Literature Group Blog

So far in the book Heat by Mike Lupica is that there's this kid named Michael and he can pitch very fast.  Michael's dream one day is to pitch for the New York Yankees. In the beginning of the book Michael sees a kid named Ramon steal an old lady's purse and runs off with it.  Michael threw his baseball very fast at Ramon's neck so the cops could catch him. Later on in the book, Michael meets this girl named Ellie at a ballpark.  Turns out Ellie liked baseball as well, Michael and Manny (Michael's friend) started playing catch with Ellie and she had a very strong arm.  Michael played this team called "Westchester South" and there's this kid named Justin and he pitched a fastball right at Michael when he was up to bat.  Michael knocked out, but he stood right back up and was ok.

I do like the book Heat because its very interesting because I also like baseball and enjoy reading about it too.  This book caught my intention by Michael wanting to make it into the MLB and pitch for the Yankees because I once wanted to play for the Cubs but I realized that that dream wasn't to come true because I didn't commit to it. I also like this book because of the story, the story is inspiring to follow your dreams even though you might be deported back to your home country; Cuba.

My feelings have changed a couple times reading the book because in the beginning everything was fine.  Michael was just a normal kid that just wanted to play for his favorite baseball team.  Then I learned that Michael's parents are both dead and that Michael is living in the USA illegally because him and his brother Carlos are minors.  This part made me sad because the officials might get a background on Michael and find out that he lives here illegally and then they'll deport him and destroy his dream.  After this I felt kind of better because Michael found about this girl and he has a crush on her so I'm guessing that the book will be more positive now on.

3rd Quarter Reflection

I think my work in the 3rd quarter was very weak, I could've done way better.  I tried to do homework but I always thought it was irrelevant and I didn't need to do it. Now that I see it affecting my grade I'll do my best in the 4th quarter because I have no other option, my father has told me that I HAVE to get at least one quarter with good grades and now this is my last chance to succeed.

I know see that this homework isn't that much and I could also do more in school.  In the 3rd quarter I also didn't do my best which meant I took home a lot of work that I didn't do.  3rd quarter was my worst I have to say out of all and the next one won't be.  I slacked off too much in the 3rd quarter and I won't in the 4th.

 The method that I most improved in was the arguementative essays, I learned how to argue properly. I'm proud of completing blogs because it makes me feel good when I complete my work.  For the most frustrating part of 3rd quarter would have to be the IXL's, I don't like doing IXL's because they make me so mad when I get one wrong and it takes my points.

Life is Beautiful

The movie Life is Beautiful is related to the book Night Elie Wiesel because they're both set in the same time period (World War II, 1939-1945) Elie's father and Joshua's father both die in concentration camps. In both stories there's a strong bond between the father and the son and they all care for each other.  There's also the Nazis in both stories that sent both of the families to the concentration camps.

The differences between the stories is that Elie is much older than Joshua.  Shlomo dies of sickness but then Guido dies from being shot to death from a Nazi soldier.  Elie has a sister but Joshua is the only child.  When Elie gets to Auschwitz, he's immediatly split from his mother and sister and never sees them ever again, Guido and Joshua are split from Dora but she's still alive at the end of movie.

Life is Beautiful has a more humorous mood throughout in the movie while in the Night book, its very dark and sad.  Guido is very optimistic throughout the movie to Joshua because since Joshua is still young he might believe his father that it's just a game.  Shlomo sadly isn't optimistic to Elie because Elie is old enough to know what's going on so Elie's story is much more sad because Elie has to see the horror.

In Life is Beautiful, life is shown beautiful when Guido and Joshua are in Auschwitz and Guido tells Joshua that this is all a game to keep Joshua happy and so Joshua could have a good time.  Another time Life is beautiful is when Guido meets the love of his life, Guido is very happy whenever he sees Dora, he makes her laugh because he's so humorous.

Night blog

            In the book Night by Elie Wiesel, Elie changes from being pious to then having very little faith in God.  A quote early on in the book gives the reader a understanding on how pious Elie really was, "During the day I studied the Talmud, and at night I ran to the synagogue to weep over the the destruction of the Temple." (Wiesel 1) this quote shows Elie would do nothing but study the Talmud and then cry over the destruction of a church,  the "Talmud" is basically the bible and Elie studies it everyday.  Another quote I found to prove that Elie was pious was "One day I asked my father to find me a master to guide me in my studies of the cabbala" This quote shows that Elie was ready to learn more about the Talmud and cabbala (the ancient Jewish tradition of mystical interpretation of the Bible,) but Elie has changed very much throughout his time in the concentration camps.

            Elie changed faithfully,  "Where is God's mercy? Where's God? How can I believe, how can anyone believe in this God of Mercy?" (Wiesel 76) this quote shows how Elie's perspective on God is.  Elie is losing faith in God because he feels as if God created these men to then make these camps to kill others.  Another quote I found while reading was "I cried because because something inside me felt the need to cry. That was all I knew. 'Why do you pray?' he asked after a moment. Why did I pray? Strange question. Why did I live? Why did I breathe? 'I don't know," I told him, even more troubled and ill at ease. "I don't know.'", on the other hand this quote represents Elie's faith in God, he still hasn't lost all of his faith but Elie will never go on to be how pious when he was is the beginning of book. Where is God's mercy? Where's God? How can I believe, how can anyone believe in this God of Mercy?

            Elie has also changed his father-son bond with his father. In the beginning of the book Elie has a great relationship with his father, "the moment when I left my mother. There was no time to think, and I already felt my father's hand press against mine: we were alone."  this quote shows their bond when the father grips onto Elie to ensure that nothing would happen to Elie and so to keep Elie safe in his hands. Later in the book Elie and his father's bond grew weaker, "My father groaned once more, I heard: 'Eliezer... I could see that he was still breathing—in gasps. I didn't move. When I came down from my bunk after roll call, I could see his lips trembling; he was murmuring something."  Elie just was leaning over his father just watching his father die and not at least hug his father, Elie just fell asleep without saying anything to his dying father.

Butterfly Project

I am a Jew and will be a Jew forever. 

Even if I should die from hunger, 

never will I submit.

I will always fight for my people, 

on my honor. 

I will never be ashamed of them, 

I give my word.

I am proud of my people, 

how dignified they are. 

Even though I am suppressed, 

I will always come back to life.

 

- Franta Bass

Berlin Memorial Activity

While talking about the holocaust, the nazi party, and world war 2.  I learned a lot of things such as the reason why Adolf Hitler wanted to kill the Jews, I also learned that Hitler shot himself because he didn't want to be caught and killed.  I think the Berlin monument was built to remember those people that were killed for no reason, and to show love towards the families of those who were put in concentration camps.  As the years kept going on, the laws started targeting more and more Jews, laws kept restricting Jews from doing things and they couldn’t have/ possess certain items.  I would have a hard time dealing with being deported to Auschwitz because people there had a hard time.

Revision of 2nd Quarter of 8th Grade

The area I improved the most on was the blogs I think.  I used to not try blogging because it got so boring at times, but now I write about stuff I want to and I write even more so I accelerated with the blogs.  My favorite book of the 2nd quarter was Solar System: Facts and Exploration, I liked this book because I really enjoy reading and learning about space and the solar system.

Something I’m proud of since the new year was that I started to read way more than before, before I wouldn't read one page because I found no topics I was interested in.  I know it's not that great of a accomplishment,  but I'll start to read more on what I want to learn and what I'm interested in.

One thing that I had trouble completing were my IXLs,  I didn’t really do my IXLs because they bored me and some of them were very hard to finish, the thing I did to complete them all was go to my room and do nothing but IXL until I finished them all.  I started to learn about the holocaust and it's already interesting to me, there's so many facts and so much to learn about, I really like history.