Book Review (CM1145 #5)

February 2nd, 2012
We need to do a book review for our writing class, and quite honestly, I have no idea what to expect out of this project. I've never even considered writing a book review before, movie reviews yes, I suppose it will be similar? I'm really excited though, I picked the book "Still Alice" by Lisa Genova, and just from reading the description I cannot wait to read it! It's about a fifty year old woman who studied neuroscience psychology, and throughout the book, you get the follow her life as she lives through Alzheimer's! It's already got me hooked. I've started reading the first chapter, it's slightly dull for now, but most introductions are, as they introduce the characters, the story plot, the theme, etc. I can't wait to get more into details about her life and hopefully learn more about the disease. I think it will be interesting to read a story in the eyes of someone who's suffering from it rather than the usual story in the views of a family member or friend.

February 9, 2012
So I've gotten a little farther through the book. I am really enjoying it, so far she still has no clue she has Alzheimer's, but she's suspecting things! She thinks she may have a brain tumor! Reading through Alice's life makes me feel so bad for people with Alzheimer's. She completely forgets where she is and how to get home, she blanks out in the middle of speeches, and she forgot to go to the airport one time! Although it makes me feel complete pity for the people who are experiencing this horrible desease, it also terrifies me. Alzheimer's run's in my family in several different branches. Two of my great-grandparent's died from it. Reading what Alice is experiencing as this time in her life terrifies me to know that she has this deciese but has no idea that she has it. Hopefully she finds out soon and begins a treatment of some sort to slow it down. (Does that exist? I'm fairly certain it does.)

February 12, 2012
Wow. I am currently reading the chapter "July 2004" and the book starts at "September 2003". Page 414 out of 862 on a small iPhone screen. That's 48% done the book, and all I can say is wow. I am so extremely grateful that a book review is one of the required projects in CM1145, because otherwise I never would have  opened my eyes to such an incredible book. I literally just spent the last two hours reading, and I am starting to feel like I know the characters well enough to say that this family is in for a really bumpy road. Alice has finally been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and has started treatment. Her husband is traumatized and can  barely look at her, and one out of three of her children have been diagnosed with the gene which causes Alzheimer's aswell, while one of them has never been tested. I can't wait to finish the book and find out how poor Alice will end, clueless in an old folk's home, or dead from her suicidal thoughts. It's such a beautiful story, in such a horrifying manner. I would definitely recommend ANYBODY to read this book. So far it is definitely a 10/10 read.

February 17, 2012
This book is incredible. I can't get through a chapter without shedding a tear. I have a class now to work on one of my three projects: Book review, blog, or final research paper. Since the book review is due next Thursday, I am going to continue to read my book. I am in love. I think that after school this summer I am going to buy Lisa Genova's other books and read them, along with re-reading Duma Key by Stephen King if my friend ever gives it back (After three years). On to reading!

February 19, 2012.
I officially finished reading the book. All I can say, yet again, is WOW. What a heart breaking story, I felt pulled into the book, into Alice's life. With the book being written in Alice's point of view, I felt like I was actually in her head, seeing Alzheimer's in her eyes. So many tears were shed (yes, books make me cry. Surprisingly though, movie's do not. Guess I've always been a book worm at heart.) Along with the tears, I felt so much for Alice. Anger at what she's going through and how people begin to treat her, sorrow for her condition and how much she lost, happiness for all the times she felt like she belonging, pity when she tries to kill herself but forgets what she's doing, and so much more. The way the book ended broke my heart. The final chapter of Alice's life made my heart sink into my stomach and my eyes swelled with tears. I can definitely write and excellent book report on this novel, my only worry is containing it to 1200 words or less?! How is that even possible for such an incredible piece of writing! If I can do this and make it as amazing as the book was, than I am willing to be extremely arrogant and say that I am an incredible book report writer. There is no comparing to what this book made me feel, I have never read anything like it (Except Duma Key-Stephen King, which I have probably noted above a time or two.) In all seriousness though, I really hope to do well on this project, because reading that book took a lot of my time (worthwhile anyway, I would have never read the book otherwise and would have missed out on a lot) and I am extremely wordy and doubt I can accurately describe the book in 1200 words or less. (I have seriously just wrote five paragraphs about the book and how it made me feel, writing the academic version would be longer if I was able to do so.) Well wish me luck! On to the writing!!!!

Colabrorative Writing [CM 1145 #4]

In CM1145 we've began to do a collabrative essay, there are four people in my group. Although this assignment has proven to be kind of fun, I'm not entirely sure if I like it or not.

Each and every person has their own individual writing techniques. To ask a group of students to write an essay together seems like a kind of funny project when you take this into consideration. A person per paragraph and collbarative and individual editing will never combine the essay to perfection. If you read the essay not for its content but its grammar and writing styles, it would probably sound rather funny.

I am doing the final edit of our first draft, and I can't wait to read the essay. I am excited to see what my colleges have come up with in terms of content, but I also want to see the differences in each paragraph. I am excited to see if we can make the writing flow with all our different writing styles, and I want to see if we can make it sound like a single person wrote the essay.

This project along with all the other's we've done in this course greatly impacted how I felt about writing courses. In high school we were only offered one writing course, and although I liked it, it was like a completely different program. In the previous English course I took we did only a few big assignments, maybe three or four. These included a movie review, a "publication booklet", and a couple others. We were also required to fill out a journal. We were required to do I think two pages a week, and we were given topics to write on. We were required to pick one topic from a sheet (topics such as "If I had a million dollars" or "What I would do if I was president") and at least one, sometimes three or four, opinionated journals on the news. We were required to write on news stories the teacher found interesting (weither you knew about it or not.) I took the course during the year president Obama was elected. Nearly every entry we wrote was about Obama. Before that course I didn't even know who the man was (Mostly because I could care less about politics).

My point is, although I enjoyed the course, I have a completely new perspective on what writing is really about. Having the freedom of writing our journal/blog on ANY topic we want (not overly used "what if" topics and news topics), and actually being able to express my creativity in my essays really opened my eyes to the English language. I find that this course has already give me a whole new perspective, and I feel as though by the end of it my writing experience will be greating changed.

Rock [CM1145 #3] (Far to near, near to far method)

The sun slowly rises and a humid wind blows the rustling leaves of an old maple tree. A squirrel runs down the length of the trunk chasing a monarch butterfly. The butterfly flutters away from the tree and floats calmly in the wind. Below the graceful butterfly sits a pouty beagle. The plump, lazy dog sits pathetically on the side of the road waiting for someone to acknowledge his presence. He stands and begins to walk across the street towards his home. As he crosses the street, a car nearly hits him and he trips over a rock.

The rock is a pale lavender, with a hint of a sparkle. It landed with a hard thud, and bounced across the sidewalk until it stopped on the side of the street. It fell from directly over head, between the roofs of two apartment buildings. Through the clouds and beyond the gloomy shine of the moon. Beyond Mars and the rings of Saturn, through the boundries of the Milky Way. It launched at a speed greater than the speed of sound from the sling shot of a tiny green boy.

The boy lived on the planet Lavender in the galaxy Aquatamalia, where all the little green people live in harmony. Aquatamalia is one of the largest galaxies in the Universe, only about 4.5 billion light years away from The Milky Way. The Universe which is filled with millions of different Galaxies, trillions of planets, and an infinite amount of stars.

Meteor's travel through these unknown boundaries of space, and for all we know, they could have started as simply as the lavender rock launched by the tiny green boy on the planet lavender.



A note to the reader: Do not write blog entries while hyped up on sugar in await of a three hour Biology lab.