Monday Response to Music

"So, so you think you can tell, heaven from hell?" I remember the first time I ever heard this song.
I was with my dad in his car, this old Ford from like '98 or something like that. We were driving to Bay Ridge probably going to get some rare tool that my dad couldn't find in the local Lowes/Home Depot, probably something he needed for work the next day. We're driving across the BQE, my window is open and I'm just enjoying the beautiful October air on my face as we zoom across the highway. As we are driving after a long commercial break the DJ Ken Dashow says something along the lines "And heres a track from Floyd." My dad automatically turns up the volume, being a huge fan of Classic Rock. Picking his brain I ask him, "What's the name of the song, Dad?" He quickly replies "Wish you Were Here" I already knew the band so I didn't bother to ask. I love to learn as much about rock from my dad. As the song played, I had a sharp interest for the starting acoustics and soon followed by nice strum of the guitar and then the vocals start. Pink Floyd, created some of the greatest lyrics I ever heard. And they were defiantly showcased in this song. The comparison that Roger Waters, the lead singer, makes within the song. This soon became my favorite song and I knew it as soon as the song ended and the DJ started to play another song almost instantly. The song meant a lot to me through my life, through tough times in life, such as the death of both my grandmother and grandfather. The way I coped with this was music and this song was very much the reason why. This song was very close to me and has been with me forever and I still listen to this song religiously, because it just is connected to me in weird way, I don't know it just fills something in me that nothing else does.

Reading Response on "Lockdown: Escape From Furnace"

      In the story "Lockdown: Escape From Furnace" by Alexander Gordon Smith, the theme was survival. Throughout the story the main character Alex Sawyer and his friends who he met at Furance, the worlds most secure prison for young offenders have to fight for there lives.
He has to defend himself against vicious gangs, work himself to near death and eat disgusting food.
He found himself one night after getting into a fight with a fellow inmate up against police dogs. The story has lots of upsetting content involving children being treated terribly in this prison do to a law that was passed in England at the time increasing the cruelty allowed for Juvenile Penitentiaries.

      One reason why a survival theme is evident in Lockdown is because the prison is extremely dangerous, they explains that their are lots of very dangerous gangs that pick on and threaten the new kids who are put into the prison. Alex has a very dangerous encounter with one of these gangs, where he barely escapes. He probably wouldn't of escaped if it wasn't for his friends Zee and Donovan. The story shows constantly that people are trying to survive at any means possible. Alex probably wouldn't have survived if it wasn't for his friends, he's extremely lucky they helped him and risked their loves for him. 

     Another reason why survival is one of the main themes in Lockdown is the way the guards were always threatening the prisoner with horrible treatment or death. For example the guards would release killer dogs at night to kill the escaped prisoners and if you didn't cooperate while working in the mines, you were taken to a hole where you were given nothing to eat, no food or anything for days, until you would go mad. This was reasons to do what the guards said and not disrespect them if you wanted to survive. The guards behavior made sure the prisoners didn't defy them and gave them a motive to be good and follow their rules. This was another place in the story where survival was key.

      In conclusion, while reading "Lockdown," survival was definitely one of the main themes in this story,  It was evident in they way it was so important for the prisoners to follow the rules and be able to defend themselves at any moment and the children seem to be fighting for their lives, trying so hard to stay alive because no one wants to die especially that young.  Everyone in "Lockdown" were constantly trying to survive and were doing whatever they could to stay alive.