Removing The Stigma in Dumpster Diving

Payton Vicknair

Mrs. Parkinson

English III B

13 April 2016

Removing The Stigma In Dumpster Diving

Lars Eighner wrote a book about his adventures being homeless. We read one of the chapters from his book where he talked about dumpster diving. I know you just cringed at the thought of someone living out of a dumpster. It’s all gross to us. But the way Eighner wrote his novel didn’t make me gag or think about a dumpster as a dirty, rusty old metal bin filled with nasty maggots and rats. He made it sound like he was very experienced in what he was doing and it didn’t seem bad at all. It actually made us the reader who is living well seem like the wasteful people who could get much more out of our food and other objects we own. Eighner says, “After all, the finding of objects is becoming something of an urban art.” (713) He doesn’t see “scavenging” as bad anymore and more like saving. He would keep track of when colleges would go on breaks because the student would throw out food before so it wouldn’t spoil and it was perfectly good food. 

Eighner really makes me think. I don’t think about the stigma of people who dumpster dive anymore, but more how I can stop wasting my food and donate the food that I don’t need to homeless shelters so people who do scavenge don’t have to be watched and judged by the people walking around them who don’t understand the meaning of Eighner’s way of life. 

Of mice and men

Payton Vicknair

Mrs. Parkinson

English III

14 March 2016

Of Mice and Men

How far are people willing to go to get what they want? Some people take it to extreme levels to see the limits they can reach in people. For instance, Curley, in the book Of Mice and Men, gets angry about not getting what he wants so he decides to rage. Slim being too strong for Curley to fight, he goes against Lennie and starts picking on him, thinking he won’t do anything. He was wrong. After getting George’s permission to fight back, Lennie grabs Curley’s hand and crushes it. Slim says, “This punk sure had it comin’ to him. But-Jesus! He ain’t hardly got no han’ left.” (Steinback 64) Not only did Curley get mad and try to challenge a guy who didn’t have anything to do with the fight, he got himself into this mess and ended up with a broken hand.

I think this shows off in a lot of people around us. Ever have someone push you to your limits just to get what they want? Maybe it was you when you were younger and didn’t realize it as you pulled at your mom’s pant leg in the middle of Toy’s R Us throwing a fit because she said no to the toy you wanted.

Aspect's of writing 'The House on Mango street"

Aspect: They often employ techniques of narrative

The writer of "The House on Mango Street" uses lots of details. Lots. He talks about how the house he will one day have will "have running water and pipes that worked. And inside it will have real stairs, not hallway stairs, but stairs inside like the houses on T.V." and also how the house "would be white with trees around it, and a great big yard and grass growing without a fence." I could really see his imagination of the house that he wanted. And then he described in detail what the actual house looked like. I could just picture it clearly, with its "tight steps in front and windows so small you'd think they were holding their breath." Yes in the beginning he is describing everything bad about the house, but he isn't completely negative, just descriptive, yet in the end he says that his mom says it's only temporary. It moves to a bigger idea of, not everything is permanent, and to hold up your head, things will get better. Don't be negative.

Aspect: They deliver interesting information

In the story, the author says, " They always told us that one day we would move into a house..." and then goes into detail about the house and then ends it with, "But the house on Mango Street is not the way they told us at all." That really makes me interested in what it looked like. In the beginning with him describing all the crappy places they've been, I really wanted them to get that house he was describing. I almost started believing that they would have that dream house, but they didn't and it made me sad for them. It made me want to learn new info about the house they actually got. He tunes you into the story.



Aspect: They exhibit perceptivity

Like I said in the first aspect, the writer isn't ever negative about the descriptions of the house. When he is talking about the actual house he got he only says, "There are stairs in our house, but they're ordinary hallway stairs, and the house has only one washroom. Everybody has to share a bedroom-" Never in the text he said that it was horrible or that he hated it, just simply described it and I feel that that is him showing people to not look so negatively on things, they'll get better. As his momma said" It's only temporary" 

Catcher in the Rye 9-10

After reading the article about the rattle that no one else can hear, I immediately found a connection to Allie's baseball mitt. In the article, at the end, the author talks about all different sorts of rattles that people have, like an injured wrist hurting still even after years of recovery. She (the author) takes the simple rattle from her car and connects it to the wrist injury. Everyone has "that rattle no one else can hear" in their own way; and it relates to Holden in the exact same way.
 When Holden says, " My hand still hurts me once in awhile, when it rains", he isn't talking about his hand hurting, he's talking about missing his brother Allie. It has been awhile since his brother's died, but once in a while he will feel that ache in his heart. And it is every time he holds that left handed fielder's mitt.

Why this book?

I Looking For Alaska, because it was written by John Green. John Green wrote The Fault In Our Stars which I read and fell absolutely in love with. I read it 3 times, so when I saw that he wrote this book too and had to try it. It turns out, it was just as good as TFIOS, and that anyone who read TFIOS should definitely give Looking for Alaska a try, because if your a true die hard for TFIOS, you would definitely like other books by the author.
I also chose this book because it is a love/romance novel. I just adore books about people finding their true love and has some happy endings, but usually always has a plot twist, and I like surprises. Now, I'm not saying all love stories have surprises, but this one does and if you like those, well then I know Barnes&Noble has some copies.

Why you should consider this book.

I was going to talk about just one section of the book, and it try to persuade you to read it, but there is no one section. After I started reading the first paragraph of Looking for Alaska I couldn’t stop reading. There was no slow start into the book or a rough part to get through that was boring. It starts with a week before the main character, Miles (Pudge), goes away to boarding school; and how he never got in with the crowd at his old school. Now, if you’re a reader like me, you would want to know if he finally finds friends and gets along with his new school. But, when he gets there, he not only finds his true friends, he finds love. Only he doesn't know it yet, and thats what the book is about. It’s a story in the words of a seventeen year old boy who finally finds friends, gets to know a girl he fell in love with day one, and just talks about his life in Culver Creek High. If that isn't enough for you, there is a Before and After, so you know something big is going to happen or a major plot twist. So it is a book you will get hooked on and can't finish until the end. Until the After.

The characters

     In my book, Looking for Alaska, I am far enough to know what the characters are starting to want. For example, Pudge and Alaska have tension between them to where they are madly in love already, although they barely know each other. Alaska, unfortunately for Pudge, has a boyfriend. So, Pudge and Alaska want each other. Now the Colonel is having troubles with his girlfriend. They are both bad girl/boyfriend material, so they deserve each other, that's the only reason they're together still, so other than that, Colonel is just free. Lives day-by-day. Doesn't really want something. Not yet anyway.
   I would say that the main theme in this book is love. Finding love, losing love, and most importantly looking for love. colonel and Alaska hook him up with some girls, when really Pudge just wants Alaska, hence the title. Now my book is split up into two main parts: Before and After. Then in the Before, it is separated into days: days before the After.  The Before is when Pudge is pulled into Alaska's world and makes him fall in love with her, and After that, nothing is the same.

Looking For Alaska

       I have recently started reading Looking For Alaska, and am on page 60. So far the main characters are Miles, Chip, and Alaska. Miles lived in Florida, but for his junior year, his parents sent him to his father's old boarding school, Culver Creek in Alabama. As he gets set up in his non air-conditioned, flaming hot room, he meets his roommate that's been there since freshman year. Chip, the roommate, says that they all have nicknames. His is colonel, and Miles' is pudge, which is ironic since he is a 6'1 scrawny kid. Down the hall they go and meet up Colonel's friend for some cigarettes, which is when Pudge meets Alaska. 

     The night before the first day of school, the Weekday Warriors, or the rich kids of the Birmingham-area that think are so cool, grab him, duct tape him, and throw him n the lake after they say it's for being friends with Colonel. Pudge gets out and tells Colonel. Apparently they do it to all new comers, but they don't duct tape the people to where they can die. So Colonel "declares war". After a couple weeks go by, Colonel, Pudge, Alaska and some more friends go for a smoke, when The Eagle, one of the vice-principals, catches them and throws them into school court. A court that they hold every semester and make some kids come in as the jury. Alaska and Colonel take the blame, since they were the only ones smoking at the time, and Pudge and the other friend, Takumi, were let off, for no rules against watching people smoke. 

   Now the questions I have are, will Alaska and Colonel get thrown out of Culver Creek in the future for getting caught smoking again, and will Alaska and Pudge date, because they have tension between them, but always turn it away because of Alaska's boyfriend. 

Reflection

  Words that I’ve used to indicate my voice would be words like anyways and TV show and 2 PM. I was writing like I was talking to an everyday friend. Very casual. It shows my personality by showing I’m an everyday person. I wasn’t trying to spruce up my blog posts like I was about to give a speech to the president or to the Queen of England. I was just me.

  To enhance my writer’s voice I used low/ informal diction and different sentence lengths. One time I wrote, “You could tell that he wrote it and maybe visualize his voice reading it, even though you don't watch a TV show called Ben every day at 2 PM on channel 3” (Vicknair). That was a long sentence right. After another long sentence I put a short sentence, “Take Ellen's book for example”. I wrote with different sentence lengths everywhere. For my low/ informal diction I said, “Every time I picked up her book and read, I could hear her voice reading it to me, like we were talking all day long.” I could have changed read to perused and voice to articulation, but I wanted informal diction, not formal where the words are more challenging and you don’t use in an everyday sentence.

The Author's Voice.

       In the final chapter of Seriously... I'm Kidding, Ellen said that she didn't care if we dripped coffee on her book or almost left it behind, but she was glad she could spend some time with her. It got me thinking. Every time I picked up her book and read, I could hear her voice reading it to me, like we were talking all day long. I could tell that she had written it. It's amazing that you could visualize her voice just from words on a page. That's what my teacher Ms. Cohen was talking about in class, use your voice in your writing. She even showed us great examples like Ben's blog. You could tell that he wrote it and maybe visualize his voice reading it, even thought you don't watch a TV show called Ben everyday at 2 PM on channel 3. Anyways, all I'm saying is that every writing piece could use a little of your own voice. Take Ellen's book for example.

Favorite Quote

I am almost to the end of Seriously I'm kidding and I was laughing so hard at this one quote that Ellen  had written. She said, "What’s not so great is that all this technology is destroying our social skills. Not only have we given up on writing letters to each other, we barely even talk to each other. People have become so accustomed to texting that they’re actually startled when the phone rings. It’s like we suddenly all have Batphones. If it rings, there must be danger. Now we answer, 'What happened? Is someone tied up in the old sawmill?' 'No, it’s Becky. I just called to say hi.' 'Well you scared me half to death. You can’t just pick up the phone and try to talk to me like that. Don’t the tips of your fingers work?'"

   This got me thinking about what our society is really about. Most teenagers now are constantly on their phones. It's like they're married to them. I actually feel the same because I was on the brink of tears when I dropped my phone and it shattered the screen. I can't be the only one who has done this. Right? 

If I had a conversation with the author.

If I had the chance to talk to Ellen Degeneres, I would ask her if her life is always funny and crazy. I mean, do all comedians and stars have laugh out loud moments all day, everyday. I sure don't, but laughing is a choice. You could laugh all day if you wanted, or you could be a debby downer all day. I would also ask Ellen if she makes up some of he things that she says are true, or is all her trips to the mall ironic. I also think that Ellen would talk to me like one of her guests on her show. She makes all her guests feel like her good friends that she's known for ever. I think she would talk to anybody like that. I mean, have you seen a newspaper article about Ellen Degeneres fighting with paparazzi?

The best thing about my book.

      I would say that the best thing about my book is that there's no plot. You don't have to remember any character names or how the author makes the character react to certain scenarios. It's just Ellen Degeneres and who ever she talks about in the 2-3 page chapters. You can escape all the author's connection questions and just have a good laugh at her sarcastic humor. She makes you relate to her stories and even included coloring pages for if you don't want to read, which I have colored already. But I guess she just wrote down the first thing that came to her head just to write a book for more money. That's what all stars want out there in Hollywood. More money. Anyway they can get it. That doesn't mean that what came to her mind isn't funny, because it truly entertains me and if you watch someone that's reading her book closely, you might see a visible smile on their face.

Why I chose this book.

    A new trimester started and I went to my english class and my teacher said that we will be doing blogger again. I knew I had to pick another book for this trimester so I went to Barnes&Noble to pick a book. I didn't feel like going through two plots from tow different books, because of our class novel, so I leaned toward comedy. I had heard of Ellen Degeneres writing a book, but I never payed any attention to it until I found it in the book store. I started skimming through it and was laughing in the book store. I had to buy it.

   In her book, she had many different stories about her and her life. She was like an everyday person, but turned her ironic moments into humor and joked about it. I felt like this book would bring me joy to an everyday school day to blog about weekly.

Plot For Seriously I'm Kidding

       I am up to page 57 in Seriously I'm Kidding and have realized something. There is no plot or characters. That is because Ellen Degeneres, the author, didn't write a fictional book with characters. The characters are the people she sees everyday and herself. She is basically writing about herself and anything that has happened to her that is comedic. Her main goal of the book was to bring people joy and entertainment by reading something that is funny and you don't take serious. That's probably why people choose to read this book to relax, laugh, and not have to get emotional about characters in a silly fictional book. I recommend reading this book, even from just explaining the plot only.

Seriously I'm Kidding

      You may have heard of Ellen Degeneres from her show Ellen Degeneres. She is at it again with hr book Seriously I'm Kidding.  Her book consists of many little chapters where she talks about many different things that we can relate to. I have read to page 33. The chapters within these pages are: Writing This Book,  CoverGirl, Stuff, Personally Speaking The Secret of Life, The Secret of Life-Part Two, and Thunderclap: A Short Short Story. 

      I would say my favorite chapter was CoverGirl, because she tells you these ways to be a supermodel and they are like ridiculous things. Basically, the whole book consists of satire. She is sarcastic and just makes jokes about her life and really anything. 

Fahrenheit 451

         In Fahrenheit 451, I have started the book before thanksgiving break and have read to the second part. In the first part, the story begins with the setting at a firehouse, but no ordinary firehouse. Firemen are supposed to extinguish fire's right? Not in this book. The government has banned all books and now firemen are burning any book they see. Guy montag is the main character here. He has been working there for 10 years now and seems to know everything about burning books and loves his job, until montag is called to a house with a book citing.

           He is forced to burn every book the homeowner has, which is a heaping pile, and the homeowner refuses to leave. His rules state to light the entire house up and anything inside it, including people. Montag is now sick of that scene he had done the niht before and has taken something back with him that could get him in major trouble. His wife finds the book he has hidden behind his pillow from the night before and is very scared what might happen is Captain Beatty finds it too. which is coinsidence since he is there wondering why montag didnt go to work. Beatty leaves and Montag leads his wife to the opening of an air vent and shows his wife something that nobody could have ever guessed about Montag.
 

Reflection

I chose A Link Between Gossip Girl and Life to exemplify as my best blog post. This is becasue I linked Gossip Girl to what it would be like in everyday life and even at your own school. I felt like this related and met the requirements most to having our first post be related to life in some way. Also, in my blog I felt like I tried to make the blog posts about some of the rubric requirements and even some different topics, like grammar. I think I stuck more to analyizing over a couple chapters and characters then to putting more effort in the harder things like theme and book recomendations, just to make the whole thing easier. Over time though, I must admit that I got lazy and didnt want to read this book anymore or post.

During writing my blog, I had struggles with was figuring out what to write about half the time. Like some days i would have a really good section i wrote about and then the next week i had a section in the book that i had a hard time to write about in some way. I just overcame it by looking at the rubric and choosing something to writy eabout it with and maybe putting a picture in to just make it seem not so empty. Although I was really good at putting pictures in to realte to what I talked about. It seeemed easy to link anything to a picture.

Friends?

Are Serena And Blair Friends? Well, Blair has been dogding Serena sometimes, and just doesnt feel like friends with her still. Especially since she just ran off and didnt talk to her the whole time she was gone. Now Blair is throwing a huge party and Serena isnt invited. Will they ever be back to normal?

S is Back!

     Serena Van Der Woodsen is back at Constance Billard School for Girls! She has showed up, late, underdressed and in a new uniform that stood out from the rest of the seniors. This because the girls get to switch to a blue skirt from a tunic, and keep their skirts for the rest of their school years. Therefore, they are all so short. So when Serena walked in with a brown tunic that was to her knees she was noticeable.