Kyle Smith

Mrs.parkinson

English 3

5 April 2016

Dumpster Diving Q1

Lars Eighner tells us a lot about being homeless in his article "On Dumpster Diving". In this article he talks about his story and it made me realize a thing or two regarding the stigma of homelessness. For starters, I accepted this stereotype that all homeless people were just high school dropouts and were just from urban areas where they didn’t get many opportunity. Upon reading this article, I figured out that this stereotype is false. Eighner was a 3 year college student at the University of Texas where he later dropped out, later taking a job at a state mental hospital. Sometime after taking the job, he was laid off. Upon reading this it made me think that I was not thinking about the big picture that people of all ages, education levels and, races can get cut by their business. Another stereotype that I picked up on as being false was that people that are homeless weren’t that smart. But after reading this article, I figured that was also invalid. I learned that many of these dumpster divers had their trade down to a science. Just from doing a little digging they could find out where and when they could find food or other supplies and if they would impact their health. It was truly fascenating to find this information out.

Kyle Smith                                                                                                                           Smith 1

Mrs. Parkinson

English 3

14 march 2016

How can we help those with disabilities learn better?

     In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, one of the most predominant elements is lennie. Through reading you can infer lennie is a rather large but appears to have some sort of mental handicap. So the question is how can we as society help these people out who are just a little bit behind mentally compared to us? I think the solution gets portrayed in the story. My stance on the matter is that people with mental disabilities should have teachers or people coaching them through how to do things. We see in the book George acts as that type of life coach towards Lennie in a book that has a strong message of isolation. Kind of like in the scene with George getting them the job on the ranch, “George Milton.” “And what is yours?” George said “His name is Lennie Small” The boss pointed a playful finger at Lennie, “he ain't much of a talker is he?” “No he ain't, but he sure a heck of a good worker.”(“Steinbeck”). So my solution is people with mental disorders get paired with with a willing helper to help guide them through and

Kyle Smith
English 3
Mrs. Parkinson
7 March 2016

I think that we as an advanced society can still learn a lot from the Harlem renaissance as a result of some of the poetry that came with it. In the poem "Tableau" by Countee Collins, it does a great job of showing and not telling to depict the scene of a 1920`s event that made everyone around it stop what they're doing to watch it. in the poem, it talks about a black and a white boy walking together down the street. "Indignant that these two should dare in unison walk." During this time period, something so open and so bold that defied the social and traditional norms could have been severely punished back then. i think the reason for the title is because a tableau is a historical event acted out on a stage without sound, and whether the boys in the street even knew that what they were doing is something that will end up symbolizing a major area of american history.

Five aspects of writing voice assignment

Catcher in the Rye

Kyle Smith

They offer surprising information and observations

Salinger uses this scene on page 182-185 to display an argument that is brewing between Holden and his disappointed sister. During this argument you hear Holdens sister repeatedly mention how their father if going to kill Holden.  In response to this Holden says how he’s going to be fine and how his dad won’t do anything to him. But his sister is not convinced. Holden surprises the audience when he reveals his big plans to leave new York and work far away in a Colorado ranch to avoid the wrath of his father. “ I What i may do, I may get a job on a ranch or something for awhile. I know this guy whose grandfather’s got a ranch in Colorado.” (Salinger 183)

They often employ techniques of narrative

While the scene is happening you see multiple parts of imagery, especially when you see Holdens sister Phoebe covering her face with a pillow in disgust towards Holden getting kicked out of his school. “ Then she flopped on her stomach on the bed and put the goddam pillow over her head.”(Salinger 182) Or when Holden leaves to get cigarettes.

A very powerful example of a vignette in chapter 15 is Holden and his stance on suitcases. In Holdens eyes, its hard to be friends with people when their suitcase isn't as nice as yours. "The thing is, its really hard to be roommates with people if your suitcases are much better than theirs-if yours are really good ones and theirs are not." It kind of envokes this feeling of separation or superiority from Holdens perspective. He references Stradlater when he expresses his opinions about people with lesser suitcases and feels that they're just not as good or worthy as him.

Blog option 2

Kyle Smith

In chapter 10 of Catcher in the Rye Holden shows even more complexity than shown in chapters prior to this one.  Holdens character shows this in instances such as when he shows his intelligence not necessarily in a school smart type way but more of a street smart when he goes into the hotel bar and talks about his seat. “… but they gave me a lousy table anyway-way in the back. I should’ve waved a buck under the head waiter’s nose. In New York, boy, money really talks-I’m not kidding.” Holden is all alone and knows how to survive and what he needs to do in order to do so. Also Holden does not let his sensitivity get the better of him, but he shows  an exceptional amount of patience, like when he dances with the first of the 3 girls and he’s constantly asking her all these questions and he gets ignored by her entirely. “She wasn’t listening to me, even. Her mind was all over the place.” Thoreau talked about living a deliberate life and one with purpose and that’s what Holden does, he dances with strangers to a live band, treats himself like a man, lives on his own, and lives a simple life.   

Summer post 1

  Midwinter blood       


This book is a bit different than others that i read. The main characters in the book are Eric and Merle.this book is structured differently compared to most books. its split up into 8 different stories that all tie together through Eric and Merle. In all the stories so far they have been on an island called i the first 2 stories blessed island and in the 3rd and 4th story called blest island but its the same island.
           one conflict that might come about for the audience is understanding that the book at the beginning and into the transition into the second story. I think this because its very tricky to figure out whats happening and why the people on this island are so different. My prediction on why they are so different is because there is a little mysterious island in the North part of the world and its a nuisance  to get there. A connection i made to another book was about the people because there so different just like the people in Gregor the Overlander.

Midwinter blood 4

Their were a few reasons that i chose the book that I did MidwinterBlood this summer. I thought that the title of it was interesting and it kinda made myself start to wonder as to what it could be about more than the others. Another reason as to why I chose this book is because i had a few of my goods friends read it and i was astounded to hear that my friends actually enjoyed a book, let alone actually read it, after hearing that the choice became clear and i chose MidwinterBlood as my summer reading book. I connected well to Eric Seven. He was a guy who would tell the truth but just enough to not be lying and that sometimes could very well be myself doing that sort of thing. He also enjoyed riding in planes and just admiring whats below, that is something that me myself also enjoy doing. Their are many different types of people that i would recommend this book to. There are a lot of themes that you could tag this story with and there are many different characters to keep up with such as: a reporter, an archeologist, an airman, a viking, painter, ghost, and a vampire.  Some genres that you could associate this book with are: Mystery, romance, tragedy, horror, and overall it is a fictional story.

Midwinterblood 3

The book that i chose to read  this summer is midwinterblood. A scene from this book with the intent to hook the reader that i chose was, "Eric notices that his question has not been answered directly, bit lets it drop. 'And why have you come to  blessed island'? Tor continues.He smiles, and just as Eric is about to tell him, something makes him stop short. But its best not to lie, and in these circumstances he usually falls back on the simple method of giving just enough of the truth. 'Im a journalist,' he explains. 'My editor wants a feature about your island. She's heared its a beautiful place. A special place."
 Eric Seven has been sent out by his news editor to do a story. The location of the story is a small inhabbited island thats supposed to be special. His mission: to find out about an island where time does not pass. Upon arrival he notices many things that make the place seem unique, but also he is greated by a group of islanders awaiting his arrival. Theirs Tor who seems to be a person in charge as well as Merle, a stunning islander who has Eric head over heal. This part would get people hooked i think because it makes you wonder are the islanders hiding something and also what is it about this special island in the first place?

So Jake goes out for granger and plays after Casey Lindel plays the first two drives. In the previous game Casey had been gaining momentum and was doing good compared to Jake who was going cold. Casey was playing an awful first two drives and Jake had a major opening. And he took advantage of it. Jake played almost a perfect game and just balled. Later that night after being embarassed by a freshman, Casey went after Jake and was looking for a fight. Jake declined, he wanted to keep the team together and Casey wanted to be on top.

Thye next week Jake had the start over Casey and played almost the whole game and was on it. that night Caseywas looking for more action. Jake was sitting on a bench talking to the girl he liked most sarah outside a restraunt on a street corner when Casey found them. Casey had also liked this girl and he was outraged beyond belief. He yelled at sarah calling her all these nasty names and Jake was preparing for a fight. But then superman comes in, Calvin Morton, the superstar reciever intervienes with them and is angry. Calvin has become especially close to jake between the times they talked and the fact that Jake did the one thing Calvin loved from QB`s, give him the ball. Calvin runs in and puts Casey in his place in front of half the team and Sarah Rayburn causing Casey Lindell to Silently retreat and backdown. How will the team respond after hearing about Casey attacking Jake and Calvin putting down Casey?

So one day the granger cowboys are playing there game against a rival who should be better than them this year. And jake was the starter, he played an incredible game carrying the team on his back leading them to an impressive victory which was great for him and the team, but it wasn't great for his father who had left earlier that day to watch Wyatt and Texas take in Kansas and end up losing bad.
 Jake isn't sure how to handle never having his dad being there for him and it really bums him out. So after one game he finds Calvin Morton sitting in the stands and like always he rudely greets jake. Jake and Calvin sit together and jake tells Calvin about his dad and Calvin responds bitterly."have you ever seen my dad in the stands cheering me or even heared of him." He asked. Calvin's dad left him when he was 5 leaving him alone and angry, he shows jake how to resent his dad and focus on the family who does care about you. How will jake respond to this in the book?

Snow day, 1,28,2014

Have you ever heard of two quarterbacks  splitting  games, half a game of one, the other one gets the other half, well I sure haven't, and  neither did the cowboys of Granger high school. There's the sophomore transfer who was gonna be the backup, and then there's Jake Cullen, son of the legend Troy, and the brother of another legend. Infact the field is named after them because of there success and fame in the game. So jake is nervous because now he has to live up to his family name and outperform someone who he believes is better than him, he didn't even know about playing as a Quarterback this season. And on top of that he has to also compete with the other QB over a  girl , who is a year older. This kid  is more than occupied.

 But jakes most serious problem is off the field, Troy Cullen, who went to all of Wyatt Cullen's games  at granger, still views Wyatt as the superior and does not attend jakes games and starts to ignore jake completely. I can not imagine being ignored by my parents, that just sounds extremely wrong and painful. So  the battle on the field, jake must fight the one off the field. Can jake manage all of his problems and emerge a success, or will he fall and fail.

So Jakes just going through practice playing through and one day, he sees Sarah Rayburn, the cutest girl in school with Casey. Jake was crushed. After a few early efforts to try and talk with his crush which he think has gone well, turn up to have gone no where when he sees one of the QB`s he`s competing with walk off the field with his girl. In texas that hurts.

 So when the first game of the season rolls around and tim, the starter goes in, he lasts 10 plays and out with a torn ACL, disipointing way to end a high school career. So then its casey to save the day right? Wrong. He stays on three quarters and leads Granger high nowhere. And when he was benched, there was only one person to get the call, Jake Cullen, Son of the legend Troy, and brother of the legend Wyatt. He steps out for the final drive even though his school already lost and leads them to the 20. Last play. Jake is under heavy fire from several defenders and escapes as he throws a perfect strike for a TD. Is this the start of something good, or is he a one hit wonder.

QB1

Denial! "Hey wait up" siad one of the cutest girls in school to jake. After staying late after football practice to work on his throwing with his coach, Jake Cullen encounters Sarah Rayburn. She once was a good friend of Wyatts and leads Jake to believe that she likes him. but when she asks how Jakes brother Wyatt is doing at college. Jake feels stunned and rejected. He also starts to feel more in the massive shadow of his legendary brother. Will Jake make a name for himself and be remembered because of himself rather than his brother? Or will he fade away and alaways be known from his brother.

post 3

Over the course of thanksgiving break i read many pages in the book Farenheigt 451. This book so far is about a ver y troubled and problomatic society far into the future where life is messed up deeply. Montag is a firemen and he is the main charecter in this story. Firemen do not put out fires though, they start them. in this society books are burned because they are illegal and seen as a crime to posses one.

 Another problem that is very evident is that suicide is every where. it is such a problem that if someone does it, doctors cant even help the person because it is so common. Montags wife Mildred has many problems. She just sits in front of a tv all day, took 30 sleeping tablets in one day, and doesnt even seem to care about her husband at all. She doesnt even remember how they met.

The book QB1 by mike lupica is about a family of quarterbacks that play texas football in highschool and are known very well. In the Cullen family Troy Cullen is the dad of a few sons and they all have a legacy to live up to. Troy Cullen was a high school legend, collage star, and an NFL quarterback. With this being the case, his sons are expected to pick up where their dad left off.

In the state of texas football is a really big deal. and when older brother Wyatt wins the state championship and gets a full ride schoolarship to Texas university. Younger brother and high school freshman Jake Cullen is expected to be the 4 year starter for his high school. Jake has a problem though, he doesnt know if he wants to be a quarterback, so hes faced with a major decision, i cant wait to read further.

The book that I chose to read was QB1 by Mike Lupica. This book is about football which is a key hobby and passion of mine and I care about it a lot. Mike Lupica has written many sports books which is one of my favorite kinds of books, he makes them very detailed and enjoyable to read  an I like them a lot . All his other books I really enjoyed so I'm anticipating this one will be good too.

post 11

The work does not get to much into the debate of good vs. evil. But right and wrong is mentioned a few times. there are a lot of cases throughout the story where they are used. When the Tuohys take Michael and make him one of them is a good example of right. When Michael goes back to hurt village and lives amongst the thugs he once lived with, that is an example of wrong. 

post 10

The theme that is most meaningful in my opinion is helping those who are down back up. Not just literally like in this picture though. The whole idea of this story was that the Tuohys helped lift up Michael when he was in a spot of extreme poverty and weakness. And he ends up to be extremely wealthy and looked out for and happy.

post 9

If I could have a conversation with Michael Oher, I would ask him so much about his childhood and all the hardships that he faced and later overcame. Like What was it like always changing schools, How did it feel to be drafted in the first round, and most of all how do you feel that football changed your life. Hes a role model a lot of people look at and myself included.