My 3 short stories that I read were The Sniper, The Return, and Hills Like White Elephants. I think I liked Hills Like White Elephants better than The Return and The Sniper because it seems happier. I know the stories all have some dark/sad thing about them, but the Return was so dark and sad, I couldn't seem to follow when I was reading.
In Hills Like White Elephants, it was about a couple that was on a trip in Spain. I'm not sure why they were in Spain, but they did mention about how they used to have the entire world? I was confused about that part. I knew it was 3rd person limited because the main characters mentioned many times about how they were worried about something, and also how they used to have the world, but they didn't anymore. I love the mystery of 3rd person limited stories, but I also get frustrated because I'm not sure what everything means. The thing I loved about this story though was the love of the two couples. They seemed like an old couple because they were very impatient with each other, but they still reminded one another of how much they loved the other. I think all these things matter for the thesis because from what I've seen from the thesis statements Dr. D gave us in class, it mentions a lot about many literary elements, and also many characteristics of the story itself. I may talk about the characters feelings, characterizations, or even thoughts. I don't think I'm ready for a main thesis statement though because I'm still not sure which story I'm going to use and how to make the statement all together. I'm excited to write my paper soon after finishing Lord Of The Flies!

Participation

I would consider my participation this quarter at about 3/4. I think this because in that past years, English hasn't always been my best subject, so it doesn't always come to me as the most interesting thing. Don't get me wrong, I love to write, but at times I feel down because I'm not the best writer. I always try my hardest to be the best writer I can, but its more difficult for me than other subjects. I strive to be a writer like Nicholas Sparks or J.K. Rowling, but it doesn't always end up that way. I take notes to always see what I can improve on, and ask questions if I don't understand (even though sometimes I ask classmates instead of Dr. D), but I do need to work on staying on task, and not getting sidetracked by other things.
For second quarter, I hope that I will even more things about writing that will help me improve. I will try to stay on task more, and focus very deeply on my writing skills. I can't wait to start other pieces of writing and see what all I can do to try and be like those writers. I hope that by the end of the year I will improve immensely as a writer and a student in English.

My reading this week:
Monday- Dry September- 55 minutes
Tuesday- And of Clay we Are Created- 65 minutes
Wednesday- Harrison Bergeron- 30 minutes
Thursday- Waltz of The Fat Man- 35 minutes

Literacy Elements

So far, in the short stories that we've read, the more we learn about literacy narratives, the more I understand the stories. In one of the recent stories we read, Harrison Bergeron, it seems like the setting really influences the story as a whole. It talks about how in the future everyone is the same intelligence, and that if you are above average intelligence, you had to wear this thing called a "mental handicap radio" in your ear. It would make noises that would keep you from having an advantage from others.
In present day today, people look at above average intelligence as a very unique thing. Sometimes you learn new things from them, like something they might invent or even discover about the world. We don't think of them as mutant forms of human beings, we look up to them. In the story, when Harrison escapes prison and goes to the set where they were filming the ballerinas, it talks about how people took out their radios from their ears to be the intelligence they actually were. But then Harrison and his empress were killed, and everyone was told to put their radios back on and go back to their average intelligence. Then, after it all happened, the mother and father of Harrison completely forgot what even happened! It scares me to think of the future like that, because it makes the future sound very dark and sad. I hope that in the future we keep looking at people with above average intelligence as a positive thing,  not negative.   

Reading Time

This week I was not able to read as much as I wanted to, but I got some in!

Reading Time:
Sunday- 20 minutes
Monday-30 minutes
Tuesday-15 minutes
Wednesday- 0 minutes
Thursday- 25 minutes
Friday- 5 minutes
Saturday- 15 minutes