabulary and perfect mechanics. I think his writing style is really interesting and the story is better because of it. How do you think this writing style helps or takes away from the story? What do you think of his writing style?

Intro Post

Interests: I spend a lot of time playing basketball, and I hope to play for another four years. I love spending time with my family and friends. I also really enjoy traveling.

Post High School Plans:  I plan to attend UW-LaCrosse next year to pursue a degree in Biology. Then, I hope to get in to their P.A. program; eventually I would like to become a Physician's Assistant. I'll also play basketball in college.

Favorite Book: My favorite author is Jodi Picoult, and my favorite book, also written by her, is My Sister's Keeper.