Week 5: Top Links

 I linked a few of my favorite Spartan Reader ideas...


Find of the Day by sounds of silence.
It's Nice That by let's get rich and give everybody nice sweaters.
Best Trips 2012 by  unknown.

cute :)

Finished!

I finally finished "The Battle Hymn of a Tiger Mother" the other day. It was a great ending, something I didn't expect from a memoir. I don't usually read memoirs because well, I don't really like reading about other people's lives, but this book was different. It was actually enjoyable and I think I can even put it on my Top 10 Reading Books list. After reading about Sophia, Lulu, Amy and Jed, I couldn't help myself from searching them on Google. I have watched videos on Sophia's graduation speech, book interviews, and even older piano and violin performances. And more exciting yet, I found Sophia's blog! I plan on following her from now on.
Anyway, I also started a new book this week, "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen. I have been wanting to read this book for a long time. The movie was good and while reading through blogs last Friday, I read that someone thought the book was also a good read so I bumped it to the top of my To Read list right after school that day. I'm going to start something new this time and try to read this on my Nook. I finished the first 50 pages or so and am already starting to get a good feel on this book. After the memoir, I feel a good romantic novel would be nice. I'll update more on this book later.

Ideas for the Spartan Reader ...

 
http://1000awesomethings.com/
I was browsing through the articles on www.ted.com when I happened to come across this website. Neil Pasricha, the creator of the site has been posting every weekday since June of 2008, one awesome thing that happens everyday. As of January 25, 2012 he has already posted 935 awesome things in his life and has only 65 more posts to go until he reaches the goal of 1000 posts. The list is hilarious.














http://feltron.com/
Mr. Hill was telling our AP Lit class about this website the other day and I thought it would be something I would enjoy writing about. Feltron has recorded his life, and unlike others who write in journals or blogs, he shows the world what he does, where he goes, who he meets, whatever you can possibly think of, in data graphs. The monochromatic pages are simple but yet still chaotic, bursting with numbers and other statistics. It's something everyone should check out.



http://www.thelongestwayhome.com/
This blog is about a guy who packs up and sells everything he owns and travels around the world to find his real home. I am still wondering my way through the pages of his blog but am intrigued with just the title page. The title of the blog, "A Global Quest in Search of a Place Called Home," and the picture of the man just starting to climb through the mountains ahead keeps me wanting to read more. I hope you check this blog out with me.

Friday Blog Review!

Though I have read a handful of blogs today, my favorite so far has been "Unfettered." You should check it out sometime (there will be a link to it on the bottom). She starts one of her posts with one word, "Bunnies," and I knew I was going to like what I read next. It grabbed my attention right away and I give a thumbs up to her on that. Compared to the other blogs,this one just seems the most "inviting" to me, starting from the catchy titles to the warm colored background. 
"Wicked Lovely" however, has my favorite post on the "Dead Poets Society." Her use of description is incredible as it also supports her claim, something I have a hard time doing. All the blogs I have read today have been interesting and I am looking forward for Friday Blog Review this semester.

http://jovialpursuit.blogspot.com/
http://sinclair-wickedlovely.blogspot.com/

Currently: - Page 203

     As I continue on with Amy Chua's, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, I can't help but notice the change between the relationships of Chua and her family. Sophia, the "model child," finally ends up yelling at her mom after a fight over a small rice mess. The relationship between this mother and daughter was always better than the relationship with the other daughter, Lulu. She was the one that listened and followed every single word that came out of her mother's mouth by racing home after-school to get the extra hour of piano practice in or even by doing all the extra credit work her teachers would give out. This mother and daughter has had a steady relationship until this rice spill accident that caused an argument and ruined the streak:
    "Do you know what a good daughter I am? Everyone else I know parties all the time, and they drink and do drugs. And do you know what I do? Every day I run straight home from school [..] to practice more piano! You're always talking about gratitude, but you should be grateful to me."
     As the book progresses, I feel that Chua's steady relationships are starting to go downhill, and the ones that have already been going down that slope, are only rolling down faster. Chua had always had trouble with her younger daughter Lulu, the "rebellious child," but every other page in the book seems to be describing the fights the two strong-willed people were never giving into. The arguments are also on the same topic, control. As the two fight, nothing good seems to conclude. For example, Lulu cuts off all her hair after her mom refused to take her to the hair salon unless she practiced her violin. The Chinese mother believes her methods for discipline will eventually work on Lulu as it had worked on Sophia, but after each fight, she too also seems to be losing hope. Both the relationships with her daughters seem to be deteriorating because of the lock she holds to their lives. I am excited to read the last 30 pages to find out how her relationships stand by the end of the book.

Dead Poets Society: A First Impression

     The contrast between the tearful and yet innocent younger boys and the two-faced older boys in the opening scenes of Peter Weir’s film, Dead Poets Society, suggests that age and influence will impact the children on their quest to adulthood at their school, Welton Academy. As the blurry, pixel visible mural zooms out to develop into a clear, sharp image of a holy scene, the younger siblings giggle and laugh as their father snaps a few pictures that can be saved and revisited later on in life. The older boys in the background teasing each other with poles look just like and parallel the younger boys in front of the mural. Even though the attitude of the groups of the young and the more experienced boys seem to be identical, the screeching  bagpipes that signal the start of the opening ceremony also signal for what is like a  new mask. Serious masks cover the young adults as words begin to slip out of the headmaster's lips while the younger children talk quietly amongst themselves. When the ceremony ends and the boys are saying their last farewells to their families, the younger boys cry and wish for the return of their parents while the older boys stay and wait for their final instructions of the year. As the boys age and try to find "the light of knowledge" at Welton Academy, they also find the light for the long journey of adulthood waiting for them. 

Duo Close Reading: Nighthawks

                                                        "Night Hawks" by Edward Hopper

Elements of paintings:
1. Color
2. Characters
3. Space
4. Lighting
5. Brush Strokes

Specific Observations:
1. Bright main subject
2. Empty/abandoned streets
3.Contrasted building
4.Warm colors for inside
5. Cool colors for outside
6. Simple/bland
7. Formal attire
8. Stillness
9. Bored facial expressions
10. Shawdows
11. Gradual darkening: right to left
12. Silent awkwardness

Claim: The contrast between the empty, deserted streets and the warm, inviting cafe underscores the idea of needed human interaction.

Currently

                    

      "... some of the things my daughters [...] were never allowed to do: attend a sleepover, have a playdate, be in a school play, complain about not being in a school play, watch TV or play computer games, choose their own extracurricular activities, get any grade less than an A, not be the #1 student in every subject except gym and drama, play any instrument other than the piano or violin, and not play the piano or violin."

     I never would have thought that anyone could publish a book that described my mother  better than what Amy Chua did in the book, the Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Chua's daughters, Sophia and Lulu, are some of the most accomplished people I have ever read about, and they're only as old as I am. Sophia got to play at Carnegie Hall by the age of 13, Lulu got to learn from the world renowned violinist Naoka Tanaka, and they both got the opportunity to perform around the world as the potent sister duo.  As a child, my mother was like any other stereotypical Asian mom, she pushed us kids to the furthest of our abilities. She told us that to be able to live up to the potential America could offer us, we would have to be the best of the best. Even though she isn't as harsh as Chua, my sisters and I have had our own experiences with fights and tears, whether it was being dragged to piano lessons every week or sitting down for another Korean language lesson. I never really understood why my mom wanted us to be the first at everything, but I now think I understand. Like Chua says, "everything is for their future." My mom is "the tiger, the living symbol of strength and power, [the one that] inspires fear and respect," and I thank her for that. 

My Childhood Photo Album

     I don’t really remember all the events that occurred during my childhood, but I do have pictures that show me what I was like as a child. And like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Whenever I look back through my album with my sisters, we have this game we play where we each choose a favorite picture. Recently, I choose a picture of my mom reading to me. As a child, I never was read the classic children stories; I was read the books my parents had gotten from Korea. Because of their recent move to America, my parents were not yet able to read in English, so I was read the traditional Korean stories. I remember my favorite story; a story of a girl who had dropped a golden ball into the sea and her journey to retrieve if from the monsters on the sea bottom. My mom and dad, no matter how busy they were, always saved some time off their day to read to my sisters and me.

     I continued to read every day all throughout my elementary school days. The stickers on my Accelerated Reader sheet overflowing by the end of each year but at the end of my fifth grade year, my parents told me that we were going to move to Fort Wayne and my somewhat every day, regular schedule changed forever. I had always lived in a small town, so I was scared to move to what seemed like such a big city to a little girl. I don’t know if it was the transition to middle school, the move to Fort Wayne, or even if it something that naturally occurred as I got more engulfed with technology that got me less involved with books. I barely read out of school in middle school as well as the first two years of my high school career. I regret not reading as much as I should and try to catch up on my reading nowadays. With all the books offered to me from the school and also from the local library, my goal for etymology this semester is to read at least two books a month. No matter how busy my schedule is, I’m going to read every day, just like how my mom and dad read to me when I was little.