http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3BxfD2JwGQ

2009 2nd Place Winner, Barbara Gooding of Kentucky, reciting “Progressive Health” by Carl Dennis

Barbara Gooding spoke easily and comfortably as she acted quite admirably like she was the spokes person for Progressive Health. Her articulation was clear and her tone expressive. She seemed to understand and feel the meaning of the poem and she conveyed this to the viewer.

She was depicting one of the hardest and most terrible decisions possible- the worth of your life in comparison to an other's. Or in this case six other's. Whether to live and die and be forgotten or to die and spread forth a ripple into the world from the recipients to their family and so on. The ultimate display of altruism.

To Kill a Mockingbird

MOTIF. At the beginning of the year our whole class pretty much had a extreme issue with understanding the definition of motif. I have been struggling since to grasp the idea. To Kill a Mockingbird has definitely helped me uncover this concept because of its exaggerated and yet subtle motif, the mockingbird.The mockingbird is a symbol of innocence, harmless, so to kill one is a sign of the destruction of innocence though evil.

The mockingbird is introduced by Atticus when he tells his children that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird and reoccurs throughout the novel either literally or metaphorically. Characters
who seem to represent this are mainly Tom Robinson and Boo Radley, though there are many others such as Jem, Mr. Raymond and Dill. On page 241 Mr. Underwood "likens Tom's death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters or children. " He says this because Tom innocent to the crime he is incarcerated for, and he is harmless just extremely scared.

Toward the end of the book Scout tells her father it would be like shootin' a mocking bird wouldn't it? to tell the town that he was the one who saved them from Bob Ewell and bringing all that attention onto his sensitive person. Continuing the thought of Bob, he seems to be the main source of evil and pollution of innocence. He first of all seems to have committed innumerable crimes to his own family, then of course concocting the lie about Tom, and attacking the children. He seems to be the vessel of prejudices, injustices and cruelty, spreading his evil through Maycomb ( not saying all of Maycomb's population is just). In the end, the Mockingbird ties in the themes, characters and issues that are dealt with in this classic novel and pulls it all into one neatly constructed story.

keeping a positive attitude

For as long as I can remember, looking back on my childhood, I see my mom's happy, smiling face. She always told me when I was in a tough, annoying or disappointing situation to "look at the bright side", and "make the best of it" and so this has become my life's philosophy. The idea really sunk in when one day scrounging for a fantastic find in GOODWILL, a jersey style shirt sporting the words "attitude is everything" appeared and became my wardrobe staple for the approximate year that it fit.

I would like to say that I am a happy-go-lucky, find the sunshine kind of person, sometimes to the extent that my friends and acquaintances think I'm a tad-bit obnoxious. For example recently my friend and I had an outdoors event which we would have appreciated the sun for but of course, as this took place in Washington, that was not the case. She got annoyed and bored, and a excitedly instructed "just pretend this is how you want it to be!" She stared at me and laughed but I'm completely sure that I enjoy myself much more than the sullen, negative and depressing sort of person, all thanks to my dear ol' mom.

Molly-a great one of many friends

My dear friend Molly, tall and narrow. She has long pale blond hair, gentle, yet piercing blue eyes, a regal nose, and a mouth with a sassy attitude. Overall she is very fair in complexion and manners. She hangs out at home with music blaring, her many animals wondering around and shedding everywhere. Booda, her most beloved of pets, a black weimeraner mix whom she dotes upon, many a time giving him the second half of her bed rather then her friends in the event of a sleep over. Molly has a gigantic heart and often says things like "Come along children" and is so sweet and funny.

She is slightly shy and seems anti-social at times, though she isn't...just slightly subdued and introverted. She is very creative, unique and friendly. Molly is a wonderful individual and has a calm, comforting, sometimes parental way about her. I'm so lucky to have had her as a friend since kindergarten, nearly ten years!

Fire drills...

Back when I was a little child, not yet in school, I remember my father coming up the stairs to where my siblings Lily and Walker, and I were watching Fern Gully and eating popcorn with Bragg's and yeast. He knelt down and told us about what to do if there was a fire or an earthquake. He told us that if the fire alarm went off we had to get out of the house, with the usual stay low, touch the door knob to see if it's warm, all the stuff you learn in the Smokie the Bear trailer at the fair. He said that once we got out we had to go to the specified place down the block from our home.
Later once we did one practice without the alarm he told us that he would make a "fire drill" without telling us sometime that day. so we went back to our movie and snacks content and excited for what was to come.
BEEP!!! BEEEP!!! BEEEPP!
The alarm went off and we calmly walk out of the house and down the block and found dad waiting right where he was supposed to be. As he walked us back to our house he told us what a great job we had done and brought us home and made us a delicious dinner.
THE END

The Joy Luck Club: Point of View

The Joy Luck Club, written by Amy Tan is made up of a pile of stories from the lives of four Chinese immigrants and there daughters. Tan wrote it with this structure to really go into depth about the events and tribulations these women face. It gives a even understanding of all characters from there own perspective and that of others.
The book shows each person as a child and as an adult, revealing the difference between the lives of the American born daughters and the very traditional mothers. The mothers express their fear for their spoilt daughters and their cushy American ways and the daughters feel smothered and embarrassed by their parents' seemingly ridiculous and picky lifestyle. Tan shows the way that the younger girls reject their heritage and the way their mothers press it upon them.
This is a great book and I would recommend it to people who love realistic stories of life and beautifully bright discriptions.

The Joy Luck Club

So far The Joy Luck Club has been a compelling and interesting read. The first few pages were slow but not in such a way that it was hard to read.
The book is separated into memories from all the different characters and each person describes their situations with so much vivid detail, it is almost hard to keep up with what is going on. I think there may be a more dominant feature that I just don't see, sliding beneath my radar, evading my attention.
I think is written this way to show the bright colors that most associate with the Chinese culture. It also expresses the intense emotions that every dramatic mini story contains.
Each characters story shows the different personality and arduously trying events person shares. The tone goes from sad, to happy, to lost or rebellious from chapter to chapter and at first I did not understand the format of this book and it really confused me. All and all, I am really enjoying this book at this point.

writing about reading

Books. What more is there to say? Books are a huge part of my life, though it is sometimes hard to have an adequate dose of them with homework and friend. Reading is an escape into another world, to a school of wizards or a land where a young girl fights for her right to be a knight.

Sometimes a book has a lethargic, slow beginning which switches me to automatic read mode, where I read but at the end of the page I come to and think, "wait a minute...what does that mean?" I read it over again...still it is not quite sticking. Finally "aha!" I keep going.

Other times the book is easy to comprehend but someone (yes I mean you!) doesn't understand that you are on a vacation to some other place and keeps talking, either in a very loud voice or directly to me. Not saying I don't obliviously do this as well...I APOLOGIZE!
Generally it is possible to just block it out and if not I either stop reading or more likely, angrily ask everyone to shut up.

I love books, magic lands with talking animals, or just the story of a girl as she starts high school. Fantasy, fiction and thrillingly suspenseful mysteries. Going in to book stores is a painful, wonderful experience. So many wonderful books and so little money, and so little time. I really love to read and will always find time and a quiet place to escape to another reality.