To Kill a Mockingbird: Book Cover

I chose this idea as my book cover because the watch is the one they found in the tree in the Radley's place, it symbolized Tom Robinson's death and how time is all worth it as the book comes to an end. The mockingbird flying away and into the watch is symbolizing how the innocent is not saved and they have flown away into the time that has been too short for them to live. And the tree in the back ground is the mystery of the Radley place.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Jem's Journal

We walked home from the trial, defeated and tired, Tom was give another chance, at a much better court. Anyone i their right mind should've believed Tom, Atticus has shown a completely different side of himself. He had said all the evidence and made it perfectly clear that Tom Robinson was innocent, but the jury was ignorant and stubborn, just like the rest of Maycomb. Atticus was so precise and clear, I was surprised I never notice how professional he was at being a lawyer. We were all sure that Tom would be set free, but then I realized the full extent the jury will go through just to prove that nergroes are trash.

I felt sorry for Mayella Ewell, she had no one to turn to, she was trapped by poverty and her father. Scout doesn't have much friends that are girls but she's got me, Dill and Atticus. Even though Mayella looks like a lying scum to some people who defended Tom, she wants to be different, if you just look close enough, you can just about see the fear in her eyes, and not fear of Tom Robinson.

The next day, that morning was greeted by heaps of gifts. Cal told us that it was from the people who appreciated all that Atticus had done for Tom. Atticus even got tears in his eyes. Miss Stephanie came around sniffing at our food, then she told us about Bob Ewell's threat to Atticus. I felt my hands begin to shake, just like it did when we went afte Atticus that night and he was almost killed with Tom. Dill, Scout and I dragged our bodies everyday, worry weighing us down. Then Atticus told us to stop worrying and he was willing to be beaten by Bob Ewell if it meant one less for those Ewell children.

Even though Atticus told us not to worry, I felt the weight of Tom's trial, Bob's threat, the gifts from the people, and I wondered if this is how Atticus felt, everyday. Even though money is tight, there were bigger things to worry about for Atticus. I could still feel my frustration building up inside me and I try not to snap at Dill and Scout. Miss Stephaie has been spreading rumours and Tom is facing juries and hate, but I want to be just as smart and brave as Atticus, brave enough to be pelted with hate everyday, just because of what I believe in.

Hollywood and Novels

The three factor the movie, The Lord of the Flies by Harry Hook differ from the book written by William Golding, is that Ralph and Jack began as friends when they arrived, they boys came to the island together, and the conch did not break with Piggy's death.

Ralph and Jack began as friends in the movie, but in the book they began with the rivalry to be chief. I think this changes the story. Golding may have tried to prove that when they began competitive of one another, I felt a foreshadow that they were going to become enemies, and in the movie, I didn't feel that, so I think Hook missed quite a large part of the story.

The second point is that they came to the island together, while in the book, they crashed onto the island and were seperated. Harry Hook had everyone crash at sea and sail together to the island, this changed the story because Ralph blew the conch to call them all together in Golding's novel. So when he blew the conch, it had more meaning to it and showed it's form of government and civilization. In the movie they do not really use the conch as much, so I felt that the conch lost its meaning to it.

The last point that made the movie different from the book is that in Golding's version, the conch breaks into pieces along with Piggy, but in Hook's movie only Piggy dies. I think that it shows that the conch doesn't have as much authority to it, because as William Golding wrote it, when Piggy dies and the conch is destroyed, he is showing that all meaning of government and logic is destroyed along with him and the conch.

The Lord of the Flies directed by Harry Hook is different from William Golding's novel. In the book, Ralph and Jack begin fighting to be chief from the beginning, they were separated from the plane crash, and the conch broke with Piggy. In the movie, Ralph and Jack begin as friend so they never began competitive, everyone came to the island together and the conch never breaks. These statements changes the mood as the story did. In my opinion the book is better because it had every scene the movie had cut out, every sentence in the book was important and shaped the story. Golding added these scenes for a reason, and to shape the story while the movie did not.

Boys Only

In “The Lord of the Flies” written by William Golding, there are no female characters in it. If an introduction of a female character were to happen, the boys on the island may have shown more respect and try to impress her. I think that girls on the island the boys may also fight over her, trying to claim her as property, but the girls would’ve made everything more orderly, because back then boys had more chances to become educated while girls sewed and learned to cook, they would’ve prevented their government from becoming so chaotic because they might’ve respected her ideas and decisions. The boys may become more self-conscious around the girls as well, in the beginning of the book, they may have acted more politely instead of yelling amongst one another. And, girls on the island would symbolize purity and truth, like Mary Magdalene from the Bible.

It really depends on the boys and the girl how the reaction of the story will be but whether they respect her or push aside her ideas, the boys would steal try to compete for her because of how Jack and the other biguns’ feel like they need to mark their territory and look like the man of the island by trying to claim more than the other boys have. I think the girls might’ve allied with Ralph because I don’t think girls back then wanted to watch boys do war dances around a fire like wild animals.

I think that the boys may become savages faster but sane ones like Ralph, Piggy and Simon may have actually shown respect towards the girls, while Jack would completely take them for granted and would just find them as objects. Depending on the female characters, I still think most would take Ralph’s side of the tribe, therefore making them seem more unthreatening. Even if Jack is the most savage of them all, I think that he wouldn’t try to kill any of the girls because although Piggy and Simon’s death did not faze him, he would still feel guilt in killing something that symbolizes innocence and purity like female characters would.

Female characters can have also stopped violence and brutally killing, or setting the island on fire because she would’ve been able to talk sense into the boys and she could’ve been the practical one like Piggy, except no one would disrespect her as they did Piggy and the boys might not want to show that they’re so savage in front of her. On the other hand, a female character may have caused more deaths because the boys would try to compete for her, try to make her property and fight over jealousy. The boys may have lost all sense of control and would try to hunt more pigs to prove that he is the man of the island while some of the boys may try a different way and try to look more of a gentleman in front of her, either way I think the boys would forget about everything should come first like shelter and food; just like Jack and the other biguns’ got so caught up in trying to catch a pig.

A female character may not have been much of a voice as well, because the boys would push aside her ideas thinking that the boys should do all the thinking while the girls just stood by them, but I still think girls would’ve been able to stop Piggy and Simon’s death because if just enough girls had arrived on the island, they can still stop Jack and Roger from doing something so horrible. It depends on the girl because some of them might take pleasure in seeing Simon and Ralph dead as well, but most wouldn’t want anyone dying.

I think that Jack and his tribe may have found a girl useless but they would probably try to compete for her and make her property like I explained, because of their savageness and animal-like actions. The island may have not become so out of control because girls being girls, they would be ordered or feel obliged to cook, fix shelters, while the boys hunted. They would’ve been more orderly because girls would probably take on the responsibility to look after the island, so she would’ve been the mother of the island and the one that takes care of everything while the boys go around and have fun because girls feel more mature and have to take on the duty to look after everything the boys have left them with.

I think the girls may symbolize purity and holiness like Mary Magdalene from the Bible. Mary Magdalene was known to be Jesus’s most celebrated disciples and was first to see Jesus’s resurrection, she was also famous to be “apostle of apostles” meaning that she was in one of Jesus’s closest circles and took meaning and depth from Jesus. She witnesses to Jesus' crucifixion, his burial, and the discovery of his tomb to be empty. So I think a girl would represent Jesus’s right hand follower and the sanity and gentleness that girls tend to have an aura of.

Golding did not want female characters in his book is because he didn’t want an introduction of a girl to interfere with the whole story, which is the affect that the wild has on the boys and how they grow to change amongst each other, and what they do to survive in the wilderness without any adult supervision that they were always so used to and of innocence being killed and all logic and sanity destroyed and everything all about what they want, and the impact that nature has as the boys changed over time. The way that boys act more immature in the book, the girls may feel a little more reassured that there is no adult supervision or anyone to tell them how to behave and what and what’s not how a “young lady” should act, but I think a female character would’ve felt more responsible of everyone’s action. So I think that Golding felt that he didn’t need any girls to have an influence on the boys and their manhood.

The fact that Golding did not include a girl in the book is an insult in my opinion, because from a girl’s perspective I find that the book is sort of saying that girls can’t handle the wilderness and that there really was no need for a girl to be mentioned in the book which is all about the boys and how they changed into men and how they are like soldiers scarred from battle and there is not girls on the battle field because there are no girls in war. Some people may think that its not an insult or a compliment but I feel that its more of an insult to women because although its a great book, there should be a mention of girls somewhere along the way because it just shows how they don’t really need them to change and feel like they have just turned their whole lives around, so really, I feel like it’s saying that they don’t need girls to feel like a man in the book.

If there were a female character introduced into the book, the whole book would’ve changed, I think it would’ve been worse because of how the boys are just about to hit their teens but the more gentle of the boys like Ralph and Piggy wouldn’t try to use pigs to impress her, but the story may have become more violent in the competition to own a girl as property. Decisions would’ve been changed based on the girl’s reaction towards them and boys would probably become more chaotic and wild, but the island would become more orderly because of the role that girls tend to have as they try to take on responsibility and their act as the mother amongst siblings and boys and how they tend to mature more faster than boys.

The Shell and The Glasses

There were biting,
scratching, pounding and darkness,
lost in the loud screams,
the black, horrifying scene.
Blind and helpless against the evil.

Wishes

Poetry Notebook:

Make a Wish selected by Mari Onozato

Description Life throws obstacles in our way, grief, heartbreak, death, that's when I think it's okay to wish; to not care what people say about four-leaved clovers, wishing bracelets being a fake. When I feel like we don't have to be strong all the time, we can wish on 11:11's, dandelions that carry seeds far, far away, and falling stars. I believe that when people say "make a wish" I take it to the maximum.

Synopsis You never know for sure if wishes come true, if the lucky necklace you rubbed this morning would work, but why not?

He Wishes For The Cloths of Heaven by William Butler Yeats
The Wish by Alexander Pushkin
Wish Upon a Sunset by Raymond A. Foss
Wish You Were Here by Raymond A. Foss
Sonnet 135: Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy will by William Shakespeare
I Wish I Was By That Dim Lake by Thomas Moore
A God Would Wish by Raymond A. Foss
Stars by Robert Frost
Maiden Wishes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

You Can't Have it All

But you can have tubs of ice cream for late Sunday nights, and it’s brain freezes, like multiple electric shocks.
You can have soft pink petals of the cherry blossom trees, falling like snow in Spring time.
You can see the world in your own eyes, and use a kaleidoscope of imagination to make it colorful.
You can have hope and the ability to dream, to help you wake up in the morning, even if its a Monday.
You can have the cries of the sea gulls, that aren’t so annoying anymore, relax you and make you drift away from the world.
You can have dreams, where no one can interfere, where you set sail on your own bed to entertain you in your sleep.
You can take a blank sheet of paper and fill it with words, words that can mean something.
You can have springs in your mattress to jump on for when your parents aren’t home to scold you.
You can hear the ocean through the sea shell, close your eyes, and feel the ocean at the tips of your fingers.
You can’t always please your parents, but you can soften their hearts by giving them the puppy eyes.
You can always have the one friend you don’t feel embarrassed around and where your finally yourself.
You can wish upon falling stars, 11:11’s, and good luck charms again and again.
You can have two luminous eyes of the cat staring at you early in the morning, saying “feed me.”
You can have those pair of sneakers that feel as one with your feet.
You can’t have gorgeous hair, but you can have hair spray and anti-frizz’s to tame them.
You can’t fly, but you can jump on a trampoline, higher and higher, willing your hands to touch the clouds.
You can have rain, buckets of rain, to dance, walk, and sing in.
You can’t always have the knight in shining armor, but you can fantasize of scenes in movies, of the kisses in the rain.
You can have adrenaline rushes when he catches your eye.
You can have friends who you can lean on, and best friends to do crazy things with.
You can’t always have the perfect, picture-perfect skin, but you can put on a winning smile to show you don’t care.
You can’t always have the long end of the wishing bone, or find a four-leaved clover, but you can have a choice to pick your freedom, your path, and what you can have.

Ballet White-Benjamin Moore OC-9

Their faces, masked
with make up.
Concealer and eyeliner for older girls,
blush and lip gloss for younger ones.

She begged her mother
for just a puff of soft, sweet make up.
She appeared on stage without it.

Her cheeks red
from pinching them to make it look like blush,
everyone else in fancy make up,
she stood with red cheeks.

A ballet recital,
they got a dress, too white for ivory,
yet not white at all.
Delicate, graceful, elegant.
"Perfect with blush and sparkles."

"Ballet is for dancing,
not to wear make up"
her mother would chide.

Faces masked
with make up, that kissed their skin,
the stage light illuminating,
every brush,
every slick,
every feature.

Her dress so innocent,
irresistible,
everyone looked more
beautiful.

She wants to,
needs to camouflage,
to hide herself,
her beauty, her soul.

The light shines on her,
with just her dress,
her ballet white dress,
to make her feel beautiful.

Their faces masked,
dress, ballet white,
face, unmasked.

As Simple As Snow by Gregory Galloway

Publisher: Penguin Group

Where I got it: It was recommended by a friend.

One Sentence Summary: Anna, or Anastasia, Cayne is a slightly mysterious, or creepy as her peers would say, high school girl; who believes in voodoo and Houdini spells, the protagonist is a boy who falls in love with Anna and write obituaries together; Anna soon disappears, and only a string of clues left for him to figure out.

First sentence of the book: Anna Cayne had moved here in August, just before our sophomore year in high school, but by February she had, one by one, killed everyone in town.

First Chapter Review: In the first chapter, he begins to explain Anna and his life as he takes the reader back to how it all began, from Anna's unusual personality, friends, background, and clothes, to where he struggles to find something extraordinary in life.

Verdict: This book is something I would suggest to everyone, maybe not boys, and would read again to try to figure out the complications that the book holds.

Cover Comments: The cover shows a girl kneeling in a black dress, fishnet stocking stockings, and black boots. I'm guessing this is Anna. Underneath her is a picture of a snow angel in the snow, making it Winter when Anna disappears.

No More Fun

He lost himself
in a maze of thoughts.
This meeting must not be fun,
but business.

Grass was worn away in front of each trunk,
but grew tall and untrodden in the center.
The sun was slanting in,
so that the shadows were where they ought to be.

Ralph turns to the chief's seat.
Grey trunks rose in front, the beach on both sides, and
the darkness of the island.
He lost himself
in deep waters.

"We need an assembly,
not for fun,
not for making jokes,
not for laughing and falling.
But to put things straight."

"You voted me chief
things are breaking up,
we began well;
we were happy."
Jack stood, scowling in the gloom.

"Fear can't hurt you
more than a dream,
serves you right
if something did get you.
But there is no animal."

Jack was a hunter all right.
No one doubted that.

"He said the beast comes
from the sea."
The last laugh died away.
"If there's a beast,
we'll close in and
beat and beat and beat--!"

"If jack were chief,
we'd be here 'till we died."
"Grown ups won't set fire to the island--"
"They'd build a ship--"
"They wouldn't quarrel--"
"Or break my specs--"
"Or talk about a beast."

The three boys
stood in the darkness,
lost deep in waters.

Where I am From...

I am from firework watching from the balcony and barbeques,
from Black & Decker late nights with friends and neighbours
and the beat of explosion in our hearts.

I am from the tall apartments and freshly mown grass
that felt like rain againt my legs,
I am from the lillies in vases that always smelt burnt.
I am from plucking petals off daisies;
"He loves me... he loves me not...", with the many petals
and the yellow core that's all is left.

I am from yearly family dinners, and family trips to Disney Land,
from road trips with brown bags ready.
I am from watching baseball on the couch the ice in the oolong tea melting.

I am from don't wear my make up and don't touch my clothes.
I am from the insults from my sister,
and the hand-me-down clothes.

I am from neatly stacked books, newly cut flowers
and the daily polished windows.

I am from smiling will get you far in life,
and don't jude a book by it's cover.

I am from my mother stuffing me in stiff clothes being dragged to church.
I am from don't do this and don't say that.
I am from saying a prayer before meals
and suppresing eye-rolling.

I am from Kawasaki, Japan.
I am from sushi with aunts and ramen with giddy uncles.

I am from strawberry picking on early Summer mornings,
from cards with worn edges,
I am from car trips to grandad's farm.

I am from reach for the stars,
and you can do better than that.

I am from the pig tail wearing girl in the glossy picture
of the family trip to Sydney.
From the porcelain Japanese doll that sits on the piano.
I am from the trunk that stores hundreds of those pristine photographs of our family laughing.

I am from the stiff, strong, and elegant branches of the sakura tree that grows in my grandmother's backyard with the forever changing leaves.

Tsunami Hits Japan

It was 2:46 when the ground beneath us began to shift. The capacious classroom was soon filled with copious amounts of tumbling textbooks and flying paper. The ground continued to shake and we were thrown back on to the wooden floor. Screams were audible from down the hallway as the teachers hastily tried to regain control over the students when it was obvious it was crucial to get the students to safety. Miyagi, Japan was where the tsunamis hit, we had to get to the roof fast.

The kids were fitful older brothers and sister were shouting out for their younger siblings, the azure blue of the sky was now filled with fire and dust as the nuclear plant near by burst into flames. The fastidious teachers took attendance quickly and the banter among the boys were silenced. The shaking earth decelerated before shaking even more furiously, throwing us back on to the floor.

Settling down the children were facilitated once on the roof. Emergency blankets, water, and food were deployed as the cool March wind howled with smoke. A pang of debris and sea water filled our noses, we looked down to see a wave of water pushing it's way through the city. Cars, dirt, broken parts of houses floated helplessly in the power of the wave as citizens pushed people aside to get away from the horror that chased them. We watched people scream for loved ones, looking frantically even if it meant going into buildings that could crumble any minute now.

Wasted: A Memoir on Anorexia and Bulimia

The title of the memoir I read, is Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia. I think that the title Wasted reflects on the main character, Marya Hornbacher. She became an anorexic and bulimic person as she grew up, so the title shows how she wasted her body and life because of her obsession with food and her paranoia of becoming an over-weight person.

Marya Hornbacher became so conscious about her weight ever since she turned three years old. She would call herself fat in front of a mirror, play with her food, and refuse to eat ever since she could remember. Her father was warm towards her, and was going on and off diets. Her mother however, had continuous mood swings, one time, playing Barbies with her, another, picking at her food and acting very much like who Marya grew up to be. Her parents were constantly fighting, taking their arguments out on her, competing to be the better parent. Marya would try to be like her mother, cool and collected, while her father would tell her to stay a kid forever, and her mother wanting her to hurry up and grow up.

The memoir was written as a novel and how the Marya Hornbacher today, looks back onto her childhood and how she became a bulimic-anorexic. The memorist, Marya came to know how she pushed away everyone in her life, refusing to eat when she was so small she shouldn’t have to worry, and already getting an eating disorder. And then eating as if her stomach was a bottomless pit and then puking it out as a child. hooking up continuously with boys she hardly knew, getting pregnant during high school twice. She worked hard at a newspaper company as a journalist as she became older, and refusing to take a break, and working more than she’s paid to. She became obsessed in to keeping herself occupied so she wouldn’t have to constantly eat.

I think the book was really creative and how she described how she felt as she went through hospitals, homes for the mentally ill, and then her parents. She makes the reader feel as if they could feel their own bone jutting out awkwardly the way her’s felt. Although some may find it endless and tiring to hear about the memorist’s weight, other girls can relate to what Marya was going through, growing up with the fights with her parents, and being targeted by the boys in her grade due to her early puberty.

Some lines I loved are; “I would lift off into the sky, float over the iced white streets, yes, that was death, and I was the princess trapped in a cage, dying of a broken heart. That was death.” And “The self I’d had, once upon a time, was too much. Now there was no self at all. I was blank.” And “checking my bones, feeling for signs of softness, my brain veering back and forth from pig-pig-pig-fat-pig to stop-it-you’re-okay-it’s-okay-okay-okay”.

I thought the book was very insightful and helped the reader understand how bulimia and anorexia is not just about their vagueness and how they only care about their weight, but Marya Hornbacher shows how there is also fear and how she was unable to open up to anyone and didn’t feel like she can live a normal life. The memoirist went through a suicidal phase so I thought that would help the reader understand and be able to connect to her.

What I Believe

I believe you need to stop and smell the roses,
but need to watch for the thorns.

I believe in relaxation
and staying in bed
long after the alarm bell rings.

I believe that love can never be ugly,
but is beautiful.

I believe that every person,
no matter how perfect,
needs to scream into the wind once or twice

I believe that life is not just about education and love,
but about laughter
and walking in the rain with those you love.

I believe that even the most beautiful, swan-like people,
can be ugly as a toad on the inside.

I believe that money is paper,
money isn't power. Just paper.


I believe you have to risk, just so you can live
just to realize what you have.

I believe everyone needs a brain freeze,
to feel something other than a sugar rush
from ice cream.

I believe that chocolate is not a source of fat
but a source of happiness

I believe that laughter is the glue
that holds friendship together,
not just the secrets.

I believe that everyone needs to cry on a shoulder,
and let their barricade fall, once in a while.

And I believe that nothing should ruin your day
no matter what people say
or do, or think.

because that will be their intention

Join the laughter,
join the chatter, because a day without fun
is a day very well wasted.

Please Lionize Me, I'm A Freak

He watched everybody outside with a meticulous look. Assimilating every little detail on how his peers acted. There were kids who rolled around on the dewy grass and then the other kids who watched the others cautiously and didn't want to get their shoes dirty. He was the only one who wasn't allowed to go out and play soccer. He didn't understand why but his teachers told him that when his parents dumped him at the orphanage, they left no sincere note for him to read when he turned sixteen like most other kids had, all they wrote was "DO NOT LET OUTSIDE" on his old T-shirt when he was four. He felt ashamed to admit it to teachers who asked him why he wasn't outside, he felt like some sort of dog that has rabies and can't play with the others. People asked him all the time "Alex, don't you remember anything?? You were four for god's sake." But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember.

He wanted to go out, play dodge ball, have dissensions over tiny little things like whether someone touched the ball or not. It wasn't as if he wasn't popular or anything. People lionized and loved him. But he didn't like being popular, people treated him like a ticking bomb, making sure he has everything he needs, whether he was comfortable enough, if he was hungry or thirsty, if the air conditioner didn't hit him in the face during class, or whether the class was too boring for him. The teachers always tapped him on the shoulder nervously and asking for his homework, insisting that it's fine if he didn't do it or not.

One day, he went into a school library, to make it up for his overly friendly and nervous teacher and deciding to do some extra credit research, even though the teacher had given him a piece of candy for not doing his homework. He flicked to the news paper articles and grabbed the oldest, most yellow news paper that he found hidden all the way at the bottom of the stack. The news paper had a post-it note that said "THROW OUT! A.S.A.P." As soon as he saw the front cover, he froze. Looking straight up at him, with a grim, yet wild expression in the kid's eyes and holding a knife with a jagged back, was himself. Plastered on the newspaper cover.

He yelped and dropped the newspaper. He glanced at the title: "FOUR-YEAR OLD, CONVICTED OF MURDER OF LOCAL BUTCHER." His mouth dropped open and hurriedly ripped out the page so he can read it in his personal dorm. Once he got upstairs, he scanned the paper. Then leaned back on his king-sized bed that no one seemed to have. Apparently, he was given a test so that his memory would completely vanish before he was dropped at the orphanage. Things were falling into place, he wasn't allowed to go outside because teachers were scared he would kill someone with a plastic shovel. No wonder people were always scared of me.
I'm a freak.

Damaged

The man stood at the edge of the table, two other men surrounded him. They were conspiring an attack on the government at the white house, where they heard he will be there from another terrorist. The men were angry about the state of anarchy their country was in. They had gone days, maybe weeks, without food or water for days while the secretly enforced American military attacked them in the middle of the goddamn night.Their secret head quarters--his basement--was dimly lit with a single, grimy light bulb. The three men clicked it off and headed to the scene this "big shot" president was going to give as he merely waved to bystanders as he climbed into his "big shot" limo.
"Hurry up! Before the bombs go off under him! I want to see it explode..." he said giggling.
The other men exchanged looks. This guy was officially crazy. First he wanted to see if sunflowers will grow in his basement...now this. They're anger made them follow him out to the vast street, leading them to the White house. One man, who had a child of his own paused. He saw a tractor with the key still dangling from the keyhole. He was already on the tractor before the other men noticed. The man drove right up in front of the president, snatched him and dumped him with a security guard. The other two men, including the man who was reluctant about the whole blow-the-president-up idea, were apprehended. The crazy man cursed. The next day, newspaper reporters from all over stated that officials have figured out that this man had serious damage to his head, thinking of how life is really just a dream....