Work Cited Page

         Han, Jenny. We'll Always  Have Summer. New York City. Simon & Schuster, 2011. Page 58, 244, 287, and 291.

We'll Always Have Summer- Jenny Han

Milan Castro                                                                                                         June 1st, 2014

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“We’ll Always Have Summer” by Jenny Han

            A girl, two boys… Basic, same old “romantic” love triangle right? Not in this story! In this dramatic novel, Isabel has sworn her love to Jeremiah Fischer, one of the two Fischer brothers, but still feels a small blossom of affection for her ex Conrad Fischer, the other brother. And now that she’s engaged to Jeremiah, old feelings for Conrad are starting to show and are becoming so clear, that everyone’s lives are changed forever. In this life-changing story, Isabel’s growth into adulthood affects her in ways she couldn’t and wouldn’t think possible. And while reading this book, the inquiry question I chose was what is Isabel’s coming of age experience?

            In the beginning of the book, Isabel is going out with Jeremiah and believes that she loves him. She chose him over Conrad and always wants to please him by doing things he wants to do. On page 58, Isabel agrees to marry Jeremiah after he told her that he cheated on her after their one week “break up”. “He’d made mistakes, I had too. But we loved each other and that was what mattered.” This shows the beginning of her experience because already, she’s making an irrational decision that she might or might not agree with in the future due to the fact that she still has a tiny amount of feelings for Conrad. This also shows how she’s kind of immature because she’s only 19 and she’s taking this huge leap into marriage because she believes her “loves him” and that he “the one”.

            In the middle of the book, Isabel has shared the old summer house with her ex Conrad till the wedding. As she goes on with these two months living under the same roof with him, old feelings have started to surface. On page 244, a night ago, Conrad gathered the strength to tell her that he loved her and she keeps telling her self she doesn’t love him back, but secretly she knows she does. “Suddenly I had this feeling, this absolute certainty that I was never going to be able to let him go… I couldn’t let go of Conrad.” This shows the middle of her experience because as the story goes on, it shows the readers that she’s maturing and that she is accepting what she’s always trying to force out of her thoughts and heart. This also shows that she might regret the decision of the engagement because she loves Conrad.

            In the end of the book, Isabel tells Jeremiah that Conrad told her that he told her that he loves her and Jeremiah blew a fuse. He left the day of the wedding to confront Conrad, and then came back. On page 287, Isabel and Jeremiah decide not to marry each other because he and she know that she’s meant to be with Conrad, not Jeremiah. “We truly did have the best intentions. It, we, just weren’t meant to be.” Another example in on page 291, “This is the moment it becomes real… We are infinite. Me and Conrad.” These show the end of her coming of age experience because it shows how she has matured completely and has acknowledged her mistakes and that she has fixed them in a way that benefits her and others. It also shows that she is with her true love, and how she has turned into an adult.

            Love can make you think and feel many things. It can make you delirious and sometimes it’ll make you feel like your drowning in it. And all you’ve got to do is find the one that is actually the “One” and not just a mere fling. And in this coming of age tale, I learned that even though you’re on your way to adulthood, you can always make mistakes. And you can always fix them, though the journey back may not be as easy.

Shameless Plugs - Alessandra Potenza

Milan Castro                                                                                                  March 16^th, 2014

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Non-Fiction Reading Response

            Everyone loves famous stars. And everyone wants to follow trends that they use in movies, music videos, posts on social media and TV shows. And with that is following clothes, make up, drinks, foods, everything that they use to be just like them. So companies use that privilege to their own advantage by paying these stars to use, or speak about these products so people will buy them more often. Small things like Eos lip balms, and Beats Pill audio speaker and a simple tweet could lead to being warned or being fined.

            Alessandra Potenza writes in the article "Shameless Plugs?"  about everything companies to do to feature their product in some form of view that will be shown to the public many times. She said “Some A-list celebrities can receive as much as $2,000 for a Twitter post or Facebook update” just for simple things from a company like a picture of water, or a simple #hashtag. But “under federal rules, if advertisers pay for their placements, sponsorship must be disclosed, even if only small type in the show’s credits.”  And since many companies don’t follow this rule, lots of stars get fined or warned.

            I feel that companies should be allowed to show their own products in whatever they please. It is their product; they should decide what to do with it for themselves. It’s like the way the stars’ trends are. If they decide to wear a bra and panties outside, that’s their trend. And if the people agree with them enough, they’ll probably do it too. Everyone has the right of choice, so I say let the people choose what the people want. The decision is theirs for the making.

Poem Writing Prompts

Milan Castro                                                                                                  February 24^th, 2014

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Acrostic Poem

Past lives

Open minded

Endless

Timeless

Reminisce

Yen

Once On This Island – Lynn Ahrens

Milan Castro                                                                                                              Feb. 1^st, 2014

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Once On This Island – Lynn Ahrens

            The book “Once on This Island” is a script of a famous Broadway musical about two star-crossed lovers who though are on one island, are kept apart because of race and money. Ti Moune is young girl probably about 16 to 17 years of age who is always stuck in her daydreams. And she always is praying to the Gods, telling them she wants out of this boring life and into the life of the rich until her prayers are answered and a man had crashed in a car accident in the rain. I believe that love is strong.

            In the beginning of the book, Ti Moune was saved from the flood and placed in a tree by the god Agwe.  On page 9, two old peasants were walking down the road and found Little Ti Moune. “And not knowing quite why, they followed their hearts back to the tree, gently lifted the child down.” This shows a sign of love because instead of leaving the small girl in the tree to fend for herself, they kept her, named her, and even though their hut was crowded and they had no food, they kept her.

            In the middle of the book, after Ti Moune fished Daniel out of the car crash and signed her life to the Papa Ge (the Demon of Death) in order for Daniel to live, her father came back from the land of the rich and Daniel’s men take him back home. “Go and find your love, go and swim the sea. You’ll know where we’ll be Ti Moune.” This is another sign that love because since her parents can see how much this man means to their daughter, they let her go and seek him.

            In the end of the books, after Ti Moune is rejected by Daniel and is thrown out of his house because she was being forced to try to kill him by Papa Ge, she prays to the gods to take her life to stop the pain. “And then, the gods blessed her, and transformed her into a tree!” The strength of love is visible in this part because instead of just letting her suffer from her deadening heartbreak, they took away her pain and made her into something that Daniel would always see when he left his house.

            In conclusion, love can conquer things due to its strength.

Watching You

Milan Castro 808                                                                                           January 20, 2014

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Non- Fiction RR- Watching You

            For my reading response, I chose to write about the article “Watching You” By Patricia Smith. This article is about all the security procedures that have been created to ensure that no terrorist attacks happen like the one on September 11^th, 2001. These procedures include “body scanners, shoe searches in airports, video surveillance, and more intrusive questions at border crossings.” It also talks about how the government has been secretly recorded many over- seas calls, and tracking people overseas who use websites such as Facebook and Yahoo.

            While reading the article, I was able to look into many problems that happened because of the decision to look into over-seas calling and protocols. One problem was that a man named Edward Snowden, a contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA), gave up details about the surveillance on over-seas contacting and risked having a prison sentence for telling the media about this information. I also was able to look into the fact that many Americans agree to the idea of tapping into over-seas “connections”.

            Though there is nothing we can do to stop this Over-seas tapping, it is good that we can look forward to the safety that it will bring to those who think or have thought about another attack. And though it is an invasion of privacy, it’s either be safe or be dead; it’s as simple as that.

Critical Reading Analysis : Thirteen Reasons Why

Milan Castro                                                                                                                        Dec.15th,2013

808                                                                                                                                                 ELA

Critical Reading Analysis

                For my reading book “Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher, I picked the question who has the power in the story? And so far in the book, many people have the power; them being Hannah Baker, Clay Jensen, The person who has the extra tapes and the people who are on the tapes.

                Hannah obviously has the power because she is telling her part of each story from her point of view. Clay has the power as well because as far as he has heard, he knows all the dirt on the people on as many tapes as he has heard about.

                There is also that extra person who is secretly holding the tapes until someone tries to get rid of the tapes and doesn’t listen or pass them on to the next “victim”. Yet we don’t know if this person or tapes are real. As far as we know, they are threats.

                And finally there are on the tapes themselves. They somewhat have the power because they can expose each other to the public if they had to.

                Over all, many people in the book themselves have the power. But the person with the most power is Hannah Baker.

Monday Muses- Green Eggs And Ham

          Milan Castro                                                                                                              Nov.17^th, 2013

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Monday Muses- My favorite Children’s book

            When I was younger, I used to have speech delay. So, I went to a school that specializes in curing it. And during the year, we started reading the book “Green Eggs and Ham” by Dr. Seuss. During class, we would read the book all together and discuss it. Then at the end of the unit, the class had a party!

            Everyone sat down and we waited to be served. In honor of finishing the book, we ate green eggs and ham! (Since we were in Pre-K, we didn’t know that the eggs were dyed green). It was delicious! And everyone had such a great time with it!

            This story relevant to me now in life because the book taught me to be very curious and eager to try new things. You never know what you might like until you try it!

Monday Muses

Waiting…

I go and take my seat and wait.

As the seconds drown into minutes

 I stare at the door and sigh,

Staring aimlessly at the door

And it slowly fades away from me

Spiraling away until it is out out of my line of vision.

Waiting…

When will you come?

When will you fulfill the promises you made?

When will you learn to fill the shoes you have?

I know your family is a wreck and everyone is counting on you to brace yourself for the strong winds you are facing.

But when will you realize that you’re so young and you have a life to look foreward to?

When will you turn around and see I’m here for you?

When will you notice that everyone feels for you through your pain and we can see under that smile you are slowly suffering and it is slowly overpowering you?

Waiting…

The door comes back out of the darkness and I slowly wake out of my daze.

Maybe I’ll never see you again.

Maybe I’ll never see you again because fate wants to have its way.
I remember your cousin told me

“If you have dreams about each other, you’ll end up that way in the future”.

What a pitiful lie…

To think that for the both of us to be together and everything going fine that nothing would ruin us.

To think that anything would knock us off course, I thought nothing could keep us apart.

Then came the evil time that ripped us apart…

First it was distance which was okay knowing you could text me and we could still see each other. Then you stopped responding. I would send a text and hearing it buss because of it vibrations hitting the table and the ringtone of

“Daddy why did you eat my fries?”

I would be so happy I would run to my phone hoping I could get a taste of the other side.

Just to hear your voice would help me through.

But everytime it wasn’t you, my heart would falter and die every time.

Then curiosity slowly crept in…

Maybe you met someone?

Maybe she was better than me and I slowly crept out of your mind.

Maybe I barely existed to you.

So now, I can’t wait anymore.

I need to get on with my life.

I need to get over you and forget.

Just having what we used to be as a spell and a curse

Both haunting and endearing at the same time.

Maybe fate will have its way and we will find our way back to each other…

But till then, I have to let go.

I can’t hold onto to our love forever.

And maybe now and then you will remember me.

And you will smile and have no pain hiding under the surface.

I can no longer…

Wait.

 

Queen Bee - Chynna Clugston

Milan Castro                                                                                                      October 11^th, 2013

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R.R. - Theme

            In the book “Queen Bee” by Chynna Clugston, there are many themes to follow while you are reading the book. A theme I noticed was true friends will always have your back. I noticed this theme during the book three times; once in the beginning, once in the middle and finally one in the end.

            My first example is on page 13. In this part, Haley (protagonist) has just transferred to a new school because of her mom’s job and wants to be the queen bee. So she has a girl named Trini show her around school. I feel like this connects to my theme because Trini showed her around out of the kindness in her heart, not just to get out of class the other kids wanted to do earlier in this part. She also tells her who to hang out with and who to not hang out with because she doesn’t want Haley to get into the wrong crowd and not have any friends.

            My second example is on pages 44-45. In this part, Haley had ditched Trini to become popular and started hanging out with the most popular girls in school (the Hive) till soon she was the most popular girl in school. Then the new girl Alexa Harmon came in and Haley was slowly being shoved out of the Hive! This connects to my theme as well because in the beginning of the book, Trini told her she shouldn’t hang out with those girls yet she did anyway because she wanted to get popular and didn’t listen to her and now she doesn’t have any friends and she is going to be the “mousy girl” all over again.

            My third and last example is on page 107. In this part, Haley is now not in the Hive anymore since Alexa made it look like Haley she threw a lunch tray at her. After this “incident”, she met her new friend Jasper who is now her only friend. And after they won this singing competition, she apologized to Trini because she knew Trini was right all along about the Hive and how they’re not good friends; then she forgave her. This shows my theme because since Trini is a true friend, she forgave her and mended their broken friendship.

            In conclusion you need true friends to help you, not phony friends. I can connect to this because I have had various friends that I sometimes regret having because they weren’t really my friends. Yet I also value them because they also showed my which people to stay away from.

I Am Here - Ema Toyama

Milan Castro                                                                                                                      Sept.29,2013 
808                                                                                                                                                     ELA
                                                                   RR. - Character

In the book "I am here!" By Ema Toyama, the main character, Sumino Hikagi changes in many ways because of her allies and friends helping her "get into the sun". The change I notice in her the most is that her friends help her get away from her loneliness and help get her noticed. This change happens throughout the whole book.

In the beginning of the book, Sumino tells about her past and how she saved a cat from getting run over by a car but then got run over by a motorcycle because the rider claimed to not have seen her. This accident sent her to the hospital for two months. And by the time she went back to school, everyone had made cliques. Soon the end of the year came and she still didn't have friends. She was “invisible" or that's what she says she is. The only friends she has are on her blog which she has two people who comment who try to help her. Their names are Mega Pig and Black Rabbit. They blog and encourage her to do things that will get her noticed. But she believes she doesn't have the strength to do it. Then she officially meets Hinata. He is one out of the two popular guys. When he has to leave he says "goodbye Sumino!" This is an example of her changing because someone out of everyone has noticed her.

Another example of her changing is in the middle of the book is when she is waiting for Hinata to go home so they can walk together, a girl looks at her and says "Goodbye!" Then her friend says who are you talking to? And she says the hamster game. This is another example because earlier, they were playing with personality tests and Hinata invited her into the class circle. This girl talking to her is another example of her changing because now since she was in the class circle, people are starting to notice her and she is starting to not be invisible anymore.

My last example is in the end of the story on page 272 when a girl named Aya spread a rumor saying that Sumino forced Hinata into a pity date. But everyone decides to believe Sumino over Aya because Sumino told them how she was always alone and had no friends until Hinata decided to tell her he liked her ever since he saw her save that cat. She also told them that e is really important to them. This also shows that she is changing because she has the guts to tell everyone that they never knew who she was until she started hanging out with Hinata.

In conclusion, Sumino needed lots of people's help to "get into the sun".

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Milan Castro 

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            In the book “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there are many themes in this book that you can recognize while you are reading. One theme that I recognized was that you don’t know a person until you know their past. I noticed that this theme shows up three times in the story, in the beginning, middle, and ending.

            The first example was on page 49. When Nick Carraway is at Gatsby’s party, he starts talking to Gatsby. After Gatsby has to talk to some other people, some of the other party guests were talking to Nick about Gatsby. “I think he killed a man” said a woman at the party. This reflects back to my theme because since Nick had just met Gatsby, he didn’t really know his past. So hearing a comment like this makes someone feel like they might know more about the person.

            My second example was on page 86. Nick has just invited Gatsby and Daisy over for tea. “We’ve met before.” Gatsby muttered. This is another example of my theme because since he has collected even more of Gatsby’s past, thus meaning he is starting to know Gatsby as a person and as a friend.

            My third and last example is on 100. In this scene, Gatsby is telling Nick about his old friend Dan Cody. He told him the story of his friend and how he died on the boat inhospitably. This also connects to my theme because Gatsby is showing Nick inside his past and personal life. This proves that Nick know knows Gatsby as a person and as a friend because he shows him something he wouldn’t normally tell others unless they were close friends.

            In conclusion, you can’t completely know a person until they let you in on their past.