A Reflection Perfection

Where to begin with the first marking period of junior year.  The year seems to be starting off exceptionally well. The first marking period is always hard, because everyone has to adjust from "summer mode" to "school mode." Once this has been done, everyone is ready to dive into another exciting school year.  I feel like To Kill a Mockingbird is a good book to start off the year.  It is not too challenging for the reader, but also teaches many valuable lessons that might be good to know for the year to come.  Junior year is always perceived as a very difficult year, with the PSSA's and SAT's, all combined with school work not to mention sports or co-curricular activities.  I felt that I have made the adjustment pretty well, making sure to stay ahead on assignments and keeping in contact with my teachers if help is needed.  The first marking period has had its unwelcome guests such as big tests, and other difficult projects.  As long as homework is done, then the year will go well.  This marking period was also the first time that we are getting to know many of our teachers.  It is one of the hardest things to go from one teacher's style and methods of teaching to another, but it is something that must be done.  I seem to really like a lot of my teachers, and knew most of them coming into the year.  I hope to improve all of my grades, not saying that they are bad, but show the colleges that I want to get into that I am making the effort to do well.  I hope to play water polo in college so I know I need to do well in school if I want that to be a possibility.

All Summer Long!

The song I chose is All Summer Long by Kid Rock.  The chorus of the song I chose mentions "Singing sweet home Alabama all summer long."  I immediately knew that this was going to be my song.  The majority of the book takes place in the summers of Maycomb, when the trio of Jem, Dill, and Scout are re-united.  This song is very happy, upbeat and puts you in a good mood.  I thought of this song on Dill's last night in chapter 7 when the three of them snuck into the Radley's backyard.  The song repeats "Sweet home Alabama" multiple times, which is the state in which the novel takes place as well.  This song just was a great representation of the book, and more specifically the three characters in the summer.  I felt that this song would be a good connection to the book, and there are many other examples of the book where this song could be connected to.  Another lyric in the song is "We didn't have no internet, but man I never will forget the way the moonlight shined upon her hair."  The kids went into the Radley house at night, and that means that the moonlight would have been shining upon Scout's hair.  They also do not have any internet so that specific line in the song is a great connection to that night.  This is a song that I really like, and when I saw the blog post criteria I knew I was going to do this song.

How Great was the Great Depression?

Some say that one of the biggest influences of the great depression was the government's activity in the economy.  A federal reserve board was set up, with the hope that they would be able to prevent depressions.  There have been many depressions before this one they just were not as severe.  The great depression came at a time when the government was most involved in the Nations economy, does this seem like a coincidence?  I think that the government played a very large part in the great depression.  The stock market crashing was the most memorable part of the depression, causing an unprecedented amount of runs on banks.  The crash of the stock market also led to over 11,000 of the nations banks failing.  There were effects that were shown for years after the great depression.  There are some small scale effects, and some that influenced the whole nation.  During the depression there were very few jobs, and food prices sky-rocketed.  These are effects of the depression, but so are the things we see now.  The  Great Depression began 82 years ago, but we still live with the fact that it impacted our lives.  We are still seeing some of the effects today.  With the steady increase in jobs, money started to become more available and we finally "got back onto our feet."  Everyone says that we have completely caught up to where we were before the depression.  We have made significant progress, but if this is true why are prices still rising?  I know that there is influence with the world's economy but how much does that influence our economy?  We are still seeing prolonged effects of the great depression and will see them for a very long time.


http://www.thegreatdepressioncauses.com/
http://www.amatecon.com/gd/gdcandc.html
http://www.dirbull.com/articles/the-great-depression--causes-and-effects-38.htm

"Who gossips with you will gossip of you"

Gossip plays a very large part in To Kill a Mockingbird.  Many things that have been said thus far in the novel have been gossip.  The dialect that Harper Lee has written the book is very southern, and has a very particular slang.  The words are often changed from the truth to fit this dialect, creating some gossip.  The term gossip means to talk about someone else’s business, whether in front of them or behind their back.  Harper Lee has given the characters the ability to do so very easily.  With very few means of communication other than talking, it is rare that you are going to have a conversation that is not face-to-face.  Many times throughout the book, people get into fights over various reasons.  Some of these fights could very well be from gossip.  If someone tells a friend something that they heard, it could very well be a lie.  Unless there is proof of what they say, it is difficult to believe them. Gossip helps to create conflicts in the book.  A conflict can be something as simple as a small fight, or something that completely changes the setting and plot of the book.  Almost all of the characters in To Kill a Mockingbird are guilty of gossiping in one way or another.  This book was written by Harper Lee to inform the reader about some hardships that were endured by people living in the south.  One of the biggest hardships was dealing with gossip and how it was spread throughout a town quickly.  Many people talk to each other in the book, and especially neighbors.  A small secret can become public knowledge in a summer day.  This was something that Harper Lee tried to explain in her book.  The reason that To Kill a Mockingbird was as successful as it was is because of the style it was written in.  Gossip is a major part to this style.  The clip that we watched did a fantastic job of showing what gossip truly is.  Gossip is an enemy to most people and for an obvious reason.  Everyone is guilty of gossiping and many times, it was unintentional.  People do not realize that what they said would be told to the whole town.  If someone tells you a secret, are you purposely going to tell everyone you know?  You might not mean to, but after telling one person that secret, it could be spread throughout the town.  In conclusion, gossip is a huge part of To Kill a Mockingbird, because of the way Harper Lee wrote the book, and also because the book does a great job of showing what life really is like in the book.  This was a good blog post to answer because it is a question that can be perceived in many different ways.  Some people may think that gossip plays a very important role in the book, and others will completely disagree.  I believe that gossip plays a very big role in this book.  I am excited to read more of the book and to uncover more gossip being told.

BiograLee

The famous author that now lives a very secluded life was born in Monroeville, Alabama on April 28 1926.  Lee was much like the character Scout in her novel To Kill a Mockingbird. She was a tomboy that was uninterested in school, until she met a teacher who turned around her views of English.  Harper Lee was challenged by literature and aspired to be just like a British writer.  Harper Lee was very successful with her novel To Kill a Mockingbird and sold over thirty million in eighteen different languages.  Many awaited a second novel but were sadly disappointing.  In her book, the setting is set in Maycomb County which is a fake version of her hometown of Monroeville.  Harper Lee, whose first name is Nelle wrote a book that changed many people's views on America, and also remained on the best-seller list for over eighty weeks! The book was also rewarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.  Harper Lee has changed American views all with a simple 281 page book.
http://www.neabigread.org/books/mockingbird/mockingbird04.php
http://www.harperlee.com/bio.htm
http://www.bookrags.com/biography/harper-lee/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/27/harper-lee-biography_n_854477.html