Hopes & Milestones

Milestone: 

In this year of school, a very important event happened in my life. I was called to the math Olympics, and twice. This showed me that I have potential for math and that I am able to reach the goals that I propose myself. On my first contest I didn’t make it so well, I didn’t even got close to the first place. However, this motivated me to work really hard on the next contest and I believe I did better on this one. Now I am working harder on every class and I am trying my best.

Hope:

 I hope that on my future I have really great grades and that I get accepted on good universities. One of the careers I would like to follow is mathematics or robotics or physics. Since I participated on the math Olympics I feel like math is one of my talents and I hope I get accepted on MIT or Carnegie Melon like my brother. In conclusion, I hope that my grades improve so that I will be able to enter a high level university that focuses on math.

Roles of my Life

Leader:
 My nephew is always following my actions. He tries to copy every single thing I do, so I have to be really careful with what I do. At first this really annoyed me but now I have learned how to use this to my advantage. Whenever he begins to misbehave or he doesn’t wants to do thing that he should, I can actually make him behave correctly just by doing what I am supposed to do in front of him so that he tries to copy it.

Best friend:

 Since 8^th grade I have been friends with a girl from my class. We are really close friends and she always helps me solve any problem I have and I help her with any problem she has. We sometimes do group work together and it really helps having someone you can trust like we have each other. We sometimes fight but at the end we always solve our fights.  Having her as my best friend is one of the best things that have happened to me.

Class Clown:

 On 8^th grade I really was a class clown. I spent most of time in class making jokes that usually weren’t that good but they still made everyone laugh. My friends and I laughed uncontrollably during class and we really couldn’t stop. The down side is that we sometimes got busted and our teachers or even grumpy classmates would shut us up. It was really fun being the class clown but now I have stopped making so much bad jokes and only make a few good ones when it is adequate. 

Not Ordinary Days

I arrived home from school, I was just in second grade. Then I saw my mother and my father looking at me with a sad face. I asked them “Where is Sancho? (It was my dog who had gotten sick)”. They kept staring at me and in that moment I realized that they had “put him to sleep”.

It started as an ordinary day, but then I realized my brother was gone. Then I began thinking and I remembered that he had to take a flight at 3am to return to his University on the US because his vacations had ended. I got back to sleep, feeling bored because I had no one to play with now.

If only I had realized that soccer is a great sport before 4^th grade, I would probably have begun playing more and I would now be much better on it. Now that the tournament at Arrayanes is coming I feel like I need to train even more so that we can beat the other teams.

Significant Events

Accomplishments: 

About one month ago, Math Olympics were about to start. Jaime (Our Math teacher) had told us that he needed to pick 3 kids from each class, so we had to compete between us. Then he would have to pick 5 students from the entire grade, so we needed to fill another worksheet (everyone who had gotten through the previous round). And I don’t know how but Igot to be one of the 5 students who formed the team which would really participate on the National competition. That was one of my greatest accomplishments.

Disappointments: 

One month after the Math Olympics, Jaime had already received the results. He began saying how it was a huge challenge and that there as  lot of people participating in it, so Melissa (another girl who participated on the Math Olympics) and me knew that we hadn’t done so well on it. A boy from 9^th grade won a price, and a boy from our grade won a “mencion de honor”. However, I didn’t won anything, that was a huge disappointment. 

My Life in 3 Sentences

Y feel lucky because I have a really good friend (a girl) that supports me on everything. I consider dogs the best animals, I cant stand living without one. Until now the trips I make with my family are one of the best things that have happened to me.

Memories A-Z

Arizona, when I went Zion National Park

Bicycle, the time I learned ho to ride it

Campamento Ceibo, an school trip we made on 6th grade

Disney, I got lost two years ago

Eclipse, when I first saw one

First flight on an airplane

Graduation of my brother

Helix, when I began watching that show that inspired me for most of my stories

Iguana park on Guayaquil, it was the first time I had seen so much iguanas in my life

June 22 of 2001, the day I was born

Kiwi, when I learned it was also an animal

Lion roar, when I hearn one last year face to face

Manta, the first time I road that roller coaster on Sea World

Nail, when I broke my thumb nail on first grade

Olympics, I participated last weekemd on te math olympics

Phoebe, the day I buyed my new dig

Quito, the city I live on

Realbañiles. the team I formed with my classmates

Santa Elena, hotel Decameron, I went there on the last New years eve

The time I travelled on airplane for 24 hours

Univeersal studios, I went there on sixth grade

Vinnie Moore, Morning Star: Thats the hardest song I have ever learned to play on guitar

Wesleyan, when I flew there to see my brother

Xylophone, when I learned to play a xylophone

Yacht Club, when I became a member with all my family of that club

Zoo of San Diego, went there the previous vacation

Not So Smart Now

On "The Examination Day" by Henry Sleaser, a young boy named Richard (or as his parents call him, Dickie) Jordan is on his birthday turning twelve. In the morning, he overhears his parents talking about some kind of test. Dickie was a really curious boy, he wondered about everything. He asked his parents about this test, they told him that it was nothing to be afraid of, it was just a regular test that the Government took every kid on his age. A week passed, and now Dickie was on the Government Educational Building ready to take the test. He was given a sort of drink that allowed him only to tell the truth. After he took the test his parents recieved a call. The Government informed them Dickie was a smart boy, in fact, too smart, so.........
He needed to be killed.







I think that on this story the use of Imagery isnt often, however, it is only used to show sight and not any of the other senses. 

"The room was as cold and official as a courtroom, with long benches flanking metal tables. There were several fathers and sons already there, and a thin-lipped woman with cropped black hair was passing out sheets of paper."

Even though this use of imagery only appeals to sight, it is very strong, and well used. Since on the story we are entering into a new place (Government Educational Building) the use of strong imagery and details let us know exactly how this new place is. It is really well descibed and it sort of make us imagine how it really is.

He led Dickie to the end of the room, where a single wooden armchair faced a multi-dialled computing machine. There was a microphone on the left arm of the chair, and when the boy sat down, he found its pinpoint head conveniently at his mouth.

Again, when we get introduced into a new setting, it is perfectly described. It prevents you from getting lost on the story, once you imagine the place as it is discribed on the book you feel like if you were inside the story. It is a really good use of Imagery.


This short story is, by now, one of my favourites. Even though it is no more that 2 pages long, it would have been a mistake to make it larger. All the details the imagery has makes the reader feel like part of the story, and it wasnt necessary to try to appeal to the other senses, it is great just how it is. And even the ending, I sure wasnt expecting it, I just got surprised by it. This is by definitively a great short story.

A death tradition

In Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery,” a tradition takes place once a year in a small village. All the villagers must play a lottery, on which one member of each family must take a ticket from a box. This year, Mr. Hutchinson had won, however he didnt seemed happy. After he took out the ticket, each member of the family needed to take out the tickets again. When Mrs Hutchinson (Tessie) got the winning ticket, she didnt even seemed exited, she even was worried and altered. Then, Mr Summers (the one who organized the lottery) and the rest if the village begin throwing rocks at her, while Tessie screams "Its not fair!"


I think that the use of Imagery on this story is very strong because it doesnt only appeals to our sight, but also to our other senses, which most short stories arent capable of doing. A clear example is:

"The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green."

Here the author makes us feel as if we were inside the story, feeling the warm and sunny weather of that day on summer. It gives us a description of everything on this scene, like the fllowers and the grass.

"The original paraphernalia for the lottery had been lost long ago, and the black box now resting on the stool had been put into use even before Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born. Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box."

The author shows us in this part of the book that people just do the lottery because is is a long time tradition. She isnt just telling us that the black box is old, implicitly she is telling us that the tradition has been going on for years, before the oldest man in town was born. She is letting us know that the people in the village just follow the tradition.

I really enjoyed this short story. Even though the story wasnt easy to read and I got confused at first, it had a really strong message and it got really interesting near the end. The message was that tradition makes us do not reasonable and not logic  things. I really liked how the author didnt gave the reader all the information but instead she made the reader really think throughout the story. In my opinion, this was a great short story.

Ending The Giver

Jonas decides he is going to leave the community, so that all the memories that he has will return to the people living in there. He made a plan with the Giver to have a succesfull escape, but when everything was already planned, something unexpected happened.

Jonas' father told him that Gabe was going to be released, and that changed their plan. Jonas had to act that night, without any anticipation, without the help of the Giver, without any plan. But he did escape, he rode his bike for weeks escaping from the Community, even though he was being chased by planes and he was carrying something big. He took Gabe with him!! Thats insane!

And when Jonas was already was giving up.... he found something. He saw, in the middle of snow, the house of the memory of Christmas the giver gave him. He grabs a sled that was on the snow..... And the book ends.

He had hesitated for a moment, standing beside the bikeport in the darkness, not wanting anything of his father's and uncertain, as welll, whether he could comfortably ride the large bike when he was so accustomed to his own. 

But it was necessary because it had th child seat attached to the back. And he had taken Gabriel, too.

Jonas was so brave, he took Gabe with him the instant he new Gabe was going to be released. He sacrificed his plans, saying good bye to the Giver and to the people he cared, he put in jeopardy everything he had done, just to save Gabe. This shows that Jonas is different from the rest of the community, because he feels love.

Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too. But perhaps it was only an echo.

Jonas changed the Community. Even though it doesnt says so, it does say that he heard music from the place he had left. That means that the Community was starting to be like the world was earlier, and just because of Jonas' choise. 

We have finished the book, at last. Lois Lowry left an open ending for us to make our choise. The only thing that we know for certainty, is that Jonas accomplished his mission. Yeah well, we dont know if he got to Elsewhere or he died as soon as he got there or something else, but Jonas' true objective was to change his community. And as we can see on the earlier quote, he heard music, which means he did change the Community. 

It was a great distopian book, hope you enjoyed it.

Love

One day, Jonas goes into the Annex to meet the Giver. But once there, the Giver tells Jonas that he is really in a lot of pain. But this time, Jonas offers to help him. Then the Giver shares with him the memory of war, which changes Jonas. But not only that, to compensate what he has done, the Giver shares the memory of Christmas with him. 
Thats when Jonas learns what love really is. But also, Jonas realizes that the Community he lives in is totally fake. The "feelings" they share are too shallow to be really called as emotions. 
When he returns to his dwelling his asks his mom and dad if they love him. Their answer is that they should use better presicion of language and that love isnt a good word for describing their feelings. Jonas refuses to take his daily pill, and now he starts to see colors more often and also he begins to have stirrings again. Then his father comments that he is going to release an identical twin, and Jonas starts to be intrigued about it.

Two phrases brought my attention in these few chapters:

"I certainly liked the memory, though. I can see why its your favorite. I couldnt quite get the word for the whole feeling of it, the feeling that was so strong in the room." 
"Love," the giver told him.
Jonas didnt knew what love was. It was a totally new feeling for him. This prooves how the community isnt perfect, even though many problems start to dissapear, great things start to fade away too.
"Do you love me?"
There was an awkward silence for a moment. Then father gave a little chuckle. "Jonas. You, of all people. Precision of language, please!"
Say whaaaaat? Jonas' fathers arent even able to tell him that they love him? That is absurd, they dont have any feelings! The community doesnt have any feelings, and families doesnt work as they should. There isnt any love in the community, thats terrible.


Jonas is starting to realize how wrong the community is. I believe that he is now going to do something that will change it. The next chapters are going to be about the ending of the book and we are going to be able to see how this ends. Maybe Jonas gets to change the community, maybe he doesnt, anyway we will get to the ending.

Not So Ordinary

New Knowledge

Jonas was willing to discover new things that implied risk. He had been wandering what
had happened with the apple, with the other city in the ceremony, and with Fiona.... All those things had changed in something when he saw them. When he asked the giver he told him something very weird..... People on the community couldnt see colors.
Jonas didnt even knew what colors were, and he discovered them on his memories.  But thats not the only thing he learns from his memories, he also discover pain. The Giver gives him a memory on which he breacks his leg riding on a sled, and it is the first tie Jonas really experiences phisycall pain. With all this new knowledge Jonas starts seeing his community in a different way. He knows he isnt "ordinary" anymore. He cant even discuss all this with anybody because he has to keep it a secret.


In this chapters, there are two moments which grabbed my attention: 
"But now I can see colors, at least sometimes, I was just thinking: what if we could hold up things that were bright red, or bright yellow, and he could choose? Instead of sameness."
So this is why they took away colors. The elders dont want the people in community taking choises because that implies having a risk. Is that really bad?
"The memories that she had received were released. They didnt come back to me. They went..."
He paused and semeed to be strugling with the concept. "I dont know, exactly. They went to the place where memories once existed before Receivers."
So the Receivers before Jonas could get released, and if they were released the memories would go to the place were they really belonged. So that place may be in the community, where all people can get them. It can create a real chaos.


I think that maybe the elders intentions arent bad. I mean... It is because of choises that the community fell into chaos. But not only one person should be needed to carry all the memories by himself, there should be more receivers. I think that what the previous receiver made, wasnt really that bad, at least people know some of the past.

Meeting The Giver

Giving Memories

After Jonas has received his assignment as a Receivers Successor, he goes meet the Receiver. But first, he recieves the rules for his assignments... and they are not ordinary. The most shocking rule he has is that... he CAN lie. After he reads all the rules, he goes to the Annex, the place in which is were the Receiver waits for him. Once there, he realizes some things are different.  First of all, there were thousand of books in that "dwelling" (is their way of calling houses).  Also, the Receivers door has a lock, which none of the other dwellings have (because there can be no privacy in the community). Once there, the Receiver shares a memory with him, actually, he transfer 3 memories into Jonas. One is snow, another is sunshine, and sunburn. Then, the Receiver explains that every time he shares a memory, he actually forgets that memory, and it is one less burden. After explaining that, he tells Jonas that he will now be the Receiver, and that now Jonas should call him "The Giver".

Shocking Moments

"Finally he steeled himself to read the final rule again. He had been trained since earliest childhood, since his earliest learning of language, never to lie."

Jonas has never lied, and he had never felt the need to. But now, with these new rules, he can. This specific rule will change his whole way of living... Now he can skip his dreamtelling ritual in the morning (because he can lie about it), he can lie at his night ritual, he can hide things from his family, and also he doesnt have to always say the truth when he talks to other people. Even though this gives him freedom, I think that on a certain point of this story, this rule will cause conflict.

"But the old man laughed "All I gave you was one ride, on one sled, in one snow, on one hill. I have a whole world of them in my memory. I could give them to you one by one a thousand times, and there would still be more. '"

The Giver actually has the memories from all times.... The good ones AND the bad ones. If Jonas has suffered because of just a sunburn, the Giver should be like on intense pain, he has the memory of all problems humanity has passed through. And the worst part is that Jonas will have to receive all of those memories too.

Final thoughts...

I predict that Jonas will aquire a lot of wisdom, but also pain. He will see things from the past and he will have the need to talk about them with ordinary people, and that will cause trouble as the previous Receivers successor caused. Also I think that he will start feeling different than the rest of his Community, and that is going to lead to internal conflict.