Chapters 1-3 Argument

When you ask your parents to lend you money or buy a new toy, do you ever stop and think that the cost of that items is as much as they make in 6 hours of working? No, you never think of what your parents had to go through or how much they had to do for you to have that one thing you desperately "need." Maybe your parents don't have an issue with throwing money at stuff that's wanted, but there are thousands of families out there where the parents still work by the hour all day, everyday for months and still struggle to provide for themselves, or their families.

Don't believe that's a real situation, that people don't ever feel like they can't provide, they have to move every month because they don't have the money to stay in one place too long and have to move closer to work? Well, in Of Mice and Men Steinbeck has George explain, "'Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They have no family. They don't belong no place. They come to a ranch an' work up a stake and then they go inta town and blow their stakes, and the first thing you know they're pounding' their tail on some other ranch. They ain't got nothing to look ahead to'"(13). George feels lonely, like he's got nothing to look forward to. Nothing to be proud of. He works and works but still doesn't have any 'stake' to live on. He moves many places and belongs nowhere. His only family is Lennie. He has to move around to keep the money coming in. So he can continue providing for lennie and himself.

You go through a lot and do so much to try and provide. All that trouble goes unnoticed and you are stuck in the same perdictiment as before. In the poem, To A Mouse, Burns states, "Now you are turned out, for all your trouble,/ Without house or holding,/ To endure the winter's sleety dribble,/ And hoar-frost cold." This poem explains that you can try and try and put all your effort into things but it doesn't guarantee success or appreciation. You can work all day everyday for months on end and still not get the raise you needed because someone got the spot light that you worked for. In today's society, the people who work the hardest tend to get unnoticed, while those who do something to get their boss to know them get all the attention without really needing to work as hard.

Voices of Protest

Oscar Ekponimo and his New Food Chain

The 30-years-old is a Stanford University Technology Ventures 

Programme Alumnus and a Bachelor of Science degree graduate in computing from 

University of Calabar. A software engineer, he is passionate about IT, and has 

developed solutions for private enterprises and national security establishments.

Ekponimo also runs Food Drive, an ad hoc Chowberry initiative where he
 and other volunteers collect products within a week of expiry and distribute
them to orphanages and homes for the elderly.

Oscar lived a very hungry life as a child, he ate one substantial meal every two days. Oscar grew up with that hunger, he grew up without, so he knows, better than most, what our starved citizens feel. He steps up to make a change in the world. He starts a new food chain for those with none. Oscar is working in Nigeria to change the life of those who need, changed the way they live, give them the food they need.

Oscar posts videos on YouTube, he explains the need for the change, he tells his stories and his plans to change. He has a website that explains everything in more detail. He has a twitter page to get his followers informed, to get the idea, his idea, out there. Out there, where more can see. 

Oscar uses pathos as his appeal. He tells the story of his childhood, how he has been through what others suffer all over the world. He uses pathos to get sympathy, to make you feel, to use your feelings as a way to get you to want to help out. 

Alleviating hunger has always been at the top of his agenda. At university,
he and friends set up Blue Valentine, an initiative to distribute warm meals
 to indigent street kids on 14 February.

Last year his team of four completed a three-month pilot
involving 20 retailers and fed around 150 orphans and vulnerable children.

When he was 11, Oscar Ekponimo was so hungry he would stare at
the kitchen cupboards in his home in Calabar, Nigeria, wishing they
 would magically fill with food.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/11/nigerian-oscar-ekponimo-others-win-2016-rolex-award/
http://time.com/collection-post/4684788/oscar-ekponimo-next-generation-leaders/

vignette

This vignette has multiple transitions, but the transition sentence that leads to the reflection was, "Now why do I regret that?" This strategy of using a rhetorical question is very helpful. It makes you go back and think about what you read and how you feel, personally, before going and reading how he felt. It pulls you into the story and lets you begin your own reflection.
The writer keeps expanding the conversation beyond the original moment is by turning it from his experience to your own experience. He says, " What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness." This is showing that he wishes he had stood up for her more than just 'mildly' and so he would have more of an impact on her life so she'd never forget that someone cared. He also asks the reader a question about who they remember most in their life, and furthers that question with an answer, "Those who were kindest to you, I bet." This shows that even the little acts of kindness are wonderful and would be able to change anyone's mind and feelings, more than you could imagine. You could be the one to save a life, just with small acts of kindness. You could be the one who says one nice thing to someone that helps them change their perspective on something and change it for the better.

Vignette 1

We’d gone in to New York that morning for this fencing meet with McBurney School. Only, we didn’t have the meet. I left all the foils and equipment and stuff on the goddam subway. I had a lot of responsibilities. I had a lot I needed to do, by myself. I needed to make sure we were getting off at the right stop and because I was so focused on that I had forgotten to grab to the equipment. Everyone was upset about the whole situation. People were yelling at me and telling me how awful of a manager I was. They all looked as sad as the Panthers in the movie, Friday Night Lights, when they lost the game. I know I mess everything up but this time it wasn’t entirely my fault. 

    Although, Max Rogers didn’t make anything better. Max was one of the bigger kids. You could tell he worked out more than the rest of us. He was about two of me in width and extremely tall. He was just one of those guys you just listened to because you didn’t want to make him upset. He was the most upset. After we got to the meet and realized we didn’t have our equipment Max through a huge fit. He was punching walls and throwing things, breaking anything and anyone in his way. When he was finally finished throwing everything and hitting walls he approached me. His face was as red as a ripe tomato and boy did he look angry. I was terrified with what was going to happen to me. I swore he was going to pick me up and throw me into a wall or even just snap me in half. He didn’t though. He just stood there and screamed in my face, spitting with every other word. He called me a failure and told me I should have never been born because that way no one would ever have to look at my dumb face or deal with the stupidity that was my brain. His words stung every ounce of me. If it weren’t for what happened next I probably would’ve broke down in tears. 

    I was on the verge of tears, closing my eyes so he wouldn’t see. Then I heard someone yell, “Yo, Max, knock it off!” It was his twin brother, Jean Rogers. Jean was just as big as Max, if not a little smaller. Jean was shorter though, so he didn’t look as intimidating. Both of them had the longer brown hair and the brown eyes to match. They looked just about the same, just Jean was the smaller version of Max. I looked up to see what was going on and Max had turned around so I could wipe the tears away, that had fallen. Jean was standing up for me. I would have never expected that. I was pretty sure Jean didn’t like me from the beginning of the season. We never talked other than when he told me something important I needed to know for the team. He was fighting his brother to get him to lay off of me and let me be. Jean told him that if Max was in my position that Max would’ve left everything at the school instead of actually getting them to the subway. When Jean said that to Max, he stopped in his place, looked at me, apologized, then left. 

    No one has ever done anything like that for me before. No one has actually cared for me or thought to stand up for me before. Today was one of the worst days for me until that. My respect for Jean just flew out of the roof. I thanked him for helping me. He said you´re welcome and walked away. I didn't expect him and I to the best of friends after that but I am still thankful that he stood up for me.

    

Summer Reading Blog 4

Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler. Why we broke up... Why we broke up. Not many people would write something describing why they broke up. Breaking up isn't fun, it hurts, it's devastating. The fact that the book's title is "Why We Broke Up" drew my attention, the description got me even more, then I read the comments about this book. I found myself really excited to read it, so I bought is. I was excited because the description had reminded me of an other book I read a few years back, Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, and I was and still am in love with that book.

Although I have been in multiple breakups in my life, I can say the only personal connection I have to this book is the fact they I have broken up with someone. Someone I would recommend this book to would have to be anyone who loves books about love/hate moments, or someone who has been in a break up recently and feels like they're doing it alone, this book will show them that others have bad breakups before, some that don't even make sense. Nobody needs to feel alone.

Summer Reading Blog 3

I feel as though, the first few lines of this book were the most hooking to me and my sister, "Dear Ed,
In a sec you'll hear a thunk. At your front door, the one nobody uses. It'll rattle the hinges a bit when it lands, because it's so weighty and important, a little jangle along with the thunk, and Joan will look up from whatever she's cooking. She will look down in her saucepan, worried that if she goes to see what it is it'll boil over. I can see her frown in the reflection of the bubbly sauce or whatnot. But she'll go, she'll go and see. You won't. You won't, Ed. You wouldn't. You're upstairs probably, sweaty and alone. You should be taking a shower, but you're heartbroken in bed, I hope, so it's your sister, Joan, who will open the door even though the thunk's for you. You won't even know or hear what's being dumped at your door. You won't even know why it even happened...
I'm telling you why we broke up, Ed. I'm writing it in this letter, the whole truth of why it happened. And the truth is that I goddamn loved you so much." (Handler, Loc. 10).

The quote I have chosen is just about the whole first chapter. that chapter is explaining the events taking place throughout the whole entire book, like the fact, throughout the book Min is writing the letter, explaining the 42 reasons why they broke up and how everything went down to the very point of her dropping the box of reasons and the letter at Ed's doorstep. She tells us at the end of the first chapter, 'I'm telling you why we broke up, Ed... And the truth is that I goddamn loved you so much.' Min told us the reason, the main reason, in the beginning and gave us the details of their relationship and all the cute memories they had. For any teenage girl that reads this, I'm sure they'll be thinking something along the lines, "This Min character is crazy for breaking up with a guy that spent all his days changing his ways to become a perfect boyfriend figure to her and doing everything she wanted, someone who made her so happy. Why would she break up with him because of their amazing memorizes together? Why would she break up with him if she loved him so much?" That right there, that's what I was thinking throughout this whole book... she definitely has a different mind set than I do.b

Summer Reading Blog 2

Although, I don't think I'll finish this book within this week, like I had as a goal in the last blog, I think I'll be able to finish up the book before the end of the month. 

In this blog, I'm going to talk about only two characters, Min and Ed. These are the main characters and their desires and wants are very well exposed throughout the book so far, though, Ed's are still more a mystery. Min throughout the story she's tell wants Ed, she wants a relationship with him, even though she knows they aren't going to get married, she still wanted a relationship with him. She wants to show him the world from her eyes, the eyes of someone "different" as Ed would say. Ed, also wanting a relationship with her, he changes his routines for her just to make her happy. They both desire a relationship together, and we're both happy together, but the little things add up to make them break up. 

At the end of the majority of chapters Min writes "...and that's why we broke up." I find that very interesting because the chapters that's written on are the chapters that are filled with the cute romantic scenes, you'd never think that event would ever be a reason to break up with someone! Handler's structure of writing really gets to me. The way that one sentence can run on for half a page, or how he jumps from one thing to an other, two things not really needing the other around. It's a bit annoying to me, that's why it's taking me longer to read this book than I thought it would. Great story, just wish the structure was a little bit more relatable.

Summer Reading Blog 1

This summer, summer of 2015, the summer before my sophomore year, has been a summer of reading. Along with many other books, I've starting reading a book called Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler. Although, I have just started reading this book, I have a feeling I'm going to be rather attached to it by the end. Well, that's in the future, right now I need to focus more on this blog. The book, so far, has mentioned four names, Ed, Joan, Min, and Al. Min is the one telling the story, through her letters, she's also the girl that is breaking up with Ed. Ed is the, now, ex-boyfriend, the one the letters are directed to. Joan is Ed's sister, so far has no true meaning to the story. Finally, Al is Min's friend, he's helping Min deliver the box of Ed's stuff to Ed's house. There was a mentioning of a deal Min and Al had, Min said, "'Yeah. My end of the deal, right?'" I'm thinking this means she's keeping her end and is trying to make sure he's going to keep his end, even though he avoiding her question. Unfortunately, that's all the information I currently have about this mysterious deal. Is this deal they had the true reason behind Ed and Min breaking up? Min had said she loved Ed. I feel as though Al, even though he's portrayed as the good guy, will end up being the bad guy that broke up Min and Ed. 

When I first read the description of this book, instantly I thought of this book I had read before called Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. That book was about a girl who killed herself for thirteen different reasons. She made thirteen tape recordings and put them in a box, she sent that box to the first person mention in the tape, the first reason she had to kill herself, and then committed suicide. The box got passed from one person to an other until the end. Much like that book, Min sent Ed a box, but instead of there being tape recordings she placed multiple items in the box. Each item was collected over the time Min and Ed were together and symbolized a reason, of many, that Min broke up with Ed. I enjoyed reading Thirteen Reasons Why so I'm hoping this book will be just as enjoyable.

Blog Post 8

The Lying Games

This week I started to read The Lying Games again, now I'm almost finished with the book. A refresher, for those who hadn't read my last post about this book- this book is about these identical twins that were separated while they were babies, and they just now found each other right before their 18th birthday. Emma got the short end of the stick when it came to their separation, she moved from foster house to foster house and always seemed to get blamed for everything and get in trouble a lot, even though she is a good, respectful, responsibly girl. Sutton got adopted right away and she lives in a large house in a great town and has a lot of friends and people that care for her, even though she is a trouble maker that is rude and inconsiderate. Sutton had lived the life Emma has always dreamed about. Sutton had gotten herself into a bit of trouble and a video of what happened was posted online, just so happens that Emma's foster brother found that video and that's how Emma found out about her sister. They agreed to meet up, although right before they met up something bad happened to Sutton... she was murdered.

Now, I know what you're thinking, none of what I said up there fits the title, right? Well here's the thing, Emma had already set out to meet Sutton before she knew Sutton had died, and now Emma has to pretend that she's Sutton or she'll die. The killer of Sutton has been watching everything Emma is doing. Emma found out that her sister was dead before she had even met her, and now it's her job to take her sister's place- Emma finally gets to live with a real family, in a good stable place- it's everything she's ever wanted. There's only one catch, Emma can't be Emma, she has to be Sutton and do everything that Sutton would do. Everything.  Emma the good, respectful, responsibly girl has to pretend to be her evil twin sister, that is the complete opposite of her. You tell me how she's going to pull that off without getting caught. Not only does Emma pretending to be Sutton fit in how she's playing a game with the killer by lying to everyone, but there was something twisted that Sutton and her friends love to do, they love to pull pranks on people for their "Lying game" and Sutton keeps a "Lying Game" box with everything they've done written down, inside of it. They all go out and pull serious pranks on each other and anyone that messes with them, serious as in, they-could-go-to-jail-for-some-of-the-stuff-they-do serious. Along with all of this there are rules to follow, "1. Don't tell ANYONE. Telling will be punishable by expulsion! 2. Only three people allowed in the club at one time. (But someone had crossed out three and written four above it.) 3. Every new prank must be better than the last. Those who outdo another earn a special badge! 4. If we're really in trouble. if it's not a prank, we will say the sacred code words: 'Cross my heart, hope to die." This means 9-1-1!" (page 201).

Read The Lying Game by Sara Shepard to find out what happened to Sutton, what's going on with Emma and to find out the lying game pranks they pull.

Blog post 7

So, I just finished reading Killer Cupcakes by Leighann Dobbs. The ending was definitely nothing that I ever imagined it to be. In my mind, I had the wrong person being guilty of the murder, I imagined a completely different way of the bad guy being put away for their crime, and I never imagined the "her" to be a "him" (you will only understand that if you read the book, and I will not spoil by telling the meaning behind that, because then half the plot is ruined), I even imagined the outcome differently. Although, despite how surprised I was at the end, I feel as though the ending could have been way better than it was. The ending really fell short and was really sudden, the epilogue should have been the actual last chapter to that book. That would've made more sense and been a smoother ending. I don't think that I'll be reading any of the other books in that series. I do recommend the book to anyone and almost everyone that likes mystery books. I say almost everyone because there are a lot of people out there that would be even more disappointed with the ending than I was and I don't want to recommend a book to someone just to disappoint them. But for those who want to read it, its a great book, I loved the characters, the book kept me on my feet and I did feel like I was apart of the investigation (except for the breaking plot twisted end). Overall, I couldn't say I wasted any time of my life reading this book. Check out Killer Cupcakes and other Leighann Dobbs books!