Writing Voice Assignment: Mark Bezos

Mark Bezos recaps an experience he has from his time being a volunteer fire fighter. In order to capture the attention of his audience he employs several aspects of writing voice. One technique Bezos uses is vivid imagery.


Imagery:


Mark Bezos uses imagery to set the scene. He begins at the beginning of the video by saying, "Here it was, the middle of the night, she was standing outside in the pouring rain, under an umbrella, in her pajamas, barefoot, while her house was in flames." I think this is good detail to include at the beginning of a story so that the audience can really picture what the scene looked like. Also the audience can also get an idea of how the homeowner may have felt. Another good use of imagery appears about two minutes into the video when Bezos describes the salvaged objects as "treasures" this really emphasizes the importance of his assignment.


Insight:


Bezos uses his own understand to deliver a very powerful message. In the last minute of his video he says to the audience, " Don't wait until you make your first million to make a difference in somebody's life." Bezos is very successful man.

Comparison between Holden and the rattle in the car

Emmaline Russell

Kagan took her car to be looked at for a rattle that was driving her crazy. However no one was able to hear the sound she was describing. This connects to Holden on a very deep level. Holden has a rattle relative to what was written in the bottom of Kagan’s column. The death of his brother Allie is a constant noise to him. This is evident when Holden flashbacks to a memory, because they all in some way relate to Allie. The memory of Allie and knowing he will never create more is too much for Holden to handle. This is evident when Holden recalls the night in the garage after the day of Allie’s death. “I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the windows with my fist, just for the satisfaction of it. I even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon we had that summer, but my hand was already broken and everything by that time, and I couldn’t do it.” Not only does this memory remain with him but a physical nagging as well. Holden occasionally talks about the chronic pain from the night in the garage, “My hand still hurts me once in a while, when it rains and all, and I can’t make a real fist any more- not a tight one,” Another instance when Holden describes Allie’s baseball mitt. His brother had wrote poems all on the mitt to keep himself entertained in the outfield. When Stradlater asked Holden to write and English paper for him, Holden wrote about the mitt. Stradlater yelled at Holden when he saw the essay, one because it didn’t fit the requirements, and second because he didn’t know the importance of it. It’s like when Kagan took her car to the shop and they couldn’t hear any rattle. Stradlater never knew Allie or of him. The lack of importance fed into an outburst of disrespect. Holden had the opportunity to open up about it, but because of Stradlater’s reaction, Holden decided to keep on living his inclosed life.

Summer Assignment: Entry Four

One reason I choose Looking for Alaska is because I was familiar with the author. As many of you may know John Green also wrote The Fault in Our Stars. I did not read that book but almost all of my friends have and they all loved it. I don't recall hearing a single bad thing about that book so I assumed John Green was a phenomenal writer. In my opinion I was correct. The way he described simple objects was incredible. Not only did his descriptions paint a picture but they seemed real. The emotions he evoked from the characters were so realistic the reader couldn't help to feel along with them. Also a boy from my church was telling me about his favorite book and it was Looking for Alaska. He told me how he loved it, even though John Greens writing style has a reputation of being a little more romantic this book surpassed the expectation of a soppy love story. There were so connections I had with this book. Almost all the characters are teenagers. Teenagers that go to school, have friends, have kids that are not friends, and have real life problems so relating to this book was easy, which I kept me reading. I would recommend this book to just about anyone. John Green perfectly balances comedy, mystery, romance, sadness, action, and excitement. There wasn't a single dull page in this book. I highly recommend it!

Summer Assignment: Entry Three

"I stood up and ran outside. I made it to a trash can outside the gym, five feet from the double doors, and heaved toward Gatorade bottles and half-eaten McDonald's. But nothing much came out. I just heaved, my stomach muscles tightening and my throat opening and a gasping, guttural blech, going through the motions of vomiting over and over again. In between gags and coughs, I sucked air in hard. Her mouth. Her dead, cold mouth. To no be continued." (Green 140). In this section Miles is in shocked about the news he just heard. This passage propels the book into it's second half. It is difficult to fully analyze this section without giving away one of the biggest secrets and excitements of the book. I chose this section because it is one of the many cliff hangers the author leaves you with, practically forcing you to turn the page. This is a book packed with action, mystery, comedy, and romance. I don't remember reading a part of this book feeling bored. John Green does an excellent job giving the characters personality. To me it really felt like I was there at Culver Creek experiencing the same things as Chip, Miles, Alaska, Lara, and Takumi.

Summer Assignment: Entry Two

In Looking for Alaska the character Alaska Young desired mostly to be happy and care free. Alaska tried to achieve this by getting wasted and pulling pranks. When drinking could not solve her problems Alaska took drastic actions which altered every character in the second half of the book. Her best friend Miles wanted to seek a "great perhaps' and make new memories and experiences. Chip's desire was to keep his girlfriend happy even they had a horrible relationship, keep Alaska safe, and pull pranks. a theme from my book is live what you have to the best. This is because most of the characters have gotten a rough life and situations in life. They spend most of their free time complaining about it and grieving instead of learning from it and moving on. Finally toward the end of the book Miles came to the realization that you can't control what you get in life. However you can control how you deal with it and how your let it shape you into what you can become.

Summer Assignment: Entry One

I started reading "Looking for Alaska" by John Green. It is about a rising junior, Miles who is transferring from an ordinary public school in Florida to a nitty gritty boarding school in Alabama. After arriving at Culver Creek Preparatory High School he learns that there are two social groups. The Weekend Warriors who are the rich kids that pull pranks on all the other students at school. Kevin who is the leader of the Weekend Warriors is at the least to say, a bully. He and his gang of stuck-up kids go along with almost everything he says. Then there are the ordinary kids that pull pranks on the Weekend Warriors. Miles soon realizes that in order to survive at this school you have to be tough. His roommate Chip, a tough, smoking, drinking, goes-with-whatever kind of guy explains one simple rule to Miles. Do not rat anyone out. After Chip, who prefers to be called "The Colonel",  gives his intense  lecture to Miles they walk over to another dorm. There we meet Alaska. She captivates Miles' attention in a minute with her beauty but we soon notice her moody, clever, wild, and unpredictable personality. A couple days later Takumi is introduced. Like all the other characters he is very intelligent however he is very nosey. Last summer two students were caught breaking three of the school's biggest rules by "The Eagle" who is the dean of the students. They were expelled and all the students are curious to find out who ratted them out. This starts the book's conflict because the Weekend Warriors accused Chip for ratting them out and then for punishment they wrap Miles up in duct-tape and threw him in the lake. This starts the never ending suspicions, accusations, and pranks. I predict that the pranks will get so out of control someone else will get suspended. So far this book reminds me of "The Outsiders" just because of the two totally different social groups. The Socs are like the Weekend Warriors and the Greasers are like the other students.

Final Reflection

Emmaline Russell
For my final reflection I decided to use my Blizzard Bag blog. In this post I feel that I used exemplary voice. One example is, "If I am reading something (that in my opinon) is boring, it can be torturous." This shows my personality simply becasue it is my opinon. The format of this sentence is not commonly written. More examples of voice in my post is "If a book is too ordinary I ussually toss it." and,"Even though I am very busy I always enjoy kicking back and reading a good book." Too me this is all my voice. It shows my personality because it sounds like something that would naturally come out of my mouth. I'm not trying to sound sophisticated. I'm not trying to impersonate anyone. I'm just writing down my thoughts and opinions.

I decided to use mostly informal diction. That way I could expand my audience because it would be highly comprehendible. However I din't strain away from my love of using a high vocabulary. I included formal diction by using words such as "conventions", "torturous"and, "despise". My sentence structure is all over the place. None of it is consistent. I don't think I have a punctation trade mark either. I would say that most of my diction is abstract. I include lots of characteristics like, "complex", "prejudging", "admire", "despise" and, "controlling".  However I also use concrete words such as, 'book", "title", "lacrosse", "school work", "bean bag" and, "chapter". Overall I think I included a lot of different techniques in my blog post.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Blizzard Blog

I really like independent reading. I just finished reading A Walk to Remember and I'm about to start reading Divergent. I like independent reading because you get to experience new things while staying cozy on your bean bag. I get to go to futuristic societies and learn their conventions. I get to watch the sappy love novels of Nicholas Sparks unfold in my lap. I can go anywhere anytime and learn anything. My imagination is able to make me a movie, a new scene every chapter. Most of all I can escape from everyday life. Trade out all the school work, lacrosse, and occasional drama for adventures. My vocabulary expands with every page. Don't get me wrong, I really only enjoy reading if I like the book. If I am reading something that (in my opinion) is boring, it can be torturous. I usually don't end up reading the entire book, just snippets and sections that hold my attention and then I skip to the last 50 pages. If a book is too ordinary I usually toss it. A book can't be something I would be able to experience everyday.

To me a good book has to have one of the following; take place in the past or future, action... lots of action, at least one extreme point of view, a controlling force, a complex protagonist with layers that the reader rips off, the characters can't ask too many questions that is just annoying, the plot actually has to be substantial, If the plot isn't substantial then the characters need to make up for it, a character that I admire in someway, a character that I absolutely despise, a tiny hint of romance, MYSTERY, history, and lastly I have to relate in somehow. A bad habit I have is prejudging a book. I know probably one of the worst thing you could do as a reader but it is easy to. Titles, cover pages, even the first couple of lines can ruin a book for me. However without reading my life would be very boring. Even though I am very busy I always enjoy kicking back and reading a good book.