I finally finished the book! It turned out to be a very happy ending. Nathaniel and Lopez realize that music is what makes Nathaniel happy and that’s all he needs. Nathaniel had his outbursts towards the end of the book, but everything turned out okay in the end.

He even once threatened Mr. Lopez to never come near him again, he thought he went against him. He got the idea from reading his articles that Lopez wrote about him. Lopez still was patient with Nathaniel, you have to be patient with someone you know that has a sickness and can’t help themselves. So what Lopez did was he gave him a few days then came back around looking for him to see if he was alright. He found Nathaniel on skid row under the tunnel. He was right Nathaniel apologized to him and he couldn’t even believe he acted like that towards someone who helped him through so much. Lopez was never mad at him to begin with, he knew he would come around and have some sense. Lopez continued bringing Nathaniel to concerts at Disney Hall. He even got to meet “yo yo ma” who used to attend Julliard with Nathaniel. He couldn’t even believe all of this was happening to him, it was to good to be true. Also for a gift for Nathaniel so he could practice him music in silence and away from all the commotion at Lamp, Lopez made him his own studio with a bunch of instruments in it. Nathaniel was so grateful and happy.

That’s all he needed all along was music. Music is the cure to his Schizophrenia. It keeps him reasonable, non-destructive, but most of all happy. Right now that’s all he needs in his life is happiness and as of now that’s exactly what he has. As of Lopez he was glad to see Nathaniel like this. He realized thats all he wanted to see from Nathaniel all along. Now if Nathaniel is having a bad day, or just doesn't feel like being bothered he could go to his studio and do what he does best. Play his music!

While reading further into “The Soloist” it starts to get more personal with Nathaniel’s life and how he grew up. Growing up Nathaniel didn’t have a father figure to look to for advice. Him and his sisters were going to run away at one point because they didn’t like the way they were living with their mom when they got divorced, but they had no where to go and their mom was going to find out one way or another. So Nathaniel and his sisters just got used to the fact that everything wasn’t always going to go their way.
Nathaniel is getting better at being on his own and standing up for himself I think. He picks up after himself and even others if he doesn’t like the way things look. Lopez got him to get his own apartment so Mr. Snyder can teach him a music lesson. Nathaniel was hesitant at first but now he is starting to make the apartment his own by hanging up posters, putting pictures of his family up, etc. He is learning more and more each day and his progress at getting back to his old normal life if coming back slowly, he has to take it day by day. Lopez is so proud to see this kind of progress in Nathaniel, which he should be it's amazing. I think Nathaniel knows that he is getting better and it feels good to be getting somewhere. More and more great things are soon to come for Nathaniel he will soon be a new person in my eyes.
One reason i think Nathaniel even was diagnosed with Schizophrenia was because of his child hood. I feel like he felt no one was their to pay attention to him and that cut him up deep inside. His mother was there for him in a way, but she was more focused on other aspects of her life, her children weren't her top priority. I can't wait to finish the last few chapters it's getting really interesting i want to find out what ends up happening to Nathaniel. Is he able to keep up the good work and continue on with his progress? and Does he end up having some kind of a carreer in music? I really hope he does that's something he's been dreaming for all his life and it would mean the world to him to be able to do something with his talent. With all the practice he does he deserves it! I also hope he decides to start getting the treatment it takes time for him to make a decision as big as that, but i hope he makes the right one.

While reading chapters 7-12 I felt like Lopez is getting closer and closer with Nathaniel. The doctors that Lopez is getting information from say that if Nathaniel doesn’t start taking medication now he is never going to get better. But he could try and persuade Nathaniel in the most tempting way possible to go get treated and he still would refuse. Lopez’s feelings for Nathaniel are very deep; he is starting to care a lot about him. He doesn’t want anything to happen to him . The area Nathaniel is living around is an extremely bad area. Prostitution, drugs, and murderous situations every night surround him. Lopez decides to spend a night out on the streets with Nathaniel to see how bad his nights really are. You can clearly tell how much Lopez cares for Ayers he is always out looking for him at least once a day, or calling people up to get information on how to help him. He took Nathaniel to a rehearsal at Disney Hall down the road from Skid Row. It was a huge procedure trying to get him to go, but he finally got him to go. Nathaniel didn’t want to leave his Shopping cart full of things at Lamp he describes it as being full of crooks and thieves who would steal anything in site. So Lopez found somewhere else for him to leave it, then he thought he was going to be a no show but he was wrong at the last minute there was Nathaniel. Once they got to the rehearsal he enjoined himself so much. He was surrounded by music everywhere and he loved it. This made Lopez so proud to see Nathaniel like this. The first 12 chapters were great I can’t wait to read on to see what happens next!



Focus points: To make sure my readers understood the story I’m trying to get across

So far chapters 1-6 in the Soloist were pretty good. I feel like Lopez is talking to me! It is definitely easy to understand he tells you the story exactly how it is. What does bother me about it so far is how they use a lot of musical terms, some people probably have no idea what he is talking about when reading it. I understood it, but if I didn’t know it already I would have had no clue what some of the terms meant.

This Soloist is basically about a man named Nathaniel who used to have a good life going for him, he went to Julliard and was planning to have a future in music. He found out he had schizophrenia and his life went down hill from there. Nathaniel became a bum living on the streets, playing his violin with two strings for people. Lopez always was curious about Nathaniel and one day decided to approach him. He wanted to write an article about him he found him to be so interesting. It was true Nathaniel’s life story was quite interesting. The fact that he went to Julliard and is now living on the streets tells you there has to be a good story behind it. Lopez started looking into Nathaniel’s life and the first column he wrote a lot of people decided to donate instruments that Nathaniel can use to not feel so alone. Music meant everything to him. He seemed so appreciative of everything , but was afraid to give in to everything Lopez wanted him to do. Lopez seems like he is just trying to help Nathaniel get his life back on track. Which is a good thing, Nathaniel needs someone to guide him and help him out because the situation he is in right now isn't too good.

The “Catcher In The Rye” is a very straight to the point kind of book. It started off catching my attention where I couldn’t keep my head out of the book, but then as the story went on it kind of got boring because he repeats the same things over and over again and that doesn’t keep anyone’s attention. Holden is the narrator of the book; to me he tends to state his opinion on every little thing going on in his life. He’s been through a lot in his life it seems and he is sick of everything and just gave up on the things that are most important.

In the book Holden talks about how he got kicked out of every school he went to, the teachers that taught him say he never tries hard enough. It is true that he just gives up on everything or gets sick of it. He always has some excuse that keeps him from succeeding and doing well in life. Holden is always complaining about the way others act like he can’t be around them because he’s better than them or something. To me he is very ignorant to others, he loves lying to people and making up things to make himself seem more interesting. I think Holden acts this way because of his little brother Allie that died, he says he used to tell Allie everything. That was a huge part of his life that was taken away from him, I think he still isn’t over it. At one part in the book he talks about how he should of let Allie go with him places when he wanted to, he regrets for not letting him go. Holden considers himself the dumb one out of all his siblings. What bothers me about this book is how he never tries his best at anything he does, he just assumes he isn’t going to be able to do it. Holden always talked about his little sister phoebe and how smart and pretty she was, he always said she understood everything he had to say and that’s what he loved about her most. Since Allie died, to me it seems that Holden tries replacing phoebe with the missing pieces of his broken heart. Even though he loved her very much when Allie was alive, Phoebe for some reason makes Holden listen and act right towards others. He cares about her dearly and would do anything for Phoebe .

Holden couldn’t quite figure out who he was as a person, and his purpose for being alive. He didn’t try to get kicked out of all the schools he went to on purpose, he kind of got into a routine that he was supposed to do that. Every school he went to he complained about how much everybody was phony. Since when do you go to a school nowadays without people not being phony, its life your going to have to deal with it one way or another you shouldn’t let others bother or intimidate you. Holden was scared to let people into his life, which explains all the lies he told to people and criticism he gave. His love life was very confusing he never knew what or whom he wanted. To me he was very lonely and just wanted someone to spend time with. The girls he did talk to he cared for, but not enough to let them in. The only girl he would let into his life if he had a chance was Jane Gallagher, she was someone who you can tell when he talked about her he had feelings for. Don’t get me wrong Holden was a extremely nice kid, but he was an emotional wreck and cared to much what others thought about him.

In conclusion this book taught you a lot of life lessons. One was not to be judgmental of others. Holden judged everyone he saw and that’s not a way someone should live through life, it makes your confidence go up sure but it still isn’t right. “Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.” This quote was the last sentence in the book it really left a mark on me. I couldn’t figure out what it meant, but what I think it means is once you start letting someone into your life and then leave them its easier to miss them because they have a little piece of your life that you shared with them. In Holden’s case I think it means since he used to tell his brother Allie everything, now since he’s gone the fact that he shared so much of his life with him he misses him even more. That effect can stay with him for a lifetime if you let it.

Focus Points:
Grammar
Sentence structureWhat affect it left on my readers and if they understood the point I was trying to get across

I loved reading “The Death of A Salesman”, even though I read it before I had an even better understanding of it this time. I really had a chance to think clearly about the play, since I knew what the whole story was about. The things I didn’t quite understand before I got the full meaning this time around. Reading this book for some reason was extremely fun it contained so much drama and excitement.

Willies dream was for his son Biff to become successful in life. He wants his son to get a job that makes him wealthier. Willy thinks his son is worth so much more, and he should take advantage of what he has to give. Linda is Biff and Happy’s mom and Willy’s wife; she is less fragile about handling situations than her husband is. Linda is always there for Willy till the very end, she loves him to death and would stick up for him in any situation possible. Biff and Happy’s Relationships are that Happy has always followed Biff his whole life. I feel like Happy felt he wasn’t good enough being just himself he wanted his dad to pay more attention to him and not so much to Biff. When Biff returned home from his twenty-eight dollar an hour job working on a ranch, Happy tried to help Biff get a better job and have a better life for himself. Biff is still trying to find himself; he is confused and doesn’t know who he really is. Happy tries to keep the peace between Biff and Willy, and also comfort Biff and try to better his future for the both of them to make their father proud.

The Visions Willy has from his past, at first were very confusing. The first time I read the book I didn’t understand what was going on I thought his visions were Willy having Alzheimer’s, and just thinking back on all the good times he had with his family before his time to go. After I read it for a second time I realized it was just fill ins to better the readers understanding of the story. That’s a very neat way to help the reader understand a story; I would of never thought of that. At first it’s complicated to get, but as the story goes on you start to understand why things happened and how they got where they are in life, and also why certain people are mentioned throughout the story. We also seen the film of the play in class, it helped me a lot. The movie helped me better comprehend the affair that Willy had with the other woman, also how Biff found out about it, and why Biff doesn’t get along with his dad that good anymore. I think it all has to do with that whole affair business. Willy is upset with himself and his life and doesn’t know who to take it out on so he takes it out on Biff. Willy regrets doing the things he did, but has no way to take them back. In the end Willy ends up giving in to all the pressure he had with making a perfect life for his family, and kills himself. The funny thing was he killed himself after they were set free. It was their last payment on the house, Biff and him settled all their differences and were eventually going to become close again, that would have made Willy so proud. His son meant the world to him. Who knew why Willy decided to kill himself after finally becoming a whole family again. I feel that he still deep down felt that he couldn’t go on living with the fact that he cheated on Linda that’s why he was so controlling and short tempered with her. It made him feel so guilty. She loved him so much and the fact that she had no idea that even went on made him feel horrible inside. Willy was alone mentally, the last couple years before he passed away. He was inhaling gas without anyone knowing, and struggling through things he never wanted anyone else to worry about. He wanted his family to think everything was fine and he would always be able to take care of them. The gas made him go crazy. He started to lose his mind. Linda being alone shouldn’t be that bad because she was alone for most of her life anyways. She just couldn’t get through to Willy she tried so hard, but he just had too much guilt to listen to anyone.
Overall this book was full of twists and turns that were very enjoyable. I feel bad for everything Willy went through in life. He wanted to make a perfect life with just enough money so his family can survive, but the stress got to him. Biff ended up finding himself in the end. He was just himself he didn’t want to be no suit and tie salesman he wanted to be Biff and Willy just couldn’t accept that. This book was called “The Death of A Salesman” because Willy was fighting a battle within himself that was not successful in the end as his career was not successful. When commenting: can you focus more on the point I was trying to get across to my readers, the way my writing is presented, and if i have any grammar issues.

I think blogging was a great idea! It’s been valuable to me as a student, reader and writer because as a student it was a chance for other people to see my work as a reader I got to read other students writings and as a writer since I knew other people were going to be viewing my work I wanted to make them presentable and I compare my work. I would love to continue doing this kind of work. Commenting on peoples’ pages is so much fun because everyone’s thoughts are different so there are a lot of things you can comment on. Well so far this year for english this whole blogger ordeal isn’t that much different than the google group, besides the commenting part we still are posting up our work and we get to have a profile. For this writing I would want to be graded on the information being given it really doesn’t have to do with a certain format of writing or anything so there is no special way to do this assignment. I gave some students in the other classroom comments I don’t know if it effected the relationship between classrooms, but it did give us a chance to state our opinion on what they wrote .

The Great Gatsby was a very interesting, but confusing book. The time periods in this book were all over. I still enjoyed it a lot though, it was a book you can think about and ask questions with. Some things were extremely hard to understand but for some reason I couldn’t stop reading I just wanted to find out what was going to happen next. I picked two quotes that relate to “The Great Gatsby” that I am going to explain.

“All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.” This quote is initiating that good writing takes time to do; it’s not something you can just come up with overnight. As you can see Fitzgerald put a lot of thought into his writing. That’s why this book was such a big turn out. The time periods were around from his time and he made it known in his writing. Even though some parts were a little confusing he showed how much effort he put into the book by putting things in the book that us readers can relate to like World War I for example. So basically Fitzgerald gets his point across to his readers by a thought process that you can tell takes up a lot of time and energy in his life. In the end his writing was a big success so there was no regrets to be made.

"That was always my experience—a poor boy in a rich town; a poor boy in a rich boy's school; a poor boy in a rich man's club at Princeton…I have never been able to forgive the rich for being rich, and it has colored my entire life and works." This quote relates so much to “The Great Gatsby”. Nick was a middle class guy who is surrounded by people who have a lot of money, like Gatsby. Fitzgerald I guess was surrounded by the rich his whole life and he put his life story into the book “The Great Gatsby” to let his readers know how he felt on this topic.

Chapter 2

-Tom brings Nick to meet his other woman

-George B. Wilson was his mistress Myrtles husband, who worked in a garage

-George and Myrtle didn't get along well

-The reason Daisy doesn't divorce Tom is because she's catholic say Myrtle

-Mrs. Wilson wanted to buy a dog.

-Tom and Myrtle have an apartment at 158th street, they invite the Mckee's to come over

-Myrtles sister Catherine is there too.

-They are all talking and enjoying conversation

-Mr. Mckee is a photographer

-Catherine suggests that Tom and Myrtle get married and move to the west

-Tom approaches Myrtle about mentioning Daisy's name and she says "I'll say it whenever I want to" he punches her and breaks her nose

-Commotion started and everyone started to leave

-Tom was on his second bottle of wine thats why he reacted like that

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/bury-me-in-a-free-land/ poem "Bury me a Free Land" http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/francesharper.html - Biography http://www.afropoets.net/francesharper1.html - poem "Gods Little Children" My poet was Frances E.W. Harper, she was an African- American writer, lecturer, and political activist her beliefs included abolition, women’s rights, and temperance. She was remembered mostly for her poetry and fiction. Her poems basically talked about how people should feel good about themselves, how slaves should free themselves from the bad state that they are in, racism, and the oppression of women. She also used to help slaves escape along the Underground Railroad. Harper started to focus her poems to women’s right after she realized that slavery was something of the past and should stay the past. She tried to focus more on the women and even men from her own time. A Quote from one of her speeches “Our greatest need is not gold or silver, talent or genius, but true men and true women” I thought this quote was very interesting it is saying be yourself and don’t try to be something you’re not stay true to who you are, don’t betray yourself. In 1873, she became superintendent of the Colored Section of the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Women’s Christian Temperance Union. In 1894 she helped start the National Association of Colored Women. She was vice president from 1895-1911, which was the year she past away. Lynching, was something she lectured against, and was a member of the Universal Peace Union. She spent most her time helping churches in north Philadelphia where she grew up it was a black community. She fed the poor, prevented violence in young teens, and also taught Sunday school at Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal church. Nine years after her death women were given the right to vote. Her grave fell over and was covered in grass. “I ask no monument, proud and high, to arrest the gaze of passers-by; All that my yearning spirit craves, is bury me not in a land of slaves.” This quote is from “Bury Me In A Free Land” she wanted to be remembered as a woman who believed in freedom. Another Quote stated by W.E.B Du Bois was "She was not a great singer, but she had some sense of song; she was not a great writer, but she wrote much worth reading." Her writings were very true and many people wanted to read them because of the sincerity she tried to convey. The poem “Bury Me In A Free Land” used a lot of rhetorical aspects. Alliteration was used in some stanzas. End rhyme was in every sentence; to me that made the poem keep my attention I love rhyming! Figurative language was used to describe a main detail in certain sentences. Imagery was used throughout the whole poem also. The poem was a picture for me, I felt like I understood her exact words of what slaves went through and how she didn’t want her life to be part of that dead or alive. Harper’s poems show a lot of imagery. I also read “Gods Little Children” which was a really fascinating poem. In both poems Harper worships or focuses on reality in “bury me in a free land” Harper worships freedom and in “Gods little children” she worships children and how they are the joy to peoples lives. The two poems I read give a message to the reader. Her poems are fictional that’s what makes them so interesting I think. That’s what made me so interested in it. The majority of Harpers poems talk about slavery, racism, or an issue that occurred during her lifetime. This makes her poems distinctly American because America is a mix of all different races and she not only talks about just black people, she talks about women’s rights and other issues like that. What makes them American is that in all her poems she states the traditions and cultures of things that she been through in her life.

The author I chose to write about was Kate Chopin. Her writings really stood out as being interesting, vivid, and detail-oriented. I read two stories she authored, “lilacs” and “A pair of silk stockings”. Lilacs, is about a girl named Adrienne. She is friends with a group of nuns in the convent where she used to live. She goes back every year to visit the nuns. It is called “lilacs” because the smell of lilacs makes her think of her past. She doesn’t want to remember the memories of her past because she experiences the smell of lilacs after she left the convent. Which means that smell made her think back on all her old memories that she didn’t like.It doesn’t really say why she left the convent, but it must have been something personal that she couldn’t handle. This story has some Romanticism, it explains to the reader how a certain smell can remind someone of their past, specifically the lilacs. She tells us of their beauty and fresh scent that she could never forget. “A pair of silk stockings” didn’t show any romanticism at all. It was about a lady who is poor, she finds fifteen dollars and spends a day treating herself to a luxury she never had before in her life . These two writings we can consider American Realism because they both focus their stories on a certain person. Many readers can relate their lives to things that happen in these stories for example in lilacs the smell that reminds her of something there are many smells that remind me of a certain thing or even something that happened in my life.
Many people change or can change over a short period of time. In both of these stories it shows that change is present. In “lilacs” Adrienne changes by living a completely different life, and in “a pair of silk stockings” Mrs. Sommers changes when she has hold of the fifteen dollars her mindset changes as a person with a lot of money would act. The authors worldview it based on change. I think she feels that people can’t go through life without some sort of change occuring. She is right it just couldn’t be possible for someone to stay the same their whole entire life. I think Chopin is writing for anyone’s enjoyment. Her writings have more of a sensitive and personal side to them. Probably most women would like her stories rather than men, women can relate to more of the things going on in the stories for some reason.
I love how Chopin gives a lot of examples to get her point across to her readers. Also she is very imaginative and creative with her writings. I can create a picture in my head of the story as I was reading along. What drew me to this author was when I started reading “A pair of silk stockings” it was very interesting I couldn’t stop reading it, and I liked how her writing wasn’t boring and gave a lot of detail that kept my attention. “I believe you are right, Adrienne. For now that you speak of it, I can feel how the odor of fresh bread-when Sister Jeasnne bakes-always makes me think of the great kitchen of ma tante de Sierge, and crippled Julie, who sat always knitting at the sunny window. And I never smell the sweet scented honeysuckle without living again through the blessed day of my first communion.” This passage is from “Lilacs” its a conversation between Adrienne and Sister Agathe. Sister Agathe is telling Adrienne that she is right about how a certain scent reminds people of their past or of special times that occurred in their lives. This passage stuck out to me because like I said at the beginning of this paragraph Chopin uses a lot of examples to get her point across to her readers, and this is a perfect example. She makes sure us as the readers know what she is talking about and understand exactly what she means.

I feel writing does have the power to enact social change. When i was reading June Jordans poem, it really made me want to change, so i think it would motivate other people to want to change their ways also. It depends on the person i don't think the whole world would have a social change from reading this, but many people would take it into consideration and try to change at least. It talked about how badly people were treated in detail. They made it seem like they didn't care who died or what happened. People wouldn't really take a writing that serious. A bible on the other hand people take very seriously and can make a dramatic social change from it. Like i said it all depends on the person i think and how they view whats being read. Every person is different and has different thoughts on everything. If you want a Writing to motivate someone make it memorable and ask the question to yourself "does this motivate me to change?" because most likely if it does it will motivate other people.

Nicole Tomiselli
January 30, 2009
Mr. Fiorini
English

Desire for Freedom




Slavery affects people to this day. It doesn’t matter how much effort a slave puts into his/her work they always are disrespected in some sort of way.
Mercer was a slave. She was treated somewhat decently. Her master, Pryor whom she had two children with, Benjamin and Matthew cared for her enough that she could survive. Mercer also had another little girl named Willietta; her father was a runaway slave. They never seen him again, Mercer always wondered if he would ever sneak back just to see how they were doing. Her desire was to become free with her children, but she knew that Pryor would never let that happen. He wanted her with him. In a way I think he had feelings for Mercer, he cared for her way too much not to have any.
Her dream about being free was finally about to come true when Pryor invited her on a trip to Nicaragua. She thought that somehow she could escape and just wander off, but that did not happen. What happened was they made a stop at Philadelphia, and it is a free state. So when Mercer was waiting in a hotel room with Mattie and Etta an African American man named Tyree knocked on the door. She begged him to help her escape so he tried his best to help her out. While waiting to board onto the ship the Diligence Committee stopped Mercer and said if you want your freedom here’s your chance to be free. Pryor tried to convince Mercer to stay and said to the people she would never leave me. In a way she felt really bad and didn’t know what to do, but it was her once in a lifetime chance to be free and she took it. She stayed with Tyree’s family someplace no one knew where they were. Eventually Pryor would try to claim her back, but for now she felt safe and free spirited to do whatever she wanted to do. Tyree’s family became very close with Mercer over time. She felt comfortable with them. Mercer was disrespected because if Pryor really cared for her and wanted her to be happy he would of let her be free. Instead she had to gain her freedom in a way that didn’t make her feel very good. She was leaving her son Benjamin behind and would never be able to see him again. That is the one thing she regrets about becoming free. I think the title “The Price Of A Child” means that nothing in the world not even money would replace how she felt for leaving her baby boy behind.