For the first part of "White Tigers" I decided to do the job of lexicographer. I decided to do this job because this book holds many difficult words. A lot of the words that I chose from this section of the book were because I didn't know the definition of them.
Alighted (page 19) - to come down from something, to descend
I chose this word because I didn't understand the meaning of it.
Teased (page 19) - to disentangle, to disturb or annoy
I thought that it was interesting how they used this word in the test. I usually associate the word teased with someone making fun of another person. However, in this book it is used as saying something was messy or disentangled.
Brambles (page 20) - any plant that is a genus of the rose family
I chose this word because I didn't understand the meaning of it.
Mussed (page 21) - disarrange, to make untidy
This is another word that was new to me and I didn't know what it meant.
Ideograph (page 23) - a picture or a symbol used in writing
This word was used a lot in the chaptered because they kept talking about the Chinese writing.
White Tigers (page 24) - a certain breed of tigers, white coloring
I chose this phrase because it is the name of the chapter. I don't understand why this is the name of the chapter because so far white tigers haven't played a significant part. They were only mentioned as being in the forest that she was stranded in without food.
Smug (page 25) - highly self satisfying
I didn't know the meaning of this word.
Hindrance (page 25) - impediment, the state of being hindered
Another new word to me, that I didn't know the meaning to.
Self-immolation (page 28) - a willing and self sacrifice of oneself, usually dealing with fire
I chose this word because it was from a strange part of the story. It was from the part when the rabbit jumped into her fire. I thought this was strange because it was like the rabbit was sacrificing its self so that she wouldn't starve any longer. Maybe he ancestors forced the rabbit to do this so that she wouldn't be in pain any longer, they were trying to save her from starvation.
Strata (page 29) - a bed or layer that is artificially made
A word that I didn't know the meaning to.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
First Draft of My 1001 Flat World Writing Project
My paternal great grandfather, John Von Pabst, was born in the US to German parents and then raised as young boy in Germany. At the age of twelve he and his mother returned to the US, but their life was far from easy. My great grandfather used to tell my father that as a young boy, some Christmases the only gift they would get was a fresh orange.
Later, as a young man, he served in the US Navy as a sailor during the WWI. Throughout his life he was an extremely loyal and patriotic citizen, which are often traits associated with people of German ancestry. He also possessed the typical Germanic temper. As a young sailor in WWI he was almost court martialed when he punched out his commanding petty officer for calling him a profane name that he felt insulted his mother.
After WWI my great grandfather Pabst (he dropped the Von) settled in the Chicago area, obtained an education as an engineer and become a successful insurance executive. Always a tough pugnacious German, he was nonetheless a very loving and doting father to his three daughters. My grandmother tells a story when she was about 12 years old, of going to get an ice cream cone at Peacocks Ice Cream Parlor in Evanston with her father. As they are sitting on a bench eating their cones, my great grandfather sees a fist fight break out nearby. The next thing my grandmother knows, he takes of his (tailor made) suit coat and tie and hands his ice cream cone to her and joins in the fight.
My great grandfather’s sense of duty and patriotism remained strong and, two years prior the US entering WWII he resigned from his high paying job and enlisted in US Navy as an intelligence officer, using his fluent German language skills to infiltrate the German American Bunds (fraternal organizations) prevalent in the Chicago area at that time. In early December of 1941 he quietly told my grandfather, a young Naval ROTC officer at Northwestern, that we would at war with Japan with a week. It has never been determined within our family whether this prediction was conjecture based on his intelligence work or actual knowledge.
(As an interesting footnote to this incident, my other great grandfather was a life long friend of Admiral Husband Kimmel, the admiral in charge of Pearl Harbor at the time of the attack who was subsequently blamed for not being prepared for the attack and relived of his command. Admiral Kimmel and his supporters, along with Colonel McCormick, the owner of the Chicago Tribune, always contended that President Roosevelt knew in advance of the attack and allowed it to occur to get us into to WWII. In 1999 the United States Senate passed a resolution exonerating Kimmel stating that he was “denied vital intelligence that was available in Washington.")
When the US entered the war in 1941, the Navy, in its infinite wisdom, sent this German speaking intelligence officer to the Pacific war theater as a beach commander to fight in the invasions of Japanese held islands. My grandfather, who also served in the Pacific during the war, today still has the pistol that my great grandfather carried when making beach landings along with two Japanese ceremonial swords that he “liberated” from dead Japanese soldiers he came across during these battles.
Before the US dropped the atomic bombs on Japan, the US was planning on invading the island and, because of its extensive fortifications, the US command was estimating large numbers of US casualties. My great grandfather was scheduled to go in with one of the early assaults and had already written my grandmother to say good bye and to instruct her to take care of her mother and sisters.
After the war he returned to the Chicago area and lived a comfortable life active in the community and his church…..with his daughters and their families nearby. My dad remembers him coming over and babysitting on Saturday nights and building great creations with building blocks and erector sets. He would always leave some money in the cookie jar for my grandparents who were young and on a tight budget.
In the late ‘50’s he moved to West Palm Beach Florida to work with transplanted Chicago insurance legend John D Macarthur (and uncle to James Macarthur of Hawaii 5-0 fame.) Unfortunately, my great grandfather’s temper and principled nature caused a falling out with Macarthur which resulted in him leaving the insurance business. Calling in his early engineering training, in his late 60’s he became the manager of retirement homes, a job he continued with until he died at 84 years of age.
My great grandfather Pabst is buried at the Golden Gate National Veterans Cemetery in San Bruno California near his hero Admiral Chester Nimitz.
Later, as a young man, he served in the US Navy as a sailor during the WWI. Throughout his life he was an extremely loyal and patriotic citizen, which are often traits associated with people of German ancestry. He also possessed the typical Germanic temper. As a young sailor in WWI he was almost court martialed when he punched out his commanding petty officer for calling him a profane name that he felt insulted his mother.
After WWI my great grandfather Pabst (he dropped the Von) settled in the Chicago area, obtained an education as an engineer and become a successful insurance executive. Always a tough pugnacious German, he was nonetheless a very loving and doting father to his three daughters. My grandmother tells a story when she was about 12 years old, of going to get an ice cream cone at Peacocks Ice Cream Parlor in Evanston with her father. As they are sitting on a bench eating their cones, my great grandfather sees a fist fight break out nearby. The next thing my grandmother knows, he takes of his (tailor made) suit coat and tie and hands his ice cream cone to her and joins in the fight.
My great grandfather’s sense of duty and patriotism remained strong and, two years prior the US entering WWII he resigned from his high paying job and enlisted in US Navy as an intelligence officer, using his fluent German language skills to infiltrate the German American Bunds (fraternal organizations) prevalent in the Chicago area at that time. In early December of 1941 he quietly told my grandfather, a young Naval ROTC officer at Northwestern, that we would at war with Japan with a week. It has never been determined within our family whether this prediction was conjecture based on his intelligence work or actual knowledge.
(As an interesting footnote to this incident, my other great grandfather was a life long friend of Admiral Husband Kimmel, the admiral in charge of Pearl Harbor at the time of the attack who was subsequently blamed for not being prepared for the attack and relived of his command. Admiral Kimmel and his supporters, along with Colonel McCormick, the owner of the Chicago Tribune, always contended that President Roosevelt knew in advance of the attack and allowed it to occur to get us into to WWII. In 1999 the United States Senate passed a resolution exonerating Kimmel stating that he was “denied vital intelligence that was available in Washington.")
When the US entered the war in 1941, the Navy, in its infinite wisdom, sent this German speaking intelligence officer to the Pacific war theater as a beach commander to fight in the invasions of Japanese held islands. My grandfather, who also served in the Pacific during the war, today still has the pistol that my great grandfather carried when making beach landings along with two Japanese ceremonial swords that he “liberated” from dead Japanese soldiers he came across during these battles.
Before the US dropped the atomic bombs on Japan, the US was planning on invading the island and, because of its extensive fortifications, the US command was estimating large numbers of US casualties. My great grandfather was scheduled to go in with one of the early assaults and had already written my grandmother to say good bye and to instruct her to take care of her mother and sisters.
After the war he returned to the Chicago area and lived a comfortable life active in the community and his church…..with his daughters and their families nearby. My dad remembers him coming over and babysitting on Saturday nights and building great creations with building blocks and erector sets. He would always leave some money in the cookie jar for my grandparents who were young and on a tight budget.
In the late ‘50’s he moved to West Palm Beach Florida to work with transplanted Chicago insurance legend John D Macarthur (and uncle to James Macarthur of Hawaii 5-0 fame.) Unfortunately, my great grandfather’s temper and principled nature caused a falling out with Macarthur which resulted in him leaving the insurance business. Calling in his early engineering training, in his late 60’s he became the manager of retirement homes, a job he continued with until he died at 84 years of age.
My great grandfather Pabst is buried at the Golden Gate National Veterans Cemetery in San Bruno California near his hero Admiral Chester Nimitz.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
My Hero
In class today Mr. Watson told us to write about our hero tonight because tomorrow we are going to read the second chapter of Woman Warrior, in which Maxine talks about Mulan being her hero. My hero is probably Alisa. She's not a crime fighting super hero, but she's one of the strongest people I know. Alisa is a ballerina that used to dance with Ballet Hawaii, but now dances with Inland Pacific Ballet as a company apprentice.
The story all begins when Alisa was 14 years old. She was getting ready to go to the prestigious American Ballet Theatre summer intensive, when she got a cold. She thought it was no big deal until she began coughing up blood. Her mother rushed her to the hospital. There they ran blood test and saw something was seriously wrong. It seemed that her body wasn't functioning properly and she appeared to be very anemic. Doctors had to take action quickly. They put Alisa into a four week coma so that she wouldn't feel any pain.
While she was in the coma, her condition worsened and her organs were starting to fail. She was put into the intensive care unit at Kapiolani Medical Center. She was also hooked up to many machines that pumped her organs for her. No doctors could tell what exactly was wrong with Alisa and they told her parents that she might die.
After spending seven weeks in the hospital, Alisa regained consciousness and her parents hired caregivers so she could finally go home. The first thing her father did when she got home was he installed a ballet barre in her room. He knew that even though she couldn't move yet, the barre would motivate her to become strong again. Alisa slowly learned how to walk again with help from her physical therapist. Alisa started to become healthier and healthier, but she still had some medical complications.
Her kidneys were still not functioning. She was forced to go on dialysis three times a week for three years while preparing for a kidney transplant. During those three years, she regained a lot of strength and even started to go to beginning ballet classes. When she was finally ready, she joined her old ballet class again. On the first day back Alisa was discouraged at first because she realized that while she was gone everyone had improved and she could barely do what she could before.
When it came close to the time of Alisa's transplant, her and her family moved to San Fransisco (where the procedure would take place). Alisa wasn't the only one that had to prep for this surgery, her dad had to also because he was giving one of his kidneys to her. On December 14, 2001 the surgery took place without a flaw. Alisa and her family stayed in San Fransisco at the Ronald McDonald House for a year while she recovered.
Once Alisa returned to Hawaii, she began to dance. She took as many ballet classes as she could and she spent more time in the studio than anyone else. This perseverance is why she is my hero. Some days she would be in pain, but she kept dancing because she loved it. All of Alisa's hard work payed off, during the summer of 2004 she attended the San Fransisco Ballet's six week summer intensive. At the end of the intensive she was one of the few people that were invited to study for the whole year with the company and on top of that she was offered a full scholarship for the year.
Alisa attended San Fransisco Ballet that whole year and came home in the summer of 2005. When she got home she took part in Ballet Hawaii's three week summer intensive. At that summer intensive there was a teacher that had connections with the Inland Pacific Ballet. This teacher was very impressed with Alisa's technique and attitude while she danced that she invited Alisa to study with Inland Pacific Ballet as an apprentice dancer (the level before becoming a professional). Alisa has trained since 2005 with the Inland Pacific Ballet and she has also made many appearances in the professional productions put on by the company.
Alisa is the bravest and most hard-working person I know. My goal is to be more like her. She missed out on her entire high school experience because she was always sick. She also missed out on the prime training years for a professional dancer, but that didn't stop Alisa at all. She still is pursuing her dream of being a dancer. Also she is not bitter at all about missing out on many things, instead she is the sweetest person I know and is always smiling. She says its because she now realizes how lucky she is to be healthy and to be able to dance everyday.
The story all begins when Alisa was 14 years old. She was getting ready to go to the prestigious American Ballet Theatre summer intensive, when she got a cold. She thought it was no big deal until she began coughing up blood. Her mother rushed her to the hospital. There they ran blood test and saw something was seriously wrong. It seemed that her body wasn't functioning properly and she appeared to be very anemic. Doctors had to take action quickly. They put Alisa into a four week coma so that she wouldn't feel any pain.
While she was in the coma, her condition worsened and her organs were starting to fail. She was put into the intensive care unit at Kapiolani Medical Center. She was also hooked up to many machines that pumped her organs for her. No doctors could tell what exactly was wrong with Alisa and they told her parents that she might die.
After spending seven weeks in the hospital, Alisa regained consciousness and her parents hired caregivers so she could finally go home. The first thing her father did when she got home was he installed a ballet barre in her room. He knew that even though she couldn't move yet, the barre would motivate her to become strong again. Alisa slowly learned how to walk again with help from her physical therapist. Alisa started to become healthier and healthier, but she still had some medical complications.
Her kidneys were still not functioning. She was forced to go on dialysis three times a week for three years while preparing for a kidney transplant. During those three years, she regained a lot of strength and even started to go to beginning ballet classes. When she was finally ready, she joined her old ballet class again. On the first day back Alisa was discouraged at first because she realized that while she was gone everyone had improved and she could barely do what she could before.
When it came close to the time of Alisa's transplant, her and her family moved to San Fransisco (where the procedure would take place). Alisa wasn't the only one that had to prep for this surgery, her dad had to also because he was giving one of his kidneys to her. On December 14, 2001 the surgery took place without a flaw. Alisa and her family stayed in San Fransisco at the Ronald McDonald House for a year while she recovered.
Once Alisa returned to Hawaii, she began to dance. She took as many ballet classes as she could and she spent more time in the studio than anyone else. This perseverance is why she is my hero. Some days she would be in pain, but she kept dancing because she loved it. All of Alisa's hard work payed off, during the summer of 2004 she attended the San Fransisco Ballet's six week summer intensive. At the end of the intensive she was one of the few people that were invited to study for the whole year with the company and on top of that she was offered a full scholarship for the year.
Alisa attended San Fransisco Ballet that whole year and came home in the summer of 2005. When she got home she took part in Ballet Hawaii's three week summer intensive. At that summer intensive there was a teacher that had connections with the Inland Pacific Ballet. This teacher was very impressed with Alisa's technique and attitude while she danced that she invited Alisa to study with Inland Pacific Ballet as an apprentice dancer (the level before becoming a professional). Alisa has trained since 2005 with the Inland Pacific Ballet and she has also made many appearances in the professional productions put on by the company.
Alisa is the bravest and most hard-working person I know. My goal is to be more like her. She missed out on her entire high school experience because she was always sick. She also missed out on the prime training years for a professional dancer, but that didn't stop Alisa at all. She still is pursuing her dream of being a dancer. Also she is not bitter at all about missing out on many things, instead she is the sweetest person I know and is always smiling. She says its because she now realizes how lucky she is to be healthy and to be able to dance everyday.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Methods of Characterization
Since at the moment I'm kind of favoring my family story about my great grandfather I will do my characterization analysis on him.
Name: John Von Pabst
Appearance: In his forties, a bit worn out from his many years of surviving in the Navy
Inner Thoughts: His inner thoughts were about how he knew the Japanese were going to attack Pearl Harbor before it even happened, he was also probably wondering what he should do because he wasn't sure if it was really going to happen and he didn't want to get in trouble by worrying everyone over a false alarm
Environment: Chicago, 1941 working for the US Navy as an intelligence officer because he could speak and translate German for them
What They Say: He said that the Japanese were going to attack Pearl Harbor a week before it actually happened, we don't know that if this was merely a prediction or if he actually heard something while we was working as an intelligence officer
What Others Say About Them: His son thought he was crazy when John Von Pabst told him that the Japanese were going to bomb Pearl Harbor, later after the attack however his son was quite amazed that the prediction came true
Actions: He told his son that he thinks the attack was going to happen, but he didn't tell anyone else
Name: John Von Pabst
Appearance: In his forties, a bit worn out from his many years of surviving in the Navy
Inner Thoughts: His inner thoughts were about how he knew the Japanese were going to attack Pearl Harbor before it even happened, he was also probably wondering what he should do because he wasn't sure if it was really going to happen and he didn't want to get in trouble by worrying everyone over a false alarm
Environment: Chicago, 1941 working for the US Navy as an intelligence officer because he could speak and translate German for them
What They Say: He said that the Japanese were going to attack Pearl Harbor a week before it actually happened, we don't know that if this was merely a prediction or if he actually heard something while we was working as an intelligence officer
What Others Say About Them: His son thought he was crazy when John Von Pabst told him that the Japanese were going to bomb Pearl Harbor, later after the attack however his son was quite amazed that the prediction came true
Actions: He told his son that he thinks the attack was going to happen, but he didn't tell anyone else
Family Stories
I have decided that I don't want to use the fishing story anymore because it doesn't really say anything about my culture or family beliefs. However, now I'm in a dilemma because I can't chose between two other family stories. So I'll just tell both stories right now and then decide which one I like better later. For each of the stories I won't go into much detail because I can do that later when I do the final drafts. These two drafts are mainly just the significant details of each story.
My grandmother, whose maiden name was Judith Gagnon, is from New Hampshire of French Canadian descent. People of that ancestry often manifest humble and hard working characteristics. My grandmother’s second cousin, Rene Gagnon, who as a young child worked in the mills to help support his mother, experienced his brief period of fame as one of the American servicemen pictured, and later immortalized in the famous statue, raising the American flag on Iwo Jima.
The characteristics of my grandmother’s culture were needed at Iwo Jima, as the fighting to take the island was intense and deadly with the US losing 6,825 soldiers in the battle. The impromptu raising of the flag on the fourth day of the battle was followed by another three days of fighting in which three of the six Americans who raised the flag in AP photographer Joe Rosenthal’s famous photo were killed. The raising of the flag helped to rekindle the nationalism the solders had. This helped them to keep fighting for the country they loved.
The other story is about my great grandfather, John Von Pabst, who was born in the US to German parents and then raised as young boy in Germany. Later, as a young man, he returned to America and served in the US Navy during the WWI. Following the war he obtained an education in the US and went on to become a successful insurance executive in the Chicago area. Throughout his life he was an extremely loyal and patriotic citizen, which are often traits associated with people of German Ancestry. He also possessed the typical Germanic temper. As a young sailor in WWI he was almost court martial when he punched out his commanding petty officer for calling him a profane name that he felt insulted his mother.
My great grandfather’s sense of duty and patriotism remained strong and, two years prior the US entering WWII he resigned from his high paying job and enlisted in US Navy as an intelligence officer, using his fluent German language skills to infiltrate the German American Bunds (fraternal organizations) prevalent in the Chicago area at that time. In early December of 1941 he quietly told my grandfather, a young Naval ROTC officer at Northwestern, that we would be at war with Japan within a week. It has never been determined within our family whether this prediction was conjecture based on his intelligence work or actual knowledge. Just that he could make such a prediction is remarkable.
My grandmother, whose maiden name was Judith Gagnon, is from New Hampshire of French Canadian descent. People of that ancestry often manifest humble and hard working characteristics. My grandmother’s second cousin, Rene Gagnon, who as a young child worked in the mills to help support his mother, experienced his brief period of fame as one of the American servicemen pictured, and later immortalized in the famous statue, raising the American flag on Iwo Jima.
The characteristics of my grandmother’s culture were needed at Iwo Jima, as the fighting to take the island was intense and deadly with the US losing 6,825 soldiers in the battle. The impromptu raising of the flag on the fourth day of the battle was followed by another three days of fighting in which three of the six Americans who raised the flag in AP photographer Joe Rosenthal’s famous photo were killed. The raising of the flag helped to rekindle the nationalism the solders had. This helped them to keep fighting for the country they loved.
The other story is about my great grandfather, John Von Pabst, who was born in the US to German parents and then raised as young boy in Germany. Later, as a young man, he returned to America and served in the US Navy during the WWI. Following the war he obtained an education in the US and went on to become a successful insurance executive in the Chicago area. Throughout his life he was an extremely loyal and patriotic citizen, which are often traits associated with people of German Ancestry. He also possessed the typical Germanic temper. As a young sailor in WWI he was almost court martial when he punched out his commanding petty officer for calling him a profane name that he felt insulted his mother.
My great grandfather’s sense of duty and patriotism remained strong and, two years prior the US entering WWII he resigned from his high paying job and enlisted in US Navy as an intelligence officer, using his fluent German language skills to infiltrate the German American Bunds (fraternal organizations) prevalent in the Chicago area at that time. In early December of 1941 he quietly told my grandfather, a young Naval ROTC officer at Northwestern, that we would be at war with Japan within a week. It has never been determined within our family whether this prediction was conjecture based on his intelligence work or actual knowledge. Just that he could make such a prediction is remarkable.
No Name Woman Continued
Well, apparently I did the last assignment about "No Name Woman" wrong because I thought we were supposed to answer the question: what do we learn about Maxine by the way she imagines the rest of the story about her aunt? However, we didn't have to because we were just supposed to do an analysis of quotes that were in the chapter. So, now I'm going to add to that post with two more quotes and more information about Maxine that I gained from the way that she imagined the rest of the story about her aunt.
Another quote is, "It could very well have been that, however that my aunt did not take subtle enjoyment of her friend, but, a wild woman, kept rollicking company. Imagining her free with sex doesn't fit, though." (Hong Kingston 8). In this quote we learn that Maxine is a very open person. When I say open I mean that she doesn't have closed thoughts about sex. She thinks about it freely, and isn't ashamed. If she still lived in China she probably wouldn't have these thoughts because the women had very sheltered lives.
From this first chapter we also learn that Maxine is very curious. This is obvious because she comes up with so many different theories about a person that she just heard about from a story told by her mother. For example she says, “Some man had commanded her to lie with him and be his secret evil. I wonder whether he masked himself when he joined the raid on her family." (Hong Kingston 6) In this theory she thinks that the man that got her aunt pregnant was evil. He was sinister and forced her aunt to have sex with him. The next theory in the next paragraph is, "Or perhaps he first noticed her in the marketplace. He was not a stranger because the village housed no strangers." (Hong Kingston 6). This theory is totally different than a sinister man. For in this theory the man is no longer a stranger or sinister, instead he is someone that everyone knows because there aren't any strangers in the village. Just how her theories differ so much just from one to the next shows us how she has a very curious mind with a never-ending amount of theories.
Another quote is, "It could very well have been that, however that my aunt did not take subtle enjoyment of her friend, but, a wild woman, kept rollicking company. Imagining her free with sex doesn't fit, though." (Hong Kingston 8). In this quote we learn that Maxine is a very open person. When I say open I mean that she doesn't have closed thoughts about sex. She thinks about it freely, and isn't ashamed. If she still lived in China she probably wouldn't have these thoughts because the women had very sheltered lives.
From this first chapter we also learn that Maxine is very curious. This is obvious because she comes up with so many different theories about a person that she just heard about from a story told by her mother. For example she says, “Some man had commanded her to lie with him and be his secret evil. I wonder whether he masked himself when he joined the raid on her family." (Hong Kingston 6) In this theory she thinks that the man that got her aunt pregnant was evil. He was sinister and forced her aunt to have sex with him. The next theory in the next paragraph is, "Or perhaps he first noticed her in the marketplace. He was not a stranger because the village housed no strangers." (Hong Kingston 6). This theory is totally different than a sinister man. For in this theory the man is no longer a stranger or sinister, instead he is someone that everyone knows because there aren't any strangers in the village. Just how her theories differ so much just from one to the next shows us how she has a very curious mind with a never-ending amount of theories.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Pulled to the Bottom
When I was about two-years-old my dad went fishing with my mom's stepfather in Washington. My mom's stepfather loved to fish and he actually lived on a boat before he moved to Hawaii and married my grandmother. My dad and step-grandfather flew to Washington just to go fishing and to visit some relatives.
On the boat my dad and step-grandfather were having a great time and were really bonding. They spent all day fishing and had many great catches. When it was starting to get late my step-grandfather accidentally dropped his fishing pole into the water, he told my dad to go under the boat and to get it.
My dad took a deep breath and dove into the icy water. He grabbed the pole successfully, however his shirt got stuck on the anchor. He didn't realize this at first so he pushed off from the bottom as hard as he could, but he didn't go up at all. My dad tried over and over to go, but he just couldn't. He then realized that his shirt was stuck to the anchor.
My dad thought he was going to die. He was running out of air quickly. He couldn't get his shirt off of the anchor and it was attached to the anchor so tightly that he couldn't even take it off. He started to see his life flash before his eyes. Right when he couldn't hold his breath any longer, he felt himself start to rise up to the surface. Then he felt an arm go around his waist and start to pull him up to the surface.
This arm belonged to my step-grandfather. For step-grandfather was starting to wonder what was taking my dad so long to just dive down and get the pole. He figured that something must be wrong and dove into the water after my dad. Luckily, he dove with his pocket knife in his pocket so when he reached my dad he cut him lose from his shirt. My dad is very grateful that my step-grandfather dove into the water when he did, because my dad doesn't think that he could have held his breath for even a second more.
On the boat my dad and step-grandfather were having a great time and were really bonding. They spent all day fishing and had many great catches. When it was starting to get late my step-grandfather accidentally dropped his fishing pole into the water, he told my dad to go under the boat and to get it.
My dad took a deep breath and dove into the icy water. He grabbed the pole successfully, however his shirt got stuck on the anchor. He didn't realize this at first so he pushed off from the bottom as hard as he could, but he didn't go up at all. My dad tried over and over to go, but he just couldn't. He then realized that his shirt was stuck to the anchor.
My dad thought he was going to die. He was running out of air quickly. He couldn't get his shirt off of the anchor and it was attached to the anchor so tightly that he couldn't even take it off. He started to see his life flash before his eyes. Right when he couldn't hold his breath any longer, he felt himself start to rise up to the surface. Then he felt an arm go around his waist and start to pull him up to the surface.
This arm belonged to my step-grandfather. For step-grandfather was starting to wonder what was taking my dad so long to just dive down and get the pole. He figured that something must be wrong and dove into the water after my dad. Luckily, he dove with his pocket knife in his pocket so when he reached my dad he cut him lose from his shirt. My dad is very grateful that my step-grandfather dove into the water when he did, because my dad doesn't think that he could have held his breath for even a second more.
Monday, February 12, 2007
No Name Woman
In class we just started reading Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston. So far in the first chapter, Maxine's mother has told Maxine a story about her aunt being pregnant, but the baby couldn't be the husband of the aunt's baby since the husband had been gone for years. When Maxine's aunt was about to give birth, the villagers raided her house. Maxine's mother hasn't ever told Maxine about this aunt until now. She didn't go into great detail about Maxine's aunt because she just wanted Maxine to know that she shouldn't become pregnant. If she ever did become pregnant before getting married, her family would forget about her just like how they forgot about Maxine's mysterious aunt. The rest of the chapter is about Maxine coming up with all of these different theories of how her aunt became pregnant. The main question we were supposed to think about while reading this section of the book was: What do we learn about Maxine by the way she imagines the rest of the story about her aunt?One thing that we learn about Maxine is that she has a very wild imagination. We can see this because she comes up with so many different theories, and all of them are different from each other. Also we learn that she must care about looks because she mentions fashion and hair. One time when she mentions fashion is when she starts fabricating all of her different theories. "If I want to learn what clothes my aunt wore, whether flashy or ordinary." (Hong Kingston 6). What I don't understand is, why does she care what her aunt wore? It doesn't really change the story.
Also as I said she talks about her aunt's hair. One of her theories was that her aunt took a lot of time getting ready and her hair was beautiful compared to the other women, and thats why all the men liked her. "At the mirror my aunt combed individuality into her bob... She brushed her hair back from her forehead, tucking the flaps behind her ears. She looped a piece of thread, knotted into a circle between her index fingers and thumbs." (Hong Kingston 9). Just the way that Maxine can go into so much detail about something she is totally making up about her aunt is kind of bizarre. Also the grooming of her aunt's hair isn't even a significant part of her theories, but for some reason she goes into such precise details. This shows that Maxine has a very vivid imagination since she can go into such detail of something that she is totally making up.
Friday, February 9, 2007
Moodle
My English class just recently began using Moodle. Moodle is a safe, educational website. Yesterday Mr. Watson asked us to discuss what we think of Moodle. We were supposed to discuss creative ways we can use Moodle as a class, what we like about it, what we don't like, and what we wish it could do. Creative ways to use Moodle are communicating with classmates by sending messages to each other, turning in assignments virtually, peer editing each other's work by using a wiki, writing collaborative pieces by using a wiki, and to have discussions by using the discussion boards. One thing that my group likes about Moodle is that it is a good way to communicate with other classmates. Also we like the fact that it saves paper because instead of printing out our assignments we turn them in virtually. However there are some things about Moodle that we don't like. For example we don't like the fact that teachers can track every page we view on it. Also the wikis are very slow. When you post something on Moodle, everyone in the class has to post at different times because the system can't handle more than one person submitting something at a time. We wish that it could load faster and accept our files faster. Also we wish we could personalize it more, like how we can personalize our blogs with templates. It would also be cool if we could talk to people from other places, like how we are starting to do on our blogs.
Thursday, February 8, 2007
"Lost Sister"
We just recently read a poem called "Lost Sister". It was about a girl from China that moves to America, because she disliked her life in her strict homeland. After she got to America, her life became so different and she ended up missing China and her old culture.
Important Quote
"There is a sister
across the ocean,
who relinquished her name,
diluting jade green
with the blue of the Pacific"
This quote is about when she first comes to America and how she gives up her name, Jade. This is an important quote because it marks the first change that occurs in her life after she arrives in America. The quote mentions diluting jade green. When you dilute a color, it becomes lighter and not as strong. This could signify that once she crossed the Pacific Ocean, her Chinese culture wasn't as strong as it once was. Or it could also mean that once she crossed the Pacific Ocean, she became less pure. This might be because she wasn't a strict rule obeyer anymore since she moved to a free country.
What does this poem say about how our "self" is created?
"Lost Sister" shows us how traditions and one's culture add to a person's identity. Once Jade left China, she left behind her traditions as well. This caused her to become lost, since she was alone and had nothing familiar around her. She didn't know how to function; she needed China and her family.
Important Quote
"There is a sister
across the ocean,
who relinquished her name,
diluting jade green
with the blue of the Pacific"
This quote is about when she first comes to America and how she gives up her name, Jade. This is an important quote because it marks the first change that occurs in her life after she arrives in America. The quote mentions diluting jade green. When you dilute a color, it becomes lighter and not as strong. This could signify that once she crossed the Pacific Ocean, her Chinese culture wasn't as strong as it once was. Or it could also mean that once she crossed the Pacific Ocean, she became less pure. This might be because she wasn't a strict rule obeyer anymore since she moved to a free country.
What does this poem say about how our "self" is created?
"Lost Sister" shows us how traditions and one's culture add to a person's identity. Once Jade left China, she left behind her traditions as well. This caused her to become lost, since she was alone and had nothing familiar around her. She didn't know how to function; she needed China and her family.
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