Reading Response on To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the main character, Atticus shows a great example of a hero for his Archetype. This is shown throughout the book, for instance he determines lots of strength by defending Tom Robinson even after the whole town disapproves and threatens him. This also shows a hero because it shows a great example of sticking for what you believe in. He never stopped defending Tom Robinson in the case, because he was better then that he knew that it wasn't right to do that.
So Atticus is a great example of a Hero because of all the hardships that he faced for supporting Tom Robinson, also because of how much strength he showed for his kids and made a great impression for his young kids who look up to him since their mom is dead. Atticus is one of my favorite characters in all of literature and throughout the book he shows so much strength and interesting characteristics which clarify him as a great independent character.

Reading Response on "The Natural" By Mike Tierney

    Zach Hodskins is a walk-on Freshman collegiate basketball player for The University of Florida. This wouldn't be unusual if it wasn't for the fact that he was born without the bottom half of his left arm. Zach is guaranteed a spot on the Gators roster for next years team. This disability has never held back Zach. He is about 6"4 and has "an amazing ability to sink shots from anywhere." He never hid his dream of being a collegiate player, to his doubters he just told them to wait and watch. He was a great player in Milton High School of northern Atlanta Georgia, averaging around 11 points a game.

    Zach always tries to improve his game, for instances once in a game he heard the opposing coach telling his players to "Make him go left!" He encourages this saying "Keep forcing me left!" He doesn't want to be thought differently then any other players as you can tell by the above quote. When asked why he was signed, Gators coach Billy Donovan says that even though this was a very amazing story they signed him for his basketball skills before thinking about his disability.

    In conclusion, I too am amazed by this very unique story. I hope the best for this player and hopefully he can make it to the NBA, if his game keeps improving and if he can't make it to the NBA then maybe the D-League or overseas. Also, I hope he can truly contribute to the Gators who have a great organization and are true NCAA contenders this year in the tournament. Basically, I'm a fan of this player of a sport I love. I hope the best for him and hope that he is as good as he hopes to be and is as good he is expected to be. This is what I thought of this very interesting and inspiring article. 

   Reading Response on Poem 

Dylan Pantaleo 808 2/23/14

 

    In the poem "Please Don't Take My Air Jordans" by reg e. gaines. There is a very well highlighted theme of peer pressure, for example the unnamed main character goes through drastic measures to impress his friends and peers. He does significant things such as cut school, rob and commit murder. Throughout the story the main character does these acts without noticing his acts. He doesn't show morale and doesn't look back on the terrible acts he had committed.
    For example, the main character has to steal from the mall, because his friends are mocking his "gear" because its old, out-of-style, and just plain uncool. But he has a problem, "security's tight at all the shops everyday there are more and more cops." He can't steal from the mall anymore, so now thinking of only  he mocking he might get if he doesn't get new sneakers he tries to find another way to steal the Jordans he needs to gain respect from his friends and peers. The main character not thinking of the consequences had an idea how to get the Jordans.
    Next, the main character does something that could affect his education very much "cut school Friday catch the subway downtown" this shows that he will do whatever he has to do to get whatever he needs to get the "gear" that he needs to get respect from his schoolmates. "maybe I'll get lucky and find easy prey" he is looking to harm someone for the "gear" that he really needs and wants to impress everyone at his school. Hopefully, he will come to his senses and realize that he is ridiculous and going to far with this.
    Lastly, he starts to follow a man with "q-tip white bright" Jordans. He follows the man down Houston street and when he feels safe he takes out his gun and threatens the man for his Jordans. But the man decided to run. "I fired (POW) he fell between two parked cars" he had shoot the innocent man, just on the factor of impressing his friends and not feeling like his Jordans are too bad for them. He had just murdered someone. No regret. This shows how peer pressure affects many people, even though it affects other people more then others.
    In conclusion, this is why peer pressure affects the main character in "Please Don't Take My Air Jordans" by reg e. gaines because he tries his hardest to impress them, to the part when he had to kill a man to impress the people in his school. He could've spent the rest of his life in jail, to impress people that he might not see after his High School years. That's how peer pressure can affect people in many different ways.

Reading Response on "A Password Pill?" Upfront Magazine

     In the article "A Password Pill?" The author explains that Motorola, a company that was recently bought out by Google that is famous for creating phones, has been working on a solution for password problems in todays world. According to Regina Dugan of Motorola, "the average person logs into passwords 39 times a day, and it takes about 3.2 seconds each time." They believe that with this edible password pill, they could change the whole idea of passwords in todays world. They want to create a pill that will turn on once it reaches your stomach acid, and then sends signals to your phone and computer. This will make it so you won't have to enter a password on any of your technology. 

     This article reminded me a little of "Be More Chill" by Ned Vizzini, which had a storyline of a teenage boy who ate a computerized pill that fought him how to be cool. This was a very interesting story, that shows how technology has advanced. This could be a very interesting concept and I wonder if this will be a medication that is given at a pharmacy or is it given at a technology store? Also, how would this be approved by safety programs, because it seems very unsafe, and could go very wrong, since it has to do with stomach acid to work. 

     This was a very cool article and I would be very interesting to see how this plans out. u B seems like it has flaws and how come they shoot for the stars, instead of just passwords why not computerized pill, like the Ned Vizzini book. How much funding would this take? And if it is a lot of funding, would they have to charge a lot for this pill. These are all questions that I wish the article had asked. 

Blog post on CTQ on Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R Tolkein 

      

       I'm not very far into the first Lord of the Rings book, The fellowship of the Ring. So far their isn't any stereotyping or racism towards the other vase amount of races in the book. Everyone seems equal in their own land. Maybe, species and races will become a minor or major conflict later on in the series. But so far everyone is equal with each other. 

         

         In this story, the main character Frodo Baggins is of the Hobbit species and lives in Hobbiton with many of his species and lots of his relatives. Everyone is equal here and no one is favorited, but Frodo and his guardian Bilbo are known for their wealth, which is why everyone is shocked when he disappears. Their is many different races, in the book and I'm yet to experiences the other species, except for Gandalf who is a Maiar. But there is no racism towards him, and he doesn't offend any of the Hobbits. We are yet to leave Hobbiton in the book so their isn't enough evidence to go against my idea of no racism in the book.  But so far in the book, many races stay together and don't merge with other races in the world.  Very different then the modern world in which many people and races merge together, which makes countries like America very great and significant. That's why their is no racism in The Fellowship of the Ring, the lord of the Rings first book of the trilogy. 

          In conclusion,  their is no racism up to my part in my book, because so far everyone is treated equal in a town with a majority of one race. Also, newcomers aren't offended and don't offend others. This could change later in the book, but so far it is not shown in the book as a major conflict. Also, it might once they leave the town full of Hobbits, but until then I have to say that their is no racism but can become an issue later on. This is why racism isn't an in issue in The Fellowship of the Ring so far. 

Independent Reading post on "Lockdown: Escape From Furnace" by Alexander Gordon Smith

             

               In the story "Lockdown: Escape From Furnace" by Alexander Gordon Smith their has been many times when justice is tainted and not shown to what it should be in the world. One way that justice is not shown in the world, is that children who do commit crime are framed for murder and are put to jail for a crime a lot worse to what they actually did. Also, they are treated very poorly in jail, and are abused by guards that allow gang violence throughout their prison. That's the two reasons of why justice is false and not used correctly in the world in this book. 

              One reason of why justice is used incorrectly in the book "Lockdown: Escape From Furnace" is that children are framed for terrible crimes that they didn't partake in, many of the kids at this prison were framed for the death of their best friends, or someone who is very close to them. They are then sentenced to life at the Furnace, a chid's penitentiary that is very strict and harsh due to the new laws in England because of the growth of violence for youth in their country. For example, Alex who brakes into houses and loots the houses precious items. While breaking into one house,  Alex and his friend are interrupted by men in suits, who have silenced weapons. One of the people kill Alex's friend and then put the murder on him. Alex has encountered other people in the jail with the same circumstances as Alex. This is one reason of how justice is served incorrectly in "Lockdown: Escape From Furnaces." 

                Lastly, another reason of why justice is incorrectly served in Lockdown: "Escape From Furnace" is that the guards and people who run the jail freely accept many things that other jails try to get rid of at all circumstances. Such as gang-like activity, their are many gangs in the prison and they are freely wandering throughout the prison and are not stopped and the guards don't punish these people. Also, their is lots of violence and many people are killed. This is because of all the free will these people are given, many newcomers are tested by people who are native to the prison, also they encourage people to walk to the top of the prison, jump off and kill themselves, they don't mind and don't care for the prisoners safety and well being. This is another reason of how justice is incorrectly served in "Lockdown: Escape From Furnace."

                 In conclusion, justice is incorrectly served in "Lockdown: Escape From Furnace" because children are accuse for false accusations such as murder and other terrible crimes. Also, because of the lack of caring by the guards and how little they do for people that didn't even commit the correct crime to be put into this very harsh and cruel prison. This is why justice is incorrectly accused in "Lockdown: Escape From Furnace."

2nd draft Argument Essay “Lord of the Flies”
by William Golding

By Dylan Pantaleo 808

            Why ban books? Especially timeless classics, many people think that these books are inappropriate for students. Me personally, I believe that you yourself should be the judge of that, not some parent in the Midwest. But what is the most shocking is that “banning books doesn’t, in fact, hurt them much at all. If anything, it may even inspire more interest in them, and sometimes sales, too.” “The Banned Books We Have Loved” by Jen Doll explains this. Also many of these books are being banned for poor reasons that are necessary, such as “Ten Banned Books” explains, that the dictionary has been banned for “inappropriate language.” Well, if your going to ban the dictionary you might as well go ahead and ban the whole English language! “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding for example shouldn’t be banned because there is barely any questionable content in the book, and when there is questionable content it isn’t specified.

            One example of why “Lord of the Flies” shouldn’t be banned is because it doesn’t have any inappropriate language and/or extreme content. Yes, the book does touch on subjects that could be hard on people, but the author describes it in ways so it isn’t as bad as it could be, which it is in different books. For example “Softly, surrounded by a fringe of inquisitive bright creatures, itself a silver shape beneath the steadfast constellations, Simon’s dead body moved out toward the open sea.” Golding 157 shows a very professional way of describing a child’s death, so it isn’t inappropriate or disturbing to a large extent. Also, this shows that if there isn’t anything really extreme then why ban a perfectly good classic novel?

            Lastly, I believe that “Lord of the Flies” shouldn’t be banned; because the book does have disturbing content, but we don’t know it in great detail, so it doesn’t really make the book disturbing in a way. Because they coat the disturbing content by being blunt. By not describing such things that would upset many people, also, a book is made to be someone’s ideas and thoughts and supposed to be free to write what you feel, so why are people banning books if they’re banning the reason for writing books? How does this shows anything, especially since, if people really want to read  a book they’ll find a way to, so it doesn’t help anything, also since sales increase after ban, why even bother?

In conclusion, “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding shouldn’t be ban because there really isn’t any inappropriate content in the book, and if there was it wasn’t specified to make it banable, if that’s even a word.  Also because it shows great life lesson and shows what happens when people don’t stick together. The story is great and one of the best books ever and shouldn’t even be thought about being banned. Especially because it is full of great language such as on page 159 “The green light and the glossy patches of sunshine played over their befouled bodies.” The language in this book is amazing and was written greatly. That’s why “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding shouldn’t be banned.