2-23-09

1. Sustainability means to live your life with the necessities and support.

2. At ages 14 freedom and independence is something I have open range in. There are some things that are out of my range such as going alone to the mall and driving where ever I want to go.

3. As a 14 year old, I can live my life more sustainable by making sure I have a good relationship with my family and to make sure I use my money for necessities rather than random things that I want to buy.

Semester Goals

1) I have changed over the semester just a smidge. Before I was kind of shy and quiet and only spoke to the people I already knew. I never really branched out to people but now I do, and I'm glad I do. I have made a ton of new friends, and I'm proud of myself now because I can do better in school with not being to shy to talk out loud to the class or present in front of them.

2) Important skills in humanities are things like similes, metaphores, or alliteration. I find these important because if I ever wanted to become someone like a writer or a journalist then I can appeal to my readers easily.

3) One thing i would like ot improve on would be my annotating and reading. I am not really a reading kind of person so if I read more now it won't be as hard for me in the future. I'll do this by reading more on my own time and reading books that I like and will enjoy reading.

4) I'm really curious about homicide detectives. I just really like learning about crime scenes and other things relevent to that. In 7th grade I did a project about it and I loved it. We had to solve the crime of "the missing dragon babies" It was so much fun!

Dialectical Journals book 8

Quote (Pg. 361): "Diamoche had given chase to a hare and was climbing, bare-legged with exdraordinary swiftness, a slope which seemed to ascend to the heavens."

Analysis: The description of Diamoche climbing was really intresting to me. I really liked how it made her seem like a god going to the heavens. This made me really picture her climing a mountain like a goddess. This was when they (Xerxes and his famiyl) were climbing the mountain.

Quote (Pg. )

Dialectical Journals book 7

Quote (Pg. 321): Suddenly a swift crashing burst from the thicket above. Forms shot forth, invisible. Every hand flew to a weapon.
"men?"
The sound receded swiftly above.
"deer."

Analysis: This quote caught my attention because I thought they were going to get attacked by someone or something dangerous. The sound description they used really let me know whatever it was was gracful, without even saying the word "graceful"

Quote (Pg. 326): "Dienekes himself drew his blade. He was going to open Roosters throat on the spot as a traitor."

Analysis: Dienekes seems really rude. Rooster was only trying to help him and since Rooster went to the wrong spot Dienekes blew up and was about to slit his throat if it wasn't for Polynikes stopping Dienekes.

What I'm Thankful For

 I am very very thankful for the family I have. I seriously would never ever change a thing about any of them. They are always around when I need them and I can talk to anyone of them anytime. Its great! I'm also thankful for the love and support they give to one another. Whenever someone close to us is down, their not down for long. 

I'm also thankful for my beautiful houses (my mom and dads). Even though I don't have my own room and I have to share one of them with three other people, it's brought us all closer together. My house is kinda small but everyone is used to it by now and I'm just glad we have a nice neighborhood that we can go outside and relax in the pretty San Diego weather.  

One last thing I am thankful for is all of my loving friends. I wouldn't be able to make it through high school without them!

Dialectical Journal (pg 31)

Pg. 31
Quote: The men of the farm dragged me into the mud of the livestock pen and nailed me to the hide board the size of a door, driving tanning spikes through both my palms.

I just couldn't believe how crude these men can be. Just because this man tried to steal a goose, he got his hand nailed to a giant board and his legs lashed. How the author put it into the book really brought it to life and made me remember that this was really how things worked back in that time. All I could think of was the word, "OUCH."

Dialectical Journal (pg 22)

Pg. 22
Quote: Women carried infants, some of them already dead, while other dazed figures glided past like shades, bearing away some pitifully useless possession, a lamp or a volume of verses.

This quote really planted a sad and unimaginable image in my mind. Just seeing someone carring a lifeless baby in their arms really tugs at your heart. This goes to show how well the author included every little detail.
He even included the small details of people carring usless items like a lamp.
One last reason I chose this quote was because the words he used, "dazed figures glided," made me feel like I was one of those creepy figures lost in the background.