Sarah's Blog

A Long Way Gone

2008-04-24T20:45:00.000-07:00

I was supper shocked to read about how much Ishmael had changed. He was so innocent and scared. It's surprising the kinds of things drugs can do to someone. I knew drugs changed and impaired your thinking, but I had no idea that they made you think completely different. When I first read about Ishmael and his friends being captured, I thought that they had been captured by the rebels. I could not believe it was the army that had found them. I don’t understand how it is that the army brain washes you in such a way. It’s not something I think of when I hear of the army. I think of someone that is supposed to "protect" me. Over all I believe that the army is no better than the rebels. They killed in cold blood just as the rebels did.

When Ishmael was taken to the Benin Home he had to learn a whole new different mentality than the one he had. It is a lot for someone to go through so many changes. Most people change trough out their lives because of the experiences they have. Those changes, however, are throughout a long period of time. Ishmael was forced to change the way he thought, acted and lived. He went from his innocent childhood to running away and being precautious. Then again he changed, but this time he became a blood thirsty monster. Then after he was taken to the Benin home he had to change again and adapt to his surroundings once again. Those types of changes are very difficult and not everyone can adapt to their surroundings.

In A Long Way Gone, one of the main themes of the book is friends. Throughout the story Ishmael always or almost always has a friend. My thought is that having his friends around is what kept him alive in a way. Having his friends is what made him want to stay alive. In the book, after Ishmael looses Junior, he is along for a long time. You can see how he begins to loose hope, and himself. Yet when he was at war, he had his friends and he didn’t seem so down. Then at Benin Home he found Esther and she helped him trough many hard times. Friends are what keep many people going; even when everything else has been lost it’s always good to have someone that you know cares for you. For this reason I think Ishmael was able to surpass all the things that tormented him and is now past the whole idea. Although the thoughts are there, a true friend, as the ones Ishmael had makes things better. Even if they are in the same situation you are in it helps to know that they are there to support you and help you even when they need the same help you do.

The Road- Journal 8

2008-02-10T19:32:00.000-08:00

In "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy you can tell that there was a huge imagination involved. McCarthy’s' way of writing captures the reader. The words he uses make things very interesting and descriptive. His way of writing captures your imagination and can make you imagine that you are in his shoes. You can easily picture the story in your head. In the last few pages were very capturing. While at the man and his son were at the beach they get their things stolen. The man finds boot prints nearby the place that they had left their things. The man and his son follow the boot prints till they find the man that had stolen their things. After they get their things back the man had left the other man naked on the road. The boy begins to cry. The man and boy get in an argument and man tells the boy that had to do it. He tells the boy that he’s not the one that has to worry about things. In response the boy tells him that he does. When the boy said that he was the one that had to worry was meant that he had to worry about his father’s well being. Although the boy is so young he notices things that the man thinks he doesn’t. Although the man attempts to hide what is going on with him the boy still notices what happens to his father.
At the end it was the boy that had to worry all the time. Although the boy did get sick, the man was the one that was constantly sick throughout the whole story and the boy noticed that. I believe that the boy knew from the beginning that his father was going to die. On page seventy-two the boy asks his father what the bravest thing he had done was and the man responded “Getting up this morning.” With that fraise I think the man knew his death was near. At the end he sacrificed everything so long his son was well. When he was close to death he gave up food and everything. He knew he was going to die and that made the man give everything for his son because he knew he had no need for it. He knew he was close to death and he decided not to eat. He also gave him all his blankets. The book made me think a lot about the love a parent has for their children and how that causes them to sacrifice everything for them.

Journal 6- The Road

2008-01-27T21:45:00.000-08:00

The Road tells the story of a man and his son, the troubles they face while traveling south in a world that has almost been dissolved. I think it’s a very well told story, yet I’m not sure if it could happen in real life. People talk about Global Warming and the dangers it causes for our future, yet most people sit around waiting for someone to do something about it. There are parts of the book that seem realistic, and could happen but I don’t think it is all plausible. I don’t believe that with the technology we have its plausible that our civilization can disappear so easily. I think that if global warming did get that bad and cause that much destruction we would find ways to prevent it or help each other.
While traveling on the road one day, the man and the boy run into an old man that calls himself Ely. The boy pity’s on the old man and asks his dad if they can share the food they have with him. Although the man doesn’t seem convinced about sharing the food, he agrees to do so because the boy asked. That night the man built a fire and sat around it with the old man and his son. They sat around the fire and had a very weird conversation. The man says, “People were always getting ready for tomorrow. I didn’t believe in that. Tomorrow wasn’t getting ready for them. It didn’t even know they were there.”(Page 59) This quote stood out to me a lot. It made me wonder what “tomorrow” has in store for us. The old man he says “people were always getting ready for tomorrow,” when I read that I began to wonder if people knew what was going happen. Then there is also the part that says “Tomorrow wasn’t getting ready for them. It didn’t even now they were there.” That part left me thinking for a while. What will happen to humanity if we don’t prepare ourselves for the future? This is our world; we live in it, there for we must take care of it. That includes our futures. We can’t expect to let “tomorrow” fall into place by it self. When we want to accomplish something we cant wait around and wait someone bring it to us, its never going to happen. We must prepare ourselves for what ever might come our way.

Page 150- 200

The Road- Journal 3

2008-01-13T19:17:00.000-08:00

There were two moments in particular that really stood out to me in the book. One was when the man and his son are walking and they see a dog. The boy gets scared and asks his father if they are going to catch it so that they can eat it. The boy’s father says no and then they continue walking. The second was when the boy’s father goes into a house in search of food. While the boy is sitting outside on the front steps, he sees a little boy and a dog. Before he sees the boy he had seen a little boy. The little boy sees him and begins to run. The boy quickly gets up and runs after the little boy yelling “Come back. I’m not going to hurt you!” They man hears his sons shouts and quickly runs out of the house and holds him in place. After they leave the house the boy begins to cry, he tells his dad that they should go back and find the boy and the dog. His dad tells him that he needs to forget about the boy and the dog, yet the boy doesn’t obey and he keeps trying to convince his dad. He suggests t his dad that the little boy might be alone and not have “a daddy” to take care of him. Yet the man doesn’t agree with the boy and they continue walking. The boy adds that he is willing to share his food with the boy and that the dog could be used as a hunting dog. He argues that the dog might be able to provide them with food, yet his dad tells him that he needs to forget the boy. The man shouts to the boy and questions him if he prefers to be dead. Sobbing, the boy says yes and then his father stops shouting and stops shouting at the boy.
I believe these scenes stood out so much to me because it surprised me how the boy was so concerned about the boy’s safety. It surprised me how the boy, although very young, cares a lot about other people although the world he lives in is very dangerous. The boy was abandoned by his mother when he was very young. He was left alone with his dad, and ever since the only love he has known is the love his dad shows him and the one his dad tells him about. When the boy tells his dad that the boy might not have had a “daddy” to take care of him, it makes me wonder if he thought it would hit his dads heart. I think he picked his words carefully so that his dad might consider going back for the boy. I believe he thought that it might make him feel sympathy for the little boy if the boy was alone and had no father, yet the man was more concerned about his son. Also, it’s amazing all that the man does and is willing to do to care for his son. Both are so different and very unexpected since they have been together for so long. The man doesn’t care about anything else but his sons’ safety. The man is even willing to sacrifice himself, yet at the end he realizes that it is not the best option. On the other hand the boy seems like he just wants to get out of the crazy world he lives in. There are times when the boy acts so caring and in others so careless. He seems to care a lot about other people that might be around, yet so careless to what happens to him. He is so young and frightened for a boy his age. He seems so open to what is going on and it surprises me that he know so much about death as well as the fact that he wants to die. It makes me wonder how much death he has seen in his life.

Pages 75 to 100

One More Portable Thing (HW 20- Technology)

2007-11-11T21:01:00.000-08:00

Our technology has advanced a lot in the last couple of years and I am sure that it will keep getting better. We have gone from cars to computers to many other inventions that help us on out daily lives. Internet is something used daily by many people and it is still being improved.
Trough out the years we went from internet that could only be used by plugging your computer into the signal with a cable, to wireless and now it is portable around the world. It’s amazing how out technology and our world are evolving so rapidly. I can honestly say that I use internet a lot, therefore being able to take it with me is a privilege. Whether I use internet for homework, personal email or myspace, it’s exiting to know I can take it with me. I would really like to try that. In the article, the guy tells us that he had a hard time typing with the car moving so much and other flaws that his friends say in it. However, to me it wouldn’t matter if the ride on a car is bumpy, I believe we will all get use to it.
Soon enough typing in a bumpy car will become as easy as sending as reading in a car. I believe all the flaws like signal and things like that will all be fixed and I am exited to see how far out technology will evolve.
Web Surfers Can Take Internet Along The Ride
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/automobiles/11WEB.html?_r=2&ref=technology&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

High Gas Prices Over Power Our Lives (HW 19- Business)

2007-11-07T20:38:00.000-08:00

Usually gas prices go down in fall; however, this year they have not gone down. Gas is an essential to everyday life. Gas prices have also cause oil prices to go up, making it more expensive for people to get from place to place. This makes transportation harder for everyone. Oil and gas is important because we use it to transport ourselves from one place to another. For students that need to get from one place to another, it’s hard to get transportation with gas prices so high. I don't have a car yet, but i know that when I do get a car i will not like gas or oil prices so high. As students we need something affordable to move around. Everyone has things to do and we are all forced to get in a car and drive somewhere, yet with gas prices so high it's not easy to do so without money. When you think about it if you have a job and you are paying more for gas you are really getting paid less. Cars require gas and in order to get the gas you need money, and how else would we get it if not by working. I believe we need to find a solution for gas prices going so high. Also, with Christmas season around the corner we need to start saving money as well. Buying presents for the whole family this year will be harder than the previous ones. Children this year will be very disappointed seeing that Santa Clause didn't bring as many presents this year as he had the last. I guess we will all just have to cope to all the new changes that will be cause by the high prices of gas and oil.

Unseasonably Higher, Gas Prices Add to Strain On U.S. Consumers

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/08/business/08gas.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin

Dangerouse Drug For Heart Surgery (HW 18 - Health)

2007-11-05T18:54:00.000-08:00

How much research is needed to prove that a drug is bad? The Food and Drug Administration, also known as F.D.A, had a long debate on whether they should band the sells of Trasylol, a drug given to patients with heart surgery to decrease the bleeding. After a lot of research the F.D.A still didn’t want to stop the sells of Trasylol, although they knew the danger.
Trasylol is said to work better for heart surgery since it is more efficient to reducing excessive bleeding. There are two other drugs used and they also work, yet not as well as Trasylol. Aside from the reducing excessive bleeding Trasylol also increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure. Trasylol should be banded. They have made research that says that people that had heart surgery and were given the drug later had health problems; however, they used the excuse that maybe patients given the drug were sicker than those given the other two drugs. How ignorant can people be, as doctors they shouldn’t only care what works well for doctors but also for future heath conditions of patients. The F.D.A is just being careless for not thinking of the wealth of the patient. Trasylol is one of the used a lot in the United States. Out of 200,000 patients that were treated with the drug world wide, about 110,000 were from the United States.
Although the F.D.A stopped the sells of the Trasylol and they say they did the decision them selves aside from the research that Germany had made, I believe we have a lot to thank to Germany for the decision the F.D.A made. I believe it was a good choice. I only wish that those people that were already treated with it wont will be ok.

Bayer Withdraws Heart Surgery Drug
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/05/health/05cnd-bayer.html?ref=health

Combating AIDS and Poverty (HW 16 Politics)

2007-10-30T21:31:00.000-07:00

In Iowa, Senator Obama had said to increase spending on global issues such as poverty, HIV and AIDS to $50 billion from 2009 to 2013 if he won the election for president. Obama has started to tell people his strategies causing a lot of people and members of AIDS Action thrilled by the news. I am so happy that he made this decision and I hope that he actually follows it trough.
Even though I like the idea of the fist woman president, I also like the idea of the fight against AIDS, HIV poverty and as Obama said drugs. Obama has been very kind to be willing to put $50 billion into global issues. All that money might actually make a change in the world and maybe someday that will save a lot of people from those terrible diseases. Maybe all that money might someday help to end all the diseases in Africa and allow a lot more teens to survive out there. This might also allow a lot of children to keep their families. The members of AIDS Action can actually see this helping in the future. A member of New Hampshire Fights AIDS, Christina D’Allesandro, says “Children have been overlooked when it comes to the AIDS crisis, and it’s great to see that Obama has a strong proposal for what to do about it.” It is nice to know that he is taking it seriously and isn’t just promising things, or he would not be taking his time to think things thought and make proposals for it, at least I hope. Although HIV, Aids and poverty aren’t as big a problem in the U.S as they are in other countries Obama is taking the time to care for these issues. It’s nice to think that someone that is running for presidency cares global problems rather than just problems in the United States.
I can’t say how happy it would make me to say that the U.S. has made a contribution to overcome these illnesses. Senator Obama has probably said something that will help him win the presidency. I hope that the next president will be as caring as Senator Obama and will care about things that affect the world not only the United States because although we live here, we also live in the world.
Obama Pledges Major Expansion of AIDS and Global Poverty Programs
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/10-30-2007/0004693915&EDATE=

The Mediator:If I were Susana?

2007-09-29T07:38:00.000-07:00

If I were Susana I’m not sure what I would do in her place. Her life sometimes seems so complicated and I don’t think I would be able to handle that. There are a lot of good things about her, she is a very brave girl, and I don’t now if I would ever be able to be that brave. Since the time when she was two and saw her first ghost up to her sophomore year, she has been able to see ghosts and not care much for it. Even the first ghost she saw didn’t frighten her. If I were in her shoes I would probably scared, after all I am scared of the dark. She is very brave to not be scared that something might actually cause her death fighting so many ghosts. I think personally I would be terrified, especially if I’ve been so close to dying. She is a very strong, as well as prom the outside as the inside. You could say she has the strength of a thousand men. It is surprising how well she can take hits very well. This are something’s that help her stay alive and don’t make her so weak, but inside she is a person and has feelings. This is proven by the love she feels for Jesse. It’s surprising how she has never cried or showed emotion towards the fact that Jesse doesn’t show much affection towards him.

As well as strong and brave she is a very smart girl, but as a girl she still isn’t perfect. She naturally reacts towards things and doesn’t really think things through. Fortunately she hasn’t died yet, but she must learn not to. I’m not sure if her problem is so much thinking things through, but doing what she thinks is best or safest. Also another thing that causes her to react so fast is her pride. What I don’t really understand is why if she reacts so sudden. Is it her pride of maybe it’s not only that and it’s also her fear or seeming so weak? Maybe the problem is both things. She is to prideful that it scares her to show that she is weak and gets frightened like most people.

The Mediator: Haunted

2007-09-04T12:22:00.000-07:00

The Mediator is about a sixteen year old girls' life. Suze's mom just remarried, and she was forced to move to California three stepbrothers and a stepfather. Now in her new house she lives with her new family and is sharing a room with a ghost from the early nineteen hundreds. Jesse, the ghost, is a very handsome guy who never lived his life fully. After time goes by she continues getting herself in all kinds of trouble with many different ghosts. A couple of times she almost got herself killed. After spending so much time with Jesse and getting to know him, she falls in love with him. One summer she meets a guy named Paul at a hotel she was working. That summer many things happened, one of them was that she finds out that Paul is a mediator just like her. Paul also grows feelings towards Suze; however, since she has feelings towards Jesse she doesn’t really pay attention to him. Since she doesn’t respond Paul threatens to make Jesse disappear for ever if she doesn’t date him. Now Suze must find a way to get herself out of this big mess.