I am a Writer Who...

I am a writer who is short and concise. I like to keep my work brief. My writing sometimes looks fairly small. It seems to make people think that I am not a very good author or that I don’t try. This aggravates me because I do try, and, in my opinion, my work usually turns out all right. It’s just in my nature to write very short papers.

I am a writer who is pretty creative. My work sometimes jumps out at me. I try to use good word choice and make my sentences flow, so that my writing sounds nice. I sometimes like to write fictional things, because then I can be as creative as I want, without any limitations.

I am a writer who likes to write about the past. I like this because when I write about my past, I am forced to delve into the depths of my memory, and maybe remember things that I am fond of, or important moments in my life. For me, writing about my past is the form of writing that come the easiest to me. 

Reading Response for A Game of Thrones

READING TIMES: Dead Man Walking 9/24 20 mins., 9/25 10 mins. A Game of Thrones 9/26 50 mins., 9/27 120 mins., 9/28 25 mins., 9/29 60 mins.

            This week, I read A Game of Thrones at the request of Charles and Garrett. I am very glad that they recommended this book to me. It was one of the best book that I have ever read, second only to The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Anyway, A Game of Thrones had a ridiculously complicated plot structure, filled with war and politics. It is narrated in the first person, from the viewpoints of several different characters, some being protagonists, others being antagonists.

 The story began with introductions to each character, and made it very obvious which were antagonists or protagonists. As the story unraveled through each character’s eyes, and the tension built, I could see their various stories eventually came together a the climax, which was a series of treacheries committed by unsuspected assassins that started a war. As the world of the protagonists fell apart, I realized just how intricately written this plot structure was. I hope that this series continues to impress me with its complex plots in book two, A Storm of Swords.

Cross Country Meet

This weekend, the EHS Cross Country team had meet in Robert. It was a rather unusual meet, with far less teams competing than usual, and the Junior Varsity teams were running three miles, just like the Varsity teams. The only teams that weren’t running three miles were the Junior High teams. As much as I wanted to run two miles, our coaches thought that 9^th graders were not allowed into the Junior High race.

So, as my friends an I were relaxing in the EHS headquarters, watching as the Junior High boys lined up to race, eating bananas and listening to music, when all the sudden, Coach Dupe yelled from across the course, “9^th graders can run! Get your friends and come here quick guys!” We jumped into our uniforms and sprinted over to the starting line, where Coach Dupe was waiting. He barely had time to say, “Good luck,” before we began to run. We had no time to prepare or warm up for the race, so our minds were still set on running three miles. Some people didn’t run very quickly for the duration of the first mile because of this. Others were very sore during the race because no one had warmed up or stretched. We were all fairly exhausted by the end of the race. Some people got very good times, and some people’s times were worse than from the last meet. However, we paced fourth overall, which is pretty good under the circumstances. 

Literacy Narrative Experiment

When I was young, I was essentially illiterate! In kindergarten, I was not picked to go to the advanced reading class, and my sister was. But the worst thing that I remember was not being invited to the Accelerated Reader Store in first grade.

In first grade, I was the only one in my class not to receive Accelerated Reading points. There was a program at my old school called Accelerated Reading. The program motivated children to read. After someone read a book, they would take a quiz on that book and, if their grade was good, received AR points. With AR points, one could go to the “AR store” and buy toys and gadgets using their allotted points. That year in first grade, I was the only one that was not allowed to go to the AR store in the first semester. This was because I had no points. So while my classmates were in the AR store and having tons of fun looking for toys, I sat gloomily in the classroom thinking about how little I had read. Then I thought, “I absolutely MUST get AR points next semester.” When my classmates came back with yo-yos, stuffed animals, mp3 players, and other toys, my want for AR points was even stronger. I was filled with envy and a powerful lust for AR points. The next semester, I was determined to read more than any of my classmates.

And read I did. In the second semester, I spent all of my free time, and a lot of my class time (my teacher got very angry when I read in class), reading. That was the beginning of my life as a reader. That semester, I red more than anyone else in my entire grade, and I earned thirty AR points, leading the second place reader by 12 points. From that point forward, I was the most avid reader in my grade. I consistently earned the most AR points every year until 5^th grade, when I left my old school and came to Episcopal. I still get in trouble for reading during class, or reading instead of doing my homework. 

Dead Man Walking Reading Response #2

Reading Hours: Dead Man Walking, Helen Prejean, 9/10 30 mins., 9/11 1 hour, 9/12 20 mins., 9/13 20 mins., 9/14 30 mins.

This week, I continued to read Dead Man Walking, the true story about a man named Pat who is sentenced to death in the electric chair. The few people who cared about him did their best to save him, but their attempts were in vain.  Throughout the book, I questioned whether the death penalty was justified, and I tried to consider both the viewpoints of the victim and the criminal, and that was the topic of my last reading response.  After reading this book, I feel that death by the electric chair was particularly cruel and unnecessary.  I know that this reading response is not supposed to be a summary of the book, but I feel that I need to describe some of the details in the book to make the reader understand my thoughts on the electric chair.

            The electric chair was invented by Thomas Jefferson in the 1800’s, and it was first used in 1890 in New York.  There are three different jolts of electricity that are used in the death penalty.  The first is 1900 volts, and it is designed to cause unconsciousness and brain death.  The second jolt is 500 volts, and it causes the vital organs to shut down.  The third volt is 1900 volts, and it is to make sure that the person is really dead.  The author, Helen Prejean, describes in vivid detail the effects of the electric chair on a few of its previous victims.  Among other things, the prisoner defecates and urinates on himself and vomits blood, his fingers and toes curl upwards, and his arms and legs become contorted.  Sometimes his eyeballs actually pop out, and sometimes he catches on fire. The skin burns and the execution room smells like frying bacon. The idea was that the first volt causes the prisoner to loose consciousness right away, so the execution is painless, but research has shown that this isn’t correct.  There have been several cases where the full process of three jolts has been carried out, but the prisoner was still alive.  In one case, a prisoner walked away from an execution after several jolts.  They sent him back to his cell to recuperate.  The U.S. Supreme Court was split on whether it was cruel and unusual punishment to electrocute him again, but he was re-electrocuted a year later.

            Based on what I have read, it is my opinion that the electric chair is very painful and cruel and should not be used.  Other methods of execution seem to be more humane, such as firing squads and lethal injection. They are relatively painless and quick, and they work every time. If we feel the need to kill a human being in punishment for something they have done, we should make sure that they are going to actually die and that it is quick and painless.  Otherwise, we are lowering ourselves to the standards of the prisoner when he committed that crime that put him on death row.

            Note:  After I wrote this reading response, I did some research into the death penalty in Louisiana and found that in 1991, the state changed its method of execution to lethal injection.  This seems like a much more humane way to kill people than the electric chair.   I feel validated.