Book Cover -To Kill a Mockingbird

I chose to make the cover like this (with a southern background, and a mockingbird in the top of the tree) because I wanted to highlight the southern genre of the book, and by putting on top the black tree, it was like mixing the genre with the main symbol and theme of the book: the mockingbird. And so it made it look old fashioned but the tree and the mockingbird gave it a little of a modern twist in the design.

Lord of the Flies Review

In Harry Hook's 1990 Lord of the Flies film small unimportant details that were changed gave a small twist in every scene, each time blurring Golding's original thinking and theme. The three things that I thought that as a movie following a book, were supposed to be portrayed to capture the real essence of the story,were: the Lord of the Flies, the boy's process to savagery, and Simon's godly spirit.

Being the title of the novel, The Lord of the Flies, obviously is important in the story; the story basically revolves around it… This becomes evident by the middle of the plot when Simon is talked by this evil spirit that is basically the cause of all the loss of innocence and evilness that is destroying civilization between themselves. Yet, in the movie, that part was totally skipped; Simon looks at the sow and leaves. If anyone who hadn't read the book and only watched the movie, wouldn't get the real context that Golding wanted to get across about the evil spirit, that wanted the boys to follow violence, and fall into temptation.

The change in the children, is a support to the theme of Lord of the Flies. It's supposed be evident to the reader the change from when they got to the island to the time they stayed there. The innocence to savagery is not shown as delicately in the movie than in the book. In the movie the evolution from civilization to becoming wild is as if it was just a game from one day to another, and not a slow process toward the pivotal point when they were almost going to kill each other. So it basically leaves you kind of confused, and lost, concerning the inside part of the plot, because you don't see the change with that much importance as it is supposed to be.

Simon is the neutral energy in the island, the Godly figure. The one that helps level the savagery between the kids. In the book, since the beginning, Simon's "goodness" is evident; and as the story goes on, we can see that is more than just a good spirit… Apart from trying to help the little kids, he goes to a peaceful point in the deep forest, relaxes, and connects with nature. By this point, we know that he is more that just a kind-hearted kid. In the movie, Simon doesn't get to be more than a kind-hearted kid, just there; the only part that was important shown by the character of Simon was the scene of his death. Once again the movie abstracted one of Golding main statement, this time of religion.

I believe that as a good reader, you should always understand what you read; stop, analyze, and acknowledge the information. In my opinion, Harry Hook's 1990 Lord of the Flies film didn't portrait the necessary points of the inside and outside plot of the original, and therefore it wasn't as deep and meaningful as the Golding's book.

Jem's Journal Entry

In Maycomb county, a place where most of the people are racists, where everyone knows each other, and where they think they know everything about each family and their members.

My father --Atticus Finch-- is a lawyer (that's what I wish I could be when I grow up), I try following the stteps he tells me to take because I know he knows what he's doing, and by following his wise advices maybe I'll get to be like him someday. He is working on a case that has been tensioning and shaking up the county for the past few months. It is about a young black man called Tom Robinson accused for the rape of a white girl --Mayella Ewel.

In a type of county like Maycomb, everyone's mind will figure that the black man is guilty obviously because, in everyone's head, black are very much inferior to whites and that's what black men would do (rape). But I know he is not guilty, Atticus told me so, and I know he said the truth. The problem was convincing and showing the jury...

The day of the trial, Mr. Ewel, Mayella, and Tom gave their testimony. Mr. Ewel and Mayella's were pretty convincing, however, they was a point which the story was dulled, and made it doubtfull. For example, that how come they didn't called a doctor, that Mr. Ewel was left handed and Mayella's wounds were on her right side, and that how come that the children around hadn't heard Mayella's "scream". All this points were made by Atticus, and I was so proud! I felt that we had got the case. With all those points I was more than convinced, I was sure!

When Tom gave his testimony, everything was more convincing and pretty much self explanatory... If you though about it, Mayella being an Ewell (meaning living next to the dumpster like animals), not having a social life, and being a nineteen-year old; made it very probable that she had made up a story so that she didn't have to say that she kissed a negro. But who would believe a negro's testimony? Not this judge... Even if I felt that we had got it, I knew the veredict even before they had said it. Atticus was devastated, just like me. This wasn't fair, I could see it, why couldn't the others? They always had to have so much pride in themselves....

Eulogy for Simon

Simon. Good old Simon. We all knew him, we all could rely on him, and now, we all miss him. Everyone of us here present today in this memorial, are aware of how such a good person he strived to be in his short 12 years of life. I looked up to him, he was my mentor, I thought that it was almost impossible for such a pure spirit to exist, and it did; and it was my best friend. He taught me many lessons, that I know they will help me throughout life, and since the day we met I could see a future relationship between us.

It was a cloudy day at recess, my first day in the british school for boys after I moved from Germany. I was the new kid, the different one, the perfect aim for bullies. Even if you don't believe it second graders can be great bullies… So there I was, behind the bushes were the teacher's eye didn't reach, out of breath running from the group of boys that had chased calling me "fatty". Shedding a couple of tears, and with a wound on my knee, I heard some one approaching through the bushes. I felt a pad on a shoulder, and as I looked I found this thin bony kid that with his dark eyes, and light hair look as if he glowed from the dark uniform. I remember his words "Recess is over in five minutes, you better stand up, you don't want to be late". I couldn't believe that someone was actually being nice to me. So he helped me stand up, and took a petal from the flowers and rubbed it into my bloody knee. It helped it feel cool, and the pain eased. Then, we left to class. That's the day I will always remember, the day I made a new friend. We only didn't become just friends, we became one spirit and as we grew older through grades we became a team, isolated from the environment; i felt the difference from the others…

Simon taught me many things…. He started on showing me that violence wasn't the right way. He was always calm, and whenever he got an opportunity to help anyone with anything, he would. And the thing I admired from him was that he got respected for it. While the others looked up to war; we went to our house on the tree. Going there was our scape, and isolation from society, where we could be happy and satisfied and so we gave it the nickname of "heaven". The first time we went to "heaven" was in the middle of the summer before third grade, an early thursday morning I was out my door by seven thirty with a red wagon with my favorite toys,and a couple of snacks; I started walking down the street, until the trees at the end of the street. Went through the small forest, and then turn right after the bushes with pink flowers. He was waiting for me,as always. We were anxious, our mouth didn't pronounce any words because our eyes were too eager to see for the first time the finished house on the tallest tree, the one we had worked very hard in last couple of weeks. When we got there, we were amazed. Totally open-mouthed, and no expression. We took our wagons up the 17 steps up and arrange what we had brought. It felt the top of the world, an unreachable point, were nothing could scare you because nothing would reach. If you looked out you could see the clear azure of the sky,the whole forest beneath, and the street far away enough. All of our fears were far beneath us, here we were free. As we started to the outsides, he suddenly came up with the name. And since then everything we referred to it we referred to this house as heaven, because it actually made sense; it made us feel high above, as if we were in heaven. And so it became a habit for us to go there, play, and forget about our third grade problems.

What I admired the most about Simon, was that since I met him, he was very attached to his value of religion. He was always sure of what he believed in, and he never doubt any of this. That made me look up more for him, I wanted to follow his steps… So in fourth grade we joined the choir.

We stayed after school to practice everyday, believe it or not it was really extrict. Joining this, took a lot of time off from the noon time where we used to go to heaven, but once we were in this choir we couldn't get out. And so we learn and rehearsed over and over again our songs and our choreographies. When we were released we got home about six at noon, tired and sleepy we only had time to eat, look through homework, and go to bed. Simon and I tried our best to visit heaven Saturdays if we had the opportunity, but that was rarely the case…. Everyday the street got less safer, because war started to get close. So it was better not to go out. To tell you the truth we were worried, we might have heard about war in the news and read about it in class, but it had never been that close. Simon highly disliked it, when ever we heard the terrible news that were used to go around he said that everything was going to be okay, but I knew that he was as scared as I was, but I couldn't do anything.

The day I felt a hole in my heart was when I came back from choir practice. I entered my house all I could see were boxes and boxes. I knew what that meant; we were moving. I spotted my parents and Simon sitting on the last couch. They started with a speech saying that we weren't safe here anymore, and that it was better for us to move. But nothing made sense, the only thing that hovered in my mind was that I was going to separate from from Simon, and not being able to go to heaven anymore. But when things couldn't get worse, Simon told me that he had just been informed that he was leaving to some kind of special camp on an island across de continent, and that he was leaving tomorrow… I couldn't believe it, I couldn't see my life without Simon. He had became such a big part of my life; that if I left I was leaving half of my life with him. So what we decided was to go to heaven for the last time. And we did, we walked down the street, until the trees at the end of the street. Went through the small forest, and then turn right after the bushes with pink flowers, and climb 17 steps on the tallest trees. We played with our favorite toys, and ate of our left over snacks one last time…. And he gave me his Cross that he always carried in his pocket, so that I would not be alone when we both left.

The next day went through pretty fast, Simon and I had a quick goodbye but I felt satisfied. For all I had been through with him, and for all I had learned from him. I knew that I was going to miss him, but that I would never feel alone. I promise myself to never loose the Cross, and take it everywhere with me. And so each one of us took our different paths…

The day of the news, was one of my hardest days… My mom went pick me up early in my school in Spain, and he told me the horrible news…. I was in shock, I couldn't believe it, my world turned upside down… I know that everyone's did. But we couldn't do anything, and we shouldn't be worried because i know it's sure that he is in the real heaven by now.

You Can't Have It All

But you can have a colorful dawn that as you walk through the sand,

the last rays of the day hide between the horizon and the sea,

like a little kid going to sleep.

You can have a delicate whisper from your Dad waking you up on a Sunday morning with the smell of tasty pancakes and sweet hot cocoa. You can have the purr of a cat as it curls on your bed

with the deep look of it's mysterious gaze. You can have happiness,

though often it may seem hard to reach, like an apple hanging high from its tree;

after several tries standing on your tip toes you take a little hop and get it. You can dive into a pool and feel how the sweat blends with the water as each drop from a splash lands on your face leaving behind the heat of the sweltering radiant day. You can have pictures to look at, and bring back unforgettable memories laying in the past,

like the sea bringing back and forth little shells and rocks. You can get to meet distinctive people, and learn from them everyday. You can't undo your mistakes, but you can learn from them and take two steps forward for that step back. And you can be grateful for chocolate, the way it pleases your taste buds and waters your mouth, grateful for music, always there as a company, cheer, or go with your mood, for cotton blankets wrapping you with its softness, for big desires, for watermelon, for hands. You can have a dream,

a dream about of traveling, traveling around the world and finding amazing things everywhere.

You can't walk through without falling,

but as you tumble upon you'll learn about love, trust, have good and bad times, but most importantly you'll grow strong. And when you get to the point where you have a hundred reasons to be sad,

you'll find a million reasons to make you smile like a kiss on the cheek, an untroubled road to follow, butterflies on your tummy, a good book on a rainy day, granny's comfort when you're sad. You can't have the answers to all the questions, but you can have a goodnight kiss as a goodbye, or as a beginning of a whole night of dreams that someday can be reached, inspirations that would open paths, or wonders about what yesterday left behind and what is waiting tomorrow; thoughts about wheter you can or cannot

have it all.

Life's Silhouette

Description:

I believe that life has copious ways of seeing it from its many angles, and that there is infinite ways of describing it. For me, poems are what really get me thinking about what life really is, and how everyday can be different from each other affecting you in all their ways. Values are the core of life, and I looked for poems that could portayed them like love being what everything revolves around. I chose this poems I felt I could relate and understand what the poet wanted to get across.

Synopsis:

These poems are heart touching, and make you think about what life really is; a way to think over life.

An Easter Ballad by Allen Ginsberg

Touched by an Angel by Maya Angelou

There is Another Sky by Emily Dickinson

Alone by Maya Angelou

One Art by Elizabeth Bishop

The Soul unto Itself by Emily Dickinson

In the Morning of Life by Thomas Moore

A Life by Sylvia Plath

When I was Puerto Rican - Book Review

When I was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago

Publisher: Vintage

Genre: Memoir

Where I got it: It was a recommendation from Mrs. Meadows --my english teacher.

One sentence summary: Coming of age story going through Negi's (Esmeralda's) life that started in the rural parts of Macun, Puerto Rico, and as she grows up progressing to a graduation in New York City Highschool of Performing Arts, with a lot of lesson learned in the progress and a whole life in front of her.

First sentence: We came to Macun when I was four, to a rectangle of rippled metal sheets on stilts hovering in the middle of a circle of red dirt.

First chapter review: This first chapter basically gives a background of how her life is, this takes place in a rural side. We see that is evident that she is a little kid because of the way she has innocent views toward the world. We are introduced to her family members, and with their interaction we can conclude that they are not the kind of family with a lot of money, but the find the way through struggles sticking always with their traditional ways that go with their culture, and that definitely is a big part of them because it defines who they truly are, always portraying all of this to the kids.

Verdict: I definitely liked this book, I felt that it was truthful and descriptive enough to love it. Esmeralda Santiago portrayed and explained this memoir so delicately and efficiently that every reader, as different as they could be, would understand perfectly how her culture, her relationship, and surroundings had the power to affect her and change her in all the different ways.

Cover comments: There is a face of a teenage girl that is obviously latin because of her traits of dark hair and thick eye brows, and if you look at the details behind you can see the hay roof of a small rural house. I think that is really significative of the novel because I think that the background represents her roots, or where she started, and the picture of this girl represents her coming of age.

Summer Lime --Benjamin Moore 2026-60

Quiet whistles

from the balmy breeze

coming up-hill,

passed through the windows.

brought the aroma

of the dancing mango leaves

and summer-grown lemon rines,

just like fresh-cut grass:

delicate

delightful

deserving

for a summer evening.

The silver sun streaks

covered your body,

Feeling the affection from

the warmth

of the air

blow by blow...

A signal that the

gray

grouchy

ghastly city

was far,

and here we had this

green

gentle

glimmering escape.

Bright-green,

green-yellowish,

orangish-red,

glowing mangos hang

from the

copious branches

embellished with leaves,

waiting for the time

for them to fall,

and land beside the lime bush

to have somewhere to lay,

and be tumbled by the tropical breeze,

and then picked up.

The kind of breezes,

the kind of mangos,

the kind of bushes,

that make you truly

sense

smell

and savor

summer lime.

Maybe it's Only Us...

On two sides

was the bright beach,

behind,

the lagoon.

In front,

the darkness of the island.

He found himself

understading

the wearisomeness of life.

Only here could be allow his feet to move

Sun in his face;

though it were part of a brighter childhood.

There must be no mistake

no chasing imaginary...

about this assembly.

Not for laughing

or for falling off the log

not for making jokes

not fun

but bussiness.

Bring water from streams,

shelters,

then the fire....

And the Beast:

the black,

humped figure

against the lagoon.

Considering

the vast streches of water,

the high sea beyond,

heard silently

the sough,

the whisper from the reef;

unknown infinate of possiblities.

It's fear

but there's nothing in it

Fear can't hurt you anymore than a dream....

Crybabies!

Be frightened

if you like.

But as for the beast--

I'm a hunter or not?

The assembly cried out savagley

Ralph

moved restlessly

stood up in amazement

looked at jack open mouthed.

You Simon?

You believe in this?

Maybe it's only us....

The world,

that understandable

and lawful

world,

was slipping away so suddenly.

Maybe it's only us.

Where I'm From

I am from weekend's homemade pancakes,

dripping with butter and maple syrup.

I am from downstairs parks of tall buildings,

capacious, mysterious, and secret.

I'm from the silent whistle of the wind.

I'm from fresh orchids, the cape gooseberry.

From the sunday breakfasts, and evening movies.

I am from the never let you down, and I'm here for you.

From Daddy's support, to Mommy's comfort.

From don't play with fire or you'll get burned,

to it's friday let's get out of the city.

I'm from catholic views, but atheist habits.

I am from Colombia, BB-Q meat, and homemade rice.

From the days we started our new life,

on another page

I'm from the biggest step taken.

From the fading encrypted memories in the albums,

casually remembered, yet never forgotten.

I am from those moments,

a permanent path that is carved to the core,

reaching the roots

of where I am from.

WWL8- Japan Earthquake

One Japan's most powerful earthquake recorded stroke on a copious area of the north east coast on Friday, March 11, preceding a ten meter tsunami.

The fitful quake of an 8,9 magnitude, took place during the evening. It affected the community and the people -- leaving about 10,000 daunting deaths.

The audible sound of the buildings crushing down was a crucial call for authorities to evacuate the remaining victims; but once they saw the tremendous wave coming, there wasn't any adept action they could deploy to decelerate the calamitous wave that on a speed of 200 kilometers per hour deluged the capacious streets of the northeaster coast land.

Many homes were destroyed taken by the water; large number of corps where found, and yet there were still many people missing. The only way to facilitate the fastidious situation was to grapple with the problem, hope for no more damage, and simply wait.

While the Japanese felt a pang of desperation, the waves that were formed by the tsunami travelled 4,000 miles at a high speed all the way to the pacific coast approaching Hawaii.

Go Ask Alice - Book Review

Go ask Alice written by an anonymous author, is a memoir that takes us in a journey of Alice's calamitous world of drugs, the consequences, and her struggles to get out of it. Even if the first purpose of the entries weren't for a book, it gives vivid descriptions of experiences and thoughts. It's a novel in which it makes the reader understand the depth of the situation and connect with the character. The title drags you in because it is basically telling to go to Alice, after all that she's been through, and it's interesting because in the whole novel her name is not mentioned but you know her name for the title.

This epistolary memoir, dived into two diaries -- one was for her old life, and the second was for her renewed self-- shows the life of fifteen year old Alice.

She comes to realize after her awful experiences that drugs don't bring anything good with them, but she might have realized that in a point that there wasn't any option to go back, or even cover her past. She grew up in a loving family, but always had a non satisfying hole with her. She never had some one to be sure to rely on, and that made her emotionally weak trying to take an opportunity that passed her by. Because of this she trusted the wrong people, and got to the wrong places. Alice went through a lot in a period of one year, and went into the darkest places, came into the light, yet she came back there.

This roller coaster ride of the horrors of addiction, takes you in the ride to know the memoirist and emotionally attach to to her. It's a book in which you would want to never stop. You read her diary, enter her world, and never forget her.

Lines I loved:

"All the dumb, idiot kids who think they are only chipping are in reality just existing from one experience to the other. After you've had it, there isn't even life without drugs. It's a plodding, colorless, dissonant bare existence. it stinks. And I'm glad I'm back. Glad! Glad! Glad! I've never had it better that I had it last night." p. 97

What I Believe

I believe that life is like coming in and out of tunnels;
it may be narrow,
long,
and even dark,
but at some point we break up to the light.

I believe that your day depends on which foot you get up with.

I believe that the sun set
isn't ending,
but begining to a night
ushered in by the light of the stars.

I believe that you should give love,
to get love.

I believe in the cleansing effect of the summer rains.

I believe you should live
a living,
and loving
life.

I believe in the power of will;
if you think you can,
go ahead.

I believe that there's a certain point
in which you have to risk it all
be silly
and just enjoy.

I believe that your believes are your core...
And that you should never
ever
stop believing.

3 word short

Year 2311, time where population had grown 500 times more in a couple of centuries, where there was barely any nature, and water was everyone's biggest and most wanted privilege. A year where "nation" and "unity" didn't appear in the electronic dictionary, but only in the few old dictionary copies that english professor had left to their grand children...

The world was a dissapointment, not how everyone from the past would have thought about it.

After the rebelion, America was left in a state of anarchy for the last century loosing all contact with other continents. Leaving rukus everywhere, and crazy people trying to control themselves.

Obviously many groups of powerfull people had conspire to what they called "great plans to conquer the Americas", but as you might guess... FAILED. It was fail after fail with more disaster in each one. But no one ever understood, each generation of man kind was more stupid than the previous one.

America was a mess, burned places, fire here and there, random people running from side to side looking for food and water.

One day, unexpectedly, when everyone was tired of conspiring to conquer America, an Asian emperor from a small country that no one knew about, came with the purpose that many people wanted to accomplish long ago.

So he went around on his llama, and apprehended people and sent them to a jail that he had built. And little by little he cleared up everything, and he and his llama conquered the Americas.

4 word short- The Secret

It was easy. Easy to assimilate her into society, but no one ever wondered about the consequences...

The new girl was good news to the town. It was surprising that someone so young and pretty would move to a small town like that. Everyone was glad that there was a new face, something that changed the every day life that they were used to.

This girl was apparently nicer and better than the others, it was easy to notice. Some girls wanted to be their friends, some wanted to be like her, and others envied her for her perfectness.

Every morning she would pick up trash at the park, feed the birds, and help the elders, always with a smile in her face. The mayor never got tired of thanking her, soon enough it felt as if she had been lionized.

People were amazed, but others started to feel suspicious.... It was really weird for some like her, so young and with lots of possibilities, not be in some place else. So one day, when this girl was meticulously fixing the garden, a group of girls conspired to get into her house and try to find something suspicious.

Unfortunately, they did. Some stuff that they never expected. Turns out they found many articled a murder in Texas, and some weapons. These girls were shocked, they couldn't believe it. They obviously went to tell everybody. And everyone was shocked as well, dissension over powered and rumors started.

For being such a small town, the rumors obviously were heard by this girl, she was expressionless. People were taking it the wrong way!

So she gathered everyone and told them the truth...

Although she felt betrayed and hurt, she told the town that she lived in a bad neighborhood in Texas... And all her family had been killed when a group of crazy people entered her house when they were all there. She was the only one who survived. Very disturbed she decided to move to this small town that she had heard of just to start from cero. Tears runned through faces, and feeling guilty for the rumors the people from this town proposed to each other that they would give this girl what she wanted: a new beginning.