Writing Reflection #3

About Blogging:

 

Blogging is a lot more work than I anticipated. I can't imagine running a blog for a living. Each post takes so much thought and time that doing more than two or three quality posts a day is difficult. I do enjoy this new way of learning it makes classroom work more interesting. I wish we had more time on the blogs in class so we could talk to friends about possible posts and ideas. It’s difficult to be creative for me when I fell I have to live up to expectations. I also find it difficult to write about my work, this class is definitely helping me with that.

 

About Six Word memoirs:

My six word memoirs are probably my favorite thing we’ve done in this class so far. I am a big fan of pictures with stories and in my opinion this project just adds that extra dimension as far as that goes. It made me look at the pictures in a different way and try to find new meaning for the words I wrote as well. I found myself editing the memoirs I had previously written so that they would fit the pictures more accurately. All in all I had a lot of fun with this project!

This six word memoir is pretty obvious and applies to so many aspects: school, love, family, friends etc... I chose to use this as a six word memoir because it does encompass such a wide variety of life. I chose this picture to go with it because it seemed to represent the situation. I honestly have everything I NEED however there is more that I WANT. The picture was obviously taken on a beach and what more can anybody wish for in life? A tropical vacation is the top of most peoples lists, so it seemed ironic to use this situation to mimic how even though we have so much, we still want more.

This is a six word memoir I wrote about rumors. I chose to use this picture because it seemed to accurately represent a rumor. A rumor starts as a spark, you tell your friend a secret. Then it turns into a sparkler, they tell their friend. All of a sudden you are standing in the middle of a fire because the rumor has caught on, everybody knows and everybody tells their friends. When the rumor finally quiets down you are left with nothing more than a path of destruction, a ruined career, social life or family life. The picture represents that first stage when all it is is sparks, innocent sparks. Because after all nobody will know, unless you tell.

This is a picture of my aunt and uncle when they were younger. I used this picture to contrast the memoir because they look so sweet and innocent in the picture but the memoir puts a different spin on it. The memoir suggests that we might not be all good and that is probably true, to quote the song Quiet Crowd by Patrick Watson: “Everybody’s got a little wrong in all the right places”. This song resonates with me and inspired me to write the memoir because I think it is true, nobody can be good all of the time. Including the innocent kids in the picture.

This is a picture of my little brother when he was five, I chose this picture to represent the words “I’ll grow old and be strong” because that is what he has done. He has grown up to be so strong standing up for what he thinks is right and learning so many new things and I am proud of him. Seeing him now in contrast to that picture is incredible, in the picture he is so sweet and innocent. Now he is old and no longer that innocent, he has to explain things to me that I don’t understand instead of how it used to be: the other way around. This memoir was something that I hope to live up to but I used a picture of Chris because I think he has.

This is a picture of me and my dog Cedar. My memoir says, “You’re always there, no matter what” because Cedar is always there. His love is unconditional mostly because he doesn’t know any better, but every day after school he is always at the door wagging his tail. He is such a cutie and he is so sweet, if I am ever feeling sad or lonely I can play with him and he will never get tired of it. I chose this picture because it just reminds me of some of the good times me and Cedar have had, at the lake, in the back yard and playing inside. I love Cece and I’m so glad he is in my life.

Reading Reflection #4

The fault in our stars

John Green

Read Pages: 3-313

Dear Mrs Mclauchlan

            Thank you for recommending this book. It was amazing; I went home and read I couldn’t even put it down. It just seemed like it should go on forever because it was so real and truthful. The characters moved me in their honesty and wittiness. The whole time I was reading I couldn’t help but wish they were real people so I could be their friend with them.

            Since I read the whole book it would be pointless for me to discuss questions or predictions because I know what happens. Instead I would like to describe the connection I felt to Hazel. From the first paragraph I knew she was going to be my favorite character. When we were introduced to the support group that she was “forced” to participate in I fell in love with the book and her all at once. I could really connect to Hazel, we share similar views on religion and even though I myself am not sick, the writing was so relatable I can imagine myself feeling the same way. Wishing people didn’t pity me because of my sickness, but still taking the inevitable sympathy for granted. Let me explain; throughout the book Hazel has a very obvious wish that people would see her as a “normal” person, see her as Hazel rather than Hazel with cancer. However she is shocked when people don’t greet her with the accustomed sympathetic eye, like Van Houten did. I believe she found this refreshing but obviously at the time he was hardly even a man, he was a blubbering drunk pig, so it was obvious that his greeting was insulting. When Hazel and Gus began getting to know each other I could not stop smiling, it was as if I was Hazel, falling in love. It was adorable the way they instantly understood what the other was thinking and I hope to one-day find something similar. (Hopefully with somebody a little bit healthier) I cried from the moment Hazels mom told her they (her and Gus) “needed to talk” (page 211) until the very end. I just could not disconnect myself from Hazel and imagined finding out the love of my life was going to die. It was horrible for me and it wasn’t even real.

            The strongest character in the book by far was Hazel’s mom. This was revealed throughout the book but the most obvious sign of strength was when she revealed her plans for the future. I couldn’t get past the live “I won’t be a mom anymore” it just made me so sad, but reading that she got past her fears of her daughter dying and knew that there was more to life made me so happy. You would have to be so strong to want to help other people through a situation as hard as pediatric cancer especially having experienced it all her self. In my opinion though, she would make an amazing social worker because she does have experience dealing with everything and can help other parents do the same.