National History Day Project Research and Reading Log

           My topic is the effect of the abolishment of the Hindu caste system of the social status of the Brahmans (the highest class) and the Dalits (the lowest class). The caste system was officially abolished because people felt that the Dalits weren’t being treated fairly and didn’t have the same opportunities. The abolishment was supposed to have made things equal between castes and has been somewhat of a success. Dalits have begun to have similar lives to those of the other castes. At the same time it has also decreased the amount of religious authority and power the Brahmans have over the other castes But its long past has made it a permanent part of Hindus’ culture.

          For my research I still need to find some more useful sources for my annotated bibliography. I also need to eliminate the non-useful ones that don’t provide much detail, just the basic information. Before I can do anything else I need to finish my annotated bibliography. I’m going to analyze my sources for the note cards and start putting them into the categories I’ve come up with. Over the weekend, I’m going to have to work on compiling information into notecards a good bit.

Reading Log

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian 5½ hours

Maximum Ride 2 hours

NHDP Annotated bibliography/research 1 hour

Writing Center and Reading/Working Log

My visit to the writing center was very comfortable and I communicated nicely with my helper, while working on my literary analysis rough draft. She helped me figure out how I can go through my paper to find mistakes. By reading it out loud instead of in my head, my mind won’t skip over the details. I found and fixed a lot of typos by doing this, as well as improved sentence fluency. By doing this I also found things that were extraneous or out of order that would have made my paper really confusing to read.

My writing fellow also helped me decide whether or not to include several analogies I had written into my essay. I believe I ended up taking most of them out because they were slightly distracting. Most of them only made sense in my head and when I typed them up they seemed really far stretched. She helped discuss the few insecurities I had about things in my paper and either reassured me or helped me improve them. I wasn’t too sure about having my paper follow the plot, but I knew that in order for me to explain my thesis I would have to. When I asked her, she agreed with me and gave me reasons why it would be okay. I walked out of my visit at the writing center, more confident in what I had written so far and sure about what I still needed to work on.

Reading/Working Log

Rereading and annotating LOTF- 1 hour

Reading focus journal- 45 mins

Reading Focus Project- 35 mins

WHAP Textbook- 25 mins

I Thought He Was a Ventriloquist...

Prompt: The next time you're in a public place such as a coffeehouse, park, or a store observe the people around you. Pick a person, couple, or a group and imagine what their lives might be like.
        While riding in the car on the way to dance, I saw a man walking on the side of the road. He was holding a large blue bag over his shoulder that had the words ‘Little Anne’ on the side in big white letters. He looked like he was walking towards his car and he seemed to be having a long day. Automatically I thought he was some sort of ventriloquist. He probably wasn’t a very successful one if he was coming from a performance in an orthodontist’s office.

        His main act, ‘Little Anne’, wasn’t much of a hit for the audience of thirteen year olds and mothers, in the waiting room of his uncle’s orthodontist office. He is working two different jobs, both earning him minimum wage. It is enough to pay to rent on his apartment but it wasn’t enough to keep his girlfriend around. He is thinking about moving in with his mom and quitting one of his jobs. After I wrote this I looked up ‘Little Anne’ on the internet, and it turns out I was way off. Little Anne is a CPR practice doll and he was probably an instructor.

Reading Log

Siege and Storm, over 2 hours, finished

Lord of the Flies, over 2 hours, finished

 



Short Short Story: Free Post

Shrill and disturbing, loud as a siren. Penetrates my body and shimmies down my spine. A sound from so deep inside of me it is foreign. The sound echoes across the lot, bouncing off the concrete walls of distant buildings. Birds from nearby trees launch up in a torrent of fluttering wings into the hazy night sky, full of the artificial light of the city. The sound is still exploding out of me, tearing out of my throat like I’ve been swallowing swords. When it feels as if I’m going to pass out from the lack of breathing, my scream finally starts to fade. I feel weak so I let myself slump to the ground leaning against a nearby car. Only now do I feel the full pain of the wound in my side. The strength I thought I had drains out of me as the last echoes of the mingled scream and gunshot subside.

Sorry if this is disturbing for anyone, I wrote it a little while ago for a free post but decided to write something else. I couldn't think of anything to write, so I thought I might just use this.

 

Reading Log

Lord of the Flies 2 hours and 15 mins

Siege and Storm 20 mins 

Captivating Conversations – Blog Prompt

Prompt: Come up with a question to ask several people, list their responses, and talk about your favorite response.

I have thought about this question a lot, even though it may be simple and dull sounding. What makes a good conversation starter? I forgot about it for a little while but I was inspired by probably one of the most spontaneous people I know. Prepare yourselves some of these might get a little bit boring but bear with me because the last one practically put me in tears when I was asked this.

1. Brother #1 says ‘an insult’

2. Brother #2 says ‘Would you kill baby Hitler?’

3. Dad says telling an amusing story along the lines of Roman admiral performing a pre-battle ceremony… sacred chickens aren’t hungry…’if they will not eat then let them drink’… throwing them into the sea… losing the battle because he killed the sacred chickens. And mentioning that we are distantly related to the idiot who killed the sacred chickens.

4. Mom says she can’t think of anything quite as interesting as my father’s response. But she usually starts with ‘how are your kids doing?’ or something like that.

5. Last but not least, my dance teacher says ‘what would it be like if I could only move my head in sharp abrupt movements?’

                 The last one I definitely my favorite because it was so out of the ordinary and actually led to an extremely interesting conversation.

                What do you think about these responses? What do you think is the best conversation starter?

What It Would Be Like If It Were Us

Eleanor screams in the distance.  She is standing on the beach, eyes wide open gaping at the disaster before her. Cody, Bailey S., Nicole, and Devin stumble out of the forest their clothes burned and pulled at by the trees. The sound of a small explosion booms from the plane, the engines still roaring back to life every minute or so. Madison, John, and Sienna are already standing behind me. John is running in circles panicking sputtering a million words a minute at 100% volume. Smoke is billowing up from the forest, meaning the trees have caught fire. The obvious doubt in everyone’s face says that everybody probably didn’t make it. But just as the last engine explodes sending the fires reaching up towards the night sky, the rest of our class trudges out of the trees. Bailey L., Emelia, Alex, Sophie, AC, Jacob, and Harper, all carrying or dragging each other to the safety of the beach. They gather together in a chaotic cluster by the waves.

 “What are we gonna do?” shrieked several people in desperate voices.

Sienna says with a grave voice, “Did you see anyone else? Are we the only ones?”

Out of breath, Jacob and Baily are only able to nod their heads.

John stops his screaming long enough to say, “How is it possible that everyone on the plane died, except for our English class?”