All-American Boys

We just started a new book called “All-American Boys”. We’ve only read two chapters so far, one from the point of view of both of the main characters. The story alternates between a black boy and a white boy: Rashad and Quinn. When Rashad gets accused of stealing at the general store (he was going to pay for the chips and it was all a misunderstanding), a nearby cop starts beating him up. He ends up in the hospital. Quinn was watching it happen. He and his friends were waiting outside the same store, looking for someone who would agree to buy them beer for a party that night (which Rashad was also supposed to be at, which is why he was at the store in the first place). Quinn went around the corner to wait outside the entrance, about to find the person he was looking for, when the cop pushes Rashad outside. The worst thing about it is that Quinn recognizes the cop. His name is Paul, and he is Quinn’s best friend’s older brother. They used to hang out all the time. Eventually, Quinn finds out that the kid he was beating up for no reason was one of his classmates, ROTC kid, even. Now Quinn has to pick a side, Paul, or right. Rashad has to keep himself alive under a broken nose and some ribs, and some false charges. The two barely know each other, but now they are part of history together.

My American Born Chinese Essay

The first thing I noticed was that I had way more typos than usual. We were given a week to write and edit this essay by ourselves, which I’m not used to. I didn’t have as much time or diverse opinions, so it wasn’t really up to my standards. My topic was love, more specifically, how it can be both uplifting and damaging. I talked about how it caused the fall of the main character’s science project (literally), and how he ended up hurting himself and his friends. His problem was that he tried too hard to be American, and he literally turned into an American boy. He said some nasty things to his friend right before he transformed. I ended by connecting it to some Greek mythology: the story of Echo and Narcissus (which works as two examples), and the story of Apollo and Daphne. But apparently I wrote more than I meant to about that. The connection was good, though. What can I say? I’m interested!

Drama Intensives

1/9/18

We started the first intensives of the year yesterday. I’m in Drama. We had to move all the desks in Suzanne’s room so we could start. We started by playing a couple games to get to know each other a little better, and to get the energy up. We finished by asking a partner 3 question and going around the circle and sharing our partners’ answers. We asked:What animal would you be and why, what human habit really annoys you, if you could have lunch with any living person, who would it be? I answered: a cat because that would be a really interesting experience, when people talk to you about random things when you clearly have your headphones in and are listening to something else, and Camila Cabello or Beyonce.