Question

Did you ever lose faith?

Change

"Change is the universal constant by which mankind reaches his ultimate catharsis." - Juan Nieto
When my older brother told me this quote, I really didn't know what to make out of it. I mean for me it was pretty obvious at first, change is something you can't escape from. The last part had me a bit confused. "... By which mankind reaches his ultimate catharsis." I had to Google what catharsis meant since I had no idea what the meaning was. It means "cleansing", "purging", or "clarification". This word comes from the Greek word kathairein. When I found this, the quote had changed its meaning. For me the quote means that changing is a way of clarification or cleansing for the human being. No one can escape it no matter what you do. You'll end up changing for bad or good. This isn't the only meaning to this quote to every person the meaning is different in some way or the other.
I think this is really sad since people who were once really close to you became mere people that you pass by without saying hi to or even looking. All those good times shared will only stay in your memory as if they would have never happened. Just like moments looked backed on years later and being confused with dreams instead of reality.
It doesn't matter if you move or stay in the same place all your life this will happen. Although I've moved 5 times in my life I know how it is to see someone who you were friends with go from being like a sibling to being a complete stranger in a matter of months. All you can think is why did this happen? Did I cause this? Why are you like this now? You can't stop but wonder if you had done something differently would it still be same or was it inevitable.
Sometimes it's you who changes and you don't even know it until it's happened and your best friend is with other people. This has happened to me. Changing and seeing people change. Either way it's not fun to be a part of. Sometimes you realize that you and your friend aren't so close anymore until they leave and you can't take anything back. Or you can even realize what's happening but you do nothing to stop it. I just wish that people could realize when they are hurting the other person in the process of changing and stop to see if what's happening is for the best or the worst or even necessary.
I know what I've said is only the bad part of change. But if it weren't for change then I wouldn't have all the experiences that I have today. I wouldn't have all the friendships, strong or weak, that I've created over the years. I'm sure I wouldn't be who I am if I wouldn't have seen change around me or if I hadn't changed at all.


"The core of mans' spirit comes from new experiences." - Into the Wild.

Class Quotes

"To lose someone, is to lose a part of you."

"Death brings lost memories."

"To move is to leave your past behind."

"While moving you leave material things behind, but memories will always stay with you."

"To progress you must leave and be left."

"You will never have the same thing twice."

"When you lose, you win."

"Moving never gets easy."

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Maus vs. Night

Maus by Art Spiegelman and Night by Elie Wiesel are two holocaust survivor stories. Though both stories are memoirs about the holocaust, they are different. Maus is a graphic novel. Telling the story of Mr.Spiegelman's fathers story. While Night is told in a personal point of view. Everything that Mr.Wiesel went through. While in Maus I didn't see a lot of religious talk, I saw a lot in Night. Almost every chapter of Night had something about prayer or God. The question of the book is basically, where was God when all the Jewish needed him? Throughout the whole book faith and God are mentioned. Being it questioning them or believing in them blindly. The evolution of Elie, going from an innocent boy who believed blindly in God and all of his choices. To a completely changed person, only questioning God and his justice.

Night Chapter Four

Elie and his father are transferred to another camp, Buna. They were lucky to be in this camp since it wasn't as harsh as all of the others. His job here was in a factory, which involved hardly any physical endurance. Though many times when his Kapo, Idek, had mood swings he would hit him hard. One time Idek started hitting Elie, he wouldn't stop. At the end his whole face was swollen up and hit lip wouldnt stop bleeding. He was so angry but his work neighbor, a french girl, told him "'Bite your lip, little brother....Keep your anger and hatred for another day, for later on. The day will come, but not now....Wait. Grit your teeth and wait....'" Chapter 4, pg. 51 I think the girl did good in telling him this because Elie might have done something out of spite, which would later cost him his death.
One of the most shocking parts of this chapter was when he received whips. He was punished for just seeing his Kapo having intimate relations with a girl. Something so worthless came with severe punishment. But when Elie was being whipped all he could think was "I was thinking of my father. He must have suffered more than I did." Chapter 4, pg. 56 Being a parent and having to see someone punish your son so harshly must be hard. But having to see it and do nothing about it. That must have caused his father more pain.
Another impacting part of this chapter was when the little kid was hung. He was hung for keeping a secret. if he had died quickly, then the story wouldn't have had such a big impact. But he didn't he suffered for thirty minutes until he died. " For more than half an hour he stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying in slow agony under our eyes." Chapter 4, pg. 62
When I read this, I could understand why Elie had finished the chapter with "'Where is He? Here He is-He is hanging here on this gallows....'" Chapter 4, pg. 62. Asking where was God when this little, innocent child was suffering, not yet dead.

Chapter 3

When Elie and his family were "unloaded" from the wagons they had to immediately separate. All the valuables that people had managed to keep where soon left on the train. "... With them, at last, our illusions." All the cherished objects that had once met the world to people where left behind. With them, the illusion that they might even make it out of the camp.Women to the right and men to the left."Eight words spoken quietly, indifferently, without emotion. Eight short, simple words. Yet that was the moment when I parted from my mother." Chapter 3, pg. 27 When Elie saw his mom leaving toward the right, he didn't imagine that that would be the last image of his mother. Not ever knowing what really happened to his parents must have been hard for him. I couldn't imagine how it might feel to just think that you will see a person later and end up finding out that they are dead. Not being able to say so many things, not being prepared to let them go just yet. What impacted me the most was when one of the Jewish told Elie and his father to lie about their ages. This shows that even though you might be going through a lot of pain and suffering you still hope to help others survive, solidarity. The man was being selfless for a couple of people whom he hadn't met before. As they were passed through to the healthy line all that they could see was the smoke coming out of the large chimneys."Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed ....Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never."Chapter 3, pg. 32 "The night was gone. The morning star was shining in the sky. I too had become a completely different person. The student of the Talmud, the child that I was, had been consumed in the flames. There remained only a shape that looked like me." Chapter 3, pg. 34 With just that image millions of life's were changed. Just imagining if a loved one was in there burning to death or if a small child was in that living hell awaiting his death. At the end of this chapter I couldn't help but wonder, why would God put so many people through this? What did the Jewish do, that was so bad and evil to deserve this kind of suffering?
"I did not deny God's existence, but I doubted His absolute justice." Chapter 3, pg. 42

Night Chapter Two

The second chapter of Night by Elie Wiesel wasn’t as long as the first chapter had been. It took place in the wagon in which, Elie and his family had been put into, in the past chapter. Eighty people were crammed into a wagon with just a few openings for air to come in. They drove for a long time. The Jewish people were still hopeful that they were being sent somewhere safer, away from the frontier. Of course they were wrong, not that any of them knew this at the time. While the wagon kept on going for several days. All of the things people had brought onto the wagon, was what they ate. There was barely any space for people to sit down, let alone any space for people to lay down and have some good night sleep. In between the eighty people aboard was one of Elie’s old neighbors, Madame Schachter. At nights she would start screaming “Fire, Fire!” When everyone saw that there was no fire, they did everything to shut her up. But every night the same would happen, over and over again. This scared everyone since they knew that in a few days most people would become mad as Madame Schachter had. At the end of the journey the wagon arrived to Auschwitz, Poland. As the wagon came closer to the station the passengers aboard started to smell something. They looked outside the holes the wagon had and saw fire. While all of this happened Madame sat staring blankly and not showing any signs of reaction to this. At the end of the chapter Elie and the rest of the people arrive to the reception center at Auschwitz.
In my opinion, this was a chapter that wasn’t so long but had a lot of information in it. It shows how the Jewish people were treated and how they changed over a matter of days. The reality of the separation of families and the sufferment they had to pass through before even getting to the concentration camps. All the inhumane scenarios in which they had to live in for days or even weeks. When Elie tells the story of Madame Schachter, he tells it with sorrow. Knowing this woman for years he might have been impacted greatly by her behavior. In page 24 he says, “A few days more and we should all have started to scream too.” In other words, more of this and we shall all become crazy as Madame. The most shocking part of Madame’s story was how her little boy handled it. He was about ten years old and had to see his mom go mad before his eyes. He tried to calm her down all the nights, with tears in his eyes he calmed her down. The impact of seeing your mom like that and not being able of doing anything to calm her down. Besides that he had to see men beat his mother so she would stop screaming. Just by seeing this, knowing the person or not, changes your life in a matter of seconds. Even before being a part of his own family Elie had changed immensely due to this event.

Night

Sighet, Transylvania Pre-war

No, this blog post is not dedicated to the nightfall nor is it dedicated to anything that happens from dusk to dawn. This post is about the book Night by Elie Wiesel. It is the memoir of the authors years spent in the middle of World War II. Being sent to various locations and different concentration camps. Being torn apart from family and friends.
So far I've only read the first fifteen pages of the book, but it seems good. He and his family live in Sighet, Transylvania. Eliezer is the only son out of four children. While his sisters stay at home he goes to school and at night goes to the Synagogue to prey. There he meets Moshe The Beatle. They become friends and Moshe teaches him about faith and their religion. One day all the Jewish people who weren't from Sighet, including Moshe, have to leave. The months after this Moshe comes back and brings the first news of the brutality that he had to face when he left. He is taken for a mad man and no one pays attention to him. Little by little the war begins to show in the little town. German officers come, then the ghettos are made and then they are told to gather their closest belongings because they are being moved. Every one becomes concerned of where they might be taken to. As the sun arose in the horizon people went pacing through their houses trying to decide what might have value now, when everything was taken from them. At 1 pm the ghetto went from being crowded to looking like a ghost town. Personal belongings left behind. Valueless to its previous owner now. As the ghetto became dark Elie and his family become worried about when it will be their turn to take the walk of shame. Although they were not sent away to camps like the group of people before them, they had to do the same walk of shame through the city until they got to the smaller ghetto. But they didn't have to walk, they had to run instead so that they would get there in lesser time. They spent about a week in the little ghetto. On the following Saturday they were sent to the Synagogue where they spent twenty-four hours crammed in with no way out. On Sunday they were loaded on cattle wagons, sixty people per wagon, and sent of to their next destination.

Appearances

I was looking at various blogs today. After seeing about ten different blogs I encountered Trend de la Creme. Its a blog about fashion. What I liked about it was that it wasn't to overwhelming. The tittle captures your attention attention and tells you what the blog is about. You then scroll down and focus more on the articles since the background is dark and doesnt take away your attention from the posts.

So movies shouldn't break the laws of physics?

The article "So movies shouldn't break the laws of physics? Don't tell Captain Kirk" is written on a view of someone that takes in every single detail of every single moment of movies. Though Sidney ­Perkowitz says that "The main idea is to limit films to one transgression of the laws of physics each (on screen only, otherwise they'd all go for perpetual motion machines to power the lights). Presumably this is in addition to the one coincidence to which good screenplays are supposed to be restricted." it doesn't always have to apply. I mean seriously how many professional Physics and scientist are there? They aren't a very huge population out of the 6 billion people alive on earth. To these you can include film makers, producers, screen writers, etc. Even though there a population of these workers it doesn't eman that everyone in the whole world or even everyone who is going to go see these movies are thinking like them or even just going to see if the cigarette is at the same length as the last time it was shown or if the hair of the actor is more wet in one scene or the other. NEWS FLASH: People don't really go to the movies to make sure everything is how its supposed to be, to see if every single frame shot is the same as the last or even if what they are seeing actually happens in real life. The audience doesn't really think " Gee when a space ship explodes in space does it really sound?" They are to into the movie to stop and notice that. If an object like the cigarette is noticeably larger or smaller than it was a few seconds before then some audience members are bound to see the difference but they don't really care, they are too preoccupied with whats going to happen with the main characters, will they die or will they reunite and realize their love for each other. So honestly though a movie does have to be organized enough so that people like it and watch it,it doesn't have to have a set of rules, every movie if different than the one before it or after it.

Audience, Register and Angle of Different Blogs

The blog This is How it Goes is for young people since it talks about problems you'd encounter when your growing up, like losing friends, moving, etc. Its register is informal since it doesn't follow all the grammar rules and usees common vocabulary. The angle of this blog is personal since it talks about her life, what she thinks and what she feels.

In the blog It's My Own Show you can tell thats is for young people since it talks about school work, friends and being to busy. The register its written in is informal and in some posts familiar since it uses words like OMG and other words. The angle is about his life day to day and what he is thinking about.

The Blog ...Straight to the Valley of the Great Divide... is for older teenagers since it talks about what shes feeling, her life and events that led her to feel like that. It has a more serious tone to it than the two blogs above. The register is Informal because it doesn't go with all the grammer rules. The angle is her feelings and personal life.

Chaos Control is for teenagers since it talks about random topics but all of them cross through a teenagers mind all the time. The register is informal since she writes how a teenager thinks and doesnt follow all grammar rules. This blogs angle is about her life and her thoughts.

Inspiration is Key is for young people since it talks about her life and what she has gone through. The Register is familiar since the blog BTW, oh my gosh and doesn't follow grammar rules. Its angle is to tell her life and what she is thinking about.

DIFFERENT BLOGS

http://kevinandally.blogspot.com/2010/02/in-another-life.html
A. What is the title of the blog?
Our Journey: In another life ...
B. What is the blog about?
About Alyson's life with her husband
C. Why is this title fitting?
It's fitting because its the journey of their life together.
D. How does the blogger offer information in a way others don't?
She just writes whats on her mind even if it doesn't have the same topic as the post before or after it.
E. Compare this blog with another of the same topic.
They talk about different things since they are living different kinds of lifes. In this blog the writer writes about what interests her instead of what she did in the day like in Our Journey.
http://oh-blab.blogspot.com/

F. Evaluate this blog. Is it good or not? How can it be improved?

I think its good because I bet Alyson made he blog with the purpose to write what she wants to and that's what shes doing. I can have a better organization for the posts.

http://www.popcrunch.com/
A. What is the title of the blog?
Pop Crunch
B. What is the blog about?
The entertainment world
C. Why is this title fitting?
Its fitting since at movies, or when you see something entertaining, you usually eat Popcorn and its Crunchy.
D. How does the blogger offer information in a way others don't?
He tries to put a video in every post and he puts his opinion on the posts but also gives the readers information to make up their own minds.
E. Compare this blog with another of the same topic.
This Blog is more about the authors opinion but he doesn't only stick to one topic but to the whole entertainment world.
F. Evalute this blog. Is it good or not? How can it be improved?
I think its good since it give information to the reader AND gives his opinion. It could improve by giving links from where he took the information out.

http://www.writersreviews.com/
A. What is the title of the blog?
Writers Reviews - News - Reviews - Daily internet Trends
B. What is the blog about?
Its about the writers life, current events, reviews of books,movies,music and trends of the internet
C. Why is this title fitting?
Its fitting since it says what the author is going to talk about
D. How does the blogger offer information in a way others don't?
He offers information on a lot of topics from medical issues, to gossip, to family.
E. Compare this blog with another of the same topic.
Well I think this blog has to much topics in it. A reader could easily find a lot of information here but he/she could get confused easily.
F. Evalute this blog. Is it good or not? How can it be improved?
I think its a good blog, it addresses all the topics. I would improve it by getting a more captivating back ground and making it more fun by adding colors and buttons.

Whats a BLOG?

A. What does "blog" mean?
A blog is a type of website with regular entries of comments of the blogger's opinion on books, music, current events, etc.

B. Define "blogging."
Blogging in when a Blogger ( person writing the blog) posts entries on a regular basis, keeping it up to date

C. What is the difference between a blog and a book?
The difference between Blogs and Books is that in a Blog the author comments showing his or her opinion about the topic while in a Book the author is trying to tell you a story and/or telling you facts about a topic.

D. How have blogs changed recently?
Before, when blogs had recently been invented it was just a person putting their daily life's and opinions, but as the internet started to grow websites started to put options where the reader could interact with the author by posting comments. Now there are over 100 million blogs all over the internet.

E. Why might you read a blog?
You might read a blog to get more knowledge about new books, movies, news, etc. Also to see the opinions of other people over a certain topic rather than just yours.

F. Is there reason to doubt the objectivity of a blog? Why? Why not?
Well there could be if your looking for the facts of something because blogs are about the authors opinion not necessarily the facts of the topic. But if you are looking for the opinion of someone over that certain topic there shouldn't be any objectivity over it.

G. What do you think our blog will be about this semester?
I think our blog will be about literature and how we interpret the reading differently than other people reading the same books.

Introduction

Welcome to my reading blog! My name is Camila Nieto and I've just began blogging recently. On this blog I will be posting reading responses on the books I'll read this semester. If you have any questions or comments on the books just leave your comment and I'll be happy to respond.
-Camila