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

808                                                                                                                                         ELA

“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

808                                                                                                                                         ELA

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.