FINAL PROJECT

Ted Reflection

Evan Sale

Contemp Lit

Mr Davidson

1-8-16

AMDG

When we first received the Ted Talk project I was very nervous about what was going to happen. The fact that we had to prepare a 8 minute  talk about something that we believe in. It got me nervous because I really had no clue in what I believe in. When I finally found out what I want to write about it made the project much easier. I wanted to talk about something that I actually believed in not just something that would be easy to do research on. What I chose to write about was something that I truly believe in something that makes me, me.

What I knew when starting off my project was that I wanted to talk about someone that is very special to me. I wanted to talk about a person that I would like to model my life after. But I could not think of how I would incorporate it into a to a Ted Talk. That's when I knew that I wanted to talk about happiness.   

I selected this topic because it is something that I truly believe in. I wanted to get across the point that doesn't get crossed nearly as often as it should. I talked about how to become a happier person and make the world a happier place. I selected this topic overall because I believe. In order to make yourself happy the first step starts with yourself.  I believed in this topic because happiness is something that needs to talked about. I feel through the examples I used, I can shine the light on what it means to be truly happy.

A lot of the things I learned while doing research had to do with things that I already knew. Granted I wish I added more facts in my Ted talk. A lot of the stuff that I talked about I already knew. I used a lot of stuff on what creates happiness such as personal respect. Something that I believe a lot in, but while doing research I gained a lot of knowledge about personal respect in a deeper sense.  

While presenting I really enjoyed look on peoples faces as I presented. I feel that as the speech went on I was more confident and I gained the audience's respect and attention. I feel through my talk I informed people on what it takes to be happy. I also inspired people to be their own person and live the way that they want.

Please Ignore Vera Dietz Book Review

Overall the novel Please Ignore Vera Dietz was pretty good. The story is interesting how it is set up following a high school girl through her daily trials, and even more complicated high school drama. Vera gets caught up in the middle of a strange situation, where her best friend Charlie ends up dead. The story follows vera in flashback and present day as she deals with the strange things that follow the death of her dear friend Charlie.

One thing that I really liked about the book was how the storyline followed Vera through her life. She lives a life very similar to a highschooler partially because she is one. She goes to class.  Works part time job. And occasionally she deals with inner demons that all highschoolers face. I think it is very cool that the author told the story through a highschooler's point of view so that the audience can connect.  She deals with problems like drugs and alcohol as well with problems with her parents. Vera says “It seems the older people get, the more shit they ignore. Or, like Dad, they pay attention to stuff that distracts them from the more important things that they’re ignoring.”  Vera is explaining her problems with her dad. She is explaining how she thinks that he does not listen to her or understand her. Which personally I enjoy because a lot of high schoolers feel that their parents do not listen to them, or further don't care what they have to say.  The way Vera tells the story is very cool because she is the age of most high schoolers so it is very good and relatable.

Another thing I really liked about the novel was the interesting story on how Charlie got to where he was.  I enjoyed how it started  small and move its way up to something larger.  The story behind this was very interesting in the author did a great job writing it.  Charlie  has had a tough upbringing by having a strange home life. He has had a rough time growing up, which leads to him doing some questionable things. He starts off small by selling his underpants to a perv to get cigs  and eventually moves up to hanging out with the wrong crowd and doing drugs with this guy which is very strange.  Vera talks about Charlie always being a tough guy to handle and to be friends with.  She explains that being friends with Charlie has had its ups and downs before they fell out. The fallout started when Charlie started hanging out with the wrong crowd and that is when him and Vera eventually had  a fallout. Vera says, “Until last year, when the shitstorm began, I sat with Charlie in the back booth on the east side of the cafeteria. Sometimes we let other outcasts squeeze in with us, but for the most part we ate alone, just the two of us.”(4.8.20). The two used to be the best of friends, but as soon as he got mixed in with the wrong people things started happening between the two.  The story of how Charlie got down the wrong path was very interesting to me. It was one of the things in the book I really thought was interesting to find out about.

Last thing that I really liked about the story was how much Vera loved Charlie. Granted that he was not very nice to her and vice versa. Despite all the things that they went through Vera always loved Charlie till he died and even after. It was interesting that Vera felt this way, because a little bit before he died they weren't that close, right before he died she even denied helping him. Charlie says “But I thought you were my friend," he said, his voice quivering.

I thought about May Day, when he hit me. "I was your friend, Charlie. But I'm not anymore." (5.2.25-26) . Vera turned him down because she loved him and cared about him even if they were not that close. Vera cared about the best for Charlie, which being friends is all about. Vera loves Charlie and proved it through all the good and bad times in their relationship. I liked how nice Vera was and it was refreshing to see a true friendship story in this book.

Overall I thought that this book was very good. The overall message in this book is great and I would really recommend it for any high schooler. The novel has themes that every high schooler in life goes through,  good and bad. The good and bad make life, so this book teaches good life lessons which is why I liked and would recommend it.

I Believe I am Rock and Roll

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I, Evan Louis Sale, believe in Rock and Roll.  

Rock and Roll has done so much for me in my life that it has shaped the way I live it. I grew up in my dad’s car on my way to preschool listening to bands like The Smiths, The Cure, and Frankie Goes to Hollywood. I have always been surrounded by this style of music, and I believe it made me the person I am today.

I believe music has the power to tell your mind to do something or act someway. An example of a song that can make me feel like a beast is the song “Bawitdaba” by Kid Rock. During 8th grade, I used to listen to this song on the drive to lacrosse with my dad before every game. This song is one of my dad’s and my favorites. I would get the chills rolling into the opposing team’s parking lot blaring “MY NAME IS KID ROCK”. I would get out of the car with the thought that I could not be stopped. This song was unmatched by any other song on my pump up playlist. The song could get me to become a mad man.

For the CYO championship against Our Lady of Victory on the U of D Jesuit back field, I was so nervous for the game because OLV had already beaten us twice that year. I was so nervous that I felt sick. However, that all changed when I heard the slow chant of the beginning of the Kid Rock song. As soon as I heard it, a wave of calmness came over me, and I knew it was my turn to take control. Rock and Roll can take me from being a nice polite boy before the game and turn me into an animal during the game. I got out of my dad’s jeep, and I was positive we were going to win. Something about the song that day just sent me over the edge. In the back of my head all game, I continued to think about the lyrics and how they rocked so hard. I wanted to play just as hard as Kid Rock rocked. I had a great game that day. I scored a goal and got an assist, all thanks to the influence of rock and roll.

Music really gets my juices flowing. It stimulates my brain to the point that when I am listening to a song that I get mentally and physically engulfed in the music. When my headphones are in, the world is tuned out.  I get so into the music that it takes someone yelling to get my attention. Music transports me to a new world. My music is a little piece that defines who I am. For example, when I am listening to Bob Dylan or Sublime, I can be the person I truly am because the songs have themes of intellect and happiness. I am a firm believer of appreciating the fun side of life, which I have been taught by The Beastie Boys who “fight for the right to party”. I have been taught by Nirvana to question everything and be an individual. The music makes me who I am because I am so connected to it. Music is a powerful thing.

I believe in Rock and Roll.

Vera Dietz Summary Ques

In the novel Please Ignore Vera Dietz a lot of things that traditional high school students go through are very popular in the novel.  Vera is a closet alcoholic, and gets in trouble with her dad when he finds out that she got drunk and made out with her 23 year old co-worker. She claims to be in love with this guy named James.  She gets drunk all the time and ends up hanging out with this weird burnt out guy. Vera is also very weird towards people since charlie has died, she feels that she wants to be a lone hence the name please ignore Vera Dietz.  Vera has changed a lot since what she was like when the story started. There are a lot of problems that Vera faces that a lot of kids in high school face today. Weather that be that Drugs and Alcohol, to peer pressure, losing friendships, and even falling in love.  Vera has been a victim to all of these. She has experimented with alcohol and drugs, because she feels that they help her with her troubles. They may have helped for a little but long term it is not good for her. She mainly more than anything in the book she has lost her friendship with Charlie. Not just because he is dead, but they fell far apart just recently and for really no reason. This is very viewable in real life because a lot of times in high school good friends drift apart for no good reason. It is something high school students have to learn to deal with. They can not turn to substances in order to change who they are or cope with what they are feeling. I can relate to Vera because in high school her and I both have been subject to all these things. I have changed a lot, but in the long run I am a highschool student and all of us are going to be subject to these things we just can not let it affect us. 

Night Circus Book Review

Evan Sale

Mr Davidson

Contemp Lit

12-1-15

AMDG

The Night Circus Book Review

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is a fantasy novel about a competition between two magicians who eventually end up falling in love. The book's story line follows Marco Alisdair and Celia Bowen, who are the most important two characters of the book. These two people are put into a contest through the circus where they have to compete against each other with magic, and the best magician will prevail. Marco and Celia  are competing students of the circus whose teachers are The Man in Grey and Hector Bowen.  These two young students start off the contest against each other, but they end up falling in love. Marco and Celia have to figure out how to end the contest without causing harm to themselves and others in the circus.

One of the main reasons that I did not like the book is because of the fact that I do not like fantasy books in general. Fantasy especially in this book seems to be very stupid and unrealistic. For example, the circus is kind of crazy because certain members who are in it have some sort of magical power. Also, some of the objects within the circus are silly. For example, the bonfire is a spiritual tool that controls the circus. Marco explains, “Think of the circus as a machine… The bonfire is one of the things that powers it”(480). The fact that a bonfire is the center of the circus leaves readers confused because in real life bonfires cannot be a battery of an entire opperation like a circus.  Really all of this stuff is very impractical in reality because most of the people in real life are not magic. Most people need to find real solutions instead of the magic solutions. It makes people question the credibility in the novel because everything in it has to do with things that don't happen in the real world. The readers continue to question things that go on in the novel, which makes for an enjoyable reading experience, because people  get distracted with negative thoughts throughout. Due to the fact that the novel has magical people and powers the credibility is lost, making for an enjoyable reading experience.

Another reason I did not like the book is because it had a very unrealistic love story.There are  two people, Marco and Celia, who are in a competition that  end up falling in love with each other. Another thing is that neither person wants to lose or win, which I also found weird because people who are in a competition generally want to win, especially if they are getting something from it.  Lastly, the weird love story is interesting because Marco and Celia just end up falling in love with each other. There is no story about how they fell in love; it just kind of happened instantly in the middle of the book. Celia says, “I am tired of trying to hold things together that cannot be held”(391). Celia and Marco are talking about the circus and the competition. Later in the novel, “The familiar passion that always accompanies the touch of his skin against hers washes over Celia and she can no longer resist it, no longer wants to” (391). Celia and Marco end up falling in love, leading to them sleeping together. The story did not have enough background or build up, it just happened.Their love seems random in the middle of the book. It is unbelievable to instantly fall in love like that without previous romantic interactions. This love story did not fit in with the rest of the plot. It was not really developed. It was supposed to be a love story but did not have enough of the relationship to satisfy readers.

The only positive thing in this book is that it had good storytelling. Bailey is in one storyline in the early 1900s, and then Marco and Celia are in another storyline in the past leading up to the moment they connect with Bailey. This storytelling is cool because it gives the readers two storylines for the readers to compare and to see where things are going and where they have been.  Also, throughout the book we don't know who the narrator is, but then we find out it is Widget. The  first line in the novel is also the last line, which is very interesting because the book does a full 360. The Man in Grey says Widget’s stories are magical because “that tale will move them and drive them and who knows what they might do because of it, because of your words...There are many kinds of magic, after all”(505). Widget being the narrator is a cool feature because readers never knew who the narrator was until the end. Widget is a minor character throughout the novel, and he ends up being very important at the end. Some chapters are vague and confusing, but then readers realize what is happening and get more information by reading further. Overall, the storyline  keeps you turning the pages to find out what happens next, which is good.

Overall I would not recommend this book to anyone. The book frankly was poor because the magic is not cool and the love story is sporadic. Overall I did not like this book because it had too much maic and not enough reality. The relationship between Marco and Celia was weird, and it jumped out at the readers. The only part of the book I enjoyed was that the storytelling because it was cool the way it was organized for the readers. This is why I would not recommend the book.

Book Review (Final)

Art of Racing in the Rain review

The novel Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, is a very decent book to say the least. The concept of the book is good and I really like the idea of the book to be told from a dog's point of view as he follows the life of his owner who he clearly loves. The book follows Enzo a dog as he follows Denny as he explains his life from a dog's point of view and he explains the trials of Denny and his family. The trials include, an exciting story's between Denny and his wife and how they get along, all the way to how Denny deals with his In Laws. Enzo follows Denny through the book as he deals with all these problems and Enzo tells the story from what he can gather from these circumstances.

I like the idea of the story being  told from the viewpoint of a dog, but I think the dog is biased towards Denny. Enzo’s experiences with Denny,Enzo proves to love Denny so much “I close my eyes and listen vaguely in a half sleep as he does the things he does before he sleeps each night."(8,). Enzo is so close to Denny that everything that he does is something that Enzo believes in throughout the boo. He really sides with Denny and always seems to take his side because he is a loyal dog. I have never heard of or read something with the narration of an animal. It's very different, a new thing, and a cool thing to see a dog’s view point of human actions. Readers get to hear a voice from something that normally can’t talk. I've always wonder what goes on in a dog's head. And now readers ges to see what a dog is thinking and get a new viewpoint. Which is of personal interest to the reader.

Theme makes for an overall good novel.  The overall theme of the novel is if you believe in something then do it. Throughout the story Denny in particular has his mind set on a variety of different goals, all goals he eventually achieves, such as racing, or getting Zoe back. Denny never gave up even though that was an easy option. He made sure he kept at it. Enzo says  “You need to watch the drivers around you, understand their skill, confidence, and aggression levels, and drive with them accordingly. Know who is driving next to you. Any problems that may occur have ultimately been caused by you, because you are responsible for where you are and what you are doing there” (91). Denny is a very determined guy and he works for everything he needs to accomplish. It is proven with his racing and in his life because he is a hard working and determined guy to get the job done. This quote is explaining how a lot of people are trying to get in the way if Denny's life, but he just has to watch them and keep pushing forward in order to beat them. Just like the racers Denny races against. This is a great theme because it teaches a good lesson to readers, people tend to give up if it is too hard, teaches them that your dream can become a reality if you put the work in and work harder enough to do these things

Last reason the book is good because of character personalities that lead the readers to react emotionally. Denny is a good and honest guy who works hard. He does not have everything that people want but he is a good dad and a good husband, good employee who works hard, “In racing, they say that your car goes where your eyes go. The driver who cannot tear his eyes away from the wall as he spins out of control will meet that wall …Simply another way of saying that which you manifest is before you” (89). Denny looks at his life the way he looks at racing where his heart desires that is where he will be., Maxwell and Trish the Twins, awful people so readers wish them harm, the readers also would not like them in this book. Because of the fact that Denny is portrayed as being so good in the novel people want him to succeed, and people that wish him harm to do poorly. I think overall it is a good book because it gives readers something to look forward to, cheering on a character and want that character to do well, want things to end well for them or don’t want enemies to succeed. You hope it backfires on them, and that the good guys to be fine. It keeps you guessing and reading, which makes it a good book.

    Overall good book, page turner, not a thriller but it did get you wanting to find out what came next in the story line.This story had a lot of ups and downs and incorporated the use of a dog in a interesting way. The story is told from the viewpoint of a dog it is something new, try it out, because its not something you get often.