Discussion #1 on Animal Farm

My groups first discussion for animal farm went pretty well in my opinion. We discussed the main topics of the book Animal Farm by George Orwell thourough and well while also sharing our opinions on the book as a whole. I would say that our strongest point were that everyones job was done quite well and our discussion questions were pretty open-ended, leaving a lot of room to discuss more instead of just "yes" or "no" questions. A few things that we really need to work on, is stay on topic, and having everyone fully complete their jobs. We tend to get into a good discussion and then vear off a little bit but we are working on it and getting better. Also we are reminding each other to do our jobs.

Tuesday Write LOTF

In Lord of the Flies, Ralph’s speech was planned. He specifically called a meeting single-handedly to give his speech. In his speech, he focused only on the negatives of everyones doing and failed to acknowledge the hard work many people were putting in to gathering food and sticks for shelters. He came off as very bossy and narrow-minded. His speech was centered around how everyone needed to act more civilized and nagged the boys about the little things that he didn’t like. Considering Ralph was voted to be leader, as opposed to just emerging as a natural leader, this caused all the other boys on the island to resent him and reconsider their choice as a leader. In Jack’s speech in Lost, it arose naturally, completely unplanned. Everyone was willing to listen to what Jack was saying. Jack’s speech was focused on water, because they need it to live, not because he was being nit-picky about cleanliness like Ralph from Lord of the Flies. Jack’s speech also was about working together and becoming more of a community and friends, because it is what was best for them especially when they are all struggling to survive. He also mentioned how everyone was working well, making his speech very pleasant and they wanted to listen to him. Jack also arose naturally as a leader, he wasn’t chosen or voted for. In my opinion, that makes him much more easy to listen to and follow considering he arose as a leader because of his natural leadership skills, and him not being power-hungry.

                                                  Ralph from Lord of the Flies

                                                Jack from Lost

Danny Wallace debut novel Charlotte Street. The book features The Kicks ...

Outside Reading Book Review

Danny Wallace’s “Charlotte Street”: A Heartfelt Tale of Socially-Awkward Boy Meets Beautiful Girl

Reviewed by Bella Salyer

Set in 21st century London, this novel has exquisite imagery as well as a

captivating plot about an underdog man finally winning over the love of his life.

Charlotte Street by Danny Wallace, is a romantic-comedy created in 2012

following the tediously average life of Londoner Jason Priestley who just can not seem

to shake his not-so-recent breakup from ex-girlfriend Sarah. One slow and boring day,

Jason spots a female seemingly struggling with many boxes into a cab. Surprisingly,

Jason leaps at the chance to add a bit of diversity into his dull day, and decides to assist

the helpless girl. After helping her load the cab and a glorious smile from her, Jason is

found alone yet again but with a disposable camera left in his hand. Inspired and

desperate to find this mystery girl again, he develops the photos and goes on a crazy

adventure visiting all the places in her photos, to find more clues to her whereabouts.

This book was a great, light-hearted read. It’s very easy to get caught up in the

romance and add no other dimension to books, but this was not the case for Charlotte

Street. The author did an amazing job of keeping you interested and adding some laugh

worthy moments, while still controlling the romance and keeping the plot line stable and

intriguing. I would describe Danny Wallace’s writing style as modern or contemporary.

He gives a very accurate portrayal of modern day London as well as modern day love.

Wallace writes, “But that smile came to obsess my afternoon, and then my and then my

last term of school. Emily Pye had smiled at me! Which meant...she liked me” (Wallace

53). Jason has lost his sense of reality. He jumps to conclusions much too quickly

because of his desperateness. But this also is an example of modern day, how people

get consumed by others so intensely.

 The imagery in Charlotte Street really portrays modern London magnificently.

“You don’t mind anything once you’re used to it. Not the graffiti you find on your door the

week after you painted over it, or the chicken bones and cider cans you have to move

before you can sit down for your damp and muddy picnic….It’s the London I see every

day. I mean, tourists: they see the Dorchester. They see Harrods, and they see men in

bearskins and Carnaby Street. They very rarely see the Happy Shopper on the Mile End

Road, or a drab Peckham disco” (Wallace 10).  Following Jason in the first person

through his adventure of finding his true love, Wallace keeps you interested in the setting

with amazing, easy to follow imagery. He conveys emotion through it all as well.

Perhaps one problem with the book is its length. It truly is an outstanding novel,

but is quite lengthy, totaling up to 407 pages. At times it was a bit of a chore to read,

having to get through the lengthy parts, but other than that, I have no complaints about this book.

Danny Wallace's novel Charlotte Street

Malcolm Gladwell chapter response

                On Thursday October 10th, we read a chapter from Malcolm Gladwell in class. It mainly emphasized the point of how individuals tend to pick a person by their looks over their true knowledge when coming from a leadership standpoint. What stood out to me the most was the ignorance associated with judging intelligence and leadership solely based off of looks. The fact that people still to this day and age judge a person by how they look and appear to be is astonishing. I believe that the biggest take away message was that you really mustn't do such. You must get to know a person before deciding how you feel about them. We need to take what this chapter says into consideration when discussing leadership, because no matter how physically powerful and strong looking someone is, it doesn't prove that they are an ideal leader. A strong mind with conscious decision making skills is much more important than looking the part, when it comes down to it. I think with much work and effort we can undo our unconscious biases, although it would be a lengthy process. I think that if we merely took the time to really observe a person instead of making a quick judgement, we could make the best decision possible in choosing leaders. There are many qualities much more important than physical attractiveness when it comes to leaders. Some of the most important in my opinion include: intelligence, firmness on decisions, ability to do what is best for everyone you are leading, and being open to everyones opinions on every matter. I completed the IAT Race test on Friday October 11th. It did reveal a moderate unconscious bias that I have toward European-Americans as opposed to African-Americans. I was a bit surprised by my results, because I consciously think of everyone as equal.

Tuesday Write Blog Post: Reality T.V.

            Reality T.V. has a negative premises and is just overall not good. Many shows like Jersey Shore, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and Keeping up with the Kardashians portray certain people, with no talent, doing stupid things to be funny and famous. Quite frankly it is sad. Jersey Shore shows young Adults going out and drinking and sleeping with anyone they can get their hands on. Here Comes Honey Boo Boo shows a young, obese girl who eats sugar all day long and says dumb things. People watch this for entertainment, but in no way whatsoever does this portray a true reality. It is not okay for people to think that the kinds of behaviors portrayed in these various shows are normal or acceptable. On the contrary, there arer some shows that do have a postive influence on people, helping them to chase their dreams, like Biggest Loser and So You Think You Can Dance, but shows like these are sparse and hard to find and also these shows contain a lot of unnessecary drama. Reality T.V., in conclusion, only has a negative affect on its viewers.

Introduction

Hi my name is Bella Salyer and this is my blog for English class! I'm 15 years old and I've never blogged before. Some of my hobbies include reading, dance, and shopping. My favorite book is Perks of Being a Wallflower  by Stephen Chbosky or An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. My writing goal for this year is to just become a stronger writer in general and expand my thoughts through my writing. One of my favorite quotes is "Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." -Mahatma Gandhi.