Ode to Dziadziu <3

The big guy bragged when I was born,
He just couldn’t wait to teach me new things.
He told everyone he had a new “Polish Princess”
And that she’d grow up to be beautiful.

As I grew up, he was by my side the whole time,
Letting me know he was always there.
Teaching me everything I needed to know,
And how it would help me out in life.

He was the first one to dig into dinner,
And he’d always thank god for the food.
He always made his grandchildren laugh,
And he knew how to get the party started.

The day he died, was the worst.
Till this day I still don’t believe he’s gone.
He was my best friend that I’ll never forget,
And I hope I make him proud.

Give Me that Fish.

In everyday life you can be faced with many obstacles, struggles, and issues, whether it’s choosing your clothes for school or even buying something at a grocery store, its still a choice you have to make. In a piece of a literary work, the main character is also faced with a struggle, like wining a race, or choosing which path to take. But in Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago, the main character, struggles with a much different obstacle, the art of fishing. While out on the seas for many of days, Santiago encounters numerous problems. But when it comes to fishing, people usually deal with the issues like weather conditions, equipment difficulties, loneliness, and the possibility of not even catching a fish. Unlike Santiago, he didn't have the same quality and techniques your typical fisherman today would have, he went by the saying, "never give up."

One of Santiago’s challenges seemed to be when he just couldn’t catch not one single fish for many days, weeks, and a few months. He spent most of his life out on the sea, catching fish, but this time just seemed like forever. "[Santiago] was an old man who fished alone in the skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone 84 days now without taking a fish (9)." Santiago fished for months not being able to catch just one fish. While his friend Manolin was by his side the whole time, egging him on to try and catch a fish, but that just hadn’t seem to work.

All because of Santiago not being able to catch fish, he was becoming very poor and also came into poverty. He would have no fish to bring home and sell, which meant that he would have no food to feed himself, and even not enough money to get new bait to actually get fish, so Manolin, shared his money with him. "[Manolin] could go with you again. We made some money (10)." But only when Santiago did catch a fish, they would either get away somehow or they would get taken away by another fish like a shark.

Once Santiago did catch a fish for the first time in 84 days, something went completely wrong. When he caught the Marlin, for example he faced one problem, the sharks. "Now that I have [Marlin] coming so beautifully, God help me endure. I'll say a hundred Our Fathers and a hundred Hail Marys. But I cannot say them now (87)." Santiago just wanted to finally caught a fish, and now that he has it, he doesn't want to let it go, but at the same time he doesn't want the sharks to get it either. He kept saying “kill me too” because he really didn’t want to let this fish go. Once he would get it he would have achieved his goal on getting a fish.

To conclude, Santiago discovers many problems when he fishes. Yet, he still never gave up with everything he did, which was the theme to this novella. Even if it meant going into poverty, staying out on the seas without catching a single fish, trying his hardest to get something that he knew he may not be able too, or even possibly getting killed, he was still never going to give up. Once he got around these struggles, obstacles, and issues, Santiago pushed himself harder to get what he needed done, like catching a fish for example. And luckily for Santiago he had Manolin right by his side, the whole time. And in the end, the art of fishing really was quite an obstacle for Santiago to face.

First Quarter Outside Reading Book Review

Puppy Chow is better than Prozac by Bruce Goldstein. Da Capo Press, 2008
Genre: Autobiography/Fiction

Puppy Chow is better than Prozac is an autobiography about Bruce Goldstein (author). Bruce at first is a man who has a few friends, but isn't a people person. He recently had broken up with his first love and his life just went down hill from there. He tried suicide and his therapist put him on medicine, but he hated medicine so he wasn't interested. So he and his buddies went to THE BLACK DOG store and he decided he wanted a dog after seeing all the dog things. Bruce then bought Black Labrador in the middle of Hurricane Bertha, and figured it was the best decision he's made. The name Bruce had named the dog was Ozzy because of Ozzy Osborne (Prince of Darkness). He would walk Ozzy on the streets of New York everyday. Woman started to come up to him about the Ozzy, but then once Bruce told them how Ozzy basically saved his life from suicide and such, they started to notice Bruce, not Ozzy. Then one day Bruce met Brooke, and they dated for several years. Then finally they had gotten married. In the end Bruce's life started to turn around.

"An uproarious and yet tender story of how a charming pup tansformed the life of a man battling depression," says Editor-in-Chief of The Bark, "It's a delightful read for dog lovers."

Bruce was a really depressed man. He was on lithium when he told himself he wouldn't go it anymore. He had also had a disease called Crohns disese. That's when you have poisonous gasses in my stomach. Since Bruce had been so depressed over the years, he only seemed to have his friends that kept him a live. But once he got Ozzy, everything changed. In the end he found someone to love once again.

I haven't read a book by Bruce Goldstein before, but I am interested in reading more. Also I haven't read a book before like this, so I can't really compare it to another book.

"Because everybody who has ever had a dog knows they do not last forever…He'll always be in my heart."

I really loved Bruce Goldstein's book, although, he has seemed to go through a tough life. I can relate to him because I went through a tough life with my father through the years. But I never seemed to be as depressed as him. He has truly effected me greatly though with the depression, loosing his first love, and have basically a split personality.

Second Quarter Outside Reading Book Review.
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Little, Brown and Company, 2002
Genre: Fiction

In The Lovely Bones, fourteen year old girl, Susie Salmon is murdered. She tells the story from heaven. As she tells the story, she looks down on earth at her friends and family trying to move on without her, and the one who murdered her trying to cover up what he did.

"The Lovely Bones is one of the strangest experiences I have had as a reader in a long time, and one of the most memorable. Painfully funny, bracingly tough, terribly sad, it is a feat of imagination and a tribute to the healing power of grief."

-- Michael Chabon, author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.

Susie is faced to see her family and friends moving on. When she was alive on earth she fell in love with a boy names Ray. He has a hard time moving on because he finds himself in the center of an amazing event. Sebold also wrote books like Lucky and The Almost Moon.

The Lovely Bones allows you to see what Susie sees when she's in heaven looking down on Earth. It gives you a feeling of what heaven is like and how hard, it really is to move on after a love one has passed.

"I had rescued the moment by using my camera and in that way had found how to stop time and hold it. No one could take that image away from me because I owned it." (p. 213)

I really did enjoy Sebold's novel. I haven't read one of her novels before but I wouldn't mind reading another one by her. Abby Foster had recommended this book for me to read, and im happy I did read it. That's because Sebold made it feel like you were in Susie's shoes in heaven, trying to figure out her own murder.

Short Story.

No Woman, No Cry.

It had been 3 o'clock in the morning, when Owen felt the vibrations of his cell phone underneath his pillow; it was a text message from Elizabeth asking for his help. Elizabeth had been having problems with her family for a couple of months now. Her grandfather had been diagnosed with cancer. The yen she had for her grandfather was astonishing, and they had been through a lot together, but since he’s been diagnosed, he’s never been the same; he was gaunt and feeble looking, she couldn't loose him now. Also Elizabeth hated living at home because her father was a drunk with a tendency of hitting her. He’d only been like this since her mother passed away, and he’s been going out at night until 12, and coming home very drunk, and ever since, she knew this was always going to be irrevocable part of her life. The only thing Elizabeth had in her life was Owen, and her grandfather.

Owen replied in the text message "What's wrong?"

Within a few minutes Elizabeth sent, "Father came home drunk, and is ready to beat me. Can you come pick me up?"

Owen had to abet Elizabeth with this situation, so in a heartbeat he got out of bed, grabbed his keys and was out the door.

♫

He arrived at Elizabeths doorstep where she had been sitting, she hurried to the car. Her face was weak, eyes were dark, and her cheeks were red.

"What happened?" Owen asked inquisitively as she put her seat belt on.

"He hit me…hit me pretty hard Owen." Her long blonde bangs covered her left eye. “I would have been a dupe for staying at that house.” Owen moved the hair in her face and pushed it behind her ear. Her eye was bruised and red from crying, and she had scratches all across her forehead.

Elizabeth's cool, soft hands grabbed onto Owen's wrist, "You better not tell anyone about this…keep this covert between you and I" she said worriedly.

"Liza, you know me, I won't tell a soul." He said.

As they headed back to Owen's house, Bob Marley on the radio sang "Ere, little darlin, don't shed no tears, no, woman, no cry."

♫

As they arrived at Owen's house, Elizabeth was sitting on Owen's bed, when her phone rang. Owen was in the kitchen getting Elizabeth an ice pack when he heard some shouting.

"I AM NOT COMING HOME." Elizabeth screamed. "I HATE YOU, YOU STUPID DRUNK," and she hung up the phone. She started to cry, "Owen, can I stay at your house for a couple of days, I can't go home like this Owen, I really can't." Owen didn't know what to say, so he nodded his head.

♫

The next day at school was tough for Elizabeth; a bevy of people asked her what had happened. Since everyone knew she was an inept person, she had used the same excuse over and over again, "I fell down the stairs." But everyone knew what was up with her and her father, so they acted as if the story was true.

As Owen sat at the lunch table, eating his albacore sandwich, he watched as Elizabeth played with her peas. He had come to conclusion that he liked Elizabeth, and he wanted to be with her, but he didn't want to tell her that, because they had been best friends with her since the second grade and didn't want her to suspect anything. So as he watched silently, she looked up at him.

"You know what I hate?" she asked impromptu, "Disgusting, frozen peas that they serve at lunch. I mean look at this, and they aren't even cooked."

Owen laughed as the bell rang, "Wow Liza, you certainly do have a mind of your own." He said in an amicable manner.

♫

Elizabeth stayed at Owen's for a few weeks now; she never wanted to go home, so Owen welcomed her to his house for however long she wanted to stay.

Especially that one night, when she got a phone call from her father, "You're kidding right," she said as she talked to her father for the first time in about 2 weeks. "This can't be happening." She hung up the phone, and started to cry. Elizabeth was thwarted by the news. "My grandfather passed away," she said as she looked into Owen's eyes from the kitchen table. Why was this happening to such a sweet girl, thought Owen, first she gets beat up from her alcoholic father, now her grandfather dies? Owen knew he had to be there for her now, more then ever.

And as she cried in Owen's arms, the radio played with Bob Marley singing, "Ere, little darlin, don't shed no tears, no, woman, no cry."