Bronx - Character Development

In the book Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes, various characters changed almost completely throughout the book.  For example, Lupe In the beginning of the book she felt unloved and lonely because she felt like no one wanted her. She had a boyfriend that she never saw, so it made her feel like he didn't really want her either and the same with her family. She always talked about how having a baby was the only way to get someone to love her and make herself feel loved. But the truth was, while she was saying all of this and doing all of this, she was actually really pretty. Others in the story would say that all of the guys would drool over Lupe, but she would never notice or wouldn't care. She puts herself down sometimes and feels really negative, she is a dreamer of love. In the beginning she says, "...if I had a real baby, she would love me..." She keeps telling herself that in order for her to feel loved, then she would have to have a baby. But towards the end she says, "...So I don't have a boyfriend now...Neither does Janelle. Or Gloria. Or Leslie. But we have each other..." Towards the end you can see how Lupe is sort of changing and understanding that she is not alone and that she has people that love her truly, At the end of the book, she says, "Him and me had our first date over the weekend...it's great having somebody to study with...I should be able to get into a decent collage when I graduate. That's what I'm planning on..." She is finally noticing that other people do love her and that there is more to life than having a baby. She is now thinking about her relationship with Raul and what collage she wants to attend to. 

Another character that changed was Devon. In the beginning he was very shy about enjoying reading and would hide from everyone because people thought that since he was a jock that he shouldn't be into that kind of stuff. No one, but Janelle knew about his secret love for books because of a time when she caught him reading in the library. But towards the end of book, he begins to not care about people knowing about his secret love to read. He starts to read in front of people and actually say that he is going to the library to just read for fun. He even stood up to one of fellow jock friends named Max and told him that he likes to read and that he doesn't care what others think and he hopes that everyone knows. In the end, he says, "Mike slams his tray down beside me and sits...'What's that you reading?'...'Oh. Right. You got that class.'...At first I don't say anything. Then I decide. 'No man. It's not for class. I'm reading it for me, actually..." He speaks up and tells that he is reading for himself and that he enjoys it too no matter what anyone says, he loves reading. 

In the book, the setting plays a huge part in what many of the characters are like. For example, Tyrone is a huge character in the book and he is affected a lot by where he is from. He is very scared of dying/being killed because of where he lives and the people that live there. He is so concentrated of being afraid that he is going to die that he doesn't think that he is going to live long enough to do much with himself and his school priorities. The setting also affects the other characters too because some characters like Leslie and Raynard. Leslie feels like she doesn't fit in to where she is from, but Raynard feels like if he were to move from where he is from that he will lose sight of his dream because his neighborhood is what pushes him to achieve it. All in all, the setting of the story affects them all in a different way. For example, it can make one fearful, one feeling like they don't belong, and one want to stay because it was what mede him/her so strong and a dreamer. 

Found Poem - "One Change from a Dozen"

Poem-

A thought of caution
crossed her mind
We don't have many rules
but the rules we do have
might well include no personal thoughts
First after all A blast of country-
Hell for Leather
Put the change in her
what a person can buy, 
In a tour of more than a dozen
Caught her attention:
forty-five cents-
ninety-nine cents-
forty-four cents-
seventy-nine cents-
Even a price-tag, seemed
exciting or significant enough...
Ride to the skylight towers

The theme of this poem is need for change. I chose this theme because in the beginning of this poem talks about how she changes. The message of this poem is that even if you are one out of a million people, you can still change. I think this is a good message for this poem because it expresses what I believe the poem is about and what I was thinking as I reading this page.

The main point of this poem is to show how a person can change no matter what. I think this is the main point of the poem because it is what sticks out the most as you read it and everything that it describes represents this main point. The poem is describing how she changed and why she changed. For example, in the poem it says, "...Hell for Leather put the change in her..." It shows how one thing changed her out of a dozen other things.

           

Spine Poem - "Divided Pain & Beauty"

        The theme of my spine poem is the overlooked. I chose that theme for the poem because if you overlook the pain of something, you are really able to see the beauty of it. This makes the message of the poem, so much more important. The message of the poem is that something can start out really painful because it says, "A Night Divided...Nothing Left To Burn..." But as it continues to go on, it stops at "...Beautiful Creatures," which really gets you thinking about how something can go from bad to good. So I made the message to be and show that no matter if something starts out in pain, it soon becomes beautiful and happy.

The main point of this poem is to show the difference from pain and beauty. When I was putting this together I wanted for people to see that there is nothing left to burn and beautiful creatures, that is the main thing that I wanted to get to stick out more because nothing besides the last line was happy or close to happy. 

"Where I'm From" 2/18/16

Bronx Masquerade - Comparison and Contrast

        The book Bronx Masquerade written by Nikki Grimes is about a group of teens that all go to the same high school. Their english teacher is having them learn about the Harlem Renaissance in class, so they are starting to write poetry about the event. As they start to write poems for class, they all soon discover they're secret passion for writing poetry. Their english teacher sees how many students love writing poetry, so he starts "Open Mic Fridays" where students can come in and read some of their very own poems that they have written. As this continues, the students start to use poetry as their outlet to write what they feel and whats on their mind.

        Two characters that I found were similar in the book Bronx Masquerade are Diondra Jordan and Devon Hope. These two students are similar because they both want to show people who they truly are without being afraid of what will be said about them. Diondra is one of the tallest girls in school, so people feel like she should be good at basketball, but she isn't. She is an artist and wants to show people that, but she isn't very confident and she feels like people would make fun of her. Devon is like that to. He is a basketball player and he's really good at it. He doesn't just like basketball though, he also loves to read, but not many people know that. He is afraid to tell people that he actually enjoys reading because he doesn't want to be judged like Diondra does. 

        Two characters that I found to be very different are Lupe Algarin and Judianne Alexander. These two students are different because they both have very different stories and problems. Lupe feels unloved and neglected, so she wants to have a baby in order to have someone love her. On the other hand, there's Judianne. Judianne feels like she isn't pretty enough and doesn't think her mother loves her because she is ugly. Judianne feels like Lupe has it easy because she is so pretty and every guy falls for her, but she doesn't think or see that. She even says, "Lupe has no idea how pretty she is. You should see how Raul and some of the other guys-Black and white-sniffing around her." All in all, Lupe doesn't feel like anyone loves her, so she wants a baby, and Judianne, feels like she isn't pretty, but Lupe is. 

Poetry Response 1/27/16

"Alone" By Edgar Allen Poe

From childhood's hour I have not been

As others were; I have not seen

As others saw; I could not bring

My passions from a common spring

From the same source I have not taken

My sorrow; I could not awaken 

My heart of joy the same tone;

And all I loved, I loved alone.

Then- in my childhood, in the dawn

Of a most stormy life- was drawn

From every depth of good and ill

The mystery which binds me still:

From the torrent, or the fountain;

From the red cliff of the mountain,

From the sun that round me rolled,

In its autumn tint of gold,

From the lightning in the sky

As it passed me flying by,

From the thunder and the storm, 

And the cloud that took the form

(When the rest of Heaven was blue)

Of a demon in my view. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The poem that I chose to write is "Alone," by Edgar Allen Poe. I chose this poem for various reasons. It's unique compared to other poems that I have read, its darker; it expresses so much through the simplest word choice. It mainly makes me question myself and ask what the mystery is behind it that made him write this type of poem. This poem expresses about his feelings/beings alone and I think many people can sometimes relate to that. He says stuff about the difference from what other people (children) saw and were doing compared to him. It's a dark poem, but it's truthful, not all people have happy childhoods and I think that's what mainly gets to me about this poem. 

I think this poem is about his childhood and him feeling alone. It seems to me that his childhood was very dark and thats what made him express intense/dark points of view in the poem. He uses small words, but they give a lot of meaning to the poem. This poem seems like he was different from other children in his time and so when he said "When the rest of heaven was blue...Of a demon in my view, " it makes me think what the demon sort of represented, so it sort of got me thinking that it could be about a parent, family member, or just a person in general. I think the author wrote this poem because he needed to let out his feelings. I think that he was passionate about it and thought that it was better to share it with everyone else instead of hiding it away. Edgar Allen Poe, I believe wrote this poem to sort of send a message of some sort to a person or himself. It shows what is to be alone through an intense concept. 

This poem reminds me of children around the world, who may feel or are all alone. They do things by themselves and what Edgar said, "And all I loved, I loved alone," made me wonder if thats what other people whether they are adults or children feel at times. I think about children mainly in the world because this poem mainly is about his childhood, so others could possibly have the same childhood or similar to his. This poem also made me think of a time when my cousin and I got lost one time when we were younger in a store. We got scared that we were left alone, it was terrifying and was an awful feeling. It made us feel like something bad was gonna happen, so I can of feel like when it says "of a demon in my view," that it sort of represents what he is afraid of. 

I drew this picture because it was what I visualized as I read this poem. I drew it because of the last three lines, which are, "And the cloud that took the form (When the rest of Heaven was blue) Of a demon in my view." Those lines were mainly the ones that got my attention about this poem because it it really "dark" and it kind of makes it harder to understand the meaning of them compared to rest of lines in the poem.  

I commented on Darya's Blog, Sam's Blog, and Yazmin's Blog

2nd Quarter Reflection Blog

Prompt: 1). Of the books you have read this quarter, which was your favorite? Why? 2). In what area do you think you made your biggest improvements in English Language Arts? 3). What have you learned about the world? 

         I've read various books this quarter. They were all amazing, unique, and had different lessons within them that have taught me so much. If I had to choose one book that I really enjoyed reading, it would have to be the Time Keeper by Mitch Albom because it taught me the most. It was different from other books because it shows how a man created time without knowing how big of a discovery it was. It shows how even though he made this discovery, it made him pay a price, but in the end he found out that "time" itself didn't matter, but it matters what you do with it. The Time Keeper, is the greatest book that I have ever read in my opinion, it might not be so logical in the end, but it makes you open-minded about all kinds of possibilities. It makes you believe that anything can happen in just a matter of seconds and that makes you even more grateful for the "time" that you do have rather than the "time" that you don't. 

        I think that I have made many improvements in ELA, but the biggest improvement that I have made would have to be in writing narratives. It taught me different ways to write better with using more detail in my narratives rather than not using any at all. It gave me a different perspective that I can write with in order to change my writing style and try something different from what I am use to. It let me explore my mind in order to express myself more. I love writing and being able to learn more about it really makes me want to reach for higher expectations for myself. I want to be a journalist and in order to get there, I need to keep improving more than I have already have to reach it. I hope to improve more in English Language Arts and learn new things as well. 

        I have learned many things about the world, that I didn't know much about before. I am able to understand why certain topics that deal with world is important for us to know because it benefits how we live and the events that will or do occur. I learned many things about gun right laws and some of the crimes that have to do with them. There are various things that I learned, but there is still plenty more to learn as well because the world keeps moving and stuff keeps happening. The world never stops revolving around the sun, it never stops spinning either, but I learned that some of the bad stuff that happens in the world, we can stop. There is so much that we can improve about our society.