Michael Vey Book Review

Recently I read a book called Michael Vey The Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans. I have never even heard of the author, yet the book is incredible! It is one of the best books I have ever read. The age range for this book is 7th-10th grade. It is about a boy who has strange electrical powers that he really doesn't understand. But then a girl from his school tells him that she has powers too. They go on a journey to an academy for special children in Pasadena, California. They discover that there is more to their powers than meets the eye. It is an awesome read and I recommend it to anyone in the age range and with half a brain!

The Flower Garden's Style

The Flower Garden is a story about a middle aged woman named Mrs. Winning who meets her new neighbors, the MacLanes. The MacLanes are a small family with just Mrs. MacLane and her son, Davey. They are friendly to each other at first, but near the end of the story, they begin to grow apart and become less friendly to each other. Mrs. Winning and the whole town for that matter seem to suddenly distrust and dislike the MacLanes.

This story is broken into two sections. The one at the beginning is about friendship and the other is about distrust, fear, and hatred. I am noticing that the author of this story (also the author of The Lottery) has used this same kind of structure/style for both of his stories. This is no coincidence; it is simply his style.

This style that the author uses is a kind of trickery. For the whole of the beginning, he leads you with good fortune, trust, happiness, and friendliness. But the story then takes a shocking twist toward distrust and anger that you wouldn't really expect, but that is how he keeps you interested. One example of Mrs. Winning's friendliness to Mrs. MacLane is a quote from the story. The author writes, "As the weather grew warmer and the first signs of green showed on the trees and on the wet ground, Mrs. Winning and Mrs. MacLane became better friends. They met almost daily at the grocery and walked up the hill together..." The author comes out completely saying that Mrs. Winning and Mrs. MacLane are becoming better friends. Now this quote appears on page 114 of the story. This is relatively the beginning of the story so you can see how the author leads you in the beginning with happiness, friendship, and trust. But then as the story continues, they seem to grow farther and farther apart to the point that they are just neighbors, nothing more. At the very end of the story, the author writes, "Mrs. MacLane waved and called out, Hello! Mrs. Winning swung around without speaking and started, with great dignity, back up the hill toward the old Winning house." As you can see, at the very end of the story, Mrs. Winning even refuses to converse with Mrs. MacLane and simply walks away. They are obviously no longer friends, proving my point.

Using Simplicity to Refine our Lives

Using Simplicity to Refine our Lives

Wooyoung Kim

Leonardo Da Vinci once said “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Simplicity can make you feel higher than someone else in an urbane sort of way. As dictionary.com defines it, simplicity means absence of luxury and ornaments. To give up luxury for someone else can make you as sophisticated as Da Vinci.

But sophistication in a person can also mean refinement. Albert Einstein once said, “The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking.” Refinement is its own reward, in many ways. Refinement can help make someone feel more welcome by letting you focus on them more. Refinement also lets you focus on what matters more. All in all, refinement is a big part of simplicity.

But simplicity, more broadly is an attitude, a way of life. Living simply earns you respect from your friends and family. Yet simplicity requires maturity, an attitude acquired after years of life and experience. Simplicity must be obtained over time and experience, not given. I have found a video that really shows how simplicity can demonstrate our refinement in our everyday lives. http://www.values.com/inspirational-stories-tv-spots/82-Taxi

This week’s query is: How can we use simplicity to make our lives more refined?

What I think Simplicity means

I feel that the author of Simplicity is correct. Simplicity can mean many things, like focusing on what is important and forgetting the rest. "It can mean living with few possessions and entanglments, but more broadly is is an attitude, an approach to life." But also I must disagree with the author. Simplicity is more than just a spice, an attitude. I feel that simplicity should be a way of life.

Simplicity can mean focusing on what is important. I think the author is saying to focus on family and friends. The people closest to you matter more than tv, video games, sports, etc.Your family and friends also help you maintain simplicity. They may tell you that you are being spoiled or a jerk. These things can help you remain simple and whole.

Simplicity also can mean, more literally, living with no possessions. This can help you remain simple because without too many possessions, your life is basically the defintion of simple. Living with little possessions is good but living with no engangments or worries is even better. Without any engangments and therefor no worries, you eliminate the stress of everyday life and let you focus on what really matters."Simplicity helps us to maintain clarity of mind and purpose."

http://www.wisdomcommons.org/virtue/118-simplicity/essays

9/21 homework

Read the simplicity packet. Choose an idea from the packet and write about it. Be sure to quote the article or passage you are referring to and make sure you cite your source. 3 paragraph minimun. Grammar and mechanics must be correct.

This I Believe

It started when I was around 4 years old. My friend and I would pick one person to be in charge and do whatever that person said. I guess at that age all the power of being right all the time kind of went to my head and it stuck.

I believe in fighting for what you think is right. I believe in being yourself, following you heart, and doing what you think is right. My friend and I always argue about who is right or wrong. And these aren’t about the important things like politics and global warming but about whose sandwich is better or who got the better score on one videogame out of a million that we’ve played in our lifetime. Sure we’re friends but that doesn’t mean I will just let him be right all the time. I always feel the need to fight for what I think is right. These things are pretty stupid and aren’t really worth the argument yet this is the place where my beliefs started.

This is around the time when 9/11 occurred. I remember the day. I was just sitting in my den watching TV when it came on the news. Back then I really didn’t understand what was going on; yet now when I look back, I see that as the first time my belief was tested. Although this act of terrorism was horrible, I kept thinking that Al Qaeda was fighting for what they believe in. In the harshest retrospect they were following my belief. I was confused and I didn’t know what to think. Was I someone who respected Al Qaeda? But now I realize that I didn’t have to believe they were doing the right thing. Every belief has a limit.

As more wars break out around the globe, my belief is tested again and again. Are we wrong to kill the enemy just because we think we are right? But I always think to myself there is a difference between killing for fear and killing to protect. I feel that there will always be doubt and confusion in your life but you should always push through it and follow your heart out of the mist. And no matter how many people important or not, disagree with you, always ignore them and fight for what you think is right. This I believe.