Writing

I think i'm going to choose my literacy narrative to revise. Out of all my essays i'm must say that my literacy narrative is the weakest. I don't know if it's because I was callow back in the days, but man is that paper bad. I've gotten a lot better about comma splices and fragments, so basically sentence structure was not my forte. I also need to make my points a little bit more clear, and improve the end and beginning. I chose this essay because in the comments Dr. D said I had "the bones of a strong story." All I have to do is improve upon it, and now I know exactly how to do so. In my literacy narrative I had numerous run-ons, comma splices, and just stupid errors. To be honest before Dr. D's class I didn't know what a "comma splice" was. I actually never even heard of it so I bet my middle school essays are chock full of them. I didn't choose my research essay, because most of the errors was in formatting. And my literacy analysis had some sentence structure errors, but not as many as my literacy narrative. But my analysis is also possibly a good candidate for my portfolio.

Jane Goodall's New Book

I can't believe someone as experienced as Jane Goodall would mess up like this, or that she's 78 years old. I don't know wether to blame the editor, her, or the publishers. I would think that a professional book like this would go through a series of edits and they'd probably catch it, but apparently not. She also had a coauthor so you'd think that one of them was bound to catch it or remember to site the information. I wonder if she did it on purpose, but wether she purposely plagiarized or not she still did it. From what i've learned in high school plagiarizing is a serious thing and comes with harsh punishments, and this is just high school! What she did is serious. She probably has to pay a bunch of fines, but I don't think she'll have to go to jail or anything. She IS a 78 year old lady. The authors and publishers already apologized, and said they were going to fix new issues of the book. Wow this is so troublesome. I'm in yearbook and whenever there's a problem it's like Panic Mode Activated. I think they should apologize in person to the original sources that they stole from and not through email, fix the book, and make the apology extremely public like at a press conference or something. I've never been in this position so I don't know how anyone feels, but I think that would be appropriate.

NC yes or no

Wether or not we agree with Nervous Conditions being in the 9th grade syllabus it's still going to be in it. I think it should be in the syllabus. First of all it was a good book, and it was fairly easy to read. Second of all the theme of the book helps answer our question of the year. How does community and culture affect who we are? I have only recently realized that most of the books we've read has to do with this question. Nation was the first book, Lord of the Flies was the second book, and now it's Nervous Conditions. I think this book really helps answer the question because we get to see how people act corresponding to where they live. We all know that different places all have their own culture and way of life, but when a person relocates does their culture come with them? The answer is yes. They take their cultures with them, and this is called cultural diffusion. But does living somewhere else change who you are? In Nervous Conditions we see how Nyasha is greatly affect by moving to England and letting "the englishness" take over her, but she wasn't the only one. Babamukuru also was affected by "the englishness" but in a different way. I guess how moving to a new place changes you is how you let it. Babamukuru and Nyasha were both affected by moving, but they were affected only by their choices. Baba chose to model his house after an English one, and Nyasha chose to let the social society impact her life. This book is a great way to bring new ideas when it comes to answering the million dollar question.

Expectations

Everyone acts differently according to the environment that they are currently in. For example, church. You wouldn't act the same way in church as you would at a football game. Can you imagine if people actually did? Like after the sermon everyone stands up and screams and hollers. I think that'd actually be kind of funny, but back to my point. That behavior wouldn't be very appropriate. Especially in a place where people pray and relax. It's a place of "peace", and fanning wouldn't really contribute to the that factor. I also don't think everyone acts the same way around their peers as they do around teachers. Around teachers everyone is on their best behavior, but around their friends it's a bit different. I have a friend who even talks different, though she doesn't realize it. When she's talking to a teacher she'll be all like "yes ma'am" and everything, but when she's around her friends she'll be like "no you idiot". It's hilarious. I think how you act when you're around your friends is how you really are. when you're around them you don't have to hold anything back or be polite. You're just being yourself, and I think that's why it's so much fun to be around them.

Free Post

Yay free post! This morning I volunteered with the Youth Volunteer Corp to help clean up one of the lakes at LSU. I've never volunteered with them before, but I loved it. At first glance the lake looks pretty clean, but it actually wasn't. We collected over 10 bags of trash in under 5 hours. There were about 2 dozen of us walking around the lake picking up trash. There were so many different things we found. Mostly styrofoam cups, bottles, and cigarettes. But there were also some strange things that we found like a syringe and a crack bag apparently people find those all the time. Like really it's a public place, how do you discretely stick a needle in your arm? Today was a great experience. I met a bunch of new awesome people and we got a bunch of thank yous from people passing us. People would roll down there windows and tell us how they appreciated our work, and bikers and walkers would too. It was really satisfying to hear the praise they were giving us. I felt like a good person, and important. It was just great.

Character

Wow. I'm actually leaving this place, and going with Baba to go to school. Mother isn't happy, but I really don't care. She'll get over it. I wonder where I'll sleep and what everything will be like. I'm so excited and anxious! So many things and emotions are going through my head. This is all too much to take in at once, all these changes. I'll be living like Nhamo did. I can't believe it! This is actually happening. ME. Tambu the daughter of Jeremiah is going to school and getting an education. I'm going to go to school, get a degree, and make my life worth living. I'm finally here in Baba's house. Everything is so nice! Look at there kitchen, it's so different from ours. They have running water and electricity. Oh look it's Anna. She was kind of annoying when we first met, but now she's barely talking to me. Look at all there nice furniture. All this is so much nicer than my house back home. Maiguru is so nice to buy me all these nice clothes. I have a bed now! I don't have to sleep on the kitchen floor, and I don't have to do all the work and chores like I did at home. Why is Nyasha being so rude to her mother? I would never talk to my mom like that. She doesn't know how lucky she is to be Baba and Maiguru's daughter. Wow, this bath tub is the best thing ever. I can choose between hot and cold water. Man this really is the life.

C-layer 1

So basically I just wrote this whole blog, and than I did something weird and it just deleted on me. So here we go again for the second time. This project isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I'm not gonna lie I really didn't want to do it at first. The book is really good, and it's getting better and better with each chapter. I'm doing the discussions and reading guides. I feel like they both are connected, but I don't know that's just what I think. I was going to do all these little projects, but I changed it to do all reading guides. I just feel like they help me understand the book more and can serve as a study guide in the future. Every week for the discussion we have to bring 3 questions, and also we have to write down a discussion question for the reading guides so I just have to transfer. But sometimes I have more than 3 questions about the book. The discussion sessions are fun. It helps me understand the book better. It's just like class discussions except with less people, and we sit in circles. I'm worried about the last part of the discussion project because what if no one shows up to my book chat? ****If anyone has read Split (it was one of the Young readers choice books over the summer) please come to my book chat! I know you're out there. There will be pizza (yes, that was a bribe). Seriously though come to my book chat.***