Dirty Mouth, Clean It Up With Orbit Gum

I do not think that obscene language is bad as long as its not offending to a lot of people (like the "N" word). I think most people just look over the words and just continue reading. I don't think that they stop and are like OMG he cursed. I really do not think it is a big deal or that we need to handle it in some sort of way. I think that authors only use the words as accents to the way that the characters feel.

Kite Fighting

I think that Khaled Hosseini decided to make this the central focus of The Kite Runner because it is a big part of Afghani life. In the videos, a lot of people seemed to be flying kites. Also, the kite maker was famous, which would not happen in America. The Taliban banning the kite flying just proves how important it was on their society, because if it was not a major aspect, they wouldn't really have a reason for banning it. In the United States, some things that have a major impact are: The 4th of July, the Superbowl, and I'm not really sure what else.

Free Write

The two of us then saw a man, hopping along the rocks as fast as he could. The man was very strange and seemed to have been traveling for a while. Everything he need was in that small pack. His appearance was raggedy and his clothing was worn from the weather. Was he running to something...or away from it. Soon enough we would find out the fate of the nomad. Five minutes later, we heard the shot that ended that man's life. We ran in the direction of the shot, but never found the source of that retched sound. I still remember that day, the mystery surrounding the whole event, and the life that merely faded from existence.

Walk the Line

I think that authors include shocking events in order to draw the readers in. The shocking events usually occur in the beginning of the book and set the whole mood and last the whole book. I think they are necessary in order to hold the reader's attention because if there wasn't anything interesting happening, theres no point in continuing to read. I think that shocking things happen everyday and society and authors only have to tweak them a little bit in order to put it in a book.

To Atone or Not to Atone

Of course past sins can be atoned in one way or another, you just have to work at it. Not trying by best in school last year brought my GPA down and could have possibly led to me not getting into UF and on the waiting list for URichmond. I felt and still feel like I messed up and the choice for me to slack only benefited me in that moment and not at all now. My sister and I wanted to go to UF together because she could graduate at the same time as me. I cannot make up for what I did. I guess I could always transfer but I'd rather not.

Decisions...Decisions

Basically what influences my decisions are what the cost is for me to do something (whether it be time or money etc.) and the effect that it will have on others. I think that every person is effected by the decisions made although it may not be significant. They can also be good or bad.

Some recent decisions I made:

Getting good grades led to scholarship money to a lot of the school I applied to.
Going to Florida State is making my mom watch her money more closely now so we can pay for tuition. Also my sister is considering going to college in Florida now.

Mountain Lions...in the North East? (Prompt # 12, Ch 16)

"In the late winter of 1994 a farmer in Vermont was walking across his property, taking some seed to a bird feeder, when he saw what appeared to be three mountain lions about seventy feet away. He stared dumbstruck for a minute or two--for mountain lions are swift fierce creatures, and here were three of them looking at him with calm regard--then hightailed it to a phone and called a state wildlife biologist. The animals were gone by the time the biologist arrived, but he found some fresh scat, which he dutifully bagged up and dispatched to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Laboratory. The lab report came back that it was indeed scat of Felis concolor, the eastern mountain lion, also variously and respectfully known as the panther, cougar, puma, and, especially in New England, catamount." (pg 201-202). This story was included in this chapter because Bryson was currently walking where the initial mountain lion sighting was. The mountain lion sightings were significant because mountain lions were thought to be shot out of existance. Bryson did not believe that he was going to be attacked by a mountain lion, or even see one; however, he kept his knife in his pocket and made sure it stayed there.

"'Chicken John!' Chicken John was famous. I was quite excited. Some people on the trail take on an almost mythic status because of their idiosyncrasies. Early in the trip Katz and I kept hearing about a kid who has equipment so high-tech that no one had ever seen anything like it. One of his possessions was a self-erecting tent. Apparently, he would carefully open a stuff sack and it would fly out, like joke snakes from a can. He also has a satellite navigation system, and goodness knows what else. The trouble was that his pack weighed about ninety-five pounds. He dropped out before he got to Virginia, so we never did see him." (Pg 206) I think that Byrson chose to talk about the "famous people" on the trail because he wished he was one of them. However, after telling why they are famous and what they have done on the trail, the people do not seem so special. The high-tech guy dropped out. Chicken John did not really know what he was doing. He didn't know how he got his nick name. He constantly got lost and, one time, was even thirty miles away from the trail. I think Bryson may have added this just to be like hey these people aren't that great.