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.