The book I read was Lord of the Flies written by William Golding. Although it is a classic, the novel is banned in Olney, Texas Independent School District. It was banned in 1984 because of the story's "excessive violence and bad language". The original book included racial slurs directed towards black people and savagery portrayed through children. The book was also banned in 1981 at Owen High school in North Carolina because of "demoralizing inasmuch as it implies that man is little more than animal,". Our class was assigned to create themed bookmarks about your banned book along with censorship and why your book was banned. I didn't take me long to come up with a concept for my bookmark. I wanted to incorporate one of the main characters, "Piggy" so I drew him as the center piece with his eyes censored out. Near the bottom of the bookmark I drew a large fly head and smaller flies flying up to the top. The title of the book is written in between Piggy and the fly's head with asterisks censoring some of the less-significant letters. As a border around the edges I drew some leaves and the whole color palette is mostly yellow, green, and brown colors. I'm very proud of the work I did and how it turned out. I don't think the project was very challenging and I think the weekly reflections gave me a much deeper understanding of what I was reading. I definitely don't think I would have understood as much as I did without those reflections. The most difficult part for me was reading the book in general. I didn't get the chance to admire or finish the book completely. I'm an extremely slow reader and countless times I wasn't fully comprehending what was going on. I felt like I was just looking at the words without acknowledging what was really going on. I felt like the easiest part of the project was the bookmark. I really enjoyed this aspect and I don't think it should be cut from the project if Mrs. Howard decides to do it again but I did find the assignment a little more laid back and refreshing. f I were to change something about the project, it would be to give the students more time to read (especially if we have a lot more assignments to worry about). I really loved this book and would absolutely recommend it to a friend. I loved how the author spoke, set the scene, and got the reader emotionally attached/relating to the characters. I can see why it's such a well known book.
9th Grade Retreat
Ninth grade retreat was a lot of fun. I really think it was a great way to meet the new students and get to know them more. When we first arrived, I was surprised at how smoothly putting up the tents went. It was a great way to start off the trip and very reassuring. Cooking the meals was a bit stressful. I really didn't want to disappoint my group and leave them on empty stomachs. Sleeping was a bit stressful on the first day but I think I did okay (or at least good enough). On the second day, we spoke to the lovely rangers who gave me a much better understanding of the area and future paths I may want to go down in terms of career or even volunteering. The last day was a little bit much. People were about ready to leave. We still tried to make the most of it though. Playing with the frogs down by the meadow, goofing around in the rain, and looking back on the fun memories from the past couple days. It's definitely something I'd want to do again. Below you will find a photo essay and a letter to the park rangers.
On a recent field trip to tour colleges, I visited University of California, Irvine. I decided to go to this college because Riverside didn't have as many options in the visual arts such as drawing/sketching. This college also caught my eye because of the wide variety of clubs and activities to take part in. As someone who wants to be a charcter concept artist, the arts are very important to me. While visiting the school. I learned that their mascot is an anteater and that it was almost a unicorn and I learned that the guy who added the "skip intro" button to Netflix went there and the guy who designed the hot pocket sleeve went there too. People were realy frinedly when we arrived. They were making large efforts to improve their sorority and were very passionate about what they stand for. There was a very charming community there and it seems fun to be a part of it, I simply don't see myself there. I would have loved to see more unique architexture and even more about the arts. I'm used to seeing weird art everywhere I go because of High Tech and the tour guides I went with obviously couldn't focus on one major so I didn't get as much info as I'd like. I would love to go to NYU or San Fransico for college.