Independence

"So much depends

upon

A red wheel

barrow

Glazed with rain

water

Beside the white

chickens"

- William Carlos Williams

William Carlos Williams was a very well-known poet and a practicing pediatrician. When he wrote "The Red Wheelbarrow" he was with a dying girl and this poem comprised of what he saw out the window.

A way to look at the poem...

On the outside of the window is utter utopia, but on the inside is death.

My version of "The Red Wheelbarrow":

So much depends upon

Independence

Responsibility, Freedom, Self - Sufficiency

In one's mind but not always performed.

An Ode to Thesaurus.com

Hmmmm. My favorite techy-tool would have to be the good old online thesaurus. That's right, thesaurus.com wins! As a teenager writer I do get stuck on one adjective or adverb throughout my papers. Thesaurus.com helps me out. I really love the easy-to-use format of this website. First of all, if i type in a word, I must know what part of speech I'm using which requires me to think just a little! A big plus for this website are the links to other websites about a word. It has been very handy for some of my papers. So thank you thesaurus.com for making my papers extravagant!

Book Review - The Book Thief

(552 pages)

Where do I start? This book was an inspiring tribute to a girl's trying life.

As a young girl in Nazi Germany, Liesel Meminger is brought to foster parents because her mother can no longer care for her. This news is hard to grasp for Liesel. When she arrives at 33 Himmel Street, she is greeted by a squat woman named Rosa Hubermann, or Mama as Liesel is to address her. Liesel learns the ways of her new mama shortly. Her affection is shown by calling Liesel names. Liesel looks past this and loves her mama for who she is.

Hans Hubermann. Liesel's role model, teacher, hero, friend, and most importantly the father she never had. When Liesel continues to have wakening nightmares about her brother, her papa is there when she awakes and into the wee hours of the morning, he teaches her to read and write.

When a Jew needs a place to rest and hide, Hans and Rosa welcome Max Vandenburg into their already crowded and poor life. With their love for words and scary nightmares, Max and Liesel soon realize they have much in common.

Surviving in Nazi Germany is hard enough without the secret harboring of a Jew.

Liesel learns from her life with the Hubermanns and Max. She learns to love unconditionally, to read and write, and the most important, to stand up for herself and her beliefs.

Book Review - Animal Farm

"During the times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."

-George Orwell

George Orwell's book Animal Farm is parallel to the idealistic totalitarianism in Russia. The characters compare with the political leaders in Stalinist Russia.



After Manor Farm is taken over by the overworked, underfed animals, an animal rights revolution evolves.



Old Major, the flame to this fire of angry animals, explains that all animals are treated unfairly, and the revolution begins! All is well after the overthrow of Manor Farm until the pigs decide they are the smartest, most valuable animals on now, Animal Farm.



Soon the other animals start to realize the pigs are changing some of the founding commandments. What used to be "No animal shall sleep in a bed" was edited to "No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets". The animals continue to be treated unfairly throughout the story.


My favorite parallelism is the pigs to humans. In the end the pigs invite the humans over for a game of cards and as the other animals look through the farmhouse windows they cannot tell which is human and which is a pig.

Book Review - Wuthering Heights

A Classic

Emily Bronte's novel, Wuthering Heights, puts the weight of Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw's romance on your shoulders.

As children, Catherine and Heathcliff were the best of friends, but as the couple grew older the friendship turned into undying love...literally.

When Heathcliff leaves home, Catherine is left behind and she soon marries her neighbor Edgar Linton. Of course Heathcliff returns and an age of raging jealousy begins.

To strike back, Heathcliff steals Isabella Linton and forces her to marry him.

A shocking death leaves Edgar and now Catherine Linton with the Earnshaws child, a twelve-year-old boy named Linton.

Catherine becomes ill after she bores her only child, Cathy. After her untimely death, Edgar is left to raise two children with the help of Ellen "Nelly" Dean. Some drastic living arrangements are sure to come...

The Utopic Spring Break

Spring break. The most appealing words for a teenager's ears. No school. No homework. Just laziness..
Except in my case.
Spring break started with no big celebration, just a calm weekend. Until Wednesday.
My school band was taking a trip. A trip to Orlando, Florida. A trip for fun in the sun.

We started out at 2:00, and a night on a bus was up ahead. When we finally arrived in Florida it was full speed ahead. Having forty girls get ready in a McDonalds bathroom was tough but the rest of the trip was a breeze..

On the first day we hit up Hollywood Studios, and the next couple of days we visited Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Epcot, Magic Kingdom, and Animal Kingdom. We were so busy!

Our band was in a competition and we stole the show with our performance.

A long ride on the bus and little sleep concluded our trip, but the first place trophy and the memories were so worth it.

Pursuit of Happiness

Love makes us human. In Equality's world love is...extinct. No longer. Vanished. Gone. Love comes in many forms. From a mother to a best friend, from a favorite color to a favorite food. Equality 7-2521 had no love. When the time came for reproduction, a "mate" was chosen and matched to each brother, and then the couple was made to be separated. Chosen. Matched. Made to be separated. Even Equality's job was chosen for him. Can you imagine working at a job, day in and day out, knowing you could succeed, knowing you could make a difference if just given the chance of doing something you love?