Reading Response

  Right now I am reading Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. The main character's name is Charlie. He is mentally retarded but has a deep want to be smart, like the other kids. The book is written by Charlie for his "progris riport" as he would spell it. Since Charlie has such a great will to learn he is picked for a new operation that will make Charlie "normal".

    At this point in the book I actually got excited for Charlie. All he has ever wanted was to be smart and to prove to everyone he could be smart. When the operation turns out to be a success Charlie turns into a sponge, he learns at such a rapid pace he soon passes up most college profesors. What everyone seems to overlook is all the memories he is uncovering from his childhood. As a reader it was hard for me to read some of his memories because they were SO sad. His mother wanted him to be normal so badly and the thought beating him was the solution. What I thought to be the saddest part was that no matter how much his mom beat him all he wanted to do was please her, and that was to become smart, an impossible task.

  On page 107 one of Charlie's co workers tells him "It's not meant for a man to know more than he was given to him to know by the Lord in the first place." This is when I started to think if scientist actually started doing this to people, would it be morally correct? I still can't make up my mind. On the one hand  it seems perfectly fine to give everyone a fair playing feild. To make mentally-slow people like us, if they wanted. On the other hand I was raised taught that God never makes a mistake and everyone is on this earth exactly as he wants them. So mentally disabled people have just as much reason to be on this earth as the greatest genius. Maybe scientist took a step to far by messing with Charlie's mind.

   Charlie begins to realize that living this life he always wanted to live is hard, even for a genius. He starts to see people for what they really are, and he doesn't like it. He begins looking down on people and now all he has is the mouse who had the same surgery as him, Algernon.




8/20- 40 min, 8/21- 78 min, 8/25- 40 min
Total- 158 min pp.1-181

In Defense of Candy. A Sweet Tooth's Manifesto.

   Everyone always talks about how bad candy is for your health. People say something as small as a butterfinger can cause your blood pressure to be thrown off balance, weight gain, and tooth decay. However the real problem is the miss-use of candy. How can candy be miss used? The most common way is eating so much candy that it makes you sick. This is why people get tooth decay and weight issues, not just a simple candy bar. Another way candy is miss used is people debating over whether to eat it or not. Then candy turns into something people dred and consider to be the "forbidden food". That is why everyone should rethink the suject of candy.

      First, candy is meant to be a treat, not a meal. If you snack on candy all the time, yes there will be implications on your health. That is not the candy's fault, it's yours. Next is people who look at people who eat candy all the time and say "I don't want to be like them!". This creates a whole new problem, people who won't ever eat candy and just the existence is a nuisance to them. They are constantly tempted with candy when, in fact, eating candy in moderation never hurt anyone. What everyone should do is "treat" themselves to candy. Eat it completely guilt free otherwise you will feel bad about it later. Just eat the candy! Candy was created to make people feel happy, and thats how people should start feeling again. That is how everyone can resolve all the candy battle

In Defense of Food

     In Defense of Food:An eaters Manifesto by Michael Pollan is a book designed to teach the average eater about nutritional science and the Western diet. He starts of with the line "Eat food. Not to much. Mostly plants." Which he later explains. Overall I think this book makes some interesting and useful points. He gives tips like "stay on the outsides of grocery stores" and "only eat foods your grandmother would recognize" which I had never heard and were very helpful. The most interesting point he made was that what you eat can be just as important as how you eat it. He made this point with the French and how they eat smaller portions of fattier foods plus they eat it slowly and savor it more. As you can imagine Americans may eat a little bit healthier foods but in larger amounts and very quickly.
       Pollan makes very interesting points and has great research and studies to back them up but he lacks the "fun" quality in his book. There was no funny stories no nothing to keep the average eater reading, which was his target audience. The one shocking research result he included was that in fact eating hot dogs and drinking chocolate milk would be the best thing for you if you were stranded on an island.  I enjoyed reading that part of the book because it was unexpected. The rest of the book was expected even if I didn't technically know all the facts there was nothing too surprising. Working in the fun factor into a nutritional science book but it would have made it a lot better.

Free Post- My Summer

     The first thing I did this summer was had an 8th grade good-bye party at my house. It was Dr.Suess/Swim themed. Then I helped my older sister, Reagan, move into her new apartment. Then, of course, I moved into her bathroom and closet. The next thing I did was my favorite part of the summer. I went up to Greensville, South Carolina to play in Reginols (a soccer tournament). It was a lot of fun to stay in a hotel with my friends and go shopping in town. A funny story is while we were in the hotel room my little sister, Allison, microwaved instant macaroni and cheese without water and the microwave set on fire. So I had to fan spoke away from the fire detecter with a pillow while everyone on our floor asked "whats that smoke smell?". Luckiy the fire detector never went off but I did have to sleep with a wet rag on my face. Even though my team didn't place I still had a really great time. On the way back home from South Carolina we stopped at a cabin in Alabama. While we were there we canoed, swam, and tanned. However there were a lot of bugs and Allison wouldn't stop screaming. Overall though that road trip was really fun and exciting.
        The rest of my summer was more relaxed. I spent a lot of time swimming and hanging out with friends. I went to a moving away party for one of my friends who moved to Colorado. Also, throughout the summer I played indoor soccer for the Episcopal team. We won the league! On July 23 it was Allison's birthday and all she wanted to do was go to Target so my whole family spent the entire day at Target and eating Chick-fil-A. The next week I had a soccer camp, which was really hot and not to much fun. Lastly, the night before the first day of school my family went to Texas de Brazil. I had a really great summer and can't wait till the next one!