assignments.

=**1. BLOG READING ASSIGNMENT: 8/25/09** = = = **1. http://www.bravenewtraveler.com/2009/08/05/nature-vs-nuture-can-we-truly-integrate-into-another-culture/** This would be a good start to a college essay because the writing has voice and opinion. Also the topic is controversial making it an interesting issue to write about. The author’s use of quotes gives substance and credibility to the writing which is vital in a college essay.

After taking AP Economics last year, I have taken an interest economical issues such as this one. Inequality is bad sure, but is it truly better to have none at all? For example, when it comes to income, what will motivate people to work hard and attempt to better the society they live in if there is no reward for that work? Greg Mankiw’s blog is an interesting read because he shows his opinion but still presents both sides of the argument within all of his blogs. (It wouldn't let me leave a comment.)
 * 2. http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2006/06/on-inequality.html**

“Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin.” The title in itself captures the reader’s attention. This blog embodies what “good writing” is because it is interesting, dynamic, and something that virtually anyone can relate to. It is made informal as the author starts off with a narrative of himself using humor and wit making it even more appealing to readers.
 * 3. http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1914857,00.html**

= **2. POINT OF VIEW: BIG FOOT: 9/3/09** = SLAM! We both turned our heads toward the door then looked down at the book. "Nuggy my mom's home, get rid of the book!" shouted Ron. I shoved the book under the bed as he ran out of the room. I was in the room..alone with the book. I felt the temptations grow. I pulled the book out from under the bed, and started doing what I knew was a sin."Hey no sweat, no one's here" he yelled only a minute later. I could hear his footsteps getting closer, but I couldn't stop myself. When he reached the room there was no time for confrontations as we both went flying across the room. We sailed through the whole town of Griggs, and believe me it was not a smooth ride. We went over rocks, rumbled over tree stumps, and randomly stopped when it came across a big rock and we would once again be sent flying across the room. Only seconds after committing the sin, I was already feeling God's wrath! "Please let me survive" I begged over and over to myself.

= **3. JORGE BORGES STYLE WRITING: 9/8/09** = The bell rings. The end of class has come. Here I enter the cafeteria. The rest is in the memory of my macbook. Let it suffice for me to recall or mention the following facts: Korean or Western? In 1944, a person doing research for a newspaper brought to light in a Memphis library the forty volumes of the series "Why Deli Is The Way To Go". Even today there is controversy over whether this discovery was accidental or whether it was permitted by the directors of the still nebulous JJ Catering. The latter is most likely. Some of the incredible aspects of the eleventh volume have been eliminated; it is reasonable to imagine that these omission follow the plan of exhibiting a world where deli is superior to all other types of food.

= **4. BOOK REPORT** =  • a. identify climax, major conflict, resolution or denoument, what type of plot (see page of literary terms) Climax: When Papi and his friends finally kill the dictator, Trujillo. Major conflict: Anita's family members are trying to liberate their country from the dictator. Resolution: Anita's whole family ends up escaping to the United States. (Except for the men who are taken prisoners and eventually die) Plot: Chronological or Climactic

• b. comment about setting Takes place during the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic. Many Latin American countries had a dictator during this time.

• c. identify one major symbol and one minor. Butterfly and Anita's diary.

• d. discuss two characters. Label as round or flat, dynamic or static. Are they archetypal or foils? Anita: Protagonist and Dynamic The story is told from Anita's point of view. She changes throughout the course of the novel as she learns that the world is unfair. Mrs. Brown: Flat She is Anita's teacher. She is not a major character and does not contribute to the plot throughout the story.

• e. Open to the exact middle. What page? Write one paragraph about how this one page relates thematically, symbolically, or other (just not all plot) to the rest of the book. page 82. "More and more people are getting arrested, too. I hear the men talking one night about this one drugstore where the owner, a sympathizer, will sell you a pill you can take if you get caught by the SIM. It kills you instantly; that way you can't be tortured and reveal the name of other dissidents. Every time I help Chucha with the laundry, I check all of Papi's and Tio Toni's pockets, just in case they've forgotten their pills there. I plan to flush them down the toilet, all but one, which I'll keep for myself. In case the SIM take me away, I'll slip that pill in my mouth, and then my crucifix. Maybe God will forgive me for committing suicide to avoid being murdered?"

• f. Tell me one thing other that really only someone who has read the book will get.**

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents Before We Were Free 1. Both are centered around women. The main role in the first book are the three sisters, and in the second book the book is narrated through a little girl. 2. Takes place around the same time period. Symbolizes the military dictatorships that were in power all throughout the Latin American countries. 3. Controversy. The plot is controversial because it is in many ways criticizing certain people. Also what the "protagonists" of the story do are not always good things. The question arises for the reader in both books "do the ends justify the means?" (In Before We Were Free the dad assassinates the dictator.) 4. The characters within both books escape into America-both incur losses. 5. The fact that women are the dominant characters shows the author is in many ways a feminist. Both could easily have been narrated by other characters in the books, but they weren't. Especially in Before We Were Free, the narrator is a little girl and does not participate in most of the things going on around her but the story narrated by her shows a pure version of the bad things that surround her.