ISU BLOG POST #6

article: http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/teenagers-embarrassed-parents-2792.html

I chose this article because it relates to a specific part of my isu novel, but isn't a main issue. When the author described how Jeannette was hiding her parents from everyone as she got older, it was an obvious hint of embarrassment. Being embarrassed is an extremely common thing for mostly teens as the grow up but Jeannette obviously wasn't embarrassed by her parent's for a minor humiliating action. It was the fact that her parent's had still not made enough money for a home, and her father's glass castle idea had still not gone into effect. This article discusses why in modern day society, children are embarrassed of their parent's and some of it's factors are related to my book such as:
their parent's background, how they dress, what things they own and can afford, etc.

ISU BLOG POST #5

article: http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/positive-negative-influences-parents-children-6070.html

I believe this article has a really strong message that relates to the social issue of my book which is negative family relationships. This article does discuss some positive influences that parent's can be in their child's lives but the section of this article that i would like to discuss as it relates the most to my book is "Bad Habits". In this paragraph, it is said that a child of an alcoholic is four times more likely to become one after seeing the behavior of their parent's. The same is said for a cigarette addict's child. This article relates deeply to the social issue of my book because Jeanette's father, although a brilliant hardworking man when sober, turned into an unrecognizable monster when he was drunk. Jeanette had always been worried growing up about how that would affect her younger siblings, and how they would grow up and turn out.Therefore, my book and the article share the same similarity over the social issue of my book.

ISU BLOG POST #4

ARTICLE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-quigley/ten-facts-about-homelessn_b_5977946.html
why i chose this article:
This article talks about all of the negative effects in the real life world of homelessness alongside some statistics from this past year. I feel like this article really relates to my book, "The Glass Castle" because the main character Jeanette deals with her family going into negatives in their bank accounts after her dad lost his job. They undergo a series of tragic events while being out on the streets and this article makes you realize some of the truth about people who dont have what we take for granted, a home to live in.

Ender's Game Activity 1 & 2

Character Description

Bernard:
- gets arm broken by Ender
- tries to bully the launch group into disliking Shen and Ender
- cornered Ender in the showers
Alai:
- member of Ender's launch group
- becomes Ender's best friend
- helps him gain acceptance with the other recruits
Bonzo:
- Ender's enemy
- commander of Salamander Army
- jealous and cruel
Petra:
- in salamander army
- skilled shooter, helps Ender
Rose the Nose:
- controlling over Ender
- Ender's commander in army
Dink:
- protects Ender, smart
- Ender's leader in Rat Army
Ender:
- main character
- smart, strong, a third
- 6 years old, two siblings (Valentine and Peter)
- joins international fleet

Journal Entry



My relationship with the children and adults that come from different countries are with my friends at school who came from different places from all around the war. More specifically my relationship with someone born and living in a different country than me would be with my cousin from India. the things that I know about the country that my cousin came from is that they celebrate different holidays than what we celebrate here in Canada. Some of the holidays that my cousin celebrates that we don't include: Diwali, Holi and Vaisakhi. Diwali is the festival of lights and Holi is the festival of colours. Each holiday comes with many fun activities and rituals just as for us Canadians we go trick-or-treating on Halloween and put presents under a tree on Christmas. My cousin is much older than I am and knows how to cook different authentic Indian foods such as the wildly popular samosas that now other countries and cultures all around the world know of and eat. I know a lot of things about India and it's culture not only because a lot of my family is from there but also from the time that I went on vacation there with my parents in grade 5. My cousin has also come to visit me in Canada and told me many things about their daily routine in India. The advantages of meeting someone from a different country is that you get to learn and try many different, new things. The disadvantages are very few but it would mainly be interacting with a foreign person because they might not speak your language and they might feel uncomfortable speaking to someone new and different. I would approach someone from a different country the same way I would treat anybody when meeting somebody new because if I treat the foreign person differently they might feel awkward and scared. My overall experience with people from a different country would be good because I love to learn new things from people and I also get along easily because I love to be open and accepting.

War Artifact - S'more

https://www.smore.com/y4q0t-war

ISU blog post #3: The Glass Castle

http://psychcentral.com/lib/when-family-members-protect-alcoholics/0002847

I chose this article because it discusses the negative effects of having an alcoholic in the family which relates back to one of the few social issues in my book "The Glass Castle" -alcoholism. It discusses all of the stages and processes the family of the alcoholic have to deal with and go through in this article and what specific difficulties both the alcoholic and family goes through. In my book that i chose for my ISU "The Glass Castle", one of the main characters ,which is the father of Jeanette, is an incredibly astounding man; except for when he returns to his addiction. He deals with an alcohol addiction. His family has to endure the many hard times of when their loved one turns into someone they never want to see or even know. Jeanette's father was a smart man who enjoyed everything about physics and arithmetic, he was the one who created the entire idea of the glass castle. He would tell Jeanette and her siblings amazing stories all day of his life and what he went through and Jeannette described him as "the most relatable man (she's) ever known" but only when he was sober. He was described to be an "aggressive monster" once he was drunk by his children and wife. He got into fights with Jeanette's mom and was mean to the kids. This article discusses a lot of what Jeanette describes her life and thoughts to be in the book.

Retell, Reflect, Relate: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

In the movie "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" it tells a story of a German/Nazi soldier's eight year old son named Bruno. The movie takes place in World War 2 and shows the events of a forbidden friendship between Bruno and a Jewish boy he found in a concentration camp one day while on an adventure when discovered the concentration camps in which the Jews are being annihilated.  It was through a pathway in the forest near his house where he saw a young boy around his age sitting on the floor inside the barbed wired concentration camp. The boy was in a blue and white striped uniform with a cap of the same color therefore Bruno knew right away he was a Jew. The boy's name was Shmole and Bruno had felt the need to be nice to him by helping him out. Bruno made an effort to come see Shmole at the fence in the same spot everyday and brought him food secretly. Bruno and Shmole's had to be a secret because Bruno's parents would be furious that their son is associating with a Jew. One day Bruno's mom had a thought that it was a bad idea to live somewhere so near the concentration camps so Bruno and his family packed up as his parents decided to move back to the city. Bruno did not want to leave Shmole like this so one day these two made a plan to bring Bruno into the concentration camps so they would not have to be separated. Bruno was given the Jews uniform by Shmole and they dug a deep hole under the fence together so Bruno could come into the concentration camps. After entering the concentration camps all of the Jews were sent into the gas chambers told it was just a shower when really they were all about to be killed. Bruno's parents noticed that Bruno had been missing for a while so they went out to search for him only to realize it was too late and their son was already trapped in the gas chambers.

This movie was insanely emotional and had everyone at the edge of their seats. It represented a lot of the difficulties and challenges the Jews and Germans had to face during World War 2 and the Holocaust. This movies main idea wasn't only about the war but also an interesting story of a forbidden friendship and loyalty.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is relatable in many ways of personal experiences that people deal with in their lives. There was lots of unfairness, racism, discrimination and cruelty towards the Jews in this movie and many races and different cultures still have to deal with the same type of inequality in today's world.

homelessness slam poetry

This poem will be about the social issue of my book "The Glass Castle" which is family problems and homelessness.

I felt the cold and icy winter air,
Blow heavily through my hair

Searching through the trash to find something to wear,
This winter was something too difficult to bear

I was hoping to be fortunate enough to find something to keep me warm,
Because the season was filled with enormous storms

Without having a roof over my head,
And sleeping on the sidewalk as my bed

The struggles my family and I had to face,
returning back to my family's spot on the streets just to be called a disgrace.

Slam Poetry for my ISU book

http://www.masters.ab.ca/bdyck/Homeless/Studentwork/Inverness2/
This is a link to some examples of slam poetry which relate to the social issue of my book; homelessness. The following examples of poetry talk about the struggles and hardships that occur while living out on the streets and how difficult it is emotionally as well. This relates to my ISU book because the main character of my book is homeless alongside her entire family because of their shortage of money.

Horrors of Civil War in Dublin, Ireland

               On a long June evening, during a civil war in Dublin, Ireland there occurred an incredible event. This event happened between a Republican Sniper and a Free Stater who later turn out to be brothers. The Sniper discovers a free stater (A.K.A. his enemy) in his sight so he comes up with a plan to attack and get rid of him. 

              This all started during one evening in Dublin while the sniper was in somewhat a calm state but starving due to the lack of food he had been provided through out this catastrophe he is fighting through for the republicans, known as the Civil War. He had just lit up his cigarette when he had almost gotten shot by an enemy car, he decided not to fight back as the enemy cars were covered in steel. 

               He then came across an old woman, an informer. Then as described, a man's head and shoulders appeared coming towards the sniper and the sniper fired his rifle and had shot the informer. He fired one more time and had stricken the woman one last time before she whirled with a shriek into the gutter.

               All of a sudden he had been shot by an enemy from the other side to which he wasn't paying attention to. He was shot in the arm and after a lengthy recovery, the sniper had made his plan for a final attack on his enemy Free Stater that he had spotted earlier. His plan was to do a quick sneak attack with his only remaining weapon.. a revolver. 

                After the Sniper had defeated the Free Stater he began to feel a bit of remorse and guilt. He started wondering if he had ever been accompanied by the person who's life he just had taken as a friend or colleague. The Sniper felt a sudden curiosity to know just exactly who he had killed so he took the risk of crossing over the street to go find out. As he turned over the freshly dead body, he realized he had just shot his own brother.  

                 

Child Soldiers

connections: the connections I have made between the interview of Ishmael Beah and the article "Teaching Kids to Kill" is that they are both trying to convey the message of young children and the idea of killing and learn about child soldiers mentality. In the interview with former child soldier Ishmael Beah, he talks about how he had to use hard drugs to numb his feelings and kill people at such a young age. Whereas in the article they are talking about how video games desensitize kids to the idea of death and war.


Challenges: -Why is it okay for a former child soldier to talk about his story just because he was young and forced to kill also including his intense drug use when it would not be okay for a regular kid/teen/adult to do so and they would have to do their time in jail.


Concepts: I think the main idea of the interview was to explain the stories behind child soldiers and to open our eyes up to the entire reality of it as many people did not know about child soldiers drug abuse. I think the main message was about how nowadays children are being so familiarized with fighting, war and death through out media which I believe is true.


Changes: I think the changes in attitude, thinking, or actions that are suggested by the text and the video are to become more aware towards children are raised and treated as they are the future leaders of the world.

D-DAY ARTICLE

D-Day invasion article

                  This article is about the D-Day invasion that occurred during World War Two in the Battle of Normandy. This article specifically talks about when the Canadians targeted Juno Beach. It talks about the destruction of the of the walls of "Fortress Europe." The article also mentions how the Allied forces invaded the Normandy coast of France that was occupied by the Nazis. 

             The connection that I can make to this is a movie I watched last semester in History class. The movie's name is Saving Private Ryan and it is about the entire Invasion of Normandy that occurred during World War Two. The climax of this invasion was D-Day as well as the climax of this movie. Saving Private Ryan was an accurate representation of the actual event so that is how I can relate to this article. This article broadens my views on the two topics of war and conflict by giving me a descriptive idea of the invasion.