Kristine Nichols

Im guessing that the hook is where he mentions his grandmother, and how she is actually dead. she seems to have used story telling as a way to get through anything. He explains how if his grandmother were alive she would be telling those same stories she has for years around the dinner table. i honestly think this story is very boring and didnt hold my interest at all. all he talks about is certain that he falls in love with through the stories. there was “Marie Haggerty, a Massachusetts housemaid who talked about how, when her employer left a $5 bill on the floor” and than ”Irving Fajins, who while trying to organize his fellow workers at Macy’s hit upon the idea of secretly distributing the union literature via the toilet-paper dispensers.” he explains how the stories were started and have been around for years. he ties it all up by saying how we are in an economic crisis again and story telling is what we need. that this is the help we need. and our president is helping change the future.

1) as my nightly routine i channel surfed for a few minutes, when KING 5 came to view. With urgency the anchor man explained that hurricane ogla had appeared, the water was viciously pounced from house to house creating a raucous through seattle. my eyes filled with enjoyment as the bullets of water shot through every thing in sight. i felt as if i was in the huge theater of the newest action movie, without having to pay the 10 dollars.

2) the tapping of pencils, and smacking of gum filled the air with annoyance, showing how unqualified the teach was of keeping the classes attention

3) the truck was full is excitement and anticipation of the huge elephants and frightening clowns. as we hit the main road the speed limit adjusted to 60 mph and before we knew it a mime was stuck in the middle of the road expressing his fear in silence of the roaring truck. i slammed on my breaks to hear the screeching metal and rubber coming to a halt. in an instant the mime was tangled underneath the truck still silent. we rushed out side and fell to our knees seeing if the mime was still alive. i observed the mime trying to push the car from on top of him as if he was trapped in a glass box; moving his hands up and down is a straight line.

How does Rittenberg hook the reader? What’s happening?
What specifics does Rittenberg use to emphasize how older generations saw horrible things in their lifetimes?
How does Rittenberg use specifics to demonstrate his hopefulness?
How does Rittenberg use the title to make his point?

I think he hooks the reader by speaking with a common ground. He starts out by saying what the common worries of a parent are, that we can all relate to, and than he moves to the more interesting worries of his father. I wanted to hear the explanations behind his fathers thinking and hear what exactly he meant. I know that everyone thinks that our generation is going to ruin the world, with all our different ideas and open minds to change. People are scared of change because it makes them uncomfortable and they don’t fully know how to handle it. He sees how his grandfathers and mothers have lived through the pictures and seeing how they all had to fight in wars. He believes this is not the road for the new age. He believes that we will be more civil, and this is where he gets his aspiration of positive aspects. He truly believes that tomorrow will be a better day. If you think about it, that if you have your problems one day, the next day can only be more time to try and fix or forget. Yes we all have bad days and have worries of our own, but to not look forward to the future just because of fear is and excuse to not proceed and excel. He explains how it is better now than it was years ago, so we can only go up from here. He explains his point which makes a valid point for his title.  ”Let us not look back in anger, or forward with fear, but around in awareness.” 

First I think its weird that she met her husband online. I don’t think that is the best wait to meet a mate. Second I noticed that she was kind of contradicting herself. Even though her more resent life has been all about technology, she believes in analog? If she truly believed in analog, she wouldn’t of started a page of her own on the internet to find her soul mate. If the internet brought her such a gift as love, than why would she try and act so against it and say that analog is what is needed. Would she go back and take back every being on the internet? Where would she be right now if she had never clicked the mouse to surf the ocean of the the new ages? This just seemed a little different in my opinion and I didn’t hear any compassion behind her thoughts. It felt weak.

Through that last few years, i have had my fair share of experiences with writing. The worst experience so far has to be the WASL. The WASL, in my opinion, is the most pointless test. I believe that if you are passing your classes and doing the work and the tests needed in the classes, than you shouldn’t have to take a state test. Thankfully i passed the WASL and didn’t have to repeat it to my junior year. It all a bunch stress for something that doesn’t define you as a person. The fact that it is a graduation requirement, makes it that much more stressful. We already have to worry about history day, our credits, and our class requirements. It’s not fair to push this on us as well. I personally love to write, since it is such a good way to release your thoughts and feelings. You can completely lose yourself into your writing and be present in a whole new world. Your pen, or now in present days your keyboard, if your tool to creating a whole new atmosphere. I haven’t liked many of my past teachers for english, although I still love to write. I used to keep a journal and would write in it daily. I usually don’t have enough time for that anymore but i try to write as frequently as possible.

My name is Kristine and I attend Shorewood High School. This is my blog page for a my teacher Mr. Stearns. He will be giving me prompts for the rest of the semester, which I will answer on this blog. I hope you enjoy!