Summary: Evaluation During Reading

The article Evaluation During Reading talks about how to evaluate the material that will be used for a research. It gives key ideas on how to identify if it’s a good source and how to read the pre-face. Some of the key ideas to identify if the sources is appropriate for you are:

Paraphasing Exercise 3

Paraphrase: On his essay So That Nobody Has To Go To School If They Don’t Want To, Roger Sipher conclude that mandatory attendance law for children is decreasing the education quality because neither the motivated students are receiving the high level education that is required for America. He proposes the abolishment of mandatory attendance to solve this situation. (Sipher, Roger)

Paraphrasing Exercise 2

1. According to Jacques Cousteau the Antartic is the source of cold for our planet as the Sun is the sourse for heat. The water that comes from the north(antartica) mixes with the water from the tropic and this way all of the surface water in the atmosphere is cooled, but this cycle might be ruined because of human activity.

2. The twenties was a period for change, classical music was changed for jazz with and men like Louis Armostrong and Count Basie became heroes in the genre; organized crime ruled the city while the police seem to be incapable of doing anything. Drinking was illegal but that didn’t stop anyone from drinking because everyone seemed to know in which local bar the liquor was available, the flapper was also born during this time period and according to this 'article', this represented "America's break from the past" (Kathleen Yancey, English 102 Supplemental Guide '1989').

3. More than 1000 deaths occur each year from bike accidents and that three-fourths are head injuries. Half of the people who are killed in cycling accidents are children who still go to school. Wearing a helmet might save your life. If one crashes or has an accident and is using a helmet ,85 percent of any head injury is reduced because it absorbs the shock and creates a head cushion.

4. Matisse's art takes the viewer's eyes to nirvana, magically making him/her envision themselves in it. He shows his art as if everything was there, real, almost as if you could smell the objects he drew. A drawing of his, known as "The Casbah Gate," shows in detail the reality of the people and their homes coexisting with that of a "sultan's palace (Plagens, Peter). Matisse manages to capture every little detail, every movement of every character, and we can tell what time of the day it is by the way he colors the sky. From Peter Plagens, "Bright Lights." Newsweek (26 March 1990): 50.

5. The Sears Tower is one of the greatest skyscraper eingineering achievement made by man, but where could this leave the quest fot the worlds largest building?
Engineer William LeMessurier has designed a skyscraper twice the size of that of the Sears Tower and architect Robert Sobel claims that a 500 story building can be built, so maybe the architects and engineers have not left their goal for the world's tallest bulding.

Hamlet must sing...

The song that I think would express what Hamlet is was feeling in act three in his “To Be or Not To Be” speech would be Adams song by Blink 182. I think that this song identifies what Hamlet feel because most of the lyrics talk about how lonely a person is feeling and how their world has become meaningless at such young age. Hamlet has nothing else to look forward to now that his father is dead and his mother remarried his uncle and the lyrics are also expressing this “The world was wide, too late to try.” We can also relate the song with how Hamlet is feeling with this sentence “I'm too depressed, To go on You'll be sorry when I'm gone” because Hamlet was also very depressed and angry with everyone around him.


Adams Song (Blink 182)
I never thought I'd,
I'd die alone
I laughed the loudest, who'd have known?
I traced the cord back to the wall
No wonder it was never plugged in at all

I took my time,
I hurried up
The choice was mine, I didn't think enough
I'm too depressed, To go on
You'll be sorry when I'm gone

I never conquered, rarely came
16 just held such better days
Days when I still felt alive
We couldn't wait to get outside
The world was wide, too late to try
The tour was over, we'd survived
I couldn't wait till I got home
To pass the time in my room alone

I never thought I'd die alone
Another six months I'll be unknown
Give all my things to all my friends
You'll never step foot in my room again

You'll close it off,You'll board it up
Remember the time that I spilled the cup
Of apple juice in the hall
Please tell mom this is not her fault

I never conquered, rarely came
16 just held such better days
Days when I still felt alive
We couldn't wait to get outside
The world was wide, too late to try
The tour was over, we'd survived
I couldn't wait till I got home
To pass the time in my room alone

I never conquered, rarely came
Tomorrow holds such better days
Days when I can still feel alive
When I cant wait to get outside
The world is wide, the time goes by
The tour is over, I survived
I can't wait till I get home
To pass the time in my room alone

Paraphrasing Exercies

The answers for the exercises:
- Unacceptable
- Unacceptable
- Unacceptable
- Acceptable

The Soccer War, The real conflict

In these pages Kapuscinski arrives to Latin Aamerica. He narrates his whole trip very precisely and describes the awkwardness he felt with all of the useless things he found in America that in Africa didn’t exist. I really liked this chapter because not only he describes so well every detail of his new adventure but also he proves to be an excellent writer. When I first heard the title of the book I imagined that it had to relate to soccer but I never would have guessed that it really was about a soccer war. When we started reading about Ben Bella and everything that was happening in Algeria I though that the title didn’t have anything to do with the book, but then Kapuscinski surprised us all.
Before I didn’t know anything about the war that was going on between Honduras and El Salvador but after reading this chapter I became aware of the conflict between these two countries over land and how a soccer tournament lead to a “war”. Also in this chapter Kapuscinski reveals to the reader what an adventurous person he is. He risks his life in the conflict between these two countries just so he can let Poland and the rest of the world know what is happening in Central America. His description of what was going on between the border of Honduras and El Salvador was so precise and intense, as I read these pages I felt like if I was there with Kapuscinski.
"In reality a soldier sees no further than his own nose, has his eyes full of sand or sweat, shoots at random and clings to the ground like a mole." (pg 180)

The Soccer War (pg. 120-147)

The second chapter of The Soccer seemed to be starting rather slow. There hasn’t been much action until Kapuscinski comes into actions. Kapuscinsk goes through a lot of action in this chapter, especially when he seemed to encounter a possible death. "I was in the hands of UPGA activists. They must have been smoking hashish because their eyes were mad and they did not look fully conscious… I could feel three knife-points against my back and I saw several machetes aimed at my head. Two activists stood a few steps away, pointing their guns at me in case I tried to get away. I was surrounded. Around me I could see sweaty faces with jumpy glances; I could see knives and gun barrels.” (pg 131) This is a very important part in the book not only because Kapuscinski encounters death but also because this is a twisting point in the book, here the action seems to have begun.
Also is these pages we meet the real Kapuscinski, an adventurous journalist he doesn’t seem to fear anything.
“My boss treated me with patience and understanding. He tolerated my adventures and my pathological lack of discipline. At my most irresponsible I would suddenly break contact with… as a last resort, send telegrams to various embassies. Once, when I showed up in Bamako, our embassy there showed me a telegram: 'Should Kapuscinski happen to show up in your territory, please inform PAP through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' (pg 141)." With this quote the reader can understand Kapuscinskis way of thinking and how he likes to live his life. This chapter besides being the starting point for the action in the book is an introduction to Kapuscinski’s life.

The Soccer War; Algeria

Nowadays very few people believe in peace, most are going after power and war. The first chapter of The Soccer War is based on the search for a better country, the civil war at Algeria and the power struggle. During the civil war Ben Bella who had just gotten out of jail, was elected president by the help of Boumedienne. In the beginning of his rule he seemed to be doing pretty well and all of the people seemed to be very happy with him as their ruler. But with great power comes great responsibility. Ben Bella started to over use his power as a ruler and Boumedienne didn’t seem to agree with what he was doing. Boumedienne decides to withdraw the help he had given Bella and abrogate his power. Ben Bella seemed to be a good ruler; he seemed to be dedicated to make Algeria a better country. He wanted to help all the villages become one country and he seemed determined to leave behind the colonial mentality. What happened to Ben Bella is something very common in our world, people get power and in a given point they become autocratic and corrupt. I don’t blame him for what he did because I don’t know how I would react with so much power. Although Ben Bella did some bad moved in his government not all was bad. He brought order to a country emerging from war; he improved the country’s economy, education. He changed the life of thousands of Algerian workers by introducing a program of agricultural reform. He gave Algeria the prestige of becoming a leading country in the Third World, and becoming the bridge between Europe and Africa.

The Stranger "The End"

In these final pages the real Mersault was revealed to the reader. I finally understood why Mersault acted the way he did, it was after that, that he stopped being such a pitiful man. Its curious how through half of my blogs I commented on what a shallow and selfish persona Mersault was, and on the other half I would write about his possible improvement. Trough out this book I’ve learned to love and to hate Mersault. I would always get my hopes up thinking that maybe he had feelings and that he did care about life but he always ended up doing something that would ruin my happy endings. Although it might sound harsh, the book did have a happy ending, not the one that I was expecting but at least he ended up expressing what he felt about life and how his was coming to an end. "For the first time in a long time I thought about Maman. I felt as if I understood why at the end of her life she had taken a 'fiance,' why she had played at beginning again. Even there, in that home where lives were fading out, evening was a kind of wistful respite. So close to death, Maman must have felt free then and ready to live it all again… really- I felt like I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate." (122)
This quote answers a question I have always asked myself about Mersault. Does he still have hope and will he ever change? Indeed he did change, we finally saw how the real Mersault was like, and even though his life ended when he was executed the hope that I had on him wasn’t a waste.

The Stranger , Part II

Now that Mersault is in jail, his true self was revealed. He seemed less human than ever but at the same time he was actually feeling something. In these few pages the same Mersault was revealed but with less sensitive emotions and remarks. I am very amazed with how Mersault acts and what he responded to his attorney and to the magistrate. For him it didn’t seem to matter to whom he was responding to, he was always very direct and honest. To him it didn’t seem to matter if telling the truth would ruin his case, he was always straightforward and sincere, he never doubted expressing what he felt. This until now has been the only good quality I’ve found in him and even though most of the questions he answers seem to shock the magistrate he never doubted to tell him exactly what had happened. I think this is a great quality in a person, to tell the truth, because most people in order to save themselves lie, but then you wont be able to live in peace. Mersault instead will be able to go to sleep every night with a clean conscious. Nevertheless I’m still trying to learn to understand Mersault and in this the first chapter of the second part I actually learned why emotions and feelings never seem to affect him.
“ I explained to him, however, that my nature was such that my physical needs often got in the way of my feelings, the day I buried Maman, I was very tired and sleepy…rather Maman hadn’t died.” (65)

After the first interrogation with the magistrate, things seemed to be moving faster for Mersault. Already several months had passed and the investigation for his case was finally coming to an end. And after this I also learned something new about Mersault, how he was starting to like living in a cell. He’d seem to have adjusted to his new needs and entertained himself with what ever he could.
“ Apart from these annoyances, I wasn’t to unhappy. Once again the main problem was killing time. Eventually, once I learned how to remember things, I wasn’t bored at all…mentally noting everything there was on the way.” (78)

The Stranger "The lost glimpse of hope"

Even though Mersault still didn't seem to care about anything, things looked pretty well. It looked like finally good things would come out from Mersault. His relationship with Marie seemed to be doing pretty well, he'd become closer to Raymon and the Mistress problem seemed to have passed. Even down at the beach with Raymond's friends, Mersault seemed to be socializing and connecting with Masson. I was starting to change my point of view toward Mersaults way of acting and emotions. I really believe that he just had a hard shell and maybe underneath he was actually a sensitive person, that he really did feel something towards Marie because he was always thinking on how he could imagine himself next to her. But my illusion was erased the moment he killed the arab. I understan that in a way he did it on self defense so im not going to judge him for shooting the arab, but what i don't understand is why after he was sure that the arab was on the ground he fire the gun 4 more times at the dead body?
- why does he keep ruinning his chances of being happy?
- why is he friends with Raymond if he's always getting him into trouble?
- what will happen know between him and marie?

The Stranger (

The Stranger

The Stranger (pg. 3-18)

Welcome!!

Hello class of 2008,

Welcome to my blog, here you will find information about books that I personally like and have read, that maybe you will also like. In this blog you will also find topics related to the English class and the books to be read. This blog will be uptadet weekly for your confort.
Hope you like it!

Thank you for your time,

Viviana