Objective Summary Blog Post #2

In the book "Understanding Animal Abuse" By Cliffton P. Flynn, the author talks about how family abuse typically leads to animal abuse and many other forms of abuse. Many surveys have lead to the conclusion of at-home violence leading to out of home violence. In a recent survey, people were asked that in certain situation, would it be appropriate for a man to hit his wife. Over 90% of the respondents who said yes, in that situation it would be appropriate for the man to hit his wife, had been abused as a child, or had experienced one of their parents abusing the other. The author also states that over 62% of imprisoned females have admitted to abusing animals. The author explains how many beating of family crimes have been led to by the abuse of animals at a young age. The author concludes the chapter by introducing a few theories that would be talked about in the following chapters.

Abused calf

Essential Question Blog Post

Essential Question: Should animal abusers be punished more harshly?

Claim: Animal abusers should be punished more harshly, because of the lasting, damaging effects on the animals.


Starved animal



Reason: The physical affects on the animals are gruesome and despicable. Animal abusers do not get caught enough and therefore, typically go unpunished. If the laws on animal abuse were better enforced, with people actively seeking animal abusers and following through with the punishments, rather than letting an animal abuser out of jail earlier than their set time, there would be less animal abuse, because of it being easier to get caught, and with less leeway on the punishments.

Objective Summary Blog Post

Summary of Chapters 1-2 "Understanding Animal Abuse" by Cliffton Flynn.

In chapters 1-2 of "Understanding Animal Abuse" Flynn emphasizes the importance of understanding the commonity of animal abuse in todays world and how it relates to many other crimes. The author explains how many criminals abused animals when they were younger and were exposed to it by adults in their life. He also points out how many reports of animal abuse were linked to people with mental illnesses. The author also shows how their have been many test between college students and middle school students and the tests prove that more of the middle school students have been shown to have witnessed animal abuse or have committed it, showing how animal abuse is getting more common. Flynn also states that they have also ran multiple test with imprisoned criminals and asked them if they had abused animals as children, and 96% of them admitted to doing the most harmful forms of animal abuse such as killing, physically inflicting pain on them, touching them sexually, or having sex with the animal. The author concludes the chapter by describing what leads to abusing animals.

Flynn, Clifton P. Understanding Animal Abuse: A Sociological Analysis. New York, NY: Lantern, 2012. Print.

Response to survey

We were surprised by not getting any results. Our link lead to the survey but would not record our results for us to see. I would assume that most people know a good amount about animal abuse. You can always give us personal feedback by commenting on this post!

Animal abuse survey

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?PREVIEW_MODE=DO_NOT_USE_THIS_LINK_FOR_COLLECTION&sm=fmjiw42IoOAM0aF7TgvPK8JpkSqP9BFl%2bxORD3iuyaY%3d

Discussion Blog Post Question #3

Determine whether Rosie has forgiven August or not.

Rosie (elephant) with Marlena and Jacob

Rosie has not forgiven August. August seems to believe that Rosie has forgiven him from all of his beating her, because once she cooperates, he begins to be in a good mood at all times. August, before finding out Rosie only understands Polish, would beat Rosie until she bled because she did not understand his English. He would beat her terribly with a bull hook causing many open wounds. As the story progresses and Augusts mood hangs from constant anger to constant thrill, he starts to believe Rosie has forgiven him, particularly because he would give her watermelons and ginger ale. There are many times when August looses his temper with Marlena, in from of Rosie, where you can see Rosie is still very scared of him and uneasy. Rosie also has seen the many painful things August has done to Marlena such as beating her. causing much anger toward August to build up in her. Rosie realizes that August is evil, and Jacob and Marlena truly love her and care for her. Toward the end of the novel, Rosie sees that August is putting Marlena and Jacob in danger and realizes that she's had enough. "She lifts the stake as though it weighs nothing and splits his head in a single clean movement" (309). Rosie decided to take all harm away from Jacob and Marlena by killing August. She never truly forgave him, she could always see through his tricks.

Discussion Question Blog Post #2

Going back to the prologue, now that we know the characters quite well, discuss who you think killed who and analyze why.

From left to right: August, Jacob and Marlena.

Marlena kills August. In the prologue, there is a description of a female with crazed-looking eyes, killing a man. Splitting his head open with a stake, to be exact. Now that we have learned more about the characters and their feelings for each other, we can make an educated guess about who killed who. We have just learned that Marlena does in fact love Jacob, and we have known for a while that Jacob is deeply in love with Marlena. August discovers this and goes insane. He starts to beat Marlena and Jacob and call them offensive things. August has recently started using a silver-tipped cane and wearing a silk hat. After all the beating and name calling August has done to Marlena, Jacob and to Rosie the elephant, Marlena has a right to want August dead. In this quote we see a description of what seems to be August, "That son of a bitch was standing with his back to her, red-faced and bellowing, flapping his arms and swinging his silver-tipped cane. His high-topped silk hat laying on the straw beside him" (4). This is enough information for us to assume this is August. "She lifted the stake high in the air and brought it down, splitting his head in half like a watermelon. His face pated open, his eyes grew wide, and his mouth froze into an O. He fell onto his knees and then toppled forward into the straw" (4). This shows Marlena killing August after everything he has out her through. 

The description of Marlena killing August further proves that Jacob is a better fit for her, as I argued in my last post, because for her to kill August, he must have don't terrible things to her.

Discussion Question Blog Post #1

Evaluate Jacob and August's relationship with Marlena and discuss who is more deserving of her.

Jacob 

August

Jacob is the more deserving man of Marlena because he respects her and he wishes and truly loves her. August on the other hand beats Marlena so she will do what he wants, and does not cherish her the way he should. Jacob is younger, and has never had an experience with a girl, which does make him more naive. August is also married to her and knows her flaws, giving them the right to argue. But Jacob would never resort to beating Marlena. He is not as controlling as August. August cannot control many aspects in his own life, because Uncle Al controls it; he resorts to controlling Marlena. Jacob truly cherishes and treats her respectfully. You can see his love for her through his actions. "My heart pounds so hard that, despite the roaring of the crowd, I am aware of blood whooshing through my ears. I am filled to overflowing, bursting with love" (228). This is when Jacob watches Marlena preform again after her injury and he sees again just how magnificent she is. Jacob loves her for who she is and does not try to make her something she is not. This is why Jacob is more deserving of her love than August. 

Animal Abuse and Experimentaton

Animal Abuse Campaign

Tuesday Write #12 Malcolm Gladwell

I personally find Malcolm Gladwell and his thought process very intriguing. It stands out to me how differently he thinks from anyone I know. He refuses to conform to the modern thinking of society and i feel that he typically proves people wrong when given the chance. You can tell that he has a great thirst for knowledge of the truth, especially in this video I have attached a link to Malcolm Gladwell David and Goliath talk.  I believe the message you could easily take away from his Ted Talks, is to not believe everything you hear, because a great deal of it is false. Another take home message of his for me, was inspired from his Ted talk about spaghetti, linked here. The message was that not one thing is perfect for everyone. Although many people like spaghetti sauce, not everyones likes it smooth. Some people like it extra chunky, and some may not like sauce on their spaghetti at all. Here is a video of Gladwell talking about his novel, Outsiders.

Gladwell talking about spaghetti sauce

One thing I see in my frequently in my life is usually between girls. Girls gossip often and half of the things you hear about other people are not true, or you may not know the full story. You truly can not trust everything you hear, because judging someone by one thing that you hear about them, could really hurt them and you don't know if it is honestly true. I would assume girls gossip just for the fun of it, and the indulging in other peoples business. I have attached a link about why people gossip. Gossip link here.

-Bella

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.